The lowest rate was among girls under the age of seven and the highest rate among boys aged eight to 10.For young children from single-parent homes, the rate of self harm rose to 1.9 per cent and for those from families with a large amount of discord the rate rose to nearly four per cent.The likelihood of self-harm also rose dramatically among children who had suffered mental disorders such as anxiety, attention deficit or behavioural problems.Peter Wilson, of the children's mental health charity Young Minds, said that parents underestimate how deeply young people can be affected by family problems. "There is a significant proportion of children who feel very distressed and can find no other way of expressing that than through self-harm. It is an indicator of how desperate some children are – desperate about their lives, their families and what is going on around them."Extreme life events such as a parent dying, or disappearing through divorce or separation, are dramatic for children, but people underestimate how sensitive they are."Across the age groups, the children of parents in unskilled occupations were almost three times as likely to harm themselves as those whose parents were in professional jobs.A spokeswoman for the children's charity, the NSPCC, said: "Children are deeply affected by bereavement, frequent punishment and family breakdown, and they can direct their hurt against themselves.". The leader of one of Britain's biggest unions warned yesterday of a battle at the Labour Party conference over the Government's plans to water down parental rights at work. The leader of one of Britain's biggest unions warned yesterday of a battle at the Labour Party conference over the Government's plans to water down parental rights at work. Bill Morris, general secretary of the TGWU, said intense lobbying by employers had left the proposals looking more "family hostile" than family friendly. In a savage critique of Tony Blair's approach to workers' rights, Mr Morris also attacked moves to charge employees to take their cases to an industrial tribunal.Writing in Tribune, he said the Government had been "hoodwinked" by the business lobby into thinking that more rights for staff meant higher costs for employers. Mr Morris said ministers had caved in to the CBI over giving parents the right to work part-time.Instead, the proposals give staff the right only to ask for more flexible hours.

"The Labour government is struggling hard to pacify business leaders," he said.. All immigrants could be asked to learn English as a condition of taking on UK citizenship, Lord Rooker, the Home Office minister has suggested. All immigrants could be asked to learn English as a condition of taking on UK citizenship, Lord Rooker, the Home Office minister has suggested. The Home Office was considering imposing such a rule as a means of ensuring that the wives of new citizens had proper access to mainstream society and the labour market, he said yesterday.In an interview with political website ePolitix , the asylum and immigration minister also confirmed reports that Home Secretary David Blunkett was considering scrapping the controversial asylum voucher system introduced by his predecessor Jack Straw.However, he insisted that there was no question of ending the policy of dispersal of asylum-seekers around the country in the wake of the murder of Kurd Firsat Yildiz, who was stabbed to death in Glasgow a fortnight ago.Moves to force immigrants to learn English would be highly controversial among some refugee groups.New citizens currently have to prove they have a "grasp of English", but when their spouses join them later they often arrive with virtually no working knowledge of the language.Making English mandatory for those seeking citizenship would be one way of ensuring that ethnic minority women were not denied their civil rights by their own menfolk, said Lord Rooker.Lord Rooker, whose former constituency of Birmingham Perry Barr has a large Asian community, said: "People must maintain their culture, maintain their religion and live in peace and tranquillity, but they must not be denied their opportunity to participate properly, particularly in the employment market."There are situations... where, sometimes, people are not encouraged or persuaded to learn English by their family The men say they don't need it.

I don't accept that, because it's people being denied their civil rights.". For a man who has watched the world's publicity machine chase the princess who trused him, Paul Burrell's appearance yesterday in the maelstrom of the press, to answer charges of petty pilfering from her home, was unsparing. For a man who has watched the world's publicity machine chase the princess who trused him, Paul Burrell's appearance yesterday in the maelstrom of the press, to answer charges of petty pilfering from her home, was unsparing.The global fascination with Princess Diana, who called him her rock, has apparently abated little in the four years since Mr Burrell kept all-night watch on her body, before her funeral. Camera crews watched him go to court to deny stealing 414 of her belongings. He arrived 15 minutes early, but only to find the court building locked. Stranded outside, he could not escape the cameras.As he left Bow Street magistrates in east London yesterday, there was even a physical threat; a scuffle broke out in the foyer when a shaven haired man appeared to aim a kick at him before being restrained by a security guard.The former butler, 43, who now classifies himself a writer, looked shaken and was ushered away by his lawyer, before departing in a taxi. His suspected assailant was finally restrained by police outside the courts, then released without charge.The five-minute court hearing focused again on the bizarre paraphernalia that Mr Burrell is alleged to have taken.

Coat hangers and a bag containing cotton wool balls are among a police list of allegedly stolen goods, which also included high-heel shoes, signed CDs, designer clothes and personal letters and photographs. He is also accused of taking an Indiana Jones bull whip belonging to the Prince of Wales and a Baywatch card autographed by the actor David Hasselhoff, and sent by Prince William.The majority of the items, however, belonged to his former employer. A letter the princess wrote to John Major, prime minister at the time, and another she received from the late Mother Teresa, as well as photographs of her sons' birthday parties, are all among the alleged haul worth millions.In the packed surroundings of the small court, Mr Burrell stood in the dock, tanned and smartly attired in a blue suit, check shirt and tie, and spoke in quiet, clipped tones to give his address and date of birth.To each of the three charges of theft, relating individually to the Princess of Wales's estate, her former husband and eldest son, he answered: "Not guilty."At the back of the court, listening intently to the accusations levied against a man who served the royal family for 21 years, were onlookers, perhaps awaiting what one solicitor called the day's "usual run-of-the-mill, West End ... crack dealers, shoplifters and toms".Afterward, Mr Burrell's solicitor, Andrew Shaw, emerged on the court steps, only minutes after an unseemly fight between two TV crews was quelled.Mr Shaw said: "We will show that the trust placed in Paul Burrell was appropriately placed, and shall demonstrate as fully as we need the closeness of his professional relationship to the princess."He has been charged without the full and proper scrutiny of the facts. The public believes that it knows Paul Burrell as a man who was and could be trusted. Our belief is that possessed of the true and full information, a jury will feel the same way." He insisted his client had provided a 39-page statement accounting for every item taken from his house, many of which, he claimed, were bought by his wife, Maria."Mr Burrell was charged with the theft of many items in charge two, upon the basis that they looked like items that the princess would have worn, without identification of the fact that she actually did wear or ever own any of them.

Princess Diana trusted Paul Burrell, she called him her rock. As to the photographs and letters, the princess died prematurely ... she placed items with the man she trusted, instead of professional advisers, and instead of with her family."They were not on display in Mr Burrell's house, nor even looked at, but were kept safe, that is what she wanted."The death of the princess left the Burrell family without a home or a job. I have read it today in one of the statements that the prosecution have kindly given, and it confirms the fact that Paul Burrell was hugely affected by all of this, and may have mummified some of her possessions instead of dealing with them But he did not steal them. And those that know him, believe him."Mr Shaw said the defence would be demanding the "true witnesses" give direct evidence – a statement taken as hinting that royal family members could be called to the trial.. The 75-page blueprint for a revolution in the policing of Northern Ireland is designed to balance Protestant and Catholic sensitivities. Ministers have accepted in principle all 175 recommendations by Chris Patten, a former Tory minister, and detailed how they might turn them into reality.