The government has admitted for the first time that almost half of all children will be dangerously overweight by 2050 if drastic action is not taken to halt the growth in childhood obesity.

Almost 3,000 crimes were committed last year where the suspect was too young to be prosecuted, the BBC has learned. Figures show there were about 1,300 incidents of criminal damage and arson, and over 60 sex offences where suspects were under-10s in England and Wales.

Gambling addiction in Britain is on the rise, fuelled by an explosion in internet betting, a major study has found. The revelation coincides with the introduction of controversial new gambling legislation this weekend.

A council at the centre of a controversial move to take a child into care at birth has seen a 100 per cent increase in kids it puts up for adoption in the last five years, we can reveal.

The social care workforce is ready to use more web-based methods of learning, according to Ipsos MORI research commissioned by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).

A child born to a labourer is six times more likely to suffer extreme poverty by the age of 30 than one born to a lawyer, a major study has revealed. In a remarkable portrait of childhood in Britain, academics have exposed a society in which inequalities are entrenched and social mobility is a myth.

Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, has responded to criticism about security issues surrounding ContactPoint, the new children’s database. In a letter to Family Law Week she states that:

An official report into Britain’s mental health services will warn tomorrow that there are significant gaps in care offered round the country. Many patients do not receive the quick and effective treatment they need.

Half of the most serious cases of childhood infections, such as meningitis, are being missed because of failures in out-of-hours care, according to a senior doctor. Parents were being told to take feverish children home by junior staff, and many felt they could not “impose” on their doctor by returning when their child’s conditions worsened, while staff on NHS Direct lines were not experienced enough to diagnose properly, he said.

{mosimage}Anthony Harnden, a lecturer in general practice at Oxford University, said that because children can suffer fevers for many reasons, it is difficult to spot those that will develop into life-threatening conditions such as meningitis and septicaemia.

But, writing in the British Medical Journal today, he claims government policy is making it harder to identify the worst cases because GPs are not providing enough frontline care.

“Changes in NHS policy have led to the primary care of febrile children presenting outside office hours being delivered by an increasing number of professional groups. Doctors, nurses, staff working for NHS Direct, out-of-hours centres and A&E departments may all have different levels of skill and experience.

“This is a major concern because the most solid evidence for recognising clinical severity in febrile children in primary care is a global assessment by an experienced clinician.” People working on phone lines such as NHS Direct could not make the kind of “holistic” diagnosis a GP could make face to face, he said.

Meningitis and septicaemia affect about 3,000 people every year in the UK. Babies, children and young adults are most at risk, and one in 10 people who get meningitis and septicaemia dies, while many more are left with disabilities. Meningitis kills more children under the age of five than any other infectious disease.

Health experts are issuing a warning about measles after an unexpectedly high number of cases this summer. Parents are being urged to make sure their children have had both doses of the jab against measles, mumps and rubella before the return to school.