New figures show that the number of registered care homes in Yorkshire has fallen by 143 in four years. The number of registrations dropped from 1,858 in April 2003 to 1,715 in April this year according to statistics released by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI).

The number of people sleeping rough in England has been underestimated by officials, a drugs charity has claimed. The Manchester-based charity Lifeline surveyed drug users at its needle exchange and calculated between 230 and 400 people in Manchester were homeless.

The NHS Confederation Mental Health Network has responded to the CSCI and Healthcare Commission report into performance of adult specialist community mental health services. Director, Steve Shrub said:

Two healthcare watchdogs have praised the improvements in mental healthcare, but call for greater involvement of people who use the services in decisions about their own care. The Healthcare Commission

Awarding body ASET has just added two new NVQs to its rapidly expanding Health & Social Care Portfolio. ASET Level 2 NVQ in Support Services in Health Care and ASET Level 4 NVQ for Registered Managers (Adults) are now available for Centres.

A 17-year-old girl and two men have been jailed for “bullying to death” a vulnerable man in Cornwall. Steven Hoskin, 38, of St Austell, was tortured and then taken to a viaduct and forced to hang from railings.

Drinking just one pint of beer or a large glass of wine every day increases your risk of developing bowel cancer by 10 per cent, experts have said. Those who drink three to four units a day increased their risk of developing bowel cancer by up to a quarter, research has found.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the DDA) a person has a disability if: “…he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

More than £4.5 million has been awarded to Peabody Trust from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to deliver projects that will improve people’s quality of life and well-being across London’s most deprived communities.

Rogue gangmasters are supplying migrant workers to look after the elderly in care homes in an attempt to avoid controls on the provision of labourers to farms and packing warehouses, according to trade unions and MPs.

{mosimage}Cowboy operators are also providing foreign labour for construction sites and the cleaning industry, and overseas waiting and cleaning staff for hotels and restaurants.

Two years after the creation of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), which regulates all labour provision in the fresh food and farming sector, trade unions are gathering evidence that a number of unscrupulous gangmasters have moved into new sectors rather than comply with the law.

The authority was set up after the outcry over the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle-pickers at Morecambe Bay in February 2004 and concerns that gangmasters were unfairly treating migrants employed as pickers and packers of fresh produce. Now some ministers and MPs believe that its remit should be extended to regulate the provision of labour to care homes, the construction and hospitality industry.

There is concern about the alleged abuse of workers forced to pay out unreasonable amounts for accommodation, transport to work and even uniform from their pay. But there are also worries over health and safety.

Although the Government wants to welcome skilled workers from other countries, there is concern that some migrant workers charged with looking after the elderly may not be qualified to do so and that lives could be endangered. There is also concern about their proficiency in English and their ability to communicate with residents.