The Tories are to pledge to hand day-to-day control of the NHS to an independent board, as part of reforms aimed at making it more autonomous.

Between 1,500 and 1,800 non-dangerous offenders are to be released from prison next week, 18 days before the end of their sentence, in an effort to ease the prison crisis.

Abortions in England and Wales jumped by almost 4% last year, according to figures certain to fuel the growing debate about abortion rights in Britain.

Doctors’ leaders yesterday warned of a huge “unspoken epidemic” of domestic abuse. A report from the British Medical Association calls for doctors to be trained to spot and help victims.

A programme to vaccinate pre-teenage girls against cervical cancer is expected to move a significant step closer today, despite concern that it could be seen as condoning under-age sex.

The Human Rights Act does not apply to private care homes in England and Wales, the Law Lords have ruled. The decision came in the case of an 84-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s, known only as Mrs YL.

{mosimage}Her lawyers argued that her threatened eviction from a private home would violate her right to family life. Her care was council funded.

Her appeal was rejected by a 3-2 majority. The decision could affect as many as 300,000 care home residents.

Charities Help the Aged and Age Concern said they were disappointed by the ruling, which they said opened elderly people to abuse, neglect and eviction.

They urged the government to get around the Law Lords decision by changing the law to give private care home residents the same rights as those in local authority homes.

The government, which backed Mrs YL’s case, has said previously that it will consult the public before it changes the legislation.

Mrs YL would have protection under human rights law if she were in a home run by a local authority.

The Government has announced the next steps in its programme to tackle social exclusion, supporting twelve new projects to help the most chronically excluded adults in society. Since the launch of the Social Exclusion Action Plan in September last year the government has argued that specific approaches are needed to tackle social exclusion.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) today published a new workbook which is designed to provide a framework for foster carers to work their way through the ‘Training, Support and Development Standards for Foster Care.’

In a newly published report the British Medical Association (BMA) is calling on doctors and all health professionals to be increasingly aware of domestic abuse as an issue that needs urgent attention.

The Department of Health is today launching a consultation paper on a new approach to dealing with complaints in health and social care which will make it easier for people to complain when things go wrong.