A man with severe learning difficulties was imprisoned, tortured and killed after he was falsely accused of being a paedophile, a court was told.

Community and racial tensions are now more likely to overheat in the rural towns and villages of the east of England than in the previously riot-hit northern mill towns of Burnley or Oldham, a government report will warn today.

Parents who use background information disclosed to them by police to harass sex offenders or fuel vigilante action will face prosecution for incitement, senior police officers warned yesterday.

Obesity has been a factor in at least 20 child protection cases in the last year, the BBC has learned. Some doctors now believe in extreme cases overfeeding a young child should be seen as a form of abuse or neglect.

In a new report the British Medical Association is calling on its members to help break down barriers to improve the healthcare outcomes for disabled patients. The report, ‘Disability equality within healthcare’1, is jointly produced by the BMA’s Equal Opportunities Committed [EOC] and its Patient Liaison Group [PLG].

More ex-servicemen can now get free mental health assessments, the Ministry of Defence has announced. Veterans Minister Derek Twigg will announce an expansion of the Medical Assessment Programme (MAP). The programme was set up in 1993 to help servicemen returning from the first Gulf War.

Cornwall County Council is to spend an additional £500,000 commissioning social care services from voluntary organisations, charities and community groups throughout the county to improve the health and well being of the population and support people with low and moderate levels of need.

Harnessing the skills of Britain’s disabled workforce could boost the UK economy by as much as £48 billion in the next three decades, a report claims. The Social Market Foundation (SMF) thinktank believes improving disabled people’s skills will provide a £35 billion bump while the help they give to the employment rate is worth £13 billion.

As Suffolk battles to shed millions pounds from its social care budget by asking charities to take over the workload, the county council has been accused of making late payments to the volunteer groups and putting them into financial difficulties.

The English Community Care Association (ECCA) has welcomed the research by Professor Ron Brookmeyer from the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland which clearly identifies that the growth in the older population will require more residential care if we are to support people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.