Hundreds of elderly people are living in badly run Northern care homes, exposing them to filthy conditions, the risk of infections or lack of dignity. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that 22 homes have been officially labelled “poor”.

With broken voice and trembling lip, a-quiver with self-righteousness, Tony Blair bade us farewell last Thursday. He ought to have saved a few of his choked-back tears for the thousands of young children who have to look after their sick or disabled parents with little or no help.

Almost 17,000 children face the daily strain of caring for a mentally- ill parent, it was revealed yesterday. With little or no help from the state, many have to administer medicine to their mother or father as well as providing crucial emotional support.

More than half of children in the UK using the internet have had an “unwanted experience”, a poll suggests. The NSPCC found 50.4% of 2,053 children had experienced problems such as bullying, being threatened or sexually harassed while online.

{mosimage}It is concerned about the popularity of social networking sites such as Bebo or MySpace, which it says 52% of children aged 11-16 use once a day. The NSPCC says these could heighten children’s exposure to abusive people. The survey indicated most young people logged onto such websites to make new friends and link up with people they already knew. But it also suggests that almost 60 per cent of children used the websites to help combat loneliness, while 53 per cent used them to share their problems.

The findings were revealed as the charity launches this year’s Don’t Hide It campaign. The campaign aims to encourage children to speak out about all forms of abuse carried out on social networking websites.

Hundreds of thousands of elderly people have had their social care cut in the past decade. Seven in 10 councils in England have been forced to “ration” services since Labour came to power, according to the Local Government Association.

{mosimage}Most town halls now provide services – including meals on wheels, trips to day centres and home visits from social workers – only to pensioners with “substantial” or “critical” needs.

Lack of funding means many councils now help only those who are seriously ill or incapacitated. In some cases, pensioners have had to sell their homes to help pay for private care, or ask their families to pick up the bill.

The revelations follow last week’s admission by Ivan Lewis, the minister responsible for care services, that provision for the elderly is “one of the great challenges facing our society”. He called for “a new settlement that is fair and -sustainable”.

Savings to health care and social care budgets could be made by investing in housing adaptations, and investment in independent living benefits individuals and wider society, according to research published today by the Office for Disability Issues (ODI).

The delivery of the £2.24 million Supporting People programme provided by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is ‘good’ and has ‘promising prospects’ to improve, according to an independent report released today by the Audit Commission.

The Department of Health has declared that the talking therapies trialled in Doncaster and Newham were a complete success with 90 per cent of patients reportedly feeling “highly satisfied” with the service.

The mental health charity Mind has urged the government to ensure that wards in NHS hospitals are no longer mixed. It is particularly concerned that mental health wards are sometimes unsafe for patients to be on.

Teenagers who drink alcohol with their parents are less likely to binge drink, according to a survey of 10,000 children which backs the continental style of introducing teenagers to small amounts of alcohol early.

{mosimage}Parents who do not want their children drinking behind their backs should limit their pocket money to less than £10 a week, says the study, carried out by academics and trading standards officers.

It found that teenagers who illegally bought their own alcohol were six times as likely to drink in public, in parks and on the streets, three times as likely to be regular drinkers and twice as likely to be binge drinkers.

Mark Bellis, the lead researcher and director of the public health centre at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “We are too used to handing £10 or £20 to young people without any realisation of where it is being spent. Add to that birthday money and money from part-time jobs – young people have money to spend. Parents need to know more about what their children are spending it on.”