Controversial revisions to mental health legislation will strike the right balance between improving patient safeguards and protecting the public, the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, said yesterday.

Large-scale immigration has damaged the poorest communities and deeply unsettled the country, Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, says today. Mr Byrne says that inequality and child poverty are two of the main side-effects of migration, which has been running at record levels since Labour came to power.

The welfare of children must be at the heart of the processes involved in considering whether to take a child into care, Family Justice Minister Harriet Harman said. Ms Harman spoke at a conference organised by The Michael Sieff Foundation with the support of Children Law UK to examine the future of childcare proceedings.

A Conduct Committee of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) decided the case of a social worker from Rugby who was alleged to have breached the code of practice for social care workers by engaging in inappropriate touching and physical contact with service users.

Patients are at risk of malnutrition as there are not enough nurses to ensure they are properly fed, a poll says. Nearly half of the 2,193 nurses quizzed by the Royal College of Nursing said there were not enough staff to help patients.

Delays and costs of the multi-billion pound NHS information technology upgrade mean its future is “not looking good”, a group of MPs has said. The Commons public accounts committee, headed by Edward Leigh MP, said urgent action was needed to ensure an adequate service was provided.

Lives are being put at risk because student nurses are being left on their own with patients, a study has claimed. A poll by the Royal College of Nursing of 1,500 student nurses found nearly half had been left unattended with patients without warning.

A teacher found guilty of sexually abusing three young boys over a decade has been jailed for 11 years. Peter Shotton, 55, of The Twitten, Albourne, West Sussex, was sentenced at Hove Crown Court after being convicted on 10 counts in February.

A hearing into the conduct of a Registered Social Worker from Barrow-in-Furness will be held on 25 and 26 April 2007 by the social care workforce regulator for England, the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

More than 3,600 nursing posts have been axed in London in the past 18 months, figures show today. Hospital managers have been forced to reduce workforce numbers as they face massive debts and pressure from NHS trusts to save money.