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).

Decades of Government attempts to control illegal drugs have had “minimal” impact on levels of use and led to a position where Britain has the worst addiction levels in Europe, a report will say this week.

MI5 is adopting tactics used by the police to keep tabs on paedophiles and other sex offenders to monitor the activities of known or suspected Islamic extremists, The Times has learnt.

Gordon Brown is being forced to come clean over a “stealth tax” that will saddle every man, woman and child in Britain with a debt of £1,700. For 10 years the Chancellor has kept billions of pounds’ worth of borrowing “off the books” – hiding the true scale of debt burdening Britain’s workers.

Almost 150 jobs are to be axed by Portsmouth City Council and there are almost certain to be more to follow. The cash-strapped council is axing 48 posts to save cash, at the same time as almost 100 people have opted to take redundancy as part of a radical revamp of care services for people needing help at home.

The Royal College of Nursing was last night heading for the first national industrial action in its 91-year history in protest at the government’s decision to hold back part of the pay increase nurses were due this month.

A seven-year-old boy and his HIV-positive parents at the centre of a deportation battle have been granted a legal reprieve after coming within hours of being put on a plane to Malawi.

A portable foetal heart monitor which has been developed for pregnant women could help to cut the number of stillbirths in Britain, according to the charity that funded the research.

Teenage anorexics will win greater rights to refuse treatment for their eating disorders under controversial new mental health laws to be debated by MPs this week.

A shortage of people willing to adopt has led to more children being taken into care. Latest figures show at the end of March last year 465 children in Warwickshire were being looked after in care compared to 445 two years ago.