Thousands of young women are facing infertility because of Labour’s broken promises on sexual health, alarming new figures suggest. Ministers have failed to implement a pledge made in 2004 to introduce a nationwide screening programme for chlamydia – now the most common sexually transmitted disease – by this month, the Daily Mail has learned.

Thousands of prisoners are being given keys to their cells in the latest farce to hit the criminal justice system. They can roam in and out virtually at will under a scheme designed to give them more “respect and decency”.

Ministers are failing to tackle the problem of playground bullying, according to MPs. In a damning report to be published tomorrow by the Education Select Committee, the Government will be accused of throwing money into a “black hole” because it doesn’t understand the problem.

The political battle between Gordon Brown and David Cameron will today shift from the budget to the quality of childhood when Mr Cameron announces a formal inquiry into lost childhood in Britain.

Many people living in nursing homes are enduring chronic pain, a study says. The work by the Picker Institute Europe for the Patients’ Association found nearly two out of five residents experienced constant pain.

The lord chief justice yesterday voiced his opposition to mandatory life sentences for murder, saying they “misled the public”. Lord Phillips put on record for the first time his disagreement with the government over the life sentence, which ministers insist must be retained to reflect the unique gravity of murder.

Health inspectors will today publish conclusive evidence that the government’s claim to have ended the scandal of mixed-sex psychiatric wards in the NHS was false, or at best misleading.

The Government’s plans to toughen up mental health laws are “fundamentally flawed” and could put the public more at risk from dangerous criminals, mental health experts warn today.

A grieving mother has told how she discovered her 12-year-old son hanging after an argument about tidying his room. Wendy Thomas found Aidan hanging from his bedpost by his school tie. She tried desperately to save his life but he died in hospital the next morning.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection has warned an NHS Trust that it must dramatically improve standards in the care homes it runs for people with learning disabilities, or face the possibility of prosecution.