Dozens of at-risk children have been identified following high-profile abuse cases including the murder of baby Aaron O’Neil. Care agencies were criticised for not doing enough to protect three-month-old Aaron, who was battered to death by his father in February 2005.

Leading mental health charity Rethink has responded to a new British Social Attitudes report which worryingly highlighted the ongoing stigma people with mental illness face. Produced by the National Centre for Social Research, the report found that:

The merger in November 2006 of Enterprise 5 Housing Association and Nomad Homes to create NomadE5 Housing Association has brought together two of the most respected Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) into the Isos Housing Group.

Tony Blair has promised a decision next week on whether Catholic adoption agencies will be able to opt out of gay discrimination laws. The prime minister said there could also be a Commons vote, saying it was important to find “a way through this sensitive and difficult issue”.

{mosimage}Earlier, Education Secretary Alan Johnson said any opt-out would mean “plain, simple discrimination”. But some Catholics say new rules go against their religious beliefs.

In a statement, Mr Blair said: “Both gay couples and the Catholic agencies have high levels of success in adopting hard-to-place children. It is for that reason we have taken time to ensure we get these regulations right.

“How do we protect the principle of ending discrimination against gay people and at the same time protect those vulnerable children who are at the present time being placed through – and after care provided by – Catholic agencies who everyone accepts do a great job with some of the most disturbed youngsters?”

The agencies say they will close if not given an opt-out from having to place children with gay couples, which they say goes against their beliefs.

Mr Blair said: “The new regulations provide a massive step forward in ending discrimination against gay people. These regulations will extend further anti-discrimination legislation. We are clear about what we want to do. There is one last aspect within the new regulations to resolve and it concerns adoption.”

The government is in talks to buy two prison ships to ease the current wave of overcrowding. An RAF camp is also being considered as one of a number of options to temporarily ease the pressure.

The Roman Catholic Church is not expected to win an exemption from new anti-discrimination laws, following the row over adoption by gay couples. Its agencies are demanding an opt-out, so that they are not required to place children with homosexual people.

{mosimage}Reports that Tony Blair has “caved in” to Cabinet members who are against an exemption have been described as “ridiculous” by Downing Street. But No 10 has suggested agencies may be allowed time to adapt or close. Tony Blair has met Labour MPs over the issue and an announcement is expected next week. The Equality Act, due to come into effect in England, Scotland and Wales in April, outlaws discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services on the basis of sexual orientation.

Catholic leaders say its teachings prevent its agencies placing children with homosexuals and they will close if bound by the rules. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, has denied claims that he is using “blackmail”. The Church of England has backed the Catholic Church in its attempts.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, have written to Tony Blair to argue that “rights of conscience cannot be made subject to legislation, however well-meaning”.

Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman, the latest minister to voice an opinion on the issue, has said there was no scope for exemptions to the legislation. “We will stay true to our commitment in tackling sexual discrimination in terms of sexual orientation,” she told the New Statesman magazine. “You can either be against discrimination or you can allow for it. You can’t be a little bit against discrimination.”

The government has been too slow to react to rising levels of childhood obesity, an MPs’ report has warned. Despite a target to halt the rise of obesity among under-11s by 2010, the Commons public accounts committee said little concrete action had been taken.

Changes to how the public has its say on the running of the NHS are set to fail because of a lack of funding, leading doctors have said. The British Medical Association said the structure of Local Involvement Networks (Links) was flawed and open to unacceptable variations.

A way of ridding the body of lethal tumours has been identified by scientists who have used a genetic “switch” to turn on a key gene for suppressing cancer. The findings suggest there may be a way of re-activating a damaged gene that is normally involved in the natural suppression of the uncontrolled cell division that leads to cancer.

Three years after the Government set a target to halt the rise in childhood obesity, the strategy is mired in “dithering and confusion,” a committee of MPs says today. In a scathing report on ministers’ failure to tackle the obesity epidemic, MPs say that misplaced concern about stigmatising fat children is putting their health at risk.