A new survey is inviting thousands of older people and their relatives to recount their experiences of choosing a care home. Social care watchdog CSCI wants to find out how much help and information people were given before choosing a care home for themselves, a relative or a friend.

The criminal courts are in meltdown with a severe cash crisis forcing offenders to be sentenced on the ground of cost, not justice, magistrates say.

Four in 10 families now face paying inheritance tax as Gordon Brown comes under mounting pressure to raise the £285,000 threshold.

Government plans for changes in the law to boost rape conviction rates are in disarray after the judges who would have to put them into practice told ministers they oppose them.

A health minister made the shameful admission that elderly people are effectively being starved in care homes and hospitals. Ivan Lewis said some are given just a single scoop of mash as a meal. Other bedridden pensioners are ‘tortured’ with trays of food placed just out of their reach.

Thousands of parents face paying up to £1,500 extra to send their children to nursery. Under the current system, many nurseries, which receive a state grant to provide 12.5 hours of free childcare a week, charge top-up fees to cover staff and administration costs.

Rapists and child abusers are escaping justice because the government left a loophole open when it passed the Sex Offences Act 2003 and repealed earlier legislation. The act came into force on May 1 2004 and covers crimes committed after that date. Offences committed before then can still be prosecuted under the earlier law, the Sex Offences Act 1956.

Food for elderly people being cared for is still sub-standard, ministers say. Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis admitted care homes, hospitals and home care services were not getting it right despite repeated warnings by charities.

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He said he had heard of elderly people being offered one scoop of mash for meals and trays placed out of reach. Campaigners said it had been a long-running problem and the elderly were being neglected “at a time when they need help the most”.

How elderly people are treated will become more important than ever over coming years as by 2025 the number of over 85s will increase by two thirds with each of them needing five times as much care from the NHS as adults under 44.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee commenting on the Health Secretary’s remarks about GP pay said: “The increases in GP pay were directly linked, at government insistence, to demonstrating the quality of the services they provide.

A major new partnership initiative has been launched to coordinate and develop services for people with autism in the North East. The North East Autism Consortium, led by the National Autistic Society (NAS), will bring together local agencies and services, as well as people with autism, to establish a long term strategy to meet the needs of the 26,000 children and adults living with autism in the region.