Care leavers who can use visual or performing arts to describe their hopes, fears and visions of the future are wanted for a special event to mark the start of National Care Leavers Week 2006. Taking place at Tate Britain in the evening of 23 October, Futures will showcase the achievements of people with care experience and highlight any barriers to their progression. Young care leavers with all interests – including music, film, art, poetry and comedy – are invited to submit ideas for presentations to show at the event. Futures is a collaboration by A National Voice (ANV), the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), Barnardo’s, the Princes Trust and the National Leaving Care Advisory Service (NLCAS).

Cherie Blair is vowing to fight a council threatening to take a multiple sclerosis sufferer away from her husband and put her in a home. The council, cutting dozens of services after a £10.8million overspend, told Mary McGee, 61, it was slashing her care to save cash and warned she could be put in residential care. Husband and carer James, 62, wrote to barrister Mrs Blair pleading for help.

It was the day widow Dorothy Humphry never thought she would see, and she was trying very hard not to cry with pride and happiness. Her son Alan and his fiance Justine Brown had just got married to cheers and applause from 43 friends and family. As the newlyweds emerged from Ferndown Register Office, Alan, 41, looked dignified in his smart suit while Justine, 38, was simply radiant in her ivory satin dress with beaded bodice and jacket. The couple exchanged kisses in the sunshine and said: “We’re very happy.”

Foster carers will receive help from a new 12-month training programme. The Cambridgeshire County Council-organised courses aim to explain children’s needs and cover issues including child attachment, child development, healthcare, communicating with children and caring for children from different cultures. First aid, caring for sexually abused children, behaviour management, eating disorders and moving to independence will also be discussed.

A convicted armed robber stole hundreds of pounds from a disabled pensioner after being given a job caring for elderly and vulnerable people. The criminal – who had a string of convictions – was employed because agency staff failed to properly check his background. The mistake allowed Peter Hughes, 49, to worm his way into the trust of a disabled pensioner he was supposed to care for, before stealing his wallet and emptying his bank account of more than £500. Now social services bosses have vowed to clamp down on agencies in light of the blunder.

The extra billions invested in the NHS have been largely wasted, an independent thinktank claims today, resulting in far less improvement in services than might have been expected. A report from Civitas (the Institute for the Study of Civil Society) says that while government spending on the NHS has doubled in cash terms from 2000 – an increase of around a third in real terms – productivity has gone down.

Care homes for elderly and disabled people will be subject to new surprise “sweeps” by inspectors to improve the quality of food and prevent the overuse of sedatives.Themed spot checks will be part of a new inspection regime aimed at raising standards for the 500,000 adults living in 20,000 care homes. The Times disclosed in June that the homes would be given hotel-style rankings so that residents and their relatives know what standard of service to expect.

{mosimage} Millions of people in England will soon have a better way of judging the quality of care services they or their relatives and friends rely on. New ratings (1-4) for all 28,000 care providers in England will let the public see easily whether care providers are excellent, good, adequate or poor. The public is now being consulted on the details of how the new system will work.  CSCI’s newly appointed Chief Inspector Paul Snell said: “You may be a young disabled person who needs some help to get ready in the morning, or an older person choosing a care home, or you may be trying to choose a care service for your mother, father, son, daughter, or other relatives or friends. 

Fourteen prison officers have been suspended in north London following allegations of corrupt behaviour. The governor of HMP Pentonville took action following claims of trafficking and “inappropriate relations”, a Prison Service spokeswoman said. The jail is to “briefly reduce” its maximum number of inmates as a result, she added. Prison Service director general Phil Wheatley said he would not tolerate corruption of any sort. He said “appropriate disciplinary action” would be taken if necessary.

A suggestion by the former chairman of the Commons science committee that inbreeding may be behind a sharp increase in diabetes cases has sparked a row in his Norfolk constituency and the medical world. The claim, made by the Labour MP Dr Ian Gibson, followed publication of research showing the county had more than double the number of children diagnosed with type one diabetes than would be expected for its level of population. In the past three years doctors have treated 42 new cases of the condition in Norfolk among children, compared with a national average of 24 for a county the same size.