Taxpayers will have to foot a legal bill approaching a million pounds after the court case involving hitman-hiring social worker Lynda Barnes.

Some universities are heightening the risk of another Baby P tragedy by giving social work degrees to students who lack the basic skills needed to protect children, MPs were warned today.

An older people’s charity has called for “radical reform” to tackle what it calls a growing care crisis facing the elderly, their families and carers.

There is a broad consensus, which includes the government, that the present system of social care funding is untenable. Yet with the publication of the green paper expected next week, there is little agreement or clarity about how social care should be funded for the future, with minimal evidence-based discussion about what will actually work. Instead, the preoccupation remains with satisfying short-term political and economic considerations.