Skills for Care, the social care workforce development body in England for people working with adults, has responded to the statement made by the Education and Skills Committee earlier this week. The report put the spotlight on the Government’s Train to Gain programme.

New minister for patient empowerment, Ann Keen, has called on the NHS and local government to give more people a greater say over local health and social care services.

Health campaigners have dismissed the long awaited new Mental Health Act as a missed opportunity. The new Act is an attempt to reform the Mental Health Act 1983, particularly to ensure that people with serious mental disorders which threaten their health or the public’s health can be treated whether or not they have given their consent.

A woman suffering from ME is taking legal action which could see City of York Council’s entire care charging policy rendered illegal. Janis Thomson, 46, of Victoria Way, Huntington, York, is to challenge the authority over its charging policy for adult social services.

An inquiry into the murder of an 11-year-old schoolboy, who suffered from cystic fibrois, by a fellow pupil, says social workers could not have prevented the tragedy, it has emerged.

Immigration rule changes that have left 49,000 highly skilled migrants who have settled in Britain facing the possibility of deportation are “unfair and unlawful” and should be dropped immediately, according to a report from MPs and peers published today.

The future of the computer system that is supposed to keep track of 300,000 offenders a year who are in prison or on probation is in doubt after ministers halted the programme this week. The moratorium follows an admission that the original £234m costing “proved to be optimistic”.

Michael Leadbetter and David Prince have been appointed as new members to the General Social Care Council (GSCC). Mr Michael Leadbetter is a former Director of Social Services, a consultant in Children’s and Adult Care Services and has been  Chair of the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) since April 2007.