Six disabled people have been arrested in connection with what is believed to be the widespread abuse of a scheme to help wheelchair-users buy cars.

The government is to lend its weight to a concerted national campaign to eliminate the stigma that is blighting the lives of people suffering from mental illness, health ministers have announced.

{mosimage}The campaign, spearheaded by the UK’s high profile mental health charities, will use television advertising and community projects across England to tackle the prejudice that prevents those who suffer mental health problems from getting jobs, mortgages, friendships and a fair share of NHS care.

Ivan Lewis, the care services minister who took over responsibility for mental health this month, said:
“It is time to draw a line following years of division over the reform of mental health legislation.

“We should now unite to launch a sustained national campaign against the stigma and ignorance which has blighted the lives of too many people with mental health problems for too long.” He will announce the government’s support for a consortium led by the charities Mind and Rethink, which last week won £18m from the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief for a four-year anti-stigma campaign.

The boss of an old people’s home in Longtown has been charged with stealing property and cash worth £3,278. Ann Watt, 45, was relieved of her duties at Cumbria County Council’s Eskdale House in March pending a police probe into “misuse of funds”.

No doubt about it, Francis Ward, Head of Skills, Research and Intelligence for Skills for Care has the power of persuasion when it comes to his favourite topic – the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care.

A committee of MPs is to investigate the misuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Misuse hopes to pin down the true scale and nature of the problem, and find ways to tackle it.

The English Community Care Association (ECCA), the leading representative body for independent care homes, has welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement of the Government’s intention to have a much clearer and long-term relationship with the third sector.