The controversial amendments to the Mental Health Bill put forward by the government are not supported by the public according to a recent YouGov poll.

Care for Camden’s elderly should not be privatised despite council figures showing that contract carers could save tax-payers millions, Labour’s top councillor has said.

Parents and carers have blasted west Berkshire’s local authorities in the wake of a survey which shows they provide autistic people with a sub-standard service. The Berkshire Autistic Society poll showed 89 per cent of its members feel autistic children and adults are receiving insufficient support from their councils.

Knowsley Safeguarding Children Board has launched an information campaign to highlight the issue of ‘private fostering’ and identify where these arrangements are taking place. Anyone who is looking after a child when they are not a close relative or legal guardian is legally required to let their local Children and Families social work team know.

A Conduct Committee of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) has decided the case of a social worker from Barrow-in-Furness who was alleged to have breached the code of practice for social care workers by failing to declare previous criminal convictions and a police caution when completing the Application Form for Qualified Social Workers for registration with the GSCC.

The Prime Minister has been tackled in the Commons over the possible closure of local authority residential care homes for the elderly in Staffordshire. Lichfield’s Tory MP Michael Fabricant said many old people were worried over the change and urged that it be phased in over time.

Children in care in England still lag way behind their peers, despite new figures showing a slight improvement in their performance. A third of looked after children reached age 16 in 2006 without any qualifications compared to only 2% of all children that age.