Children in Blaenau Gwent have a special one-stop-shop where they can make complaints and talk about services which affect them.

Union leaders are furious at UK government plans to pay court workers in Wales and the north of England less than their counterparts in the south. The plans for a new regional pay system by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) would apply to workers in crown, county and magistrates’ courts.

Police last night welcomed the closure of another North Wales crackhouse. The house on Wrexham’s Caia Park estate was linked to drug use and anti-social behaviour. It is the third property to be closed down in the area in the past month.

Health minister Brian Gibbons today pledged to crack down on violence against NHS staff in Wales. Signing an agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service to make sure people who abuse health workers are prosecuted, he said that such violence was “completely unacceptable”.

A suicide-prevention charity that runs a UK-wide “hope line” from Wrexham has set up a Wales support group. Papyrus was set up by parents who lost children by suicide and aims to prevent more young people killing themselves.

The former boss of one of Cardiff’s biggest shopping centres is facing a string of allegations that he downloaded pornography at work. Michael Kelly has been charged with 15 offences of taking or making indecent images of children and two offences of possessing indecent pictures.

The violent nature of society has led to a “deplorable” increase in attacks on Welsh teachers and pupils, teaching unions warned yesterday. The claim came as figures revealed nearly 5,000 Welsh pupils were excluded from schools in this country in the past academic year for violent offences.

People who abuse or assault NHS staff are more likely to be dealt with in court after an agreement between the Welsh Assembly Government and the Crown Prosecution Service. Health Minister Dr Brian Gibbons yesterday said the threat of prosecution was the “ultimate deterrent” to such behaviour.

Every week eight council employees in Cardiff are physically or verbally attacked, it has been revealed. And more than a quarter of the 412 incidents last year involved attacks on staff at city schools, according to figures released to the Echo under the Freedom of Information Act.

Magistrates have agreed to close down a second drugs den in Wrexham. The doors of the property on Caia Park will be sealed for three months after magistrates granted a closure order under the Anti-social Behaviour Act.