Tough choices are looming for Derby City Council after the full extent of the financial crisis in adult social services was revealed last night. The department is facing a £3.2m overspend.

A Day nursery has again been given the lowest rating by inspectors from Ofsted. Bright Future, in Vale Road, Colwick, was given an “inadequate” rating by the education watchdog after a visit on September 24.

Community health services for people with dementia need to be expanded ten-fold in Sheffield to meet the needs of sufferers, warns a charity.

Merseyside’s criminal justice system could be thrown into chaos as solicitors prepare to defy government reform of their pay scales.

A multi-million cash injection for a drugs rehabilitation programme in England has produced only a handful of success stories, it was revealed today.

Nurses will be asked to weigh patients weekly as part of a Government plan to stop the elderly starving to death in hospitals and care homes.

A massive £130 million funding boost for drug addiction treatment has led to only 70 more users quitting drugs – at a cost of almost £1.9 million each.

{mosimage}Spending on drug services in England rose by 50 per cent from £253 million in 2004-05 to £384 million last year, figures from the National Treatment Agency have revealed.

But over the same period the numbers leaving treatment programmes ‘clean’ – having successfully beaten their addictions – crept up by just 1.2 per cent from 5,759 to 5,829.

The figures have sparked fierce criticism, with opposition MPs demanding an urgent inquiry by independent spending watchdogs, and accusing ministers of “incompetence and distorted priorities”.

Critics claim the Government has focussed too much on getting greater numbers of addicts into treatment while paying little attention to the outcome of the expensive courses.

Last week there was outrage when it emerged that many treatment centres routinely offer addicts extra drugs – including heroin substitutes and anti-depressants – as a reward for providing drug-free urine samples.

Nurses caring for mental health patients will hold three more days of strikes in support of a suspended colleague.

A Teesside service that helps disabled people get on with their lives is appealing for more volunteers. Leonard Cheshire Disability is the largest voluntary provider of care and support services for disabled people.

Children’s charities have welcomed the government’s plans for a cross-departmental child poverty unit but say more funding is needed to halve child poverty by 2010.