Nearly a million more people will benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy after an extra £170 million was pledged yesterday by Alan Johnson.

{mosimage}It is a “talking therapy” that guides people with conditions such as depression and anxiety into changing the way they feel about themselves.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends it as a first-line treatment, especially for adolescents.

But it has not been widely available because of a shortage of money. The additional funding will go towards an expansion of mental health therapies to ensure that such treatments are available UK-wide.

Studies have shown that psychological therapies can be as effective as drugs in tackling common mental health problems, and are often more successful in the longer term.

As many as six million UK working age adults suffer from depression or anxiety at any one time, resulting in a estimated 91 million working days lost every year. This equates to an estimated annual economic cost, in sick leave, lost jobs and reduced output, of £12 billion.

The new money, which will be spent over the next four years, will treat 900,000 more people for depression and anxiety and provide an additional 3,600 trained therapists.

More than 21,000 girls under 15 in England and Wales are estimated to be at serious risk of being forced into genital mutilation and a further 11,000 over-eights are highly likely already to have been subjected to the practice, according to research.

A “litany” of errors in an NHS Trust’s poor handling of the infection clostridium difficile resulted in 90 deaths, a watchdog’s report has found.

Being a victim of crime is now the norm for most children in Britain, according to research that reveals that 95% of 10- to 15-year-olds in the country have experienced crime at least once.

The fine given to a care home firm after a resident died in a hot bath has been criticised by the authority which brought the prosecution.

Nine elderly people were moved out of a care home after an investigation into serious concerns’ at the standard of care.

A rehabilitation unit for mental health patients is to be axed. Park House – a 12-bed unit on Bowers Avenue, Davyhulme – will be replaced by a community rehabilitation service.

Britain has replaced France as the top destination for asylum-seekers among all 27 EU countries, according to figures released in Brussels yesterday.

The Association of Lawyers for Children has serious concerns over the revised Children Act Guidance and Regulations that are intended to run alongside the forthcoming Public Law Outline.

Parents are “ill-equipped” to keep their children safe from violent and damaging influences on the internet, the Government said on Tuesday.