The number of prisoners in England and Wales hit an all-time high of 80,846 yesterday, raising fears that the court service could run out of cell space this week if too few remand prisoners succeed in getting bail.

{mosimage}The record numbers saw four hundred prisoners housed in police and court cells made available for overspill. At one point yesterday, prison governors estimated that every court cell on standby would be full by tonight, but later they said they expected enough remand prisoners to get bail to leave a few spaces available. The latest figure means that fewer than three hundred spaces are free to house prisoners, even allowing for the four hundred police cells being used for emergency occupation under Operation Safeguard.

Only 100 court cells have been made available in London and three other locations. Cells in courts are expensive and difficult to staff and their emergency use for prison overspill makes it hard for prisoners to be brought to court for trials.

The need to get on with court cases means that prisoners in court cells are “hot-celling” with those in prisons, taking their space in prison while the jailed inmate goes to court. The problem has been exacerbated by the bank holiday, with some probation officers taking an extra day off yesterday and unable to take part in bail applications for people remanded in custody over the weekend.

The crisis is expected to worsen when the smoking ban comes in on July 1, when options to double up in cells will be limited by a new right for non-smoking prisoners to refuse to share a cell with a smoker.

Ministers are pushing for more doubling up of inmates but Phil Wheatley, director general of the prison service, has made it clear that there are limits to the number of places that can be found. “When we are full, we are full,” he has said.

Charles Bushell, general secretary of the Prison Governors Association, said there were “large and increasing numbers” of prisoners who could never be locked up with anybody else because they were dangerous or predatory.

Lord Falconer, the justice secretary, announced plans for legislation aimed at reducing the prison population when the new Ministry of Justice took over responsibility for prisons from the Home Office this month. But the latest record increase will bring more pressure on him to come up with a short-term solution.

Health and council chiefs have revealed new aims to improve the quality of life for the elderly. Cambridgeshire County Council and the county’s primary care trust (PCT) work together to provide social and medical care to the elderly.

Sunderland’s army of carers will get information on what is being done to help them financially. It is estimated there are more than 30,000 carers in the city who look after a family member, friend or neighbour with a long-term illness or disability.

Members of a Devon County Council task group want to hear from people who have had experience of mental health care and support in the community.

The proportion of Eastern European immigrants who intend to settle in Britain increases fourfold within months of them coming here, research shows. Researchers at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found that many Eastern European migrants choose to settle in Britain permanently despite early intentions to stay for only a short time.

Partnering with interactive agency Cimex and The Team, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England has rebranded and launched with a new website www.11million.org.uk to encourage more children and young people to use their site and to keep in contact with the organisation.

Social care worker and foster parent Shelly Brown, 44, approached Brighton and Hove City Council for help when she became paralysed from the chest down in March last year after a motorbike caused her to be thrown from her horse while riding on the Downs.

Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Sheffield have fallen victim to NHS cuts, with funding for preventative and promotion services being withdrawn.

Children’s rights campaigners have slammed the Government for turning children into lifelong suspects after figures revealed more than 100,000 innocent young people are on the National DNA Database.

A new strategy that sets out how to promote good mental health and what skills are needed to do it must be provided by the government, according to the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH).