More than six out of 10 NHS trusts have not carried out criminal record checks on staff who started work before new rules came into force, a survey has revealed. Research by BBC Radio Five Live said the number of workers who have not been vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) could top 50,000.

Urgent action is needed to prevent a “cancer time bomb” exploding as a result of soaring obesity rates, a leading specialist warns today.

Downing Street today sought to play down the row over a call by industry minister Margaret Hodge to give established British families priority social housing over immigrants.

A controversial Unicef report placing the UK bottom of the league for child well-being is really talking about England, a statistician has said. The report, which was criticised by the government, placed the UK at the bottom of 21 industrialised nations. But a further study of the report’s data reveals Scots and Welsh children are much happier than in England.

{mosimage}Dr Kevin McConway told Radio 4’s More Or Less that some of the Unicef conclusions were based on England. Dr McConway, of the Open University, studied the original survey data Unicef used to compile its report. Unicef, the United Nations childrens’ agency, based its report on 40 indicators including poverty, family, relationships and health. “Britain came off pretty badly with most of the dimensions looked at,” he said. “Some of the data was based on a World Health Organisation which was done separately in England, Scotland and Wales and it wasn’t done at all in Northern Ireland.

“In the Unicef report – which placed the UK at the bottom – in terms of the data they got from the WHO they only used the English data. For example they asked 11, 13 and 15 -year-olds if they found other classmates kind and helpful – England did very badly on that with only 40% but in Scotland and Wales it was much higher – it was two thirds in both of those areas. This would have put Scotland and Wales in the middle of the pack of other countries covered in the Unicef survey, whereas England is doing pretty badly.”

Families caring for disabled children are to receive £340m to help improve their lives, Economic Secretary Ed Balls has announced. {mosimage}Over the next three years, money will be spent on

The NHS is probably using too many expensive treatments, according to health economists and managers. New drugs are generally only used if they cost under £30,000 for each year of good health they provide.

The chairman of the British Medical Association, James Johnson, resigned suddenly last night over accusations that he was siding with the government in the debacle over training jobs for junior doctors. Mr Johnson said the criticism of him had “got very nasty” and he felt he had lost the confidence of some of his colleagues.

Council workers, charity staff and doctors will be required to tip off police about anyone whom they believe could commit a violent crime, under secret Home Office plans.

People with learning difficulties such as Down’s syndrome are to be tagged and monitored by satellite technology in a controversial pilot project.

A hospital worker with a grudge against the NHS may be trying to kill patients by sabotaging crucial equipment, police fear.