Britain’s most senior police officer wants children who face pressure from within their own families to join gangs to be placed on the child protection register.

Britain’s most senior judge yesterday called for an end to the automatic recall to prison of released offenders who technically breach their licences. He warned that it had become a “trapdoor to prison” and was a main factor in swelling the record jail population.

Millions of women could be protected against life-threatening hip fractures by a once-a-year treatment with a new drug.

{mosimage}More than 14,000 women die every year in Britain after breaking their hips as a result of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, which affects up to three million people. The new treatment cuts the risk of such fractures by more than 40 per cent.

Almost half a million women, mostly aged over 50, are prescribed drugs for the disease. Well-known sufferers include Rosalind Shand, the mother of the Duchess of Cornwall, Elizabeth Taylor and Doris Lessing. the novelist.

The 15-minute treatment means that women can be protected against developing brittle bones without having to remember to take pills regularly. Poor adherence to treatment is a major problem in the development of osteoporosis. The new drug, zoledronic acid (Aclasta) has been tested on almost 8,000 women in a trial that included patients from Aberdeen, Sheffield, Liverpool and Glasgow.

A teacher accused of seducing a pupil and carrying on an affair while pregnant with her husband’s baby was cleared yesterday of sexual activity with a child and abuse of trust.

A new report shows that up to 2.4 million people with diabetes are at risk of dying of cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as heart disease or stroke, if nothing is done to improve awareness, prevention and treatment.

Independent inspectors have praised Haringey Council’s “rapid progress” in improving services. Michael Haworth-Maden, of the Audit Commission, presented the local government watchdog’s annual summary of its assessment of the council at a meeting of the executive committee.

A top councillor has hit back at an opposition leader’s claims of a cover-up over a damning report on Bromley’s youth offenders team. Inspectors from the Government’s social care inspectorate and the Probation Service spent October and November of last year looking at the team’s work before a report was published on March 7.

Local voluntary and community organisations in England with plans to involve volunteers in the delivery of health and social care projects could benefit from the latest funding round from the Opportunities for Volunteering Scheme (OFV), a DoH initiative that provides grants to local health and social care organisations in England.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has announced that following the success of last year’s Occupational Group Funding initiative, it is making a new batch of funding available to support training and development in the children and young people’s sector during 2007-08.

Care workers trusted to handle money belonging to the people they care for must keep scrupulous records. A bulletin published by social care watchdog the Commission for Social Care Inspection shows that, while many services have improved the way they handle people’s money, there are examples of bad practice.