Local councils are to carry out their own census-style checks on immigrant numbers because of glaring underestimates in official figures. The councils, particularly in the South East, say that they do not get enough central government help with local services because the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is incapable of providing correct numbers.

A war veteran who faces losing his sight because the NHS will not pay for treatment to save it said today the decision would leave his disabled wife “stranded and helpless”.

Fears were raised today that the standard of care for Norfolk’s elderly and disabled will suffer after it was decided to privatise home care. Councillors at Norfolk County Council unanimously agreed to hand the majority of home care support to the private sector over the next seven years.

Former prisoners are to be appointed to every probation service in England and Wales in a bid to cut the number of young offenders who return to crime after a spell in prison. The scheme, which builds on an initiative by the Prince of Wales, aims to break the cycle of reoffending by young people.

A team at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital has made the world’s first attempt to treat a sight disorder using gene therapy. They operated on Robert Johnson, a UK man born with a sight disorder which deteriorates with age.

Paedophiles who abuse children of 12 or under may receive shorter jail terms if their victims ‘consent’ to sex, according to sentencing rules published this week. The law currently considers such youngsters incapable of giving consent – so sexual intercourse is automatically classed as rape.

Lord Ashley of Stoke’s Disabled Persons (Independent Living) bill has received approval from the House of Lords and with early day motions of 150 MPs also supporting the bill, looks set to be on its way to becoming law soon.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection today set out its ambitious plans for the two years from April 2007 to March 2009. After then an expected merger with the Healthcare Commission and Mental Health Act Commission will create a new health and adult social care regulator.
{mosimage}CSCI Chair Dame Denise Platt said: “At its best social care transforms lives. Disabled people can be supported to hold down jobs; older people can receive services – in their own homes or a growing range of residential settings – which maintain their health, well-being and overall quality of life; parents suffering from substance misuse or mental ill-health can be helped so their problems do not impact adversely on their children; and those who care for others can obtain invaluable respite and support.

“Many social care services deliver these outcomes but there are still areas of poor performance and sub standard services. Inspection and assessment, delivered well and economically, are vital components of the Government’s reform programme to secure public services which are of high quality and responsive to what people want.

“Rising expectations will quickly make even today’s good services seem inadequate, so the challenge is one of continuous improvement – with the regulator, CSCI, informing the public and assessing, encouraging and sometimes formally holding to account those who hold the keys to higher quality services, primarily those who run and provide them and those who commission them.”

Children who catch a heavy cold at key moments during their first year of life are at greater risk of developing asthma, researchers have found.

Jessica is just 11 but she has to cook, clean and care for her paralysed mother. And she’s not alone. There are more than 175,000 children who act as chief carers for their ill or disabled parents. Demands are growing for a public inquiry into why they get so little support.