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.

The “great majority” of hospitals which were in serious deficit last year have improved their position, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt says. She told Sky’s Sunday Live that fewer than 10% of hospitals still had serious debts and the NHS overall would be “in balance”.

Staff overseeing the welfare of the youngest person to die in custody in the UK had failed to protect the 14-year-old, even though they knew he was a suicide risk, an inquest will be told this week.

{mosimage}Adam Rickwood, who had emotional problems, hanged himself at the privately run Hassockfield Centre near Consett, Co Durham, while being held on a wounding charge. In a meeting with Adam’s mother, Carol, 20 days before her son died, staff allegedly assured her that he was safe in their care.

‘Adam had told me he was going to hurt himself if he was kept in the centre,’ Carol said. ‘But the staff told me there had never been a suicide at the centre and that he would be constantly monitored.’ Hassockfield is more than 150 miles from Adam’s family home in Lancashire. Guidelines suggest that young offenders should be held no more than 50 miles away from their family. ‘The last time I saw Adam he cried and cried and said he wanted to be nearer to home. He wasn’t an angel, but he was a mummy’s boy. He liked a cuddle,’ said Carol.

Fears are increasing among Halton carers that isolation and confusion will grow as a result of a shake-up of mental health services. Lack of independent advice and uncertainty over the future of professional services are among the their concerns.

Hundreds of mental health sufferers fear they will be left to cope alone with the future of their support centre hanging in the balance. Resource, based in Reading, faces closure because of a lack of funds – leaving its 1,400 users with nowhere else to go.

The controversial amendments to the Mental Health Bill put forward by the government are not supported by the public according to a recent YouGov poll.

Care for Camden’s elderly should not be privatised despite council figures showing that contract carers could save tax-payers millions, Labour’s top councillor has said.

Parents and carers have blasted west Berkshire’s local authorities in the wake of a survey which shows they provide autistic people with a sub-standard service. The Berkshire Autistic Society poll showed 89 per cent of its members feel autistic children and adults are receiving insufficient support from their councils.

Knowsley Safeguarding Children Board has launched an information campaign to highlight the issue of ‘private fostering’ and identify where these arrangements are taking place. Anyone who is looking after a child when they are not a close relative or legal guardian is legally required to let their local Children and Families social work team know.