Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, will confirm the place of cancer at the top of the government’s health agenda by acceding to the demands of campaigners for a second cancer plan. At the Britain Against Cancer conference in London today, she will acknowledge that the original cancer plan, launched in 2000, needs updating. Cancer charities have been lobbying for a new plan for some time. The biggest of them, Cancer Research UK, took a petition with 250,000 signatures to Downing Street last week.

For the first time since star ratings were introduced, no council in England has been zero-star-rated for adult social services this year. But 21 councils have failed to improve their services since the ratings were introduced in 2002.

A flood of MRSA compensation claims could finally be realised as lawyers turn to workplace safety legislation to pursue hospitals. To date it has been hard to pin the blame on the NHS, as it is never known exactly when a person becomes infected. But recent successes have prompted a rethink in how lawyers tackle cases, with many making use of laws governing the control of hazardous substances.

Hundreds of thousands of elderly people will no longer get home care services because of a funding shortfall and the widening impact of NHS cuts, the social care watchdog says. The Commission for Social Care Inspection reports that nearly two thirds of the 150 councils that provide social services changed their criteria last year to provide social care only for the most dependent people.

{mosimage} In more than 100 councils, elderly and disabled people who used to get regular help with cleaning, bathing, dressing and shopping will no longer be entitled to care unless they fall into the top two categories of “critical” or “substantial” risk. Only the very frail, immobile or those at risk of abuse will be entitled to these services, forcing other vulnerable people to rely on families or friends or to go without help.

The commission says that the situation is already getting worse in at least three authorities which are restricting home care to critical or life-threatening situations. It predicts that this situation will apply in many more authorities next year.

The number of households receiving home care has fallen by 174,000 since 1992 to 354,000 last year, a drop of 30 per cent. The commission says this is mainly because councils are concentrating scarce resources on the very needy. “People entitled to social care are getting better care,” a commission official said. “But that leaves thousands of others with no care at all.”

Mervyn Kohler, of Help the Aged, said that withdrawing preventive services from less critical groups could affect their quality of life crucially. People who no longer had help with cleaning, shopping or dressing would stop inviting people round, lose their self esteem and stay in bed all day. “Councils will end up paying the price for restricting the criteria with more people becoming dependent. This is a foolish, short-term economy.”

Councils are being forced to change their eligibility criteria because government grants for social services have failed to keep up with growing numbers of very elderly people, local authorities say. Many also complain that they are bearing the brunt of NHS cutbacks.

In some cases they are treating people who would have been cared for in hospital, while in others primary care trusts are refusing to pay for services provided by local authorities where they would have done so in the past.

Lisa Earl never thought she would go back to work. Leaving school at 16, she trained as a hairdresser. Then ill health, depression and lack of confidence meant that she spent most of the next 19 years unemployed. But this week she became a wage earner again after completing a training programme that takes people out of the dole queue and into a social care career.

Potential carers are still being urged to come forward and give children across Norfolk the chance of a better family life. Earlier this month, the Evening News highlighted the desperate need for more carers across the county and there has been a positive response, with some seven people coming forward. But still more are needed, as a shortage of foster carers is costing taxpayers millions of pounds.

People with an experience of mental illness and those who care for them are today descending upon Parliament to tell MPs of their opposition to the Government’s Mental Health Bill. As the Bill receives its second reading in the House of Lords, service users, carers and professionals from across England and Wales are joining the Mental Health Alliance Mass Lobby of Parliament.

Ministers have been warned not to create laws “dictated by the tabloid press”, in a debate on proposals to toughen up mental health legislation. Health minister Lord Warner told the House of Lords the aim of the Mental Health Bill was to protect both the public, and patients, from harm.

Between 55 and 60 murders a year are committed by mentally ill patients. But proposals were criticised as disappointing, “rooted in stereotype” and “unfit for purpose”. Lord Warner told peers, during the second reading of the Mental Health Bill, that it would introduce new safeguards for people who were deprived of their liberty in their own best interests.

{mosimage}”We also need to bring our legislation fully into line with the European Convention on Human Rights,” he said.

He added that while more than 900,000 people were seen by specialist mental health services at any one time, only about 15,000 would be detained under the Mental Health Act.

And he said more and more money was being spent on mental health services.

Street robbers often carry out their crimes for the thrill as much as for the financial gain, a report has said. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) study interviewed 120 offenders in England and Wales. The report said previous attempts to explain violent street crime put too much focus on the desire for gain, and not enough on the aspect of “pleasure”.

A senior Church of England bishop have warned that Anglican youth clubs, welfare projects and charities may close because of new gay rights laws. The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, said that the Church of England’s charities would be “affected” by the rules, which will force them to give equal treatment to homosexuals.