Services for Norfolk’s 170,000 children and young people are on the up, according to a glowing report by government inspectors. Children’s services and social care for young people were both given the three-point rating “good” – up from the “adequate” two-point assessment last year. The potential to improve is also “good”, as it was in 2005. The performance assessments by the school inspectorate Ofsted and the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) are graded from one to four – inadequate, adequate, good and excellent/outstanding.

The long waiting list for home helps in Calderdale has been blamed on a cash shortage. Councillors were told an extra £550,000 would be needed immediately to give the most needy people the help they require. Calderdale Council Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel was told the entire budget was at risk of overspending to the tune of £2 million and that home care was just a small part of it.

An ultimatum handed to care home staff across Essex has been branded ‘monstrous’ and is fuelling fresh fears for the future of Stanley Wilson Lodge in Saffron Walden. According to the GMB union, employees of five Excelcare facilities for the elderly in the county were told they must accept a cut in wages and working conditions, or lose their jobs. Meetings with affected employees have been followed by letters outlining the new ‘take it or leave it’ contract.

Disability charity MOVE Europe has unveiled its new Charter at the House of Lords, urging government to recognise the huge health and social benefits its unique mobility programme can deliver. The MOVE Programme has been shown to reduce the financial pressures on social care agencies and health services.  Yet despite being available in this country for almost ten years now, only 1.5 per cent of the UK’s 110,000 severely disabled children are able to access the scheme. Only two English local authorities are currently making MOVE available to all those that could benefit, and nine in Scotland.

Residents are celebrating after winning a two year fight to shut down a mental health rehabilitation centre on their doorstep. A planning inspector has ruled that private firm Cambian Healthcare must stop its current operations at The Aspens in Mexborough, following a four-day public inquiry last month.

{mosimage}Anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) have become a “badge of honour” among young people, according to a survey. The year-long Youth Justice Board study looked at Asbos given to under-18s between January 2004 and January 2005 in 10 areas of England and Wales. Of 137 young people, 67 had breached their order at least once, 42 more than once and six on six occasions or more. “High levels of breach had led some sentencers to question how much impact Asbos were having on the behaviour of individual young people,” the government agency said.

A guide to help local authority buyers purchase services for vulnerable people has been published. Produced by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), A guide to procuring care and support services is the result of 18 months’ work by Leeds and Plymouth City Councils. They applied procurement best practice to the purchase of housing and other support services.

Shocking hygiene standards have been found in some UK hospital kitchens, a consumer group reports. Which? reviewed hygiene inspection reports for 50 hospitals and found evidence of cockroaches, mice and mouldy cooking equipment. An online survey by the organisation also revealed 29% of NHS patients still felt hungry after their meals. But the Department of Health said hospital food had improved in the last few years.

The boy Madonna is seeking to adopt will be brought up with the teachings of the controversial mystic religion Kabbalah, the pop star has confirmed. David Banda has already been seen wearing a red Kabbalah string bracelet on his wrist and Madonna, 48, revealed that he would study the scriptures in which she places her faith. “I believe in Jesus and I study the Kabbalah, so I don’t see why he can’t too,” she said in an American television interview.

The traditional two-parent family is set to receive more state support after a study suggested the Government had put too much focus on helping single parents. A review for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found that Labour was in danger of missing its ambitious targets to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020. It could lead to a shake-up of benefits and tax credits.