Devon County Council proposes to improve social care in the county by commissioning services for adults from voluntary, not-for-profit and private sector organisations.

English councils face a deficit of £1.77 billion in their social care budgets for 2005/06, according to a survey carried out by The Association of Directors of Social Services and the Local Government Association.

The health department has told social services departments to spend new grants for improving information management on systems that tie in with the new white paper on care outside hospital and preparation for integration with the NHS Care Records Service.

Most childcare providers offer a nutritious, balanced diet to those in their care and are knowledgeable about healthy eating, inspectors say.

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) shares Sir Derek Wanless’ vision of care for older people as outlined in the report, Securing Good Social Care for Older People.

A fundamental review of social care that could lead to radical changes in the way the £10bn-a-year care business is funded is being launched by ministers.

{mosimage} Elderly people are being neglected and poorly treated by England’s health system, inspectors say. The joint report by three public sector watchdogs said the NHS and care services treated older people with a lack of dignity and respect.

More needs to be done to help young people who self-harm, a two-year inquiry into the issue has found. It said teachers, doctors and social workers do not receive the training they need to deal with self-harm cases, leaving many “struggling in the dark”.

Health unions have joined forces to call for crisis talks with the secretary of state over the rash of job cuts across the NHS. Hospital trusts have announced more than 4,000 job cuts in the past few weeks as they try to balance the books.

One in five secondary school children experimented in drug taking in the UK last year according to a health and social care survey.