A drive to recruit thousands more child carers and classroom assistants in Wales is to be launched. Children’s minister Jane Hutt said current staff would also be helped to improve skills and qualifications.

A man was given an Asbo after he faked drug overdoses to stay in hospital, government fraud investigators say. Mark Smith, 33, from Newtown, Powys, is banned from hospitals except in a real emergency or with written permission.

Professionals working with children in Wales are to be issued with guidance on how to pick up on child trafficking. Figures suggest more than 300 children have been trafficked into the UK since 2004, ending up in, among other things, prostitution and forced labour.

The father of a four-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by a convicted paedophile said he intends to sue the police force over his supervision.

A University expert has played a leading role in the development of plans by the Welsh Assembly Government to improve the everyday lives of thousands of people in Wales living with long-term pain.

A University expert has played a leading role in the development of plans by the Welsh Assembly Government to improve the everyday lives of thousands of people in Wales living with long-term pain.

Hospitals in Cardiff spent nearly £60,000 ferrying staff and patients around South Wales last year. The cash was spent on moving patients and medical staff between Cardiff’s two main hospitals – the University Hospital of Wales and Llandough Hospital – and staff and patients’ homes.

A range of proposals to tackle Wales’ “growing drink problem” have been put forward by doctors’ leaders. The British Medical Association (BMA) in Wales wants an increase in taxation on alcoholic drinks, proportionate to the strength of the product.

Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, Dr Brian Gibbons, will be in North Wales this week to undertake a number of fact finding visits across the region.

Four cannabis factories have been shut down in South Wales after a lunchtime drugs bust. Police discovered the four houses had been ripped apart and converted into drugs farms producing thousands of pounds worth of high-quality cannabis.