Child poverty predicted to rise in most of UK except Scotland

Child poverty is on course to increase in most of the UK by the end of this parliament, with only Scotland bucking the trend, according to analysis by a poverty charity.Although Labour’s election manifesto committed it to an “ambitious strategy” to reduce child poverty, only in Scotland will rates have fallen by 2029 under current economic projections, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said.Scotland’s relative success – its child poverty rates are projected to be 10 percentage points lower than England’s by 2029 – is attributed by JRF to Holyrood’s more generous child benefits and its plans to scrap the two-child benefit limit.JRF argues that the government will fail to shift the dial on child poverty if it relies on rising economic growth alone to boost low-income family finances, and that it must drive up living standards through changes to the benefits system.“Any credible child poverty strategy must include policies that rebuild the tattered social security system,” said the JRF chief executive, Paul Kissack

‘Complacent’ health chiefs in England lack drive to transform NHS, say MPs

Plans to radically reform the health service are at risk because senior leaders of both NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are “complacent” and lack dynamism, MPs have said.In an excoriating report the public accounts committee (PAC) warns that officials in England have neither the ideas nor the drive to implement the health service transformation required by Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting.The influential cross-party Commons committee did not identify individuals by name. But it reached its conclusions after questioning in November five top-level civil servants including Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, and Sir Chris Wormald, the DHSC’s then permanent secretary, who has since become the new cabinet secretary.“The scale of government’s ambitions is great but senior officials do not seem to have ideas, or the drive, to match the level of change required, despite this being precisely the moment where such thinking is vital,” the PAC said in its report on the health service’s financial sustainability

Paul Holmes obituary

My half-brother Paul Holmes, who has died aged 76, was a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a renowned psychodrama specialist.Paul dedicated his life to mental health and the therapeutic benefits of psychodrama, a method using role play to help individuals confront emotional issues. His books on psychodrama and group therapy, including The Inner World Outside: Object Relations Theory and Psychodrama (1992) and Psychodrama Since Moreno (1994), are regarded as essential texts.Born in London, Paul was the elder son of Mary (nee Refoy), an author, schools inspector and botanical painter, and Brian Holmes, professor of comparative education at the Institute of Education, University of London. After leaving Whitgift school in Croydon, Paul earned his medical degree and PhD in physiology at University College Hospital in London

New scheme offers diabetes-friendly twists on African-Caribbean meals

When Sandra Tomlinson’s husband, Kelvin, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, she set about figuring out how to cook healthier Caribbean meals without compromising on taste.Although she was offered education sessions on how to alter recipes to help him, she was concerned that serving them may lead to marital strife.The south Londoner says: “What they were asking me to feed my husband would bring divorce in the family.”But after their life changed overnight, something had to change. She set about finding help in creating healthier twists on traditional Jamaican dishes

Expand assisted dying bill to help those with Parkinson’s, MPs to hear

Assisted dying must be expanded to help those with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s in England and Wales, a former high court judge will tell MPs this week.Sir Nicholas Mostyn, who has Parkinson’s, will argue that under the current terms of the law passing through parliament, the vast majority of people would need to have terminal cancer before being allowed an assisted death.Mostyn said end-of-life suffering for Parkinson’s patients was “intolerable”, with some unable to swallow or breathe. “This is what I’m facing. And I’d like to know why opponents are determined to condemn me to that,” he said

Temporary accommodation possible factor in deaths of 74 children in England

Temporary accommodation has been cited as a possible contributing factor in the deaths of 74 children – predominantly babies – in recent years in England.Of those who died between April 2019 and March last year, 58 were aged under one, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for households in temporary accommodation said.Temporary accommodation can include bed and breakfasts, hotels and hostels and is often supplied by councils.Between October 2023 and September last year, 80 children died while living in temporary housing, according to the National Child Mortality Database – accounting for 3% of the total number of child deaths during that period.Dame Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP and chair of the APPG, said: “Seventy-four children have died in five years with temporary accommodation contributing to their death