Gillian Keegan asks Bridget Phillipson to clarify after party refuses to commit to sticking to plan if it wins power
Labour is under pressure to clarify whether it would keep the government’s free hours childcare system, after the party refused to commit to the plan beyond the next election.
A shadow cabinet minister said on Monday that Labour “will not reduce” the number of free childcare hours parents were entitled to in England if it entered government.
Continue reading...Charity publishes survey findings as it calls for youngsters to be no more than a 15-minute walk from green spaces
More than three-quarters of children want to spend more time in nature, the National Trust has found, as the conservation charity pushes ministers to ensure youngsters are no more than a 15-minute walk from green spaces.
Nearly two-thirds – 63% – of parents are able to take their children to nature spaces only once a week or less, citing accessibility as the main barrier, the survey of 1,000 children aged seven to 14 and 1,000 parents by the trust and the children’s newspaper First News found.
Continue reading...Labour says places have fallen by almost 40,000 since the Tories came to power in 2010, forcing parents to leave the workforce
Childcare places in England have fallen by nearly 40,000 since the Tories came to power in 2010, Labour research has found.
This includes a drop of 1,000 places between March and December last year, at a time when demand was anticipated to rise before new entitlements became available.
Continue reading...Campaigner Marsha Martin says ‘there is a lot of stigma within black community’ that prevents issues being discussed
Cultural barriers are preventing black children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from accessing the help they need, the founder of a UK campaign for better support has said.
Hundreds of children with special educational needs (Send) routinely wait for more than a year to get help, as local authorities across England struggle to meet unprecedented need in a dire financial climate. A Guardian investigation last month found more than 20,000 children were waiting longer than the 20-week limit to be issued with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that details the support they require.
Continue reading...Tests that can identify early changes in cells would give doctors more time to offer treatment, say Cambridge researchers
Scientists at a recently opened cancer institute at Cambridge University have begun work that is pinpointing changes in cells many years before they develop into tumours. The research should help design radically new ways to treat cancer, they say.
The Early Cancer Institute – which has just received £11m from an anonymous donor – is focused on finding ways to tackle tumours before they produce symptoms. The research will exploit recent discoveries which have shown that many people develop precancerous conditions that lie in abeyance for long periods.
Continue reading...Pressure on Michael Gove to act as householders see bills rise 40%, with many saying that they cannot afford to pay
Some of the UK’s largest housing providers have dramatically increased annual service charges by thousands of pounds, plunging residents into financial crisis, an Observer investigation has found.
Many residents who bought shared-ownership properties built as affordable homes have been sent bills in recent weeks with increases of more than 40%. Some say they are unable to sell the properties having now been lumbered with “extortionate” charges and no cap on future increases. More than 1,000 people across the country are now threatening to refuse to pay.
Continue reading...Campaigners launch legal challenge as children and mixed-gender football team kept out by fence built by local sports academy
In Mount Florida, a south Glasgow neighbourhood, Scotland’s national football stadium, Hampden Park, looms large. But just half a mile north are the relics of another, with terraces and crush barriers surrounding a pitch that was once the heart of a 50,000-seat stadium known as “the second Hampden”.
At one time home to local teams Queen’s Park and Third Lanark – as well as hosting Scottish Cup finals in the late 19th century – the pitch is now part of Cathkin Park, a council-maintained public space enjoyed by local families, community football teams and urban wildlife alike. Leased since 2022 by the Jimmy Johnstone Academy, a charity set up in memory of the late Celtic player, it is also the home ground of two youth teams.
Continue reading...State department assessment comes after world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into territory
Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory.
“While we can say with confidence that famine is a significant risk in the south and centre but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas,” a state department official told Reuters.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Millions more GP appointments potentially created as a result of closures
Almost 1,000 pharmacies in England have closed since 2017, potentially leading to millions of extra GP appointments, the Guardian can exclusively reveal.
There are more than 11,000 pharmacies in England. Guardian analysis of the official register of these chemists has found that parts of the country have lost more than one in five pharmacies in the last six years, with poorer areas experiencing proportionally more closures.
Continue reading...Taskforce will aim to improve care for people living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
The NHS in England is to launch a major review of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services amid concerns about a rise in diagnoses.
ADHD is a condition that affects people’s behaviour. People with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and could act on impulse, according to the NHS.
Continue reading...Dan Dafydd, who accidentally ordered 80 cases of eggs, aims to raise £20,000 for the RNLI by Easter Sunday
For a small shop owner on a small island as far as mistakes go, Dan Dafydd’s was a pretty big one leaving him with quite a dilemma: how do you get rid of 80 cases of Easter eggs when you meant to order only 80 eggs?
For Dafydd, the owner of Sinclair General Stores on Sanday, one of the Orkney islands (population approximately 500), the 720 eggs were enough to feed everyone almost twice over. A few too many even for those with a sweet tooth.
Continue reading...A group of men at the club who hope the male-only rule will change have nominated a set of possible new members
Seven women with leading positions in the British establishment have been nominated as prospective female members of the Garrick in the event that the club agrees to change its rules so that women are able to join.
The classicist Mary Beard, the former home secretary Amber Rudd, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman and the new Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika are among the first names to have been put forward to the club as possible future members.
Continue reading...Victoria McCloud wants leave to join litigation in supreme court appeal brought by For Women Scotland
The UK’s first transgender judge is seeking leave to join the litigation in a crucial supreme court case that could significantly affect legal protections for transgender women, the Guardian has learned.
Victoria McCloud, a senior civil judge who became the youngest person appointed as master of the high court in 2010, will make an application to intervene in the supreme court appeal brought by the campaign group For Women Scotland about the legal definition of “woman”. Interveners can put a case without being among the main parties to the litigation.
Continue reading...Bill being laid before Scottish parliament could, if approved, allow people in Britain to take their own lives within the law
UK membership of Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying association, has jumped to 1,900 people – a 24% rise during 2023 – as an assisted dying bill is laid before the Scottish parliament.
People from the UK now make up the second largest group who have signed up to the organisation, which is based near Zurich and helps people take their own lives. The largest group is currently Germans, although they can now get help to end their lives at home after a 2020 court ruling.
Continue reading...Eleven found guilty of crimes against humanity after trial that heard testimony on torture, rape and forced disappearances
A court in Argentina has convicted 11 former military, police and government officials of crimes against humanity committed during the country’s last dictatorship in a sprawling trial that heard, for the first time, about atrocities suffered by trans women.
The three-year case focused on the forced disappearances, torture, rapes and homicides that occurred at or were connected to three clandestine detention and torture centres located in police investigative units on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. They were known as the Banfield pit, the Quilmes pit and “El Infierno” – or “hell” – by the officials who worked there.
Continue reading...African nurse leaders say poorer nations face severe shortages despite rules intended to stop wealthy countries poaching staff
The UK and other wealthy countries have been accused of adopting a “new form of colonialism” in recruiting huge numbers of nurses from poorer nations to fill their own staffing gaps.
International nursing leaders said the trend was leading to worse patient care in developing nations, which were not properly compensated for the loss of experienced healthcare staff.
Continue reading...U-turn comes after campaigners attacked proposal by data body for England and Wales as ‘callous’
The Office for National Statistics has scrapped plans to no longer report the deaths of homeless people after an outcry.
The data body for England and Wales proposed cutting the release of the figures to help increase the efficiency of health data. But the idea was attacked as “callous” by campaigners.
Continue reading...Deputy PM, who didn’t really sign up for this, seemed reluctant to declare war on a superpower
The deputy prime minister’s statement on cybersecurity and China-backed attempts to undermine UK democracy had been briefed far enough in advance that MPs had had time to sharpen their insults. Iain Duncan Smith said Oliver Dowden’s announcement was like watching an elephant giving birth to a mouse. The SNP member Stuart C McDonald accused Dowden of taking a wooden spoon to a gunfight. Labour’s Chris Bryant called him “wilfully blind, and therefore dangerous”.
The inattentive observer might come away from the statement unclear on who posed the greater threat to our national security, Oliver Dowden or the Chinese.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Surge in nurses originally from outside the EU moving overseas prompts concern Britain is a ‘staging post’ in their careers
Almost 9,000 foreign nurses a year are leaving the UK to work abroad, amid a sudden surge in nurses quitting the already understaffed NHS for better-paid jobs elsewhere.
The rise in nurses originally from outside the EU moving to take up new posts abroad has prompted concerns that Britain is increasingly becoming “a staging post” in their careers.
Continue reading...Average monthly donations rose by nearly 40% to £65, with poorest areas among the most generous
The British public donated a record £13.9bn to charity in 2023, with people in some of the country’s least affluent areas among the most generous, a report reveals.
The total marks a 9% increase on the 2022 figure – which stood at £12.7bn – as average monthly donations increased by nearly 40% to reach £65.
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