Proposals to overhaul the blue badge parking scheme for disabled drivers have been published by the government. It wants to make it easier to take action against those who have stolen, forged or used the badges fraudulently.
Scotland's health secretary remains committed to free personal care for the elderly, despite a report which said it faced an uncertain financial future. Nicola Sturgeon said it was a "good policy", but she added that future costs would determine decision making. Spending watchdog Audit Scotland revealed on Friday that there was a funding shortfall of up to £63m. It also said the policy, introduced in 2002, differed greatly from council to council. Local authorities said the report showed they were right to press for reform of the free personal care legislation.
Patients detained under the mental health act are often on mixed-sex wards where their safety may be seriously jeopardised, a key report warns. The Mental Health Act Commission also found young people on adult wards, a practice ministers have vowed to end.
It has been announced today that the 2012 Olympic Games Mountain Biking event is to be moved from Brentwood.
Park Ward Folkestone Town Councillors, Bev Rolfe, Maggie Sheldrake and Lynne Beaumont, in conjunction with Broadmead Village Residents Association, held a Community Christmas Party for Park Ward residents in Perries Mead on Friday 7th December with the aid of a Town Council ward grant.
Greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.5% in the UK last year, new figures showed today. The figures, released by Defra, showed that carbon dioxide levels, which make up about 85% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions, stayed virtually the same, with a 0.1% fall.
