London has an "appalling" rate of child poverty with about 50% of children in 16 boroughs living in or on the brink of destitution, a report claims.
The Campaign to End Child Poverty says 79% of children in Tower Hamlets, east London, are in families classed as "struggling" - 42,850 children. The Campaign to End Child Poverty is a coalition of more than 130 organisations.
There are hundreds of thousands of children living in our capital city who are being failed by the system - Martin Narey, Campaign to End Child Poverty
'High deprivation'
A Tower Hamlets council spokesman said: "We cannot underestimate the scale of the challenge. "Whilst high levels of deprivation should not mean reduced outcomes for children, we will be doing all that we can to ensure child poverty levels are significantly reduced here in Tower Hamlets," the spokesman said.
Related Links: Mapping child poverty | Children of Bangladesh
Health bosses have admitted they failed to tackle a hospital superbug that killed almost 6,500 people in one year. Health Minister Ben Bradshaw admitted the Government had not done enough in previous years.
A new-website will let consumers reclaim money that has been sitting in dormant or abandoned bank accounts.
The announcement follows the publication of the Dormant Accounts Bill, under which unclaimed cash will be used to fund community projects. Analysts believe there could be £400m languishing in forgotten accounts.
Via BBC
Gordon Brown has signalled his intention to press ahead with a constitution for the NHS in the health service's 60th year. In a new year message to NHS staff, he said it would form part of a package of "reform and change" which will secure the future of Britain's tax-funded state healthcare service for another 60 years. In a message released by 10 Downing Street, in which he paid tribute to the efforts of NHS staff, he said: "Over the course of the next year the Department of Health, under Alan Johnson's leadership, will be setting out how the NHS needs to continue to reform to meet the new challenges of 21st century healthcare.
Revenue & Customs, the government department responsible for collecting taxes, has admitted losing personal-details of more than 6,500-people. The details were lost at an office of HMRC in Cardiff, the capital and largest city in Wales, after a data cartridge went missing in September, an HMRC spokesperson said.
HMRC said in a statement on Tuesday: "We are taking this loss extremely seriously and have done everything possible to locate the data cartridge. We would like to apologize to all those affected."
In November, HMRC admitted to losing the details, including bank account information, of 25 million people claiming and receiving child benefits, while, earlier this week, the Driving Standards Agency admitted to compromising personal details of 3 million driver's test candidates.
Alistair Darling, will reveal next-week his plans to improve banking regulations that will give the Financial Services Authority more power.
Gordon Brown has explained the Government's plans to deal with key challenges such as housing, energy, security and the economy.
