Rates of self-inflicted deaths and self-harm in prison have risen significantly in the last five years, a new report has found.
The report, conducted by the National Audit Office (NAO) and titled Mental health in prisons, also found that self-harm rose by 73 per cent between 2012 and 2016, and in 2016 alone there were 40,161 incidents of self-harm in prisons. There were 120 self-inflicted deaths in prison in 2016 compared to almost half the amount the year before, which is the highest year on record.

Children with special educational needs could miss out in new funding formula under government plans.

Damaging cuts to UK social care will continue this year despite the government investing an extra £1 billion to halt the deterioration in services.

The Labour Party will table an amendment to the Queen's Speech calling for the one per cent public sector pay cap to end.

Council homes are being sold off almost three times faster than local authorities can replace them.

A number of senior politicians have called for the voting age to be lowered to 16 after the surge in the youth vote at the General Election.

Professor Arnold Dix has said that the current system to assess fire safety of high-rise buildings in the UK is ‘pointless’.
The independent disaster investigator, who conducted the post-assessment of the Lakanal House fire which saw six people killed in 2009, said that fire risk assessments (FRAs) were simply a ‘box-ticking exercise’, citing the Grenfall Tower fire as an example of the system not working.
Of the 21 tower blocks managed by Kensington and Chelsea Council, which includes Grenfell Tower, all were rated as having a medium FRA rating.

Nicola Sturgeon has postponed the second referendum to secure Scottish independence after the SNP's election setback.

Even with the rising costs of social care, prefunding is expected to be 18 per cent cheaper than pay-as-you-go, a new study shows.
A new report published by Reform proposes a ‘fundamental reform’ of the social care system by replacing the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) method of financing later-life care with a prefunded arrangement.
Under this proposal, working-age people would contribute a percentage of their income into a Later Life Care Fund (LLCF). These savings would then be managed privately, before being used to fund the care costs of those that contributed.

Samples of external cladding from 95 buildings in 32 areas of England have failed fire-proofing tests, pushing May to investigate.