Robert Jenrick’s call to arm prison officers is ‘nonsense’, governors say

Robert Jenrick’s demand for armed prison guards has been described as “headline-grabbing nonsense” by organisations representing governors and staff.The UK shadow justice secretary, who has made a series of eye-catching demands over the last few days, said on Sunday prison officers should be allowed to access guns and build up secure “armouries” to clamp down on violence from Islamist gangs and violent prisoners.Tom Wheatley, the president of the Prison Governors’ Association, said: “The firearms/lethal force armouries suggestion is just headline-grabbing nonsense. If this was needed, why wouldn’t armed police be deployed rather than creating another trained force in our service?“It is likely that the lord chancellor [Shabana Mahmood] is considering wider use of protective body armour, but the focus should be on the need for more investment to counter drones and serious organised crime,” he said.The Prison Officers’ Association (POA), which has warned that it is only a matter of time before a prison officer is murdered because of a rise in prison violence, also poured cold water on the Tories’ demand for guns in prisons

Younger generations less likely to have dementia, study suggests

People born more recently are less likely to have dementia at any given age than earlier generations, research suggests, with the trend more pronounced in women.According to the World Health Organization, in 2021 there were 57 million people worldwide living with dementia, with women disproportionately affected. However, while the risk of dementia increases with age, experts have long stressed it is not not an inevitability of getting older.“Younger generations are less likely to develop dementia at the same age as their parents or grandparents, and that’s a hopeful sign,” said Dr Sabrina Lenzen, a co-author of the study from the University of Queensland’s Centre for the Business and Economics of Health.But she added: “The overall burden of dementia will still grow as populations age, and significant inequalities remain – especially by gender, education and geography

One in three Australian men say they have committed intimate partner abuse, world-first research finds

One in three Australian men has reported committing domestic violence, world-first research has found – and the same research has identified new ways to tackle it.The Australian Institute of Family Studies found fostering affectionate relationships between sons and fathers (or father figures) was associated with reducing the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) by as much as 48%.The AIFS Ten To Men Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health is the largest of its kind. It started tracking about 16,000 boys and men in 2013-14, and in 2023-24 added another 10,000 men to the database.The definition of intimate partner violence includes emotional as well as physical abuse

UK shortage of critical drug forcing pancreatic cancer patients to skip meals

People with pancreatic cancer are eating only one meal a day because of an acute shortage of a drug that helps them digest their food.Patients with cystic fibrosis and pancreatitis are also affected by the widespread scarcity of Creon, a form of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT).People who rely on the drug have also been taking reduced doses to conserve their supplies and travelling more than 30 miles from their home to find it, pharmacists revealed today.Thousands of people with pancreatic cancer need to take PERT tablets and those hit by the shortage are suffering “distress and frustration”, the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK said.The difficulties the Creon shortage is causing patients emerged on Monday in a survey of 300 pharmacies undertaken by the National Pharmacy Association

Report casts doubt on Labour’s ability to hit affordable housing target

Rachel Reeves is under renewed pressure to spend billions more on affordable housing, after an industry report suggested the government had significantly overestimated how many new homes would be built over the next few years.The chancellor is being urged by figures inside and outside the government to spend heavily on affordable housing at this month’s spending review, as a report by one of the country’s biggest property consultancies cast doubt on official forecasts.The findings from Savills suggest the government is further away from hitting its target of building 1.5m new homes than previously admitted. Its findings are likely to aid the arguments of Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, who is at loggerheads with Reeves over how much her department should be given to build new affordable homes

Spending on agency staff across NHS in England drops by almost £1bn

Spending on agency staff across the NHS in England dropped by almost £1bn in the last financial year, ministers have said, after a pledge by Wes Streeting to cut the amount going to agencies by 30%.According to the Department of Health and Social Care, the total spent by trusts on agency staff during 2024-25 was nearly £1bn lower than the previous year.In a speech to the NHS Providers conference in November, Streeting, the health secretary, said a lack of permanent staff had seen gaps filled by more expensive agency-provided replacements totalling about £3bn a year.Under proposals outlined at the time, but not yet enacted, Streeting suggested that NHS trusts could be completely banned from using agency staff for lower level jobs such as healthcare assistants and domestic support workers.This could also involve stopping NHS staff from resigning and then immediately signing on with an agency, so they can do the same work for higher wages, and a much higher overall cost to the NHS