In a speech to the King's Fund, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has today set out the party's respite care guarantee, providing a week's break from caring every year to the 1m unpaid carers who provide more than 50 hours care each week.
A million unpaid carers in England could get a week's break every year under plans from the Liberal Democrats.
Attempts to reach a consensus on how to pay for elderly care in England appear to have fallen further apart amid angry exchanges on BBC One's Politics Show. Health Secretary Andy Burnham has called a cross-party conference on the issue after earlier talks broke down. Lib Dem Norman Lamb backed the idea but Tory spokesman Andrew Lansley said he would only attend if Labour scrapped a £20,000 "death tax" plan. Mr Burnham accused the Tories of making up "scare stories" about his proposals. The government's "ageism tsar" described the "political circus" as "shameful".
A gene that may give you an increased risk of a distressing early form of dementia has been identified by Cambridge scientists. Fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) is the second most common type of dementia in the under 65s and can result in a complete personality change.
Almost 12,500 students in England are still waiting for grants to pay for specialist equipment, figures from the Student Loans Company show. The statistics reveal two thirds of students with a disability or special needs are still waiting for money.
Stammering has long been recognised to run in families, but scientists now say they have identified three genes which may cause the problem in some people. They believe that mutations which have already been tied to metabolic disorders may also affect the way in which parts of the brain function.
