Source: Department of Health and Social Care published on this website Friday 24 October 2025 by Jill Powell

Millions of women across England will benefit from the menopause being included in routine NHS health checks for the first time - marking a landmark step forward in women’s healthcare. 

Routine appointments will now tackle one of society’s most overlooked health challenges, ensuring women experiencing perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms get the right information and support, while also raising awareness earlier so more women recognise the signs and seek help sooner if needed. 

The addition of dedicated questions to the NHS Health Check about the menopause - free assessments offered to eligible adults aged 40 to 74 every 5 years - will benefit nearly 5 million women. 

Too often, women’s experiences of menopause have been minimised or misunderstood, with symptoms sometimes mistaken for other conditions or attributed to stress or lifestyle factors. Today’s announcement will help bring menopause into the mainstream of healthcare conversations - delivering on the government’s Plan for Change by building an NHS fit for the future. 

The NHS Health Check is aimed at identifying people with health risks including cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney disease, type 2 diabetes and dementia. 

By making menopause a part of these health checks, we’re raising awareness of symptoms and giving women the confidence to seek help. Women reporting symptoms will be directed to services, information and treatment options to provide relief. 

The move marks a crucial shift in women’s healthcare, as it empowers clinicians to proactively address concerns that often go unrecognised, ensuring women feel heard and supported during what can be a challenging transition. 

Questions in the health checks will be developed over the coming months with health experts feeding in. 

Menopause affects all women differently, with most experiencing the transition between ages 45 and 55, though symptoms can begin earlier during perimenopause. 

Three-quarters of women experience symptoms - from physical changes like joint pain, weight gain and hot flushes to cognitive effects such as memory issues and brain fog - which can last an average of 7 years and significantly impact daily life. Yet fewer than 1 in 10 feel they have enough information to deal with it. 

The government has made significant strides in women’s health since taking office, including: 

• gynaecology waiting lists beginning to fall for the first time in years, with the government investing additional funding to tackle the backlog of cases
• we have set out how we will eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 through the new cervical cancer plan for England, and emergency hormonal contraception is due to be made available free of charge on the NHS at pharmacies from the end of this month (October 2025)
• the government has also introduced Jess’s Rule, which ensures GPs in England ‘think again’ if they see a patient 3 times and cannot identify a diagnosis, or find symptoms are getting worse

Overhauling women’s healthcare is a key part of the government’s Plan for Change to build an NHS fit for the future, ensuring healthcare services are personalised and preventative.

Source: Ministry of Justice published on this website Wednesday 22 October 2025 by Jill Powell

Thousands more children will be protected from vile sex offenders under amendments to the Victims and Courts Bill tabled in Parliament on Monday 20 October.

The new measures will see parental responsibility automatically restricted in cases of children born of rape, and when a parent is convicted of serious sex offences against any child. This means a parent can no longer take active steps in their child’s life, including making decisions over their schooling, medical care or trips abroad.

The move delivers on the long-term campaign of Natalie Fleet MP, Baroness Harman and Jess Asato MP and will provide greater protection for vulnerable children.  

Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, said: 

“These reforms mark a crucial step forward in restoring faith in our justice system. Automatically restricting parental responsibility in cases of rape where it has led to the birth of a child and serious child sexual offences sends a clear message: the rights and safety of children come first.  This Government is committed to standing up for victims and ensuring that those who commit the most vile crimes against children are never in a position to cause further harm.”

Natalie Fleet MP said:

“This amendment will finally offer protection for not only children born of rape, but also the mothers, who have until now always lived in fear of their rapists interfering in the lives of their children through their parental responsibility rights. This change will end that fear.

“It puts the rights of survivors above the rights of rapists and signals a landmark shift in how this country’s legal system values safety, dignity, and truth. It will deliver powerful, lasting change for thousands of women and children and I am delighted that this Government has listened to our concerns and acted so swiftly.”

To ensure swift protection for families, restriction will happen immediately following sentencing, removing the necessity to apply through the family court. 

Restricting parental responsibility for children born of rape protects two victims – the mother and the child – from the influence of abusive and undeserving fathers, whereas removing the right for those convicted of serious sex offences against any child builds on the existing measure to restrict responsibility for those who have abused their own child.

This move follows the expansion of the government’s innovative Pathfinder pilot, which aims to improve the court experience and outcomes for children and parents involved in private family law proceedings - including those who have experience of domestic abuse. 

Source: Office for Product Safety and Standards published on this website Thursday 23 October 2025 by Jill Powell

A new variant of dangerous baby self-feeding products has appeared where the pillow part takes the form of an animal head shape.

Baby self-feeding products are designed to enable babies to bottle feed with little or no assistance from a caregiver. This creates a risk of serious harm or death from choking on the feed or aspiration pneumonia.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards has identified that all baby self-feeding products are dangerous due to their design and intended use and can never be made safe, regardless of any changes to their appearance. It issued a Product Safety Alert concerning them in December 2022. The public was urged to stop using them immediately and dispose of them safely. Businesses and local authority trading standards services were also asked to take specific actions to remove them from the market.

• Read the Product Safety Alert
• Read the news story announcing the Product Safety Alert
• Read guidance on safe bottle feeding – NHS website

Source: Charity Commission published on this website Tuesday 21 October 2025 by Jill Powell

St Giles Trust offers advice, advocacy and support to those facing severe social disadvantage and multiple barriers in their lives.   

In January 2025, the charity reported a serious incident to the Commission explaining that an employee was allowed to work with children in schools for almost 2 years while being on the Disclosure and Barring Service’s (‘DBS’) barred list.  

The charity explained the initial DBS check completed in 2021 showed they were not on the barred list but when re-applying in 2023, the list had been updated which then included the individual. As a result of an operational failure in the charity, no action was taken to stop the individual working with children until December 2024. At this point, a HR officer identified the change when reviewing the DBS check and reported it to the charity’s senior management. 

The Commission opened a regulatory compliance case to gather more information and determine what, if any, regulatory action may be required. The Commission met with the trustees and obtained further information to understand what immediate steps they were taking in response to the new information and to check the charity’s safeguarding policies and procedures. 

The trustees proactively updated the regulator on steps being taken in response to the incident. This included conducting a full internal investigation. 

The Commission found that whilst the incident primarily resulted from an operational failure in the charity, the trustees breached their duties and responsibilities by allowing a barred individual to work with children for almost two years, placing beneficiaries at risk of harm.

This amounts to mismanagement in the administration of the charity. The regulator is critical of the trustees for allowing this to happen. 

Since the Commission began engaging with the charity, the trustees have promptly made a number of changes to the charity’s DBS and Risk Assessment policy; procured a new DBS check provider with improved automation and tracking; mandated that all staff required to have DBS checks have signed up to the DBS update service, and introduced measures to ensure that all DBS results are checked at least twice. The trustees also updated the charity’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy.  

The regulator verified the actions taken by the trustees and provided them with formal advice and guidance to further reinforce the requirement to strengthen the charity’s safeguarding governance. Following further assurances from the charity’s trustees the regulator has now closed its case. 

The trustees avoided further regulatory action due to the way they responded to the matter. If there are further safeguarding failings in the future, this will be a matter of significant concern for the regulator.  

This case serves as an important reminder to all trustees to ensure that they are fully aware of their responsibilities in relation to DBS checks and the importance of maintaining sufficient oversight. The Commission’s safeguarding guidance sets out its expectations of charities. 

Chris Sladen, Head of Regulatory Compliance Casework, said:

“This was a serious error which should never have been allowed to happen. However, this case demonstrates that if problems do arise, the way trustees respond makes all the difference. 

“This is a reminder that effective safeguarding is never complete. All trustees should be routinely checking their policies and procedures are fit for purpose and are being applied properly to protect people who come into contact with the charity from harm.”