The three-part series ‘Daddy Daycare’ on Channel 4 sees how nine fathers cope looking after children at three London nurseries under the watch of staff.

All of the men have little or no experience in looking after children, some of them think it is easy, others feel they are too busy with their jobs to help raise their children, while the rest aren’t interested in getting involved.

During their week’s work experience at one of the three nurseries, the fathers must take on the role of a nursery practitioner and play with children, change their nappies and feed them.

The aim of the programme is to teach the men to be become more involved with bringing up their own children and prove that childcare isn’t solely for women.

The Pre-School Learning Alliance advised the makers of the programme on aspects relating to maintaining Early Years Foundation Stage welfare requirements, and all of the men underwent the same vetting procedure as other nursery practitioners.

The first one hour episode follows father of three Gary, dad of one Jay and father-to-be Stefan, who spent a week working at the Magic Roundabout Nursery in Stockwell.

London Early Years Foundation’s Carlton Hill nursery in Westminster also features in the three-part series.

Melanie Pilcher, policy and standards manager at the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said, ‘The Alliance welcomed the opportunity to advise on aspects of the programme relating to maintaining Early Years Foundation Stage welfare requirements.

‘Although we have no control over the content aired, we hope that the programme will further reinforce the importance of dads’ involvement in caring for their children and will also prompt them to consider a career in childcare as a realistic and viable option that brings huge benefits to children, their parents and the early years sector as a whole.’

Channel 4 factual entertainment commissioning editor, Dominique Walker, said, ‘Men just don’t do as much childcare as women – either inside or outside the home. This series is a fantastic opportunity to address that, we follow these men as they are, literally, thrown into the deep end, but I also hope to open up a broader debate about why we are in this situation and what can be done about it. The fact that only 2 per cent of childcare workers are men – and one in four primary schools have no male teachers – is incredible.’

• The first episode of ‘Daddy Daycare’ was on Channel 4 on Wednesday 15 February at 8pm.

The Good Care Guide aims to give relatives a place to go to share their views on the service they have received from care homes and nurseries.

Government watchdogs helped develop the scheme but critics say firms could be put out of business if damaging posts are published.

Its backers say it will provide “real, honest feedback on what is available”.

The guide gives people the opportunity to rate 60,000 care homes, home care, nurseries and nanny agencies in England.

In December, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow told the BBC the website was one of a number of plans to “shine a light on bad practice”.

But Sheila Scott, chief executive of the National Care Association, told the BBC: “If a care home is ruined by a malicious comment, which is conceivably possible, then it’s not just our member and their staff but the vulnerable people who are put at real risk, so that’s our concern.”

‘Drive up standards’

However, parent Anne Vaughan told the BBC: “It’s just another source of information, that’s information that’s not actually available anywhere else.

“It’s as if you’ve gone round the parents of a particular nursery and spoken to them and asked them what they thought of it, which you really couldn’t do even if you were visiting the nursery.

“You’d just have a look round, you wouldn’t get any idea of what the people using the nursery actually think of it,” she added.

The website allows people to rate providers for quality of care, facilities and value for money, and works in a similar way to the TripAdvisor travel website.

The website, which is run by two companies - My Family Care and United for all Ages – is designed to “help drive up the standards of care due to greater scrutiny”.

Government watchdogs Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and a number of charities helped in its development.

Stephen Burke, director of Good Care Guide, said: “Families have been very enthusiastic about Good Care Guide. Clearly they want to express their views about their care provider. Some 80% of comments have been extremely positive, particularly about childcare providers.

“Good providers of care have nothing to fear about Good Care Guide but there are some families who have had bad experiences of care homes in particular.”

The breakthrough means they can now see exactly how mutations in the parkin gene cause the disease in an estimated one in 10 patients with Parkinson’s.

And it offers a realistic model to test new treatments on – a hurdle that has blighted research efforts until now.

The team told Nature Communications their work was a “game-changer”.

Lab-grown

“This is the first time that human dopamine neurons have ever been generated from Parkinson’s disease patients with parkin mutations,” said Dr Jian Feng who led the investigations.

“Before this, we didn’t even think about being able to study the disease in human neurons.

“The brain is so fully integrated. It’s impossible to obtain live human neurons to study.”

Studying human neurons is critical in Parkinson’s disease since animal models that lack the parkin gene do not develop the condition, rendering them useless for this research purpose.

To make the human neurons the scientists used a technique already successfully tested by others which can turn donated skin cells into brain tissue.

They used skin samples from four volunteers – two healthy people and two with Parkinson’s disease caused by a parkin gene mutation.

This allowed them to observe the parkin gene at work.

Normally, parkin controls the production of an enzyme called MAO (monamine oxidase) which, in turn, keeps a check on the brain-signalling chemical dopamine.

When parkin is mutated, that regulation is lost and levels of MAO increase, which can be toxic to dopamine-producing brain cells.

The scientists now want to test new treatments that might prevent this damage occurring and stop this form of Parkinson’s.

They have already shown that they can reverse the defect by putting a normal parkin gene into diseased neurons.

Dr Michelle Gardner, research development manager at Parkinson’s UK, said the study was particularly exciting because it provided a new way to investigate this genetic form of Parkinson’s.

“Parkinson’s UK funded research has already shown that parkin plays a key role in how Parkinson’s develops in the brain nerve cells that die.”

The US study, published in the journal Science, reported the plaques were broken down at “unprecedented” speed.

Tests also showed an improvement in some brain function.

Specialists said the results were promising, but warned that successful drugs in mice often failed to work in people.

The exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, but one of the leading theories involves the formation of clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid. These damage and kill brain cells, eventually resulting in memory problems and the inability to think clearly.

Clearing protein plaques is a major focus of Alzheimer’s research and drugs are already being tested in human clinical trials.

In the body, the role of removing beta-amyloid falls to apolipoprotein E – or ApoE. However, people have different versions of the protein. Having the ApoE4 genetic variant is one of the biggest risk factors for developing the disease.

Helping hand

Scientists at the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio were investigating ways of boosting levels of ApoE, which in theory should reduce levels of beta-amyloid.

They tested bexarotene, which has been approved for use to treat cancers in the skin, on mice with an illness similar to Alzheimer’s.

After one dose in young mice, the levels of beta-amyloid in the brain were “rapidly lowered” within six hours and a 25% reduction was sustained for 70 hours.

In older mice with established amyloid plaques, seven days of treatment halved the number of plaques in the brain.

The study said there were improvements in brain function after treatment, in nest building, maze performance and remembering electrical shocks.

Researchers Paige Cramer said: “This is an unprecedented finding. Previously, the best existing treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in mice required several months to reduce plaque in the brain.”

In people?

The research is at a very early stage, and drugs often do not make the leap from animal experiment to human treatment.

Fellow researcher Prof Gary Landreth said the study was “particularly exciting and rewarding” and held the “potential promise of a therapy for Alzheimer’s disease”.

However, he stressed that the drug had been tested in only three “mouse models” which simulate the early stages of the disease and are not Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease

• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia
• Symptoms include loss of memory, mood changes, and problems with communication and reasoning
• No one single factor has been identified as a cause for Alzheimer’s disease – a combination of factors, including age, genes, environment, lifestyle and general health are implicated
• Source: Alzheimer’s Society

He warned people not to “try this at home”, as the drug had not been proven to work in Alzheimer’s patients and there was no indication of what any dose should be.

“We need to be clear, the drug works quite well in mouse models of the disease. Our next objective is to ascertain if it acts similarly in humans,” he said.

His group is preparing to start trials in a small group of people to see if there is a similar effect in humans.

The disease is likely to become more common as people live longer. The Alzheimer’s Society predicts the number of people with dementia will reach a million by 2021 in the UK alone.

Its research manager, Dr Anne Corbett, said: “This exciting study could be the beginning of a journey towards a potential new way to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

“However, this is very early days. People with Alzheimer’s should not rush to get this drug, as we need much more research to establish if it has benefits for humans.”

Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said the findings were “promising” but any effect was still unproven in people.

“There are a number of drugs in development that aim to clear amyloid from the brain, and the jury is still out on whether this approach will be successful as a treatment for Alzheimer’s.”

David Allsop, professor of neuroscience at Lancaster University, said: “I would say that the results should be treated with cautious optimism.

“It looks promising in the mouse model but in recent years, these types of experiments in mice have not translated well into humans.”

An extra 8,000 people die in England for every 1C the temperature drops below the winter average, according to figures from the Department of Health, many of whom are older people.

Last winter, 200 additional deaths a day were caused by the cold weather, many of which could have been prevented if people – particularly those in the most vulnerable groups – had kept themselves warm.

A number of easy steps can be taken, however, to stay healthy and warm during the cold winter temperatures.

Keeping the temperature of the bedroom above 18C is important and leaving the central heating on at night is a good way of doing this.

Keeping all parts of the house at a constant temperature is also crucial as sudden changes of temperature can have a negative effect on your health. Trapping heat in rooms by keeping doors closed is another useful tip to ensure homes stay warm.

Breathing in cold air at night is dangerous because it increases your chances of becoming ill. If your head, airways or hands get cold, your blood pressure will rise, which can heighten your vulnerability to strokes and heart attacks.

Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘It may have been relatively mild so far this year but the winter can be a dangerous time for older people.

‘Many people believe that the only risk of winter weather is getting a cold, but the risk is much greater. Low temperatures raise blood pressure, which puts people at a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes, as well as increasing the likelihood and severity of flu and other respiratory problems.

‘We want older people to be able to enjoy the winter and, most importantly of all, stay well.’

Mervyn Kohler, from Age UK, said: ‘We have to strike a balance between the risk of sounding patronising and the importance of the advice.

‘People who coped fine with very severe winters a few decades ago might not realise that their bodies are less sensitive to extremes of cold as well as heat. They are likely to be less mobile, so generating less body heat.’

The council says that there is enough good quality and affordable childcare run by the private, voluntary and independent sector.

The plans will be put before the children and young people’s scrutiny committee tomorrow and will be considered by the council’s executive on 15 February.

Sure Start children’s centres will become community hubs offering a wider range of services to people of all ages, including early years, and a new citywide outreach service will be introduced.

The service will expand pilot outreach schemes already in place. Outreach workers will aim to visit every child in their own home in their first three years, by working closely with GPs, midwives and health visitors.

The proposals follow a three-month consultation that involved more than 8,000 meetings with parents and attracted more than 4,000 written responses with parents, schools, health staff and others.

The council has to cut £22m from its budget of £29m for early years provision.

The council said that it would ensure that there were enough high-quality, affordable childcare places available for families before withdrawing council-run nurseries.

Mike Livingstone, the council’s director of children’s services, said, ‘Our analysis shows there is already enough good quality and affordable daycare provision across the city being provided by the private, voluntary and independent sector, so over time we will no longer need to provide it ourselves.

‘What we do need to do, however, is to ensure that the right kind of quality daycare is available in the right places, so we’re going to spend the next two years making sure this happens.

‘We will only stop providing daycare in different parts of the city when we are satisfied that there is enough high quality alternative provision to meet the needs of local families.’

The impact of these changes will be assessed on a case by case basis and for families that would be worse off in work than out of work, additional support will be given through the Manchester Investment Fund.

The council says that the changes will lead to more families using Sure Start services and that this will improve outcomes for children and families.

Councillor Afzal Khan, executive member children’s services,  said, ‘At the heart of our proposals is the need to ensure that Manchester parents are ready to parent, that children are ready for school, and that we do what we can to support more of our families into work.’

The Age UK report said £7.3bn was being budgeted this year – the same as in 2011 – but it represented a drop of 4.5% once inflation was taken into account.

The charity said the squeeze meant thousands were missing out on care.

But ministers said there should be enough money available to avoid cuts.

The report, based on official data plus Age UK’s own research, comes amid mounting concern about the state of social care, which includes help in the home with activities such as washing and dressing as well as residential care places.

Ministers have promised to publish plans in the spring to reform the system to ensure it is sustainable in the long term.

But following the Spending Review in 2010, they said extra funds would be made available for social care – including money from the NHS budget – to help councils out.

This is because of the wider cuts to local government funding – over the next four years its budget from central government will be reduced by a quarter, leading to cuts in everything from leisure centres to libraries, which are being seen across the country.

Case study

David Gower has been hit with a “double whammy” by the squeeze in social care.

The 76-year-old has severe mobility problems because of a debilitating neurological condition.

He relies on carers to help him with everything from getting out of bed and dressed to washing and eating.

They come in four times a day, but the amount of time they spend with him has been reduced, leaving them hard-pressed to meet all his needs.

The fees he is paying have also risen, from £260 a month to £324.

“I’m worried that the local authority is pushing the Big Society, where the emphasis is to push more and more on to friends and family.

“This is not an option for me. My relatives don’t live nearby. What I want is a proper carers service.”

The Age UK report argues that despite the extra money social care has not been able to escape unscathed from the cuts programme.

The analysis shows that councils are reducing spending by 4.5% – £341m in monetary terms.

But the report said that if rising demand from the ageing population were taken into account, the drop would be closer to £500m.

And the charity predicted the situation would get even worse in the coming years.

‘Struggling’

The report said the squeeze on spending had led councils to restrict access to services as well as increasing the fees they charged – only the poorest got their care completely free.

Age UK believes there are 2m people in England with care needs, 800,000 of whom are not getting any formal support.

Michelle Mitchell, charity director of Age UK, said: “Behind these figures are real older people struggling to cope without the support they need, compromising their dignity and safety on a daily basis.

“Social care is not a nice-to-have extra – it is the support that helps older people get out of bed, feed themselves, have a wash and live a life that is more than just an existence.”

Care services minister Paul Burstow said: “We believe councils have enough to maintain the current levels of access and eligibility but they will need to work hard and smart, and invest in things like telecare and re-ablement [helping people regain skills] to free up more money for front-line services.”

But he said he recognised the system needed improving for the future and that was why a White Paper would be published in the spring.

David Rogers, of the Local Government Association, said councils were doing the best they could.

“These figures highlight what we already know – there isn’t enough money in the system and without fundamental reform the situation is only going to get worse.”

Shadow care services minister Liz Kendall said: “This report provides yet more evidence that there is a growing crisis in care for older people.”

A study published in Current Biologyidentified differences in infants’ brainwaves from as early as six months.

Behavioural symptoms of autism typically develop between a child’s first and second birthdays.

Autism charities said identifying the disorder at an earlier stage could help with treatment.

It is thought that one in every 100 children has an autism spectrum disorder in the UK. It affects more boys than girls. While there is no “cure”, education and behavioural programmes can help.

One of the researchers, Prof Mark Johnson from Birkbeck College, University of London, told the BBC: “The prevailing view is that if we are able to intervene before the onset of full symptoms, such as a training programme, at least in some cases we can maybe alleviate full symptoms.”

His team looked for the earliest signs of autism in 104 children aged between six and 10 months. Half were known to be at risk of the disorder because they had on older sibling who had been diagnosed with autism. The rest were low risk.

Older children with autism can show a lack of eye contact, so the babies were shown pictures of people’s faces that switched between looking at or away from the baby.

Sensors attached to the scalp looked for differences in brain activity.

In low-risk babies, or high-risk babies that did not develop autism, there was a large difference in the brainwaves when looking at each type of image.

There was a much smaller difference in the brainwaves of babies who developed autism.

‘Very effective’

Prof Johnson said: “It is important to note it is not a 100% predictor. We had babies who flagged up warning signs who did not develop autism.”

There were also babies who did develop autism who had low-risk brainwaves. The test would need to be more accurate before it was used routinely.

Prof Tony Charman, Centre for Research in Autism and Education at the Institute of Education, said: “Differences in the use of eye gaze to regulate social interaction are already a well-recognised early feature in many children with autism from the second year of life.

“Future studies will be required to determine whether measurements of brain function such as those used in our study might one day play a role in helping to identify children at an even earlier age.”

Autism symptoms

Repetitive behaviour and resistance to changes in routine

Obsessions with particular objects or routines

Poor co-ordination

Difficulties with fine movement control (especially in Asperger syndrome)

Absence of normal facial expression and body language

Lack of eye contact

Tendency to spend time alone, with very few friends

Lack of imaginative play

Christine Swabey from the charity Autistica said: “The hope is that this important research will lead to improved identification and access to services for future generations.

“Ultimately, the earlier we can identify autism and provide early intervention, the better the outcomes will be.”

Dr Georgina Gomez-de-la-Cuesta from the National Autistic Society said: “Further research to investigate these differences will eventually lead to earlier recognition of the condition.

“Early intervention is very effective in supporting those with autism, so recognition in infancy can only be beneficial in helping individuals with autism reach their full potential.

“However, this important research is still in its early stages, and larger studies looking at several early markers of autism will be necessary before a robust clinical diagnosis could be possible at such a young age.”

An Ipsos MORI survey of 386 carers for Macmillan Cancer Support suggests 49% have no support of any kind.

Just 5% have had a carers’ assessment by their local authority to see what assistance they could get.

Macmillan said the survey results showed how “unsupported” the 1.1m carers of people with cancer are.

Almost half of the carers reported they experienced mental health problems such as stress, anxiety and depression, and one in eight (13%) said they experienced physical health problems such as sleep and digestive problems.

One in seven (15%) reported financial issues such as spending more on things like travel to hospital or giving up work.

Carers of people with cancer provide an average of around 15 hours of help each week. In the main, they offer emotional support, with around half helping with errands outside the house.

Many say their own lives are affected, with 20% saying their caring role affects their relationships. Nineteen per cent said it affected their working life while 15% said it had an impact on their finances.

‘Under pressure’

Rebecca Guyott, who is 19 and from Essex became a carer for her mother, along with her sisters, when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2010.

She said: “I found it a big strain. At work I often had to leave the office because of the emotional stress. I’d get home and do all the cleaning, washing and cooking as mum could hardly stand, let alone do anything for herself.

“After just a week of this I slept so badly because of the worry and then could barely wake up the next morning to go into work and start all over again.

“Mum’s improved now and I’m hoping to return to college, but I still feel under pressure. I didn’t even know we could have been entitled to a Carer’s Assessment or benefits, it was never mentioned.”

Ciarán Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Our research shows how unsupported cancer carers really are in the UK. Carers want to look after their family or friend with cancer – but it is often at the expense of their own mental or physical health.

“Cancer is no longer necessarily a death sentence and this means there is a growing need for people to care for their family member or friend with cancer. Often this is long-term care. But carers need support to cope with the significant demands of their role.

“The statutory sector must increase awareness and uptake of Carers’ Assessments. Both health and social care professionals need to be signposting cancer carers for assessments.”

David Rogers, chair of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “As this report highlights, the sad reality is that many carers don’t recognise themselves as such and fail to seek the support to which they are rightly entitled, and which is widely available through their local authority.”

The new guidance, The Voluntary Food and Drink Guidelines for Early Years Settings, is the first to offer a nationally recognised source of information to childcare providers about what food and drink they should serve to young children to help instil healthy eating habits and tackle childhood obesity.

They have been developed in response to the review of the EYFS, in which Dame Clare Tickell highlighted the importance of the findings of the Advisory Panel for Food and Nutrition in the Early Years, and recommended that the Government provide further advice and good practice for practitioners.

The National Day Nurseries Association, the National Childminding Association and the Pre-School Learning Alliance are among those supporting the guidelines.

To help settings plan healthy meals and snacks for children, the guidance includes information about what types of food and drink should be served to children and the correct portion size for their age. How to read food labels, food safety and hygiene practices are also covered, along with advice about what different religious and cultural groups can eat and how to tackle fussy eating.

The guidance also provides early years settings with recipes and sample menus for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, with options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for five days of the week (see example menu).

As part of the guidelines, a voluntary code of practice has also been launched by the School Food Trust, which encourages settings to consider whether they provide children with a positive and welcoming eating environment and to consult with children and their families about the food they offer.

Children’s minister Sarah Teather said, ‘Healthy eating is at the heart of helping every child get the best start in life. Nurseries play a vital role in getting children from all backgrounds to develop good eating habits, but many lack the expert knowledge of what is the best food to serve.

‘Parents rightly want their children to be eating healthy, nutritional food. Thanks to these voluntary guidelines drawn up by the School Food Trust, we will help nurseries and other childcare providers do just that.’

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said, ’NDNA welcomes and is fully supportive of these new guidelines which will help children to get a healthy start in their early years and hopefully instil a healthy eating attitude which will last a lifetime.

‘We will be working with our member nurseries to help them to understand and implement the guidelines well in their settings.’

Training early years providers on how to use the guidelines is taking place in Hertfordshire, Stoke, Southwark, Gloucestershire and Gateshead and will be rolled out to other local authorities.

Nutritionist Patricia Mucavele, who helped to draw up the guidelines, said, ‘There’s lots of support being put into place to help any early years provider start to use these guidelines – we are piloting training with five local authorities already and will be coming to more areas in the coming year.

‘This is just the beginning, and we hope that as many providers as possible will use these guidelines to help children get a healthy start in life.’

EXAMPLE MENUS

AUTUMN/ WINTER

Breakfast (Planned to provide about 20 per cent of a child’s daily energy and nutritional requirements.)

Wheat biscuits (25g) with yoghurt (60g) and dried apricots (35g). Diluted apple juice (100ml)

Mid-morning snack (around 10 per cent.)

Toasted English muffin (30g) and spread (4g) with a Clementine (40g). Water (100ml)

Lunch (Around 30 per cent.)

Fish pie with sweet potato topping (170g) or vegetable and bean pie-vegetarian (170g) with swede and cauliflower (40g). Apple and rhubarb crumble (60g) with custard (60g). Water (100ml).

Mid-afternoon snack (around 10 per cent.)

Breadsticks (7g) with hard boiled eggs (50g) and cherry tomatoes (40g). Whole milk (100ml).

Tea (20 per cent.)

Chicken risotto (170g) or tofu risotto, vegetarian (170g). Seasonal fruit salad (40g). Water (100 ml).

Note: Around 10 per cent of a child’s nutritinal requirements would be expected to come from what they eat and drink at home.