Society daily 01.02.10

The author Terry Pratchett has called for euthanasia tribunals to give sufferers from incurable diseases the right to medical help to end their lives. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Today's top society stories

Tories blame central targets for 'staggering' hospital readmission rates

Sir Terry Pratchett calls for euthanasia tribunals

Smokers face doorway ban as Burnham unveils new public health policy

Lack of affordable housing cuts grandparents off from families, says Shelter

Other news

• The Conservatives are to introduce a 'more locally democratic' planning system that will give more power to local people to stop unwanted property developments, reports the Financial Times. The plans to be outlined in an imminent green paper will also propose scrapping regional housing targets and the Infrastructure Planning Commission

• Child abuse deaths are still rising despite tougher child protection rules following the death of Baby P, according to the Times

• There is just one out-of-hours GP on call for up to 650,000 people in some areas, reports the Daily Telegraph. Some parts of England have eight times as many GPs on call as other similar sized areas, it found

• Barnet council is to reinstate live-in wardens in its sheltered housing after deciding not to appeal against a judicial review of its decision to replace the warden's with 'floating support', reports Inside Housing

What's in a name?

We will surely end up dubbing it the 'department for broken Britain', but the Tories will call it the Department for Children and Social Justice, and Iain Duncan Smith will be its supremo, with a seat in the cabinet.

That's at least according to the Sunday Telegraph, which reports that if the Tories win, Ed Balls's vast Department for Children, Schools and Families will be dismantled, partly to appease Michael Gove's desire to have a purely education-focused schools and universities ministry, and partly to placate the party's unmodernised wing, who want to see a good, old fashioned Tory right-wing moralist like Duncan Smith in a position of supposed influence. On the other hand, adds the Telegraph:

An alternative to placing Mr Duncan Smith at the head of the new 'DCSJ' would be to make him head of a Whitehall 'star chamber' pulling together and co-ordinating policies aimed at fixing 'broken Britain' from across government. Whatever route they choose to go down, it seems highly likely that a major Whitehall department will have the words 'social justice' in its title.

But would the Conservatives de-couple education and children's social services at a local level?