• Patients are spending too long in mental health secure units because of a lack of community services for them to move on to, according to the BBC. Its says a new report from the Centre for Mental Health says patients spend two years on average in a secure unit, costing £200,000 per patient per year.

• The BBC has said it will not broadcast advertisements for charities, reports Third Sector. The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said talks about the idea had taken place about "whether the BBC and other broadcasters should carry advertisements from community groups or charities", but a BBC spokeswoman responded: "We have set out before our feelings - that broadcasting these ads would be seen as supporting these policies and would undermine our independence."

• Campaigners fear a new £200m a year fund to buy treatment for cancer sufferers could lead to a postcode lottery in care, reports the Telegraph.

• The Care Quality Commission is to outsource delivery of its new care ratings system to several accreditation bodies, according to Community Care. The regulator said the move would give providers a choice of schemes to measure themselves against.

On my radar ...

• The national day of action to "defend the NHS" (see the Twitter hashtag #1aprilnhsday). Activists claim to have targeted the health secretary's constituency office, spraypainting the slogan "Hands off our NHS" on the building. In a statement, one of the protesters said:

" The government are using the budget deficit as an excuse to destroy our hard-won social protections while corporation tax gets cut. We are taking action alongside hundreds of thousands of public sector workers preparing to go on strike to fight the government's concerted attack on the welfare state."

Meanwhile, the Andrew Lansley rap is zooming up the iTunes chart.

• I loved the Inside Housing story about Grant Shapps's plan to team up with his cousin Mick Jones and release a charity version of the Clash's Should I stay or should I go? to publicise the government's housing benefit reforms. It says Shapps, concerned that many benefit recipients seemed unaware of the changes, wanted to spread the message about the reforms and had also enlisted the help of rapper Dizzee Rascal.

• The legendary Sir Robin Bogg, who was live online this morning on the Guardian's Voluntary Sector Network.

• More highlights today from my colleagues on the Guardian Professional Networks: civil servants to fill potholes for 'big society'; Andrew Lansley to add French lessons to NHS reform; can I just double check the date on this one: 'housing officers' and 'landlords' have had their day, it's time to find new titles - such as 'ninja'.

• The end of an era in London, as reported by the Scoop, which says that the capital's iconic red double deckers are going to be repainted blue as part of a sponsorship deal with Barclays. The new Barclays London Transport, to be unveiled by Boris Johnson today, will also oversee the renaming of London's underground lines - with the Northern Line called "The Golden Isa Line" and the Central Line renamed as the "Premier Life Account Line". And in a further rebranding exercise, the Mayor's Fund for London is to be renamed "The Mayor's Wonga for London" later this month.

• Swashbuckling at the DCLG? Guido Fawkes has posted this picture of Eric Pickles' department flying the skull and crossbones.

• Continuing anti-cuts action planned for this weekend. On Saturday young people in Ilfracombe, Devon, will march to help save the county's youth service, and Queer Resistance will be holding a picnic at in Soho Square, London, to discuss activity to date and plan for future actions.

• This superb post from Lisy Babe's blog, offering a disabled person's perspective of last Saturday's march (thanks @samedifference1):

• World Autism Awareness Day, which takes place on Saturday. Beechwood College in Cardiff, a specialist residential college, is launching a national art competition that will showcase the creativity of young people with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). The competition, Create! Art for Autism, seeks to dispel the myth that those with an ASD cannot be creative and encourages young people to express themselves in 2D, 3D and digital media. It is open to all young people aged 11-25 years who are formally diagnosed with an ASD.

• Mother's Day, which is on Sunday. Mums from across the country are to use the day to highlight the campaign opposing cuts to Sure Start children's centres. Five mums and their toddlers are to hand in a 50,000-signature petition at Downing Street. The event has been organised by mother Louise King, who formed the No Cuts for Kids campaign in response to national cuts to Sure Start provision.