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David Cameron is preparing for his first cabinet meeting as prime minister as he puts the finishing touches to his historic coalition government.

The Tory leader will announce a string of junior government posts, which will include further Lib Dem appointments.

He began the business of government on Monday evening with a first meeting of the new National Security Council.

It followed a press conference in the No 10 garden with deputy prime minister and coalition partner Nick Clegg.

The two men joked together as they set out what they wanted to achieve with their unprecedented power sharing arrangement – which Mr Cameron said could mark a "seismic shift" in British politics.

In addition to Mr Clegg, four other Lib Dems will be sitting around the cabinet table when the ministers gather at 0900 BST.

They are Vince Cable, who is business secretary; Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws; Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne; and Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander.

ID cards

There are expected to be 20 Liberal Democrat ministers at all levels across many departments, meaning nearly half of the parliamentary party will be members of the government.

The majority of cabinet ministers carry on with the briefs they held in opposition but there was a return to frontline politics for former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who becomes work and pensions secretary.

Theresa May was a surprise appointment as home secretary and she has already spoken of the challenges ahead as she tries to square the conflicting priorities of the coalition partners and deliver their jointly agreed programme.

She told BBC News: "We will be scrapping ID cards but also introducing an annual cap on the number of migrants coming into the UK from outside the European union."

She said there was a "process to be gone through" to decide the annual limit. The coalition government was committed to introducing elected police commissioners and cutting police paperwork to "give the police more time on the streets," she added.

On the DNA database, she said: "We are absolutely clear we need to make some changes in relation to the DNA database. For example one of the first things we will do is to ensure that all the people who have actually been convicted of a crime and are not present on it are actually on the DNA database.

"The last government did not do that. It focused on retaining the DNA data of people who were innocent. Let’s actually make sure that those who have been found guilty are actually on that database."

National Security

One junior government post was revealed on Wednesday evening, when Dame Pauline Neville-Jones took her seat as security minister at the first meeting of the National Security Council.

The body, made up of senior ministers, military chiefs and the heads of the security services, discussed the military situation in Afghanistan.

It was also briefed on the UK’s wider strategic and security position.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne and Foreign Secretary William Hague were among those who attended the Downing Street meeting.

The council was set up on Wednesday to co-ordinate the efforts of government departments and agencies to safeguard UK security.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister this evening chaired the first meeting of the newly established National Security Council.

"The prime minister began the meeting by paying a full tribute to the UK’s armed forces and expressed his personal admiration and gratitude for their dedication and sacrifice.

"He then received briefings on the political and military situation in Afghanistan, including from his new National Security Adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts, and from the Chief of the Defence Staff [Sir Jock Stirrup]. The prime minister was then updated on the wider UK security situation."

The Labour Party has meanwhile started the process of choosing a new leader after the resignation of Gordon Brown, who stood down as prime minster on Tuesday when it became clear that the Lib Dems had decided to join the Tories in a coalition.

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband became the first potential candidate to announce plans to stand, saying he hoped others would follow suit. He has the backing of heavyweight figures including former home secretary Alan Johnson and acting Labour leader Harriet Harman, both of whom have ruled themselves out of the running.

Backbench Labour MP John Cruddas, who came third in Labour’s 2007 deputy leadership contest, has also said he is thinking about standing.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Alcohol misuse is a problem among UK troops who have been in Afghanistan and Iraq, but serious mental disorders are not as common as feared, a study says.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rates are low despite many deployments in foreign combat zones, a study in The Lancet based on 10,000 personnel found.

They are significantly lower than those reported among US troops, it adds.

King’s College researchers said the UK needed to shift emphasis from PTSD onto more prevalent drinking problems.

The study, headed by Dr Nicola Fear and Professor Simon Wessely, surveyed nearly 10,000 regular personnel and reservists, asking them about their mental health and drinking habits.

It followed nearly a decade of the British being engaged abroad, including a six-year military mission in Iraq and ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

‘Bonding role’

The prevalence of possible PTSD was just 4% – stable from the last major study carried out between 2003 and 2005.

It was slightly higher among the regulars who were deployed, but the high rates that some had feared as a result of ongoing missions and multiple deployments have not materialised, the study reported.

This is in sharp contrast to the US, where some estimates put rates of PTSD as high as 10-15% among those who have seen action.

While differences in the intensity of combat may account for some of this gap, the fact that US soldiers must show they have been harmed in service to access free medical care may inflate some of the figures, the researchers suggest.

At 20%, less severe mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and insomnia were not insignificant, but probably at rates lower than in the general population.

But there had been an impact of nearly a decade of combat operations, and this was most notable with the misuse of alcohol, the researchers said.

Overall 13% of those surveyed reported regularly drinking alcohol to excess, with those regulars who had been deployed more than 20% more likely to have problems.

Professor Wessely said the issue had to be treated with care as alcohol did play an important role in soldiers’ lives.

"It plays a key role in bonding, as well as relieving anxiety and stress. But there is no such thing as a free lunch."

‘Warrior effect’

But he stressed that while rates for all problems were higher in those deployed than those who had not been, the number of deployments did not seem to affect the chances of reporting a mental disorder.

This may be explained by the "healthy warrior effect" – in other words, those who are the most psychologically resilient go on to further deployments, while those who are unwell do not.

And while rates of mental disorders were not rising, Professor Wessely warned that by the very virtue of the increasing numbers who have served in recent years, more will eventually require the help of the NHS – which will need to anticipate this increase.

An accompanying Lancet editorial noted: "Contrary to reports in the mainstream media, there is not an epidemic of mental health problems in this group of service personnel."

But it added: "This group is at increased risk of the social complications of excessive drinking such as violence and relationship breakdowns. Although having introduced some alcohol-control policies, the armed forces need to reassess whether they are rigorous enough."

The Ministry of Defence, which funded the independent research, said it took issues of problem drinking very seriously.

A spokesman said: "Individuals identified as being at risk from alcohol problems receive counselling and welfare support. This can include attendance on preventative early intervention programmes designed to alert them to the harm that alcohol can cause to themselves and others.

"More serious cases are treated through specialist medical and psychological treatment and rehabilitation, including where appropriate as in-patient. The consumption of alcohol is strictly regulated when personnel are serving on operations and disciplinary measures are taken where necessary."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Hospital food cooked with fresh local ingredients could put hundreds of millions of pounds back into the NHS, one hospital trust has said.

Catering managers at Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen’s Medical Centre have switched to such a menu.

The trust says the daily plate saving is £2.50 per patient – that is more than £6m a year.

Trust catering manager John Hughes said up to £400m could be saved annually if it were rolled out across the NHS.

‘Tough decisions’

The food travels less distance than many of the 7,000 patients who choose from the menu each day.

The hospital contract is also supporting dozens of local farmers and has saved a number from going under.

In its first year the farm-to-plate scheme has put a million pounds into the local economy and that is likely to double over the next 12 months.

Mr Hughes says the idea of getting his beef from down the road rather than South America sounded good but he thought it would be too expensive.

He was also concerned there would not be enough fresh local produce to fill his cupboards.

"I was happy to be proved wrong on both counts," he said. "This was one of the tough decisions I think we’d be cheered to the rafters for taking."

"It doesn’t actually cost any more and you are actually going to invest in local communities and the local suppliers you want to develop. On top of that it’s actually going to save the NHS millions of pounds a year."

Quality and price

Ninety per cent of the fresh food the hospitals use comes from the East Midlands and it is the only trust to receive a Soil Association award for its work from Prince Charles.

Since his team took over running the kitchen from private contractors, Mr Hughes says they now have more control over quality and price.

Five miles up the road from the hospital, in the village of Nuthall, you will find Michael Hatton’s pig farm.

The business was on its knees before getting in with the hospital, something that would not have happened if he had approached them on his own.

He is now part of a network of small farmers who send their meat via a regional hub to the hospital and other big buyers. The same things happen with many of the hospital’s fresh vegetable suppliers.

‘Make a living’

As a result Mr Hatton has just turned a profit for the first time in 10 years.

"I was almost ready to call it a day, things were very, very difficult," he said.

"There were basically four jobs on the line here, but with this new contract we’re getting margins being passed down to us, which makes all the difference, and we can actually make a living from it now."

The total journey from farm to plate is no more than 30 miles for Hatton’s pigs.

After slaughter in Chesterfield, they stop off for processing at Owen Taylor’s near Alfreton in Derbyshire.

Managing director Richard Taylor says the 80-year-old business and its network of local farmers are a rare breed today.

"It has to be the way forward, but sadly there aren’t many of us about that could do this sort of operation and have the control from farm to plate."

Supply chain

Mr Taylor added: "It would be good to see more set-ups like this across the country and more controls put in to make sure it happens.

"That would mean big business can go to people like us and say ‘I want X,Y and Z’ and get it."

In the huge hospital kitchen they stir bath-sized soup vats with paddles rather than spoons.

There is plenty of stainless steel clanking about as staff get a fleet of hot trolleys ready to roll onto the wards three times a day.

Running out is not an option. Putting their trust in the local supply chain is making the weekly shop go further in the kitchen, while actually saving 150,000 food miles a year and a lot of money.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Exchange offices in the UK have stopped selling 500 euro banknotes because of their use by money launderers.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency says 90% of the notes sold in the UK are in the hands of organised crime.

Soca deputy director Ian Cruxton said 500 euros had become the currency of choice for gangs hiding their profits.

The move means nobody will be able to buy the note in the UK – but travellers will be able to sell them if they enter the UK carrying them from abroad.

There has been mounting international concern over the note, which is worth more than £400, and its attractiveness to criminals.

Massive sums

Soca says that an eight-month analysis of movements of the note in the UK revealed that it was almost exclusively used by money launderers shifting cash for major crime gangs.

The British trade in the notes is thought to be worth some 500 million Euros – but less than 10% of them are bought by legitimate tourists and business travellers.

Instead, gangs are reportedly shifting massive sums of sterling, typically from drug dealing, through "front" exchange businesses.

Ian Cruxton, deputy director of Soca, told the BBC that the banknote had been secretly withdrawn from sale on 20 April.

"When criminals want to move a bulk of cash inside the UK and, more importantly, out of the UK, one of the best ways to do that is to reduce the bulk massively both physically and in terms of the risks they pose of discovery," said Mr Cruxton.

"The 500 euro note is really the note of choice among criminals.

"It should now be impossible now to buy a 500 note over the counter from one of the suppliers. And that’s going to have an effect on the criminals – it means they are going to have to find other means of trying to move their money."

There have been widespread concerns among law enforcement agencies over the role of the 500 euro in money laundering, concerns that are identical to those raised about other similar high-value notes around the world.

The European Central Bank created the note at the time of monetary union to replace high value notes which were popular in some of the Eurozone countries.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

There has been a slight rise in the number of adults in the UK taking part in education, a survey suggests.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Dishonest agents who help bogus students get into the UK are being targeted in an international initiative.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Babies should be given something sugary before a jab to reduce pain, Canadian researchers say.

Experts at the University of Toronto say newborns are less likely to cry if given a few drops of a sugar solution before immunisation.

Data based on 1,000 injections suggests infants given a glucose solution are 20% less likely to cry following a jab.

The research, published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, is based on clinical data from 14 studies.

A team led by Dr Arne Ohlsson, of the University of Toronto, looked at data from clinical trials in babies up to a year old.

As well as the findings related to glucose, the researchers found that between a few drops and half a teaspoon of sucrose and glucose also led to a small reduction in the amount of time a baby spent crying.

The Canadian researchers, who worked in collaboration with colleagues in Australia and Brazil, concluded: "Healthcare professionals should consider using sucrose or glucose before and during immunisation."

Existing research points to the pain-relieving properties of sweet solutions working for babies undergoing painful procedures such as a heel prick.

Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol, said: "Anything we can do to minimise the discomfort of immunisation for children is to be welcomed, and I would like to see more research in this area.

"On the one hand parents are more likely to return if the experience is not distressing.

"But more fundamentally, children don’t agree to have vaccines, so we need to be sure we are making it as painless as possible for them."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.