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Today a new report on the state of women’s justice across the UK is launched. The research presents a mixed picture, profiling some excellent local practice whilst highlighting a lack of consistency and a dearth of services in many parts of the UK that would enable women to address the causes of their offending and get out of trouble. Chair of the Soroptimist action committee who commissioned the research, Dr Kay Richmond, director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon and Women’s Justice Minster Simon Hughes MP discuss why there are such critical gaps in service provision for vulnerable women, and a continued inconsistency between policy and practice.

Listen to our s about in Birmingham, examining alternatives to prison for low-risk female offenders.

We often hear about that special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren – grandparents, often with more time on their hands, relishing doing things with their grandchildren.ÌýÌý But it is estimated that there are about a million children in the UK who no longer have any contact with their grandparents. Helen Harris has written a novel, Sylvia Garland’s Broken Heart,Ìý with a grandmother and grandson at the heart of the novel.Ìý Jane Jackson set up the soon after she lost contact with her first grandchild. The group now supports grandparents all over the UK and beyond.

ÌýHelen HarrisÌý Sylvia Garland’s Broken HeartÌý (Halban Publishers)

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first came to prominence as The Divine Miss M. And, in a career spanning over four decades, she’s received multiple awards including a Grammy for Wind Beneath My Wings – a song featured in Beaches, a film in which she starred Ìýand produced. Bette talks to Jane about her latest release It’s the Girls – a tribute to girl groups.

Bette’s 2015 UK tour starts on the 9th July in Birmingham and then travels to Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds and finishes in London on the 19th July.

Before the 2010 General Election, just under a fifth of MPs were women, after the votes had been counted it went up to just over a fifth. All of this week we’re looking at how much might change at the General Election next May. We’re examining the efforts of the main political parties at Westminster to increase the number of women MPs in 2015. And in the New Year we’ll turn our attention to what other parties, including UKIP, the Greens – and the SNP are doing to tackle their own levels of representation. But today, it’s the Labour Party. So what are the experiences of the women who become prospective parliamentary candidates? Today we hear about the party’s efforts to get more women into parliament and hear the stories of another two women who have been selected to fight for seats in May 2015 -ÌýSophy Gardner, Parliamentary candidate for Gloucester; andÌýSarah Jones, Parliamentary candidate for Croydon Central.Ìý