NHS chief executive Alan Langlands headed a long list of health service staff in the Queen's birthday honours. There were CBEs for North Thames regional director Ron Kerr and Northern and Yorkshire regional chair Zahida Manzoor, and OBEs for Newcastle City Health trust chief executive Lionel Joyce and Bromley health authority chief executive Claire Perry.

See In Person, page 35.

A minimum wage set at pounds3.60 will discourage 'less respectable' care home employers from undercutting professional staff salaries by bringing in low-paid casual staff, according to the Federation of Recruitment and Employment Services. It said the initiative could also ease a skills shortage in the sector.

Two hundred Labour MPs nominated 714 potential NHS board members in 1997, health minister Alan Milburn told the Commons. By comparison, 52 Conservative MPs put forward 135 names, while 16 Lib Dem MPs put forward 68.

Sexual health services should drop the term 'family planning' to make them more relevant to young people, says a Fabian Society report, which also argues that nurses and pharmacists should be able to issue emergency contraception.

Getting Real. The Fabian Society, 11 Dartmouth Street, London SW1H 9BN. pounds15.

The threat of a ballot for industrial action by GPs over primary care groups receded this week after three hours of talks between the British Medical Association and ministers. GP representatives will today debate a package of government proposals to address their concerns.

The Royal College of Nursing denied it had been embarrassed by a speech given by former Conservative minister Michael Portillo. He used the RCN's Kathleen Raven lecture to call for an increase in private health funding and an end to the 'Bevanite dogma of a health service funded only from taxes'.