The testing of a stem cell therapy on patients for the first time in the UK could benefit people affected by osteoarthritis.

Patients could avoid the need for joint replacement surgery in the future if the year-long trial is successful.

The therapy could pave the way for new treatments to help sufferers avoid knee and hip replacements.

Eight million people across the country are affected by the condition each year - only one million of whom visit their doctor.

Each year around 60,000 hip replacements and about the same number of knee replacements are carried out in the UK, almost all of them due to osteoarthritis.

Plans are now in place for the first early patient trial in the UK of such an approach to tackling osteoarthritis.

The trial, funded by the charity  Arthritis Research UK, will use stem cells extracted from bone marrow to repair worn knee cartilage.

In the trial, mesenchymal stem cells will be removed from the bone marrow using keyhole surgery and grown in the laboratory for three weeks.

They will then be implanted into the area of damage in the hope of forming new cartilage over a period of several months.

Patients will also be treated with cultured cartilage cells called chondocytes - more mature cells that are already used to repair small areas of joint damage, but not osteoarthritis.

Up to 70 people with established knee osteoarthritis will take part in the study, due to be launched at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire, before the end of this year. The trial is part of a £500,000 five-year research programme.

Age UK charity also offers services such as Health Care for the Elderly and Travel Insurance Medical Condition.

A Labour MP has called for the VAT rise to be deferred, claiming that older people on lower incomes will be left £8 billion worse off once the state pension is linked to earnings next year.

Chancellor George Osborne announced the 2.5% VAT rise in his first Budget, a move that Labour MP John Robertson claims will laden older people with billions of debt until 2015.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb was urged by Mr Robertson at Commons question time to persuade the Chancellor to defer the VAT rise that will be introduced in January 2011.

Mr Robertson, MP for Glasgow North West, said: "That earnings link will not help older people as of January when they start to pay their VAT. It amounts to nearly £8 billion over the life of the Parliament."

He asked Mr Webb: "When are you going to stick by your promise with your party during the general election that you would fight any VAT rise?

"What are you going to do to protect those who through no fault of their own are left with these enormous debts thanks to your Government?"

Mr Webb said: "I am not sure whether you are aware that the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that since the election the size of the country's structural deficit is £12 billion larger than was thought at the time of the election.

"I don't know where you would have found that £12 billion from.

"In terms of pensions, not only will we restore the earnings link but in April 2011 the full value of the cash increase in the state pension will go through to the poorest pensioners on pension credits."

Find out more about pension credits and Pension Advice from Age UK.

The Government is going ahead with plans for digital radio but no date has been set for the switchover, Communications Minister Ed Vaizey is due to announce.

Although a provisional target of 2015 was suggested by the former Labour government, Mr Vaizey will say that "the weight of public opinion" will decide when the FM signal should be switched off.

He will say that when half of all radio listeners have switched to using digital sources the Government will make a decision.

For many drivers it will mean the prospect of buying new radios or using conversion kits as digital radios are not often fitted as standard.

Figures from radio industry audience body Rajar show that around 24% is currently via digital.

Mr Vaizey is to publish a Digital Radio Action Plan encouraging listeners to make the switch.

This will involve building DAB coverage, which only covers about 90% of the population, and a cost-benefit analysis of the changeover.

Speaking at the Intellect Digital Home Conference, Mr Vaizey will say: "Listeners need to be persuaded that the content on offer is compelling, that the quality is high and that digital radios, at home or in the car, are affordable and have listening quality that is at least as good as FM."

Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director at Age UK, said: "Age UK welcomes today's announcement of the Government's Digital Action Plan for the switchover of radio from analogue to digital.

"Many people in later life have multiple radios and replacing them all could be expensive, especially for those on a limited budget. Therefore a cost benefit analysis must be produced to clearly demonstrate the benefits to listeners of moving to digital.

"Age UK also believe there is a need for a Help Scheme, similar to the digital TV switchover Help Scheme, which will provide specific help, information and advice on the switchover to those who need it mos