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A Dumfries and Galloway councillor has said pensioners should sue the authority if they feel they have been wrongly charged for care. Labour administration member Willie Scobie claimed it could clarify the legal position on meal preparation fees under the free personal care programme. The council dropped its charging policy this year amid claims it breached national legislation. An investigation has started into the council’s potential cost liabilities. Mr Scobie said a legal challenge might be the only way to take things forward.

The lives of around 40,000 people with learning disabilities in Scotland have not improved in the last six years and in some cases have deteriorated, a major study has revealed. And equality of opportunity does not exist in the workplace, according to the research which was commissioned by Enable Scotland, the leading charity in the field. The organisation said that the survey had demonstrated that individuals with learning disabilities still did not have equal access to the things in life that most people aspired to and took for granted.

The owners of a care home where 14 elderly residents died in a fire will appear in court next month. Thomas Balmer, 59, wife Anne , 58, and their son Alan , 32, are charged with breaches of health and safety legislation. Their firm, Balmer Care Homes Ltd will face the same charges. The blaze at Rosepark care home in Old Edinburgh Road, Viewpark, Lanarkshire, on January 31, 2004, led to one of the highest fire death tolls in Scotland in recent years. Heavy smoke from the fire killed 14 of the 43 people staying at the home – 13 women and one man, with the oldest being 98.

‘see me’, the Scottish mental health anti-stigma campaign is calling for people throughout Scotland to have their say on mental health, with the launch of the largest national stigma survey to date. Since 2002, ‘see me’ has been campaigning for the rights of people with mental health problems and tackling the stigma and discrimination of mental-ill health across Scotland. The ‘hear me’ survey aims to gather information about the way in which stigma affects not only those with experience of mental health, but also the people who support them including friends, family and carers.