Projects run by Aberdeen City Council and its partners are having a major impact on anti-social behaviour and disorder in the city, a report due before councillors next week reveals. The paper, which will be considered by the Community Services committee, reviews progress made to date and updates members on work underway in the city to combat nuisance behaviour.

Specially trained police officers are to interview pupils at a primary school where a boy collapsed suffering from the effects of the drug methadone. The pupil, aged seven, took ill in class at Merkinch Primary, Inverness, and was treated in Raigmore Hospital. Northern Constabulary plan to speak to children who may have seen him take the methadone, possibly in the school playground at lunchtime. The substance is not believed to have come from the boy’s home.

Barnardo’s will today publish the first long term study of its work with children who have been exploited for sex or groomed for abuse through prostitution.  The study, the first of its kind in the UK, is being launched at a special event which is taking place in Glasgow.  The research found that the young people Barnardo’s helped had often been abused and neglected, but that intensive support could reduce their risk of being sexually exploited and help them achieve positive changes in their lives.

Housing associations are having to cut essential services to vulnerable people because of hard-hitting funding cuts imposed by the executive. Research conducted by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) shows that almost a quarter of housing associations who provide services to the homeless, the disabled and the elderly have been forced to cut some or all of their support services due to a decrease in the government’s Supporting People grant.

Significant changes are being proposed to the way rape cases in Scotland are investigated and prosecuted. The percentage of cases leading to convictions has fallen to one of the lowest rates in the world.

The first graduates from a pioneering new academic course designed to drive up standards of care provided throughout Scotland have been honoured at a special ceremony.

International mental health practitioners and leaders met in Edinburgh recently to discuss how to improve mental health services across the globe. It was the first time that the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) had been hosted in Scotland and was the largest gathering in its history.