JUSTICE Secretary Kenny MacAskill came under fire today for announcing the closure of Haddington Sheriff Court – just three days after promising to consider the case for keeping it open.

Efforts to eradicate the sexual exploitation of children are to be looked at by a parliamentary committee. The Public Petitions Committee has been studying the effectiveness of current guidelines and practices around the subject over the last month and will now focus on the barriers that prevent cases being reported and investigated.

The committee wants to hear from bodies working to tackle exploitation to find out the difficulties which exist in relation to the identification, disruption and prosecution of the perpetrators.

Plans to increase free pre-school childcare have been spelled out by the Scottish government.

Scotland’s care watchdog, the Care Inspectorate, has published a report looking at the deaths of children looked after by local authorities. Any time a looked after child dies, local authorities must inform the Care Inspectorate, which is charged with reviewing the circumstances of the death.