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.

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.

The most deprived areas in Scotland will take the biggest financial hit when the present welfare reforms come into effect. This is the conclusion of research published today commissioned by the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee.

A consultation is set to take place next week in the Western Isles to gather information about how services for older people could be enhanced to better meet the needs of service users.

A PRESENTATION of SVQ level three awards took place at Storyville Care Home in Kirriemuir last Wednesday.

A CHARITY chief who was instrumental in shaping the district’s voluntary sector has stepped down after nine years in the post.

EAST Dunbartonshire Council’s Social Work service has been highly praised by inspectors.

A threat to close a Tweedbank care home has been withdrawn after inspectors found ‘significant improvements’ had been made to the service.

Welfare cuts will take more than £1.6bn a year out of the Scottish economy and hit the poorest parts hardest, according to independent research.