Small business leaders today urged Holyrood to legislate to encourage councils to spend more of their budgets with local firms. The call came after a survey showed Scottish authorities were lagging behind the rest of the UK in municipal local spending.

AN NHS unit for dementia sufferers has been closed on a temporary basis because of staffing pressures.

There were more than 1300 cases of people in Scotland being readmitted to mental health hospitals within 28 days of being discharged last year, figures have shown.

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A JUDGE has given Scotland’s largest local authority the go-ahead to appoint non-teachers to head nurseries, after throwing out a union’s legal challenge.

Better services for people with suicidal feelings have been demanded by mental health campaigners, as a TV programme suggests the problem is much greater than previously thought.

A carer who looked after a disabled child has won almost £11,000 at a tribunal after being sacked for fiddling time sheets.

ATTACKS on council workers in South Lanarkshire fell by over 15 per cent last year. Figures released at an executive committee last week showed a total of 262 reported incidents, none of which were classed as “major”, during 2011/12.

The Scottish Government has launched a new national website offering help and support to vulnerable children and families on child protection issues.

Dundee City Council has issued a formal apology to the family of a 90-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer after threatening to break down her front door to service her central heating boiler.