An initiative is being launched today 1 September, 2009 which aims to reduce the number of falls by older people in Edinburgh.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has called for a change at the heart of government over its attitude towards child protection.

DETAILS of new £95million mental health facilities in Tayside will be unveiled at a series of open days later this week. NHS Tayside has organised the events, at Montrose and at Stracathro Hospital near Brechin, to update the public on plans for Stracathro and Murray Royal Hospital in Perth.

A new programme which will create an alternative to remand for young people going through the court system has been launched by Glasgow City Council Social Care services.

The Baby P scandal has led to councils across the north and north-east being inundated with calls about at-risk children. New figures from Aberdeen City Council show referrals went up by a quarter last year and the number of youngsters on the child-protection register soared by half in the past eight months.

A new £7.6m hospital unit for teenagers battling serious mental health problems including eating disorders has been officially opened in Glasgow.

News that the Scottish Government is to delay the introduction of the controversial Children’s Hearings Bill until early next year has been welcomed by leading social workers and the charity which represents children in care.

The Church of Scotland is consulting on a wave of redundancies after losing tens of millions in the economic downturn. It is understood up to a quarter of the 80 staff at the Edinburgh headquarters of the Kirk’s CrossReach service, part of a 200-year-old practice of providing social support, could face redundancy.

CHANGES to the homecare service in the Borders are the first part of a long term plan to improve care for the elderly but as far as some carers, clients and their families are concerned it has hardly been an auspicious start.

HIGHLAND Council’s introduction of charges to transport the elderly to day care centres and lunch clubs in Badenoch and Strathspey has been branded “disgusting” and “diabolical”.