A PIONEERING £4.6m centre for improving treatments for women with the most common type of breast cancer was opened yesterday by Prince Charles.

Staff morale in Aberdeen City Council was “very low”, and managers and councillors were not showing the strong leadership needed, said the Social Work Inspection Agency.

On a six-point scale, the best that the council achieved in two categories was “adequate”. It was classed “weak” on five others and and “unsatisfactory” in two – leadership and resources.

The critical findings came in a report published today by the agency. The findings come less than a week after another critical report on the council, carried out by the Accounts Commission.

The commission’s report warned the city had “extremely serious” problems with management, finances and services, and it called for an organisational overhaul.

Today’s report by the Social Work Inspection Agency pointed to “long-standing difficulties” in health and care services.

A council has reassured hundreds of home carers that there jobs will not be lost by plans to modernise services. Margaret Davidson, chairwoman of Highland Council’s housing and social work, said the authority did not “anticipate redundancies”.

Ministers have requested a meeting with senior figures in Aberdeen City Council’s social work department after a critical report by inspectors.

A charity worker stole £1,100 from the cancer care shop she managed in Edinburgh while claiming almost £4,000 in income support for “being ill”.

A nursing shortage is causing a high dependency unit at Aberdeen Children’s Hospital to close for two months.

A school for children with special needs is celebrating a five-star inspection report. Croftcroighn School in Craigend, Glasgow has been praised with five excellent ratings, for communication, welfare, staff engagement, partnerships and leadership, by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education.

SCOTLAND saw a record number of abortions last year, with new figures showing a continuing rise since Britain legalised the practice in 1968.

More than half of Scotland’s 236 residential care services for young people need to make improvements to their standards of practice, according to a new report by Scotland’s care regulator.

Figures for March 2006 show that these services were providing 2418 places for young people – 1250 in care homes, 1041 in residential special schools and 127 in secure accommodation.

The Care Commission has published a national report about three aspects of the quality of care provided by these services.  It shows that while there are many examples of good practice in the way young people are being cared for, improvements need to be made.

The Care Commission is recommending organisations who run young peoples’ care services, and their staff, need to improve their training and assessment methods, particularly with regard to child protection, planning for young people’s care and the use and recording of physical restraint. 

SCOTS are consuming twice as much alcohol as previously thought, a report suggests. The last survey, carried out in 2003, said that men were drinking an average of 17.2 units a week, while women consumed 6.5 units.