EDUCATION and social care chiefs in the city are to be tasked with making £16 million worth of cuts over the next two years. Under questioning from Labour councillors, it emerged today that the savings are “still to be identified”, raising the possibility of a return to last year’s proposals to close care homes and community centres.

There is no national health service for people with asthma, according to a Scottish charity. A report by Asthma UK Scotland said there was an unacceptable variation in emergency hospital admissions for asthma across the country.

Charity regulators have said there are “key lessons” to be learned from the collapse of a major charity and childcare provider last year. One Plus provided a range of services to one-parent families.

The report from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) pointed to an apparent lack of “adequate skills” among board members.

It said no single factor was to blame for the collapse of the multi-million pound business. However, it said the running of the charity and its response to funding issues were the main reasons for the collapse.

One Plus was one of Scotland’s biggest charities with a turnover of £11m in 2005. But at the end of 2006 it had an overdraft of £2m which it had been told could not be extended. The charity went into liquidation in January 2007 with debts of £2.27m

The report said while board members were enthusiastic “they did not seem to pay sufficient attention to the business aspects and support structures required to keep expanding services operating effectively.”

More than 100 children a week are being treated in Scottish accident and emergency departments for problems caused by alcohol abuse.

A NEW day centre to help adults with autism learn skills that can be put to use in the wider world is set to open. The Musselburgh property is being

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon today welcomed Lord Sutherland’s independent review of Free Personal and Nursing Care.

A diverse range of innovative social service projects and organisations have made the shortlist for the Care Accolades 2008, the “Oscars” for the sector in Scotland.
 
The Care Accolades, now in its fifth year, is organised by the SSSC in partnership with the Scottish Government.  The national event is open to social work, social care and early education and child care organisations in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors.
 
The awards ceremony will be held on Friday 13 June at the five star Hilton Glasgow Hotel and will be hosted by TV presenter Kaye Adams.  The event highlights and promotes good practice and innovation in the social service sector. 
 
Carole Wilkinson Chair of the Judging Panel said: “It has been fantastic to see such a high standard of entries to the Care Accolades again this year. This really demonstrates the hard work and commitment of the social service sector in Scotland.
 
“It is always difficult to choose a shortlist, especially when the calibre of entries is so high. However this year’s short list really stood out in terms of innovation, sustainability and long term potential.
 

The effects of multiple sclerosis could be reversed within 15 years using stem-cell treatment, the head of a groundbreaking Scottish research centre said yesterday.

Professor Charles ffrench-Constant, director of the Edinburgh-based centre which was launched last year thanks to a donation from author JK Rowling, said his team of scientists aim to use stem cells to repair nerve damage caused by MS.

In his first interview since taking up the post, the professor of medical neurology said the treatment could halt the decline of patients who suffer from MS – which affects one in 500 Scots, one of the highest rates in the world.

At present, medicines available for MS patients attempt only to reduce the inflammation which causes the disease. However, doctors can offer sufferers nothing to reverse the growing damage left behind and so most people become increasingly debilitated.

Professor ffrench-Constant said: “My vision for a patient coming into a clinic in 10 or maybe 15 years’ time is they will be given a mixture of drugs to prevent the inflammation and to promote repair. That way, MS would no longer be a chronic, disabling disease.”

MORE women are committing violent offences including organising knife attacks on other women, Scotland’s top law officer told MSPs yesterday.

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children is backing calls for all teachers accused of abuse to be given anonymity unless they are convicted.

Kathleen Marshall has also voiced her concerns over what she considers is the “increasing climate of fear” teachers have to work in.

Her call for teachers who are subject to allegations of abuse from pupils to have the protection of anonymity comes in the latest BBC Radio Scotland Investigation.

In the programme, she supports existing demands from Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, for accused teachers to have their identity kept secret until the allegations are fully investigated.

The calls for anonymity come as there is evidence of increasing false accusations made by pupils against their teachers.