One in 10 Scottish 15-year-olds regularly uses cannabis, an official survey of teenagers nationwide reveals today.

The parents of a teenager with Down’s syndrome accused of a racist assault have called for changes in how the law deals with people with special needs.

Jamie Bauld, 19, who has a mental age of five, was told he could be charged with assaulting an Asian pupil at Motherwell College last September.

Fiona and Jim Bauld said that although the matter had now been dropped, the case should never have gone that far.

The Crown Office has apologised for any distress caused to the family.

The Baulds, from Cumbernauld, said they were first made aware of the incident on 4 September when someone from the college called to say Jamie had pushed another pupil, but the matter had been resolved and it was nothing to worry about.

But a few weeks later they received another call saying the police had become involved and an advert had been placed in the local newspaper calling for witnesses to a “racist assault” at the college.

A woman with the mental age of eight and living in council care was raped or sexually assaulted as many as 12 times yet her assailants were never brought to justice, a damning report concludes today.

It lambasts the Crown Office, police, social work and health professionals for failing to protect the woman and prosecute the three men, who carried out the attacks between 1999 and 2006, when the woman was 58-65.

The Mental Welfare Commission, which today publishes the report, Justice Denied, said despite several reports to police and referrals to procurators-fiscal, the men were never taken to court.

It adds that her case is far from unique, saying: “The circumstances which allowed Miss A to be sexually assaulted, repeatedly, without those who assaulted her being brought to justice, are ones which are common throughout Scotland.”

Some 18,000 offenders are expected to be punished directly by prosecutors rather than being sent to court under new measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the criminal justice system.

Glasgow could learn lessons from New York about how to tackle crime, according to a report by an independent think tank.

A FUNDING crisis in Scotland’s capital is hampering services for thousands of vulnerable people and damaging morale among staff, according to a new report.

Low morale among Edinburgh social workers was highlighted by a new inspection report. The reported state of morale in the city’s social work services was among the lowest of any of the local authorities so far scrutinised by the Social Work Inspection Agency.

The finding came in a report by the agency which was generally approving of the services provided by the council. But morale was among the “key areas” where improvement was needed, it said.

The inspection report was carried out at a time when the council was in the middle of a “serious financial crisis”.

Social services had also been reorganised in Edinburgh, with some functions going to a new department of children’s services and others to a department of health and social care. The study also took place after an inspection of child protection which had criticised some aspects of the work being carried out.

Yesterday’s report said: “Despite feeling they were doing a good job, many staff were not positive about morale in their team.

A CAMPAIGN has been launched to try to protect workers from having to take time off because of mental health problems.

Overcrowded jails are making Scotland a more dangerous place, the chief inspector of prisons has said.

UNIONS representing 200,000 local government workers in Scotland yesterday rejected a 2.5 per cent pay deal.

The offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) would have give a rise of 2.5 per cent for each of the next three years.

The three unions – Unison, the GMB and Unite – had tabled a claim for a one-year deal for a rise of a rise of £1,000 or 5 per cent, whichever was greater.

Officials of the unions said they were rejecting the deal and would use a consultation exercise to call on their members working in local government to follow suit.

Dougie Black, of Unison, said: “There is a great deal of anger at the employers’ insistence on a three-year deal and their continuing refusal to agree a clause linked to inflation.

“The offer is already less than inflation. Councillors should be aware that our members are serious about this offer being unacceptable.