People with autism are being discriminated against by employers and denied education because of ignorance.

A leading charity for the elderly last night called for an inquiry into what it called a “shocking” rise in the number of deaths in Scotland last winter.

Teachers must be given training to cope with the rising numbers of autistic children in mainstream schools, campaigners said yesterday.

An independent inquiry was today ordered into institutional abuse at a Scottish school. The full extent of the abuse at Kerelaw school in Ayrshire was revealed by The Herald earlier this year.

{mosimage}Around 40 care workers abused youngsters in their care, and could still be working with children. A “far larger” number of staff knew about the treatment but did not intervene.

Maltreatment by workers at the school included physical assault, the excessive use of restraint, and sex abuse.

Two former teachers were jailed last year for their part in the scandal. The school was closed in January 2005.

Today Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government, acting together, set up a wide-ranging independent inquiry into events at Kerelaw. It will be chaired by Eddie Frizzell, a former top civil servant.

Prosecutors came under fire last night after a sheriff allowed an alleged paedophile to walk free from court, ruling that the charges against him had been wrongly worded.

Inmates as young as 15 can find themselves locked up for 23 hours a day as a result of overcrowding at a Scottish detention centre.

Scotland’s charity regulator yesterday named and shamed 300 charities that have failed to file accounts as part of its a tough response to a series of high-profile scandals.

{mosimage}The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) said the organisations had failed to meet deadlines under new powers brought in to restore public confidence in the sector.

Among charities included on the list are Cash for Kids, the Scottish Schools Football Association, the Queen’s Own Highlanders Regimental Trust Regimental Museum, Bell Baxter High School “Fund Fair” fund and the National Trust for Scotland Kincardine & Deeside Members Centre.

While many of the first 294 charities now included on the “late list” may simply have forgotten to update basic details, such as contact information, they still face being removed from the charities register and thus lose their charitable status, the watchdog said.

Based on figures submitted for the previous year, more than £10m is estimated to be unaccounted for in total.

The monthly list is being published on OSCR’s website detailing those charities that have failed to submit their most recent accounts and an annual return form within six months of the stated deadline, which is 10 months after their relevant financial year-end. The first round of charities published have March, April and May 2006 financial year-ends.

Bullied by their classmates as children, shunned by neighbours as parents, and refused work as adults, the lives of thousands of Scots are being devastated by ignorance about autism.

One of Scotland’s leading drugs misuse experts will today call for a “zero tolerance” approach from the Scottish Government, which he accuses of going soft on the issue.

Thousands of Scottish families whose children need extra help in the classroom will no longer have the right to choose a school in a different local authority following a landmark legal ruling attacked as “discriminatory” by campaigners.