The future of time banking in Scotland is set to grow as a joint initiative is launched by Volunteer Development Scotland and Time Banks UK. The partnership seeks to complement and strengthen traditional volunteering by breaking down the time barrier in order to reach out to those who don’t normally get involved.

{mosimage}Prosecutors yesterday shelved action against 10 workers accused of abusing children at Kerelaw residential school. Crown officials said they did not have enough evidence to proceed in the cases and that they were prepared to meet with complainers personally to explain why.

A total of 20 members of staff from Kerelaw, an Ayrshire unit for troubled youngsters, have been reported to the procurator-fiscal.

Yesterday’s decision means that 13 of them will not, at least for the time being, face prosecution as Crown counsel had earlier decided to take no action on three cases.

Two men have been convicted of sexually and physically abusing children, a woman is awaiting trial in August and four other individuals are still under investigation.

A Crown Office spokeswoman said yesterday: “Crown counsel have instructed that, on the basis of the evidence currently available, there will be no criminal proceedings at this time in relation to 10 separate cases reported to the procurator-fiscal at Kilmarnock follow- ing allegations of abuse at Kerelaw.

“The procurator-fiscal at Kilmarnock has informed complainers of the decision reached in these cases and has offered individual meetings to explain the reasons for the decision in their case.”

The Crown Office announcement comes just a week after Glasgow City Council, which owned and managed the Stevenston facility, said it believed as many as 40 members of staff were directly involved in either the physical or sexual abuse of children. The council said “a far larger number” of staff knew or suspected abuse but did nothing about it.

Highland Council’s administration has said it will commit to building new care homes and oppose the construction of new nuclear plants in the region.

Fifteen drug-related deaths have been recorded in Fife in six months compared with just two during the same period last year.

A Glasgow college is battling to remove the stigma of mental health problems. Students have made a hard-hitting short film designed to encourage sufferers to seek help and advice.

The care homes U-turn is not a huge surprise but it will leave many longer-serving Highland councillors with egg on their faces. There is no policy – or in this case reversal of policy – by the new political Highland Council that could ingratiate itself better with the electorate.

Stopping parents from smacking their children will help “stem the trajectory of violence” which “shames” Scotland, one of the country’s most senior police officers said yesterday.

Working parents in Scotland could save up to £250 a year under plans to increase free nursery education. Fiona Hyslop, the education secretary, said that every three- and four-year-old will be entitled to an extra five weeks of free nursery education from August.

Politicians and council officials have been condemned by Scotland’s spending watchdog over a plan to hand a local-authority chief executive a £149,000 redundancy payment just months before he was due to retire.

A former senior official at Stirling Council has been sentenced to nine months in jail for possession of more than 1,000 images of child pornography. Timothy Dixon, 60, was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to having images of almost 500 individual child victims.