The Catholic confessional, with its dark wooden panels, metal grille and cloth curtain to mask penitent from priest, was replaced yesterday by a blond wooden witness box, a microphone and a large jug of water.

Plans to give asylum seekers the legal right to work have been put on ice by the Scottish Executive. Present UK laws ban asylum seekers from taking paid jobs but allow them to carry out voluntary work.

Surgeons battle to repair facial slash wounds on knife victims on average every six hours in Glasgow, according to shocking new figures. More than 1000 patients a year are sent for maxillofacial surgery in city hospitals after being attacked. But detectives believe fewer than one in three assaults is reported to the police.

Union officials in Dumfries and Galloway have received “a lot” of complaints after about 1,000 council staff got letters outlining wage cuts. The cuts are part of “single status” plans to address equal pay issues.

A Coalition of Scots anti-poverty and kids’ charities has heavily criticised the energy regulator, Ofgem. The coalition has turned its attention on Ofgem because of what it sees as its continuing failure to protect vulnerable consumers from debt.

Southern Cross Healthcare (SCH), the UK’s largest care home operator, said it had struck a deal with rival Focus Healthcare Group to manage 29 additional homes.

More than 40% of Scots will double their chances of developing skin cancer this year by getting sunburnt. The warning came from Cancer Research UK which also found that 27% of adults thought getting burnt was part of the tanning process.

The Home Office is seeking to double the rate at which it deports failed asylum seekers from Scotland – in a drive to clear a backlog of cases. The immigration service is pursuing a target of removing 10 people every week after staffing problems led to it achieving only half that rate last year, it was disclosed yesterday.

{mosimage} The target was condemned as uncompassionate and arbitrary by refugee groups. However, in a parallel development, the head of the new Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) indicated its officers were willing to consider the length of time people stayed in Scotland as a factor in deciding whether they should be allowed to remain.

The move appeared to be a concession to Hugh Henry, the Scottish education minister, who last month said he would urge the Home Office to consider that many asylum seeker children are positively integrated into local schools and communities.

He said he wanted this to be taken into account as part of a “sensible and pragmatic” approach to a review of some 1100 “legacy cases” in Scotland.

Lin Homer, BIA’s chief executive, was speaking as she visited the Glasgow offices of the newly-devolved Home Office agency which officially took over from the old Immigration and Nationality Directorate yesterday. She said the review of legacy cases, those decided before the introduction of a new fast-track asylum system last month, would consider a range of factors in deciding whether people could remain in the country on a case-by-case basis.

Police yesterday revealed details of the largest-ever cannabis factory uncovered in Scotland. In an unprecedented operation, an organised crime gang was alleged to be cultivating vast quantities of the drug with a street value of £1.2m.

Kevin Neeson used to get arrested almost every single day. When he avoided the cells it was simply because he had managed to avoid being caught. He was one of the first young people in Scotland to receive a Anti-Social Behaviour Order (Asbo). He says it made no difference at all.