Super-strong cannabis is “rewiring” youngsters’ brains, Scotland’s top drug cop warned yesterday. Graeme Pearson, head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said the “skunk” now being sold on our streets is far more potent than the cannabis smoked by hippies in the 60s.

A new report, backed by a coalition of charities, has said Government efforts to relieve poverty have failed since devolution. The report, Voices Of People Experiencing Poverty in Scotland, calls on the Scottish Executive and Westminster to do more to tackle low pay and poverty – and allow asylum seekers the right to work.

A confidential register of vulnerable children should be set up and managed by a single agency, Scotland’s police watchdog recommends today.

A man has admitted abducting a young girl and tying her up during a rape attempt in an Aberdeenshire town. James Murison forced the girl, who is under 16, into his house in Huntly while she was delivering newspapers.

When NHS staff surveys were introduced by Susan Deacon, the then Health Minister, the idea was as a temperature check on the NHS that would identify any issues which deterred people from joining and remaining with the service.

NHS staff have reported low morale and bullying are widespread in the service despite record levels of investment. A snapshot of opinion among the Scottish workforce revealed the majority do not feel involved in decisions that affect them and would not recommend the NHS as an employer.

The number of young children in Britain being diagnosed with the most serious form of diabetes has increased five-fold in two decades, prompting calls for urgent research to identify the cause.

The next national census will offer detail options for their ethnic background, while the English will be asked if they define themselves as black or white.

A boy aged 13 collapsed in his classroom after taking drugs he allegedly bought from a fellow pupil in the playground, it emerged yesterday. The youngster, who attends a school in Lanarkshire, is t to have become ill shortly after swallowing three diazepam pills.

Prisoners will no longer be entitled to automatic early release under new laws set to be approved at Holyrood. The Scottish Executive’s plans to overhaul sentencing are expected to be passed despite Conservative objections.