Campaigners took their fight for a hepatitis C public inquiry to the courts yesterday, hoping that the Scottish Executive would be forced into a U-turn. Relatives of two people who died after contracting hepatitis C through contaminated blood transfusions in the 1980s asked a judge to overturn a decision by ministers to refuse an inquiry.

The problems of cheap alcohol and Scotland’s binge-drinking culture are to be debated at Holyrood. The Scottish Executive has admitted that its first alcohol strategy, introduced five years ago, failed to change the culture.

A report by the Accounts Commission has praised Scottish Borders Council’s progress in improving its operations. However, it has also highlighted a gap which remains between its ambitions and current performance.

Suicides in Scotland have increased significantly in the past 15 years, figures show, and experts yesterday called for increased efforts to target those most at risk. A major study analysing data from 1989 to 2004 has revealed that the suicide rate in men has increased by 22 per cent, while in women it is up 6 per cent.

New powers allowing police to issue on-the-spot fines for anti-social behaviour have come into force. Dumfries and Galloway Police has promised to use the legislation to help tackle disorder issues across the region more promptly.

The level of ambulance cover on an island is “unacceptable” at present, according to a Highland councillor. Drew Millar claimed that for the whole of the Isle of Skye there was one ambulance with no paramedic in its crew during an eight-hour period last week.

Ten teenagers have been responsible for a massive crime wave in Edinburgh involving mor than 1600 offences, it has been revealed. Children as young as 14 have carried out hundreds of crimes such as robbery, serious assault, housebreaking, fire-raising and extortion.

A new DVD has been launched to provide information on the Criminal Justice System for victims and witnesses of racist crime. The 15-minute programme aims to increase the confidence of ethnic minority communities in the criminal justice system and to encourage victims of racist crime to report incidents to the police.

People who use Perth and Kinross social work services have had a “generally positive” experience, inspectors said. The Social Work Inspection Agency also stated that the service had given a firm commitment to make improvements.

Health chiefs are still struggling to tackle the high rate of bed blocking in the Lothians, according to new figures. While the number of people across Scotland left languishing in hospital for more than six weeks has been slashed, the NHS Lothian statistics have remained static.