Scotland’s army of persistent young offenders has swelled to another record high. Figures released yesterday showed a 6% rise in the number of children classed among the country’s most troubled and troublesome.

A small cash payment made to hundreds of adults with learning disabilities attending day-care centres is to be scrapped – to save £42,000. The move has been described as “callous” and guaranteed to cause massive upset among some of Glasgow’s most vulnerable citizens.

More than 900,000 people in Scotland are living in poverty, including 240,000 children, a study has warned. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland called on all parties to commit themselves to more concerted measures to eradicate poverty.

Thousands of asthma sufferers across Scotland may benefit from a new three-year project to improve treatment methods.

Drug-taking parents will be asked to sign contracts with treatment agencies in a bid to protect their children, according to new plans. The Scottish Executive move is part of a crackdown on drug abuse, placing more emphasis on education and treatment.

A male nurse left a female patient in a high dependency unit lying on a bed naked on a towel and covered only by a sheet while he took a tea break, a disciplinary tribunal heard yesterday.

A former council worker who amassed a collection of almost 3,000 indecent photos of young children and was a foster father to 60 youngsters was put on probation for two years yesterday. George Robb, 55, was also ordered to take part in the sex offenders project.

A specialist  team set up to tackle child abuse and neglect in the Lothians is struggling to cope with the huge number of youngsters referred to it. The Amethyst team is the first of its kind in Scotland, bringing together police, social workers and NHS staff working on child protection cases.

A Social worker forced to quit amid misconduct allegations landed a job with children in Aberdeen because of failings in basic background checks.

Scotland’s largest city has been accused of failing to do enough to address the employment and vocational training needs of its black and minority ethnic population. A new report criticises past action in Glasgow as “piecemeal” and “start-stop” in nature in a city it says is entering a defining period in its economic and social development.