There has been a call for the councillor overseeing social work services in the Borders to quit her post in the wake of claims that people in need of help are being short-changed as the department struggles to balance its books.

Four social workers from Germany have been recruited by Midlothian Council. In the wake of the damning HMIe report on child protection services, the council is investing in employing and retaining social work staff. Funding arrangements were announced in the recent budget for additional staff.

Scottish mental health charities have called for greater awareness of self-harm among the country’s many different cultures. Research has suggested youngsters from ethnic minority groups are up to three times more likely to hurt themselves as a way of releasing emotion.

A cash windfall is to be used to provide financial support to “kinship carers” in Dumfries and Galloway. They are relatives or friends who step in to look after children who cannot be cared for by their own parents.

More than 600 elderly people were kept waiting at least six weeks for free personal care during the winter, a new report revealed yesterday. The flagship policy was brought in by the Scottish Executive five years ago to help people over the age of 65 with washing, dressing and feeding at home or in residential care homes.

Over the next two years £1 million will be invested into day services for older people across the city of Edinburgh. The funding will be announced tomorrow at the launch of the Day Services Review at the City Arts Centre.

Silence has not been golden in the case of the Wade Centre. The vacuum that has existed since Highland Council revealed a year ago that the Kingussie facility would become a blueprint in the region for care for the elderly in the 21st Century has only increased anxiety among old and frail residents, their loved ones and health campaigners.

Free personal care, the flagship policy of devolution, continues to be a success COSLA President Pat Watters has said. Commenting as an independent evaluation of the policy was published Councillor Watters said: “This is a defining policy for Scotland and it is a policy that has been a tremendous success for Scotland’s elderly.

Thousands of children and retired people face losing youth clubs, support groups and other community services because of a cash crisis at a council-funded organisation. The Pilmeny Development Project warned today that growing debts will force it to close all 14 community initiatives unless it is thrown a cash lifeline by the city council.

Grieving young people in Midlothian will now be able to access help through music therapy, thanks to a £500 grant from the Princes Trust. Midlothian Young Carers, a project run by Children 1st, is one of 11 organisations to receive a grant from The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in the second round of a grants programme funded by Comic Relief.