Vulnerable children were left at risk of serious abuse and neglect after a breakdown in the management of a council’s social work department, according to a damning official report.

The founder of a Highland charity for bereaved families was facing jail last night after he admitted using the forged signature of a local politician to try to obtain over £220,000.

A teenage rape victim has spoken out against the closure of a care home she claims is her ‘lifeline’. The 16-year-old is housed in a children’s unit in the north of Glasgow where she was promised she would be secure for at least a year.

Abused children have been left in “high risk” situations and those assaulted sexually forced to wait months for therapy due to a catalogue of failures by social workers, a damning report has revealed.

{mosimage}Two senior council officials resigned yesterday after inspectors exposed an appalling picture of neglect and incompetence affecting some of Scotland’s most vulnerable young children.

The investigation into child protection services provided by Midlothian Council outlined a series of failings at the council, including a lack of resources, training and proper planning for the care of children, many of whom are victims of sexual and domestic violence.

As Danny Molloy, the councillor responsible for social work, health and housing, and Malcolm McEwan, the local authority’s director of social work, stood down in the wake of the revelations, child care experts insisted the failings were not restricted to Midlothian and warned children across the country were at risk.

The Midlothian report by HM Inspectorate of Education found social workers failed to keep in contact with children at “immediate risk” and heavy workloads meant the children were exposed to the risk of abuse, harm or neglect.

It pointed to children being left in “high risk” situations and said those in local authority care or on the child protection register were not always seen regularly by social work staff.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has been accused of putting lives at risk by taking too long to respond to calls. Agnes Alexander, a 77-year-old woman from Eyemouth in the Borders, is thought to have suffered a stroke after waiting more than three hours for help.

Scottish health boards have been accused of suspending too many members of staff. A support group for health workers said suspensions were often used when there was no threat to patient safety. The Campaign Against Unnecessary Suspensions and Exclusions said hundreds of staff members in Scotland were being suspended.

A compendium of statistics has been published together with new data on hospital alcohol-related discharges and alcohol-related deaths. Latest statistics demonstrate the massive health and social cost of alcohol misuse in Scotland and illustrate why doing nothing is not an option, Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald said.

Voluntary organisations might benefit from a joint training and development plan launched by Microsoft boss Bill Gates and the Scottish Executive. Gates and First Minister Jack McConnell unveiled proposals to help the growing number of jobless youngsters in Scotland who are not in education or training.

Henry McLeish, the former First Minister, yesterday insisted free personal care for the elderly was affordable in the long term, provided ministers had the political will to see it through.

By any measure, the rise in autism rates in the past 20 years has been astronomical. Pre-1990 estimates put the number at about four or five cases per 10,000 people. But a study published last year in the medical journal the Lancet suggested that the condition now affects one person in every hundred.