Two reports published today by the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA), comment on the performance of social work services in Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

{mosimage}One main finding is the need for a clearer vision for services and for stronger leadership to deliver it.

The wider performance inspection report covers most aspects of the council’s social work services other than criminal justice services.

The report highlights service strengths, for example the delivery of effective residential and day care services and the positive involvement and contribution of local organisations in planning and delivering services.

However whilst they judged no aspect of service delivery to be ‘unsatisfactory’  inspectors found only one of the ten areas for evaluation they use to assess performance to be ‘good’, the remainder being either ‘adequate’ or ‘weak’.

Scotland’s nurses need better protection from violence and aggression, it has been warned. The Royal College of Nursing Scotland has launched a campaign to get MSPs and employers to tackle the problem.

Scottish ministers have confirmed they aim to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes north of the border to 18. Smoking in enclosed public spaces has been banned in Scotland since March, in a move widely praised by health campaigners.

The maximum fees that the Care Commission can charge for regulating care services are to be frozen for the second year running. This means that the maximum fee levels set by Ministers in 2005 will continue to apply for 2007-08. Any shortfall in the Care Commission’s costs as a result of this decision will be met by the Executive.

A schoolgirl with a rare degenerative disease whose parents are battling for the right for her to be given an expensive drug therapy is the only eligible child in the UK being denied the treatment, it was claimed yesterday.

The Smoking Prevention Working Group’s report – Towards a Future without Tobacco – has now been published. Written by Dr Laurence Gruer, Director of Public Health Science at NHS Health Scotland, the report sets out 31 recommendations, mainly aimed at preventing children and young people from starting to smoke and becoming regular smokers.

The Scottish Executive have confirmed that more than £33 million had been allocated to tackle antisocial behaviour next year. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson told the Community Wardens Conference in Dunblane that the country’s 550 wardens were contributing to a safer, stronger Scotland by ‘reclaiming the streets’. The money (£33.16 million) will go to community planning partnerships in each of Scotland 32 local authority areas for the financial year 2007-08.

Scotland’s doctors have welcomed the publication of a report that includes recommendations to increase the age for purchase of cigarettes from 16 to 18 and the creation of a licensing scheme for shop keepers who sell tobacco. The report, Towards a future without tobacco, has been published by an expert working group and makes recommendations to the Scottish Executive on measures that should be introduced to tackle the number of young people smoking in Scotland.

The registration of social care workers will bring a new professionalism to the sector. That’s the view of David Baird, the current President of the Social Care Association. David was speaking at a lunch hosted by Kibble Education and Care Centre, in Paisley – where David is Head of Community Services – to acknowledge his year as President of the SCA.

Health board officials have begun a review to decide whether to fund treatment for an eight-year-old girl with a rare degenerative condition. The parents of Hayleigh Reynolds had been told NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde would not pay for enzyme replacement therapy at a cost of £100,000 a year. Health officials said they sympathised, but the treatment had not been approved for use by the NHS in Scotland. They are reviewing the situation, with a final decision expected in December.