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.

The NHS should provide “noisy rooms” and “chill-out zones” in hospitals or other locations where young people are being treated, according to a survey by one of Scotland’s biggest health boards. A common complaint in submissions to a consultation on children and young people’s health services run by NHS Lothian was a lack of “age-appropriate” facilities in both GP surgeries and hospital settings.

The number of illegal killings in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level in 15 years, according to figures. In the year to April, there were 93 killings – 44 fewer than in the previous 12 months. There has also been a significant fall in the number of homicides involving knives and the number killed or injured by firearms dropped by almost 40%. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson welcomed the figures as evidence that Scotland was becoming a safer place.

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.

Staff at a residential centre for disabled adults took three days to phone the police after witnessing an alleged sexual assault, The Herald has learned. Workers said they did not want to make “a big fuss” over the incident involving a man and a young woman at the Camphill Blair Drummond community in Stirlingshire.

The community service system has been called into question by new figures which show a dramatic rise in offenders breaching their orders but a sharp fall in those being sent to prison as a punishment.

A catalogue of complaints has been upheld against a Bucksburn nursing home after a family told of the “diabolical mistreatment” of an 82-year-old grandfather. Former prisoner of war Ronnie Beutelmann was “left abandoned” for four hours at Bucksburn Nursing Home with a seat restraint around his neck, his distraught granddaughter said yesterday.

There has been a marked increase in the number of youngsters in Argyll and Bute who have been referred to the Child Protection Service as a result of physical neglect. And the Argyll office of the Scottish Children Reporters Administration has reported a “huge increase” in the overall number of care and protection referrals it has dealt with in the last year, with the recorded rise being higher than any other local authority area.

Police in Edinburgh are waiting for the results of tests on a one-year-old baby girl to discover if she has been suffering from the effects of heroin. It is understood that paramedics found the girl unconscious at her home in the Wester Hailes area of the city. A Lothian and Borders police spokeswoman said the baby was in a stable condition.