The Executive was yesterday accused of under-funding social work services for vulnerable children by more than £160 million this year. Professor Arthur Midwinter, the budget adviser to Holyrood’s finance committee, told MSPs yesterday that the Executive gave councils £255 million to provide services such as fostering, residential and day care and secure accommodation.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is creating 103 new frontline jobs in Glasgow and Lanarkshire in an attempt to improve response times. The £3.5m investment, which will increase staffing levels by 20%, is mainly being put into taking on new paramedics and technicians on ambulances. The service is also expected to take on up to nine extra ambulances.

A former charity fund-raiser who was at the centre of a multi-million-pound scandal is facing a jail term, after he appeared in court yesterday and admitted a £450,000 fraud charge. Anthony Freeman, 40, of Newlands, Glasgow, diverted the money from his ailing company and paid it into a Mediterranean bank account to keep it from creditors.

A troubleshooter who has turned around failing social work departments in England is to be drafted in to do the same in Dumfries and Galloway. He will be asked to help tackle the issues raised in a recent highly critical report on the department.

One of the people arrested and charged with child abuse on Lewis three years ago yesterday broke down in tears as he was told that a key witness has admitted that her claims were lies. Peter Nelson said his life had been ruined since police and social workers investigated the claims made by Angela Stretton, who suffers from learning difficulties, and three children. The charges were all later dropped.

A North-east community safety leader has accused the Scottish Executive of shirking its responsibility for fighting crime. Councils and the police were being left to tackle the problems blighting communities and take the blame for disorder, claimed Councillor Martin Greig, vice-convener of Grampian Joint Police Board.

{mosimage} Advanced, flexible and more efficient measures to prevent unsuitable people working with children and protected adults are among the provisions set out today in The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill. The Bill, which takes forward the key recommendation of Sir Michael Bichard’s report following the Soham tragedy, will introduce significant benefits to employers and workers caring for children and protected adults.

The Bill builds on existing legislation particularly the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act of 2003 and Part V of the Police Act of 1997.  It closes the operational loopholes in the current vetting arrangements and addresses frustrations felt by users. The Bill extends the protection afforded to Scotland’s children and introduces important new protections for adults at vulnerable points in their lives.

Police yesterday rejected claims they put undue pressure on a key witness in a satanic abuse investigation on the Isle of Lewis, after she admitted lying to detectives following days of intense questioning. Angela Stretton, 39, says she was put under severe pressure by detectives investigating systematic abuse claims from three girls and eventually “told them what they wanted to hear”.

As a mother of two, Lucy McTernan is naturally supportive of plans to check the backgrounds of those who work with children. As a member of the management board of an after-school club run by the parents, however, she knows that today’s proposals could be a death knell for many small voluntary organisations.

Fifty criminals a month are serving less than one-seventh of their prison sentence because of a legal loophole. The Scotsman has learned that abuse of early release rules is happening on a massive scale among fine defaulters, with more than 600 offenders last year spending less than 24 hours behind bars when they were ordered to spend seven days in prison.