{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.

No further action is to be taken by the Crown Office following claims that a key witness in the Lewis child abuse scandal has admitted her allegations were false. The witness, Angela Stretton, 39, admitted she made the allegations under pressure from police and social workers, eventually telling them what she thought they wanted to hear.

The influential head of a Scottish veterans’ charity has warned that a disproportionate number of Territorial Army officers returning from duty in Iraq are suffering mental health problems. Clive Fairweather, a former SAS colonel and the appeals director of Combat Stress, revealed that TA troops form a quarter of those seeking help from the charity, yet they make up only 10% of British troops in Iraq. The campaigner – who is also the former chief inspector of prisons – said the TA was the Ministry of Defence’s ‘cheap option’ in the Middle East, and called for better funded support for part-time soldiers.

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.

{mosimage} The number of Scots exposed to racist behaviour is increasing, a government survey has found – despite a four-year, multi-million-pound campaign by the Scottish Executive to combat intolerance. An Executive report examining the efficacy of its £3.3 million anti-racism marketing campaign found 42 per cent of Scots claim to have been “exposed” to racism, either as victim, witness or perpetrator – 7 per cent higher than in 2001, the year before the campaign’s launch.

Universities, care homes, colleges and the Royal British Legion as well as private schools are among nearly 1,000 organisations facing tough new tests to prove they deserve their lucrative charity status. Scotland’s charity watchdog will today unveil plans to demand evidence from bodies as diverse as NHS endowment trusts, independent schools, miners’ welfare societies and students’ unions that they comply with laws introduced last year by the Scottish Parliament.

A network of nutrition champions tasked with improving meal times in Scotland’s care homes has been unveiled. Inspection body the Care Commission is to recruit 100 nurses nationwide to tackle poor appetite and nourishment among elderly residents. The staff will examine problems such as how to revive interest in food and how best to help people who struggle to feed themselves. They will be trained to introduce changes to care homes where they work, pilot new ideas on the ground and share lessons learned with other establishments.

Loopholes in legislation providing free personal care to Scotland’s elderly must be closed to prevent councils operating waiting lists and rationing services, MSPs have demanded. The call came as it emerged that 24 local authorities were experiencing delays in assessing people to see if they were eligible for care or actually delivering help to over-65s with tasks such as washing and dressing. Lewis Macdonald, the deputy health minister, conceded there were “issues” over the implementationof the policy, as he faced questions from the parliament’s health committee.