A string of failings in social work services in Dumfries and Galloway has been blamed on a lack of leadership by the department’s senior management. Systemic issues which have undermined services and left staff demoralised are outlined in a critical report by the new Social Work Inspection Agency.

Scotland’s children should help build the future of the country, by contributing to planning and architecture. The call has been made by Children in Scotland, the national agency for organisations and professionals working with and for children, young people and their families. It claims children must be involved in the planning and design process from the outset so that the country’s built environment meets their needs. It maintains all children – “even the youngest” – have views which under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child they have the right to express “and be given due weight.

An influx of immigrants from eastern Europe has stretched Scottish GPs to breaking point, according to the British Medical Association. Doctors have said they need more resources but the Scottish Executive has insisted that funding has increased by 48% since 2003.GP practices have seen 46,000 more patients registering since April 2005.

Vital services which help many of Scotland most vulnerable children and families are overstretched, a leading charity has claimed. NCH Scotland has submitted evidence to a Scottish Parliament inquiry into family support services. It identified short-term project funding and a lack of qualified social workers as two of the key issues affecting voluntary service providers. The charity provides a wide range of family support services in Scotland. Its family support work seeks to strengthen family relationships and provide children with the best start in life.

Deaf people looking for a translator in Tayside have been given a helping hand by two new websites which stream their content into sign language. Freelance translators Morag Doig and Jennifer Ramsay have launched websites which advertise their services in both English text and British Sign Language (BSL) video clips. With BSL the first language of many of Scotland’s 57,000 people with severe hearing problems, it is hoped the new websites will help make finding a translator less of a challenge.

New ways of ensuring agencies work together to provide better support and intervention for those children affected by domestic abuse are to be piloted across Scotland, Ministers announced today. Pathfinder pilot projects will run in four areas of Scotland: Edinburgh, Falkirk, West Dunbartonshire and Dumfries and Galloway, over the next two years.

Crime in Scotland fell by 5% in the year to last April, Scottish Executive statistics have shown. There were 417,783 recorded incidents, with the clear-up rate – the number of crimes solved – remaining the same as in the previous year. Violent crimes were down, but the number of rapes and attempted rapes reached record levels. Ministers said this was partly because police had been encouraging the reporting of sexual offences.

A centre offering support for people with mental health problems in times of crisis has officially opened to coincide with the launch of International Suicide Prevention Awareness Week today. Edinburgh Crisis Centre will provide a 24-hour support telephone helpline 365 days of the year, to people or carers of people in Edinburgh experiencing a mental health crises.

Scotland’s only young offenders institution is overcrowded, increasingly violent and home to hundreds of underfed prisoners, according to a new report. Lady Cullen, chairman of the Polmont Visiting Committee, and wife of one of the country’s top judges, blamed the poor conditions on an increase in offending and under 21s being given custodial sentences.

The average cost of keeping a youngster in secure accommodation is £4,100 a week. Scottish Executive figures found the cost last year ranged from £3,900 per bed per week to £4,600. The total estimated cost was £15.7 million, a 3.5 per cent fall on the previous year. The number in secure accommodation ranged from a minimum of 73 to a maximum of 90 during the year – the lowest minimum and lowest maximum figure since 2000. Over the year, 251 youngsters were admitted to secure accommodation, half of them aged 15.