Residents in Fife who find themselves in need are missing out on thousands of hours of care a week through a serious lack of social workers in the region. A chronic shortage of qualified social workers across Scotland means there are 66 vacant posts in Fife which the Council are desperately trying to fill.

The latest moves to modernise children’s services and children’s hearings were unveiled today – to ensure we are getting it right for every child. In a statement to Parliament, Minister for Parliament Margaret Curran said that a consultation on a draft Bill to overhaul services that help and support children, including the children’s hearings system, would take place later this year. But some vital changes to help agencies share information about vulnerable children will be brought forward sooner – in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Bill. This will be introduced in September.

The automatic early release of prisoners from Scotland’s jails is to be scrapped, Cathy Jamieson the justice minister, announced yesterday. But penal experts warned the proposals – which mean that councils and new criminal justice authorities will have to supervise thousands more offenders when they are released from jail – will fail unless social workers are given more funding. The changes mean offenders sentenced to more than two weeks will have to spend half of their sentence behind bars, although the court will be able to make this “custody part” longer.

SCHIZOPHRENIA is a serious mental illness that affects one person in every 100. I first began to suffer from symptoms when I was about 12. Of course no-one knew that’s what it was then . . . it was just put down to the start of teenage hormones. But I began to have bouts of low mood and I was anxious around crowds. I started to bunk off school, I really hated it and just could not adjust to the 9-5 routine. It was the mornings that killed me, as I just could never get enough sleep.

Hundreds of vulnerable older people in Edinburgh are not being given the free personal care they are entitled to because they are still waiting to be assessed. City council chiefs have been urged to “get their act together” after official figures revealed that more than 1600 people were still waiting to receive payments of up to £145 a week to receive help washing, dressing and eating.

A leading Scottish drugs official believes that Scotland can never win the fight against illegal substances. Tom Wood, chairman of the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams, said education and deterrence should take priority over enforcement. “The message has to be more sophisticated than ‘just say no’ because that simple message doesn’t work,” he said.

The Scottish Executive has signed a national IT contract with outsourcer Anite to integrate its social care IT framework with social care databases held by Scottish local authorities. The supplier’s Swift social care solution will be integrated with the Scottish Executive’s eCare Multi-Agency Stores system. As a result, social care practitioners will have access to critical data from other agencies, ultimately improving protection and support for vulnerable sections of society.

A drug addict who was on heroin for five years has claimed he has been cured by a revolutionary treatment. Barry Philips, 24, from Kilmarnock, said Neuro-Electric Therapy, which sends electric pulses through the brain, had made him drug-free. He said the treatment enabled him to come off heroin in only five days. The Scottish Executive is now backing further research into NET which was being discussed at a conference in Kirkcaldy on Friday.

The allocation of new funding to support race equality and ensure refugees are able to play their part in Scotland’s communities has been announced. The £2 million fund is targeted at locally based projects designed to support cross community integration, helping organisations and communities in their efforts to bring people together, tackle racism and promote equality.

Autistic people in Edinburgh and the Lothians are being forced to travel hundreds of miles every week for day care because of a lack of services closer to home. One severely autistic man from Edinburgh is enduring an 80-mile round trip every day in a taxi because there are no suitable places in the city. The Scottish Society for Autism (SSA) hs demanded the Scottish Executive do more to improve the quality of life for people with the condition.