The number of persistent young offenders jumped 10% last year in the clearest sign yet of a setback to the Scottish Executive’s self-proclaimed “war on neds”. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson has already signalled that the executive will miss its target of cutting the number of persistent offenders by 10%. Now figures obtained by The Herald show numbers are rising faster than before she launched her crusade to bring them down in 2003. Fully 1388 youngsters aged between eight and 16 qualified as persistent young offenders in 2005-2006, according to leaked figures from the annual report of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, which is scheduled to be published today.

Drug addicts face having to sign an agreement not to have children to qualify for treatment under plans being considered by Labour. Hard drug users would have to sign a “social contract” agreeing to remain childless in order to continue receiving free methadone and housing payments.The idea, which has been fed into Scottish Labour’s manifesto discussions for next year’s Holyrood election, is the brainchild of Duncan McNeil, convenor of Labour’s 50-strong parliamentary group. The MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde sparked controversy earlier this year by suggesting that contraceptives should be put in methadone to prevent addicts from reproducing.

Jack McConnell is facing open revolt by police after Scotland’s biggest force accused him of sending out “mixed messages” on crime and of forcing them to police “by league table”. Stratchlyde Police said the first minister was playing a “numbers game”, pressuring them to issue Anti-social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) and dispersal orders to boost crime clear-up statistics. In an unprecedented attack, the force said it was easy for McConnell to look tough on crime but by relying so heavily on Asbos he risked unfairly criminalising young people.

An organisation behind a proposal to open Scotland’s first “boot camp” for young offenders has been criticised over its choice of name. Critics claim the firm’s title New Education Developments Scotland — whose acronym is Neds — is demeaning and offensive to young people. The Neds centre, based at Glenlivet, in Morayshire, will house up to 35 young people aged 12-16 who have been in trouble with the police. Youngsters with behavioural and drug problems will undergo a strict physical regime of outdoor activity and vocational training.

Hospitals in Scotland have 11,000 fewer beds than they had 10 years ago, it emerged yesterday. The nation now has fewer beds for the acutely ill per head of population than the UK as a whole, according to official figures. France, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria are among the developed countries with greater hospital capacity. A fact-sheet for First Minister Jack McConnell about NHS Scotland, obtained by the Scottish National Party under freedom of information legislation, shows there were 39,668 beds in Scottish hospitals in 1996-97. By March this year, that figure had dropped to 28,257.

Hundreds of two-year-olds from some of Scotland’s most deprived communities are to be given free nursery places. Free part-time places are currently only available to children between the ages of three and five. Under the £2m Scottish Executive pilot scheme, 900 toddlers from the poorest parts of Dundee, North Ayrshire and Glasgow will be eligible for a place. The initiative was launched in Glasgow, which has been allocated 500 free places, on Thursday. Parents of pre-school children aged three and over are currently entitled to 12-and-a-half hours a week of nursery education paid for by the executive.

Social work staff should get the same level of protection from assault as emergency workers, union leaders have insisted. The call comes as new figures show the number of violent incidents in the care sector have doubled in a year. In one month there were 24 incidents of physical abuse towards staff in South Lanarkshire, compared with 12 in the same period last year. And there were 17 complaints of verbal abuse in April-May this year, compared with 11 last year.

An education and care centre has clinched its second top award within a week. Graham Bell, chief executive of the Kibble in Paisley, lifted the Ernst & Young Scottish Social Entrepreneur of the Year title just days after Scottish Business in the Community named the Kibble Scotland’s Social Enterprise of the Year.

Social work inspectors are to be sent in to help a council that refused to extend the offer of free care of the elderly to new applicants, claiming it does not have enough money. Argyll and Bute Council, which last month said it had run out of cash to fund the Scottish Executive’s flagship policy, had come under pressure from the executive to agree to the intervention.After meeting Lewis Macdonald, deputy minister for community care and health, Argyll’s political leadership and chief executive told him they had found £700,000 to ease pressure on the care budget.

Two drug-dealing empires have been smashed and more than 100 dealers jailed after a three-year investigation. In what has been hailed as one of the nation’s most successful drug operations, the dealers have been jailed for a total of more than 70 years. Addiction workers have also praised the convictions from Operation Round-up, which has removed the hard drugs supply from a region plagued by abuse. The drive against more than 100 dealers by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary targeted the supply network of class A drugs in the area, predominantly heroin and cocaine.