ALTHOUGH still below the national average, the number of domestic abuse cases reported to police in the Borders nearly doubled in the four years to 2006/07, the latest date for which figures are available.

A BRAVE grandmother who was the victim of a horrific rape is still fighting for compensation almost three years after her ordeal.

RESIDENTS at a Perthshire nursing home are to benefit from a sensory garden in the grounds.

The Scottish Government has announced that managers of care home services and managers of adult day care services must register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or another relevant regulatory body by 30 November 2009.

A NEW hotline where people can report at-risk children has been launched in the Capital. Residents will now be able to call one number, whereas previously, callers in different parts of the city had to use local area office numbers.

A long-established Fife charity which provides help and advocacy for people with dementia and mental health problems will close in June.

A CRUMBLING Aberdeenshire care home will be replaced with a multimillion-pound unit. Members of Aberdeenshire Council’s social work and housing committee backed a plan to build a 60-bedroom care home to replace authority-run Blythewood House at Port Elphinstone during a meeting yesterday.

AFTER more than 30 years supporting young people, Dumfries and Galloway Council youth officer Ian Donaldson has been honoured with a prestigious lifetime achievement award.

SERVICES for vulnerable people in East Dunbartonshire have been praised by the Care Commission. The council’s social work service has been given the thumbs-up by inspectors for its work helping people with learning difficulties.

The grandmother of Brandon Muir, the Dundee toddler battered to death by his mother’s heroin addict boyfriend, has bitterly attacked the ten-year jail term handed down yesterday to killer Robert Cunningham.