Complaints about the treatment of residents at Scotland’s care homes will be included in a single, streamlined system for the first time under proposals being considered by ministers.

PLANS to introduce means-tested charges for social work services have been blocked by councillors. Under the plans those with an income of more than £145 per week would have been charged for the cost of services including supported accommodation, supported living and housing support.

THE head of the Scottish Prisons Commission yesterday called for a national debate on the place of alcohol in society, describing the level of drink-related crime as “shocking”.

INMATES in Scotland’s biggest prison should be let out to work on major construction projects including new facilities for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the justice secretary said yesterday.

Parents will have access to year-round nursery provision “within buggy walking distance from their homes” in what has been described as the UK’s most comprehensive and flexible childcare service.

A SOCIAL worker has been suspended after she was caught in a “steamy embrace” with a prisoner.

An increase in the ageing population might be one of the biggest challenges to the delivery of health care in the Highlands, bigger perhaps than smoking, alcohol abuse and obesity.

The chief inspector of Scotland’s social work departments has warned them that they still have much to do if they want to prove their worth.

Scottish schoolgirls are to become the first in the UK to be vaccinated against cervical cancer. Schools in the Lanarkshire, Tayside, Grampian and Western Isles NHS areas are to begin vaccinating 12 and 13-year-old girls from this week.

A CARE home where a pensioner died after falling from her wheelchair is to close just weeks after being criticised by a sheriff.