A new approach to tackling domestic abuse is being launched in East Lothian. The six month pilot aims to reduce repeat offences and improve the service given to victims through information gathering and risk assessment.

An elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease has been kept for weeks in a securely-controlled unit used by the mentally ill, even though she has a care home place.

A pilot project is to be launched to provide educational support to children from homeless families across Dumfries and Galloway.

Eight care home workers in the Scottish Borders have won their fight to stay in the country. The Home Office twice refused to renew the work permits for the Filipino staff at Whim Hall near West Linton.

People with autism are being discriminated against by employers and denied education because of ignorance.

A leading charity for the elderly last night called for an inquiry into what it called a “shocking” rise in the number of deaths in Scotland last winter.

Teachers must be given training to cope with the rising numbers of autistic children in mainstream schools, campaigners said yesterday.

An independent inquiry was today ordered into institutional abuse at a Scottish school. The full extent of the abuse at Kerelaw school in Ayrshire was revealed by The Herald earlier this year.

{mosimage}Around 40 care workers abused youngsters in their care, and could still be working with children. A “far larger” number of staff knew about the treatment but did not intervene.

Maltreatment by workers at the school included physical assault, the excessive use of restraint, and sex abuse.

Two former teachers were jailed last year for their part in the scandal. The school was closed in January 2005.

Today Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government, acting together, set up a wide-ranging independent inquiry into events at Kerelaw. It will be chaired by Eddie Frizzell, a former top civil servant.

Prosecutors came under fire last night after a sheriff allowed an alleged paedophile to walk free from court, ruling that the charges against him had been wrongly worded.

Inmates as young as 15 can find themselves locked up for 23 hours a day as a result of overcrowding at a Scottish detention centre.