Gangs of middle-class children are being blamed by police for disfiguring hundreds of buildings and signs across the Scottish capital with graffiti. Police in Edinburgh said the respectable backgrounds of many of the worst culprits was making it difficult to trace and prosecute them.

The move to improve the diet of Scotland’s schoolchildren has been one of the Scottish Executive’s most important and high-profile initiatives. Keen to ensure that new guidelines would provide a solid base for the next generation, the Executive set up an expert advisory body consisting of nutritionists, dentists and education watchdogs to decide on what food should be served in school canteens and tuck shops.

Police carried out dawn raids across Fife yesterday in a bid to net alleged drug dealers. In the biggest-ever operation by Fife Police, more than 130 cops targeted 11 addresses in co-ordinated raids.

Prisoners who have been convicted of serious assault, robbery and housebreaking will be given the opportunity to meet and apologise to their victims under new plans to curb reoffending.

{mosimage}Victims and relatives will be contacted to see if they are willing to have prison meetings with criminals who have committed a range of serious crimes.

Currently, restorative justice meetings are arranged in the community for offenders aged between eight and 16 who have committed minor offences such as breaking windows.

Offenders are given the opportunity to apologise and make amends by doing community work.

Restorative justice has been strongly supported by Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson and Scotland’s chief police officers in relation to minor crimes and youth offending.

However, this is the first time it has been promoted by the executive in relation to serious and violent offences.

Protocols drawn up between the Scottish Executive, Scottish Prison Service and social workers promote restorative justice for prisoners aged 18 and under.

A charity believes a 60-year-old study of mental health in Scotland could hold the key to developing new treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s.

Hundreds of vulnerable children and adults could be denied vital care if staff at one of Scotland’s largest charities vote for industrial action. Up to 600 workers at Quarriers will decide this week whether to strike over a pay disagreement, with management offering 2.5% while employees want either 3.4% or £600 – depending on which is greater.

A lobbying group yesterday issued a declaration of no confidence in Highland Council’s management and provision of services for the elderly. The Highland Senior Citizens Network has sent a leaflet to councillors and a letter to local authority chief executive Arthur McCourt outlining its concerns on the sale of council care homes, respite care and home care.

A garden designed to benefit disabled people in Kirkcaldy has been destroyed by vandals. The Kirkcaldy Sensory Impairment Centre garden, which was created and maintained by volunteers for the benefit of users, was ruined as pots and brick paving were ripped up and smashed.

A new care home is set to be created on the site of a former primary school, despite residents’ fears over traffic congestion and the building’s appearance.

Mary Castles started her career as a rent collector and now she’s collecting £102,600 as the council’s new executive director of Housing and Social Work. The Kirkshaws woman began her career in local government back in 1979 with the old Monklands District Council and has now risen to the top with North Lanarkshire.