One of the most important messages from the Scottish Executive’s Changing Lives Report is that more of the same won’t do. To enable and support staff to do their jobs effectively the methods and processes used in Scotland’s social services need to be informed by sound knowledge and evidence.

Scotland’s charities watchdog is to investigate the finances and operations of a child care provider which collapsed with the loss of almost 600 jobs. News that the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) will meet the liquidators of One Plus comes as one of the UK’s biggest charity funders confirms it refused funding because of serious financial concerns.

Abuse of the elderly must be treated with the same seriousness as child abuse, with police receiving special training to protect older people from what has become a “national scandal”, a charity said today.

{mosimage}Help the Aged said half a million older people were neglected or abused at any one time — physically, sexually, or psychologically — but a third of people had not heard of “elder abuse” and almost a quarter had no idea what the signs were.

As The Daily Telegraph reported last week, the largest proportion of abusers are related to the person being abused (46 per cent), with 64 per cent of abuse occurring in the homes of victims.

However, almost a quarter of people surveyed by the charity were under the impression that professional care workers were the ones most likely to carry out abuse.

Only 17 per cent of those surveyed thought that sons and daughters would be most likely to abuse their parents, even though figures show that a quarter of abusers of the elderly are sons or daughters.

The head of the Edniburgh’s alcohol and drugs agency today called for urgent investment to end 30 years of under-funding of support services. Former deputy chief constable Tom Wood wants to see alcohol workers employed at all of the city’s 29 drugs agencies.

A woman and two men have been charged with taking part in child abuse in Edinburgh which involved up to 15 adults. The group have been accused of raping, molesting and physically assaulting two sisters over the course of 12 years at homes in Edinburgh and a caravan park in Perthshire.

The first needle exchange run by the Salvation Army is to be rolled out at branches across the United Kingdom. The pilot project, set up in Stirling with the support of the voluntary group Signpost, has helped take extra needles off the streets, organisers said.

Social work, social care and early education and child care organisations in Scotland are being urged to enter their teams for the Care Accolades 2007. The closing date for entries to “the Oscars” or the sector is 23 February.

Nine months after launching its home is… campaign, Shelter Scotland has illustrated to Minister for Communities Rhona Brankin how important home is to the people of Scotland.

Choose Life, Scotland’s national strategy to prevent suicide, will host its fourth national summit in Edinburgh this week, which will bring together key people tasked with reducing Scotland’s suicide rate.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), the organisation established to set up a register of key groups of people who work in social services in Scotland, has extended the list of qualifications it recognises and accepts for the purposes of registration.