Some of Scotland’s worst serial offenders, such as shoplifters, housebreakers and prostitutes, are to be given the choice of signing up to drugs and alcohol rehabilitation or being pro-actively targeted by police.

Thousands of community projects in Scotland will be in dire financial straits if the Treasury raids the lottery fund supporting them to meet the soaring costs of the London Olympics. The warning has come from Dharmendra Kanani, the Big Lottery Fund Scotland Director.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) Codes of Practice for Social Service Workers and Employers have been translated into British Sign Language (BSL) and are now available to order on DVD. The Codes of Practice set out the standards of conduct and practice that social service workers and employers must adhere to.

Shelter’s free service Advice Online has won the housing and homelessness charity an e-government National Award. Shelter beat finalists including the Commission for Social Care Inspection, The British Library, The Police National Legal Database, The Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission to take the award.

The Scottish Executive is to cut funding to a project dealing with cocaine addiction, BBC Scotland has learned. The scheme in Aberdeen is one of only two of its kind north of the border. A working party is to be set up to recommend how to tackle the growing problem. A similar investigation was ordered five years ago.

Parents of children with special needs have mounted a campaign for improved therapy services in the north-east. They want a dedicated help centre set up for youngsters with a range of learning, emotional and developmental difficulties such as autism, dyslexia and attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Parents are being asked if they would accept a journey of more than 200 miles for their children to receive specialist hospital treatment.

The Scottish Executive has confirmed it will toughen up legislation against kerb crawlers following criticism from a Holyrood committee.

Asthma campaigners have condemned a decision not to approve a new drug for use by the NHS in Scotland as “unjust and inhumane”. The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) said the economic case for prescribing Xolair had not been made.

“The conditions in the Beatson are appalling. The reception area is like Piccadilly Circus, and you walk down a long narrow corridor with dark alcoves where patients are lying on trolleys. It really is like something from the third world.” These were the words of Nicola Sturgeon back in December 2001 when she was Shadow Health Minister and Scotland’s biggest cancer centre was at the height of a staffing crisis.