Longer waiting times and cutbacks in services are on the cards for some of the most vulnerable people in the Highlands who rely on “free” community care, councillors were warned yesterday. Inverness councillors must still find £400,000 of savings in this financial year to balance their social work budget.

A Scottish expert on manic depression has warned people against self-diagnosing the illness after a high profile documentary by Stephen Fry. Dr Benjamin Baig, who worked on Scotland’s national guidelines for bipolar disorder, said he was not convinced the evidence presented in the programme showed the comedian suffered from the condition.

The Shadow Health Secretary today promised that a Tory government would stop “snatch squads of social workers” taking children into care unnecessarily. Andrew Lansley said a Conservative government would instead back the family. The father-of-five used the party conference in Bournemouth to start a debate on how public services work for children.

A Tayside company has been named as a finalist in the Scottish Modern Apprenticeship Awards 2006. Specialist healthcare services provider Castlebeck, which has units in Dundee and Lockerbie, is one of two finalists in the category for medium-sized employers. Modern Apprenticeships combine paid employment with the opportunity to train for jobs at craft, technician and management level. In Scotland, they are managed by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The appointment of Professor Frank Clark as new convener of the Care Commission will ensure the key challenges facing the care sector in Scotland will continue to be strongly voiced, according to Chief Executive Jacquie Roberts. Professor Clark, who brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from his varied career, takes up his position with the Care Commission on October 17. Jacquie Roberts said the new convener joins at an exciting time of change and challenge for the Care Commission.

{mosimage} The sex offender suspected of murdering a Polish student in a Glasgow church avoided capture by the police 10 months ago, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Police raided the Paisley flat of 60-year-old Peter Tobin late last year and, after failing to find him, issued a warrant for his arrest. But despite his history of serious sex crimes they failed to warn the public he was on the run.

Scots-born Tobin, a convicted rapist, is now being hunted in connection with the disappearance of 23-year-old Angelika Kluk. Police were last night continuing to examine a body discovered in St Patrick’s Church, Glasgow, where the Polish languages student had been living over the summer and where Tobin had been working as a handyman, using the name Pat McLaughlin.

Almost half of men who pay for sex already have a partner, according to a report. A study by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde also revealed that men “playing away” on holiday are twice as likely to have unprotected sex as those paying for sex at home. The research, which appears in October’s Sexually Transmitted Infections Journal, surveyed more than 2,600 men attending the Sandyford sexual health clinic in Glasgow between October 2002 and February 2004.

A Councillor has called on Scottish ministers to examine an independent report – which states that local authorities are facing a projected £161million shortfall in children’s social work services – as a matter of urgency. Aberdeen City Council’s community services convener, Irene Cormack, said the situation would make it more difficult to recruit social workers and offer a high-quality service to vulnerable youngsters.

Detectives are preparing to question a man after the “horrific and very, very violent” death of a 23-year-old Polish student in Glasgow. A murder inquiry is under way following the discovery of Angelika Kluk’s body in St Patrick’s church on Friday. Peter Tobin, who worked as a handyman at the chapel, was arrested on Saturday by the Metropolitan Police on an unrelated matter.

An exercise in robbing Peter to pay Paul. That is one way to interpret figures, obtained by The Herald, which show money is being taken from one part of the social work budget of Scottish local authorities to shore up another section. The cash involved might not be substantial compared with the overall annual budget – perhaps £50m out of a total of more than £2bn – but the transfer is representative of a bigger problem afflicting at least one of the core areas of responsibility of councils. This is the care of children at risk.