The number of youngsters in Fife continually getting into trouble with the law has risen. Latest figures show that the number of persistent young offenders in the region rose by 28 to 78 in the year 2005-06. But with more diversionary tactics and a step up in direct action by the police and voluntary agencies involved with young people, the rise has been put down to more hard graft and an increase in the reporting of crime.

A merger to form the UK’s biggest HIV charity has been branded ‘secretive’ by Scots rivals who claim the new charity has a history of aggressive business tactics. Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), one of the biggest HIV charities in England and Wales, this week announced a merger with Glasgow-based PHACE Scotland to create THT Scotland. However, Scots charities who have been engaging in talks to create a single Scottish national charity say it could have a negative impact on the life-styles of people with HIV in Scotland.

Homophobic crime is rising in many parts of Scotland, according to alarming figures which show that attacks on gays and lesbians have increased by as much as 100 per cent in the past year. The figures obtained by The Scotsman have triggered fresh criticism of the Executive’s decision last month not to extend the definition of hate crimes to include homophobia. In the Lothian and Borders region, police have revealed that 30 homophobic offences have been recorded this year, compared with 37 for the whole of 2005. In 2003, just 19 incidents were recorded.

Young people who’ve completed a six month ProjectScotland volunteer placement can now apply for a Personal Development Fund of up to £1500 to help them take their next career step. ProjectScotland is the revolutionary volunteering organisation which matches young Scots to full-time community work. Some of the first ProjectScotland volunteers have already taken advantage of the Fund. Helen Armstrong (23) spent her six month ProjectScotland placement at Canongate Youth Project in Edinburgh. The experience underlined her resolve to become a teacher.

More than 28,000 people are waiting for their initial appointment with a physiotherapist in Scotland, according to the first ever official survey. The unprecedented investigation found patients can face delays of up to a year for their first treatment session. Queues of 12 months or more to see other health professionals including dieticians, chiropodists and speech and language therapists were also recorded. Lewis Macdonald, Deputy Health Minister, called for health boards to examine therapy services in light of the information and drive waiting times down.

A judge yesterday ordered an inquiry into how a convicted paedophile was able to sexually abuse a 10-year-old child despite social workers being tasked to supervise him. Lord Hardie demanded answers to a series of questions about the handling of the case of James Steele, 28, who carried out an indecent act against the child nine months after he was released from an eight-year jail sentence for sexual offences against two boys. The High Court in Glasgow heard that Steele befriended the boy and his family under the noses of social workers delegated to monitor him while he was out on licence.

Hundreds of British psychiatric casualties of the war in Iraq could be left without adequate care unless the UK’s leading military mental welfare charity can raise £150,000 to help provide specialist therapy for veterans. Combat Stress, which runs Hollybush House in Ayr, Scotland’s only residential home for soldiers affected by the horrors of conflict, is to launch a nationwide appeal for funds this week. The charity dealt with 939 cases of clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder at its UK network of care homes last year, up 21% from the 775 casualties referred for treatment in 2004. Combat Stress needs £5m a year to operate its three homes and welfare programme.

Professor Morag Cameron Faulds, who died peacefully after a long illness, was born in Tobermory on the island of Mull. She began school there and later attended Oban High School. Subsequently, she took an arts degree at Glasgow University followed by a diploma in social sciences. From there, she went on to qualify as an almoner (a medical social worker) under the auspices of the Institute of Hospital Almoners. In 1946, she was appointed as a social worker at Kings College Hospital, London. In 1948, she returned to Scotland as head social worker at Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride, then held a similar post at the Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow.

Two of Scotland’s ‘tsars’ have warned against radical plans for social contracts for drug addicts that would see them agreeing not to have children until they had beaten their habit. Under proposals put forward by Labour MSP Duncan McNeil, and revealed in the Sunday Herald last week, addicts would also agree to enter drug cessation programmes. Breaking the agreement could result in services, such as free methadone, being taken away and children could be removed for good from their parents if they had to be taken into care for a certain number of months a year.

A £15M Scottish Executive campaign to slash MRSA rates has been branded a dismal failure after the number of infections rocketed across the country by almost 30%. Scotland on Sunday can reveal there were almost 280 MRSA cases between January and March this year, 60 more than between April and June 2005, when the campaign began. It is an enormous embarrassment for ministers, who pledged a year ago to spend £5m annually reducing cases of the potentially deadly superbug. In two areas of the country – Grampian and Lanarkshire – MRSA cases have soared outside the upper safe limit.