Serious defects found in school trip buses
The Herald
- Nine buses used to take school pupils to a safari park were taken off the road after police found serious mechanical defects on them. The discovery was made during a five-day operation by Central Scotland Police and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa) at Blair Drummond Safari Park, near Stirling. On one vehicle, an emergency door could not be shut.
Jim McColl denies delaying college
Scotland on Sunday
- One of Scotland’s wealthiest businessmen has been accused of delaying his own ambitious plans for a new skills college for disaffected teenagers by failing to commit cash to the project. Glasgow City Council said Mr McColl’s “failure to commit” funding was the only reason the Newlands Junior College had not already gone ahead.
Lack of ambition claim over university access scheme
The Herald
- A pound;1.8 million scheme to boost the number of Scottish students from deprived areas entering professions has been attacked for a lack of ambition. Access to the Professions, which funds widening access projects at universities, will result in just 23 extra medical students, 29 additional lawyers, six architects, five vets and three dentists recruited each year from the 40 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland.
Half of Scottish schoolchildren are skipping lessons
The Telegraph
- Mike Russell, the education minister, published statistics showing that 337,041 pupils missed at least a half day of schooling last year without the permission of their teachers. This total equates to just over 50 per cent of the country’s entire school roll. The figure has increased by a third, or nearly 83,000, since the SNP came to power in May 2007.
Care home reform to curb `export trade’ in children
The Times
- Councils that conduct an “export trade” in troubled children from southern England to cheaper care homes in the north will have to account for their actions under Westminster government reforms. The moves aim to curb the practice of sending vulnerable children many miles from family and friends, putting them at greater risk of falling victim to sexual predators.
