Councils in Scotland say lack of funding means roads that should be resurfaced every ten to twenty years are waiting an average of eighty-one years to be dealt with. The figure was given by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities in support of claims made in the Scottish Parliament about the state of the country’s roads.The Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland and the Automobile Association had both claimed that a lack of funding for on-going maintenance had resulted in a need for major capital investment. Backing that view COSLA said councils shared the frustration of the general public and the motorists on the issue. Councils, it said, had struggled for too long to try to maintain the 50,000 kilometres of roads for which they were responsible.

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The government is facing calls today to invest in children by introducing a guaranteed minimum wage for all those bringing up families and ensuring its policies reach the most vulnerable and poorest children in society. The call come from Barnardo’s, Britain’s largest children’s charity, which is launching a brand new campaign to highlight the fact that despite having the fourth largest economy in the world the UK has one of the highest levels of child poverty of all industrialised countries.Research shows 3.8 million children – that is one in three – are living in poverty. The charity has published a report called “Poverty Wrecks Futures”, which shows the outcomes for children born into impoverished families. It says poverty is at the root of the majority of the diverse problems that Barnardo’s helps young people and their families to cope with everyday.

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