The SNP was last night plunged into a cash-for-access row after a Scotland on Sunday investigation revealed the party is selling time with First Minister Alex Salmond and senior ministers in return for payments worth thousands of pounds.

Nurses are set to replace doctors on many out-of-hours home visits under plans being considered by the Scottish government to address the chronic shortage of GPs available for night and weekend working.

Rank and file police officers in Scotland are privately discussing taking strike action as anger over their pay and conditions reaches unprecedented levels.

The Scottish Executive is to be renamed the Scottish Government this week in the biggest change to the country's political identity since devolution.

Ministers were under fire last night over their high-profile plans to cut primary class sizes, as new figures showed there will be only a small increase in the number of teachers available from next year.

A pioneering Scottish project to tackle gang violence, knife and gun crime is to be extended to every school in England in the wake of the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool.

Figures showing that one child is smuggled into Scotland every week could be just the tip of the iceberg , according to campaigners.