A quarter of children's services in Scotland have been told to improve their recruitment procedures according to the country's care regulator.
The Care Commission found that while one in five care services in Scotland have unsafe staff recruitment procedures, a quarter of children's services had been issued with at least one requirement to make improvements.
The Commission found that staff were employed without criminal record checks and without checking references. It reviewed 4,434 adult and child services over 2006 and 2007.
Carole Wilkinson, chief executive of the Scottish Social Services Council, said: ""It is reassuring that the majority of service providers are meeting safe recruitment requirements but as the report shows there is still work to be done."
The report recommends involving care service users in the recruitment of staff.
