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A reorganisation of Scotland's councils that could slash the number of social work departments may be delayed or even abandoned.

Finance and public service reform minister Tom McCabe last week indicated that a consultation paper on the proposals, which was due for publication soon, had been put back until after the summer at the earliest and may not be published at all.

He told the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities annual conference it was still his "intention" to publish the paper but he was concerned it could be misinterpreted and used to drive political agendas.

The paper is understood to include plans to cut the number of councils from 32 to 15, but McCabe denied there was a "blueprint or hidden agenda".

At last year's Cosla conference, McCabe warned that unless local authorities started talks on identifying areas of collaboration to produce savings, ministers would impose measures forcing them to do so.