The growing gaps in society left by drugs, alcohol and poverty need to be addressed by Labour if it is to fight its way back into power in Scotland, according to its leader-elect.

Wendy Alexander said yesterday the party should take some responsibility for the lack of cohesion in society, and needed to tackle "deep scars" left by more than 400 drug deaths, an "epidemic of alcohol abuse" and more than 50,000 children living with a drug-addicted parent.

She called for children at risk to have a single person responsible for organising all their support and controlling the budget for that child, better backing for grandparents looking after neglected children and action against abuse of elderly people in care homes.

Looking back on 10 years in power, and 10 years today since the devolution referendum, she said her late boss, Donald Dewar, the first First Minister, would be encouraged by progress on prosperity and fairness in society, but would be unhappy about social cohesion.

She was setting out her longer-term perspective at a conference run by the Scottish Council Foundation think tank, 10 years after it was founded.

Four days before a special Scottish Labour meeting that confirms her as successor to Jack McConnell, she was dropping heavy hints about other departures for the party.

They included criticism of Labour's concern, shared with the Scottish National Party, to lower the ratio of teachers to pupils at different stages in school.

She signalled a shift to more emphasis on the curriculum - not just for qualifications but to give children a sense of who they are, and to stress talking skills alongside reading and writing.

She criticised child protection legislation by the previous administration that left it difficult for most adults to volunteer to work with young people, making the divisions in society even worse.

Ms Alexander said she was in favour of increasing the autonomy of communities to spend more money on priorities they set for themselves, though she stressed this was in principle and would require changes to community councils. That signals a drive to shift Labour on to more "localist" territory, where power is less centralised.

The former communities minister also called for the "silent revolution" in community land ownership throughout the Highlands to be extended to "reclaim our urban neighbourhoods", including closer work between communities and police to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

On social justice, she said the challenge of the next 10 years will be not only to grow, but to "grow cohesively". There is a risk that division in society becomes "so stubborn to address in the last decade that it has become so unfashionable an issue in Scottish political circles", but that Labour must not lose sight of its importance.

"Much of this happened under Labour," she conceded. "I am the first to admit that we still face great challenges.

"It's my job to ensure that Labour is ready to understand and meet these challenges anew, because if we let those children and their lives slip off the political agenda, we betray those past generations who stood up for social justice in their time."

The issue was reinforced by Julia Unwin, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, who warned Scotland needs to take integration more seriously as more non-Scots settle in the country.

She cited evidence that one-quarter of central Europeans who have moved to Britain in recent years have no social life with those outside their national communities.

That will stoke up problems if more is not done to include Poles and others in mainstream Scottish life, she said, as there is a direct link between the welcome they receive and their willingness to stay in the country, invest in businesses and raise families.