SHOCKED by the numbers wrapped in sleeping bags and blankets, unfortunates living rough in some of the richest shopping streets in the world, Mother Teresa once famously declared that what she had seen in London was worse than anything she had witnessed back home in Calcutta.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that the sight of a human being bedding down for the night in a shop doorway or on a park bench is one of the most potent symbols of social exclusion in Britain today. It is a source of shame he wants eradicated.

By the year 2002, says the Prime Minister, the numbers of rough-sleepers will have to be reduced by at least two-thirds.

His are fine sentiments. Nevertheless, they never fail to bring a smile to the face of

social workers who deal with

the homeless in London on a daily basis.

''Words are fine,'' they say. ''How about some action? More to the point, how about giving us extra money? That, more than anything else, will resolve what the Prime Minister recognises to be one of the biggest social scandals of our time.''

Donna Fleming, of the Scottish charitable organisation Borderline, which has a better record than most in assisting those who have reached

rock-bottom to start life afresh, is one of the doubters.

She points out that since the eighteenth century Borderline, in one guise or another, has been helping Scots who have found themselves homeless on the streets of London. She reckons the charity will be required long beyond the year 2002, no matter what the Prime Minister has said. It is true that Mother Teresa's observations were made during a visit to London during the worst years of Thatcherism when unemployment was soaring.

Nevertheless, although patterns may have changed, homelessness in London remains a shameful blight on the nation's conscience.

A count in London on

January 22 showed that 14% of those without homes were of Scottish origin.

However, statistics tend to cloud the issue. It is estimated that there might be 400 people sleeping rough on the streets of London on any one night. On the face of it, for a city with a population of more than six million, it does not seem to be a horrendous figure.

Although it is an official statistic, it does not provide

an accurate picture of what is really going on.

If you happen to kip down in your sleeping bag in a shop door in The Strand or in Oxford Street, then you are likely to

have been included in the count, social workers say. If, however, you bed down in some alley you could well have been missed. The true figure could be twice, or perhaps three times, that of the official estimate. Even so, the public perception is that there are many more homeless on the streets of London than exist in actuality. This could be because a large number of the beggars and street drinkers that visitors and those who live and work in London come across have a

bed to go to at night. They distort the picture.

Other statistics also add to the confusion. Centrepoint, a charity that can provide beds for young homeless people, points towards a remarkable change over recent years. Whereas in the past it aided a large number of Scots and Irish, in recent years it has suddenly found that most of its clients are now coming from within the London area.

This seems to be in direct conflict with the findings of Borderline, which deals totally with Scottish homeless. It

notes that its business has increased by 30% in much the same period.

In short, nobody seems to know what the true scale of the problem is nor, despite the fine words of the Prime Minister, is there any great urgency to

find out.

A czar for the homeless is to be appointed to collate all information and bring together the various agencies in London. He or she is unlikely to be appointed much before April.

Only then will things begin to change . . . or will they? Social workers have doubts. They reckon it is more likely that bureaucracy will reign supreme.

In the meantime, the charitable agencies will continue their good works of filling in the cracks. Borderline, for example, working on a meagre budget of roughly #200,000 a year, which includes a grant from the Scottish Office, aims to end rough sleeping for Scots in London. Those involved with the charity know this is an objective it is unlikely

to achieve.

According to Stephen Convill, the director of the charity: ''We have never been busier. In the nine months from January to September we have seen an average of 43 new clients a month, mostly newly arrived

from Scotland.

''We are working flat out to keep up with the demand.''

Those Scots who get in touch with Borderline are the lucky ones. The charity can, and does, find immediate overnight accommodation in hostels and then it places individuals in more permanent accommodation. It does offer a fresh start.

For example, two brothers, each with enough Highers to shame most of us but who picked up a heroin habit at their Scottish university, have, fortunately, kicked their addiction by moving to London, where they are beginning to find a new life and rekindle a

once-sour relationship with their parents back in Scotland. They are in the process of getting back into full-time education - one in an engineering course and the other in computers.

Borderline recently conducted a survey of clients who approached it for help. It shows that of the 70 who took part, 29 had previously been living in the streets. They had moved to London because their family relationships had broken down, they had lost jobs, they wanted to escape violence, or could not fit in with normal society having been discharged from, say, the Army.

''The one common denominator is there is no set pattern,'' says Fleming. ''They are aged from early teens into their eighties.'' They have come to London mostly because they believe it is easy to find a new job and a new home.

It is only when they arrive

that they discover the world is

not like that. Many want to return home and Borderline can help them do just that, including the guarantee of a job interview in Scotland.

However, it is estimated that if they can remain in London for three months then they are likely to stay.

Similarly, it has been found that if an individual can survive on the streets for three months, then he or she is likely to remain a rough-sleeper for many years.

They come from all corners of Scotland to London: Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh, Dundee, the Borders, Fife, Ayrshire, the Islands, and especially Glasgow.

Normally they come to escape, but find life in London can be even harder than that back home.

A report by the Social Exclusion Unit this year declared: ''What most rough-sleepers want above all is a fresh start in life - a job, a home, and the confidence to re-establish contact with

family and friends, or start again from scratch.''

Tony Blair has given his full support to this report. Social workers wait with keen interest to see if his fine words are matched with action.