The Highland Council wants to hear the views of residents, visitors, interested groups and organisations on the Council's short term let draft policy statement and proposed additional conditions for a licence. Earlier this year the Scottish Parliament approved legislation to introduce a new licensing scheme for short-term let properties, which is due to come into effect on 1 October this year.
UNISON Scotland's Health Committee - UNISON's senior decision making body in health and which represents UNISON health workers across Scotland - will ballot UNISON health members on whether they wish to accept or reject the latest pay offer from the Scottish Government. After speaking to health workers across UNISON Scotland branches and in hospitals and community health settings, the committee will now ballot UNISON members, in a consultative ballot, with a recommendation to reject the pay offer - following discussion this afternoon.
UKHSA issues COVID-19 vaccination reminder as Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 become dominant in the UK, driving increase in infections The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is reminding people to ensure their COVID-19 vaccinations are up to date and to continue following COVID-safe behaviours, as latest technical data indicates BA.4 and BA.5 have become dominant in the UK and are driving the recent increase in infections. The UKHSA's COVID-19 variant technical briefing 43, published today, includes epidemiological analysis that shows that Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 now make up more than half of new COVID-19 cases in England, accounting for approximately 22% and 39% of cases, respectively.
1.Main points In the most recent week (week ending 18 June for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; week ending 17 June for Scotland): There was an increase in the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, likely caused by infections compatible with Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. In England, the estimated number of people testing positive for COVID-19 was 1,360,600 (95% credible interval: 1,285,600 to 1,438,200), equating to 2.50% of the population or around 1 in 40 people.
One of the UK's most iconic nuclear plants has completed a key last job before operations end next month. Staff at Sellafield's Magnox Reprocessing Plant have safely reprocessed the final box of spent fuel from the UK’s fast reactor programme being stored in the plant’s ponds.
The 2021-22 Provisional Outturn has been published detailing how the Scottish Government spent £47 billion on funding key public services to mitigate the impacts of the Covid pandemic and help tackle rising cost of living pressures. The remaining £650 million of available funding has been carried over through the Scotland Reserve and allocated to support key priorities for 2022-23, which include tackling child poverty and striving towards our climate change targets.
Drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance says progress being made on the implementation of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards is "neither good enough nor quick enough". MAT standards ensure safe, accessible and consistently high-quality treatment for drug users to help reduce drug deaths and other harms and promote recovery.
A new monitor will help inform policy decisions to reduce Scotland's vulnerability to future financial and environmental shocks, helping build a more prosperous, resilient, equal and sustainable economy. The Wellbeing Economy Monitor will complement traditional metrics like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and include measures such as child poverty, levels of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity, and fair work indicators to consider Scotland's economic success.
Initiatives to deliver greater equality for women in agriculture and help young farmers become the boardroom leaders of the future will benefit from additional funding. The future Women in Agriculture Business Skills Training project will receive £100,000 per year for the next three years, while funding to the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs will see board members develop their leadership skills to create greater diversity in the boardrooms of the future.
UK to join Sustainable Productivity Growth Coalition (SPG) to share knowledge of best practice on green agriculture and food production. The UK has signed up to a global coalition which works to speed up the move towards more sustainable food production, Environment Secretary George Eustice announced on Thursday 23 June 2022.
The Bank of England will be withdrawing legal tender status of paper £20 and £50 banknotes after 30 September 2022. After this date, paper £20 and £50 banknotes will no longer be legal tender.
UK very dependent on rail freight. Food distribution one of the big users of rail freight.
Visitors to this week's Royal Highland Show can enjoy a glimpse of the Highlands and Islands few get to experience. Utilising immersive 360-degree films inside a specially created immersive portal, the experience is thanks to the Spirit of the Highlands and Islands project.
The UK's decarbonisation drive will involve major change across the economy, particularly for the 1.3 million workers in carbon-intensive ‘brown' jobs who will need to adapt to cleaner technologies and processes. It will not destroy jobs in the way that episodes of structural change have done in the past, according to new Resolution Foundation and LSE analysis published on Monday 20 June 2022.
The number of people ending their working lives by reaching the State Pension Age (SPA) is set to reach a record high over the coming decade. It will be more than be matched by record numbers of people starting their working lives by turning 22, leading to the UK workforce get younger even while the population ages, according to new research published by the Resolution Foundation.
Brexit has not had the expected effect of narrowly reducing exports to the EU, but has instead more broadly reduced how open and competitive Britain's economy is. This will reduce productivity and wages in the decade ahead, according to new joint Resolution Foundation and LSE research published today (Wednesday 22 June 2022).
From the Office for National statistics published today 22 June 2022. Inflation and cost of living article collating and updating analysis of different price measures.
High inflation is causing real pay packets to shrink at their fastest rate in a decade, while the slowdown in growth may be causing the tight labour market to cool as unemployment ticks up, the Resolution Foundation said in response to the latest ONS labour market statistics. With CPI inflation hitting a 40-year high, real (CPIH-adjusted) regular pay fell by 2.2 per cent - the fastest fall since 2011.
The Office for National Statistics published its monthly report today 22 June 2022. The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) rose by 7.9% in the 12 months to May 2022, up from 7.8% in April.
A meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) has been told of the impact of UK-wide rail strikes on Scotland. Deputy First Minister John Swinney was joined by Ministers including Transport Secretary Michael Matheson and Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth to hear of the latest situation.
