News Archive
7/11/2024
Council Launches New Tenant Participation And Engagement Strategy 2024-2029
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 6 November 2024 and approved the Tenant Participation & Engagement Strategy 2024-2029. Members heard from both tenant representatives and Officers about the ongoing engagement and collaborative work within communities across Highland.7/11/2024
Government's Experimental AI Chatbot To Help People Set Up Small Businesses And Find Support
Thousands of small businesses across the country will be able to get help and advice through the UK government's generative AI chatbot. GOV.UK Chat, the government's experimental chatbot, will be trialled by up to 15,000 business users as it enters the next stage of testing.
7/11/2024
Grangemouth's Just Transition - Workforce And Community Asked For Views
Grangemouth's industrial workforce and community are being asked to contribute their views on the future of the area. A draft plan has been published today as part of work to support a just transition to net zero and support the growth of the area towards a decarbonised economy.7/11/2024
Improving Broadband Speeds - Water Pipeline Innovation For Orkney Island Residents
Drinking water pipes are delivering faster and more reliable broadband for the first time in the UK. Nearly every business and resident in Papa Westray, Orkney, can now receive speeds comparable to less rural areas of Scotland through the Reaching 100% (R100) programme.7/11/2024
USA Fed Reserve Reduces Interest Rate By Quarter Percent
Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. Since earlier in the year, labor market conditions have generally eased, and the unemployment rate has moved up but remains low.7/11/2024
Bank Rate Reduced To 4.75% - November 2024
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets monetary policy to meet the 2% inflation target, and in a way that helps to sustain growth and employment. The MPC adopts a medium-term and forward-looking approach to determine the monetary stance required to achieve the inflation target sustainably.7/11/2024
Scam Adverts For Advent Calendars
Those looking for advent calendars online are being warned to be wary of social media adverts which lead to scam websites. Several scam adverts have recently been reported, including ads on Facebook and Instagram offering a luxury advent calendar from cosmetics retailer Space NK worth £250 for only £28.99.6/11/2024
Report Retailers Selling Vapes To Underagers - Highland Council Trading Standards Find 1 In 3 Retailers Selling Vapes To Under 18s
Highland Council's Trading Standards team is reporting worrying findings from the age restricted product test purchase programme it carried out over the last six months. During the most recent exercise, premises in Skye, Easter Ross, Inverness, Badenoch and Strathspey were test purchased for cigarettes and vapes using volunteers under 18 years of age.6/11/2024
Mother Chooses To Go South To Give Birth - Lack Of Local Services Played A Part
After she decided to terminate her first pregnancy due to Omphalocele, a condition where the baby's organs are outside of the body, she was worried about potentially having to travel more than two and a half hours to Inverness. Her partner is a crofter and as her due date fell in-between lambing season, she was worried about not having enough people around her in the far north.6/11/2024
Police - Area Performance Report to Caithness Area Committee on 11 November
A report by the police to the Caithness area committee on 11 November will allow councillors to discuss a range of issues. Chief Inspector Calum Smith - Area Commander (North Highland Area Command) sets out the crime related figures up to June 2024.6/11/2024
Common Good Funds In Caithness Expenditure - Quarter 2 Monitoring
On 11 November 2024 the Caithness Area Committee will discuss several papers. Thurso and Northwest Caithness Ward Discretionary Budget applications approved 1 April 2024 - 30 September 2024 The Committee is asked to note that the following Thurso and Northwest Caithness Ward Discretionary Budget applications have been approved for the period 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024:.6/11/2024
Covid Fraudster Forced To Sell Flat And BMW To Pay Back Funds
Bounce Back Loan fraudster pays back money he fraudulently received in full. Sameer Saeed fraudulently secured a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan in 2020 by exaggerating the turnover of his Digital Business Box Ltd business.6/11/2024
England - Investors, Developers, And Local And National Government Leaders Unite To Drive Forward Ambitions To Create 1.5 Million Homes Across This Parliament
Leaders from over 375 institutions meet with the aim of creating new partnerships to increase scale of housebuilding and regeneration across England. Over 375 leaders from domestic and international institutional investors, developers, housebuilders, regeneration specialists, housing associations, and Combined and Local Authorities met in London yesterday (4 November) with the aim of creating new partnerships that will significantly increase the scale of housebuilding and urban regeneration that is needed across England.6/11/2024
Delivering On Pledges To Children With Additional Support Needs
A new report sets out the progress made to improve the educational experiences of children and young people with additional support needs (ASN) in schools across Scotland, with more than 40 actions completed thus far. Measures adopted since publication of the independent Morgan Review in 2020 include directly involving children, young people and their families in decisions around additional support for learning (ASL).6/11/2024
£1.2 Million To Boost Rural Transport In The UK
Winning projects use the latest innovations to help meet the unique transport needs of people who live in rural areas. eight projects awarded £150,000 each to better connect rural communities winning projects include digital tools that support patients and staff to travel to NHS hospitals funding will enhance travel for rural residents, while delivering greener transport technologies People living in rural areas could benefit from smoother and more frequent transport, thanks to government funding announced today (6 November 2025).6/11/2024
Doom Spending - Why Brits Are Joining In On A Reckless Spending Spiral
Spending rashly to cheer ourselves up is nothing new but it's recently escalated among US millennials and Gen Zs. As negative political and economic news escalates on both sides of the Pond, doom spending is on the rise among Brits as well, says the home delivery expert Parcelhero.6/11/2024
Media Merger Laws To Be Modernised For The Digital Age
Culture Secretary outlines plans to modernise the UK media mergers regime. Proposal would extend powers to call in media mergers to online news sites and news magazines.6/11/2024
New failure to prevent fraud guidance published
New corporate criminal offence will hold large organisations to account if they profit from fraud. Today we've published guidance that will provide organisations with important advice on the new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent fraud', helping make sure they are taking action to prevent fraud.6/11/2024
Attracting Private Investment In Nature For Scotland
A new plan to attract responsible private investment into natural capital markets has been launched for Scotland. Minister for Employment and Investment Tom Arthur launched Scotland's Natural Capital Market Framework as he spoke at the Nature Finance UK 2024 conference.6/11/2024
