News Archive
11/6/2025
Automated Vehicles Act 2024 implementation
An update on the work being done to implement the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024. I wish to provide the House with an update on steps the government is taking to implement the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024 and kickstart economic growth, a top priority in the government's Plan for Change.
11/6/2025
UKHSA urges travellers to take steps to avoid infection abroad
Typhoid and paratyphoid cases reach record high while Malaria cases remain high despite small dip in cases. The latest UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) provisional data shows an increase in travel-associated enteric fever cases (typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever cases) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with 702 cases in 2024, an 8% rise from 2023 (645 cases).11/6/2025
Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24
Scotland's Chief Statistician today (10 June 2025) released the main findings of the 2023/24 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS). The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey shows that most adults in Scotland (80.1%) were not victims of any SCJS crime in 2023/24, including fraud and computer misuse for the first time.11/6/2025
Exploring how an AI lab model could work for policing 
The National Policing Capabilities Unit came to ACE to explore a high-level operating model for how an in-house AI lab could enable greater innovation. Artificial intelligence (AI) will play a significant role in shaping the police service of the future, bolstering capabilities by making investigations more sophisticated and efficient as well as freeing up officers' time.
11/6/2025
Will Rachel Reeves make big mistakes with her spending review?
Rachel Reeves' record as Chancellor has not been good. Today provides her with another opportunity to get everything wrong..
11/6/2025
Scotland to host UK's national supercomputer as Chancellor confirms £750 million investment
Scotland will become home to the UK's most powerful supercomputer, with up to £750 million for the project confirmed in the Spending Review. Up to £750 million for a new supercomputer in Edinburgh will be confirmed by the Chancellor at Spending Review - giving scientists across the UK access to compute power found in only a handful of other nations.
11/6/2025
Scottish Government Workforce Statistics March 2025
The latest quarterly Scottish Government Workforce Information statistics have been published today by Scotland's Chief Statistician. These statistics cover the numbers of workers, staff sickness rates, and the diversity of staff up to the most recent quarter ending March 2025.11/6/2025
Care Reform (Scotland) Bill passed
Plans to transform social care across Scotland will be progressed after the Scottish Parliament approved the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill. Thousands of people with experience of accessing, delivering and receiving social care, social work and community health services have helped co-design the legislation, putting people at the heart of reform.11/6/2025
UK Schools invited to apply for ‘Taskmaster Club 100' initiative
Intellectual Property Office (IPO) partners with Taskmaster Education to offer new skills building opportunity for secondary schools. The main developments are: the Intellectual Property Office has partnered with Taskmaster Education to launch a new creative skills opportunity for UK secondary school students aged 11 to 16 ‘Taskmaster Club 100' applications open on 10 June 2025 and close on 15 August 2025.
11/6/2025
Marine Fund Scotland 2025-26 launches
Applications opened for the fifth year of the Marine Fund Scotland on Tuesday 10 June 2025 The fund will make £14 million available in 2025-26 to help deliver Scotland's Blue Economy Vision, transform the way the marine environment is used and how Scotland's ‘blue' resources are managed. Eligible individuals, businesses, and organisations can apply for funding for new projects that will contribute to an innovative and sustainable marine economy, support coastal communities, and help Scotland reach net zero emissions.11/6/2025
New carbon footprint estimates for key agricultural enterprises
New average carbon footprint estimates for beef, sheep, milk and cereal production in Scotland have been released. These are average emission intensity estimates for enterprises (activities) on farms in the Farm Business Survey.11/6/2025
Diversity and Inclusion of the Scottish Government Workforce
An update to the Scottish Government Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Information statistics have been published today by Scotland's Chief Statistician. This update adds data on the experiences of different demographic groups from People Survey 2024.11/6/2025
Property and violent crime 37% lower than in 2008
Total levels of property and violent crime have fallen by more than a third since 2008-09, according to the latest Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS). The 2023-24 official statistics also show that people feel safer in their communities.11/6/2025
UK jobs market sheds 55,000 jobs in April, weakening further
The jobs market weakened further in April, losing 55,000 jobs on the previous month and nudging down the employment rate, the Resolution Foundation said in response to the latest ONS labour market statistics. Early data for May looks worse still, pointing to a fall of 109,000 jobs - but this data is prone to revision, with last month's initial data especially uncertain due to earlier-than-normal data collection.11/6/2025
Unlocking the power of Engineering Biology
New report outlines the transformative potential of Engineering Biology to tackle modern-day challenges. Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Dame Angela McLean has today launched a new Foresight report, Engineering Biology Aspirations, which highlights the transformative potential of Engineering Biology (EngBio) to address some of the major challenges of our time - from lab-grown blood to biologically derived materials for fashion.
11/6/2025
Co-op members vote to "cease all trading with Israel"
Members of one of the UK's biggest supermarket chains votes to "cease all trading with Israel" at AGM Motion submitted by members of the Co-Op urges the board to "show moral courage and leadership" by taking "all Israeli products off the shelves" The vote is a major victory in the current PSC “Don't Buy Apartheid” campaign Campaigners for the vote made the links between Israeli companies and Israel's brutal oppression of Palestinians In an historic first, the AGM of the Co-op group, which includes the supermarket chain, has voted to cease all trading with Israel. The motion proposed by Co-op members in the context of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and decades of oppression of Palestinian people by military occupation and apartheid, has been successfully carried.10/6/2025
Scotland Office - First government trade mission since UK-EU deal
Minister Kirsty McNeill teams up with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to champion Scotland and the UK in Spain. Boosting trade and investment between Scotland and Spain is top of the agenda as a group of 16 Scottish female entrepreneurs, led by UK Government Minister Kirsty McNeill and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC), arrive on Spanish soil today (Monday 9th June).10/6/2025
Woman invented business to claim Covid loan then sent money to Poland
Jagoda Rubaszko guilty of fraud after inventing a business to apply for a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan which she then sent to bank accounts in Poland. Rubaszko invented a business to get a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan - which was paid out to five bank accounts in Poland She told Insolvency Service investigators a man called Daniel told her how to apply for the loan – but provided no evidence he exists Sentenced to six-month curfew and 18-month suspended sentence A woman who pretended to run a business to secure a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan has been sentenced for fraud following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.10/6/2025
Expanding eligibility for the winter fuel payment
The income threshold below which pensioners will be eligible for the winter fuel payment (WFP) is set to rise. The Prime Minister and Chancellor announced last week that the income threshold below which pensioners will be eligible for the winter fuel payment (WFP) will rise, so that more pensioners will be able to receive it this winter.10/6/2025
