News Archive

The Living Wage Is Out of Reach for Most Women Working Part-Time in Many Parts of Britain

The majority of women working part-time earn less than the living wage in over 50 local authority areas across Britain, according to research published on Thursday 28th August 2014 by the TUC.   Today (28 August, two-thirds of the way through 2014) is effectively the last day this year that women working part-time get paid.  

Looking To Develop Your Business

Three Business Gateway specialist advisers are coming to Thurso next week (Tuesday 2 September 2014) to offer local businesses advice and practical guidance on three topics: Accessing Finance Winning Public Contracts Taking on Staff You can book a one-hour appointment with any or all of these advisers.  All appointments will be based at the Naver Business Centre in Thurso.  

Children's Services in Caithness

Children's services in Highland are moving forward with the creation of Family Teams as part of the community services to children, young people and families.   This means that most staff involved in providing services to children, such as social workers, health visitors and school nurses will all be part of the new Family Team.  

Four in Ten More Likely to Bank With a New Entrant Than a Year Ago

- Consumers would trust supermarket brands such as Waitrose (45%), Morrisons (18%) and Aldi (12%) to do their banking[1] - Three quarters (77%) would trust John Lewis to manage their money[1]while three in ten (30%) would opt for Debenhams (30%) and a quarter (27%) would pick House of Fraser[1] - Consumers are most likely to pick a bank based on how financially secure it is (87%), its reputation (86%), and competitiveness of interest rates (85%)[2] - While 88% regard online banking as essential, nearly two thirds (62%) place an importance on telephone banking, and 45% value mobile banking.   - A quarter (23%) say new entrants have learned from the mistakes of traditional banks and offer better value for money (15%).  

Sale of the century: Scots more likely to buy when there's a sale

*Three-quarters say they're more likely to make a purchase if they spot an item that's reduced *Being on holiday also found to loosen purse strings *1 in 5 respondents say payday increases the likelihood they'll spend Spotting a bargain is the thing most likely to convince Scottish people to spend their money if they had not already been planning to.   A new survey* conducted on behalf of Debt Advisory Centre Scotland revealed that nearly three-quarters of Scottish respondents (72%) admitted seeing an item was marked down or in the sale was the scenario that made them more likely than normal to get their spending money out.  

Toyota Harvest Solar Energy to Power Uk Engine Production

Toyota UK switch on almost 13,000 solar panels on Thursday (21 August 2014) to power the car manufacturer's Deeside factory in North Wales.  The solar array, designed and installed by British Gas, can produce up to 3,475,000 kWh a year - enough electricity to build up to 22,500 engines.  

UK Household Savings Rise by 500% in the Last 40 Years

* Average value of savings per household has increased from £27,896 in 1974 to £126,278.   * The savings ratio, proportion of income saved by households, has halved to 4.8% in 2014, down from 9.9% in the decade 1974 to 1984.  

Summer Engineering Programme Prepares Young Adults

Last week, fourteen North Highland College UHI students celebrated the completion of a new six week summer programme aimed to help young people into employment, by providing essential training to progress into sustained employment within the Engineering Sector.   From July to August the students have developed engineering employability skills, industry standard training and gained a suite of statutory certificates.  

World's largest tidal project surges forward

The green light has been given on Thursday 21st August 2014 to kick off the first phase of the MeyGen project - the world's largest tidal power development which will be installed in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth.   Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is backing the project with a £3.3m grant.  

Eruption Warning! Gocompare.com Urges Flyers to Check Their Travel Insurance

In 2010, the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano closed most of Europe's airspace for around six days, affecting more than ten million travellers and costing the aviation industry millions.   Now, as the Icelandic meteorological office increases its eruption warning for the Bardarbunga volcano, Gocompare.com is warning bank holiday flyers to check their travel insurance before they head off.