News Archive

Businesses Take Action To Improve Productivity And Competitiveness

A survey of more than a thousand businesses in the Highlands and Islands has shown that almost all of them (95%) have taken action in the past 12 months to become more productive and competitive.   This is according to the findings of the latest business panel survey published today (Wednesday 21 February) ) by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).  

Reporting fly tipping to be made easier

The Highland Council is set to make it easier for the public to report incidents of fly tipping and be advised when action is taken.   As part of an evaluation of its street cleaning service an in-depth LEAN review of how the council deals with fly tipping has been carried out to look at ways of improving responsiveness and customer satisfaction.  

Scottish Tax Rates Being Set Today In The Budget Debate

See the BBC article for full details of the changes today.   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-43115967.  

Highland Council has agreed a budget for 2018-19.

Highland Councillors agreed a council tax increase of 3% which will mean an increase of £35.93 per annum on a Band D property.   Overall, the budget gap of £15,146 million has been met by a package of savings which includes increasing Council Tax income by £3.448 million, increasing income by £3,059 million, setting a target of £2,250 million to be saved through Redesign and reducing expenditure by £5.1 million.  

"Significant risks" to delivering early learning and childcare plan by 2020

There are "significant risks" surrounding the Scottish Government's ambition to double early learning and childcare hours by August 2020, say auditors.   Councils are preparing to provide 1,140 funded hours for all 3 and 4-year-olds -- and eligible two year-olds -- to improve outcomes for children and to support parents to work, study or train.  

Highland Council Seek More Savings From Redesign of Services

Redesign is about the Council being more open-minded to new ways of delivering services, more commercially-minded to raise income to support services and jobs across the region and being more community-minded, listening locally and supporting more community-run services.   The Highland Council is seeking to release over £2.2 million in savings this year through redesign projects.  

Budget proposals for protecting road maintenance in Highland

In recognition that roads are a high priority for communities in Highland the Administration at The Highland Council will be putting forward a budget on Thursday (15 February) that protects the budget for local roads.   Chair of the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Allan Henderson said: "We have nearly 7,000 kilometres of roads in the Highlands and this network is vital to our rural communities and lifeline services.  

Highland Council winter road condition and school closure report for Tuesday 13 February 2018

Maps of the Council's gritting routes by priority and policy are available online at www.highland.gov.uk/gritting The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time.  It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.  

Social Tenants In Scotland, 2016 - Housing Flows

Housing Flows-2.   In 2016/17 there were a total of 52,924 social rented housing lets, a drop of 1,108 lets, or 2%, on the 54,032 lets in 2015/16.  

Early Years Apprentices

Increases to fuel roll-out of funded childcare.   A record number of early years apprenticeships are expected to start this year as part of the expansion of free nursery and childcare, Deputy First Minister John Swinney has said.