DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd, (August, 25th) sold 101 rams at its sixth annual ‘Great from Grass' on farm sale of rams at Fearn Farm, Tain, on behalf of Messrs J Scott & Partners. Texel shearlings (34) averaged £822.44 and sold to 1,250 guineas thrice.
New ways of offering people more choice and control over their social care can make a real difference but further work is needed to ensure everyone can benefit, says a report out today. Since 2014 councils have been responsible for implementing Self-directed Support (SDS), which offers people more choices around their support and how it is managed.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (August 24th) sold 13,469 store lambs at their annual sale. Cheviot wedder lambs (7,411) averaged £42.62 (-£5.53 on the year) and sold to £72.00 gross from Burnbank, Isle of Canna.
The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, Keith Brown, announced today that the first section of the mammoth A9 dualling programme is set to open in the coming days, on a visit to inspect finishing work on the two year construction for the £35m road between Kincraig and Dalraddy. As fresh aerial footage of the new road was published, Mr Brown highlighted that the new 7.5km section of dual-carriageway will deliver a range of benefits to the public and the Scottish economy.
Eligible students taking up places on HNC, HND Degree and Postgraduate courses in Colleges and Universities in Scotland are reminded to apply now to SAAS for their tuition fees, bursary and student loans. SAAS have successfully launched a new digital student account to make the process easier for the 180,000 students who apply each year for funding support.
During performance and commissioning testing on gas cookers in a first floor Home Economics classroom at Inverness Royal Academy last evening (23 August) two fire suppression sprinkler heads were inadvertently activated, resulting in water spreading into a number of first and ground floor classroom/corridor areas including the school kitchen. The school is closed today (24th) and tomorrow (25th August 2017).
Highland Council is reassuring all pupils, parents and carers this morning (23 August) that all school transport routes have been covered in Caithness and East Ross following the loss of the contractor Andrew's (Shetland) Ltd. who ceased trading last night (22 August).
Many Mother of the Bride/Groom/Guest Outfits less than half price. 2 rails of Wedding Dresses greatly reduced.
Members of The Highland Council's People Committee have agreed to transfer funding from its third sector grants budget to High Life Highland to manage the North Coast Leisure Centre at Bettyhill in Sutherland. Members have agreed that the budget of £39,309 for Tongue and Farr Sports Association (North Coast Leisure Centre, Bettyhill) from the Council's third sector grants budget will be moved to the budget for services commissioned from High Life Highland, and that the service delivery contract with High Life Highland be amended accordingly.
Following on from the introduction of decriminalised parking in Highland, The Highland Council has invested £50k to help protect pedestrians in Inverness city centre. Cllr Allan Henderson, Chair of the Council's Places Committee said: "I am very pleased that the new parking enforcement service has delivered these improvement works funded from the Council’s Traffic Management and Control budget.
In a submission made to the Scottish Parliament, The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accounting (CIPFA) Scotland predicts that Brexit will likely have a negative impact on public spending power and therefore it is of critical importance that the Scottish Government start preparing plans for public services post-Brexit. In its submission, CIPFA Scotland has summarised factors which will impact upon the Scottish budget.
The report of GERs was published today and its not simple with everyone giving their interpretation of good or bad. So here is link to the BBC article on the subject that explains the situation in depth with more links.
Science festivals will receive £250,000 of Scottish Government funding to support them in bringing science alive in a fun and accessible way, Science Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville has announced. Up to 15 festivals, which reach more than 200,000 people across Scotland annually, will benefit from the funding.
Parents and carers of pupils using Andrew's (Shetland) Ltd coaches for Thurso, Wick, Dornoch, Golspie and Invergordon High Schools and some of their associated Primaries are warned for possible disruption to transport arrangements from tomorrow morning Wednesday 23 August 2017. Highland Council has been notified that its school transport contractor Andrew's (Shetland) Ltd has ceased trading as of this evening (Tuesday 22 August 2017).
As recently reported, the B876 between Castletown and Reiss will be closed for three weeks from 28 August 2017 to enable urgent repair works to be carried out. This will result in changes to the X99 and 81 services, along with the 276 / 277 / 281 services to Dounreay) Details of the timetable and route changes are attached.
Welcoming the publication of the Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates, Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said:"This report offers recommendations for reform of the system to make it work better for ratepayers across Scotland while ensuring that the contribution they make to important local services is maintained. "Ken and his team were tasked with finding ways to improve the current system, updating it so that it better supports business growth, encourages long term investment and enables businesses to better navigate fast-changing marketplaces.
Week Commencing 14th August 2017 Energy & business services: Caithness Chamber of Commerce this week ran an event sponsored by CNSRP partner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). The main speaker was Bill Cattanach of the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA), with introductory presentations by myself and Sandy Mackie of Scrabster Harbour Trust.
The Highland Council's Planning Performance Framework has been agreed for submission to the Scottish Government. All Planning Authorities in Scotland are required to submit an annual Planning Performance Framework to the Scottish Government, setting out how they have performed over the previous financial year.
With the countdown underway for the Queensferry Crossing opening, a new website for the Forth Bridges was launched today by the Minister for Transport Humza Yousaf. The site gives details of the traffic management and road layouts that will be in place when the bridge first opens.
Graduates from as far afield as Portugal and London arrived in Caithness last week to kick start their career at Dounreay. Ten new recruits have started on the two-year graduate scheme with educational backgrounds as diverse as engineering, law and digital forensics and ethical hacking.
