News Archive

Public Sector Finances, January 2015

From April 2014 to January 2015, public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks (PSNB ex) was £74.0 billion; a decrease of £6.0 billion compared with the same period in 2013/14.  In January 2015, PSNB ex was -£8.8 billion (a surplus); an increased surplus of £2.3 billion compared with January 2014.  

Candidates Announced So Far For General Election for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross

To date we know of four candidates for the general election to be held on 7th May 2015.   The candidates declared so far are.  

Highland Councillors agree to nominate 6 Digital Champions as part of Digital First Programme

SIX Digital Champions are to be nominated to assist with promoting the Digital First Programme and the availability of online services.   Digital First Programme aims to greatly increase access to online services, enabling at least 40% of transactions to be carried out online by April 2017.  

Dental Service Re-design A Further Move Towards A Poorer Health Service

Highlands and Islands Scottish Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant has written to the Scottish Government asking why they are demanding that dental patients in the Highlands transfer from NHS dentists to private practitioners.   "The Scottish Government claim that there is too high a proportion of patients in the NHS Highland registered with dentists employed by the NHS," said Mrs Grant.  

Councillors Agree local access to Carbon CLEVER Funding

Members of The Highland Council's Resources Committee have today agreed proposals to localise the Carbon CLEVER Community Grant Fund in 2015/16.   The Carbon CLEVER Community Grant Fund, agreed in June 2014, is a £200,000 capital fund which aims to provide communities with financial support to implement relevant and innovative projects to tackle climate change.  

New way of keeping informed on Development Plans for the Highlands

The Highland Council has created a new way of keeping people up-to-date on the preparation of Development Plans in Highland and giving information of how and when people can get involved.   The Development Plans Newsletter provides detailed information on what is happening across the Highlands in a more readable and accessible way making it more appealing to communities and stakeholders.  

Toyota ultra-compact electric vehicles run in French urban mobility project

* Toyota providing 70 ultra-compact electric vehicles for Cite lib by Ha:Mo, an urban mobility project to be launched in Grenoble, France on 1 October.   * Three-year trial scheme will see three-wheel Toyota i-Road and COMS four-wheel electric vehicles available for public car sharing on local journeys.  

Scotland hits 1.5 million fibre broadband milestone

MORE than 1.5 million households and businesses across Scotland can now connect to high-speed fibre broadband, BT announced today.   The landmark milestone has been achieved through BT's commercial fibre roll-out and the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband partnerships with the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, UK Government, Scottish local authorities and the European Regional Development Fund.  

New BMW 2 Series Convertible

The BMW 2 Series Convertible is the third model in the company's 2 Series line-up and comes to market as a direct replacement for the 1 Series Convertible - a vehicle that was the most successful car in its class with global sales of more than 130,000 units.   The new car will initially be available with a choice of four engines, including a new 2.0-litre diesel for the 220d and, for the first time in a BMW convertible, an M Performance variant, the M235i.  

Government Begins To Name and Shame Employers Paying Below Minimum Wage

Government Names and Shames Largest Ever Number of National Minimum Wage Offenders.   A further 70 employers who failed to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage have been named.