News Archive
18/3/2024
Prime Minister To Announce Major Reform Package To Boost Apprenticeships And Cut Red Tape For Thousands Of Small Businesses
Major package of reforms to support small businesses in PM's first economic speech since the Spring Budget. Major package of reforms to support small businesses in PM's first economic speech since the Spring Budget.
18/3/2024
Is Tiktok's Parent Company An Agent Of The Chinese State? In China Inc., It's A Little More Complicated
Does the Chinese government have officials inside TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, pulling the strings? And does the storing of data from the popular social media app outside of China protect Americans?. These questions appear to dominate the current thinking in the U.S.
18/3/2024
Levelling Up Is Not Working As Promised - Our Research Shows Why
The UK parliament has heard findings that levelling up - arguably the Conservatives' flagship policy agenda - is beset by critical delays. In a report published on 15 March 2024, the public accounts committee, parliament's expenditure watchdog, has said that, as of September 2023, local authorities had spent only £1.24 billion of the £10.47 billion the government promised to tackle regional inequality across the UK.
18/3/2024
Boost For Drivers In England As Millions Delivered For EV Chargepoints Across The Country
Dedicated chargepoint funding will support people in making the switch from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles. 44 more councils across England to benefit from funding to boost chargepoint rollout.
18/3/2024
The Age Of The Flying Taxi Draws Closer With The Future Of Flight Action Plan
Drone technology could transform our skies and boost the UK economy by £45 billion by the end of the decade. flying taxis and routine emergency service drones should be a reality by 2028.
18/3/2024
Who Are The Polluter Elite And How Can We Tackle Carbon Inequality?
Is capitalism the problem? Experts weigh in on ways to address the great carbon divide. Who are the polluter elite and why do they matter? - The richest 1% of people are responsible for as much carbon output as the poorest 66%, research from Oxfam shows.18/3/2024
Joint NATO Open Skies Training Mission Over The United Kingdom
For the first time since 2021, there has been Open Skies operational activity over the UK. The Open Skies team is part of the Joint Arms Control Implementation Group (JACIG) and operates on partner nations' observation aircraft equipped with certified sensors to collect imagery of Treaty signatories, having observed and imaged over 200km of terrain in the last year.
17/3/2024
Ministry Of Defence And Mclaren Team Up To Drive Innovation
McLaren Racing's Accelerator arm and the Ministry of Defence are teaming up to collaborate on high-tech, innovative projects. As part of the new partnership, the MOD will learn from McLaren Racing's cutting-edge Accelerator team, who use knowledge and expertise from years of elite-level motorsport to produce advanced technology and manufacturing.
17/3/2024
Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance Planned
Plans for a Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance, a new benefit to provide continued support to around 66,000 adults with a disability or long-term health condition, have been unveiled. Under new proposals, eligible people who receive Disability Living Allowance through the UK Government's Department for Work and Pensions would have their award transferred automatically to the new Scottish benefit.16/3/2024
Committee Slams Government Waste In Levelling Up Distribution
A lack of transparency over the distribution of levelling up funds has "wasted scarce public resources and caused some local authorities to miss out", according to an influential committee of MPs. In a report published today, the cross-party Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says that by September 2023, only about 10% of more than £10bn promised in levelling up funding had been spent - and that the government has not provided "any compelling examples" of what the high-profile policy has so far delivered.
16/3/2024
Can You Trust Use-by Dates On Medicines - Disgraced company director convicted of falsifying medicine quality data 
A company director and his pharmaceutical manufacturing company were sentenced in court today after pleading guilty to two charges of falsifying data that supported the shelf life of a medicine, adversely affecting its quality in order to obtain a licence to sell the medicine in the UK. Today's sentencing concludes the UK's first successful prosecution of a manufacturer for knowingly providing falsified data to the MHRA in order to obtain a Marketing Authorisation.
16/3/2024
Average Mortgage Shelf-life Plummets - Mortgage Deals Available For An Average Of Just 15 Days.
The average shelf-life of a mortgage product plunged from 28 days at the start of February to a six-month low of 15 days at the start of March, according to Moneyfacts data. This means borrowers should act swiftly if they don't want to risk missing out on a potentially attractive deal.16/3/2024
UK Inflation And How It Compares To The Rest Of The World
Crumpets or Croissants - what's in your inflation basket?. The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, stated in his recent Budget speech that inflation is expected to fall below the 2% target in just a few months' time, according to figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
16/3/2024
Hands Up If You Knew - House Of Lords Economic Affairs Committee On The Sustainability Of The Uk's National Debt
Not a secret but hardly any mention in newspapers or on tv but it may be one of the most important enquiries if any action is ever taken to change it. Richard Murphy a professor of accounting who regularly appears on tv and in radio programmes and who does not mince his words in criticising institutions of government and their handling of economic issues.16/3/2024
Making Education Accessible In Partner Countries
Support to make quality education accessible to all in Rwanda, Malawi and Zambia has been strengthened with funding of £356,000 from Scottish Government for the Inclusive Education Policy Academy. The Academy forms part of the World Bank's Foundational Learning Compact (FLC) programme and is a hands-on professional development programme designed to improve access to education for some of these countries’ most marginalised groups, such as learners with additional support needs and women.16/3/2024
G7 Nations To Harness AI And Innovation To Drive Growth And Productivity
G7 nations have signed an agreement to unite and harness the innovative potential of AI to usher in a new era of global productivity and economic growth. Countries agree to work together on new report exploring how to ramp up AI adoption.
16/3/2024
The Best UK Cash ISA Rates Today
As we reach the middle of March, the end of the tax-year is only a few weeks away. Often known as ISA season, this period typically sees providers compete to offer the best rates to attract savers who want to use up their ISA allowance before it resets on 6 April.16/3/2024
Government Backs Legislation To Tackle Illegal Pet Smuggling
New measures will close existing loopholes exploited by unscrupulous breeders and traders. Tougher powers to tackle illegal cat and dog smuggling have taken a significant step forward today (15 March) with the announcement of government backing for new legislation.
15/3/2024
£60m Capital Investment Approved For Roads And Infrastructure In Highland
Plans to invest up to £60m new Capital in Highland roads and infrastructure have been approved by Members at the Council meeting on 14 March 2024. The decision will see an additional £40m Capital investment in roads and transport infrastructure.15/3/2024
