Details of a proposed Scottish tax aiming to encourage the use of recycled materials in construction and other industries have been published. The proposals form part of the Aggregates Tax and Devolved Taxes Administration (Scotland) Bill, which has been introduced to Parliament.
More than half of people don't know what happens to their pension when they die and now is the time to find out, the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) says. Only two in five know their pensions would go to their nominated beneficiary.
DLUHC has allocated £9.5 billion of funding for local government through three significant funds to support levelling up, but projects are behind where the Department expected them to be and it appears unlikely that local authorities will be able to complete projects by the original deadlines, a new National Audit Office report has found. Through the Towns Fund and Levelling Up Fund DLUHC sought to back "shovel ready" projects, but both funds had projects that were yet to start or were paused as at 31 March 2023, with 64 projects completed by this point.
The UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt will have limited room for manoeuvre when he makes his autumn statement about the government's financial plans on November 22. The government is committed to supporting the Bank of England's current strategy for reducing inflation, which involves using rate hikes to slow down economic activity.
Redirected HS2 funding to resurface more than 5,000 miles of road across the country, improving journeys for all. driving to become smoother, safer and easier with £8.3 billion of redirected HS2 funding, enough to resurface over 5,000 miles of road.
A campaign has been launched to support the recruitment of more adult social care workers and help address vacancies. The new Adult Social Care recruitment drive, ‘You can make the difference' includes TV, radio, outdoor and digital advertising.
Hundreds of households and businesses affected by the impact of Storm Babet will benefit from additional funding from the Scottish Government to help with recovery. Impacted local authorities will be allocated additional funding to enable them to provide flat rate grants of: £1,500 to people whose properties were most affected by flooding related to Storm Babet.
Forty programmers demonstrated how AI-enabled robotic dogs could carry out potentially dangerous tasks that would otherwise be undertaken by Army bomb disposal experts. The Defence AI Centre (DAIC) sponsored Hackathon on 7 to 9 November 2023 showed the possibilities. The hackers worked in five teams to exploit the AI capabilities of the robotic dogs, which are able to climb stairs, avoid obstacles and move over rough ground.
New Back to Work Plan to help up to 1,100,000 people with long-term health conditions, disabilities or long-term unemployment to look for and stay in work. Additional support comes alongside tougher sanctions for people who don't look for work, as part of the next generation of welfare reforms.
UK's sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry to receive £53 million boost, helping to save 2.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year. Advanced Fuels Fund projects could help create tens of thousands of jobs and grow the economy.
We have today launched a review into standing charges. We want to find out your views about how standing charges are added onto electricity and gas bills.
A key programme of work at the Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria is making real progress. The Repository, which is part of Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) and manages disposal of the UK's low level radioactive waste, has started key work on the final capping of historic trenches and vaults which are now full and ready for permanent closure.
Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) and Women in Nuclear (WiN UK) hosted an event for young people to promote and showcase career opportunities in the nuclear industry. Around 150 students attended the first ever Nuclear Connection Science Fair in Oxford, hosted by NWS and Women in Nuclear (WiN UK) on 10 November 2023.
Highland Councillors have welcomed a positive shift in the recruitment and reduction of Children's Services vacancies by 7% while noting an on-going recruitment and retention challenge across all social work services in the region. To help address this challenge a recruitment video was launched today by Highland Council aimed at encouraging potential applicants to think about ‘Being a Social Worker in Highland’ and promoting it as a rewarding and exciting career opportunity.
CPI inflation fell by more than expected to 4.6 per cent in October - its lowest level since October 2021, and the largest annual fall in more than 40 years. But with overall prices rising by 16 per cent over this two-year period, and energy costs rising by 49 per cent, families are still feeling the effects of this huge inflation shock, the Resolution Foundation said today (Wednesday).
Two very different checkout solutions are battling it out at supermarkets this Christmas. While Booths has axed the majority of its self-service tills, Tesco has gone the opposite way, introducing a scan-free, app-free solution developed by its retail tech partner Trigo.
Almost 100,000 customers have paid £121 million using the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) app since April 2023, taking advantage of the quickest and easiest way to pay their Self Assessment tax bill. Latest figures from HMRC reveal that between April and September 2023, 97,365 customers used the app to settle their tax bill for the 2022 to 2023 tax year.
UK House Prices have FALLEN at their FASTEST rate in 5 YEARS in a move that has SHOCKED many housing market commentators. The UK House Price Crash started over a year ago when interest rates soared and mortgage repayments skyrocketed, however, until now many sellers have been unwilling to accept this new reality and continued to market their properties at completely unrealistic prices.
Recently there has been coverage of the challenges facing certain Office for National Statistics (ONS) household surveys. Due to concerns about the quality of data resulting from a particularly low response rate, In October 2023, the ONS suspended the publication of one of its headline labour market surveys.
Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK rose by 6.1% in the 12 months to October 2023, up from 5.7% in the 12 months to September 2023. Annual private rental prices increased by 6.0% in England, 6.9% in Wales, and 6.2% in Scotland in the 12 months to October 2023.
