The government today publishes figures showing how many vouchers have been used across energy suppliers. New figures reveal which suppliers are meeting their responsibilities and who needs to do more to deliver £400 government energy bill support for prepayment meter customers.
The EY ITEM Club's Winter Forecast says that the UK economy is now expected to contract 0.7% in 2023, bigger than the 0.3% contraction predicted in October. The impact of tighter fiscal policy and a deeper downturn, particularly on business investment, means the growth forecast for 2024 has also been downgraded from 2.4% to 1.9%.
The Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union has announced Civil Service industrial action that will impact Border Force operations. Travellers who are planning to enter the UK on 1 February 2023 may face longer wait times at border control.
Representative bodies for solicitors in Scotland have agreed to an £11 million package that increases fees for legal aid lawyers in Scotland and supports the country's court recovery programme. The Scottish Government offer, accepted by the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association, secures continued legal aid support for criminal and domestic abuse cases and brings the total additional funding to legal aid providers to £31 million since April 2021.
The cost of electricity rose sixfold between January 2021 and November 2022 as the impact of the COVID pandemic combined with Russia's invasion of Ukraine to push up wholesale energy prices. Without government intervention, household electricity costs could have grown sixfold too.
The Home Office has ramped up immigration enforcement activity in the month since the Prime Minister's pledge to boost raids on illegal working. A total of 1,152 immigration enforcement visits have taken place across the UK to identify illegal working since 11 December, marking an almost 10% rise on visits completed in the previous 5 weeks.
David Smith is an economist for regularly calling up what is to come from an economics point of view. Worryingly he ends his latest overview about interest rates for next month from the Bank of England.
Scottish Labour have branded the SNP's attempts to claw back £331 million from health and social care Integrated Joint Boards "outrageous". The SNP Government first threatened to take back funding from IJB reserves in October 2022 - however, the move was blocked as the Scottish Government have no legal mechanism to do so directly.
National sugar beet crop could face serious losses due to risk from aphids - more than 50% of UK sugar comes from domestic production Defra has approved an emergency temporary authorisation for the use of a neonicotinoid pesticide treatment on this year's sugar beet crop due to the risk to the crop from yellows viruses. Emerging sugar beet seedlings are vulnerable to predation from aphids that have the potential to spread beet yellows virus, which can severely affect sugar beet yield and quality.
A joint statement by the defence ministers of Estonia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania; and the representatives of Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Slovakia. We the Defence Ministers of Estonia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania; and the representatives of Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Slovakia met today, 19 January.
Deaths involving COVID-19, weekly registrations • As at the 15th of January 2022, there have been a total of 16,568 deaths registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate. In the latest week there were 101 deaths, 17 more than the previous week.
New research shows socioeconomic inequality in Scotland above average compared to other European countries Improvements in living standards - which we had come to expect in the decades before 2010 - have stalled dramatically in Scotland since 2010, affecting the health of the population. At the same time, inequalities of earnings, income, wealth and education remain relatively high in Scotland, in comparison both to the past and to many comparable European countries.
Economist Tejvan Pettinger discusses what the future may hold for UK house prices with other countries seeing dramatic falls. Since their peak in August 22, UK House prices have fallen 5%, but the big question is how much will they fall in the next 12 months? Expert predictions range from a modest 2% decline to a fall of 12% from Capital Economics.
Millions of people across the country and the Commonwealth are invited to celebrate the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort over a weekend of special events. The Nation and the Commonwealth will have the opportunity to join a weekend of celebrations to mark the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort.
The latest data and trends about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the Office for National Statistics and other sources. COVID-19 infections continued to decrease in England and Wales, and decreased in Northern Ireland and Scotland, in the week ending 10 January 2023.
How has Scotland fared on health and health inequalities in the two decades since devolution? This report - part of the most comprehensive review of its kind since devolution began - looks at the evidence. A healthy population is one of Scotland's most important assets.
The price of consumer goods and services bought in the UK rose by 9.2% in the year to December 2022, as annual inflation eased for the second consecutive month. This is according to the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH), which has been falling from a 40-year high of 9.6% in the year to October 2022.
The end of the free movement has led to a shortfall of around 330,000 workers in Britain. Most are in less-skilled sectors of the economy.
It's the housing costs that people pay each month, not house prices, that matter most to us at Resolution. Once you take that perspective you spend a lot of time looking at surging housing costs in the 1980s and early 90s - in 1979, both private and social renters spent about 10 per cent of their incomes on rent, vs.
The Business and Energy Secretary is today calling on suppliers to do more to protect vulnerable energy users. Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps backs consumers as offensive launched to crack down on rogue energy suppliers.
