Delivered at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, March 2023. Chair, The United Kingdom thanks the Director General for his report on the Agency's activities related to nuclear science, technology and applications and we reiterate our support for the Agency’s role in researching, promoting and sharing the benefits of peaceful nuclear technologies.
Maps of the Council's gritting routes by priority and policy are available online at www.highland.gov.uk/gritting. The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time.
Highland Opportunity (Investments) Limited HO(I)L, The Highland Council's business loan company has launched its first social media campaign to make Highland businesses and community organisations aware of its loan funds. HO(I)L has financially supported more than 1,200 local start-up businesses, community organisations and growth projects within the Highland Business community since it was established in 1986.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (March 7th) sold 13 Prime Cattle. Prime Bullocks (2) averaged 288.9p per kg (+10.4p) and sold to 294.0p per kg and £1,999.20 gross.
Bosses of TV rigging services and online fitness companies separately abused Bounce Back Loans totalling £61,000. Michael Andrew Higgins, 56, and Dean Emanuel Miller, 41, both from Sheffield, have been disqualified as company directors for a total of 17 years after separate Insolvency Service investigations found that through their respective companies they had each abused the covid loan support scheme.
Members have given their backing to an investment of more than £2.3m towards supporting vulnerable young people and families in the Highlands. The investment was agreed as part of the annual budget process, which took place last week on Thursday, 2 March.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has reason to suspect anti-competitive behaviour has taken place involving suppliers of fragrances and fragrance ingredients for use in the manufacture of consumer products such as household and personal care products. The CMA has been in contact with the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice, the European Commission and the Swiss Competition Commission in relation to this matter, and this investigation has been launched in consultation with them.
Standard stamp prices are to rise by up to 15%, Royal Mail has confirmed. From Monday 3 April, the cost of first-class stamps will be hiked to £1.10 (up 15p from 95p), while second-class stamps will increase to 75p (up 7p from 68p).
A world-leading £33 million Scottish Government initiative to digitally transform how evidence is managed across the justice system will spare witnesses from having to attend court as often and free up police officers' time. Dundee recently began piloting the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability service (DESC), a secure and robust system that will for the first time allow prosecutors, court staff, police officers and defence lawyers to access a unified system to handle evidence digitally.
The public are being urged to be wary when buying products from online platforms and to check on GOV.UK whether they have been recalled. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is working with its partners Netmums and the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) to encourage people to ensure they are buying safe products from reliable sources.
The Home Office returned more than 320 foreign criminals and immigration offenders with no right to be in the UK last month as part of efforts to stop the boats. The people who were returned to their home countries included over 200 foreign national offenders, over 30 asylum offenders and over 85 non-asylum offenders, with more than 15 known to have arrived in the UK via small boats.
The Storr visitor attraction on Skye has launched its dedicated and branded website, providing information that aims to enhance the visitor experience. The Old Man of Storr project is "for the community, in the community, by the community" working closely with communities and with continual local Member involvement, to celebrate Gaelic and to demonstrate engagement and partnership working.
At the end of last year, the boards of management at UHI North Highland, UHI Outer Hebrides and UHI West Highland formally approved the merger proposal and business case, which will see them come together to form UHI North, West and Hebrides from 1 August 2023, subject to Scottish Government approval. Merger requires approval by Scottish Ministers under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992.
An ambitious collaborative project to power subsea equipment with wave power and subsea energy storage has taken to the seas in the north of Scotland. The £2million demonstrator project, called Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP), has connected the Blue X wave energy converter - built by Edinburgh company Mocean Energy - with a Halo underwater battery developed by Aberdeen intelligent energy management specialists Verlume.
£76 million tied up in forgotten accounts to be used to support people to get out of debt and assist social enterprises with innovative energy saving solutions. Dormant Assets Scheme redirects money from forgotten accounts to good causes.
New, more flexible system introduced to empower adults to upskill or retrain throughout their working lives. People across the country are set to benefit from a complete overhaul of student finance, helping them get flexible loan funding to train, retrain and upskill throughout their working lives.
Employers are being encouraged to better support women experiencing the menopause as the Government today appointed England's first ever Menopause Employment Champion. Helen Tomlinson appointed new Menopause Employment Champion and calls on more employers to develop menopause policies.
The UK and Canada have agreed a landmark agreement to co-operate on critical minerals such as cobalt and lithium that are essential to the economy. UK and Canada to sign agreement to bolster vital technologies such as smart phones, solar panels and electric vehicles.
The UK budget announcements will be on 15th March. In a video he organised by the Resolution Foundation discuss the possibilities.
The Evaluation Taskforce has awarded more funding for projects to improve evaluation. Four new projects have been awarded funding to help test and evaluate new approaches within government.
