MSP Rhoda Grant has welcomed Western Isles Council's "Covid-19" clothing grant for struggling families to buy extra school clothing layers for colder classrooms this winter. The Labour Highlands & Islands MSP wrote to the region’s six local authorities asking what specific sources of funding were available for families who are struggling financially to fork out for thermals and extra winter clothing layers.
The consultations will look at reforming the use of exclusivity and non-compete clauses. Proposed crackdown on restrictive employment contracts will ensure up to 1.8 million low paid workers across the UK can pick up extra work if they want to.
• On a monthly basis, house prices in November were 1.2% higher than in October. • In the latest quarter (September to November) house prices were 3.8% higher than in the preceding three months (June to August 2020).
We've been in touch in the past about publications and information on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). We wanted to remind you that the extended version of the scheme now has monthly claim deadlines, which may be of interest to your members.
Government pages relating to the end of the Brexit Transition are being updated at a furious pace now as we approach the new rules from 1st January 2021. How importers and exporters of live fish, molluscs and crustaceans for farming, ornamental, or any other purpose except direct human consumption, should prepare for changes from 1 January 2021.
New housing measures will come into force in England, Scotland and Wales on 14 December. The Chief Veterinary Officers for England, Scotland and Wales have agreed to bring in new measures to help protect poultry and captive birds, following a number of cases of avian influenza in both wild and captive birds in the UK.
Animals and Wildlife Act comes in to force in Scotland. New measures to increase the maximum available penalties for the worst cases of animal cruelty have come in to force.
Lowland peatlands provide some of the country's most fertile soils, which play a vital role in producing food for our nation. Robert Caudwell has been announced as the Chair of the Lowland Agricultural Peat Task Force - a group tasked with improving the condition of England's farmed lowland peat.
637,379 participants from across the UK have now taken part in public health research into the effects of, and treatment for, COVID-19 in just over 8 months. Over half a million people across the UK have taken part in COVID-19 research.
More than 800 jobseekers per day have been referred to the government's new £238 million JETS - Job Entry Targeted Support - programme since it launched at the start of October 2020. In its first fifty days, Work Coaches across the country have acted quickly to deliver the additional support, signposting tens of thousands of Universal Credit and New Style Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA) claimants to the programme - providing job hunters with the boost they need to return to employment.
New approach to be trialled in 14 care homes. Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for designated visitors of care home residents will start this week with a trial across five local authority areas.
Wholesale food and drink businesses affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are to be supported through a new £5 million fund. The fund will be targeted at food and drink wholesalers who sell to hospitality, on-trade or public sector clients who have seen sales fall by 20% or more since March.
Qualifying day nurseries will continue to benefit from 100% relief on non-domestic rates until at least June 2023. Extending the scheme, initially due to end on 31 March 2021, will allow for a full evaluation of the impact of the day nursery relief on providers, parents and carers - which is a recommendation of the Barclay Review of non-domestic rates.
Discussions have taken place this week on what the Council's role in respect of the emerging hydrogen economy should be and how best to advance hydrogen opportunities across the Highlands. The Leader of The Highland Council met with representatives from Scottish Power to focus on hydrogen generation and this was followed by a meeting, arranged with officers from across Council services, that included a presentation by Fiona Landy from the Hydrogen Accelerator.
The Highland Council has started to consult with their tenants about proposals for a rent increase in council owned homes for 2021 - 2022. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the traditional forms of consultation cannot safely take place.
The Leader of the Council and Provost of Inverness today welcomed recent history graduate Sophie Gartshore to her role of Data Curation Graduate Placement in the Spirit of the Highlands project team. Sophie was attending her first virtual meeting of the Spirit of the Highlands Delivery Group, a group co-chaired by Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism Fergus Ewing and Cllr Helen Carmichael, Provost of Inverness and Area.
A new digital directory of more than 100 traveltech businesses and 30 industry case studies goes live today (Friday 4 December 2020). Developed by the Traveltech for Scotland cluster, it showcases how various technologies such as online ticketing, smartphone apps and social distancing solutions can help tourism businesses in Scotland adapt and diversify in a post-COVID-19 world.
Scottish Enterprise (SE) today announced plans to approve large grant funding for up to 160 new company projects before the end of the financial year. Together, these projects have the potential to unlock up to £0.5 billion of investment by businesses into Scotland's economy, creating or safeguarding more than 9,000 jobs.
A new programme that will channel €20m to the most promising wave energy concepts across Europe was launched today (4 Dec) at the virtual Ocean Energy Europe Conference & Exhibition 2020 . Wave Energy Scotland (WES) is a lead partner in EuropeWave - a new five-year collaboration programme.
Please be advised that Subsea 7 are about to commence the launch of a pipeline bundle into Sinclair's Bay. This operation will take between 24 - 36 hours and we require to open the Wester Bridge on the A99 to allow towheads to pass under and out to sea.
