Healthy Start vouchers stop issuing in Scotland on 31 March 2020. Families who get Healthy Start vouchers must ensure they move to Best Start Foods before the vouchers stop on Tuesday 31 March 2020 to continue to receive support.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has written to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak ahead of the UK Budget, highlighting the key issues the Scottish Government wishes to raise, including: • income tax • Barnett consequentials • EU funding and the economic impact of Brexit • police and fire VAT • UK Comprehensive Spending Review In the letter, Ms Forbes calls on the UK Government to deliver on the funding commitments made during the December 2019 General Election. She also calls for continued constructive engagement in the response to the coronavirus outbreak, ahead of further discussions next week with UK and devolved administration finance Ministers, to shape a collective financial response to the outbreak.
New arrangements for managing quotas are being trialled in Scotland's fisheries. The project, which will run until the end of 2021, will see the establishment of new legal entities called Quota Management Groups.
Loganair, Scotland's Airline, has reacted to the closure of Flybe by announcing plans to safeguard UK regional connectivity by taking up 16 routes formerly flown by Flybe. The airline will be adding nearly 400 new flights each week and has opened a special recruitment line for former Flybe employees seeking to continuing their aviation careers with Loganair.
In the early hours of this morning (5 March 2020), Flybe ceased trading. From: Department for Transport, Civil Aviation Authority, and The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP We appreciate the impact this will have on Flybe passengers and employees.
Scotland has had officially TB-free (OTF) status since 2009. ...
Aspiring engineers in the north highlands will benefit from a new apprenticeship pathway developed by North Highland College UHI and JGC Engineering. The new pathway has been created to promote the value of employer engagement and the benefit of the skills, learning and experience gained at college.
Despite a large budget gap and many reductions that were agreed today the council says they are on course to balance the budget for next year ad following years while building up reserves. The budget for the current year is on course to ring in an underspend.
The John O'Groats Ferry Pentland Venture entering Wick Harbour this afternoon 5 March 2020. She has just returned from a 3 week Maintenance Period in Fraserburgh which included a fresh coat of paint..
If the coronavirus, Covid-19, becomes an epidemic in the UK, the home delivery expert ParcelHero says e-commerce purchases are likely to increase to 40% of all retail sales at its peak. It is urging retailers to act now to ensure they can meet the switch from store shopping to home deliveries.
Citizens Advice Scotland is today launching a new campaign to help people who are struggling to pay their Council Tax bills. The two-week campaign, Council Tax: Check to Save, urges people to check if they are entitled to Council Tax exemptions, reductions, and discounts and highlights the support the Citizens Advice network in Scotland can offer people who are struggling to meet council tax payments or who are in council tax debt.
If you're currently getting Healthy Start vouchers and you live in Scotland, these will stop on 31 March 2020. Healthy Start vouchers are being replaced by a new Scottish benefit, called Best Start Foods.
From the Office of Budget Responsibility. Read the full release at - https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Restated_March_2019_forecast.pdf.
Scotland's Council Leaders expressed disappointment that the agreed Budget deal only makes good the underfunding of new and existing commitments required by the Scottish Government and does nothing to address inflationary or demand pressures. It also fails to make any restoration of the significant cuts to Local Government core funding in previous years.
Rates and bands for Scottish Income Tax in financial year 2020 to 2021. The Scotland Act 2016 provides the Scottish Parliament with the power to set all income tax rates and bands that will apply to Scottish taxpayers' Non-Savings, Non-Dividend (NSND) income for the tax year 2020 to 2021.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) have launched their biggest campaign of the year so far, encouraging people to check if they are eligible to save on council tax. Figures released from the charity reveal council tax debt is a soaring problem in Scotland, with clients within the Citizens Advice network owing almost £7million, with the average debt nearly three times the average bill, at £3,102.46.
Fraser of Allender - 2 March 2020. The Scottish Government says that income tax policy changes since 2016/17 have been ‘highly redistributive' and have ‘protected low income earners'.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is today calling for a government review into the falling numbers of households claiming Council Tax Reduction, as new figures show the number of claims has fallen again. Figures released by the Scottish Government today show that the number of homes claiming Council Tax Reduction fell between October 2019 and December 2019 from 470,420 to 468,150.
With British airline Flybe going into administration overnight, thousands of passengers have been left stranded, resulting in losses for many travellers due to cancelled flights. In a bid to discover how worried passengers have become since the news broke, holiday taxi service Taxi2Airport has analysed Google search trends over the past seven days in the UK to determine how many Brits are concerned about Flybe's impact.
For the past few years to campaigns in Caithness and Elgin have been dealing with their health boards - NHS Highland and NHS Grampian. Both groups have mounted a seemingly endless campaigns to save once excellent services - well regarded by their respective populations.
