Scotland's new public service to make first social security payments. Carers will receive the first payments of the new Carer's Allowance Supplement from mid-September, back-dated to April.
Scotland is known for its vision as a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation, one in which growth and innovation go hand-in-hand with fair work and delivering in a way which benefits everyone. The £650,000 funding package will support the next generation of entrepreneurs, building on Scotland's CAN DO vison, to encourage more people set up new businesses and social enterprises and for the government itself to be more entrepreneurial.
A new industry leadership group will aim to make Scotland the best country in the world for employee-owned (EO) businesses, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced this week. The First Minister confirmed the establishment of ‘Scotland for EO' when she travels to Arran for a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet.
Businesses in Scotland are to benefit from the most advanced ‘Internet of Things' (IoT) network in the UK as part of a £6 million project. The new network, called IoT Scotland, will provide a wireless sensor network for applications and services to collect data from devices and send that data without the need for 3G/4G or Wi-Fi, supporting businesses develop new and innovative applications, changing the way they work.
LOCHMADDY, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (August, 27th) sold 2,614 store lambs. Lambs (2,614) averaged £48.70 and sold to £86 gross for a Texel lamb from Druim Torrach, 17 Hougharry.
One hundred and nineteen probationer teachers were recently welcomed to the Highlands at an Induction Course held in Smithton Free Church Hall. We were also delighted to welcome a group of 13 new Canadian teachers, recruited through our agency partners TimePlan Education who will work in our primary and secondary schools across the authority.
Everyone in Caithness can recall the problems of getting a dental appointment locally. For several years it was very difficult but now the recently opened Wick Dental Practice is still looking for new registrations.
WeekCommencing 20th August 2018 Energy & Business Services: Good to see another Beatrice milestone being reached this week, with the news that all of the inter-array cabling for the development has now been completed. With the crew transfer vessels based in Wick now able to use the new pontoon berths at the harbour the project is reaching the critical phase where construction work and operations work are both moving ahead quickly.
Budget Leader highlights early action required to address overspend. The Corporate Revenue Monitoring Statement for Quarter 1 (Apr - June 18), which will go to the Council's Corporate Resources Committee next week, is projecting a £5.1 m overspend for the year.
How things will change under BREXIT from the EU is still essentially unknown but today the UK government published its thought on a NO Deal situation by 29th March 2019. Food, Credit Cards, Farm Payments, Banking, Finance, Atomic Agreements, Money Laundering and much more.
A proposal to set a fixed school holiday for the first 2 weeks in April each year from 2019 onwards will go out to consultation by The Highland Council's Care and Learning Service. The service will consult with Head Teachers, Parent Councils, the Local Negotiating Committee for Teacher representatives and other relevant educational establishments in Highland.
Members of The Highland Council's Care, Learning and Housing Committee have agreed for the Council to conduct a statutory consultation on a proposal to discontinue the provision of education at Altnaharra Primary School and to formally close the school. In a report to committee, Councillors were informed that the school has been mothballed since February 2017 and that there are no prospective pupils in the foreseeable future, and no long term prospect of the school having a viable roll.
Progress on the development of the ground-breaking Science Skills Academy initiative in Highland has been welcomed by Members of The Highland Council's Care, Learning and Housing Committee. Councillor Andrew Baxter, Chair of the Care, Learning and Housing Committee said: "I commend the work that the Science Skills Academy is achieving in bringing exciting opportunities for young people to experience the applicability of STEM subjects.
It has become commonplace to describe the period since the Great Recession with lots of dramatic words—not only referring to the financial crisis itself, but how the economy and household living standards have stagnated. Growth in average living standards has been described as 'terrible' or 'disastrous', while there has been much talk of a 'cost of living crisis' and a 'squeezed middle'.
A National Statistics Publication for Scotland. The publication of Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) 2017-18 was announced today by Scotland's Chief Statistician.
Scotland's public finances are continuing to improve, with total revenue reaching £60 billion, as the economy grew twice as fast as the UK at the start of 2018. Onshore tax revenue increased by £2 billion in 2017-18, with offshore revenue increasing by more than £1 billion according to the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures published today.
NHS employees and unions in Scotland have formally accepted a pay rise of at least 9% over the next three years. The increase, which is the most generous health pay uplift anywhere in the UK, will benefit 147,000 ‘Agenda for Change' employees including all nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals.
19 August 2018 Energy & Business Services: It was good to meet this week with Mike Muir of M2 Procurement & Commercial Services. Mike has extensive experience in procurement and commercial services, particularly in the nuclear sector, and I was delighted to hear that M2PCS has recently been awarded a contract to help develop the "Open4Business" portal that SSE has used to advertise many of its supply chain contracts.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (August, 16th) sold 13,251 store lambs at their annual district sale to average £50.91 (-£1.63 on the year). Cheviot wedder lambs (5,644) averaged £47.89 (-£1.47) and sold to £70.00 gross twice from 1 Dounie, Edderton & Park Farm, Strathpeffer.
A 5 year Parking Policy and Guidance for The Highland Council area has been approved by Members of the Council's Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee. The policy, which is required by the local authority to underpin its enforcement of decriminalised parking will cover the period from 2018 - 2023.
