Around 890,000 premises now connected. More than 95% of Scotland's homes and businesses are now able to connect to fibre broadband.
Scotland's biggest health union, UNISON, has reacted positively to a draft joint statement on NHS pay which, if agreed, would secure an immediate above inflation 3% wage rise for the all NHS workers in Scotland. Speaking at the union's annual health conference in Brighton, Chair of the UNISON Scotland health committee, Tom Waterson said: "It was UNISON’s campaign in health, and across the public sector, which convinced the Scottish government to scrap the pay cap.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced £2,262,000 to support trade unions in accessing skills and lifelong learning opportunities for workers across Scotland. With dedicated funding from the Scottish Government, Scottish Union Learning helps unions to develop and embed learning in the workplace, equipping workers with the skills to progress in the labour market.
A new publication sets out how digitisation, automation and other innovations will affect the Scottish labour market. The joint report from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Trades Union Congress follows from the First Minister's recent biannual meetings with the STUC, where discussions addressed the growing anxiety among some workers that their jobs may either be lost or changed due to new technologies.
The Inverness Townscape Heritage (TH) Project is hosting a series of free traditional building skills training events in 2018, starting on Wednesday 26th April with an evening talk focussing on traditional windows and doors. A full day workshop will take place on Thursday 26 April, giving more in-depth training on repairing and upgrading of traditional doors and windows.
Chomharraich sgoilearan, pàrantan agus luchd-obrach toiseach teirm an t-samhraidh an-diugh (Diluain 16 Giblean 2018) aig Bun-Sgoil Ghàidhlig Phort Rìgh a chaidh fhosgladh às ùr. Bha an cùmhnant togail mar phàirt de phrògram tasgadh calpa iomlan ann an co-bhann ri Riaghaltas na h-Alba, a' gabhail a-steach rathad inntrigidh ùr chun na sgoile, agus ath-leasachadh air seann togalach Ostail Eilginn gus àite-còmhnaidh ùr a chruthachadh do sgoilearan Àrd-Sgoil Phort Rìgh.
Highland Council's Trading Standards team is reporting poor findings from the cigarette test purchase programme it recently carried out in the Inverness area. During the recent exercise, while a total of 10 retailers correctly refused to sell cigarettes to a young test purchase volunteer who is under the minimum age of 18, three businesses sold cigarettes to the volunteer.
Betting slips and casino chips to be treated as cash assets. New measures to combat organised crime in force from tomorrow (Monday 16 April 2018) will widen what can be classed as cash when seizing The provisions from the Criminal Finances Act 2017 now mean that betting slips, casino chips and gaming vouchers can now be seized as if they were currency.
MeyGen Phase 1A completes construction phase and officially enters 25 year operations phase. Atlantis, a global leader in the marine power generation sector, is proud to announce that Phase 1A of the MeyGen project has now completed the construction phase and has formally entered the 25 year operations phase.
Individuals, businesses and community groups in and around 14 communities in the Highlands and Islands have an extra two weeks to take part in an online survey on rural banking services. Among other things, the survey asks about the importance of being able to withdraw and deposit cash locally, experiences of using Post Office and mobile banking services, and the perceived impacts of local branch closures.
Pulteneytown People's Project has been successful in securing £149,295 over the next 3 years from the BIG Lottery Community Led Activity. The funding will allow the organisation to continue to deliver existing activities and develop new ones within the community.
An interesting item on Tidal Power projects. Of the top five two are in UK and one is on our own doorstep in the Pentland Firth - the other being Swansea Bay.
The North Coast 500, Scotland's iconic touring route along Scotland’s northern coastline is now part of a national campaign to clean up the country’s roads. This initiative, led by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and supported by North Coast 500 Ltd, the company behind the NC500, urges road users to ‘give your litter a lift, take it home’.
The Scottish Ambulance Service has announced nine new ambulance staff are now in place in Wick and Thurso as part of an investment package which will increase capacity across Caithness. The joint investment with NHS Highland totalling almost £500k will improve services for patients and ensure they continue to receive the highest possible standards of care.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (April, 10th) sold 25 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (7) averaged 219.9p (N/C) and sold to 246.0p per kg and £1,482.55 gross.
Decommissioning a nuclear reactor is about more than removing the core itself and, around a decade after work started to pull apart a host of support facilities associated with Dounreay's oldest reactor, they have all gone. Radioactive facilities, including a cooling pond, storage compound and examination cells assisted Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) during its operational life.
Businesses in the Highlands and Islands looking to grow and become more competitive are set to benefit from a new initiative for entrepreneurs. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has teamed up with Entrepreneurial Scotland (ES) to enable more enterprising individuals in the region to access its full range of activities and services.
Highlands & Islands MSP and long term road safety campaigner, David Stewart, is delighted to learn that after eight years of campaigning, the UK Government are to trial a form of graduated licence. David Stewart said " Away back in 2010, after the unfortunate and tragic deaths of two 17 year old teenagers in Inverness, I started a campaign to improve road safety, which I proposed was carried out through a form of graduated licence (GDL) introduced in Scotland as a pilot.
Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) is now open for business and asking both full and part time students to submit their 2018-2019 funding applications at www.saas.gov.uk. SAAS successfully launched their new Student Account last year, which has enabled students to submit and manage their applications in a more streamlined way through their mobile or desktop devices.
The Highland Council is pleased that the Scottish Government has acknowledged the efforts of the local authority during the recent severe winter weather to keep the Highlands moving. Chair of Environment, Development and Infrastructure, Cllr Allan Henderson said: "We hope that the funding will be applied on a fair basis that reflects the whole winter and that takes account of the scale of our roads network and the challenge of maintaining this throughout winter.
