Intellectual Property Office (IPO) partners with Taskmaster Education to offer new skills building opportunity for secondary schools. The main developments are: the Intellectual Property Office has partnered with Taskmaster Education to launch a new creative skills opportunity for UK secondary school students aged 11 to 16 ‘Taskmaster Club 100' applications open on 10 June 2025 and close on 15 August 2025.
An update to the Scottish Government Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Information statistics have been published today by Scotland's Chief Statistician. This update adds data on the experiences of different demographic groups from People Survey 2024.
New average carbon footprint estimates for beef, sheep, milk and cereal production in Scotland have been released. These are average emission intensity estimates for enterprises (activities) on farms in the Farm Business Survey.
Total levels of property and violent crime have fallen by more than a third since 2008-09, according to the latest Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS). The 2023-24 official statistics also show that people feel safer in their communities.
Applications opened for the fifth year of the Marine Fund Scotland on Tuesday 10 June 2025 The fund will make £14 million available in 2025-26 to help deliver Scotland's Blue Economy Vision, transform the way the marine environment is used and how Scotland's ‘blue' resources are managed. Eligible individuals, businesses, and organisations can apply for funding for new projects that will contribute to an innovative and sustainable marine economy, support coastal communities, and help Scotland reach net zero emissions.
Scotland will become home to the UK's most powerful supercomputer, with up to £750 million for the project confirmed in the Spending Review. Up to £750 million for a new supercomputer in Edinburgh will be confirmed by the Chancellor at Spending Review - giving scientists across the UK access to compute power found in only a handful of other nations.
Members of one of the UK's biggest supermarket chains votes to "cease all trading with Israel" at AGM Motion submitted by members of the Co-Op urges the board to "show moral courage and leadership" by taking "all Israeli products off the shelves" The vote is a major victory in the current PSC “Don't Buy Apartheid” campaign Campaigners for the vote made the links between Israeli companies and Israel's brutal oppression of Palestinians In an historic first, the AGM of the Co-op group, which includes the supermarket chain, has voted to cease all trading with Israel. The motion proposed by Co-op members in the context of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and decades of oppression of Palestinian people by military occupation and apartheid, has been successfully carried.
New report outlines the transformative potential of Engineering Biology to tackle modern-day challenges. Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Dame Angela McLean has today launched a new Foresight report, Engineering Biology Aspirations, which highlights the transformative potential of Engineering Biology (EngBio) to address some of the major challenges of our time - from lab-grown blood to biologically derived materials for fashion.
Annual growth in employees' average earnings was 5.2% for regular earnings (excluding bonuses) and 5.3% for total earnings (including bonuses). Annual growth in real terms, adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH), was 1.4% for regular pay and 1.5% for total pay.
The estimated number of vacancies in the UK fell by 63,000, or 7.9%, on the quarter, to 736,000 in March to May 2025; this is the 35th consecutive quarterly decline. Total estimated vacancies were down by 150,000, or 16.9%, in March to May 2025 from the level of a year ago, and 59,000 (7.4%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) January to March 2020 level.
Minister Kirsty McNeill teams up with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to champion Scotland and the UK in Spain. Boosting trade and investment between Scotland and Spain is top of the agenda as a group of 16 Scottish female entrepreneurs, led by UK Government Minister Kirsty McNeill and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC), arrive on Spanish soil today (Monday 9th June).
Estimates for payrolled employees in the UK decreased by 55,000 (0.2%) between March and April 2025 and fell by 115,000 (0.4%) between April 2024 and April 2025. When looking at February to April 2025, the period comparable with our Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates, payrolled employees fell by 78,000 (0.3%) over the quarter and fell by 51,000 (0.2%) over the year.
The income threshold below which pensioners will be eligible for the winter fuel payment (WFP) is set to rise. The Prime Minister and Chancellor announced last week that the income threshold below which pensioners will be eligible for the winter fuel payment (WFP) will rise, so that more pensioners will be able to receive it this winter.
Commenting on the Government plan announced today (Monday) to means-test Winter Fuel Payments (WFPs) from this winter with a threshold of £35,000, Alex Clegg, Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: "The new scheme for means-testing Winter Fuel Payments means that that the number of pensioners receiving support will rise from 1.3 million last winter to around 9 million this winter, and not far off the 11.6 million who received Winter Fuel Payments two winters ago when they were universal. "But this U-turn doesn't represent a return to the status quo.
Roy Lilley's eLetter, across all social media platforms and email now reaches around 300,000 in-boxes a week, throughout the UK and overseas. It is a free digest of commentary, news and opinion...
Early estimates for May 2025 indicate that the number of payrolled employees was 30.2 million, a fall of 0.9% from May 2024; this is equivalent to 274,000 fewer employees. The earlier timing of the data extract for May 2025 means that these estimates are more uncertain than usual; additional caution is needed in interpreting these earlier estimates.
In May 2025, the Port of Los Angeles — the busiest in America — reported a staggering 35% drop in cargo volume, the steepest in modern history. But this isn't just a port story...
The employment rate came in at 75.1% in the three months to April, versus 75.0% in March. Unemployment came in at 4.6%, versus 4.5% in March and market expectations of 4.6%.
Grants to ensure more than 19,000 tonnes of surplus food will be redistributed to homeless shelters, food banks and charities across the country. Thousands of tonnes of nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste will help families facing food insecurity, thanks to new grants offered today (Tuesday 10 June 2025).
Jagoda Rubaszko guilty of fraud after inventing a business to apply for a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan which she then sent to bank accounts in Poland. Rubaszko invented a business to get a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan - which was paid out to five bank accounts in Poland She told Insolvency Service investigators a man called Daniel told her how to apply for the loan – but provided no evidence he exists Sentenced to six-month curfew and 18-month suspended sentence A woman who pretended to run a business to secure a £50,000 Covid Bounce Back Loan has been sentenced for fraud following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.
