David Phillips, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies writes for the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Today, the Scottish Government published the latest version of its annual Government Expenditure and Revenues Scotland (GERS) publication covering 2013-14.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts (March, 7th) sold 20 cattle, 1 donkey, 3 goats, 76 sheep, 527 lots of poultry, eggs and poultry equipment at their poultry, rare & traditional breeds of livestock sale. Cattle (20) sold to £770 gross for a Highland cow with heifer calf at foot from Mains of Inkhorn, Auchnagatt.
Taxi and private hire car operators (PHC) and drivers in Highland are being invited to meet with The Highland Council's Taxi/PHC Sub Group to provide Members with their views on a number of issues relating to the trade. There will also be an opportunity for the trade to raise any issue which they wish with the sub group.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (March, 10th) sold 53 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (34) averaged 205.3p (-6.7p) and sold to 212p per kg and £1,452.55 gross.
Highlands and Islands (Scottish Labour) MSP, Rhoda Grant has written to the Highland Council Chief Returning Office over concerns about the new system of voter registration ahead of the General Election due to take place on 7th May. Last year saw the UK Government make the biggest changes to voter registration in a generation with the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration which was aimed at giving people more control over the process and increase the accuracy of the register.
The news that two offshore wind projects have been successful in the first auction for renewable power held under the Department for Energy and Climate Change's ‘Contract for Difference' (CfD) regime, coupled with the findings of a new industry report, show that costs in offshore wind are coming down faster than originally expected. The CfD regime, established by the 2013 Energy Act, gives renewable power developers Government contracts that provide certainty on funding levels to enable a project to be developed; this is known as a "strike price", which is paid based on the total number of megawatt hours (MWh) of power produced for fifteen years of operation.
A ward at Caithness General Hospital has been closed to new admissions and visitors are being asked to stay away while staff deal with several cases of diarrhoea and vomiting. Bignold Wing currently has seven patients affected and samples have shown that norovirus is present in the ward.
A significant new city centre visitor attraction proposed for Inverness has received a major funding boost when Members of The Highland Council City of Inverness Area Committee approved £100k Inverness Common Good Funding. The project which will see two public viewing platforms providing a 360 degree vista from the North Tower of Inverness Castle; and development of shop and interpretation area is anticipated to attract over 25,000 visitors within its first year.
During a meeting of the Partnership Board held in Inverness last week, the Highland Community Planning Partnership agreed to promote Gaelic in relevant areas of their work. Organisations including The Highland Council, NHS Highland, HIE, SNH, Police Scotland, Fire and Rescue Scotland, UHI, Highlife Highland and the Highland Third Sector Interface agreed to adopt a joined-up approach to Gaelic Strategic Planning and Development through the sharing of experience, skills and resources.
Week commencing 2nd March 2015. Energy & Business Services Good to see this week that a contract to deliver the subsea cabling for the Caithness-Moray Grid link continues to move forward with the news that SSE's Tier 1 contractor ABB has signalled its intent to contract Ecosse Subsea Systems (ESS) to deliver seabed clearance and trenching work.
Closing dates Deadlines for applications in the following areas are as follows: Skye, Ross & Cromarty - 24 June, 2015 Lochaber - 14 July, 2015 City of Inverness - 30 July, 2015 Caithness & Sutherland - 5 August, 2015 Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey - 12 August 2015 Purpose The Carbon CLEVER Community Grant Fund has been established to help Highland communities reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions, take leadership on carbon reduction, engage with others, raise awareness of climate change issues and promote low carbon behaviour. Local projects will help achieve our Carbon CLEVER target of a carbon neutral Inverness in a low carbon Highlands by 2025.
If your company is interested in tendering for the contract to replace cladding at wick Squash Club check out the long for more details and specs etc.. http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?238408-Invite-to-Tender-Wick-Squash-Club-cladding-replacement.
Robomow Is A Cut Above for UK Lawns. There is now a new way to take the sting out of this seasonal chore and still have the best kept lawn.
12 March 2015 12.00pm - 12.45pm The International Trade team through the Smart Exporter Programme are running a series of pilot webinars throughout February and March aimed to provide an overview on a range of technical aspects of exporting. Smart Exporter is an international trade skills programme delivered by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in partnership with Scottish Development International (SDI) and supported by the European Regional Development Fund.
18 March 2015 Best Western Hotel, 8 Ness Walk, Inverness, IV3 5NG 10:45-12:45 Workshop - So you think you have a commercial opportunity? This workshop will look at the customer, the competition and the market approach. Find out more and register here: http://www.brightideascotland.com/content/workshops/?id=116 Do you have a BRIGHT IDEA for a new product or service? BRIGHT IDEA SCOTLAND is the Scottish Government funded inventor support service.
Abbey Group Cambridgeshire Limited, a leading renewables, property management and logistics group has bought Forss Business and Technology Park in Caithness through its new Scottish subsidiary Abbey Ecosse Ltd. to increase its land holding in Forss, complement its other investments in Scotland and to spearhead the focus on renewable energy development.
About 60 people attended a meeting in the Pentland hotel, Thurso on Wednesday 4th March 2015. The following is the report put out by NHS Highland about the meeting.
Creative professionals across Scotland are being urged to apply to a ground breaking course taking place in the Highlands and Islands this summer. The Pixel Lab 2015, coming to Scotland for the first time, helps participants create, develop, finance and distribute stories in today's media climate.
The Highland Licensing Board has launched a consultation on whether to introduce a supplementary policy statement on extended opening hours for special events of national and local significance. The aim of the supplementary policy statement, if introduced, would be to promote consistency of decision-making and to give advance notice to applicants of the Board's likely approach to determining applications.
Power technology leader ABB is to be the headline sponsor of Scottish Renewables' Annual Conference on March 24-25 - in the year the company starts work on both the £520m subsea Caithness-Moray power cable and the grid connection for Europe's largest tidal energy project off Scotland's north coast. More than 800 delegates will flock to Edinburgh for the two-day conference, which this year features 75 speakers across 23 sessions.
