The Highland Council and Department for Work and Pensions are implementing plans to improve accessibility to their services. This joint venture will see the jobcentre staff co-locating with the Council and other services in the council's new modern office developments in both Fort William and Wick.
NHS Highland has appointed three new non-executive members to its board. Alasdair Christie, James Brander and Sarah Compton-Bishop have each been appointed for four years by the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport Shona Robison.
City-region deal investment means that Inverness can now be branded a digital city. Ness WiFi, a free WiFi service, which was successfully piloted earlier this year, has now been rolled out across Inverness city centre, extending to and including areas such as the High Street, the Castle, Eden Court, and the bus and railway stations.
Leisure and cultural venues currently run by council arm's-length bodies will continue to benefit from charity relief from non-domestic rates. Following lengthy consultation with stakeholders, Finance Secretary Derek Mackay today confirmed that the Scottish Government will not be accepting the recommendation of the Barclay Review to end this benefit.
As part of National Consumer Week 2017 campaign, "Not what you signed up for", Highland Council Trading Standards are keen to warn consumers to be on their guard when signing up to free trials or one-off discounts. Subscription traps are often linked to free trial scams for products such as anti-ageing skin creams or other enticing offers that seek to lock the consumer into costly repeat payments.
FORT WILLIAM, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (November, 24th) sold 1031 store sheep of all classes. Lambs (592) sold to £67 gross for a Cheviot from Tign an Uilt, Kilchoan.
Officers from Police Scotland working with a range of partner agencies have worked together to remove a number of abandoned and untaxed vehicles from the roads of the Highlands. Road policing officers have supported the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and Highland Council Environmental Health enforcement officers along with other partners including the Health and Safety Executive, Trading Standards and HM Revenue and Customs in carrying out enforcement action across the north of Scotland.
The priorities by which The Highland Council will grit roads in Caithness this winter have been approved. At the Caithness Committee meeting (Tuesday 21 November 2017) members approved a winter maintenance plan for the area which includes priority road lists and maps showing the priority gritting routes.
The directors of restaurants in Antrim, Glasgow, Bognor Regis and Newport, South Wales are amongst the latest company directors to receive lengthy bans for employing illegal workers. In all, 20 directors in 16 separate businesses across the United Kingdom have been disqualified recently, following investigations by the Insolvency Service, all of whom were already fined for employing illegal workers.
Road condition reports by The Highland Council's Community Services for the morning of Thursday, 23 November 2017 are as follows: Caithness and North Sutherland: Most of the higher routes in north Sutherland affected with up to 100mm wet snow, some of the lower routes inland up to 50mm wet snow, all routes in Caithness affected by minor flooding. Some of the main routes have major flooding with signage in place.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (November, 23rd) sold 1,982 store sheep. Lambs (1,186) averaged £36.04 and sold to £71 gross for a pen of Hebrideans from Bogburn Farm, Duncanston.
Met Office Warnings Issued For: Highland Yellow warning of ice Expect some icy patches to form on untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths on Thursday evening and overnight into Friday. There is a risk of slippery surfaces and difficult driving conditions.
Paul Johnson is a director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and gives his view of yesterdays budget. The person making the news yesterday was not the chancellor, it was the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Robert Chote.
The Budget offers no plan to fix the housing crisis - John Healey John Healey MP, Labour's Shadow Housing Secretary, responding to the Chancellor's announcements on housing in the Budget, said: "This is a ‘nothing has changed' Budget from a Government with no idea of the reality of people's lives and no plan to improve them. This was billed as the ‘housing budget', but the announcements fall far short of a proper plan to help fix the housing crisis.
The UK Government's budget does not represent a good deal for Scotland, as a consequence of a real terms cut to Scotland's revenue block grant of over £200m next year. Commenting on today's UK Government budget Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said that Scotland is being "short changed".
Wick Lifeboat called out by Shetland Coastguard at 09:35 this morning to go to the aid of a cargo vessel 'Jomi', half a mile offshore in Sinclair's Bay, Caithness. They had reported dragging its anchor in the Easterly swell and unable to get its engine started.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (November, 22nd) sold 805 store cattle, 153 adult head of breeding cattle 141 OTM cattle. Bullocks (417) averaged 228.1p and sold to 303.5p per kilo for a 290kg British Blue cross from Shewglie Farm, Glenurquhart, and £1,200 gross for a 605kg Limousin cross from 4 Glaick, Ardross.
Businesses and organisations are being encouraged to apply for funding through the Highland & Moray Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) as part of the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund. Funding can be used to support a wide range of projects that will boost the local economy and create jobs within the fishing, aquaculture and maritime industries including tourism and seafood sectors.
The Chancellor announced a freeze on spirits duty. The freeze will give our world leading distillers the confidence needed to invest and grow their businesses and encourage new firms to enter the market.
The Chancellor today announced a tax measure that will unlock further investment in the UK North Sea by enabling more assets to change hands and allow new owners to provide fresh investment in many mature oil and gas fields. Oil & Gas UK has been working constructively with HM Treasury for a number of years on measures to help further unlock asset trading in the UK North Sea and generate additional tax revenues.