UNISON Scotland has offered a cautious welcome to news that the NHS UK Staff Council have reached agreement on a modernising pay deal for NHS England and is calling in the Scottish Government to enter into talks with NHS unions in Scotland urgently. Tom Waterson, Chair of the UNISON Scotland Health Committee said, "The NHS England deal is welcome, but it is a matter for our members in England.
Following the success of the first two phases of redevelopment of Carse Industrial Estate in Inverness, The Highland Council has committed to the phase 3 expansion of the industrial estate. A contract for the expansion was awarded to McGregor Construction in February 2018.
Beware of calls from scammers pretending to be the Telephone Preference Service warns Highland Council Trading Standards. Highland Council Trading Standards wish to warn consumers not to fall for a new telephone call scam in which fraudsters pretend to be calling from the Telephone Preference Service (or TPS).
Bill Alexander, Director of Care and Learning, has announced his intention to retire from The Highland Council. Bill commenced with the Council in 2000, in a joint post with NHS Highland as Head of Children's Services.
DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (March, 20th) sold 9 prime cattle. Prime bullocks (6) averaged 218.6p (+8.6p) and sold to 226.0p and £1,428.30 gross.
A £5.39m construction contract has been awarded for the development of a new Research and Innovation Campus in Orkney. The campus is a joint venture by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Orkney Islands Council (OIC) who have appointed Kirkwall based R Clouston Limited as the main contractor.
People in 14 communities across the Highlands and Islands are being asked to take part in an online survey on rural banking services. The survey will be used to gather feedback from a broad range of individual households, businesses and community groups in areas expected to be affected by local bank branch closures.
Rhoda Grant MSP - disappointed with response from Transport Minister to her plea for financial help with road maintenance. Highlands & Islands Regional MSP, Rhoda Grant asked the Government by means of a Parliamentary Question if it would consider providing ring-fenced additional funding for The Highland Council and Argyll and Bute Council in relation to road repairs, in light of their responsibilities to maintain over 7,000 km and 2,000 km of roads respectively.
The Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) initiative was established following the report by The Commission for Developing the Young Workforce, led by Sir Ian Wood, which agreed that all of our young people are entitled to an education relevant to the world of work. Regional groups have been created across the country to lead and support the development of Scotland's Young People identifying issues of skills gaps and youth unemployment.
Week Commencing 12th March 2018 Energy & Business services: Crown Estate Scotland has announced that following last September's Contracts for Difference auction, which demonstrated a sharp fall in the cost of offshore wind electricity, it will now consult industry and government on further leasing rounds for offshore wind. Marine Scotland will lead a planning process to identify potential new sites, which will include both fixed and floating offshore wind.
More than 1,000 community projects have helped cut carbon emissions. The initiative supporting action to combat climate change has helped in excess of 1,000 projects - and provided more than £100 million funding over the past decade.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) have commissioned economic development consultants, ekosgen, to carry out the work. Over the next few weeks the study team will be carrying out desk research and survey work, including interviewing principal stakeholders and a representative sample of businesses.
A Caithness engineering and design company has become the first to achieve national accreditation through the region's ‘Cyber Strong' initiative. Thurso based Envision Engineering & Design has been awarded government backed Cyber Essentials certification.
Openreach to recruit 400 trainee engineers across Scotland. Up to 400 trainee engineers are will be hired across Scotland during the next year as part of a UK-wide network expansion by telecoms group Openreach.
Ackergill Tower is delighted to announce a new addition to the Ackergill Tower Estate, ‘Smugglers Inn', their very own onsite pub! Opening on 30th March from Fridays to Sundays, the traditional Scottish pub is full of charm and ideal for lazy lunches or afternoons by a log fire; with a mixture of seating areas available and low level lighting, it is the perfect place to sit back and relax. With a fully stocked bar, serving local favourites including Northern Light Ale and Orkney and Pulteney Whiskies, they'll be on hand to serve drinks between 12pm-3pm and 5pm-midnight.
Community groups across Caithness and north Sutherland have gained more than £178,000 from a local fund's recent awards. The Caithness & North Sutherland Fund, which is provided by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), has held two funding rounds since October and awarded money to eleven projects.
By early 2019, clinicians across the North of Scotland will have access to an integrated digital view of a patient's health and social care data through a new web-based portal provided by Orion Health. Jointly commissioned by four boards in the North of Scotland, the new health and social care portal will see information shared from providers in NHS Highland, NHS Grampian, NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland.
Overseas Scottish food and drink exports were worth approximately £6 billion in 2017 - almost £570 million more than 2016. Food exports were valued at about £1.6 billion - a rise of 15% (£214 million) during the same period.
Provisional figures for vital events registered in Scotland during the fourth quarter of 2017 were published on 14th March 2018 by National Records of Scotland and show that 12,821 births, 15,198 deaths and 5,975 marriages were registered between October and December. At 12,821, the number of births registered was 172 (1.3 per cent) fewer than in the same period of 2016 and the lowest quarter four total since 2000.
The results of the December Agricultural Survey show drops in livestock numbers and in the area of winter-planted cereals. The Chief Statistician in the Scottish Government today released the latest results from the December Agricultural Survey.