A programme of remedial works to bring Scotland's only funicular railway back into service at Cairngorm Mountain is entering a new phase during week beginning Monday 15 April. With the snowsports season now over, multiple teams from contractor Balfour Beatty, appointed by Cairngorm Estate owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), are set to be deployed on the mountainside.
Swazi Secrets exposes the role the tiny kingdom of Eswatini, the last absolute monarchy in Africa, may have played in the regional illicit economy. The story revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists looks at what has happened in a tiny land-locked country.
Mexico overtook China to become the world's largest exporter of goods to the USA in 2023. Trade between Britain and Mexico also increased by 22% but a second Trump presidency could impose new barriers.
The UK's post-pandemic jobs recovery has fallen further off course, as employment and payrolled jobs both fell, while working-age economic inactivity reached its highest level since 2015, the Resolution Foundation said in response to the latest ONS labour market statistics ONS labour market statistics. The UK is currently the only G7 economy yet to return to its pre-pandemic employment rate (of 76.2 per cent), and the latest data showed further signs of a struggling jobs market.
CPI inflation fell to 3.2 per cent in March - falling below the US inflation rate (CPI for All Urban Consumers) of 3.5 per cent for the first time since March 2022 (but still above the Eurozone rate of 2.4 per cent). This brings to an end to the UK's unwanted status as an outlier on inflation, the Resolution Foundation said today (Wednesday 17 April 2024) in response to the latest ONS data.
Members of GMB Scotland overwhelmingly backed industrial action including strikes, working to rule, and an overtime ban after a pay offer was rejected. A strike ballot with 85% turnout revealed a crushing majority of GMB members backed industrial action after more than a year of talks with management at the Caithness site failed to find agreement.
ScottishPower Energy Retail Ltd will pay £1.5 million in refunds and compensation after it charged customers above the price cap during the height of the energy crisis. Ofgem agreed the redress package after the supplier confirmed that between 2015 and 2023, it mistakenly overcharged 1,699 direct debit customers a higher rate, which should only apply to those who pay by standard credit (on receipt of bill).
Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates have been reweighted for periods from July to September 2022; headline UK seasonally adjusted series before this have been modelled, but other series, including regional, have a discontinuity at this point and because of increased volatility of LFS estimates, estimates of quarterly change should be treated with additional caution. The highest employment rate estimate in the UK was in the South East (78.3%) and the lowest was in Wales (69.1%), for the three months ending February 2024.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The following information is for the period from December 2023 to February 2024. Annual growth in regular earnings (excluding bonuses) was 6.0%, and annual growth in employees' average total earnings (including bonuses) was 5.6%.
The Fair Work Convention published a couple of reports this week, one looking at Fair Work levers (authored by fellow Strathclyders at the Scottish Centre for Employment Research) and the view of those in the industry on how these could/should be used. The report highlights key challenges in the hospitality industry: rising costs, housing and transport availability, retention issues, uneven service demands, and visa restrictions.
When the United Kingdom left the EU's legal order at the conclusion of the transition period at the end of December 2020, customs and regulatory checks at the EU border were immediately imposed on UK goods being exported to the European Union. However, the UK Government delayed the introduction of routine regulatory checks on goods being imported to the UK from the EU.
Banknotes carrying a portrait of King Charles III will be issued for the first time on 5 June 2024. The portrait of the King will appear on existing designs of all four banknotes (£5, £10, £20 and £50), with no other changes to the existing designs.
A council tax freeze will be delivered in all of Scotland's local authorities after Argyll & Bute became the final council to accept Scottish Government funding to keep rates at last year’s levels. As a result, council taxpayers in all but one of Scotland’s council areas will not pay any more for their bills than they did in 2023-24.
MPs to vote on legislation to create first smoke-free generation, protecting young people turning 15 this year or younger from harms of smoking. MPs will vote today (16th April 2024) on world-leading legislation to protect future generations across the UK from the harmful effects of smoking.
The Scottish Parliamentary Information Centre (SPICe) published a blog co-authored by Fraser of AIlander's Chirsty McFadyen and Laura Robertson from the Poverty Alliance on the additional costs of disability. This follows on from a piece of work carried out for the Economy and Fair Work committee that looked at evidence of additional expenditure from survey data and interviews with disabled people.
The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 includes four targets for child poverty in Scotland in 2030 and interim targets for 2023. The targets require that, of all children living in Scotland: less than 18% are in relative poverty by 2023-24 and less than 10% by 2030-31.
EIS-FELA members across Scotland should have received a fair pay award in September 2022. College Employers Scotland have so far failed to table an acceptable pay offer with assurances on job security.
The RAC keeps a page with the latest prices of petrol and diesel. The prices below are the latest available average unleaded petrol, diesel and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) averages across supermarket, motorway and other independent forecourts in the UK, and are updated daily where data is available.
Talented athletes from across the Highlands are being supported through the latest round of the Highland Athlete Travel Award Scheme (ATAS) delivered through a partnership between sportscotland and High Life Highland. Ten talented Highland athletes competing at regional, national, and international level, in sports including swimming, mountain biking and surfing will receive funding as well as access to High Life facilities to support them to progress in their sport.
