Highland Council's Economy & Infrastructure Committee on 17 August 2023 agreed two reports that relate to developer contributions and the next steps for the preparation of a new style Development Plan for Highland. One of the reports confirmed how a new Development Plan aims to represent all partners and communities across Highland.
Central Mediterranean Sea - A NATO task group engaged in a series of dynamic maritime training exercises with the US Navy's most advanced warship during Exercise Sage Wolverine in the central Mediterranean Sea, 2 - 11 August 23. The exercise was the perfect opportunity for Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) and the US Navy's Gerald R.
The Post Office scandal involves miscarriages of justice involving hundreds of innocent people who were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting. It has been going on for over 20 years, with the Post Office accused of a cover up after it repeatedly failed to disclose key evidence.
Although the UK's summer of 2023 has been something of a washout so far, the country is getting hotter, with temperatures over 40oC - first experienced in the UK in 2022 - set to become the norm. Hotter weather will impact different people in different ways, so this Spotlight explores what it means for Brits at home and at work.
CPI inflation fell to 6.8 per cent in July - down from 7.9 per cent in June and 10.1 per cent in January - making it the sharpest six-month fall in inflation since September 1992. But UK inflation remains higher than elsewhere, and the Bank of England faces a tough task in taming it amid accelerating pay growth, the Resolution Foundation said today.
Real wages in June were higher than a year ago for the first time in 18 months - ending yet another painful pay squeeze across Britain. However, with unemployment rising and vacancies falling, the Bank will hope that pay rises will also start to cool in the coming months, the Resolution Foundation said on 15 Augus2023.
3.9 million working days have been lost to industrial action in the past year - more days than at any point since the 1980s - with many of the strikes fuelled by the fact that highly-unionised public sector workers have experienced average real terms pay falls of over 9 per cent since 2021, the Resolution Foundation said in new analysis published earlier this week. The Foundation's quarterly Labour Market Outlook examines the drivers behind the ongoing strikes and high vacancy rates in the public sector.
Around 81,900 homeowner mortgages are in arrears of 2.5 per cent or more of the outstanding balance in the second quarter of the year, up seven per cent on the previous quarter. According to UK Finance figures, within the total figure there were 30,940 mortgages in the lightest arrears band, which is between 2.5 and five per cent of the outstanding balance.
Riz Malik, founder and director at R3 Mortgages, said that growing number of buy-to-let landlords were "encountering serious financial challenges". Malik continued: "Beyond escalating borrowing expenses, unpaid rents stand as a significant factor.
In January of this year, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, set out his five priorities for 2023, one of which was halving inflation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in November 2022 (latest data available to Mr Sunak in January) was 10.7%, implying a target rate of 5.4%.
UK former deputy chief medical officer Senior Strategy Adviser in Medicine (Nottingham University) Now (as of 2nd May) a senior medical consultant to the Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna. Was a member of the government vaccine taskforce during pandemic.
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There follows extracts from the Fraser of Allenders Weekly update. Interesting comments in relation to how public debt and spending in relation to possible independence and worth reading for that - Link at the bottom of the page to the full article After a busy week of economic and fiscal data, we're back with more on Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland {GERS), to address some of the questions we've been asked by folks in the media and also emails we've received from you guys.
Shekina Tuahene writing in Mortgage solutions on 18 August 2023. The private rental supply and demand imbalance could be set to heighten as a poll revealed that private landlords were more likely to sell property than they were to purchase.
Highland Council's new Rapid Road Repair Team is moving a step closer to reality as Members of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (17 August 2023) noted that the recruitment of operatives is at interview stage. At full Council on 2 March 2023 the local authority agreed to provide £1.266m of funding for a temporary Rapid Road Repair Team for 2023/24.
Edinburgh is the most expensive place in the UK for students to live once again, as revealed in the Royal Bank of Scotland Student Living Index. The index takes account of student income and living costs to calculate a score for university towns and cities across the UK.
COVID-19 surveillance up until end of week 32. COVID-19 case rates continued to increase this week compared to our previous report.
In recognition of the important contribution museums make to our communities, the sector is to benefit from a new fund for crucial repair and maintenance work. The Scottish Government is to give an additional £500,000 to Museums Galleries Scotland to enable organisations across the country to reduce their running costs and increase resilience.
Retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen by 1.2% in July 2023 following a rise of 0.6% in June 2023 (revised from an increase of 0.7%). Food stores sales volumes fell by 2.6% in July 2023, with supermarkets reporting that the wet weather reduced clothing sales, although food sales also fell back; retailers indicated that the increased cost of living and food prices continued to affect sales volumes.
UK-backed price cap on Russian oil and oil products is successfully undermining Putin's ability to fund his illegal war in Ukraine, according to official data collated six months on from implementation. The oil price cap is significantly impacting Russia's ability to use oil to finance its illegal war.
