News out this morning (11 August) from the ONS showed surprisingly strong UK GDP growth in the second quarter of the year. The monthly figure for June looks large (0.5% relative to May), but this is distorted by the additional bank holiday for the King's coronation artificially bringing down May's GDP.
Ukrainian marines were trained by Royal Marines and Army Commandos to conduct small boat amphibious operations, including beach raids. Nearly 1,000 Ukrainian marines are returning home after being trained by Royal Marines and Army Commandos, during a six-month UK programme supported by international partners.
The UK economy grew slightly in Q2, exceeding expectations for flat growth. But the cost of living crisis period remains the weakest outside of a recession for 65 years, the Resolution Foundation said on Friday in response to the latest ONS GDP data.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies Looks At Pensions. We have found only very limited understanding of pensions in the UK.
Northlands Creative Glass in Lybster ceased trading at the end of July with the loss of 6 jobs..
By selling pick ‘n' mix, stationery, garden tools and bird boxes, Wilko has spent the last 90 years transforming from a one-store business into one of the UK's major budget retail players. It now has around 400 stores, but it has also become the latest high street shop to face serious financial troubles.
At yesterday's (Thursday 10 August 2023) Housing and Property Committee, Members were updated on the progress of the ten major school projects, the actions taken and the revised programme dates for the proposed new Nairn Academy building. Housing and Property Committee Chair, Cllr Glynis Campbell Sinclair said: "Despite the complexities of the current financial constraints the report highlights the immense work being undertaken to drive progress with all projects to design, pre-planning and build stage.
Monthly real gross domestic (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 0.5% in June 2023, following a fall of 0.1% in May 2023 and growth of 0.2% in April 2023, both unrevised from the previous publication. A range of businesses cited the additional bank holiday in May as a reason for increased output in June 2023 compared with May 2023.
The value of goods imports decreased by £2.9 billion (5.8%) in June 2023 with a large fall in imports from non-EU countries partially offset by a rise in imports from the EU. The fall in imports from non-EU countries was the largest since April 2020; this was because of a £2.1 billion (39.6%) fall in fuel imports as a result of lower gas prices in June.
Monthly construction output is estimated to have increased 1.6% in volume terms in June 2023; this came from increases in both new work (2.0%) and repair and maintenance (1.1%) on the month. At the sector level, six out of the nine sectors saw a rise in June 2023, with the main contributors to the monthly increase seen in infrastructure new work and non-housing repair and maintenance, which increased 4.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
In Russia this summer, you can still enjoy a Cornetto, but you can forget about eating a Tunnock's tea cake or a Big Mac. This is because Cornetto's UK-headquarted parent company, Unilever, is still operating in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, alongside many other western firms such as PepsiCo.
Marine and land investigations are under way to inform proposals for a major upgrade of Kishorn Port in Wester Ross. Owner operator, Kishorn Port Limited (KPL), has engaged specialist contractors for phase one of the £2.4m project, after securing a £500,000 investment from HIE.
The Bank of England has increased interest rates to 5.25%, a level not seen since April 2008 and markedly higher than the all-time lows of 0.1% seen less than two years ago. In fact, interest rates hovered between 0.1% and 0.75% for the 13 years to May 2022.
Scotch whisky exports grew from £4.51 billion in 2021 to more than £6 billion in 2022, while separate government figures showed a 25% sales increase last year - the biggest for any UK manufactured product except aircraft parts. Such impressive growth shows how the industry has cultivated its image, appeal and supply networks over 200 years, withstanding pandemics, trade wars and even world wars in the process.
The 10 turbine site will be located in Caithness near to our existing operational project, Camster. When completed it will be capable of producing up to 36MW of electricity and generate power for over 35,000 average UK households.
In June 2023, nearly three in five (58%) trading businesses reported that they were able to get the materials, goods or services they needed from within the UK without experiencing any issues, broadly stable with May 2023. A further 6% of businesses were able to obtain what they needed but had to find alternative solutions to do so, but 2% reported that they were unable to get what they needed, though this is the lowest proportion since the question was introduced in June 2020.
Highland Council has been named as one of the host local authorities when vehicles taking part in the 2023 EV Rally of Scotland (EVROS) start their journeys on 16 August. The two-day event, which aims to showcase electric vehicle technology and the charging infrastructure network in Scotland, will stop at locations in Highland.
NHS Highland and the Highland Council are engaging on the Strategic Plan for Adult Services 2024-27. This is the strategic plan for the delivery of integrated health and adult social care services in the region covered by the Highland Health and Social Care Partnership.
Housing and Property Committee met yesterday (Thursday 10 August 2023) and discussed the impact that the ‘cost of living' has had on tenants experiencing rent arrears. Despite the challenges, Highland rent arrears remains significantly better than national benchmarking averages.
Over 70 undetonated wartime explosives have been made safe at the Moray West offshore wind farm being built 14 miles off the coast of Caithness. The devices - known as confirmed unexploded ordnance (cUXOs) - include mines, other bombs, naval missiles and torpedoes from the First and Second World Wars.
