Legislation enabling councils to increase their affordable housing stock without having to pay a tax on additional properties has been introduced in the Scottish Parliament. Under changes to the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS), paid as part of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, the length of time a buyer moving between properties has to sell their original home in order to be able to reclaim ADS would also be extended from 18 months to 36 months.
If you've sold clothes on Vinted or Depop, or something you've made on Etsy, you might have been alarmed or confused by information recently published by HMRC on paying taxes when selling items online. If you've sold clothes on Vinted or Depop, or something you've made on Etsy, you might have been alarmed or confused by information recently published by HMRC on paying taxes when selling items online.
The latest official estimates reveal retail sales plummeted by -3.2% in December, their biggest fall since the height of Covid lockdowns. The home delivery expert ParcelHero says the impact of inflation meant shoppers reduced the amount they bought this Christmas, but there were crumbs of comfort in online sales results.
Weather is still hitting school transport services around the county. Wick Unfortunately we have made the decision to close the school tomorrow, Friday 19th January, due to the ongoing snowfall and hazardous road conditions.
Region's young workforce to take part in pioneering sustainability skills programme. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Zero Waste Scotland and business transformation enterprise Powering Futures have teamed up to provide the fully-funded places on the Highlands and Islands Powering Futures Challenge 2024.
Employees driving their own car for work - so-called grey fleet drivers - are being left out of pocket with current rates remaining unchanged for more than a decade. That's according to research conducted by the RAC Foundation, which suggests the 45 pence per mile (ppm) approved mileage allowance payments (AMAPs) rate should increase by 41% to 63p.
Sharon Pfleger, Consultant in Pharmaceutical Public Health, has sailed to Antarctica as part of a global leadership programme for women in STEMM working on environmental issues. In November, Sharon Pfleger, Consultant in Pharmaceutical Public Health, embarked on the Island Sky ship leaving Puerto Madryn in Argentina and sailed to Antarctica as part of the culmination of a global leadership programme, Homeward Bound, for women in STEMM working on environmental issues.
Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has confirmed that more than 80% of under-12m inshore vessels participated in the I-VMS roll-out programme last year, resulting in £1.3m of European funding being awarded to fishers. New legislation, a statutory instrument (SI), is expected to come into force in April 2024 and will require all under-12m vessels fishing for commercial purposes in English waters to have an active I-VMS device.
Average UK house prices decreased by 2.1% in the 12 months to November 2023 (provisional estimate), down from a decrease of 1.3% (revised estimate) in the 12 months to October 2023. The average UK house price was £285,000 in November 2023, which was £6,000 lower than 12 months ago.
As the Post Office Inquiry continues to hear testimony, more and more details are coming to light about who knew what when. Back in 2019, the Post Office spent at least a-hundred-million pounds still defending the Horizon system when more than five hundred subpostmasters won their landmark settlement.
A Fujitsu employee called a subpostmaster who was bankrupted by the company's faulty computer system a "nasty chap" in not-seen-before email sent internally in 2003. Peter Sewell, who was in the Post Office Account Security Team at Fujitsu, said that Lee Carrington was a "nasty man" after the subpostmaster had threatened the company with legal action after losing all his money due to no fault of his own.
Retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen by 3.2% in December 2023, from a rise of 1.4% in November 2023 (revised up from an increase of 1.3%); December's decrease was the largest monthly fall since January 2021, when coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions affected sales. Looking at the quarterly picture, sales volumes fell by 0.9% in the three months to December 2023 when compared with the previous three months.
It is unbelievable but it is now coming to light that present sub-postmasters are still being penalised by the discredited Horizon computer system run by the Post Office. More and more stories are coming out about the plight of current sub-postmasters who are suffering from the faulty Horizon system still run by Fujitsu.
Fujitsu has written to UK Government to confirm it will no longer tender for business in the public sector amid the ongoing inquiry into the Post Office scandal - weeks after winning a £485 million ($614 million) contract. Despite the supplier of the controversial Post Office Horizon system being scrutinized in Britain like never before, it continued to be selected for expensive projects that are paid for by taxpayer.
The inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal has heard that Fujitsu employees could remotely access postmasters' accounts as early as 2002. Staff at the Japanese software company could change the accounts of sub-postmasters without them knowing.
The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time. It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.
Today at 11.00am a programme on the BBC RADIO 4 at 11.00am highlights the problems facing local government in England. Scottish councils also have serious problems facing them with staff reductions and cuts being looked at for the next financial year The programme is available on https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vbrr While highland council financial issue may not be on the scale of some English councils they are extremely serious.
Due to the ongoing weather warnings and poor weather conditions predicted, our Thurso, Halkirk and Dornoch campuses will be closed on Tuesday 16th January and Wednesday 17th January 2024 Also now Closed 18 January due to more weather warnings All on-campus classes will be moved online where possible. Staff and students should work from home.
An Amber warning has been issued for northern parts of Scotland as winter hazards continue to dominate the UK weather. Warnings persist for 18 and 19 January with no warning for Saturday 20th.