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Average UK private rents increased by 8.7% in the 12 months to October 2024 (provisional estimate); this is up from 8.4% in the 12 months to September 2024. Average rents increased to £1,348 (8.8%) in England, £766 (7.9%) in Wales, and £976 (6.6%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to October 2024.

Proposed new measures would legally require public bodies procuring goods and services for the NHS to both identify and mitigate risks of modern slavery. Major consultation launched to ensure goods or services purchased by NHS are not linked with forced labour or human trafficking Follows government review which found some NHS suppliers were at high risk of involving modern slavery in purchasing medical equipment.

Increased volatility of Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates, resulting from smaller achieved sample sizes, means that estimates of change should be treated with caution. We recommend using them alongside our labour market indicators Workforce Jobs (WFJ), Claimant Count data, and Pay As You Earn Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) estimates.

Approximately one in six (16%) trading businesses reported that their turnover had increased in October 2024 compared with September 2024, broadly stable with the previous month. In contrast, 22% reported that their turnover had decreased from September 2024, with 23% citing economic uncertainty as a challenge.

Increasing transfers between generations - from housing young adults to financial gifts and inheritances, and caring for children, adults and elderly relatives - are having a profound, but unequally felt, impact on people's economic prospects, according to new research from the Resolution Foundation and CPC-Connecting Generations published on Thursday 20 November 2024. The Intergenerational Audit 2024 - part of the ESRC-funded Connecting Generations research program - examines how the support that families give and receive throughout adulthood has changed over recent decades, and what this means for peoples' economic prospects.

See poster.

Join us for a screening of No Other Land + a potluck dinner! Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting his community's mass expulsion by the Israeli occupation since childhood. Basel documents the gradual erasure of Masafer Yatta, as soldiers destroy the homes of families - the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank.

This report marks the launch of Unsung Britain, a one-year research programme designed to understand the economic circumstances of today's low-to-middle income families and how these have changed in recent decades, with support from JPMorganChase. The launch paper finds that Britain's 13 million low-to-middle income families are older and more likely to suffer from poor health or a disability than three decades ago.

Living culture and traditions embedded in Scotland's rich and diverse communities have been recognised and celebrated at a lively, thought-provoking day-long conference. Prompted by the UK's June ratification of UNESCO's Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, over one hundred heritage professionals, cultural advocates, practitioners and public bodies from across Scotland and beyond gathered at Perthshire's Birnam Arts.

Scotland's female literary talent took centre stage on Wednesday 30 October as The Saltire Society presented its Shortlists for Scotland's National Book Awards, one of the oldest literary prizes in the UK. The Awards celebrate exceptional talent across Fiction, Non-Fiction, First Book, Poetry and Research, recognising and rewarding the breadth of style, subject and individual flair on show on modern Scotland's literary stage.

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS PRIZE BINGO IN LYBSTER HALL, DOORS OPEN 7PM, EYES DOWN 7:30PM BOTTLE STALL AND RAFFLE.

Bonar Bridge will be discussed at the Economy and Infrastructure Committee of Highland Council on 14 November 2024. Bonar Bridge had a paint inspection carried out in 2016, which stated that the paint system had largely failed and should be replaced within 5 years.

Come along and watch the show. Entry £5..

A guided walk up the Latheronwheel Strath with a tree themed twist. Who said Caithness has no trees..

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November Home Baking and refreshments.

Twenty new homes are ready to welcome tenants in a beautiful edge of town location at Tulloch Square/Castle - Green Lady Court, Dingwall. The Highland Council has taken ownership from contractor Capstone.

A two day Christmas market - 7th and 8th December. Many local crafts, Santa's Grotto, Teas and Coffee..

Of the 80,000 native Irish speakers, 6,000 live in the North of Ireland and three of them became a rap group called Kneecap. This is the real-life story of how this anarchic Belfast trio became the unlikely figureheads of a civil rights movement to save and reinvigorate their mother tongue.

The Flow Country Partnership has received funding from the Community Loan Fund towards their pioneering peatland restoration project in Sutherland. The fund is delivered by Highland Opportunity (Investments) Limited, HOIL, on behalf of The Highland Council.

Come along and see Santa arrive on the Wick lifeboat. Then it's all aboard the exclusive Santa Express Train to visit Sant in his grotto..