The Care Information Scotland telephone helpline and website offers a single point of information on the care available for older people throughout the country. Care Information Scotland (CIS) was launched earlier this year by the Scottish Government.
A new deadline date of Wednesday 6 October has been set for community groups across the Highlands wishing to bid for Euro funding to help improve their broadband services. Applicants should send their bids to their local Highland LEADER representative for final determination by the Scottish Government.
Move to benefit more applicants and help smaller projects Changes are being made to the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) to ensure rural Scotland gets maximum benefit from the Programme. This will increase the number of business development proposals financed through the SRDP and strengthen the role of local decision-making in community development projects.
Two fishermen with over 50 years experience on the seas between them are expanding their business to attract more tourists to the North West coast of Scotland. Scourie's Roger Tebay and Paul Murray pooled their resources in 2008 to form Handa Shellfish.
The Highland Council is to consult with the public over plans to extend the number of ways the public can pay Council bills, such as Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates and rent. A bonus for the Council is that it can save at least £400,000 per year through changing the way it collects payments.
A total of 2,300 householders have signed up for the new Citizens' Panel established by The Highland Council to gauge satisfaction with Council services. A performance survey will this week be posted or emailed to panel members seeking their views on a wide range of council services, including contact with the council; satisfaction with services; community life; and how the council can save money given the challenging economic environment and reductions in public funding.
Consultation to be launched on new Challenge Fund Scotland's local post offices will soon be able to apply for support from the Scottish Government's new one million pounds Challenge Fund. The scheme is being launched to help local post offices diversify with new business activities and become increasingly sustainable.
A service which helps older people and those with a disability with small jobs in their homes, reached a major milestone last week with the completion of the 30,000th job across Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty. The Handyperson service, which covers the whole of the two counties, commenced in August 2004.
Parental newsletter - May 2010 Issued By Highland Councils Education Service Scotland's education is changing. Curriculum for Excellence will enable young people to become Confident Individuals, Successful Learners, Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors to society and at work.
Concordat for the Royal National Mòd in the Highlands signed in Caithness A Service Delivery Contract between An Comunn Gàidhealach and The Highland Council in relation to the delivery of Royal National Mòds in the Highlands was signed this week in Caithness. The agreement sets out the partnership between the Council and An Comunn for the provision of services by An Comunn associated with the Royal National Mòd within The Highland Council area.
Council Budget blog focuses on waste collection, street lighting and enquiry services The Highland Council's budget blog will today (26 May) ask the public if the Council can provide waste collection, street lighting and enquiry services more effectively. The new posting by Budget Leader Councillor David Alston asks:- ·Can we encourage a reduction in the amount of waste we produce and provide fewer bin collections? ·Can we reduce our street lighting costs? ·How should the Council deal with enquiries for services and information? Councillor Alston wonders to what extent the public could cope with moving to fortnightly collections of their green wheelie bin which contains non-recylable waste.
Two Highland Practitioners have won the Kay Carmichael Travel Award which was presented at the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) Conference on Friday 14 May. The Kay Carmichael Travel Award is sponsored by the ADSW and the Scottish Government.
Highland Council's Outdoor Access Team have secured £585,000 of funding over the next three years to help pave the way for a programme of improvements to the core path network across the Highlands. The new Core Path Improvement Scheme is expected to deliver a minimum of 45 projects over the next 3 years at an average cost per project of £13,000.
A campaign to raise awareness of the problem of seagulls nesting in urban areas in the Highlands has been launched today (Tuesday 11 May) by The Highland Council. Although the Council has no statutory duty to take action against gulls, it recognises the misery that gulls cause many homeowners and businesses throughout the nesting season, which is just about to begin.
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Divisional Licensing Board have recognised that The Scottish Cup Final between Ross County and Dundee United on the 15th May 2010 is a special event of local significance. They have decided to allow on-sales premises to remain open until 1am on Sunday 16th provided that the premises licence holder makes an application for extended hours.
Offenders subject to community service orders across the whole of Scotland will be busy collecting litter and cleaning up local areas this weekend to support the Keep Scotland Beautiful Spring Clean campaign. In Highland 75 offenders who are being supervised by the Criminal Justice Service within The Highland Council's Social Work Service are scheduled to take part in the first national-wide Community Service clean up event.
An HMIe report was published yesterday (20 April 2010) for Brora Primary School as part of the inspectorate's ongoing strategy for evaluating the educational provision of local authorities. The report is based on an inspection visit which was carried out in February 2010 and comments on the quality of education at the school.
Alistair Dodds, Chief Executive of The Highland Council, is the Returning Officer for the following three parliamentary constituencies:- * Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (8,752 sq km) - 47,263 electors; * Ross, Skye and Lochaber (12,779 sq km.) - 51,934 electors; * Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (4,953 sq km.) - 72,390 electors. He will be assisted in running the election by Senior Depute Returning Officer, Michelle Morris, as well as Depute Returning Officers, Ian Hargrave, Bob Cameron, William Gilfillan and John Bruce.
Thirteen Highland Young people have been presented with a Young Quality Scot Award in recognition of the volunteer work they carry out in their communities. Their achievements included involvement in youth forums and parliaments, volunteering in the community, cultural and citizenship projects and sporting achievements.
New facilities to recycle household batteries are now in place at all Recycling Centres across Highland. AAA's normally used for TV remote controls and AA's used for many children's toys, as well as mobile phone, camera and electronic batteries are just some of the types suitable for this latest service.
