The UK’s lowest-paid workers will receive a pay rise next year as the National Living Wage increases from £8.91 to £9.50 an hour – an extra £1000 a year for a full-time worker.
From 1 April, young people and apprentices will also see their wages boosted as the National Minimum Wage for people aged 21-22 goes up to £9.18 an hour and Apprentice Rate increases to £4.81 an hour.
This builds on the government’s continued action to support people with the cost of living including through the £500 million Household Support Fund, Energy Price Cap, Seasonal Cold Weather Payments and Warm Homes Discount, and keeps the government on track to meet its target to end low pay by 2024-25.
MILLIONS of the UK’s lowest paid workers will benefit from a pay rise next year, as the UK government takes further action to help the country’s poorest households.
The Chancellor is expected to confirm at Wednesday’s Budget and Spending Review that the National Living Wage will increase from £8.91 to £9.50 an hour – a 59p an hour boost which means a full-time worker on the National Living Wage will see a pay rise of more than £1,000 a year.
The National Living Wage was introduced in 2016 and sets the minimum hourly pay a person over the age of 23 can earn when working.
Rishi Sunak is also set to announce a wage rise for young people under the age of 23. For those aged 21-22 the National Minimum Wage rate increases to £9.18 an hour, up from £8.36 – a 82p increase.
With apprenticeships a key part of our Plan for Jobs, the minimum hourly wage for an apprentice will also see a boost next year, with an 18 year old apprentice in an industry like construction seeing their minimum hourly pay increase by nearly 12%, going from £4.30 to £4.81 an hour.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:“This is a government that is on the side of working people. This wage boost ensures we’re making work pay and keeps us on track to meet our target to end low pay by the end of this Parliament.”
By introducing these changes, which are broadly consistent with previous increases, the government accepts all recommendations made by the Low Pay Commission – an independent advisory board which brings together economists, employer and employee representatives.
“The government remains committed to meeting its ambitious target of a National Living Wage of two-thirds of median earnings and expanding it to include workers over the age of 21 by 2024, provided economic conditions allow.
Since 2010, this government has continuously supported working people on the lowest wages – doubling personal tax thresholds, doubling free childcare for eligible working parents – worth up to £5,000 per child per year. It has also expanded Free School Meals to all five to seven-year-olds – saving families £400 a year.
This builds on recent action to support the lowest earners in the winter months, through measures like the £500 million Household Support Fund to help families with their food and utility costs, the Energy Price Cap, Seasonal Cold Weather Payments, and the Warm Homes Discount to ensure low-income households can keep their homes warm over the winter period.
As we enter the next stage of the Plan for Jobs, an extra £500m will also be invested to give people the skills and support they need to find good work as we build back better from the pandemic.
National Cholesterol Month: The benefits of a healthy diet
October is National Cholesterol Month. Cholesterol is a fatty substance which is needed in the cells of your body. Too much cholesterol in your blood can lead to a build-up in your arteries and this increases your risk of having a heart attack.
We provide simple dietary tips to help you keep your cholesterol levels in check.
Eat foods that are high in fibre
A diet that is high in fibre will reduce your risk of heart disease and help to keep your cholesterol healthy. Eat a minimum of five portions of fruit and veg each day and choose wholegrain versions of bread, pasta and rice.
Oats for breakfast
Oats contain a type of soluble fibre known as beta-glucan, which can lower your cholesterol. As the weather gets cooler, you could start your day with a bowl of porridge with healthy toppings such as mixed berries, chopped apple or banana and a sprinkling of toasted chopped nuts, seeds or cinnamon.
Eat healthier fats
Saturated fats can contribute to high cholesterol and these fats tend to come from animal sources (e.g. fatty meats, cheeses, cream and butter). Coconut oil is also high in saturated fats. Swapping saturated fats for unsaturated fats, such as oily fish (e.g. salmon and mackerel), extra virgin olive oil, rapeseed oil and avocados, can help to increase your levels of good cholesterol.
To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some heart healthy recipes from our website:
Scientists create virtual tour showcasing research to tackle Scotland’s climate crisis
As world leaders arrive in Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), scientific experts have created a virtual tour showcasing research to tackle Scotland’s climate crisis.
Researchers from across SEFARI (a consortium of six globally renowned Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes) have joined forces to highlight how innovative research is helping Scotland adapt to, and mitigate, the impacts of climate change.
Covering everything from peatlands to parasites, the Google Earth tour includes videos by scientists from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), James Hutton Institute, Rowett Institute, Moredun Research Institute, BioSS and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE).
Supported by SEFARI Gateway, the tour takes in collaborative research in the Forsinard Flows and at SRUC’s Kirkton and Auchtertyre farms into the impact of peatland restoration on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Visitors are transported to Scotland’s rainforests, to hear how scientists are protecting the vulnerable species living there, and into the world of parasites to learn how these opportunistic organisms are adapting to climate change as part of research at the Moredun Research Institute.
The team at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh demonstrates how rain gardens can regulate the flow of water during extreme weather events, helping urban environments combat the impacts of both flooding and drought, while researchers from the Rowett Institute explain how novel crops such as hemp can help sequester carbon, promote biodiversity and restore the health of our agricultural land.
Visitors can experience the seascape of Aberdeenshire, where research into people’s perceptions has helped to develop visually appealing coastlines that also deliver renewable energy, and visit the James Hutton Institute’s Climate-Positive Farming initiative at Glensaugh farm, where a transformational approach to farming is helping to achieve net zero targets, while protecting and enhancing biodiversity and ensuring a sustainable farm business.
Finally, at SRUC’s GreenCow facility near Edinburgh, researchers explain how state-of-the-art respiration chambers are being used to identify measures to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions from cattle production systems.
Dr Lorna Cole, an Agricultural Ecologist at SRUC, said: “Last year saw me working from home, lecturing Wildlife and Conservation Management students and home-schooling two teenagers.
“This really highlighted the value of interactive online teaching resources that are both accessible and accurate.”
Professor Lorna Dawson, SEFARI Gateway Lead for Environment and principal scientist at the James Hutton Institute, said: “The best thing about this virtual tour is that everyone can join, in their own time, from the comfort of their home or office, to learn more about how we are working together in collaboration and cooperation, across the institutes and with our partners, to help tackle the important issues of climate change and biodiversity loss – ensuring that Scotland’s people, biodiversity and industries continue to thrive now and into the future.”
COP26 Presidency releases details about its approach to food and catering for conference delegates, including information on sustainability and food sourcing
Menus at COP will be affordable and with a strong focus on sustainability
Eighty percent of food to be served at conference will be seasonal and sourced from Scotland
Sustainable measures at the heart of approach
COP26 delegates will be served sustainable, locally-sourced food at the upcoming climate summit in Glasgow, the UK has confirmed.
Overall, 95 percent of the food will be from the UK, largely sourced from Scotland, and be seasonal. This will put sustainability at the heart of catering for the summit, reducing emissions and promoting environment-friendly food production.
COP26 will set an example for other large-scale international events, in terms of food sourcing, by taking a number of measures to ensure a sustainable approach:
Ingredients will be replicated across the conference’s menus to ensure produce can be repurposed for other meals, if necessary, to avoid food waste.
The cups used to serve drinks will be reusable and it is estimated that this approach will save up to 250,000 single use cups.
Suppliers are setting high standards for sustainable food production, from Edinburgh’s Mara Seaweed, which is abundant and entirely sustainable and does not require fertilizer, fresh water or soil to grow, through to Benzies carrots and potatoes who use wind turbines to power their cool storage, biomas to provide heating and actively recycle the water they use.
In line with the international nature of COP26, we will be using Scottish produce to deliver an international inspired menu. There will even be a Scottish fusion to certain international dishes such as the ‘Scotch beef ramen’.
COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma said: “There will be a tremendous amount of work to be done at COP26, with many hours of negotiations and long days, so the choice of food that we serve our visiting delegations, staff and all our volunteers, is very important.
“It is exciting to see such innovation in the menus that will be on offer and to understand the thought and effort that has gone into making dishes both healthy, sustainable and suitable for different diets and requirements.
“We very much look forward to giving our international visitors a flavour of the wide-ranging cuisine the UK has to offer.”
Kevin Watson, Business Director, SEC Food said: “We have worked hard to create low carbon menus that are accessible to all. We hope our sustainable food strategy will shape menus of the future as we all work to protect our planet.
“As well as providing great tasting and nutritious food, our menus are focused on local and seasonal sourcing, with a plant-forward approach. We have been delighted to showcase and work with so many local Scottish suppliers and our teams are looking forward to supporting the event.”
New £560 million Multiply programme to be launched providing personalised maths coaching for up to half a million people across the UK.
Transformational numeracy scheme will transform the lives of some of the 8 million adults in England who have numeracy skills lower than those expected of a 9-year-old.
Funding to be channelled through the new £1.5bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund – which replaces a pot of money previously divvied up and distributed by the EU and means the government can target funding where it is needed most.
A TRANSFORMATIONAL £560 million scheme to improve the maths skills of hundreds of thousands of adults across the UK is set to unveiled by the Chancellor next week.
At Wednesday’s Budget and Spending Review, Rishi Sunak will announce that up to 500,000 people will benefit from Multiply with improved basic numeracy skills through free personal tutoring, digital training, and flexible courses.
More than 8 million adults in England have numeracy skills lower than those expected of a 9-year-old with the North East, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber worst affected. And by the age of 30, people with poor numeracy skills are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as their peers.
According to research, improving numeracy skills can increase your pay cheque by 14%, and reduce joblessness by half – boosting the economy and changing lives.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said: “Better maths can mean a better job and a bigger pay packet. Multiply will help people develop new skills and create opportunities.”
Sam Sims, Chief Executive of National Numeracy said: “Low numeracy blights lives, holding millions of people back from fulfilling their potential and it comes at a huge cost to the economy.
“We need solutions that reach and engage people with low numeracy to build confidence with numbers as well as skills, as a steppingstone to further learning and opportunity.
“National Numeracy is delighted with the announcement of the government’s new ‘Multiply’ scheme, which promises to help improve the numeracy of hundreds of thousands of people.”
Launching in the Spring, Multiply will give people who don’t have at least a GCSE grade C/4 or equivalent in maths access to free new flexible courses to improve their maths.
It will also include a new website with bitesize training and free one-to-one online tutorials to help hundreds of thousands of people improve their maths in every part of the United Kingdom.
The programme will be funded through the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which replaces the EU’s Structural Funds, which were previously divvied up and distributed by the EU.
Funding for the UKSPF will increase to £1.5bn per year, meeting the Government’s commitment to level up all parts of the UK. The Multiply scheme is the first step of the new Fund, with further investment provided for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Rather than the EU’s scatter gun approach, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will ensure the UK Government can target funding where it is needed most – through schemes like Multiply which will help level-up the UK.
Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack said: “The UK Govt made a clear commitment to maintain Scotland’s level of funding following the vote to leave the EU and we have delivered on that promise.
“This is good news for communities across Scotland who will continue to benefit from a range of important projects. Going forward, new arrangements will allow us to deal directly with communities ensuring money is spent on projects that matter most to the people of Scotland.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will deliver a keynote speech today setting out how COP26 in Glasgow can lead the world into the green revolution.
Ms Sturgeon will call on international leaders to take credible action to limit global temperature increases and to deliver a fair financial package for the global south.
In the week that delegates arrive in Scotland’s largest city, the First Minister addressed an audience of young people and students this morning to argue that the country is uniquely placed to build a bridge between the voices of civil society and world leaders.
The First Minister said that keeping the prospect of limiting global warning to less than 1.5 degrees alive, must be more than a slogan, and that delivering on the long promised £100bn of climate finance is an essential part of ensuring good faith between developed and developing countries.
Setting out further action by the Scottish Government, she added that Scotland will do what it can to contribute to a successful outcome at the Glasgow summit by bringing together member states in the negotiating room with the world’s regions, cities and devolved governments representing almost 2 billion people.
The First Minister said: “We will take seriously the responsibility of all governments – at all levels – to show ambition, and to galvanise action. If we do that, we can all contribute towards a successful summit.
“I have said that small countries can lead the way in this, and they can, but in the coming days, it is the countries which emit the most who most need to step up. They need to make ambitious pledges to achieve net zero. And those pledges must be backed by credible actions.
“The idea of “keeping 1.5 alive”, cannot simply be a face-saving slogan. It must be real. And there must be progress in Glasgow which makes that outcome more likely.”
Speaking about Scotland’s role, she went on: “Scotland is in a unique position to help make COP a success.
“And one of the ways in which we will do that, over the next three weeks, is by acting as a bridge.
“We will use our position, as the venue for COP, to create spaces and dialogues which encourage empathy, promote understanding and help people share perspectives.
“We will encourage national governments to match the ambition of cities, regions and state governments.
“We will help those around the negotiating table to hear from activists in the developed world and from the global South.”
On behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, Underbelly announces the programme for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2021.Tickets will go on sale at 10am tomorrow – Tuesday 26 October.
· Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is launched as a four day festival and a celebration of the changing of the year.
· Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 26 October for the Torchlight Procession, Party at the Bells, and the Scottish music programme at Greyfriars Kirk.
· The iconic Hogmanay fireworks display returns for midnight on 31 December.
· 7,500 tickets will be available at a discounted price for Party at the Bells for those with an EH postcode.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is back to celebrate the end of 2021 and the new year with an unforgettable experience for Edinburgh and beyond.
This year’s Hogmanay programme has been revealed, including the new Party at the Bells on Princes Street and the return of the iconic Edinburgh Castle fireworks display.
Tickets go on sale at 10am on Tuesday 26 October through the Edinburgh’s Hogmanay website for Party at the Bells, the Torchlight Procession and a fantastic Scottish music programme with Dougie McLean, Eddi Reader and Breabach at Greyfriars Kirk.
As part of Party at the Bells, there are 7,500 tickets available at a discounted price for EH postcode holders.
In 2021, Hogmanay celebrations have been ‘reimagined’ and include:
· The Torchlight Procession will ignite Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations on Thursday, 30 December. Participants will collect their torches from three locations around the city: Waverley Bridge, West Parliament Square or Bristo Square and will then start the Procession on the Royal Mile between North Bridge and St Mary’s Street.
The family friendly event will be slightly different to previous years, with the procession spread out between 4pm and 9pm, allowing locals and visitors alike to blaze through the Scottish capital in a fun and safe environment. Tickets with a torch are £15.
Along the procession route, flames and light installations will illuminate the experience. Underbelly are working with local Celtic Fire Theatre company Pyroceltica, who led the procession in 2019 and Double Take Projections.
At the end of the Procession on Holyrood Park, participants will be asked to light a slow burning candle and then leave.
As more and more candles are lit, an image will emerge over the course of the event, which will be filmed and streamed on edinburghshogmanay.com.
· Scottish Music Programme – Wednesday, 29 – Friday, 31 December. Taking place at Greyfriars Kirk, tickets are from £25. Performances include one of Scotland’s most skilled and imaginative contemporary folk acts, Breabach on 29 December, Scottish singer-songwriter, Dougie Maclean OBE on 30 December and three x BRIT Award winner, Eddi Reader OBE on 31 December.
· Party at the Bells – Friday, 31 December, 10pm-1am. A fresh take on the world-famous Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party. This year the event will be for a reduced audience of 30,000 people to enjoy the countdown celebrations, starting at 10pm.
Artists will be announced in coming weeks and will perform on the Ross Bandstand to 3,500 people in the gardens under the Castle, and will be streamed onto a series of screens to the audience on Princes Street.
The iconic midnight fireworks display will be back at Edinburgh Castle, cementing Scotland once again as the home of Hogmanay.
One of the world’s greatest street theatre companies, Netherlands-based Close-Act Theatre will collaborate with a variety of Scottish performers to animate the street in spectacular style.
The Party at the Bells street theatre programme is supported by Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, and Creative Scotland’s PLACE fund.
Garden Access and Street Access tickets will be on sale from 10am on Tuesday 26 October with 7,500 tickets available at a discounted price for those with an EH postcode. Street Access tickets are £25.50, with the EH discounted price being £17.50.
50p from every Party at the Bells ticket sold will be donated to the Brain Tumour Charity, an organisation Underbelly raises money for year-round. Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer for children and adults under 40 and increased funding for research is desperately needed.
Around 500 children and young people in the UK are diagnosed each year but diagnosis times for childhood brain tumours are longer in the UK than in many other countries.
· Message from the Skies from 1 January 2022. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay’s emblematic project that fuses the work of Scottish writers, artists and musicians will return from 1 January 2022. Full details to be announced in due course.
Working closely with the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Government, Underbelly is meticulously planning Edinburgh’s Hogmanay in the context of Covid-19 and is dedicated to creating a safe and fun environment for the 2021 celebrations. Ticketholders for the Torchlight Procession and the Party at the Bells, who are aged 18 and over, will need to have a Covid-19 passport and to show it to enter the events.
As part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay’s ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability, and alongside efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the festival itself, we are again inviting our audiences to offset their journey to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay in 2021.
All donations to the environmental fund, which are calculated in accordance with the method of transport and length of journey, are made at the point of purchase when booking tickets via edinburghshogmanay.com and will be used to create new woodlands in Scotland in partnership with Forest Carbon.
All woodlands are independently audited and certified under the UK Woodland Carbon Code.
Edinburgh is the world’s festival city with internationally renowned festivals year-round and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay kicks them off at the beginning of every year.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2021 is supported by City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Government and City of Edinburgh Council’sPLACE fund and Creative Scotland through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals EXPO fund, all working together to create a bold and reimagined Edinburgh’s Hogmanay for Scotland.
Underbelly Co-Directors, Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, said: “The 2021 Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations have been reimagined to offer a safe and a fantastic experience for Edinburgh and beyond – telling the world that “We Are Back Together”.
“Through the Torchlight Procession, Party at the Bells and the iconic fireworks, this year’s Hogmanay event has been designed to deliver a celebration for the people of Edinburgh and our visitors, and to place Scotland at the forefront of the world’s new year events. We can’t wait to help bring everyone back together again.”
Cllr Cammy Day, Depute Leader of City of Edinburgh Council said:“Edinburgh is the home of Hogmanay and it is fantastic that this year as we mark its 29th year, we see the return of in-person events and that celebrations will return to the streets of the Capital.
“There is an unmissable Hogmanay programme this year, which will support economic recovery across the wider city area, safely bring people back together and welcome in the new year with a renewed sense of optimism for great times ahead.”
