Kirsty Herriot, who was reported missing from Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, on Monday, 19 May, 2025 has now been traced.
Thank you to everyone that shared our appeal.
POLICE are appealing for help tracing Kirsty Herriot, who has been reported missing from Edinburgh.
The 45-year-old was last seen on Harvesters Way, Wester Hailes, around 4.20pm yesterday (Monday, 19 May, 2025).
She is described as being around 5ft 8in in height, with long red hair, believed to be in a bun. She is wearing an all black outfit, with black fluffy sliders, black glasses and a cross body bag.
Inspector Alison Lawrie said: “Our enquiries to trace Kirsty are ongoing and I am appealing to anyone who has seen Kirsty or who has any information on her whereabouts to contact us.
“We know she was on Harvesters Way around 4.20pm and may have walked towards the Plaza Shopping Centre but her whereabouts after that are unknown.”
Anyone who thinks they may be able to help is asked to call 101, quoting reference 2301 of 19 May, 2025.
The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) is calling for urgent action to rectify yet another blunder afflicting Scotland’s tourism industry, this time stemming from a deeply flawed implementation of the new Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) process for self-catering holiday accommodation.
The ASSC has been made aware of thousands of self-catering operators being unjustly removed from NDR – and in some cases taken to Tribunal for allegedly failing to provide evidence of the 70 nights’ occupancy rule for the 2023–24 period.
Critically, operators failed to receive formal requests for evidence from Scottish Assessors which were sent out by untracked mail, despite easily being able to evidence the required occupancy. This is once again penalising legitimate small businesses – who do so much to boost local economies across Scotland – and was clearly not the policy intention.
Many long-standing and compliant businesses have not only been unlawfully removed from the valuation roll and commercial water and waste provision, but also hit with double council tax bills and are facing severe emotional and financial distress – all without ever receiving the legally required Assessor correspondence.
Recent ASSC survey work highlighted 63% of operators never received the formal evidence request letters; 95% of delisted businesses were able to prove compliance with letting requirements; and 81% have been billed for second home council tax, some facing eyewatering charges of up to £120,000.
To compound matters, in a response to a recent parliamentary question from Alexander Stewart MSP, Cabinet Secretary Shona Robison suggested that operators could benefit from relief schemes – however, this completely misses the point: if a business has been removed from the NDR system altogether, it cannot access any such support. This fundamental misunderstanding highlights just how disconnected the Scottish Government is from the realities facing the self-catering sector.
Recent figures from the Scottish Government [1] showed an anomaly in the number of properties removed from the valuation roll in 2023–2024 — more than double any previous year, with 3,810 removals compared to 1,540 in 2022–2023.
This latest development comes in the wake of the ongoing STL licensing and planning shambles, which has squeezed the supply of available accommodation while pushing up costs – especially in Edinburgh, the most expensive major city break destination in western Europe according to a recent Post Office Travel Money analysis.
The industry is now increasingly alarmed by the current impasse on the treatment of self-catering accommodation within the NDR framework despite pleas to relevant stakeholders. While Assessors assert that they are merely applying existing legislation and cannot act without further instruction or legislative change, Scottish Ministers maintain that Assessors are independent and therefore beyond intervention.
The self-catering sector therefore finds itself in a troubling Catch-22 scenario which it hopes can be resolved through urgent and pragmatic leadership to ensure self-catering operators receive the fair treatment they deserve.
Fiona Campbell, CEO of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, commented: “This policy was introduced to remove economically inactive second homes from benefiting from NDR relief, which we support.
“It was never meant to target legitimate small businesses. The system has failed and it is now punishing the very operators who support our tourism economy and rural communities. We urge the Scottish Government and Assessors to act swiftly and lawfully to correct this injustice.
“As we approach the busy summer season, the last thing the Scottish self-catering needs is yet another debacle hitting our sector, hot on the heels of the accumulated regulatory burden from short-term let licensing and planning regulations, and before local tourist taxes are imposed.
“This relentless uncertainty is not only damaging livelihoods – it is placing a significant strain on the mental health and wellbeing of small business owners who are already under immense pressure.
“Operators want to get back to what they do best but can’t do this with both hands tied behind their back. We need urgent leadership to restore consistency, fairness, and confidence in the system before it is too late.”
Nurses, midwives and other healthcare staff across Scotland have voted to accept an 8% pay increase, over two years, that will ensure they continue to be the best paid in the UK.
The deal, which benefits almost 170,000 NHS Agenda for Change staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – guarantees the pay increase will be one percentage point above inflation over same period.
It will see pay rises of 4.25% in 2025-26 and 3.75% in 2026-27 and involves an investment of more than £700 million over a two-year period.
The pay rise will be backdated to 1 April 2025.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “I welcome the fact that union members have accepted this pay offer. Delivering a renewed and stronger NHS is a key commitment for us and at the heart of that are our hard-working healthcare staff.
“We want to ensure they feel value and rewarded and I’m very pleased that they have agreed to accept a strong two-year pay deal. Staff will see the benefit of this pay uplift in their pay packets from next month.
“The deal, which is both fair and affordable, is guaranteed to remain above CPI inflation and will ensure Scotland’s nurses, midwives and NHS staff have the best reward package in the UK.”
Thousands more children will benefit from free breakfasts supported by the Scottish Government.
The Bright Start Breakfasts fund is now open to applications and will provide £3 million so more primary school children can have a nutritious start to the day and parents can benefit from free childcare.
Nearly half of Scotland’s schools already provide breakfast at the start of the school day. The Bright Start Breakfasts funding will support expansion of existing clubs and establishment of new ones, creating more free places for primary school children.
In addition to more breakfast clubs, the Scottish Government is expanding the Extra Time programme, which provides funding for 31 local football clubs and trusts to provide free access to before school, after school and holiday clubs for targeted primary school children from families on low incomes.
Work is also under way in 23 communities to design and deliver further childcare services for priority families.
Visiting a breakfast club at Riverside Primary School in Glasgow Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said: “We know how important a healthy breakfast can be for children, particularly those most at risk of living in poverty, and breakfast clubs have a crucial role in our mission to eradicate child poverty.
“They help set children up for the day, supporting them to achieve their learning potential, and provide families with childcare, helping more parents to get to work in the morning.
“Applications are open and I encourage anyone who could deliver a breakfast club to contact Inspiring Scotland.”
Celia Tennant, Chief Executive at Inspiring Scotland, said: “Inspiring Scotland is pleased to be working with Scottish Government to manage the Bright Start Breakfasts fund.
“We are committed to working together to tackle child poverty and improve family wellbeing. We are delighted to see applications starting to come in since launching the fund on Wednesday”
Inspiring Scotland invites applications from groups and organisations who deliver or want to deliver breakfast clubs, including:
Primary schools
local authorities
third-sector organisations
registered childcare providers
activity providers
parent or volunteer groups
childminding services
Work to design and deliver childcare services for priority families is taking place in 23 Early Adopter Communities across six local authority areas (Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Glasgow, Inverclyde, Fife and Shetland).
A ‘catalogue of failures’ led to the inappropriate and unacceptable use of public money at the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS), according to a new report issued today.
The report, published by the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee, follows the Committee’s consideration of the Auditor General for Scotland’s (AGS) 2022/23 and 2023/24 audits of WICS.
The Committee highlighted ‘inappropriate and unacceptable’ spending on training courses for senior staff, benefits to the workforce and, hospitality.
The report found that the Board of WICS failed in its responsibilities which led to a lack of financial control. This meant that decisions taken did not always provide value for money to the public purse. With WICS also showing a failure to follow even its own rules.
In considering the issues raised by the AGS’ reports, the Committee heard evidence from both WICS and the Scottish Government in their role as sponsoring the work of WICS
The Committee’s new report highlights that there were also significant weaknesses and failings in the Scottish Government’s approach, with a complete failure by the Government to challenge the culture at WICS, which led to an unacceptable use of public funds. This raised serious concerns for the Committee.
The Committee has now called on the Scottish Government to review its systems for identifying concerns with public bodies to ensure any issues are caught at an early stage.
Speaking as the report launched, Committee Convener Richard Leonard MSP said:“Some of the evidence we have heard about the arrangements in place at WICS was simply extraordinary.
“That the body, charged with promoting long term value from Scottish Water to its customers, itself failed to live up to the standards required of a public body left the Committee with deep concerns.
“But the Committee is clear that there also appears to have been a serious lack of oversight from the Scottish Government. This failure from those who are meant to be safeguarding the public purse is simply unacceptable.”
In its report, the Committee notes that there have been widespread Board and management departures from WICS, and indeed from the Scottish Government, since the audit reports were published.
Whilst the Committee recognises the changes which have been made at WICS, it has called on the current Board to undergo refresher training on their roles and responsibilities to ensure that the failure of responsibilities does not happen again.
The Convener continued:“We have heard about significant changes within WICS and the organisation’s commitment to improve the governance arrangements. These are clearly welcome. But we want to see concrete evidence of these changes to ensure that the unacceptable culture that was in place has truly gone.”
First Minister announces funding at award winning Eco-School
First Minister John Swinney has announced new funding to support groups and schools across Scotland to learn more about climate change and nature loss, and take climate action where they can.
The Scottish Government supports the Eco-Schools programme to help embed climate environmental and outdoor learning as a meaningful part of daily learning and teaching. The programme is set to benefit from £425,000 funding in 2025-26.
The Government is also investing a further £275,000 in the Climate Engagement Fund to support grassroots organisations to champion their own local initiatives and build understanding of climate change – such as workshops, podcasts and festivals.
First Minister John Swinney announced the funding ahead of a visit to the Royal School of Dunkeld to mark the celebration of their 11th consistent Eco-Schools Green Flag Award.
The First Minister said: “Children and young people have been leading the charge for urgent action to address climate change and nature loss. That is right, since they will be the ones who will face the greatest impacts of climate change over their lifetimes.
“However, the responsibility to become climate resilient and reduce emissions cannot just be up to the next generation. This Government has committed to Scotland reaching net-zero by 2045 – five years ahead of the rest of the UK – and we are introducing bold measures, like ending peak rail fares for good, to reduce our emissions. I am proud that we are also pushing forward with embedding climate education in our schools.
“The Scottish Government has supported the Eco-Schools Scotland programme for over two decades, and pupils and teachers at the Royal School of Dunkeld have collectively achieved a remarkable feat. Over 800 schools in Scotland now have a Green Flag and I hope that others will be inspired to follow suit.
“It is vital that everyone in our society understands the positive opportunities of climate action, and how that can improve their own lives. The Climate Engagement Fund will help to increase awareness and empower people of all ages to take action in their local communities in the best way they can.”
CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful Barry Fisher commented: “We are delighted to once again to receive funding from the Scottish Government to support our Climate Action Schools Programme, ensuring that our fantastic work with local authorities, schools, educators, and children and young people across Scotland grows and develops further, and helps to deliver our national ambitions on Target 2030 and public engagement on climate change.
“This year we mark 30 years of environmental education in schools through the international Eco-Schools Programme and we’ve been visiting schools across the country to celebrate their participation and success in its activities over the years, highlighting just how important the framework has been, and will continue to be, for Scotland’s young people.”
Eco-schools is an international programme that gives pupils the opportunity to tackle issues like climate change and to consider environmental changes that they can make in their school to make it more sustainable.
In Scotland, Eco-Schools is delivered by Keep Scotland Beautiful as part of the Climate Action Schools framework. Eco-Schools was launched in the UK, Denmark and Germany in 1994 with Scotland awarding the first Green Flag in 1995.
Increasing housing supply and reducing temporary accommodation use
A range of measures have been taken by the Scottish Government to increase investment in housebuilding and help reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation since declaring a housing emergency last year.
Actions taken in the last year include:
Investing £600 million in affordable housing in 2024/25. £40 million of which was used to purchase properties and bring empty social homes back into use.
Helping to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation in 12 council areas, according to the latest figures.
Making an additional £1 million available to Registered Social Landlords and third sector organisations to prevent homelessness and support people to stay in rented accommodation.
Boosting supply through other funding models, including the Charitable Bonds programme which has seen investment of £46m in the past year, supporting the delivery of 325 homes.
We are committed to tackling the housing emergency.
Since declaring a housing emergency last year, we are taking action to ensure more people can access warm, safe and affordable homes.
Further action will be taken in the coming year to continue to tackle the housing emergency and ensure more people can access a safe and affordable home, including:
Investing £768 million in this financial year in affordable housing, which will support the delivery of 8,000 homes for social and mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership.
Providing local authorities with £15 billion this financial year for a range of services, including in homelessness services.
£2 million invested through the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership to continue to reduce the number of privately owned empty homes.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Providing everyone in Scotland the right to a warm, safe and affordable home is essential to our key priority of eradicating child poverty.The measures we have taken have meant increased investment in the affordable housing sector and fewer families living in temporary accommodation.
“As a result of our actions, an estimated more than 2,600 households with children have been helped into affordable housing in the year up to December 2024.
“We have delivered 136,000 affordable homes, with 97,000 of those for social rent, between 2007 and the end of December 2024. We are also working to identify and turn around empty private and social homes and encouraging more funding streams into the sector through our Housing Investment Taskforce.
“It is encouraging that we are seeing a reduction in families in temporary accommodation in some local authority areas. However, we know there is more to do which is why we have increased the affordable housing budget for this financial year by £200 million to £768 million.
“In the longer term we will also introduce homelessness prevention measures and a system of long-term rent controls in our Housing Bill.
“We are determined to tackle the housing emergency and ensure that everyone in Scotland can have somewhere to call home.”
Health Secretary Neil Gray visited Gartnavel General Hospital today to see first-hand how Scottish Government investment is supporting increased capacity in orthopaedic services to deliver faster care for patients.
The visit follows the Programme for Government announced by the First Minister last week, which committed to the delivery of more than 150,000 additional NHS appointments and procedures, including in surgical procedures such as hip and knee replacements compared to last year.
This investment is part of the government’s commitment to strengthening the NHS and ensuring timely access to essential treatments.
During his visit, Mr. Gray toured Gartnavel’s state-of-the-art theatre complex, where he met with frontline staff involved in the expanded orthopaedic services. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will be allocated funding to support the delivery of additional orthopaedic procedures through extra elective theatres at the hospital.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “The Scottish Government is determined to increase capacity in our NHS – making sure people can get the quality care they need when they need it.
“Increasing orthopaedic capacity here means faster, more efficient care for those who need it most, allowing patients to regain mobility and quality of life without unnecessary delays.
“We have seen real progress in the last year, with more than 105,000 appointments and procedures delivered through an additional £30 million of targeted investment in 2024-25.
“Now we want to build on that momentum through the additional £200 million set out in this year’s Budget to reduce waiting lists and to help support reduction of delayed discharge.”
School libraries across Scotland are set to benefit from a £150,000 funding injection earmarked for projects supporting the development of employability skills, digital literacy and family learning, through the 2025/26 School Library Improvement Fund (SLIF).
Administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) on behalf of the Scottish Government, SLIF supports creative and innovative projects in line with the key aims of ‘Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools’ – the national strategy for the development of school libraries in Scotland.
Open to all state-run nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools in Scotland, this year’s fund will prioritise project applications which promote the themes of cross curricular working and developing employability skills, delivering digital literacy and exploring digital creativity, and cluster working and family learning.
The 2025-26 SLIF brings the total investment from the Scottish Government to £1.87 million over the lifetime of the scheme.
Announcing the opening of the fund for 2025-26, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth, said: “School libraries are a vital part of the learning community across Scotland and we know they can help foster habits of reading for pleasure among our young people from an early age, which can support learning and help close the poverty related attainment gap.
“I am determined to ensure that our school libraries continue to prosper and would encourage all head teachers who think their school could benefit for this important funding to apply for a share of this £150,000 of investment from the Scottish Government.
“This year’s fund will support family learning and help deliver more digital literacy and creativity, in line with our ambition to develop an innovation nation and support greater whole family support.”
17 projects across Scotland benefited from last year’s funding boost of £150,000 which focused on developing literacy and numeracy, information and media literacy, and mental health support.
Successful projects included ‘reading picnics’ in Edinburgh’s Craigentinny Primary, the ‘s’more reading for mental health’ initiative across Aberdeenshire school libraries, and ‘building empathy through reading’ in Falkirk’s Braes High School.
Alison Nolan, chief executive officer of SLIC, said: “The SLIF supports creative, innovative projects within Scotland’s school libraries and every year, we are struck by the ingenuity of the forward-thinking services that drive progress with trailblazing projects that best meet the evolving needs of their school communities.
“With the latest funding pledge of £150,000 for school libraries announced, it’s the perfect time for services to reflect on what’s possible. We encourage teams to think boldly about how they can develop and transform their offering, and submit an application that brings those ideas to life in support of pupils, parents and colleagues.”
Schools can submit an individual or collaborative application, with SLIC accepting up to two individual applications per local authority and an unlimited number of collaborative applications to ensure equal opportunities across the country.
The School Library Improvement Fund 2025-26 is now open. Applications will close on 27 August 2025.
Communities across Scotland seeking to set up renewable energy generation projects can bid for support from an £8 million Scottish government fund which has reopened for applications.
The Community Energy Generation Growth Fund supports local communities to install wind turbines and solar panels or develop other types of renewable energy generation, such as hydro, to meet local needs.
Successful applicants will also be able to earn money from their projects by, for example, allowing them to sell excess energy generated.
The expanded Scottish Government fund, which includes £4 million from Great British Energy, is part of the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) and builds on last year’s support.
Since its inception, CARES has advised over 1,300 organisations and provided over £67 million in funding to communities throughout Scotland, supporting over 990 projects.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes is set to announce the reopening of the fund at the All Energy Scotland conference in Glasgow this morning (Wednesday).
Speaking ahead of the conference, Ms Forbes said: “Scotland is fast becoming a global renewable energy powerhouse, and it is vital that communities share in the benefits from this transition.
“This funding, for stand-alone generation projects, responds to the needs of local groups – has the potential to lever in significant funds for communities. It will also play a key role in our delivery of a just transition – supporting a greener, fairer future for Scots.
“It is also welcome that Great British Energy recognise the valuable role that communities play in our green transition and have provided support for the fund – helping to significantly increase the amount of support available to communities – and providing a catalyst for growth within the community energy sector.
“We will continue to work with our partners to grow the community energy sector to ensure that the delivery of renewable energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland, as well as supporting progress towards net zero.”
Chris Morris from Local Energy Scotland said: “We’re pleased to be building on the success of last year’s Community Energy Generation Growth Fund pilot to support more Scottish communities looking to take the next steps in their renewable energy projects and play an active part in the nation’s transition to net zero.
“Scottish communities demonstrated an appetite to develop new projects during the pilot phase and ideas taken forward include partnering with local authorities to install solar panels on schools, getting approvals for new solar farms and building wind turbines.
We’re looking forward to supporting communities and helping even more of these inspiring projects be realised. For Scottish communities interested, the Local Energy Scotland team is here to help with information and case studies.”
Great British Energy funding boost for Scottish communities
£4m Great British Energy funding scheme to target clean energy projects in Scottish communities
Community-owned energy projects in Scotland to get access to funding from Great British Energy
new investment will help communities install clean power projects to cut bills and provide energy security
joint fund with the Scottish Government will give communities a stake in their local energy supply
Communities across Scotland can today apply for new funding from a £4 million Great British Energy scheme.
The funding targets local clean energy projects – from community-led onshore wind, to solar on rooftops and hydropower in rivers – generating profits which could be reinvested into community projects or take money off people’s bills.
Great British Energy, the government’s publicly-owned clean power company, is giving communities a stake in generating their own energy so people can reinvest profits where it really matters.
Great British Energy’s £4 million funding is part of the £8 million Community Energy Generation Growth Fund, with the remaining funding coming from the Scottish Government.
Minister for Energy Michael Shanks said: “This is our clean energy superpower mission in action – putting communities in the driving seat of energy generation and making sure people profit.
“Great British Energy wants to kickstart a community energy revolution, empowering our towns and villages to become mini energy producers and reinvest profits back into the local community.”
