West Lothian Council makes 'significant progress' on equal pay claims

Join thousands of others who have signed up for the Daily Record newsletter.North Lanarkshire Council insists its 10 year plan to transform town centres is on the right track despite the coronavirus pandemic.The council’s plan called ‘The Place, The Vision,’ aims to boost the local economy by £1 billion, transform towns and communities and help to create 12,000 jobs with private investment.Council leader Jim Logue said: “Before coronavirus, we had one of the fastest growing economies in Scotland

Get the stories that interest you straight to your inbox every day with our personalised newsletterNorth Ayrshire Council has started the phased re-opening of its public toilets as Covid-19 restrictions are eased nationwide.The facilities were closed in March as lockdown was introduced to combat the spread of Coronavirus.Now, as Scotland enters the latest stage of the route map out of lockdown, the council is starting to re-open the public toilets which are under its ownership.The toilets at

flights from Scotland to Spain after the Scottish Government refused to add the holiday hotspot to the quarantine exemption list. The airline has scrapped flights from both Glasgow and Edinburgh Airport that were due to travel to mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.

Perth and Kinross Council is making “progress” in its engagement with young people in the region. The report, published by Being Heard, reviews all 32 Scotland councils’ performances over the course of 2019 in relation to young people's participation and engagement with decision makers and decision-making processes with the local authority.

Inspirational Heather Duff who has had brain surgery three times is starring in an urgent new TV appeal for donations to help Cancer Research UK continue its life-saving work.The 33 year old’s life in lockdown at home in Winchburgh is powerfully captured in the 30-second film which aired for the first time in Scotland on Wednesday (July 1) and will run across the UK.Heather can be seen in the advert counting out daily chemotherapy medication, chatting online to loved ones on Zoom as well as

Glasgow 's west end.

Join thousands of others who have signed up for the Daily Record newsletter.One more than Covid-19 related death was recorded in West Dunbartonshire in the past week.According to National Records for Scotland figures, published today, the area registered one additional Covid linked death in the week ending July 5.The death was registered in a hospital setting, and takes the total number of fatalities linked to the conditional locally to 124.

The new academic year at Scotland’s Rural College will begin on September 28 with a combination of face-to-face and online teaching.The announcement comes as Scotland enters the first phase of its easing of lockdown restrictions.Applications are open for courses at its six campuses across Scotland including Oatridge at Ecclesmachan, while current students have been given details of when they can expect to return to their studies.To allow high-quality, socially distanced, on-campus delivery of

Weddings can take place in West Lothian again following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.Marriage and civil partnership ceremonies can now be undertaken and birth registrations started on June 29.Some restrictions will be in place, as determined by the Scottish Government guidelines.All ceremonies must take place outside and to ensure compliance with the guidelines, the wedding party is limited to eight people from a maximum of three households.Birth registrations will take place on a phased

Join thousands of others who have signed up for the Daily Record newsletter.A care home death linked to Covid-19 was recorded in West Dunbartonshire in the latest National Records of Scotland figures.The death, which was registered between June 22 and June 28, became the 123rd to be linked to the virus locally since the pandemic began, with it being the first recorded in a care home during the month of June.Statistics now show that 59 care home residents have had the condition mentioned on their

council tax bills to fill a Covid black hole.Council group COSLA believes a law change is required to address crippling deficits and avoid massive tax rises.Labour MSP Sarah Boyack said: “The financial black hole that Scotland’s councils now face cannot be paid for by cutting council services or a massive hike in council tax.”Get all the top Scottish politics news sent straight to your Inbox by signing up to our Politics newsletter.We cover Holyrood, Westminster and local councils, with a

“We recognise the need to continue to make improvements at Riverside, and will use this report to help focus our efforts to further help our pupils to achieve their full potential.”Executive councillor for education David Dodds said: “We share the confidence of Education  Scotland inspectors that Riverside has the capacity to continue to improve.“I know the dedicated staff team at Riverside, supported by the Quality Improvement Team, will  build on the strengths of the school to ensure the

“I want schools across Scotland to sign up to the Challenge when it launches in August so that we can keep sharing the joy of reading for generations to come.”Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, added: “It was fantastic to receive so many submissions to the First Minister’s Reading Challenge despite the restrictions of lockdown.“Pupils, parents, and teachers have come together to celebrate books and develop a reading culture within their schools and local communities.

A Paisley councillor has called for major events including the town's fireworks display and Christmas lights switch-on to be cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.Renfrewshire Council previously said an announcement would be made on whether the celebrations would go ahead - along with festive switch-ons in Renfrew and Johnstone - by next Tuesday.But as Scotland continues to gradually move out of lockdown, bosses confirmed this week they were holding their decision to ensure they

hospital after being beaten with a metal weight by two thugs who broke into his house in a Scots town. The attack happened around midnight on Wednesday in the South Vennel area of Lanark.

A LEADING trade union has warned North Lanarkshire Council that the local authority’s furlough scheme “must not be a waiting room for redundancy”.Councils across Scotland, including North Lanarkshire, announced last week that they have applied to the UK Government’s job retention scheme to fund their staff.Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland head of local government, said: “The fact that Scottish councils are having to apply for funding from the Westminster furlough scheme is a damning indictment of

West Lothian’s cricketers are able to get back in action from Monday after Cricket Scotland announced that clubs could return to training.Fauldhouse, Linlithgow and Livingston are now able to use club facilities to run small group training sessions outside.