Well it’s here. Whether you are interested in the presents or the religious significance there is really no way round it. So here is our view of the best Christmas message in appropriately digital form. Thank you for reading The Reporter. Our visitor numbers continue to increase day by day. For our Christmas present please tell six of your friends about us to keep us on track!
Political journalist and author, David Torrance, is on the hunt…. for the greatest speeches by Scots, ever.
The reporter on STV’s Politics Now – who also freelances for, among others, The Times – has most recently published an unauthorised biography of the First Minister, Alex Salmond.
And now he is turning his attention to either speeches delivered in Scotland or by Scots throughout the world.
Among the contenders are speeches by the late Jimmy Reid, Margaret Thatcher, J. M. Barrie and James Maxton. Torrance is particularly keen to locate more examples of oratory by non-politicians.
Any suggestions then email him at davidtorrance@hotmail.com
The £10 million Aberdeen College Construction Training Facility designed by Archial, one of the country’s largest architectural practices and a member of the global Ingenium Group of companies, has opened to students.
Designed as the new main building on the Altens campus to relocate construction trade courses onto the same site as engineering, completion allows for the refurbishment of the existing Altens Buildings to facilitate estate rationalisation and to bring ASET (Aberdeen Skills and Enterprise Training) from an adjacent site in Altens onto one complete campus.
The new facility contains workshops and classrooms for joinery, brickwork, painting and decorating, and plumbing courses, as well as a new library, learning resource centre, fitness suite and communal eating areas.
Archial associate Ricky Connell said: “The basis of the college layout is to reform the urban streetscape to Minto Avenue and Minto Drive respecting the topography of the site. The redevelopment of the site, whilst integrating with the longer term masterplan, aims to enable all future stages and development goals to be achieved. It also creates significantly improved access/egress from the site, allowing for more efficient parking and open spaces within the campus itself.
“The communal area is conceived as a linear strip or ‘street’, which links all the parts of the college, as well as providing a buffer to the car parking. The street provides a series of high quality landscaped spaces for casual social interaction, vital to the life of any educational campus.
“The building is predominately two storeys with a central core of three storeys. The entrance core houses reception, staff and student common rooms, refectory and fitness suite. The two wings, which house the workshop areas and traditional college areas, can be locked down out of hours to allow only essential core areas to operate and hence reduce services requirements, whilst providing the flexibility and opportunity to use core areas for non-educational purposes.
“To help reduce the mass of the building, the elevations are designed as lightweight pavilions, set on a robust ‘stone’ plinth. The use of masonry on the ground floor and lighter cladding materials on the upper floors makes reference to the indigenous buildings in the surrounding area, whilst also mirroring the internal usage.”
Given Aberdeen College’s pronounced sustainability agenda, a key element of the design brief was that the building would incorporate all the elements required to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. To that end, the building incorporates a variety of CO2-reducing measures including the installation of solar panels, a 25KW wind turbine, natural ventilation, modulated lighting, insulation levels higher than building regulations, and radiant heat in the workshops in place of blown heat. Rain water is collected from the roof for use in the toilet cisterns.
The facility marks the first phase of the college’s comprehensive estates development strategy. Aberdeen College has about 30,000 enrolments each year and around 5,500 full-time students.
Archial is an international architectural specialist with public and private-sector clients. Its diverse portfolio includes work in corporate, education, government, healthcare, industrial, mixed-use, residential, retail and transport sectors and it employs approximately 300 employees in offices throughout England and Scotland. The award winning Archial organisation has been known for delivering intelligent solutions that combine creative excellence with commercial success.
Recommendations on Aberdeen City Council’s draft Business Plan for the next five will be considered by the Full Council on 15 December.
Finance and Resources Committee members (the Committee) today agreed the recommendations of the City Council’s ruling Administration on the policy options contained in the draft Five Year Business Plan should be presented to the full council for further decisions.
The City Council has published a colour-coded version of the Priority Based Budgeting: Final Draft Report.
The colour green indicates that the Administration is recommending to the Full Council that the savings be accepted.
The colour amber indicates that the Finance and Resources Committee is recommending that further reports be drawn up with more information about the potential impact of making the saving, or with alternative ways of making the saving.
Policy options coloured in red are the budget savings which the Committee recommended should not be accepted at this time but which may be re-visited before the City Council’s budget-setting day in February and in light of the detailed budget settlement for Aberdeen City Council, which will be announced by the Scottish Government on 8 December.
The only exceptions are – lines ACC_SO18 (page 39 of the report) Council-wide Options – permit Chief Executive to decide on management structure savings; line CG_LDS_ 07b (page 38) Corporate governance Stop/Reduce – Council committees aligned to statutory minimum; review in 2012; line CG_LDS_ 07e (page 38) Corporate Governance Stop/Reduce – 5% reduction in Statutory Responsibility Allowances Enhancement; CS_FS03 (page 38) Corporate Governance Stop/Reduce – reduce Fairer Scotland Fund by £750,000, not £1 million, and hold community summit.
Finance and Resources convener Councillor Kevin Stewart said: “No one enters elected office to make cuts but unfortunately the depth of savings we are required to make in these extremely difficult economic times gives us no choice but to do so.
“We have some extremely difficult decisions to make over the next few weeks and months to make sure we get through the next five-year period.
“Those decisions will affect all services right across the council. It is impossible to protect any area from the savings we will have to make. But what this Administration can promise is that we will set a budget according to the priorities of the council, the citizens and our partners.
“We will make sure that the most vulnerable people are protected, that the economy of this city remains vibrant, that school attainment is improved and that we manage our waste better. We will do our best for Aberdeen in these difficult times.
“We will continue to consult closely with the public and our partners in the public sector, voluntary sector and business communities between now and February. But people have the right to know now the Administration’s thinking on how we should balance the books.”
Today’s recommendations from the Committee were on the policy options contained in the Priority Based Budgeting Final Draft Report, which is forming the basis of consultations with the people of Aberdeen, the city’s business, voluntary and academic sectors, and with other public sector partner organisations.
The report – in which £150 million of potential savings were identified – was the result of more than five months of detailed work by City Council officials to define existing services, establish current costs, and then draw up policy options. The review covered more than 200 services and resulted in some 750 options, which are laid out in four categories –
* Transformation or Strategic options, which change the nature of the service delivery;
* Efficiency options, which do not change the nature of a service but focus on efficiency and effectiveness;
* Efficiency-with-barriers options, which would change the nature of service delivery and require some change to legislation;
* Stop/Reduce options, which would cut the level of service or result in a service no longer being delivered.
The 5 Year Business Plan approach is a fundamentally new way of planning future spending and investment in the city and is based on Aberdeen City Council’s six key priorities –
* provide for the needs of the most vulnerable people;
* help to ensure that all schoolchildren reach their potential;
* manage waste better and increase recycling;
* encourage new affordable housing;
* ensure a sustainable economic future for the city;
* ensure efficient and effective delivery of services by the Council and with its partners.
The City Council is making a major effort to gather the views of as many citizens as possible before finalising the Five Year Business Plan. Around 100 Information Points have been set up across the city to allow people to have their say by filling in questionnaires on spending and services. Online comments are being collected on the City Council’s website at www.aberdeencity.gov.uk, where the questionnaires are also available. Over 1,000 have been returned so far.
More than 300 people have attended public meetings. In excess of 100 of the city’s top stakeholders have also been involved in consultations.
SeaEnergy Renewables has scooped a prize in this year’s Green Energy Awards.
The prestigious accolades – run by industry body Scottish Renewables and now in their ninth year – took place last week in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The event was hosted by Fred MacAulay and a keynote speech was delivered by Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore.
SeaEnergy Renewables won the Best New Business Award. The Awards celebrate Scotland’s success in tackling climate change, creating a low carbon economy and maintaining its global lead in the green energy industry. They recognise innovation, enterprise and excellence in the renewable energy industry, from student and community projects to best business and outstanding contribution to the sector.
Joel Staadecker, the CEO of SeaEnergy Renewables, said:-“SeaEnergy Renewables is thrilled to win the Best New Business Award at the Green Energy Awards this year. SeaEnergy Renewables is Scotland’s only independent offshore wind developer and we are playing a vital role in this emerging industry. Three of our large-scale development sites are offshore Scotland. We are so proud to be a key part of Scotland’s offshore wind industry and to be a major participant in the effort to secure Scotland’s future as a global energy capital. Receiving this outstanding award is really a testament to both our pioneering role in the development of offshore wind and to the truly outstanding people that make up SeaEnergy Renewables.”
New figures from Scottish Renewables show that Scotland is on track to surpass the Government’s target of 31 per cent of all electricity demand to be met from renewables by 2011.
Speaking at the organisation’s annual dinner and awards for outstanding contribution to the growth of the industry in Edinburgh, Chief Executive Niall Stuart acknowledged the part played by companies like SeaEnergy Renewables in driving forward the industry:-“Congratulations to SeaEnergy Renewables. Together, this year’s Green Energy Award winners will deliver huge economic and environmental benefits to communities across Scotland, and it’s all thanks to the determination, ambition and ideas of companies like SeaEnergy Renewables.
Scotland’s renewables industry has grown faster and further than anyone dared to hope even a few years ago. We now have over 4GW of developments in operation – enough to generate 32 per cent of the annual demand for electricity from every home and business in the country.”
Speaking on behalf of All-Energy, sponsors of the Best New Business Award, Judith Patten, Project Director, said:-“All-Energy is delighted to continue to sponsor the ‘Best New Business Award’. Over the years it has been exciting, and rewarding, to see ‘our’ winning companies go from strength to strength. Scotland is rightly proud of the tremendous success stories emanating from many innovative companies who are rising to the challenges and grasping the ‘nettle of opportunity’ offered by the rapidly expanding renewable energy sectors – our ‘Best New Business Award’ winners have certainly been at the forefront. We wish this year’s richly deserved winner much success in the coming months and years, and know they will come to be seen as one of the ‘Best of the Best’.”
Sea Energy has a series of videos on YouTube to explain their technology. This is one of them
Chris Clark has been appointed as a director at the John Clark Motor Group, the top four Scottish motor group established by his father, John Clark, in 1977.
Chris, age 34, joined the family business in 2007 after ten years working with BMW UK in a number of management roles in sales, marketing and customer service. During his time he built a strong relationship with BMW in the UK and in Germany.
Commenting on Chris’s appointment as a director, John Clark, chairman and managing director said:
“I am delighted that Chris has decided to take up a career in the family business. I have no doubt that the experience he has gained during ten years with BMW UK and the past three years working in various business development roles within the group, will be a great asset to the future development of the John Clark Motor Group.”
Like his father, Chris Clark is an accomplished sportsman and particular passion for motor racing. He is married to Clare, who works for Rolls Royce Motor Cars.
The John Clark Motor Group is Scotland’s fourth largest motor group with an annual turnover of £260 million and 640 employees.
Based in Aberdeen, the group operates BMW, Mini and Audi dealerships in Aberdeen and Dundee, Volkswagen in Aberdeen and Fife, Skoda in Aberdeen and Dundee, Seat in Aberdeen and Land Rover in Edinburgh. The group also holds the Volkswagen LCV franchise for the East of Scotland and owns Clark Commercials in Aberdeen.
The Scottish Government has moved quickly to enable scrutiny of the Scotland Bill by the Scottish Parliament.
In a Ministerial Statement to the Scottish Parliament, External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop announced that a legislative consent memorandum has been lodged today, giving Parliament the maximum amount of time to consider the Bill.
Detailed work will be undertaken by a Parliamentary Committee, but the whole Parliament will have the opportunity to debate the changes proposed.
The memorandum sets out the Scottish Government’s analysis and position on the Bill and its recommendations for making improvements.
Ms Hyslop said:-“The Bill requires consent of the Scottish Parliament, so we have moved quickly to enable full scrutiny to commence without delay.
“As we have made clear, we welcome many aspects of the Scotland Bill and the further devolution of powers it provides. However, overall, this is a missed opportunity that does not meet the ambitions this Government – nor indeed the majority of the people of Scotland – have for this country.
“The key test for this Bill should be whether it delivers the priorities of the people of Scotland – to grow the economy, to protect jobs and to ensure proper investment in public services. We do not believe the Bill as it stands will deliver on those priorities, and indeed may hinder them. Careful scrutiny is vital to achieve the improvements that we believe should be made.
“We are particularly concerned about the unanswered questions on the financial proposals which would reduce the resources available for public services in Scotland. Unfortunately, the UK Government has so far failed to give the information that will allow proper consideration of this vital element of the Bill.
“The UK Government expects the Scottish Parliament to foot the bill for implementation of the measures in the Bill. The UK Government’s partial Regulatory Impact Assessment, published today, confirmed that Holyrood will be expected to pay these costs, but provides only indicative costs of £45 million to set up HMRC systems and another £4.2 million per year to operate the flawed income tax proposals. The people of Scotland already pay for the costs of running HMRC through their taxes levied by the Treasury, now the UK Government wants them to pay a second time through the money provided in the Scottish Budget for vital public services.
“We urge the Scottish Parliament to consider the proposals very carefully and to ensure the final Bill is one which everyone can say with confidence will be better for Scotland. We will support the Parliament’s process fully and work to ensure the Scotland Bill evolves into a package of measures that delivers for Scotland.”
In the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (January 2010), 69 per cent of respondents favoured significantly more powers for the Scottish Parliament. On tax (59 per cent) and welfare benefits (60 per cent), a majority want the Scottish Parliament to make the decisions for Scotland.
Aberdeenshire Council has been praised for using innovative teaching methods – despite their schools being closed. They arranged a number of learning activities through GLOW – the schools intranet – and elsewhere in West Lothian the council there has also posted a wide range of work for pupils.
Education Secretary Michael Russell said:-“Heavy snow and ice is making life difficult across the country. Government, local authorities and businesses are working hard to keep the country moving but, while we all want to see our schools open, some closures are unavoidable.
“That’s bad news for our pupils. While a day or two playing in the snow is undoubtedly good fun, the reality is that they could fall behind in their studies if this weather keeps up.
“That’s why I’d like to highlight some of the good work been done by some of our local authorities in ensuring that their pupils can keep learning even when they can’t physically get to school.
“Aberdeenshire Council have arranged a series of innovative activities on literacy, numeracy and science through GLOW. The SNOW GLOW initiative is available for Primary pupils to log into remotely and has creative writing, photographs, and outdoor activities as part of it.
“In West Lothian, headteachers have been arranging for updated GLOW pages and posting work for pupils, with particularly good examples at Carrondean Primary School and St Margaret’s Academy.
“While I understand that some schools are trying to reopen today and will continue to do so for the rest of the week, the experts are predicting that this weather is set to continue.
“I would urge local authorities and schools to embrace GLOW and other remote learning opportunities and what they can offer for the benefit of pupils who are unable to attend their local school.
“Parents, I am sure, will also play their part in this and encourage our young people to continue their studies from home.”
GLOW cannot be accessed by members of the public without a password.