March 2012 Updates
Rise in East Lothian business start-ups New figures showing that East Lothian has bucked the Scottish trend of falling numbers of new business start-ups has been given a cautious welcome by Iain Gray MSP and Fiona O’Donnell MP.
Their comments came after the Committee of Scottish Clearing Banks, which represents the main four banks in Scotland, released its latest statistics on of new businesses opening bank accounts.
The number of accounts opened in Scotland fell by 4.6 per cent in 2011 to 14,737 compared to 15,439 in 2010. But in East Lothian, 314 accounts were opened in 2011 – a rise of 4.7 per cent compared to 2010. Figures for Edinburgh and Midlothian were both down, though the Borders posted a modest rise similar to East Lothian.
Mr Gray said: “The figures for East Lothian are quite encouraging and show that the county is still a good place to do business. If there is one positive that could come out of the dire state of the local labour market, it is growth in the number of small businesses locally.” Published on Tuesday 27 March 2012 16:00
23/03/2012 Job losses due to colleges merger There will be around 200 job losses over the next 3 years as the Stevenson, Telford and Jewel & Esk colleges merge to become one college. Staff in the colleges have beeninvited to apply for voluntary redundancy. It is expected that up to 75 staff will be made redundant each year. Edinburgh Evening News
15/03/2012 Greggs to create UK jobs Bakery firm Greggs will create up to 800 jobs in the UK this year. The Scotsman
14/03/2012 Banking jobs lost The Lloyds Banking Group have cut 1,300 jobs in the UK and transferred 300 jobs from the UK to overseas. The Royal Bank of Scotland is cutting 464 jobs in the UK. Daily Express
13/03/2012 Pipe coating firm to close plant Pipe coating firm Bredero Shaw will close its plant at the Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Therewill be 75 full-time job losses plus 80contractors’ jobs lost. Edinburgh Evening News
08/03/2012 Remploy factory closures The UK Government plans to close 36 Remploy factories which employ disabled workers. Four factories in Scotland including Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Motherwell in North Lanarkshire will close resulting in 111 workers being made redundant. Around 1,700 people will be affected by the job losses in the UK. The Herald
06/03/2012 RBS to cut finance jobs RBS will cut 215 permanent jobs and 85 temporary finance jobs in the UK. Most of theposts affected are in Edinburgh and London. The Herald
05/03/2012 Tesco jobs boost for the UK Tesco will create 20,000 jobs in the UK over the next 24 months. The Herald