Latest news with #NATS
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Major update on benefit claimed by thousands of Scots
The consultation carried out after the move was announced last December received 260 responses CHECK IT OUT Major update on benefit claimed by thousands of Scots Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) NATS ministers ploughed on with plans to scrap the two-child cap despite finding overwhelming opposition among Scots. Three-quarters of responses to a Scottish Government consultation on the move were against axing the limit. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Three-quarters of responses to a Scottish Gov consultation on the move were against axing the limit Credit: Alamy And ministers were repeatedly told parents should not have more kids than they can afford. But despite the findings, SNP ministers this week said they would press ahead with the £155million-a-year plan from next March. Scottish Conservative social security spokesman Alexander Stewart said the consultation responses 'show how out of touch the SNP are with the ordinary Scots who pick up the tab for the Nationalists' ballooning benefits bill'. He said: 'The vast majority of the public back the two-child cap because it strikes the right balance. 'Social security payments must be fair both to people who are struggling and to taxpayers who have to weigh up their own finances when deciding how many children to have.' The consultation carried out after the move was announced last December received 260 responses. Of these, 190 said the SNP should keep the cap. They were predominantly individuals, while the minority who backed the plan were mostly charities and anti-poverty organisations. One said: 'Having children is a financial choice - it is not for the taxpayer to pay for people's choice to have more children.' Another said 'taxpayers should not be responsible for bringing up children' and 'if you can't afford them, don't have them'. Angela Rayner says lifting 2-child benefit cap not 'silver bullet' for ending poverty after demanding cuts for millions One respondent said the policy was not about helping children but 'about the SNP helping themselves in next year's election', while another said the Nats were 'addicted to benefits' and saw them as 'a great vote booster'. An 'easy read' summary of the consulation, published today, added that 'some people said mitigating the two-child cap might encourage people to have bigger families' or 'make people rely more on benefits and not work'. The Scottish Government is currently spending around £1.3 billion more on benefits than would have been spent in Scotland if devolution of welfare hadn't taken place, due to additional spending decisions, and is forecast to be spending £2.1 billion more by 2029-30. The minority that supported scrapping the cap mostly worked in organisations that work with impoverished families. They highlighted the plight of families struggling to fee their children and the traumatic impact of the 'rape clause' the allows women to claim for addtional children if they were impregnated without consent. Lifting the two-child cap is forecast to cost £155million next year, rising to £194million in 2029-30. Polling in 2023 suggested just one in three Scots think the two-child benefits cap should be axed. The rule was backed by 50 per cent of over-16s, according to YouGov. Only 32 per cent said it should be abolished, with 19 per cent of people unsure. The policy applies to benefits including Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit, and stops parents from claiming for a third or additional child born after April 2017. It does not apply to Child Benefit. Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville told MSPs this week that the two-child cap 'punishes people for having children'. She said: 'The Scottish Government will deliver the effective scrapping of the two-child cap when Labour has failed to do so.'
Daily Record
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Daily Record
Aerospace firm powers up Prestwick with on-site solar energy
More than 1,400 solar panels have been installed on the roof of Prestwick Air Traffic Control Centre, marking a significant milestone in NATS' aim to be a net zero company by 2035. An aerospace firm has taken a giant step on the road to becoming a carbon zero company - by installing solar panels on their Ayrshire HQ. Ayrshire Live previously told in November how NATS Prestwick were given the green light to generate a chunk of their electrical needs from solar energy. Now more than 1,400 solar panels have been installed on the roof of Prestwick Air Traffic Control Centre, marking a significant milestone in NATS' aim to be a net zero company by 2035. The array went live on 28 April and has already generated over 128,000 kWh of renewable electricity - and expected to deliver around 600,000 kwh annually. The Prestwick Centre provides vital air traffic control services across Scotland, northern England and out into the North East Atlantic to more than a million aircraft per year and will receive approximately 10 per cent of its total electricity needs from the rooftop solar panels. Having already reduced electricity use across all NATS sites by 40 per cent since 2006, this marks the first phase of an extensive renewable energy rollout at the Prestwick site. The second phase, a ground-mounted solar array, is currently under construction following planning approval earlier this year. This will add nearly 800 extra panels, projected to generate a further 400,000 kWh of clean electricity per year. NATS has progressively increased its annual procurement of renewable electricity since 2018/9 and together with other emissions reduction targets it has been recognised as one of Europe's Climate Leaders for five years running by the Financial Times & Statista, topping the list in 2024. This special report names just 600 European companies that have achieved the greatest reduction in their Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions. Ian Lane, Carbon Manager, NATS, said: 'This is a big step forward in our plan to reduce indirect emissions from electricity use which makes up around half of our overall CO2 emissions. The results in the first month alone show the real potential of on-site renewable energy generation.' This was the second large-scale solar installation by NATS. In July 2024, 2,600 panels were fitted to the roof of its Swanwick air traffic control centre in Hampshire, producing 590,000 kWh of renewable energy so far. By the end of 2025, installations across roof, ground and adjoining land will take the count to 12,000 panels, generating up to 21 per cent of both centres' energy. Ian continued: 'While the solar installations are a vital part of our energy transition, we are also focused on improving overall energy efficiency and removing gas from our operations. This is an essential part of our transition to becoming a carbon negative company by 2040.'
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Winter fuel payment SCRAPPED for 100,000 Scots – check if you're impacted
The new plans will see only 720,000 pensioners benefit from the increased payment NATS chiefs today scrapped the winter fuel payment for around 100,000 pensioners despite slamming Sir Keir Starmer's decision to cut the payment last year as a 'betrayal'. SNP ministers announced they would follow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and only pay the benefit to elderly people who have an income of less than £35,000. Advertisement 1 Social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: 'This approach ensures a higher level of support" Credit: Alamy In Scotland, this will be worth £203 for those under 80, and £305 for those over 80 - slightly higher than the £200 and £300 payments in England and Wales. However, the previously planned £100 payment to all pensioners has been scrapped, leaving the richest without a winter fuel payment. The new plans will see 720,000 pensioners benefit from the increased payment, around 100,000 fewer than the 815,000 set to receive the universal payment. Social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: 'This approach ensures a higher level of support which those most in need will receive. Advertisement 'The UK Government's decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment last winter was a betrayal of millions of pensioners, and their recent U-turn is welcome if belated.' Following the Chancellor's u-turn, all pensioners in England and Wales will now get a Winter Fuel Payment or £200 or £300 - but the cash will be clawed back via the tax system for anyone who earns over £35,000. The changes announced by Ms Reeves last week will result in further funding increases for the Scottish Government, which the First Minister said is expected to be around £120million. And Nats ministers said they would use that cash to mirror the Westminster policy for their own devolved benefit called the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment. Advertisement It comes after John Swinney insisted on Monday no Scottish pensioner would 'receive less than they would under the new UK scheme'. Speaking at an event on public sector reform in Glasgow, the First Minister hit out at the initial decision to cut the benefit. Fuel duty hike is double blow after Winter Fuel Payment loss, says pensioner He said: 'To be quite blunt about it, I don't believe cutting this winter lifeline was ever going to save a penny. 'Making millions of pensioners poorer makes them also colder and makes them also sicker, and that in turn puts up the bill for our social services and our NHS.' Advertisement He added: 'It's one of the reasons we were so quick to step in to protect pensioners in Scotland as best as we could from that wrong decision by the UK Government. 'But now that they've seen the error of their ways, my Government will once again do the right thing by Scotland's pensioners.'
Business Wire
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Codiac Unveils Major Platform Update with Real-Time Observability and Enhanced Zero-Trust Security
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Codiac announced today the release of Codiac 2.5, a major update to its unified automation platform for container orchestration and Kubernetes management. Designed to simplify and accelerate every stage of the software delivery lifecycle (SDLC), the new release empowers organizations to deploy, scale, and secure containerized workloads across multi-cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments from a single intuitive interface, including major enhancements such as real-time fleetwide observability, advanced zero-trust cluster management, and seamless enterprise ingress management. Update to the Codiac unified automation platform for container orchestration and Kubernetes management includes enhancements such as real-time fleetwide observability, advanced zero-trust cluster management, and seamless enterprise ingress management. Share "We have 45 different services and we are adding more every month. Configuring these deployments the old way was killing us. With Codiac we can add and manage them in minutes,' said Matt Bonasera, chief enterprise architect and partner at Sanalife, a leading company in energy intelligence and automation. 'Codiac's platform is trusted by engineering, product, and business teams to streamline cloud operations, accelerate development, and optimize costs. With this new release, we are giving organizations even greater visibility, security, and control over their containerized environments—whether they are operating at the edge, in the cloud, or on-premises.' Updates include: Fast Fleetwide Observability: The new cluster agent delivers real-time, comprehensive insights across every cluster in the fleet. Engineers can instantly monitor health, performance, and dependencies, all from a single interface. Next-Generation Real-Time Data Streaming: Powered by an all-new NATS architecture, Codiac 2.5 streams all observability data in real time, ensuring teams never miss a beat, no matter how large or distributed their infrastructure. Self-Hosted, Air-Gapped, and Always Up-to-Date: Organizations can now deploy Codiac fully air-gapped, managing resources securely from their own infrastructure. Self-hosted environments can seamlessly receive production updates, combining maximum control with continuous innovation. Best-in-Class Configuration and Secrets Management: The new workload configuration UI makes managing configs and secrets intuitive and secure, eliminating complexity and reducing risk for teams at any scale. Holistic Domain and Ingress Management: Codiac 2.5 introduces a powerful new UI and workflow for domains and ingress. Enterprises can inventory, validate, and manage all ingresses and certificates across clusters, leveraging advanced URL strategies for safe blue/green switching and zero-downtime deployments. Zero-Trust Cluster Management and Role-based Access Control (RBAC): Organizations can now scale teams rapidly without ever compromising on security. Simplified Onboarding: With Codiac's signature turnkey simplicity, teams can now onboard faster than ever, integrating existing systems in minutes and getting to productivity on day one. About Codiac Codiac redefines how organizations build, scale, and secure container workloads, delivering turnkey, best-practice infrastructure on demand and enabling engineering teams to deploy application stacks in disposable, ephemeral environments with ease. Its dynamic configuration system simplifies scaling and eliminates cloud misconfigurations, ensuring reliable performance anywhere. By bridging software development and infrastructure, Codiac provides a centralized interface for the entire release team, empowering innovation and growth without compromise. For more information, visit
Hans India
10-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Central Bank of India Apprentice Recruitment 2025: 4500 Vacancies, Apply by June 23
The Central Bank of India is inviting applications for Apprentice positions in 2025. A total of 4,500 vacancies are available in branches across India. Important Dates: Last date to apply is 23 June 2025 Last date to pay the application fee is 25 June 2025 Tentative exam date: First week of July 2025 Apply online at: Educational Qualification: Candidates must have a graduate degree in any subject from a university recognised by the Government of India. Age Limit: Age should be between 20 and 28 years as of 31 May 2025 Candidates must be registered on the NATS (National Apprenticeship Training Scheme) portal Engagement Period: The apprenticeship will be for a period of 12 months only. Application Fee (including 18% GST): Category Fee PwBD ₹400 SC / ST / Women / EWS ₹600 All Other Candidates ₹800 The fee is non-refundable and must be paid online only. Selection Process: The selection process includes an online written exam conducted by the BFSI Sector Skill Council. After the exam, there will be a test in the local language of the applicant's state. A list of provisionally selected candidates will be posted on the Central Bank of India and BFSI SSC websites. Important Notes: Candidates should read the full official notification before applying. Applications submitted after the last date will not be accepted.
