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Strong leadership, customised support for schools, and staff committed to improvement are all recognised in a progress report on ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥â€™s Education Service. HM Inspectors of Education (HM Inspectors) published their findings today (Tuesday 31 July) of a follow-up inspection of the steps the council is taking to improve its education functions.

Contractors working on the £12million Dunoon Queen’s Hall project have completed their official ‘handover’ of the building to ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥. This important step in the process means the fantastic new facility remains on track to host its first public event on Friday, July 27 – a concert by Skipinnish, swiftly followed by ABBA Mania on Saturday, July 28, and a sold-out performance by The Proclaimers on Friday, August 3.

It has been confirmed today that Andrew Griffiths (Head of Education with Aberdeenshire Council) will be joining the Northern Alliance as Regional Improvement Lead.   His move will be on a seconded basis, and will begin in September 2018.    

The Council’s Welfare Rights Team helped vulnerable people across ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Bute to access almost £1 million of additional income during the first three months of 2018.   Thousands of people across the UK are not claiming the benefits they are entitled to, and ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Bute is no exception. However, the first quarter of this year saw ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥â€™s Welfare Rights Team help those eligible to receive an additional £911,956 – the highest figure ever achieved in the area.

People living in ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Bute are being given the opportunity to make their homes more energy efficient as a result of the Scottish Government’s Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland: Area Based Scheme (HEEPS: ABS). ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ has been awarded a grant of £1,675,930 to help residents make energy efficiency improvements to their properties such as external/internal wall insulation, underfloor insulation, cavity wall insulation and loft insulation.

¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥â€™s Policy Lead for Islands has spoken about what the recent granting of Royal Assent to the Islands (Scotland) Bill, means for our island communities.   Councillor, Robin Currie, who is also Chair of the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Islands Strategic Group, said: “The passing of the Bill paves the way for more powers to be devolved to our island communities.  

The ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Film Office were thrilled to work in partnership with ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Estates and Storyvault Films to bring Sky Arts’ Landscape Artist of the Year to Inveraray this week. Filming for the fifth heat of the 2018 competition will be aired on Sky Arts at a later date. And Daneille Graham, Series Producer with Storyvault Films, Inveraray Castle on Loch Fyne was a fantastic location for the popular series.

Contractors working on the £12million Dunoon Queen’s Hall project have completed their official ‘handover’ of the building to ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥. This important step in the process means the fantastic new facility remains on track to host its first public event on Friday, July 27 – a concert by Skipinnish, swiftly followed by ABBA Mania on Saturday, July 28, and a sold-out performance by The Proclaimers on Friday, August 3.

Residents of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Bute are being encouraged to take a few minutes to fill in a short consultation on a ‘Rural Growth Deal’ for the area. ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥, along with public, private and voluntary sector partners, is putting together a bid designed to attract UK and Scottish Government investment, through a rural growth deal.

For anyone affected by the tragic events on Bute this week, support is available through ParentLine Scotland, which is run by Children 1st.