News

The government has announced a £4bn investment package aimed at transforming support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), but sector experts have cautioned that the funding risks being swallowed by mounting backlogs and growing demand. The package includes a £1.6bn Inclusive Mainstream Fund over three years, which will go directly to early years settings, schools and colleges to strengthen in-class support. A further £1.8bn will fund a new “Experts at Hand” service...

The government has named former Amazon executive Doug Gurr as its preferred candidate to become permanent chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), cementing a leadership change designed to align the regulator more closely with its pro-growth agenda. Peter Kyle confirmed that Gurr, who has held the role on an interim basis since January last year, will be put forward for a full five-year term, subject to a non-binding hearing by the Commons business...

Improved mobile connectivity could help create 49,000 new businesses across the UK and add £6.6bn a year to the economy within a decade, according to research commissioned by VodafoneThree. The modelling, carried out by consultancy WPI Strategy, suggests that stronger and more reliable mobile coverage would unlock entrepreneurship in underserved areas, driving long-term economic growth by 2036. The findings come as VodafoneThree announced it had removed 16,500 square kilometres of mobile “not spots” by deploying...

Job vacancies in Britain have fallen to their lowest level in five years, with graduate recruitment bearing the brunt as employers contend with higher payroll costs and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. Data from Adzuna show that advertised vacancies dropped to 694,940 in January, down 16 per cent year-on-year and 3 per cent compared with December. It is the first time since January 2021 that the number of vacancies has dipped below 700,000. The...

An Argyll-based manufacturing firm is targeting 20 per cent year-on-year growth in the global awards sector after investing nearly half a million pounds in new production technology. Midton, headquartered in Lochgilphead, has installed a biomass-powered autoclave as part of a £429,000 upgrade designed to increase output and improve efficiency at its foundry. The move strengthens its position as one of Europe’s leading producers of cast acrylic products and one of only a handful of specialist...

Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed a director of a new Middle Eastern-backed investment fund planning to deploy more than £1bn into luxury hospitality projects in London’s Mayfair. Evolution Investment Fund, launched in 2025 by the UAE-based Shanshal family, has acquired a leasehold interest in the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square alongside a development site near New Bond Street with full planning consent. The total capital commitment for the two projects, including development costs,...

Tracy Brabin has launched a five-day trade mission to Switzerland and Germany aimed at deepening economic ties, unlocking inward investment and creating new export opportunities for West Yorkshire firms. The mayor arrived in Zurich at the head of a 12-strong business delegation, marking the first leg of a visit that will also take in Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Stuttgart. Organised by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and supported by KPMG, the mission focuses on three priority...