Monthly Newsletter
Invest in West Lothian - February Newsletter
Welcome to the February edition of the Invest in West Lothian newsletter! In our newsletter, we will be sharing the latest news stories, funding opportunities, and events for businesses in West Lothian.
Here at Invest in West Lothian, we are committed to helping businesses in West Lothian grow by providing confidential and impartial advice, highlighting funding opportunities, and sharing helpful resources. We can help new and established businesses that are currently based in West Lothian, or are looking to relocate to the area. You can learn more about the support we offer by visiting www.investinwestlothian.com .
Celebrating Good News Stories in West Lothian
West Lothian Council Have Validated a Planning Application From Sky For a New Scottish Headquarters in Livingston
West Lothian Council have validated a planning application from Sky for a new Scottish headquarters at Kirkton Campus in Livingston.
The application proposes the erection of a three-storey headquarters office building, extension of a gym and development of a storage building, energy centre, solar PV arrays, attenuation ponds, MUGA, sports pitch, landscaping, car parking, cycleways, footpaths and associated works. It will have capacity for over 3,000 staff.
The application will go through the usual planning processes before a decision is made.
You can read the full story here.
Funding for Businesses in West Lothian
The Invest in West Lothian team have extensive experience of preparing funding packages for local businesses of all sizes. Each month, we will highlight a new funding opportunity that is currently available to eligible businesses in the area.
Cyber Security Grant
CyberScotland Week will be taking place from the 23rd – 28th of February. The purpose of this week is to bring individuals and organisations together to share knowledge, strengthen resilience and celebrate innovation in cyber security.
We wanted to take this opportunity to highlight our Cyber Security Grant. This grant is available to help eligible West Lothian businesses improve their knowledge, understanding, and strategy towards handling cyber security and protecting valuable information.
With the grant, funding of up to £1,000 is available to help local businesses achieve the National Cyber Security Centre endorsed Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certificate. Having your certification is extremely beneficial, as it not only helps you protect your business from cyber-attacks, it also shows your clients that they can trust your business to keep their information safe.
The deadline for projects funded to be completed is the 31st of March. To avoid disappointment, we would recommend applying as quickly as possible.
You can learn more here.
Upcoming Events
We are delighted to be hosting the following free events in February:
Build Personal Resilience and Self-Confidence
The interactive workshop focuses on answering the question ‘how do I know that to be true about myself?’ It explores what triggers self-doubt in the first place, how to be aware that it’s happening and how to manage it. The three-stage approach helps you be able to prevent some of these thoughts from happening in the first place as well as ensuring that when they do, you can effectively manage them and turn them into a positive force. This is taking place on Thursday, the 19th of February, from 9:30am – 12:30pm at the Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian office in Bathgate.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Coaching Session
Join us for this helpful webinar on Thursday, the 19th of February, from 2:00pm – 3:00pm. During the session, our hosts will guide you through the core principles that influence how and where your site is found online. You’ll explore keyword research, on-page and off-page optimisation, and how to create content that meets both search engine and user expectations.
Improve Your Business Marketing with Artificial Intelligence (AI)
This practical workshop will examine how Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) can help transform the creation of written and visual content for your organisation’s digital marketing and wider day to day business activities. This is taking place on Monday, the 23rd of February, from 10:00am – 3:00pm at the Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian office in Bathgate.
1:1 Procurement Surgery Sessions
We are offering eligible West Lothian businesses the opportunity to book a free, 1:1 virtual surgery session with a procurement expert from Intend Business Development Ltd. These sessions have been created to help West Lothian business owners improve their understanding of the procurement process and improve their success rate with tender bids. Sessions last 1-hour and flexible appointments are available.
To view our full calendar of events and book your free spaces, please click here.
Recruit Smarter with Flexible Working
On Thursday, the 26th of February, Flexibility Works will be hosting a online interactive workshop on behalf of West Lothian Council. This session is perfect for any West Lothian-based employers who want to learn how flexible work can help attract, recruit, and retain the best candidates. It is taking place from 10:00am – 11:30am.
You can learn more and book your free space at this event here.
If you have any questions about any of the topics covered, please email invest@westlothian.gov.uk .
Have a great month!