Here are the business stories making the headlines locally and across the country this morning.
King’s neighbour welcomes 49,000 visitors for whisky experience
One of the King’s nearest neighbours at Balmoral on Royal Deeside welcomed more than 49,000 whisky tourism visitors during 2023.
The high turnout at Royal Lochnagar Distillery contributed to global drink giant Diageo notching up a million visits to its brand home experiences last year.
Royal Lochnagar offers visitors a variety of tour and tasting experiences.
It is widely recognised for its Royal connections. In 2023 the distillery launched a King’s Birthday Edition 45-year-old single malt in honour of its famous neighbour.
Sick people leaving workforce at record highs
The number of people leaving the workforce due to long term sickness is at its highest since the 1990s, a report suggests.
Adults economically inactive due to ill-health rose from 2.1m in July 2019 to a peak of 2.8m in October 2023, said the Resolution Foundation.
It is the "longest sustained rise" since 1994-1998, when records began.
The government said its recent Budget measures are estimated to boost the labour force by 300,000 workers
Subpostmaster calls for investigation into legal fees paid by £58m Horizon fund
A subpostmaster is demanding an investigation into legal fees paid from the £58m fund meant to compensate workers wrongly convicted of fraud in
the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is being urged to examine how the settlement was divided between lawyers, litigation funders and the 555 claimants who first exposed the IT failure.
In a letter to the SRA, the subpostmaster’s lawyer Jim Diamond claims to have asked Freeths, a law firm which represented the subpostmasters, twice to provide further information and copies of relevant documents.
However, Freeths allegedly denied this request, saying the matter is now closed and it did not wish to engage.
Former chancellor Zahawi in talks to chair Barclays' Very Group
Nadhim Zahawi, the former chancellor, is in talks about chairing the biggest remaining part of the Barclay family's business empire, fuelling speculation that he will join a mass exodus of Conservative MPs at the general election.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, is among the candidates to become the next chairman of Very Group, the Liverpool-based online retail and financial services company.
City sources said this weekend that discussions were ongoing, but cautioned that there was no certainty that Mr Zahawi would take the job.
If he does accept it, the former Tory leadership candidate would be expected to announce that he is joining the likes of Theresa May, the ex-prime minister, and former Conservative Party chairman Sir Brandon Lewis in standing down at the forthcoming election.