Here are the business stories making the headlines locally and across the country.

Scottish Cluster forecast to add £17.7bn to UK economy by 2050

A plan to use carbon capture technology to create a Scottish net zero industrial cluster could bring an estimated £17.7 billion in economic benefit to the UK economy by 2050.

The Scottish Cluster project involves capturing CO2 emissions from heavy industrial emitters, predominately located in the Central Belt.

The project will then transport captured CO2 via pipeline to the Acorn Project near Peterhead for permanent storage beneath the North Sea.

A joint venture between Storegga, Shell, Harbour Energy and North Sea Midstream Partners, Acorn received UK government funding in 2023.

Post-Brexit border control delays cost taxpayers £4.7bn

Ministers repeatedly delaying post-Brexit border controls have needlessly pushed up costs for the taxpayer, the public spending watchdog has warned.

The cost of implementing border checks and improving performance has, according to the Government’s own estimates, already come to £4.7bn, the National Audit Office said.

This is despite the fact that the Government is yet to set out when it plans to have a full regime in place, it noted.

It “repeatedly” has needlessly inflated costs by delaying its plans to introduce full import controls, according to a report released on Monday.

Body Shop administrator to launch auction of stricken chain

The Body Shop’s administrators are to launch an auction of the chain after concluding that an alternative restructuring of one of Britain’s best-known high street retailers was not viable.

Sky News has learnt that FRP Advisory, which has been overseeing the collapsed business since January, is to begin formally sounding out potential buyers in the coming weeks.

The move raises the prospect of new owners taking control of The Body Shop, which was founded nearly half a century ago.

The chain now trades from roughly 100 stores following a shop closure and redundancy programme undertaken in recent months.

Staff stage their last stand against bosses’ war on working from home

Showing face in the House of Lords to claim a £300 daily attendance fee was once so widespread that a peer was brazen enough to leave a taxi engine running outside the Houses of Parliament while he signed in. Minutes later, he was back in the car and on the road home.

Similar tactics are now taking place in corporate Britain. As more and more bosses force staff back to their desks, employees are finding ways to bend the rules.

Enter “coffee badging”. Equivalent to the politicians showing face for 10 minutes, it refers to the practice of conspicuously clocking in before sneakily leaving shortly after.

The phrase refers to performatively grabbing a coffee near a manager to earn a “badge” before leaving

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