Immediate action is needed on a number of crucial food, farming and fisheries issues, a Scottish minister had argued.

The government has responded to a consultation about reforms to public sector exit payments.
In a bid to ensure greater consistency between public sector redundancy compensation schemes and value for money for the taxpayer, the reforms will apply to the majority of the five million public sector workforce, including civil servants, teachers, NHS workers, local government workers, armed forces personnel, police officers and firefighters.

Cyclists in London and Manchester are being encouraged to ‘hang back’ from lorries in a newly launched safety campaign film.
The THINK! campaign has been developed after statistics showed last year a fifth of crashes where cyclists were killed involved HGVs.
The campaign will also target HGV drivers through partnership activity with the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and will be supported by tips for car drivers in general to raise awareness of cycle safety on the roads.

Somerset County Council is facing a £24 million overspend this financial year, as a result of expensive social care costs and a reduction in government budgets.

Edinburgh City Council has ordered a survey of its council buildings, after 17 of the region’s schools were closed as a result of safety concerns.

A new investigation by ITV programme Suspended: Britain’s Pay Scandal? highlighted that over 1,172 council staff have been suspended from work on full pay, in the last three years.

Norfolk County Council has launched a new Social Care Academy to recruit and retain social workers and encourage former social workers back to the profession, in order to address the staff shortage.

Derbyshire County Council has introduced new rules which allow parents to take their children on holiday during term-time, so long has the child’s attendance over the previous 12 months is above 94 per cent.

In an interview with the BBC, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has suggested that the UK will begin formal negotiations to leave the EU in early 2017.

Research carried out by the Resolution Foundation has found that the number of votes cast by ‘baby boomers’ in the 2015 general election significantly outnumbered those cast by younger ‘millennial’ voters.