Local authorities in Scotland will be able to charge a premium of up to 100 per cent on council tax for second homes under new legislation which is intended to increase the availability of housing.
The secondary legislation, if approved by parliament, would bring second homes into line with long-term empty homes, which can already be subject to a 100 per cent premium on their council tax.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has written to all registered social housing providers in England about Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
The regulator outlines their current understanding that RAAC is not widespread in social housing. However, it may be present in a small number of buildings dating from this period particularly in flat roof and panel structures.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has officially opened the UK’s largest public electric vehicle (EV) charging hub at the NEC Campus in the West Midlands. The Gigahub™ from bp pulse and The EV Network (EVN) will help serve the seven million visitors attracted to the NEC Campus annually, along with a wide range of other road users that make up the area’s average yearly traffic count of 60 million. Accessed via the main NEC Campus through road, less than 1 mile from junction 6 on the M42 and just 2.4 miles from junction 7A for the M6.

In this year's Programme for Government, the Scottish Government has includes plans to safeguard homeowners and residents by accelerating progress to identify, assess and fix unsafe cladding on Scotland’s medium and high-rise multi-residential buildings.
Ministers will be given new powers to remediate buildings with unsafe cladding through a Cladding Remediation Bill.

The government has announced new measures so that onshore wind projects supported by local people will be approved more quickly in England.
The government says it has streamlined planning rules, so local areas will have a greater say in how onshore wind projects should be considered and hopefully reduce energy bills and increase national energy security.
The measures include widening the ways that suitable locations can be identified, including by communities, and speeding up the process of allocating sites by giving alternatives to the local plan process.

The Scottish Government has announced that childcare provision will be expanded to increase access for more families, as part of a new package of measures to tackle poverty.
Further support is to be announced for frontline staff working in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers in the early learning and childcare sector.

£34.6 million has been awarded to more than 70 areas across the country to support rough sleepers.
Funding will be used to provide up to 4,300 additional beds to help people off the streets.
The announcement comes to mark the anniversary of the Rough Sleeping Strategy, which was announced in September 2022.

Libraries across Scotland are now able to apply to the Public Library Improvement Fund to help finance creative projects and sustainable services.
Projects that could receive funding include those that tackle the cost of living crisis, bridge the digital divide, tackle the attainment gap for children and young people, or address sustainable development goals.
The fund is administrated by the Scottish Library and Information Council, who will make awards in line with the aims and ambitions of its current strategy.

The government has set out its ambitions for the AI Safety Summit, which is due to take place on 1st and 2nd November at Bletchley Park.
The summit will bring together key countries, leading technology organisations, academia and civil society to inform rapid national and international action at the frontier of Artificial Intelligence (AI) development.

The Community Ownership Fund has reopened for applications.
Up to £2 million in government funding is available for pubs, community halls, gardens, sports clubs and other treasured locations.