The welsh government has announced a real living wage pay uplift for social care workers.
Local authorities and health boards in Wales will receive £70 million of funding to deliver the uplift. Social care workers will receive £10.90 an hour from June 2023.
The new rate of pay will apply to registered workers in care homes and domiciliary care, in both adults and children’s services and personal assistants who provide care and support which is funded through a direct payment.

The Scottish government has announced a £1.4 million Cost Crisis Emergency Fund for islanders most impacted by the cost of living crisis.
The fund will be used to target immediate support to those who are struggling, through existing schemes or new support.
The funding will be allocated to the six island local authorities.
It has been identified that the cost of living is higher on the islands compared to the mainland.

Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has announced the winner of his annual Christmas card competition as Harry Gourlay.
11-year-old Harry is a pupil at St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Llanelli.
The competition was open to year 5 and 6 pupils in Wales, with the theme this year "A Christmas Welcome".
The winning design was chosen by the first minister himself and will be used on his official Christmas card.

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced £725,000 of funding for grassroots community groups to empower them to counter extremism, tackle the rise in hate crime offences and keep Londoners vulnerable to radicalisation safe.
The funding comes from a fund of £2 million to support grassroots community groups to stand up to hate.
The funding will be used by community and grassroots groups to run projects and educational activities to help empower Londoners of all ages to challenge racist, extremist and hateful views in their communities.

Councils in Scotland have published plans for closing the poverty-related attainment gap. This includes "stretch aims" for children and young peoples’ progress in literacy and numeracy levels, for senior phase qualifications achieved, and for the number of young people participating in education, training, or employment.

Wales will become the first part of the UK to legislate against single-use plastics.
The legislation will ban selling unnecessary, disposable products to consumers and will come into effect in autumn next year.
Local authorities will have the power to enforce the offence of supplying or offering to supply the items.
The bill will also enable the Welsh Government to revise the list of banned items in the future.

A devolution deal is to be signed today for Norfolk and Suffolk, guaranteeing the two counties over £1 billion.
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove will sign the devolution deals in Bury St Edmunds and Norwich.
The deals mean that Norfolk and Suffolk will be devolved power over their Adult Education budget.
The promised £1 billion is intended to give the counties the ability to drive growth and plan for the long-term with certainty whilst levelling up and unlocking their economic potential.

Matt Hancock has announced he will not stand for the Conservatives at the next General Election.
In a letter to the prime minister published on his Twitter account, Hancock said: "I am writing to tell you that I do not intend to stand for the Conservatives at the next General Election. I am very grateful for my conversation with the Chief Whip last week, in which he made clear he would restore the whip in due course, but that is now not necessary."
Hancock was suspended as a Conservative MP after it was announced he would be taking part in I'm A Celebrity.

Tŷ William Morgan, the UK government hub in Cardiff has been officially opened by David TC Davies MP, secretary of state for Wales.
HMRC has managed the creation of the new hub as part of their estates and transformation hub across the UK.
The 11th new regional centre to be opened as part of HMRC's estate programme, the hub is spread across 12 floors and is one of 14 new government hubs across the UK.

The Freeports in Teesside, Plymouth and South Devon and Solent are now fully operational after receiving the final government sign off.
The Freeports will receive up to £25 million seed funding and potentially tens of millions of pounds in locally retained business rates in an attempt upgrade local infrastructure and stimulate regeneration as part of the government's levelling up plans.
Businesses that operate in Freeports will be able to take advantage of tax incentives. It is hoped business will bring jobs to the area.