Housing Minister Christopher Pincher has sent a letter to all local authorities in England to summarise ventilation guidance.

An independent review creating a new ‘Gold Standard’ in public sector construction frameworks has been published by the Cabinet Office.
Recommendations for the new standard are designed to ensure the best possible outcomes are achieved in public sector developments, such as new roads, rail projects, schools, hospitals and prisons.
The standard sets out how both the government and the construction industry must work together to tackle waste, secure value for money and drive innovation to achieve better, faster, safer and greener outcomes.

Councils will receive £53.9bn in funding for the coming financial year, including more than £1bn of additional funding for social care.

The UK’s first deposit return scheme will go live across Scotland on 16 August 2023, helping to recycle billions of bottles and cans every year.
Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater has set out plans for a phased implementation of the scheme, and said the target of achieving 90 per cent collection rates by 2024 will be maintained. The Scottish Government is working with retailers on a voluntary basis to enable people to start returning their bottles and cans for recycling from November 2022.

Boris Johnson has appointed the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE as chair of the forthcoming public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.

New homes and buildings will have to produce significantly less CO2 under new rules to help the country move towards net zero.

The top five per cent of families have gotten richer by £3,300 a year, while the poorest 50 per cent have had their incomes squeezed by £110.

The grant scheme for zero-emission vehicles has been updated to target less expensive models, allowing funding to go further.

The Centre for Mental Health has said that the mental health of young people has been underfunded for too long, leaving a postcode lottery of support.