£1.7bn affordable housing boost for Scottish councils

13 June 2017
£1.7bn affordable housing boost for Scottish councils
The Scottish government has committed to stimulate investment in affordable housing by making £1.75 billion available to councils.
Each local authority will be informed of their full funding allocation for affordable housing over the next three years in an attempt to provide clarity and certainty over planning for the period.

Scotland passes Islands Bill

13 June 2017
Scotland passes Islands Bill
The Islands Bill has been published by the Scottish Parliament to create the right environment for sustainable growth and empowered communities.

Welsh Government tackles zero-hours contracts

13 June 2017
Welsh Government tackles zero-hours contracts
Rebecca Evans has revealed that the Welsh Government will tackle zero-hours contracts for thousands of care workers.
The Social Services Minister said that the contracts can have a ‘hugely-detrimental impact’ on lives, and will see workers given the choice after three months on whether they wish to continue with the arrangement or move onto a minimum-hours contract.

Task force to tackle Bristol’s congestion

13 June 2017
Task force to tackle Bristol’s congestion
The Mayor of Bristol has launched a new Congestion Task Group to make recommendations on how to tackle the city's traffic problem.
Marvin Rees has set up the group to create new ways to improve journeys across the city, including creating an updated managing roadworks policy and setting targets on journey time predictability.
The task force is comprised of representative from Bristol City Council, The Mayor’s Office, University of Bristol, Highways England, First Bristol and the RAC Foundation, among others.

Air pollution risk to children higher in cars

12 June 2017
Air pollution risk to children higher in cars
Prof Sir David King has warned that children are at greater risk of dangerous levels of air pollution in vehicles than outside vehicles.
Writing for the Guardian, King said that exposure to toxic air is often far higher inside than outside vehicles, and advised it to be healthier for children to walk or cycle to school.
Citing the widespread support to ban smoking in cars with children, the former government chief scientific adviser questioned ‘why are we still happy for our children to breathe in toxic emissions in the back of our cars?’.

Recycling problems left unresolved week later

12 June 2017
Recycling problems left unresolved week later
A new survey has revealed that 21 per cent of all waste and recycling issues raised by the public are taking more than a week to resolve.
The data also revealed that eight per cent of queries ‘disappear down a black hole, with 35 per cent of people having complained to their local authority about waste or recycling collections.
Commissioned by Yotta, the poll of 1,000 UK adults did find that 54 per cent of public enquiries are answered within 48 hours and that only 24 per cent of queries receive responses on the same day.

Local government needs clarity, urges LGiU

9 June 2017
Local government needs clarity, urges LGiU
The build up to the General Election was overwhelmed with uncertainty and the results have been produced little clarity, argues LGiU.