The Scottish government has announced £2 million for a project that aims to capture, transport and safely store CO2 emissions from across Scotland.
The money will be used to explore how a pipeline could transport carbon dioxide from Scotland’s central belt to the North East.
The Acorn Carbon transport and storage project will work with industrial, power, hydrogen, bioenergy and waste-to-energy businesses, who wish to capture CO2 emissions and send to permanent geological storage under the North Sea.

City of York Council Planning Committee has approved an application to construct a six-storey, 195,000 sq ft government hub in York, put forward by partners the Government Property Agency (GPA), Homes England and Network Rail.
Set to be complete in 2027/28, the hub is expected to house up to 2,600 civil servants.
The building will include solar panels, air source heat pumps and a green roof, as well as 230 cycle spaces and a planted pedestrian area.

Durham County Council is working in partnership with Zest to identify an additional 250 locations for EV charging.
40 per cent of residents in the county don't have a driveway and a new project is trying to encourage those people to choose electric vehicles.
The project is supported by more than £4 million from the government's Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme and Zest will also invest more than £7 million to provide and operate the charge points, systems and long-term provision of the service.

UNISON is asking social workers, teaching assistants, planning officers, caretakers and other school and council staff if they are prepared to take strike action over this year's pay offer.
The announcement comes after a consultation concerning the 2024/25 wage rise for local authority and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, where 81 per cent of the workers who took part opted to reject what they’d been offered.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and education secretary Bridget Phillipson have launched a new body intended to meet the skills needs of the next decade.
Skills England will create a shared national ambition to boost the nation’s skills, transform opportunities and drive growth.
Phillipson has appointed Richard Pennycook CBE, former chief executive of the Co-operative Group and lead non-executive director at the DfE, as the interim Chair.

The first report of the Covid Inquiry has found that there were significant flaws in the UK's pandemic planning. 

The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill has been introduced to Parliament.
The Bill would allow the government to bring rail passenger services back into public ownership, by amending legislation to make appointing a public sector operator the default, rather than a last resort.
Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, said: "This is a clear signal of intent. Rail reform is at the heart of this King’s Speech.

Nottinghamshire’s Awsworth Parish Council has partnered with charge point operator Believ to install fully funded electric vehicle (EV) charge points as part of its drive to provide rural communities with publicly accessible infrastructure.

Skills for Care, the workforce development body for adult social care in England, has launched a new Workforce Strategy for adult social care in England.
The strategy comes as new data shows the sector still has a vacancy rate around three times higher than the wider economy.
The Strategy aims to improve the quality of roles in adult social care, ensuring that the sector can attract and keep enough people with the right skills and values to provide the best possible care and support for the people who draw on it.