The Government has updated its guidance calling for second staircases in all new tall residential buildings over 18 metres.
The change adds to other new fire safety measures and reforms, such as the Building Safety Act.
As part of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s recommendations, existing tall buildings are also being considered. The Home Office is currently considering responses to their consultation on personal emergency evacuation plans, to which a response will be published in due course.

From April, all Scottish social security benefits will increase by 6.7 per cent.
The move is intended to provide more support for disabled people, unpaid carers and people on low incomes.
Scottish Child Payment is now worth £26.70 per child per week and a person eligible for the highest rate of Adult Disability Payment will receive £184.30 per week.
The newest benefit, Carer Support Payment, is now £81.90 every four weeks.

New powers, which enable Scottish councils to charge up to double the full rate of council tax on second homes, came into force on Monday 1 April.
29 out of 32 local authorities have already confirmed that second homeowners will have to pay the higher charge in their areas. The three that will not are Falkirk, Glasgow City and North Ayrshire.
A second home is classed as any home that is not used as someone’s primary residence but that is occupied for at least 25 days in a year.

Homes England and Oxfordshire County Council have entered into a Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) to provide £17.3 million of infrastructure grant funding for the A34 Lodge Hill Interchange scheme.
Vale of White Horse District Council had initially granted planning approval for the Abbey Fields development site in north Abingdon for approximately 950 dwellings. However, local roads were already at capacity and housing development had to stop until Oxfordshire County Council was able to fund and contract works to improve the existing Lodge Hill junction on the A34.

£50 million has been allocated to transform public transport links in Cornwall through the mid-Cornwall Metro Scheme.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper met with local leaders including St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Double at Newquay Station on 27 March. They discussed progress on the major improvement project which aims to better connect residents to employment, business and education opportunities.
It is hoped the first benefits of the scheme will be delivered by May next year and it will be fully complete by the end of 2025.

Following the departure from Government of the Rt Hon James Heappey MP and the Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, the king has approved new appointments.
Heappey has stepped down as armed forces minister and Robert Halfon has resigned as an education minister. Both will be standing down at the next election.
As a result, Leo Docherty MP will take on the role of Minister of State (Minister for the Armed Forces) in the Ministry of Defence and Luke Hall MP will be a Minister of State in the Department for Education.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published a regulatory notice, which found that the London Borough of Lewisham (Lewisham Council) is not meeting the required outcomes of the consumer standards.
RSH investigated after a self-referral and found that there were a range of issues with its homes and services.
The council had carried out fire risk assessments for all relevant blocks, but 5,000 fire safety actions were overdue.

New legislation which aims to keep people in their homes and help prevent homelessness has been published.

The recipients of the latest round of funding from the Cultural Investment Fund have been announced.
26 museums and 34 library services are set to receive a share of more than £33 million.
The funding will be used to support upgrades to museums and public libraries, including vital repairs, renovations and the development of digital infrastructure, in an effort to improve the visitor experience.
It is hoped that critical infrastructure projects will help to boost access, maximise income generation opportunities and increase visitor numbers.