£718,000 has been awarded to 17 grass roots music venues across Wales, from the Creative Wales Music Capital Fund.
This latest funding takes Creative Wales total support for music venues and businesses to more than £9.6 million since 2020.

The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee has published a report looking at the finance of local authorities.
The report warned that the financial crisis is out of control, with even well-run councils at risk of going bust.
The committee has highlighted a £4 billion funding gap, which must be filled to avoid a severe impact on services.
The report claimed that English councils were suffering from systemic underfunding, at the same time as increased costs and demands for services.

Plans have been unveiled for a new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) in the Broad Marsh regeneration development in Nottingham city centre.
The centre will be run and staffed by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Set to open in Spring 2025, the centre will provide an additional 100,000 diagnostic appointments each year. At full capacity, it is expected to provide in excess of 140,000 appointments annually, which will be available to patients through hospital consultants initially, and eventually also via GPs.

A consultation has been launched in Scotland, asking the public their views on how climate change is currently impacting Scotland.
The public consultation is also seeking views on how to protect and restore nature, improve green spaces in local areas and help prepare businesses for both the risks and the opportunities presented by climate change.

£15.2 million is set to be awarded to cultural venues across the country as part of the Government’s Cultural Development Fund.
The money from the fourth round of the scheme is intended to help create local job opportunities and new training places while at the same time, support local cultural institutions in attracting tourists and new businesses, therefore helping to grow the economy.
Since 2019, 20 projects have received a combined total of £76.8 million, including arts centres, community venues and heritage buildings.

The Mayor of London has announced an expansion of rough sleeping services, with figures showing that  more than 1,200 rough sleepers were helped into emergency accommodation during two weeks of freezing weather in January. This is around 30 per cent more than the same period last year.
A new ‘No Second Night Out Hub’ will be opening in West London at the beginning of April, providing additional assessment spaces and beds to help people off the streets and into longer-term accommodation.

Westminster City Council is introducing emissions-based charging for residents and visitors who drive into the city.
The new schemes will be introduced for residents with parking permits and people who pay-to-park in Westminster.
The new emissions-based charging schemes will see vehicles being charged based on their levels of CO2 emissions. Vehicles that produce lower levels of CO2 will be charged less in comparison to those which produce more.
The changes are designed to help Westminster reach its goal of a Net Zero City by 2040 and tackle poor air quality.

The London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee is meeting to investigate the role of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in the design of London’s communities, and the impact this role could have in safety design.
There is no statutory legislation requiring the police to be involved in the planning process, but the police could provide advice regarding safety in design for large-scale developments.

The government has announced that disposable vapes are to be banned as part of plans to tackle the rise in youth vaping and protect children's health.
Recent figures show the number of children using vapes in the past three years has tripled and 9 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds are now using vapes.
The proportion of 11 to 17-year-old vapers using disposable vapes has increased almost ninefold in the last two years.

According to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 60 per cent of the English population will now live in an area covered by a devolution deal.
The announcement comes after a devolution dal was signed with Devon County Council and Torbay Council.
Two years ago, when the levelling up plan was published, 41 per cent of the population was living in devolution areas.