The Environment Agency has begun annual works to reduce the risk of flooding for coastal communities in Lincolnshire.
Across six to seven weeks, around 400,000 cubic metres of sand will be topped up on beaches between Saltfleet and Gibraltar Point and therefore reduce the risk of flooding for 20,000 homes and businesses, 24,500 static caravans and 35,000 hectares of land.

The Welsh minister for education has announced £70 million of funding for the next stage in the expansion of free school meals in all primary schools.
All primary school children and more than 6,000 nursery-age attending a maintained school will be eligible for free school meals by 2024.
Nearly 5 million additional free meals have been served across Wales since September 2022.

The government has held the first Net Zero Council to support industry to cut their emissions and develop greener practices.
The meeting was chaired by energy minister Graham Stuart and Coop Group chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq. Attendees included banks, energy companies, technology giants and finance firms.

Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has signed a declaration committing to the reform of care services for children and young people.
The declaration has been developed by care-experienced children and young people and ministers and commits the Welsh Government to deliver a wide range of changes to the current care system, to enable a ‘children first’ approach and to make sure that everything is done to help children and families stay together.

The Conservatives suffered big losses at last week's local elections, losing more than  1,000 seats and 40 councils. Meanwhile, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Greens have picked up more seats, with Labour gaining 500 seats.
The Conservatives lost majorities in Tamworth, Brentwood, Hertsmere and North West Leicestershire, while Labour won Plymouth, Medway and Stoke-on-Trent. Windsor and Maidenhead were won by the Lib Dems.

The Welsh Government has announced £1.7 million for museums and libraries.
The Cultural Transformation Capital Programme aims to enable public libraries, local museums and archive services to transform service delivery, to modernise their facilities, create more sustainable models of delivery, enable joint service working and improve the offer to people and communities.
The programme was extended to include museums and archives in 2017 and since then, £9 million has been provided to organisations across Wales.

The government has announced £77 million of funding for new zero-emission vehicle projects.
It is hoped the projects will support more than 4,400 jobs across the UK over the next ten years.
The emergency services are set to benefit from new zero- emission vehicles, thanks to the HYER POWER project to develop a hydrogen fuel-cell range extender for specialist electric vehicles in demanding roles like ambulances and fire engines.
There will also be work on battery-powered buses and a hydrogen-powered version of the Ford Transit van.

The Net Zero, Energy and Climate Change Inter-ministerial Group has met to discuss the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and UK Net Zero Growth Plan.
Welsh minister for climate change, Julie James, reported that she attended the meeting on 23 March.

Early results from England's local elections show heavy losses for the Conservatives, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats making gains.
The Conservatives lost majorities in Tamworth, Brentwood, Hertsmere and North West Leicestershire, while Labour won Plymouth, Medway and Stoke-on-Trent. Windsor and Maidenhead were won by the Lib Dems.
Labour's Chris Cooke has become mayor of Middlebrough, beating the Independent incumbent by just 760 votes.

The Welsh Government has announced a Cyber Action Plan for Wales to protect the country from cyber attacks and grow the cyber sector.
The new plan has four priorities: growing the cyber sector, building a talent pipeline, boosting resilience, and protecting public services.