Gill Furniss, Sheffield MP and Shadow Minister, will chair the re-launched All-Party Parliamentary Group for Libraries.
The establishment of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Libraries is being supported by the Chartered Institute if Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the library and information association. CILIP provides the secretariat for the Group.

The ‘straightforward’ European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill has been introduced to the House of Commons.

Manchester City Council has awarded a repairs and maintenance contract worth up to £86 million to Mears.

A survey has highlighted how leading council figures have a lack of confidence in the government’s plans for health and social care.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced £64 million of local transport funding to help people walk or cycle safely to work.
The funding will support local projects over three years, with the government aiming to make cycling and walking to work part of everyday life and walking and cycling the natural choice for shorter journeys by 2040.

The deal to set up a new authority for the Solent area has been stopped by the government, because Hampshire County Council does not support it.
The Solent Deal, to create the authority to take on services currently managed by central government, was halted at a meeting of MPs and council leaders at Westminster as a result of Hampshire County Council not supporting it.

Campaigners argue against ‘counterproductive’ way of standardising services and outsourcing contracts, encouraging councils to ‘keep it local’.
Launching its Keep it Local campaign, Locality, the national network of community organisations, is calling for locally-commissioned and delivered public services which provide substantially better outcomes and value than standardised, one-size-fits-all services.

Peterborough City Council could end its waste and recycling contract with Amey by mutual consent under new budget proposals.
Having entered into a 23-year contract with Enterprise Managed Services in March 2011, the waste and recycling contract transferred to Amey in 2013, when the company purchased Enterprise. Under the contract, Amey delivers household waste and recycling collections, street cleaning, property design and maintenance, grounds maintenance and a range of other services.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced £375,000 of new funding to further encourage the reporting and prevention of hate crime.
The new package, revealed ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day 2017, will target a range of existing organisations, working with faith and minority communities that have historically faced challenges in reporting hate crime.
The funding builds upon the £1 million of support directed at young people announced as part of the government’s Hate Crime Action Plan, announced in the summer of 2016.

Professional people from working class backgrounds are paid £6,800 less than their colleagues from more affluent backgrounds.