Independent news, explained properly
Dame Menna Rawlings and Professor Emyr Lewis will co-chair a standing advisory body that the Welsh Government says will run for years rather than report once and close.
Regulations published on Monday bring more of the Act into force in stages from 18 November 2026 to 1 September 2027, including a stronger duty on sibling contact for children in care and new Ofsted powers over unregistered schools.
Local leaders have until the end of the year to propose how the councils should run. Each will draw up a plan for its region covering water quality, flooding, drought and future supply.
The Visitor Levy (England) Bill would let mayors and strategic authorities charge a percentage of the cost of a stay. It sets out national exemptions, a 28-night limit and a consultation process that must come before any levy starts.
Greater Manchester's Transport Commissioner will chair a review of whether England's established mayoral strategic authorities have the staff and skills to run more of their own transport. The first phase is expected to take three to four months.
The Act received Royal Assent on Monday. It lowers the grant from £137.9m in 2026-27 now that the Buckingham Palace reservicing money is ending, and raises the Crown Estate percentage in the formula to 20.5%.
The Department for Transport's new strategy promises an expert panel to challenge plans, sector-wide resilience standards and a training academy pilot. A delivery plan is still to come.
The Department for Education's call for evidence runs until 11 January 2027. Loan amounts and eligibility are outside its scope.
Lower-value public contracts would fall outside the stricter legal rules, under a statutory instrument that needs Holyrood's approval.
The co-chairs say this is their last update before the final report, which goes to the Secretary of State this autumn.
The government will widen cost protections to cover some flat buyers, residents of collectively owned blocks and owners of up to six properties, and says construction product manufacturers will be made to contribute.
A call for evidence from the national timing office wants to know which services and devices depend on the 60kHz broadcast from Cumbria, and what users would need from it in future.
The new civil court orders replace the adult antisocial behaviour injunction from today. Councils, police and social landlords can apply for them, and breaking one becomes a criminal offence.
The Treasury says Wednesday's Budget will give mayors and councils more control over spending, ahead of a new system from 2028 that lets areas keep some income tax.
The proposed policy would end large steel lattice pylons for new 11 to 132 kilovolt lines within Welsh ministers' control. Responses are open until 15 January 2027.
How select committees in the House of Commons are formed, the powers they have to call witnesses and documents, and what happens to their reports.
The routes by which a Westminster seat falls vacant between general elections, from resignation and recall petitions to death and disqualification, and who decides the date.
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