Business leaders in Greater Birmingham have applauded the seven local authorities that make up the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) on their pledge to create the “most effective” organisation in the country. The move was announced by Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council.

Downing Street announced that the Reverend Anne Elizabeth Hollinghurst is to take the position of Suffragan Bishop of Aston in the diocese of Birmingham.Anne is currently vicar of St Peter’s Church in St Albans, a ‘small, historic city’, where she describes her role as ‘growing a vision for an outward-focused mission and ministry’.

Soho Road Business Improvement District (BID) has just elected leading local businessman Rav Singh to be its new Vice Chairman. He is part of a well-established family business called C&S Homestore he has been involved for many years with representing the interests of local firms via the Handsworth Trader Association where he was formerly Chairman before it merged with the BID.

To capture her spirit and remind people of the importance of the nursing profession, a memorial statue is planned for the grounds of St. Thomas's hospital, in London, in memory of Crimean War heroine Mary Seacole.

Wolverhampton’s popular late night Safe Haven scheme is to be extended after the city’s BID (Business Improvement District) announced it was investing £95,000 over the next five years into the scheme. The Safe Haven, based at the Epic Youth Café on Lichfield Street, provides a warm and friendly place for people of all ages to wait for a licensed taxi after a night out in the city centre. 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are investigating the decreasing number of Black, Asian and other minority races working in television before informing programme-makers about the glaring discriminate. Figures show that the number of Black, Asian and other minority groups working in the TV industry has fallen by 2000 in the last three years alone.