Highways England traffic officers Nick Sivell and John Winser were called to an incident on the M23 on Tuesday after reports of a car colliding with the central reservation.

The driver, from Brighton, had to be taken to hospital, leaving Sally and the car on the hard shoulder while recovery was arranged.

Nick and John paws-ed for thought and then took it upon themselves to look after the pooch in peril.

Nick said:

If you have an emergency on the motorway and need to stop, it is always safest to leave any animals travelling with you in the car, while you and any passengers get out and behind a barrier. The driver did the right thing. Normally, we’d contact a local animal sanctuary or kennel who could look after any stranded animals, but on Tuesday there was no one who could help straight away.

Poor Sally was stressed and having a really ruff time, not only after the impact of the collision, but seeing her owner being taken away in an ambulance. We realised that the only solution to this canine conundrum was for us to look after her for a while.

Nick and John calmed the terrified terrier down and took her to Highways England’s regional control centre in Godstone where she was looked after while they tried to find someone to solve their doggy dilemma.

John said:

Part of our job is being able to be adaptable and keeping an eye out for anything unusual, and we always keep our eyes and ears open, but this was certainly something we don’t deal with every day.

Highways England traffic officers handled 49,000 incidents last year alone and are used to dealing with a variety of incidents and problems during their shift – and not always just with humans.

Nick and John had recently been on an animal handling course which gave them training and techniques on how to deal with a variety of stressed animals, from swans to horses, which helped them know how to comfort 15 year old Sally.

Sally made herself at home at the control centre and John and Nick got in touch with Furry Friends (a rescue centre based near Godstone), who arranged to come out and collect Sally while her owner recovered.

John continued:

Luckily the driver was okay and has been discharged from hospital. Sally was collected from Furry Friends in Coulsdon, and the driver and Sally are now reunited at home in Brighton. We are so glad this tail had a yappy ending.

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From today [9 February 2018] Scottish Ministers will have new powers over onshore oil and gas licensing, continuing the drive to make the Scottish Parliament one of the most powerful devolved administrations in the world.

The latest in a raft of powers transferred to Holyrood through the Scotland Act 2016, these include:

• Powers to legislate for the granting and regulation of licences to search and bore for and get petroleum;
• Powers to determine the terms and conditions of licences;
• Powers to regulate the licensing process.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said:

This is the latest in the transfer of significant new powers to the Scottish Parliament.

The Scotland Act 2016 delivers in full the recommendations of the Smith commission. We promised to make the Scottish Parliament one of the most powerful devolved administrations in the world, and we have delivered on that promise.

People in Scotland now have a greater say than ever before over their own affairs, while retaining the security and safety of being part of a strong United Kingdom.

Since the Scotland Act 2016 received Royal Assent, various powers have been transferred to the Scottish Parliament. These include:

• Various tax and fiscal powers including the ability to adjust rates and bands of income tax and powers over assignment of VAT revenues
• Responsibility over certain powers in relation to elections to the Scottish Parliament and local government elections in Scotland
• Responsibility for managing the Crown Estate assets in Scotland
• Increased responsibility for welfare policy and delivery in Scotland.

This comes on top of powers which were already devolved:

• Health
• Enterprise policy / regional development / Local Government – including business taxation
• Law
• Social work and housing
• Public sector reform
• Energy and utilities infrastructure
• The environment
• Sport and the arts.

The Scottish Government also has a robust financial settlement through the ‘fiscal framework’, plus an additional £2 billion allocated at the Autumn 2017 Budget, which also confirmed the Scottish Government’s block grant will increase in real terms over 2015-2020.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Take a look at our webinar on Conversions to a CIC

The Armed Force Flexible Working Bill, which became law on Thursday 8 February.

The Charity Commission have several key pieces of guidance and alerts that are important reading for charities that operate internationally, including the Compliance Toolkit.

We are keen to assess whether our guidance meets your needs, is easy to follow and whether it helps charities working in high-risk areas or carrying out higher risk activities.

This is an opportunity for you to influence the development of our guidance, making sure we cover the basics as well as helping you with some of the more challenging and complex issues.

Whether you have read all, some or none of our guidance your opinion matters to us.

We also welcome responses from other colleagues and stakeholders in the international charity sector.