As part of Race Equality Week, Sheffield Council hosted a diversity networking event at the Town Hall, designed to implement one of the recommendations of the recent Race Equality Commission report. The Celebrating Diversity Networking Event aimed to provide an opportunity to talk about race in a supportive environment and to find out what local organisations are doing to tackle racism. Race Equality Week is an annual UK-wide campaign which brings together thousands of organisations and individuals in common purpose to address barriers to race equality in the workplace. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to council leader Terry Fox and to Maleiki Haybe, councillor for Broomhall and Sharrow Vale.

Nurses and ambulance workers have been on strike again this week over pay and staffing levels, in what has been called the biggest strike action in the history of the NHS in England. The Royal College of Nurses (RCN) say they have no other choice but to continue strike action as no serious pay offer has been made by government. Health secretary, Steve Barclay described the decision by union leaders to go ahead with the strikes as regrettable. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to staff nurse Briony Turner, on the picket line at Northern General Hospital.

Following last week’s widespread strikes by public sector workers, further industrial action is expected this week by unversity lecturers over pay and working conditions. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Bob Jefferey, lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and member of the Unversity and College Union (UCU).

Following the teachers strike last week, Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to parents and pupils affected.

Hundreds of teachers in Sheffield walked out of their classrooms to take strike action on Wednesday calling for a pay rise linked to inflation. Dozens of schools in South Yorkshire were either partially or fully closed as result of the walk out. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Toby Malinson, branch secretary for the National Education Union in Sheffield, on a picket line at Longley Park Sixth Form College.

Over a thousand people joined a strike solidarity demonstration on Wednesday, marching from Devonshire Green through the city centre to Barkers Pool where it conclude with a rally and speeches. Across England and Wales hundreds of thousands of workers joined a day of strike action over pay and conditions, including train and bus drivers, university staff, teachers and civil servants. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Bill Adams, regional secretary for the TUC in Yorkshire and Humber.

Councillor Martin Smith, chair of Sheffield City Council’s economic development and skills policy committee has spoken to Sheffield Live of his disappointment over the city missing out on the latest Levelling-Up funding. The local authority bid for two projects, at Parkwood Springs and Heeley Development Trust, however both project proposals were rejected. The government has been criticised for awarding Levelling-Up money to wealthy areas in the south-east of England rather than poorer areas in the north-east. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has defended the decisions, arguing the north is to receive the most amount of cash in terms of funding per person. Baillor Jalloh reports.

Rotherham Hospice has announced its midnight memory walk is set to return this summer after seven years. The event aims to raise money for the running of the hospice and for families to remember loved ones who have passed away. It is planned to take place on Saturday, 24 June, starting at the New York stadium. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Paula Figueira, manager of Rotherham Hospice.

Sheffield City Council has been issued with a regulatory notice by the Regulator of Social Housing for breach of legal duties on gas safety occurring over several years. The council is legally required to carry out an annual gas safety inspection in every council house, however investigators found that hundreds of properties had not received their annual inspection and many had not been inspected for years. Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the housing policy committee at Sheffield City Council, told Sheffield Live! tenants are partly to blame for the failure as engineers were unable to access some of the properties for various reasons. Baillor Jalloh reports.

Sheffield-based Utopia Theatre has launched a youth academy to create more opportunities for young people from African-Caribbean heritage and other minority groups. Free arts classes and workshops will be offered to young people age 9-19 years living in Sheffield and surrounding areas. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Bookey Oshin, a trustee at Utopia Theatre, and Kate Brindley, project director for the arts, culture and heritage at South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.