We are really grateful to local businesses and the public for following social distancing guidelines and playing their part to help contain the virus. As lockdown restrictions are eased, many businesses are opening up and seeing employees and customers return to their premises. For the safety of both, it is vital that they operate in a Covid secure way.

As part of a joint initiative with other councils within the county, Nottingham City Council officers will be visiting premises across the city from next week, to check that businesses are compliant. Businesses will be given advice and guidance on how to implement adequate measures to control the spread of Covid, but any refusing to do so may be served with legal notices requiring improvements to be carried out. Trading Standards and Community Protection Officers will initially be visiting licensed premises including pubs and restaurants, as well as businesses offering close contact services such as hairdressers and barbers, to ensure that suitable control measures are in place to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection being spread among employees and customers.

Find out more Council to check local businesses comply with Covid guidelines

It?s great to see the city?s first fully electric taxi whizzing about Nottingham serving local people. We?ve been encouraging taxi drivers to consider making the switch from traditional diesel vehicles to electric for some time now. We?ve organised information events, installed a number of Hackney-only charging points in key locations and attracted external funding to help drivers buy new vehicles. We now have over 30 low emission taxi vehicles in the city and counting.

It?s been really good to work closely with Hackney taxi drivers in Nottingham to show them the types of new cabs we can help them to drive. As well as the obvious environmental benefits, the savings in fuel and maintenance are considerable. We made a bold pledge as a council last year to be a carbon-neutral city by 2028 ? two years ahead of anywhere else in the country. Similarly, the council is also very ambitious to clean up Nottingham?s air. Low emission taxis will play a really important part in achieving both of these aims and I?m really pleased to see our taxi drivers are getting on board.

Find out more First fully-electric hackney taxi is handed over to Nottingham cabbie

Nottingham has not seen the levels of Covid-19 experienced in other parts of the country. That is down to the way everyone has played their part in helping to manage the outbreak by staying home, staying safe, hand-hygiene and observing social distancing. We need everyone to continue to help us with this to enable Nottingham to avoid the need for a local lockdown and to keep our city and its people safe.

The best steps to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are:

• Maintain social distance
• If you?re out in our city, keep left on pavements and pathways
• Wear a face covering in shops and on public transport
• Wash hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds

Self-isolate if you have symptoms and get tested for Covid-19

And finally, good luck to all the students picking up their GCSE results tomorrow. It has been a very challenging year for both pupils and school staff and the resilience and commitment shown to get through this school year has been inspiring.

After the A-level grading fiasco, I am pleased to see that pressure from both the public and the teaching profession has forced the Government into a U-turn. Tomorrow?s GCSE results are now to be decided by teacher predicted grades rather than an unfair and inconsistent grading system. I really hope that Nottingham?s GCSE pupils get the results they deserve tomorrow and have worked so hard for.