A new fleet of all-electric buses will be deployed in Torquay this winter, thanks to a funding boost from the Department for Transport (DfT), Torbay Council has said.

A cash injection of £361,000 from the DfT means more than £7.4m is available to purchase a fleet of 55 new all electric, zero-emission vehicles, the council said.

It said it would make Stagecoach's Torquay depot the company's first fully-electric depot in the South West.

Funding for the fleet comes from the DfT's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas 2 scheme – created to help transport authorities and operators to make the transition to zero-emission fleets.

'An excellent result'

Torbay Council said over the course of the buses' lifespans, they would result in carbon dioxide savings equal to taking about 2,000 diesel cars off the road, as well as improving air quality in the area.

Peter Knight, managing director at Stagecoach South West, said this was "an important milestone" on the road to net zero.

Councillor Adam Billings, cabinet member for pride in place and parking, said the new fleet was "an excellent result" for the people of Torbay.

He said: "The new buses will be better to travel in and their lack of tailpipe emissions will contribute to improving air quality.

"This will particularly benefit our town centres as well as cyclists and pedestrians generally."

Billings said the fleet would provide an "improved public transport travel option", adding he was confident it would result in more people choosing to travel by bus.

A stonemasonry student said companies had told her she could not join the profession "because she's a girl".

Alice, who is 17, was one of the students who took part in a competition for apprentices at Moulton College in Northampton on Thursday.

Industry experts have said 19,750 extra construction workers are needed in the East of England by 2028 to meet government housebuilding targets.

However, some students, like Alice, said they still faced barriers which made it difficult to pursue a career in construction.

The SkillBuild competition, organised by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), tested apprentices and trainees in a variety of tasks, from furniture making to tiling.

Alice, from Weston Favell in Northamptonshire, inherited her interest in architecture from her grandfather and wanted to work on some of the UK's greatest stone buildings – cathedrals.

But she said her journey had not been easy.

"I've tried to contact some companies to get onto that kind of work, but it hasn't really worked out," she told the BBC.

"The main thing is that I'm a woman and a lot of companies have told me 'you can't do this because you're a girl – you're not strong enough, you won't be able to do the heavy labour'."

Another competitor, Maizie from Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk, wanted to encourage more women to join the industry.

The 17-year-old goes to college in Colchester and said: "In my class it's actually a pretty good mix, but in the industry as a whole, it's definitely a big imbalance.

"People need to realise the value of these industries, and we need to push more young people to go into it. It can be a bit inaccessible at the beginning, especially for young people, since working in these workshop environments can be quite dangerous."

The first obstacle in the competition for Rugby man Sean, 18, was having to "scavenge" for the right tools to make a porch roof, having brought the wrong ones.

The bigger issue for him, generally, was the lack of opportunities for young people.

He said: "There's not enough apprenticeships – it took me two years to get here, and I feel like that's one of the biggest problems.

"The amount of houses they're trying to build; they definitely need more apprenticeships."

A CITB report published this month said 19,750 new workers were needed in the region.

Robert Smith, from the CITB, said "we really need to make that attractive so that they know there are jobs for the future, secure opportunities and great career pathways".

The figures suggest there is a long way to go before there is a gender balance in the industry.

According to The Office for National Statistics, women comprise just 15.8% of the construction workforce and only 2% of workers onsite.

There is some hope, though, with the number of women as a proportion of the overall construction workforce increasing by 36.9% since 2012.

The government said construction would be one area to benefit from a "record-breaking £3bn apprenticeship budget".

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If 29-year-old Marianne Barry doesn't take the contraceptive pill each day, she could have symptoms of severe anxiety or even suicidal thoughts.

Marianne has pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a condition which affects as many as 8% of women and causes intense emotional and physical symptoms in the days leading up to menstruation – with an average wait time for a diagnosis of around 12 years.

Contraceptive medication remains the primary course of treatment for women living with PMDD, but for women who wish to become pregnant this poses a dilemma.

"I want to have a child, but I also want to be sane," said Marianne.

The Welsh government said it was "determined to improve the diagnosis, treatment and awareness of conditions affecting women", including PMDD.