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PRESS RELEASE : Seven UK projects net additional funding through UK Seafood Fund [October 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 17 October 2023.

Government announces a further £3.9 million to be awarded to UK Seafood Fund projects across the UK.

£3.9 million has been awarded to projects to improve the quality of training facilities to upskill the workforce and promote seafood careers, as well as build new and improved sea fishing infrastructure, Defra has announced today (Tuesday 17 October).

The funding is being delivered through the £100 million UK Seafood Fund, which is supporting the long term future and sustainability of the UK fisheries and seafood sector through investment in modern infrastructure, science and innovation, skills and training, and support for exports.

The investment confirmed today includes around £3.8 million awarded to four projects across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of Round 2 of the Skills and Training scheme – building on the £1.1 million of funding that was around through the first round earlier this year and which goes towards new purpose-built classrooms, bespoke technical training areas including a new Maritime Bridge Simulator, and improved facilities for blended training to help ensure future generations have the skills needed to thrive in the seafood industry.

Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said:

We have already seen the great success that funding from the UK Seafood Fund has contributed to – from upgrading ports and aquaculture facilities to creating innovative training programmes to attract fresh blood into the sector.

Today’s investment will help to support the industry so that our existing and future workforce is equipped with the necessary skills and facilities to join the sector and benefit from the brilliant opportunities that are available to them with a career in seafood.

The funding includes £3 million to the Scottish White Fish Producers Association to build a Scottish Seafood Centre of Excellence that will replace a temporary training space with a high-quality industry facility in the northeast of Scotland. The facility will include purpose-built classrooms, technology demonstration spaces, and facilities for blended training so trainees around the country can benefit from the facility.

Other projects to receive support include the refurbishment of training facilities at the harbour in Portavogie, Northern Ireland, the upgrade of the Maritime Bridge Simulator at the University of the Highlands and Islands’ campus in the Shetland Islands, and the refurbishment and extension of facilities in Grimsby to create a new Seafood School.

UK Government Minister for Scotland John Lamont said:

It’s excellent news that three Scottish projects have been awarded more than £3.2 million combined from the latest round of the UK Seafood Fund.

The Scottish White Fish Producers Association’s exciting plans for a new seafood centre of excellence and University of the Highlands and Islands, Shetland, project to upgrade a seafarers training simulator will help keep Scotland’s fisheries, seafood and aquaculture sectors world renowned.

The £100 million UK Government fund is a crucial part of our commitment to help level up coastal communities and deliver the Prime Minister’s priorities of growing the economy and creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country.

UK Government Minister for Northern Ireland Steve Baker said:

The Sea Fish Industry Training Association in Portavogie will benefit from over £450,000 of UK Government funding, assisting them to further enhance safety at sea.

The improvement to training facilities and equipment will help support the organisation’s mission of delivering quality training and advice to the local fishing industry. This is levelling up in action.

Mike Park, Chief Executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, said:

Our members and the wider seafood sector are delighted at the award of £3 million pounds from the Defra training infrastructure fund, which will allow us to build a seafood Centre of excellence at the very heart of our fishing community.

The Centre will be the delivery point and hub for both onshore and offshore training supported by classroom and virtual learning and will provide an ideal base to help stimulate recruitment to the seafood sector.

Alongside this, the government has also announced a further £154,000 is being invested into Round 4 of the Infrastructure scheme, building on the £56 million which has already been invested through the scheme so far.

Round 4 is providing investment to support the sport of recreational sea fishing, with funding helping to build new club houses, boatsheds and storage facilities as well as improving access.

The UK Seafood Fund is currently open for applications from the commercial catching sector to purchase new, more fuel-efficient engines or to modify existing engines. Grants of up to £160,000 are on offer through Round 3 of the Infrastructure Scheme to trial greener engine technology, helping to create a safe and sustainable fishing sector whilst tackling rising fuel costs.

The UK Seafood Fund is part of the government’s wider work to invest in the long term prosperity of coastal communities around the country, creating jobs and boosting businesses.

The Levelling Up Fund has seen around £1 billion allocated to 50 projects in coastal to boost town centre and high street regeneration, invest in local transport projects, and support cultural and heritage assets.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is also establishing Levelling Up Partnerships in six coastal areas, which will provide these areas with bespoke funding packages and see government working closely with local leaders, mayors, businesses, community organisations and residents to identify and address the biggest barriers to levelling up.

22/10/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Rishi Sunak call with the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani [October 2023]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 17 October 2023.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, this afternoon about the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Prime Minister reiterated his complete condemnation of Hamas’ terrorist attack and set out the UK’s efforts to support Israel and protect Palestinian civilians and British nationals caught up in the violence.

The leaders discussed areas of cooperation between the UK and Qatar, including on ensuring safe passage for aid to Gaza to alleviate the humanitarian suffering and on urgent efforts to secure the release of hostages. The Prime Minister thanked the Amir for his constructive role in regional diplomacy.

The Prime Minister updated on his conversations with other Arab leaders and they agreed that the conflict must not be allowed to destabilise the wider region and cause further bloodshed.

22/10/2023
NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 24 October 1923

24 OCTOBER 1923

Fierce fighting took place between Communists and the police in Hamburg. Disorder was also reported from the Rhineland in connection with the Separatist movement.

General Smuts, making a speech in London on the European situation, referred to “this crusade of suicide on which Europe has started”. Condemning the French occupation of the Ruhr, he said “we are back in August 1914. It is again the scrap of paper”. Britain, he declared, should make clear that in certain eventualities it will have regard to its own interests “irrespective of the effect that they may have on old friendships”.

Herbert Asquith, speaking in Liverpool, advocated an impartial international inquiry into Germany’s capacity to pay. He contended that the Dominions as a whole did not desire or ask for further preference. Free Trade had been the sheet anchor of Britain’s prosperity.

22/10/2023
NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 23 October 1923

23 OCTOBER 1923

Ronald McNeill, the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, speaking at Tiverton said that “there is one debt we are not going to write off – the debt owed to us by Germany. We are not going to let Germany off. Sooner or later she will have to pay up”.

A military revolt broke out in Greece, under the leadership of the Royalist General Ioannis Metaxas.

The media reported that telegrams from the Rhineland reported an extension of the Republican movement.

22/10/2023
NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 22 October 1923

22 OCTOBER 1923

Bavaria’s defiance of the Berlin Government in regard to the dismissal of General von Lossow led to a critical situation in the region.

Tomáš Masaryk, the President of Czechoslovakia, arrived in London for discussions with Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister.

22/10/2023
NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 21 October 1923

21 OCTOBER 1923

A Rhineland Republic was proclaimed at Aix-le-Chapelle.

It was announced that Stanley Baldwin, would be making an important speech to the nation later on in the week which would be broadcast by the BBC.

22/10/2023
NEWS FROM 100 YEARS AGO : 20 October 1923

20 OCTOBER 1923

Questions of military and naval defence were discussed in private by the Imperial Conference. The Economic Conference was presented with an outline of the Burney Airship scheme, which, if successful, will bring London within 100 flying hours of London. The Conference decided to appoint a committee to go into the whole question with the Air Ministry.

Sir Robert Horne, speaking in Glasgow, spoke of the dangers of inflation of currency, and urged a bold scheme of Empire settlement, suggesting that the money for such a policy might be found in the £40,000,000 applied under the Budget towards the redemption of debt.

Lord Gladstone, addressing a Liberal demonstration in Edinburgh, made an appeal for the renewal of the Liberal Party in its old force, and said that there was no obstacle to reunion.

22/10/2023
PRESS RELEASE : New appointment to the UK Supreme Court [October 2023]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 17 October 2023.

The King has approved the appointment of Lady Justice Simler to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom as a Justice.

Lady Justice Simler will join the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom as a Justice on 14 November, it was announced today.

His Majesty The King made the appointment on the advice of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, following the recommendations of an independent selection commission.

Welcoming the announcement, the President of the Supreme Court, The Right Hon The Lord Reed of Allermuir said:

I am delighted to welcome Lady Justice Simler as a Justice to the Supreme Court.

She will bring exceptional experience and ability to the Court following a distinguished career as a barrister and Judge. Her experience in employment law, tax, public law and criminal law will be highly valuable to the Supreme Court and will further strengthen us as a world-leading Court.

This appointment follows the retirement of Lord Kitchin on 29 September 2023.

A detailed description of the appointments process for Justices is available on the Supreme Court website.

20/10/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Prison reforms will cut reoffending and put worst offenders behind bars for longer [October 2023]
The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 16 October 2023.

A fundamental shake-up of the justice system that takes dangerous offenders off the streets for longer while rehabilitating lower risk offenders has been outlined today by Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk.
Rapists to stay locked up for all of their sentences, building on work to keep the most dangerous offenders in prison for longer

Reforms will also see lowest risk and first-time offenders given a chance to turn themselves away from a life of crime

Lord Chancellor outlines vision for long-term changes to prisons and justice to keep public safer from crime

The Lord Chancellor confirmed plans to bring forward legislation to keep rapists, as well as the most serious sexual offenders, behind bars for the entirety of their sentences, making sure perpetrators of this awful crime do not walk out of prison before the last day of their custodial term.

This builds on action already taken by the government to keep those who pose the greatest danger to society locked up and off our streets, including ending the automatic halfway release for serious sexual and violent offenders and making whole life sentences the default sentence for the most heinous types of murder.

The Lord Chancellor told the Commons that in order for the government to continue to put the worst offenders away for longer, we must think again about how we make the best use of our prisons and ensure there are always enough places to lock up dangerous criminals. These reforms must include giving the lowest risk offenders the greatest chance to turn their lives around.

The Lord Chancellor set how despite the overall reoffending rates falling by almost a quarter since 2010, the public are being failed by short prison sentences that result in some of the lowest risk offenders getting trapped in a revolving prison door. He pointed to the fact these short-term sentences often lead to offenders who could otherwise be turned away from crime losing their jobs and family ties, making them more likely to reoffend.

He noted that reoffending rates are far higher for offenders in prison for under 12 months, and higher again for those in for under six months. While the overall reoffending rate is 25 percent, the rate for people who spend fewer than 12 months in prison is over 50 percent. This goes up to 58% for those who serve sentences of six months of less.

This is also far higher than the 23% for a suspended sentence order with requirements, 38% without requirements, or 34% for those given a community order.

In order to end the merry-go-round of reoffending the government will legislate that there should be a presumption against prison sentences of less than 12 months. Instead of going to prison these offenders can be punished in the community, repaying their debt to society by cleaning up our neighbourhoods and scrubbing graffiti off walls. By remaining in the community these offenders will also be able to better access the drug rehab, mental healthcare and other support that properly addresses the root causes of their offending.

The Lord Chancellor also announced a doubling of the number of GPS tags available to the courts to help them manage offenders in the community. This technology can help make sure offenders go to work and have their freedom curtailed by monitoring with tough curfews of 7am to 7pm on weekdays and up to 20 hours a day on weekends.

Judges and magistrates will still be able to send offenders to prison for less than 12 months if deemed appropriate, such as prolific repeat offenders, as well as anyone unwilling to obey the strict requirements of the sentence – such as breaking curfews, cutting off a GPS tag or breaching a court order to clean up the neighbourhoods they’ve damaged.

During his statement, the Justice Secretary also updated Parliament on our plans to build enough prison places for future demand. He announced up to £400m for more prison places, enough to buy 800 new rapid deployment cells, and 35,000 cells will be refurbished across the estate to bring them up to modern standards.

He also set out new plans for £30m of funding to allow the Prison Service to quickly identify and purchase land in 2024 for new prisons.

This is on top of the government’s commitment to build 20,000 new prison places, the biggest expansion in 100 years. Over 5,500 of these are already built, with a further 3,000 expected to be ready in the next two years.

To help manage the prison population further a new Annual Report will be laid in Parliament setting out how the demands on prison places and how they will be met.

Further reforms that were outlined today include:

Stepping up work to remove thousands of foreign prisoners by deporting them earlier and agreeing more transfer agreements with other countries

Legislating to allow prisoners to be held in overseas prisons

Reviewing the incentives around early guilty pleas, to save the courts time and spare victims the ordeal of giving evidence in court

Looking at options to tackle the injustice of the now abolished Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence and how the licence period could be reduced to restore greater proportionality to the IPP sentence

The Lord Chancellor also acknowledged how the pandemic, combined with last year’s barristers’ strike, had impacted the justice system and put pressure on our prison estate. This has contributed to around 6,000 more prisoners being held on remand in prison than before the pandemic.

Despite bringing online 100 places per week this year – the fastest living in memory – to keep up with this unprecedented demand, pressure remains.

The Lord Chancellor confirmed that in order make sure we have the prison places we need to lock up the most dangerous offenders and to ensure safety in the prison estate, he has agreed to use an existing power to allow the prison service to move some less serious offenders on to licence a few days before their automatic release point.

The Prison Service will exclude offenders who do not meet strict criteria. Offenders will be supervised by the probation service and placed under strict licence conditions – which may include GPS tags and curfews. Breach of these conditions could lead to the offender being instantly recalled to prison for the entire second half of their sentence.

It will be limited to lower-level offenders and will not apply to anyone convicted of sexual or terrorist offences or serious violent offences.

Every single offender will be placed under strict licence conditions which provide a step-down from custody to living in the community. This may include having to live at an address approved by their probation officer, attending appointments, not entering certain areas such as postcodes and being made to wear an electronic tag where needed to manage them safely. Breach of these conditions could lead to the offender being recalled to custody – not just for 18 days, but the remainder of their sentence.

Those serving a sentence for any kind of sexual offence, terror offence or where the sentence is longer than four years for a serious violent offence will automatically be ruled out.

Such schemes have operated recently in France, Belgium, Ireland and California either due to overcrowding or due to the risk the Covid-19 pandemic presented to prisoners.

The package of reforms involves legislation being introduced and further details will be announced when parliamentary time allows.
20/10/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Reconstruction efforts following floods must be unified across eastern and western Libya – UK statement at the UN Security Council [October 2023]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 16 October 2023.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on Libya.

Thank you, President,

I thank SRSG Bathily for his briefing and the Permanent Representative of Japan for his update on the 1970 committee. I also welcome the participation of the Representative of Libya in this meeting.

Firstly, I want to express the UK’s deep condolences to the people of Libya following the devastating flooding in Derna. The UK is committed to supporting those affected by the flooding. We have mobilised over $6 million in support, contributing to the UN Flash Appeal, deploying UK emergency medical teams, and technical engineering support. We will continue to coordinate closely with the UN and Libyan authorities on further support required.

We welcome SRSG Bathily’s statement on the need for a national mechanism to direct recovery and reconstruction efforts. To be effective, any reconstruction efforts must be unified across eastern and western Libya, and coordinated with local, national and international partners. There must be full transparency, effective oversight, and accountability to the Libyan people.

President, the devastating floods simply reinforce our assessment that the status quo is unsustainable and will not deliver what the Libyan people need. Libya’s citizens continue to suffer from the lack of political progress. A unified and democratically-elected government is needed to respond effectively to citizen’s needs.

In this regard, we note UNSMIL’s assessment that the updated electoral laws constitute a working basis to hold elections and require the commitment of all major parties to implement. However, as SRSG has made clear, contentious issues remain. These need to be resolved through an inclusive political agreement.

Therefore, Libya’s leaders must urgently engage with SRSG Bathily, in a constructive manner, to give this process a chance of success. They should attend any UN convened meetings and make concessions in order to move Libya towards elections.

We look forward to working with Council Members on the renewal of the UNSMIL’s mandate later this month. UNSMIL is an essential partner in Libya and vital to efforts to help create a path towards free, fair and inclusive Presidential and Parliamentary elections. We hope this renewal will provide the continuity that SRSG Bathily needs to lead the Mission and steer international support towards an inclusive political settlement for Libya.

Thank you.

20/10/2023