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PRESS RELEASE : British Sign Language GCSE moves one step closer to the classroom [June 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 15 June 2023.

New GCSE will be the first of its kind and will teach students how to communicate through sign language.

Students are one step closer to the British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE being taught in schools, as the government launches a 12-week consultation on the content of the new qualification.

The qualification will include students being taught to communicate effectively with other signers for use in work, social and academic settings, providing them with valuable life skills welcomed by employers.

The Department for Education (DfE) has been working closely with subject experts, stakeholders and schools to develop proposed content to ensure that this new GCSE is internationally recognised and accepted in school and college performance tables. In line all qualifications, the GCSE will be knowledge-rich, diverse and as challenging as any other GCSE.

Views on the new qualification, including the language skills to be studied and the role of history, are being sought from teachers, employers and the deaf and hearing communities. The government aims to introduce this for first teaching from September 2025.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

It is fantastic that British Sign Language will soon be taught in schools up and down the country.

Good communication is essential both inside and outside the workplace and this historic GCSE will give students a vital life skill valued by employers.

This new qualification will break down barriers, advance equality of opportunity, and celebrate the history and rich culture of British Sign Language.

Ofqual Chief Regulator Dr Jo Saxton said:

At their best, qualifications increase opportunities and break down barriers. This GCSE in British Sign Language will do that by encouraging more people to study the language, so I’m delighted to be launching our consultation on how students should be assessed in this exciting new GCSE.

The proposals reflect our judgements about how the Department for Education’s subject content should be assessed to best allow students to demonstrate their performance in this subject. We want anyone with an interest in this new GCSE subject to tell us what they think about our proposals and whether these allow students the best opportunity to show how well they understand and can use British Sign Language.

Susan Daniels OBE, Chief Executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society, said:

We’re delighted that a GCSE in British Sign Language (BSL) is now a step closer.

BSL is a native British language used by tens of thousands of people, so it’s only fair and right that BSL users should have the opportunity to achieve a GCSE in their own, legally recognised language. This qualification will help to breakdown communication barriers between deaf and hearing people and educate more people about the deaf community and culture.

We know there are incredibly high levels of support for a BSL GCSE among both deaf and hearing students, as well as from their parents. Our recent survey also found teachers overwhelmingly believe sign language would be a useful skill for both deaf and hearing students to learn.

Tasha Ghouri, influencer and activist for the deaf community said:

As lots of you will know, being deaf is my ‘superpower’. But as someone who has had a cochlear implant since 5 years old and relies on lip-reading – going to school had its challenges.

Being included and made to feel equal means everything to me and I’ve been on a personal mission to raise awareness of the challenges facing deaf children.

That’s why I’m absolutely delighted that today, the government has announced it will soon be launching a brand new GCSE in British Sign Language which will be available to all pupils.

Ian Morgan, Chief Executive, Eduqas, said:

As one of England’s largest exam boards, Eduqas is committed to supporting the development of a new GCSE in British Sign Language (BSL); this builds on exciting work already underway in Wales to design a new GCSE BSL for WJEC students by September 2026.

Equality and inclusion matter to us, and we’re confident that this pioneering new GCSE will boost the profile of the language and play an important role in increasing the number of speakers from all communities.

We look forward to working closely with teachers, learners and subject experts to create a qualification that is engaging, relevant, and fit for the future.

Lindsay Foster, Executive Director at Signature said:

It’s great to get the public consultation out there, so that the public can see what a GCSE in BSL could look like.

We have been working towards a BSL GCSE for over 12 years now, so this feels like a milestone moment. What is important now is that people have their say on subject content and we look forward to seeing the outcome of that.

From the secondary schools we have spoken with, around 60% have told us that they would like to offer this as part of their curriculum. We really hope that over the years to come we see this in as many schools as possible.

Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Tom Pursglove MP, said:

The British Sign Language (BSL) Act is helping make our society more accessible, opening doors to better communication for more Deaf people.

A BSL GCSE is a fantastic step in the right direction, encouraging more students to learn BSL to help increase the number of BSL users that Deaf people can speak with, making the UK an even more inclusive society.

The recently published special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) improvement plan set out how all children and young people, including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, will get the support they need to succeed in their education.

British Sign Language was recognised in law as a language of Great Britain in the BSL Act (2022) and the new GCSE will be key to advancing inclusivity within education.

The study of BSL will enable students to develop ways of expressing and negotiating meaning through visual spatial language, communication and visual memory skills that will be an advantage to them for the rest of their lives.

As well as learning how to sign effectively, the GCSE will also give students an understanding of the history of sign language in the UK. This will provide a solid foundation for students’ understanding of how the language has reached its current form.

16/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Government takes action to strengthen local care systems [June 2023]
The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 14 June 2023.

The government has committed to a number of measures to support integrated care systems in response to 2 key reports.
Government publishes response to reviews on integrated care systems (ICSs)

National targets to be reviewed and streamlined to enable local health and care systems to focus on improving the health of local people

More effective care systems could help to cut waiting lists

The government has committed to a number of measures to support ICSs in response to 2 key reports.

Responding to the Hewitt Review which reported its findings on 4 April and the recent Health and Social Care Committee (HSCC) inquiry into the workings of the local health and care systems, the government reaffirmed its support for ICSs.

In its response, the Department of Health and Social Care outlines the steps it will take working with NHS England and local health and care systems, to support learning and improvement and join up care for patients and communities. As part of this the department will review and streamline national targets to ensure that systems are able to focus on improving health for their populations.

In line with the recommendations of the reviews, the government has also committed to:

continue supporting local systems to adapt to NHS England’s new operating framework, which lays out the new roles NHS England, ICSs and NHS providers will play in the wider health and care system

work with NHS England, local authorities and local health and care services to develop better information around funding for prevention services to inform future investment decisions

provide greater certainty over budgets for local health and care systems, by working to ensure reporting for small in-year funding pots is proportionate, freeing up time for planning and delivery of health and care to local people

The actions from the government’s response will support health and care systems to be more effective, making them a vital tool for improving the speed at which people will receive care in their local areas and in some cases reducing their need to be placed on an NHS waiting list where community support is available.

Government will be looking to take these commitments forward over the coming months, working with national partners and systems.

Minister for Care Helen Whately said:

Integrated care systems are already making a difference by bringing together local NHS organisations along with social care and the voluntary sector. We know that joined up care benefits patients and that’s exactly what ICSs are there to provide.

We have listened to the reports and the actions we’re going to take, like reviewing how we reduce admin burdens on local systems, will build on the excellent work that ICSs are already doing.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive, said:

Integrated care systems have the power to change the way the NHS provides care for people while working alongside local government to ensure people live healthier lives.

Health systems across the country are already making a real impact and we will continue to support local areas to improve outcomes for patients.

ICSs bring together NHS, local government, social care providers, charities and other partners to deliver on 4 goals:

improving outcomes in population health and healthcare

tackling inequalities in outcomes, experience and access

enhancing productivity and value for money

helping the NHS support broader social and economic development

Each ICS has an integrated care board that includes representatives from local authorities, primary care and NHS trusts and foundation trusts, who make decisions on commissioning health and care services in their local areas.

The Health and Social Care Committee launched its inquiry into ICSs in July 2022. Subsequently, the Health and Social Care Secretary commissioned Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt to lead a separate, independent review in November 2022, to examine how the oversight and governance of these systems can best enable them to succeed.

Both reviews covered ICSs in England including considering the NHS targets and priorities for which ICBs are accountable, including those set out in the government’s mandate to NHS England.

Drawing on the insights of leaders from across the NHS, local government, social care providers, the charitable and the voluntary and social enterprise sectors, the Hewitt review looked at how best to empower local leaders to focus on improving outcomes for their populations.

Background information

Government response to the HSCC report and the Hewitt Review on integrated care systems

Each ICS has an integrated care board (ICB), a statutory organisation responsible for developing a plan for meeting the health needs of the population, managing the NHS budget and arranging for the provision of health services in the ICS area. ICBs include representatives from local authorities, primary care and NHS trusts and foundation trusts.

Each ICS also has an integrated care partnership (ICP) that brings together a broad alliance of partners concerned with improving the care, health and wellbeing of the population. The ICP is responsible for producing an integrated care strategy on how to meet the health and wellbeing needs of the population in the ICS area.
16/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE : The UK is a proud champion of the rights of members of marginalised groups and is committed to defending them – UK statement at the Security Council [June 2023]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 14 June 2023.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council meeting on tolerance and international peace and security.

Thank you President. I am grateful to the UAE for convening this important meeting and I thank the Secretary-General, as well as the briefers for their valuable briefings.

President, respect for all human rights is and must be an essential beacon for our work in this Council.

Freedom of religion or belief, including the freedom not to have a religion, is a fundamental human right.

And yet, religious minorities have time and again been specifically targeted, including in conflict. This was a key finding of the report commissioned by the former UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt from the Bishop of Truro.

From the Yezidis in Iraq, to the Rohingya in Myanmar, to the recent case of the Baha’i in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, minorities are too often targeted on the grounds of religion or belief. Indeed, there is evidence that religious or belief minorities may avoid seeking humanitarian aid due to fear or intolerance. Including Sunni Muslims in Syria, Shi’a Hazara communities in Afghanistan and Christian communities in Nigeria.

When communities come under attack in situations of conflict, it is the role of this Council to address it. There is more we and the UN system can do to monitor incitement to violence against all minority communities in conflict. We should assure we have the tools in place for horizon scanning to address incitement and extremist rhetoric before it tips over into violence.

Religious communities and leaders have a responsibility to reject hate and extremism in their name which can fuel violence and conflict. They can also play a unique role in conflict prevention, reconciliation, and peacebuilding initiatives, including at the grassroots level, where interreligious and intercultural dialogue can help build trust and understanding between communities, and combat intolerance.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Wellby, who sits on the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Mediation addressed this Council in 2018 on the role religious institutions can play in fragile states in mediation and reconciliation.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland – a peace deal that Catholic and Protestant clergy helped deliver through mediation between adversaries. In Sierra Leone, the Inter-Religious Council was crucial to the signing of the Lomé Peace Accord which brought peace in 1999 after a decade of war. And in Mali, a country threatened by violent extremism, some Islamic figures have been working tirelessly in support of peace.

Women leaders are of course a crucial part of this: the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in conflict prevention and resolution, negotiations are more likely to succeed, and peace agreements be sustained. The Ecumenical Women Peacebuilders Network is a powerful example, a nationally recognised group of Catholic and Protestant women church leaders in Colombia who helped drive the 2016 peace accords. They now help foster reconciliation as former combatants return home. So we, as a Council, should ensure that UN peace efforts are making use of the leadership of women, religious leaders, youth and wider civil society.

President, human rights and freedom of expression must be at the heart of any attempt to advance freedom of religion and belief. Attempts to tackle intolerance will not be successful if they don’t prioritise inclusivity, equality and safeguard freedom of expression and opinion.

These principles are reflected in the resolution we have presented with our partners, the UAE, and which we hope will be adopted later today.

The UK is a proud champion of the rights of members of marginalised groups, including women and girls, and is committed to defending them.

Thank you.

16/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE : No sandeel fishing for 2023 in effort to protect marine ecosystem [June 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 14 June 2023.

UK fishermen will not be permitted to catch or swap any of the UK’s 5,773 tonnes of North Sea sandeel quota in 2023.

For the third consecutive year, the UK government has decided to not allow UK sandeel fishing for 2023 for the benefit of the wider marine ecosystem – such as seabirds and marine mammals – that feed on these eel-like fish.

This means that UK fishermen cannot catch or swap any of the pre-agreed quota for sandeel fishing in the North Sea – totalling 5,773 tonnes.

Sandeels are an important forage fish and dietary source for vulnerable seabirds, marine mammals and commercially valuable fish. Industrial fishing of sandeels is shown to have an impact on the health of these other species within the marine ecosystem.

Without effective fisheries management measures, loss of sandeels through commercial fishing could be detrimental to the breeding success and population resilience of certain UK seabirds which, as well as puffins, also include kittiwakes and razorbills.

Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said:

By not allowing the UK commercial fishing of sandeels, we can better protect and enhance the lives of vulnerable seabirds and marine mammals that play such a crucial part in our marine ecosystems.

Sandeels are an important component in the food chain for some of our most treasured species, such as puffins, and the decision to not allow sandeel fishing for a third year running will help benefit our seabird populations and allow wildlife to thrive.

The decision on the quota is part of the government’s wider efforts to protect sandeels, with a 12-week consultation held earlier this year to seek views on the future management of sandeels in English waters of the North Sea. The government response to the consultation will be published in due course.

The actions to support sandeels build on the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan to support biodiversity and allow wildlife to thrive. Under this plan, the government has committed to protecting 30% of our land and sea for nature and will launch a new multi-million pound Species Survival Fund targeted at protecting our rarest species.

16/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Work on £10 million flood defence set to begin on Essex coast [June 2023]
The press release issued by the Environment Agency on 14 June 2023.

Thousands of homes and businesses will be better-protected from flooding by new seawall.
The Environment Agency is set to begin a multi-million project to protect a vulnerable community on the Essex coast.

In the coming days, work will begin at Cockett Wick to strengthen and raise the seawall. More than 150 steel piles will be installed along with the construction of a new concrete wall and footpath to protect homes in Jaywick from flooding.

In excess of 14,000 tonnes of rock armour will also be placed on the sea-side of the defence to protect the strengthened wall from wave damage.

Together, the work will help to protect more than 3,000 properties and businesses. The changes will help to ensure this part of the Essex coast remains protected despite climate change and sea level-rise.

The defences are designed to be raised again in 50 years’ time to ensure another 50 years of protection, all while maintaining views of the sea.

John Lindsay, Essex coastal engineer for the Environment Agency, said:

We are already seeing the impacts of climate change in the UK and around the world. This is why urgent action is needed to adapt to the effect of the climate emergency. The work at Cockett Wick will help to continue to protect the local communities for decades to come.

Everyone should know their flood risk and sign up for free flood warnings by visiting gov.uk and search flood or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188. You can also follow @EnvAgencyAnglia on Twitter for the latest flood updates.

Regular drop-in sessions will take process throughout the project where residents will be able to find out how the work is progressing.

Throughout the construction work, it will be necessary to close the current access road that links Jaywick to the Martello Tower. During this time, an alternative access route will be provided via Hutleys Caravan Park, in Seawick. This will use a temporary road running behind the sea defences leading to a temporary car park at the Martello Tower.

Pedestrian access between Seawick and Jaywick will be maintained throughout the work. However, temporary footpath diversions will also be in place to the rear of the seawall for the duration of the work.

The Government’s investment in flooding has doubled to a record £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027, creating around 2,000 new flood and coastal defences to better protect hundreds of thousands of properties across England.

The contractor for this project is BAM Nuttall. They will also be providing updates on the project through their Facebook page.
16/06/2023
Chloe Smith – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

The speech made by Chloe Smith, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, at London Tech Week on 14 June 2023.

Thank you for that warm introduction, Alex [Webb].

And a big thanks to London Tech Week, not just for inviting me to join you today, but for hosting another outstanding event.

One that’s convened the best and brightest of the global tech sector, that’s showcased the very cutting-edge of British innovation, design and technology, and that’s brought together many of the world’s greatest thinkers to debate some of the most pressing questions of our digital age.

Founders Forum, Informa, London & Partners and Tech London Advocates all deserve credit for ensuring that this London Tech Week, now in its tenth year, has sent the strongest of signals – that when it comes to tech, the UK is fully open for business.

I’ve certainly seen that first-hand in the events I’ve been part of this week.

Whether it’s the relaunch of Silicon Valley Bank UK as HSBC Innovation Banking and the multi-million-pound investment it’s feeding into our home-grown Fintech, Life Sciences and Consumer businesses so they can scale up and grow.

Or in our announcement of a new MoU between Australia and the UK on diversifying telecoms. An agreement that will boost the roll out of more 5g networks and safe, secure, superfast broadband to communities even in the most far-flung of communities.

This week saw the announcement of our Smart Infrastructure Pilots Programme, helping councils in different parts of the country test new smart lamp posts that extend mobile coverage and increase connectivity for more homes and businesses than ever before.

My colleague Oliver Dowden and I also hosted over 80 Indo-Pacific business leaders from unicorns and scale-ups at the London Stock Exchange for the market close earlier this week. An invaluable opportunity to strengthen a long-standing trading relationship worth over 250 billion dollars and growing.

The UK Tech Sector’s Success

Everyone here knows that in recent years, the UK has become one of the most competitive countries in the world for tech.

We have the largest tech sector in Europe and the third largest in the world behind the US and China.

Last year, we became just the third country to date with a tech sector valued at $1trillion.

And it’s fair to say that when it comes to AI, Fintech and Bio-tech, the UK is consistently punching well above its weight, having created more billion dollar ‘Unicorn’ tech start-ups than Germany, France and Sweden combined.

Our unique combination of world class talent, R&D capability, and pro-enterprise regulation means the UK is the best place anywhere in the world in which to start and grow a tech business.

Growing the economy

It’s these businesses which are making people’s lives better, spurring growth and creating employment opportunities that will unlock the full potential of communities right across the UK.

Businesses such as Darktrace, who are using artificial intelligence to protect people against even the most sophisticated cyber-attacks…

Companies like Quantinuum, who are harnessing the immense power of quantum technologies to build machines that eclipse conventional computers.

Or semiconductor and software designers like Arm, in Cambridge. Pioneers in modern engineering and machine learning, whose CPUs are used in virtually all modern smartphones.

So, we’ve come a long way together.

But the Government is not complacent about what’s required to maintain the UK’s pole position in the global tech race.

We know that there has to be a steady pipeline of investment over the coming years and that’s exactly what we’re providing.

With £370 million of funding going towards five transformative technologies that are front and centre of the 21st century tech revolution: Quantum, AI, Bioengineering, Telecoms and Semiconductors.

Investment that will bring profound benefits to our society in converting household waste into biofuels, in developing the next generation of green, self-driving cars and enhancing road safety, in new gene editing technologies to personalise medicine and support the early detection of diseases.

Start-up businesses are being supported too through our £12 million Digital Growth Grant -run through Barclays Eagle Labs.

Funding for specialised support to accelerate the growth of at least 22,000 UK tech startups through mentoring sessions, market research and insights, and guidance for budding tech entrepreneurs.

We’re also fulfilling our commitment to spend £20 billion per annum in R&D by 2024/25 – with every £1 of public expenditure leveraging double the amount of private investment.

And we’re keeping our promise to level up all parts of our United Kingdom by increasing public investment outside the greater South East by over a third. It means that cities like Newcastle which are hotbeds for tech start-ups right now can share in the UK’s success too.

But you and I know that investment alone, however great, is no guarantee of success.

That’s why, back in March, my department’s published its Science and Technology Framework – a bold 10-point plan to keep the UK at the forefront of global science and technology this decade.

It’s a framework to ensure that researchers have access to the best physical and digital infrastructure that we leverage our post-Brexit freedoms to pursue pro-business regulation.

And that we continue to showcase the UK’s towering science and tech strengths both here at home and abroad.

It’s a Framework which recognises that innovation and technology are our future and are key to unlocking our long-term prosperity.

We recognise, too, that in order for the UK to stay ahead of the pack, we need to develop a whole tech ‘ecosystem’ supported by smarter regulation, a greater focus on skills and training, and long-term industry-backed strategies.

And I’m going to say more about what those ambitions look like in turn.

Regulation

When it comes to the regulatory environment, we said from the get-go that we wanted to make the UK a competitive, fair and open market for the tech industry.

And we believe our Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Bill is helping us make that vision a reality by creating a more dynamic digital economy.

It will ensure that businesses which rely on the biggest, most powerful tech firms, including the news publishing sector, are treated justly and aren’t strong armed with unfair terms and unfair contracts.

Smaller digital firms will also find it much easier to enter new markets, without being crowded out by the biggest firms.

And we’ve taken a similar, common-sense approach to the regulation of Artificial Intelligence.

Countries all over the world are thinking long and hard about how they should prepare for a technological change so fast and so significant that it could redefine the way we work and live our lives.

In contemplating AI, we’ve always said that governments must play their part to ensure the guard rails are there for this technology to develop in a safe, transparent and fair way.

And here in the UK, as the Prime Minister rightly asserted at the beginning of this week, our strategy on AI is to lead at home; to lead overseas; and to lead change in our public services as well.

We’ve committed to holding the first major global summit on AI safety this Autumn to develop an international framework. It will help ensure this technology develops in a reliable, safe and secure way.

That’s complemented by £100 million of start-up funding for our new Foundation Model Taskforce which the Prime Minister announced earlier this year. A taskforce responsible for accelerating the UK’s capability in rapidly emerging types of artificial intelligence so that we remain globally competitive.

We’ve published our AI White Paper showing how we intend to identify and address risks but also create a regulatory environment which fosters innovation and growth.

Instead of targeting specific technologies, it focuses on the context in which AI is deployed and enables us to take a balanced approach.

We recognise that using a chatbot, for example, to summarise a long article presents very different risks to using the same technology to provide medical advice. The rules governing one will be markedly different to the other.

And this flexibility runs throughout our White Paper with a commitment to work in close partnership with regulators and business on sensible, pragmatic rules.

Indeed, there’s still time for businesses and the public to join the debate on how we should best set the rules for regulating AI.

Our consultation closes [next Wednesday] and I would encourage anyone with an interest in helping us shape the regulatory environment for this technology to submit their responses.

Skills and talent

So, creating the right conditions for our tech industry to freely innovate is vital.

But so is ensuring the sector has access to the right talent and skills.

I want the next generation to be equipped with everything they need to compete and thrive in the global economy.

AI Scholarships

That’s one of the reasons why we set up the Digital Skills Council last year, to consult the views of industry leaders. And to encourage investment in employer-led initiatives focused on upskilling and digital apprenticeships.

That’s accompanied by a £30 million package to support a new generation of AI talent through scholarships, each worth £10,000 so that more young people can become masters in the technologies of tomorrow.

This funding supports conversion courses for a diverse group of non-STEM students, allowing them to gain an MA in Artificial Intelligence and data science.

UKRI Announcements

And that’s not the only way we’re driving forward big improvements in hands-on training and education.

Building on the Prime Minister’s announcement earlier this week of two new Turing AI World Leading Fellowships, my department is today announcing a £50 million package with UK Research and Innovation – funding for 42 new projects to explore the acceleration of responsible AI and machine learning.

We’re backing a consortium led by the University of Southampton, spanning the whole of the UK, to create an international research and innovation ecosystem for responsible and trustworthy AI.

And finally, we’re green-lighting a whole host of new UKRI projects for AI technologies that will help us reach our ambitious net zero targets.

Projects to help decarbonise our transport systems, integrating renewable energy sources like wind power to make our farms and our rural communities more self-sufficient and kinder to the environment.

Projects that will see a massive acceleration of energy efficient CO2 capture, especially in our new freeports and green freeports on the Scottish coast.

And projects that will develop AI solutions to improve our country’s resilience against flooding and severe weather, all while hastening our journey to Net Zero.

Research Ventures Catalyst

We want to continue diversifying how cutting-edge science is funded too.

With that in mind, I am delighted to announce that my department will shortly launch an open call for proposals to pilot new collaborative approaches for performing science in the UK.

Backed by up to £50 million of government funding to drive investment and partnership with industry and the third sector, we want to catalyse new ideas and new ways of working with the potential to deliver transformational breakthroughs.

We want to fund ideas that aren’t being adequately addressed elsewhere in the UK research landscape.

I encourage researchers and innovators across all fields to consider applying when our call for proposals opens in a few weeks.

Enabling core technologies

With the right investment, the right regulation, the right skills and talent, I believe the UK is primed for a new era of innovation and growth.

But to really shoot for the stars, we also need to do something else – we need to strategize for the long term.

We need to consult industry experts and reflect fully on how we want to see some of our core technologies evolving not just over the next one or two years but over the next ten to fifteen years.

Geospatial Strategy

If we take geospatial technology, for example, we know that here again the UK is already a global trendsetter.

We’re ranked second in the world for geospatial readiness and boast some of the best geospatial organisations going – Ordnance Survey, the Met Office and the UK Hydrographic Office, to say nothing of our brilliant research centres at universities like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Nottingham and Southampton.

We want all organisations to take full advantage of the latest developments in location data and services including mobile apps.

That’s why today I am announcing our new UK Geospatial Strategy 2030 to help us deliver on that objective and to secure the UK’s position as a geospatial world leader.

The strategy includes three missions.

The first is to embrace enabling technologies to accelerate geospatial innovation.

Using anonymised population movement data and satellite imagery to help us design new homes, integrated transport systems, and improve the sustainability of cities so they better meet the needs of residents. It could also help our emergency services improve response times with more accurate understanding of where assistance is needed in real-time.

The second mission is to drive greater use of geospatial applications and insights across the economy. Using location data, for example, to build a digital map of underground infrastructure so we can reduce disruption when pipes or cables need fixing, or to understand where we need to install more superfast charging points for long journeys with electric vehicles.

The third mission is to build confidence in the future geospatial ecosystem – increasing the UK’s international standing through bringing together countries from around the world to share knowledge and insights so that we move geospatial technology forwards together.

Conclusion

So that’s what lies ahead.

A government working hand in hand with our partners in industry, in academia, in global forums like London Tech Week to keep the UK at the forefront of this new digital frontier.

A government that will proudly champion our world-leading science and tech sectors to drive investment, to level up communities throughout our United Kingdom.

And to ensure that this growth translates into real improvements to people’s lives.

Whether it’s more high-skilled, high-paid jobs on their doorsteps, whether it’s new training and educational opportunities in the technologies of tomorrow, whether it’s better diagnoses and treatment of life-threatening diseases.

The UK is already the greatest tech and science success story of this decade. Together let’s make it a true tech and science superpower in the next decade and beyond.

Thank you.

16/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE : FCDO statement – arrest of Vietnamese climate advocate [June 2023]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 14 June 2023.

An FCDO spokesperson commented on the arrest of Vietnamese climate advocate Hoang Thi Minh Hong.

The United Kingdom is concerned by the arrest of Hoang Thi Minh Hong, former leader of environmental campaign group CHANGE. This is the latest in a pattern of arrests of environmental advocates in Vietnam.

The UK urges the Vietnamese authorities to respect all human rights, including the right to freedom of expression and association. We recognise the importance of civil society actors like CHANGE in securing sustainable and inclusive development for all.

We note that within the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), agreed in December 2022 between Vietnam and G7+ partners, the Government of Vietnam committed to consult NGOs, media and other stakeholders to ensure a broad social consensus. In line with this, environmental organisations and other advocates must be able to contribute meaningfully to climate and environmental policy making.

16/06/2023
Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2023 Speech at Bruegel Event

The speech made by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Minister of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, in Brussels on 14 June 2023.

The roll-out of clean energy technologies is the driver for new investment into critical minerals, which are of course at the heart of our global efforts to reach net zero.

Building this supply chain is the only way to address the climate crisis and complete our sprint towards net zero at the pace out planet needs us to.

The UK is committed to making global supply chains more resilient, secure, sustainable, and diverse, working closely with our partners around the world – including, of course, many of you here today.

We are particularly keen to increase collaboration with the EU and Member States, and I am glad of this opportunity to set out our priorities, and how the UK can support our common goals.

The publication of the detail for the proposed EU Critical Raw Materials Act is a welcome and important, step towards these shared goals. As the EU Member States and Parliament review the proposed legislation, the UK is keen to work with you.

We are keen to discuss the impacts of provisions as the policy develops. And we look forward to hearing more from the Commission on the design and purpose of the proposed Critical Raw Materials Club. It will be important to build on existing international initiatives, bringing together producers and end users.

We also hope the Club will foster co-operation to allow resource-rich developing countries to keep more of the benefits in their own countries, one of the great frustrations to date as a few countries have taken all the processing value.

The UK has significant strengths when it comes to critical minerals – this includes our industrial capabilities, academic expertise, and the City of London as the centre of global mining finance.

Allow me if I may to reflect on these in a little more detail.

The UK is proud to be home to some major players, including British chemicals company Johnson Matthey – the largest secondary refiner of Platinum Group Metals in the world, and one of the only companies with the facilities to recover iridium and ruthenium.

This is coupled with significant academic, research and development expertise across mining, geology and engineering, as well as monitoring and stress-testing supply chains. The British Geological Survey is a world leader in research that underpins policymaking, regulation and responsible investment.

The UK is also a global centre for mining finance and metals trading – the London Metal Exchange is one of the biggest in the world, with a large and influential community of traders, investors and advisors.

So, the UK is well-placed to convene dialogues between mining finance and metals trading communities – supporting the development of structured, effective markets that can deliver resilient and responsible supply chains right across Europe.

We are also leading in promoting ESG performance in global mineral supply chains, driven by our mining investor community. UK companies are leading the way in remote monitoring of ESG performance, through sensors and satellites.

The UK remains committed to working with the EU and its Member States, bringing our strengths to help in united efforts to achieve our shared goals, and I wish you fruitful discussions throughout the day.

16/06/2023
Gillian Keegan – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week 

The speech made by Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education, at London Tech Week on 14 June 2023.

Good morning,

I’d like to start by wishing London Tech Week a happy 10th birthday. So, 10 years, an awful lot happens in tech in 10 years, even in 2 years…

10 years ago, for instance, Goldsmiths, University of London had just published a study that said 1 in 5 Brits were so worried about privacy that they wanted to ban Google’s new wearable tech Google Glass.

Fast forward to the present day, we seem to have got over somewhat our reservations about sharing and tracking data, even if we didn’t all get behind Google Glass.

Last year the market for wearable tech was worth around $61billion and is expected to grow 15% a year between now and 2030.

But, as you know, the tech revolution isn’t just helping us to track our daily steps – it’s transformed every aspect of the way we live and the way we work.

Take farming – it’s hardly the first industry you think of when you think of tech, but this week I was learning about how farmers are now using satellite imaging to analyse crop quality, and data modelling to predict when to move their livestock from one field to another to get the best grazing. Another example is medicine, where simulations in interactive wards help train the nurses and doctors of tomorrow. The speed, cost and increasingly ubiquitous nature of tech is extraordinary.

I recently visited City of Liverpool College, where they have a mind-blowing state-of-the-art Mo-Cap or motion capture suite which is used to develop the next generation of games and animated films as well as many other utilities across business.

When Walt Disney was creating animations in the 1930s, every second of film involved 20-30 drawings. The speed at which Mo-Cap allows current animators to produce content is breath-taking.

Tech is reaching further and deeper than ever before.

But if we are to harness its potential, our workforce has to be flexible and ready. Upskilling so that we can use tech to its full potential is one of the biggest challenges we face if we are to keep our economy growing and competitive in a global context.

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world around us and will help grow the economy. The workforces that are best equipped in AI with the skills they need will be the ones that ride the wave. We must make sure education is not left behind.

For that potential to be realised, we need to understand the opportunities, as well as the real risks new technology brings.

That’s why we want to kick-start a conversation with experts from across education and technology to hear their views and learn from their experiences.

From today we are opening a call for evidence, seeking the views and experiences of business leaders like you on the use of generative artificial intelligence. The scope of this review includes Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and others. We are also seeking views on the benefits and concerns around its use in education.

And this will help us make the right decisions to get the best out of generative AI in a safe and secure way. So, I ask you, please, get involved with this conversation.

Your experience and insights are essential to our mission to create an agile and responsive skills system, which delivers the skills needed to support a world-class workforce and drive economic growth.

The UK is already a world leader in technology with the largest tech sector in Europe and the third largest in the world. We have a focus on the key growth sectors of digital, green industries, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and creative industries, which is where we really excel. How are we going to make sure we stay ahead of the curve and are not playing catch-up? That will be the challenge for everyone in this room.

In March this year, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published a framework that sets out our approach to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030.

We want to make sure there are more opportunities for people to enter the science and technology workforce.

One of the reasons I went back to study in my 40s was because there’d been a digital tech revolution and I wanted to understand how to deal with it. Suddenly harvesting data about your customers was way more valuable than the actual product or service you were selling. I needed to take the time to understand this change and I spent a year at London Business School to upskill myself.

For this reason, IT technicians and data scientists are among the professions that are going to be in very high demand, and we have already started to expand routes to these careers by investing in education at all levels to meet the need for these skills.

Take T levels for example, T standing for tech. Thanks to our close relationship with industry, young people now have far more options to get further qualifications or into actual jobs.

Yandiya Technologies for example, are among our T level flagbearers. They make sustainable heating solutions. They take T Level students on industry placements, 45-days, and they have done that for the past two years. They now have five apprentices, two of them purely as a result of these T Levels programmes. They are using T levels to make sure they get the pick of the crop. And many smart employers will do the same.

But getting the skills that lead to great jobs isn’t just for young people. There is already a shortage of people who are coming into computing professions and this gap will only get bigger.

Thanks to a skills bootcamp in coding, Dan Watson was able to upskill from a career as personal trainer to one as a digital project manager for tech company Wise. He said the experience was ‘priceless’ and has enabled him to future-proof his career.

We have bootcamps all across the country in many different areas, including digital, which is the most popular bootcamp.

Let’s not forget that worldwide there’s a massive need for more software engineers… 40 million of them. That’s equal to the entire population of Poland.

If you think this sounds alarming, by 2030 this gap is expected to reach 85 million – bigger than Germany’s current population.

Although AI will also have an impact on these numbers.

This is why we have created the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce. Its role will be to spot what computing and digital skills are needed for the economy, where the gaps are now, and what they’re likely to be in the future and how technology may change these.

Most importantly the taskforce will make it easier for students to choose computing and digital pathways at school, colleges, Institutes of Technology and universities and we have invested over £100 million in the National Centre for Computing Education.

To navigate these changes, we are determined to ensure that education and business work really closely together. The taskforce will call on a number of industry experts, from cyber security, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and big data.

We have 12 Institutes of Technology across the country today with nine more in the pipeline. They are currently working with over a 100 employer partners, including world-leading businesses such as Microsoft, Nissan, Bosch, Babcock, Fujitsu, Siemens and many, many more. This number will continue to grow, ensuring we deliver the STEM skills that the industry needs – now and for the future. We’ve also made it easier for employers to recruit apprentices, as well as introducing a new Level 7, a masters level Apprenticeship Standard in AI and data science.

I’ve already mentioned T Levels and we’re rolling out more of them including additional digital routes. Eleven T Levels are now available in STEM subjects, including Digital Business Services, which includes specialist content on data analysis.

Digital skills matter. As tech accelerates, they’re likely to become as important to a person’s employability as English and maths, eventually being on a level pegging with those two core subjects. This will be the cornerstone of how we prepare people for the world of work.

As part of these reforms, from September students will be able to study our new Digital Functional Skills Qualifications. These will provide a benchmark of digital skills for employers and will give everybody the opportunity to get the full range of essential digital skills they need to participate actively in life, work and society.

Whether you’re a business or an investor, I want to assure you our workforce will be ready for the future, whatever that future looks like.

Tim Berners Lee once said “The web as I envisage it? We have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.”

For me, that is a challenge but an exciting one.

None of us has a crystal ball but one thing I can promise you, we won’t be settling for anything less than a world-leading role.

Last night it was announced that a French start-up developing generative AI products has raised a record-breaking seed funding of over 100 million euros. The start-up is only one month old.

We have innovation woven into our DNA in this country, but in the global tech race, we can’t afford to slow down. We must work together now to ensure that UK companies and organisations are at the forefront of AI and technological developments, and in the best possible position to take advantage of the transformative opportunities that these generate.

The Department for Education is ready for that challenge, and we will be there as you face that challenge too.

Thank you very much.

16/06/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Police given clarity to act quickly on disruptive slow marching [June 2023]

The press release issued by the Home Office on 14 June 2023.

Home Secretary delivers on government pledge to support the police to tackle disruptive slow marching protest tactics.

A clearer definition of ‘serious disruption’ will stop slow marching protesters causing hours of delay and distress to the public from tomorrow (15 June).

This will further clarify existing public order laws to help the police respond to new highly disruptive protest tactics like slow marching.

156 of these highly disruptive protests have taken place in London since April. While the right to peaceful protest remains a cornerstone of our democracy, causing traffic to halt, delaying people getting to work and distracting the police from fighting crime will not be tolerated.

Police officers can now assess the cumulative impact of protests on the community over a period of time, rather than treating each incident in isolation. This will give officers the authority to move quickly and firmly to stop this campaign of disruption, ensuring Londoners, commuters and tourists can move freely around the capital without delay.

A handful of protestors have swallowed up almost 13,770 police shifts, deliberately burdening police time and keeping officers from our neighbourhoods where they are really needed.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

The public are sick of Just Stop Oil’s selfish and self-defeating actions, which achieve nothing towards their cause.

Chief Constables and I agree that police officers should be out fighting crime. They shouldn’t be forced to stand by as protestors block our roads and the public shouldn’t have to take matters in their own hands.

This new definition of serious disruption means police can stop slow marchers, to reclaim our right to get to work, hospital and go about our daily lives.

Chief Constable BJ Harrington, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for public order and public safety said:

Our priority is always to keep people safe and in every decision around policing public order and protests we must balance the right to freedom of expression with the right to tackle crime so we can ensure public safety. Policing is not anti-protest, but we are anti-crime.

We welcome clearer definition of serious disruption provided by parliament in this statutory instrument as this will help officers to take proportionate action when it is necessary.

The law has been amended today and will take effect from tomorrow. It comes following scrutiny and approval by the House of Commons and Lords, empowering officers to take action swiftly and spend more time protecting our communities.

The move supports the Public Order Act 2023, which brought in new criminal offences and proper penalties for disruptive protest acts such as locking on. Repeat offenders can be hit by the courts with a Serious Disruption Prevention Order, seeing them face six months in prison if they try to disrupt lives again.

16/06/2023