Category: Press Releases

PRESS RELEASE : Government announces plan to ensure fairness and transparency across pig sector supply chain [April 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 6 April 2023.

Regulation for written contracts will provide fairness and certainty for the sector.

The government has today (Thursday 6th April) provided a boost to the UK’s pig sector by committing to regulate pig contracts to support the supply chain and provide greater certainty across the whole sector.

These new regulations will help to bring stability and security to the pig supply chain, strengthening the sector’s ability to deal with the challenges currently being faced around the world, such as rising costs and labour shortages caused by global pressures.

The move follows a public consultation last year, which received nearly 400 responses from producers, processors and others in the supply chain. It revealed popular sentiment in the sector that legally required written contracts would remove uncertainty and ambiguity, with the majority of respondents supporting the governments approach to implement this through legislation.

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said:

“The pig sector has faced unprecedented challenges over the last year, with rising costs and global labour shortages putting real pressure on producers and processors.

“We are committed to working with the sector, and the regulations set to be introduced will ensure fairness and transparency across the supply chain – from pig to pork to plate – to help the sector to thrive in the future.”

The regulations will be developed using the regulation-making power in section 29 of the Agriculture Act 2020, with further engagement with industry to ensure that they meet the needs of the sector and properly address the challenges the sector faces.

As well as regulation on written contracts, the government will develop regulations to collect and share more supply chain data, particularly in relation to wholesale price transparency and national slaughter numbers. Increasing the availability of this sort of data within the supply chain will help market reporting services be more reflective of the entire UK market, and will therefore help to further reduce ambiguity for all within the supply chain.

The consultation has also revealed pig producers’ concerns about market consolidation in the processing sector, and the impact this has had on producers. In response to this, the government will be sharing the consultation’s findings relating to the alleged negative consequences of market consolidation with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

07/04/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Children aged 6 months to 4 years in clinical risk groups to be offered COVID-19 vaccine, says JCVI [April 2023]

The press release issued by the UK Health Security Agency on 6 April 2023.

Committee recommends COVID-19 vaccine for children with underlying medical conditions.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that clinically vulnerable children aged 6 months to 4 years should be offered a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

Although young children are generally at low risk of developing severe illness from COVID-19, infants and young children who have underlying medical conditions are over 7 times more likely to be admitted to paediatric intensive care units.

Over one million children aged 6 months to 4 years in the US have received at least one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine since June 2022. Data from the US showed the most common side effects reported were similar to those seen with other vaccines given in this age group, such as irritability or crying, sleepiness, and fever.

In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) first authorised use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 6 months to 4 years on 6 December 2022.

Following that authorisation, the JCVI has advised that children aged 6 months to 4 years who are in a clinical risk group should be offered the vaccine. The JCVI does not currently advise COVID-19 vaccination of children aged 6 months to 4 years who are not in a clinical risk group.

Eligible children should be offered 2 doses of the vaccine, with an interval of 8 to 12 weeks between the first and second doses.

NHS England has confirmed it will begin offering vaccinations to those eligible in England from mid-June. Parents should wait to be contacted before coming forward.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of the JCVI’s COVID-19 Committee, said:

For the vast majority of infants and children, COVID-19 causes only mild symptoms, or sometimes no symptoms. However, for a small group of children with pre-existing health conditions it can lead to more serious illness and, for them, vaccination is the best way to increase their protection.

Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said:

COVID-19 is still in circulation, with thousands of new cases reported every week. The extra protection offered by the vaccine could be important for young children in clinical risk groups, who are at greater risk of severe illness. The virus is not going away so I would encourage all parents to bring their child forward if they are eligible. Parents should wait to be contacted by their local health professionals.

07/04/2023
PRESS RELEASE : The UK signals a boost in investment and trade and urges an end to conflict in Cameroon [April 2023]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 6 April 2023.

The UK Minister for Development and Africa, Rt. Hon. Andrew Mitchell MP, has reaffirmed UK support to Cameroonian trade and infrastructure and discussed the devastating impacts of Cameroon’s conflicts including the human rights situation during a two-day visit.

The Minister saw the impacts of British investment in Cameroon, visiting a major road in the commercial capital, Douala, which is receiving £113 million in funding from UK Export Finance to support its expansion. Due to this important UK support, the critical transportation corridor between Douala and Yaounde, and on into central Africa, is being greatly improved, bringing more and quicker trade to more people.

The UK is committed to deepening its partnership with Cameroon to enhance economic prosperity, with leaders from the country invited to attend the UK-African Investment Summit to be held in London in April 2024.

The Minister met with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and discussed the most pressing challenges faced in providing humanitarian assistance to victims of the devastating conflict in the Northwest and Southwest.

Over the past five years, the UK has delivered more than £20 million of humanitarian life-saving assistance funding to Cameroon. Meeting with experts from the Education Cannot Wait programme, the Minister discussed how UK funding, through the UN, is supporting urgent education for children affected by conflict, helping those who cannot access school to get an education.

The UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell said:

During my third visit to Cameroon, but first as a Minister rather than a businessman, I was struck by the depth of our relationship and how our two countries are working on a range of issues important to both nations.

The long-term partnership between the UK and Cameroon is underpinned by important development and security cooperation, as well as trade, investment and education and of course our ties within the Commonwealth. We have been a strong humanitarian donor over many years, particularly in response to the conflict in the predominantly Anglophone Northwest and Southwest Regions. The UK continues to urge for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

High-level discussions were held with the Prime Minister Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, focussing on the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions, and the conflict in the Far North Region and Lake Chad area, where the UK military provides valuable training.

07/04/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Record doctors and nurses working in the NHS helping to cut waiting lists [April 2023]
The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 6 April 2023.

Latest data shows there are more doctors, nurses and staff than ever before working in the NHS.
- Government on track to deliver on commitment for 50,000 more nurses by 2024, with over 41,000 more nurses compared to September 2019
- New pension rules also come into force today to support senior clinicians to continue working in the NHS for longer
There are record number of doctors and nurses working in the NHS in England helping to deliver extra appointments, speed up diagnoses and cut waiting lists, according to the latest stats.

Data published today by NHS Digital shows in January 2023 there were almost 1.27 million full-time equivalent staff working in NHS trusts and commissioning bodies in England – over 48,700 more people compared to a year ago, an increase of 4%.

The latest data also shows there were over 5,100 more doctors and over 11,800 more nurses working in the NHS compared to January 2022.

Since 2010, there are now over 37,700 more doctors and over 52,400 more nurses working in the NHS. The government is also on track to deliver on its commitment for 50,000 more nurses by 2024, with over 41,000 more nurses compared to September 2019.

Separately, reforms to public sector pensions announced at Budget come into force today which will increase the annual tax-free pension allowance from £40,000 to £60,000 and remove the lifetime allowance charge. These changes will ensure doctors are not disincentivised from remaining in their NHS roles or taking on extra hours, meaning more expertise will be retained so we can continue treating patients and helping to cut waiting lists.

This is alongside wider changes to the NHS Pension Scheme to make retirement more flexible and support staff to remain in work for longer. These changes include allowing retired and partially retired staff to return to work or increase their working hours without having payments to their pension reduced or suspended, fixing the unintended impacts of inflation so senior clinicians are not taxed more than necessary and ensuring staff can continue to access the scheme when working in Primary Care Networks.

Around 22,000 senior NHS clinicians could exceed the previous £40,000 annual allowance in 2023/24 and around 31,000 clinicians have reached at least 75% of the £1.073 million lifetime allowance.

These changes will mean more senior clinicians will be incentivised to stay in the workforce and work as many hours as they want, helping boost the workforce as the NHS continues to tackle the backlogs.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, said:

It’s crucial we have a sustainable workforce as we build a stronger, healthier NHS for the long term with patients at its centre.

We are making progress in training and recruiting a record number of staff – with over 48,700 more compared to a year ago and the NHS will soon publish a workforce plan focused on recruiting and retaining more staff.

Today’s pension changes will also help boost numbers of senior clinicians – so we can continue delivering high quality care for patients.

NHS England will publish a comprehensive workforce strategy this year to help recruit and retain more staff, with independently verified forecasts for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in five, 10 and 15 years’ time.
07/04/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Mentoring and coaching company Lighthouse International Group shut down for financial irregularities [April 2023]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 6 April 2023.

Lighthouse International Group Holdings Trading LLP has been wound-up in the public interest by the High Court following an Insolvency Service investigation.

Lighthouse was incorporated in 2012, and purported to offer life coaching services as well as mentoring, career and business development services. It promised on its website that customers subscribing to its products and services would be able to “optimise results in your life, in direct proportion to your investment of time, money and effort”.

Customers who subscribed to the service paid substantial sums as identified from analysis of Lighthouse’s bank accounts. Between August 2014 and July 2022 Lighthouse received over £2.4m in income from customers. From this income at least half was paid over to Paul Waugh, a Lighthouse member over a four-year period, and smaller amounts were paid to other members.

The court found that Lighthouse failed to deliver up its trading and financial records, as required by law, during the Insolvency Service investigation. Therefore, the investigators were unable to fully determine the exact nature of its business activities or verify Lighthouse’s account provided in proceedings that it had operated as a “research community” that had never launched its work as a viable business. Lighthouse was also found to have filed misleading or false accounts. The accounts filed recorded that over a 9 year period it had nil assets or liabilities suggestive that it had not traded.

Lighthouse, and its members failed to fully co-operate with the Insolvency Service’s investigation.

Edna Okhiria, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service said:

Lighthouse and its members refused to co-operate with our investigation and the court rightly agreed to wind up the partnership.

Paul Waugh’s efforts to obstruct our work were deemed ‘unacceptable’ and ‘deliberate’ by the judge, who also commended the investigation team for its professionalism. Where we find evidence that directors or partners are failing to adhere to their statutory obligations, for example failing to maintain adequate records, we will seek to have them wound-up in the public interest.

As a result, Lighthouse International Group Holdings Trading LLP was wound-up in the public interest in the High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts by Deputy Judge Jones on 28 March 2023. The Official Receiver has been appointed as Liquidator of the LLP and has a statutory duty to investigate the conduct of all current and former partners as part of the Liquidation proceedings.

07/04/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Time set for UK Emergency Alerts test [April 2023]
The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 6 April 2023.

National test of Emergency Alerts will take place at 3pm on Sunday 23 April.
Message will be received on 4G and 5G mobile phones, along with sound and vibration for up to 10 seconds

Emergency Alerts enable urgent messages to be broadcast to a defined area when there is an imminent risk to life, such as wildfires or severe flooding

Brings UK in line with other countries such as the US and Canada who use the system

A UK-wide of the life-saving public Emergency Alerts system will take place at 3pm on Sunday 23 April.

Following successful pilots in East Suffolk and Reading, the test of the new Emergency Alerts system will see people receive a message on the home screen of their mobile phone, along with a sound and vibration for up to ten seconds.

For the test, the public does not need to take any action – the sound and vibration will stop automatically after ten seconds. All people need to do is swipe away the message or click ‘OK’ on their phone’s home screen – just like for a ‘low battery’ warning or notification – and continue to use their phone as normal.

Emergency Alerts have already been used successfully in a number of other countries, including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, where it has been widely credited with saving lives, for example, during severe weather events. In the UK, alerts could be used to tell residents of villages being encroached by wildfires, or of severe flooding.

The Government has worked together with the emergency services and partners, including the Football Association and London Marathon, to make sure the national test has minimum impact on major events taking place on the day.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden MP, said:

Put the date in your diaries – at 3pm on 23 April, we’ll be testing our new national Emergency Alerts system.

Getting this system operational with the national test means we have another tool in our toolkit to keep the public safe in life-threatening emergencies. It could be the sound that saves your life.

Chair of The National Fire Chiefs Council, Mark Hardingham, said:

We must use every tool at our disposal to keep people safe, and we need everyone to play their part – and the new Emergency Alerts system is one way we can do this. For 10 seconds, the national test may be inconvenient for some, but please forgive us for the intrusion, because the next time you hear it – your life, and the life-saving actions of our emergency services, could depend on it.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Civil Contingencies, Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill said:

Warning and informing the public at speed during times of crises can be vital. We look forward to further developing the use of the Emergency Alerts capability and how it can have real benefits for the public to protect and preserve life, as well as supporting policing’s wider response to critical incidents with partner agencies. Alongside partners, we will continue to listen carefully to public feedback and ensure the use of Emergency Alerts has a positive impact.

Emergency Alerts will transform the UK’s warning and informing capability; by working with mobile broadcasting technology it will provide a means to get urgent messages quickly to nearly 90 percent of mobile phones in a defined area when there is a risk to life, and provide clear instructions about how best to respond.

Best practice of Emergency Alerts in other countries have shown that they work more effectively in a real emergency if people have previously received a test, so they know what an alert looks and sounds like.

The system will be used very rarely – only being sent where there is an immediate risk to people’s lives – so people may not receive an alert for months or years.

You can find out further information on Emergency Alerts, including what they look and sound like at gov.uk/alerts
06/04/2023

PRESS RELEASE : Nearly £50 million boost for safer roads across England [April 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Transport on 6 April 2023.

Road safety improvements will be made to 27 of the most high-risk roads in England, which will help prevent fatal and serious injuries.

£47.5 million government investment to improve safety of 27 of the country’s most dangerous roads
from the Isle of Wight to Newcastle, road users across England will benefit from road safety improvements with 50% funding uplift
investment will prevent over 750 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years, with £420 million benefit to society

Drivers, passengers and cyclists across England will benefit from a £47.5 million injection into enhancing the safety of some of the most high-risk roads in England, the Department for Transport confirmed today (6 April 2023).

Through the third round of the Safer Roads Fund, 27 new schemes will be delivered, benefiting road users around the country by driving forward safety improvements such as:

re-designing junctions
improving signage and road markings

The programme will reduce the risk of collisions which will in turn reduce congestion, journey times and emissions.

As part of the fund, government is continuing to deliver a wide range of improvements across all roads, while working with local authorities and safety groups.

To date, £100 million has been provided through the programme to improve the 50 most dangerous roads in England, the majority of which are rural roads.

Some of the improvements already made include improved signage, safer pedestrian crossings and better designed junctions.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:

Britain’s roads are some of the safest in the world, but we are always looking at ways to help keep drivers and all road users safe.

We’re injecting £47.5 million so that local councils around the country have the support they need to keep everyone safe, while reducing congestion and emissions and supporting local economies.

The allocation of £47.5 million to 27 different schemes has been based on data independently surveyed and provided by the Road Safety Foundation. The data analysed is based on a road safety risk, looking at data on those killed and seriously injured alongside traffic levels.

The previous rounds of the Safer Roads Fund programme focused on treating the 50 highest-risk local ‘A road’ sections in England with enhanced road safety engineering interventions. The scheme is set to prevent around 1,450 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years.

According to Road Safety Foundation analysis, early estimates suggest that the £47.5 million investment should prevent around 760 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years, with a benefit to society of £420 million.

Once the whole life costs are factored in for the schemes, the overall benefit cost ratio of the investment is estimated at 7.4, meaning for every £1 invested the societal benefit would be £7.40.

Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation said:

The commitment and funding announced today is transformational for road safety teams in local authorities across the country. It will allow them to proactively reduce risk and make these 27 roads safer and more inviting for all road users.

Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example seatbelts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen. In the same way we can design roads safely so when crashes occur, people can walk away. This can be done by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross hatchings to add space between vehicles which provides safer junctions like roundabouts, or adding signalisation and / or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling.

This additional investment builds on the government’s plans to recruit a specialised team of inspectors to build the country’s first ever Road Safety Investigation Branch. The team will look at how and why incidents happen and build an enhanced understanding of how we can better mitigate collisions.

It also follows the actions government has already taken to improve road safety, including:

banning any use of handheld mobile phones behind the wheel
updating the Highway Code to introduce a hierarchy of road users, which places road users most at risk in the event of a collision at the top of the hierarchy

The 27 schemes receiving funding from the Safer Roads Fund 3 are:

Road	Local authority	Funding
A586	Blackpool Council	£1,000,000
A35	Bournemouth Borough Council	£1,890,625
A2010	Brighton and Hove City Council	£600,000
A52	Derby City	£475,000
A104	Essex County Council	£1,360,000
A35	Hampshire County Council	£6,040,000
A5183	Hertfordshire County Council	£1,800,000
A165	Hull City Council	£2,990,625
A3056	Isle of Wight Council	£2,140,000
A5105	Lancashire County Council	£920,000
A5038	Liverpool City Council	£859,375
A186	Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council	£3,650,000
A6130	Nottingham City Council	£950,000
A609	Nottingham City Council	£475,000
A4158	Oxfordshire County Council	£800,000
A4165	Oxfordshire County Council	£875,000
A2047	Portsmouth City Council	£1,300,000
A6022	Rotherham Metro. Borough Council	£750,000
A6042	Salford City Council	£743,750
A4030	Sandwell Metro. Borough Council	£750,000
A625	Sheffield City Council	£1,425,000
A3025	Southampton City Council	£875,000
A13	Southend-on-Sea Council	£3,425,000
A1156	Suffolk County Council	£1,275,000
A25	Surrey County Council	£1,800,000
A439	Warwickshire County Council	£1,320,000
A3102	Wiltshire Council	£6,980,000

Total: £47,569,375

06/04/2023

PRESS RELEASE : Vessel to accommodate migrants [April 2023]

The press release issued by the Home Office on 5 April 2023.

The Home Office has announced that a barge in Portland Port, Dorset, will accommodate migrants.

A berthed vessel will, for the first time, accommodate asylum seekers in the UK. It will reduce the reliance on expensive hotels and deliver a more orderly, cost effective and sustainable asylum accommodation system.

Today (Wednesday 5 April), the Home Office has announced that an accommodation barge in Portland Port, Dorset will be used to reduce the unsustainable pressure on the UK’s asylum system and cut the cost to the taxpayer caused by the significant increase in Channel crossings. Currently hotel accommodation for asylum seekers is costing £6 million a day.

This is an important step in progressing the Prime Minister and Home Secretary’s priority to stop the boats. Last week the government announced that surplus military sites will also be used to accommodate migrants who have entered the UK illegally on small boats. This is part of the wider efforts to secure alternative, more appropriate accommodation than expensive hotels. This comes alongside the return of the landmark Illegal Migration Bill, which is designed to stop the Channel crossings by ending illegal entry to the UK and ensuring that those who do come here illegally will be detained and swiftly removed.

The barge, called the Bibby Stockholm, will be berthed in Portland Port and will accommodate about 500 single adult males whilst their asylum claims are processed. It will provide basic and functional accommodation, and healthcare provision, catering facilities and 24/7 security will be in place on board, to minimise the disruption to local communities. People whose claims are refused and have exhausted their appeal rights will be removed from the UK.

The use of vessels for accommodation brings the UK in line with other countries around Europe, for example in the Netherlands where migrants have successfully been accommodated on vessels. The Scottish Government have also used vessels for Ukrainian refugees.

Migrants are due to be moved onto the Bibby Stockholm in the coming months. The Home Office is in discussions with other ports and further vessels will be announced in due course.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said:

The Home Secretary and I have been clear that the use of expensive hotels to house those making unnecessary and dangerous journeys must stop. We will not elevate the interests of illegal migrants over the British people we are elected to serve.

We have to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing – including the use of barges and ferries to save the British taxpayer money and to prevent the UK becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe.

All accommodation will meet our legal obligations and we will work closely with the local community to address their concerns, including through financial support.

Chief Executive of Portland Port, Bill Reeves, said:

We are keen to play our part in the national effort to house some of the thousands of people needing accommodation.

We encourage everyone in the community to approach this with an open mind and help us show other areas just how successful this type of initiative can be, both for the migrants and the local community.

There will be close co-operation with local agencies, including the health and emergency services during the preparations for the vessel’s arrival and its operation. We will also work closely with local community and voluntary groups.

Bibby Stockholm will be operational for at least 18 months and stay berthed in the port during that time.

Use of alternative accommodation such as vessels are not only more cost effective than hotels, but they are more manageable and orderly for communities and offers employment opportunities in the broader area to support the vessel.

We are working closely with Portland Port, the local authority and key partners to make sure appropriate arrangements are in place, including liaising with local police.

The government recognises that using alternative sites and vessels involves difficult decisions, but urgent action is needed to reduce expensive hotel use, with the sites providing much needed accommodation.

06/04/2023
PRESS RELEASE : Proposed measures to strengthen UK fuel supply chain [April 2023]
The press release issued by the Department for Transport on 5 April 2023.

Have your say on increasing the weight limit for fuel tankers.
- new proposals considered for fuel tankers to operate at full capacity, securing the supply of fuel to UK forecourts and depots
- consultation will ensure constant fuel supply at forecourts without adding larger tankers on roads
- follows continued action to bolster supply chains and keep the country moving
The government is consulting on whether fuel tankers should be allowed to carry more fuel in a move designed to further strengthen the UK’s fuel supply chain.

Have your say on increasing the weight limit for fuel tankers.

The consultation launched today (5 April 2023), will explore whether fuel tankers will be allowed to carry more fuel in the eventuality of disruption to the fuel supply chain to help ensure car, bus and lorry drivers can always fill up with confidence.

Most fuel tankers operate with spare tank capacity due to the existing 44 tonne weight limit. The potential to allow tankers to operate to their full design train weight could increase the efficiency of the fuel supply chain by approximately 6%.

The measure would enable more fuel to be carried using the same vehicles, helping to safeguard a strong fuel supply chain as the government continues to grow the economy.

Roads Minister Richard Holden said:

Thanks to the government’s bold measures to support the sector, our country has now an even stronger haulage supply chain.

We will continue to work with and listen to the sector to ensure our forecourts are always well stocked and motorists can fill up with confidence.

Safety will be at the heart of the consultation, and any increase in fuel capacity would apply only to fuel tankers equipped with appropriate safety features, such as vehicle stability functionality and advanced emergency braking systems.

Routes to be used by these heavier tankers would have to be agreed in advance to ensure the road infrastructure can accommodate the fuel tankers operating at full capacity.

An assessment of the proposals by National Highways indicates that the increase in safety risks would be extremely small and any risk of infrastructure damage would be effectively managed.

This follows the government’s 33 actions already taken to tackle the HGV driver shortage and to protect the supply chain. This included;
- making 11,000 HGV driver training places available through Skills Bootcamps
- injecting a major and sustained boost to the number of HGV driver tests available
- investing £52.5 million in improvements in roadside facilities and lorry parking
As a result, new HGV drivers are taking and passing their driving test in record numbers. Between March 2022 and May 2022, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) carried out 29,384 HGV tests – 54% more than the corresponding period in 2019 before the pandemic.
05/04/2023
PRESS RELEASE : UK Government publishes draft proposals for new border controls [April 2023]
The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 5 April 2023.

The UK Government, in collaboration with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, has published its plan to strengthen our borders against biosecurity threats and illegal imports.
- Draft Border Target Operating Model sets out proposals for a new world-class border system to provide protection from security and biosecurity threats
- Government will engage with industry for six weeks before publishing final version later this year
- Model is backed by over a £1 billion investment in border transformation across this spending review period
The UK Government, in collaboration with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, has today (5 April) published its plan to strengthen our borders against biosecurity threats and illegal imports. The draft Border Target Operating Model sets out a plan to realise the ambition of the 2025 Border Strategy to create the most effective border in the world.

The draft has been devised following extensive engagement with the Border Industry and businesses across the UK. A six week engagement period will now take place, with the final Target Operating Model to be published later this year.

The border transformation is backed by over a £1 billion investment across this spending review period, to improve how government systems and technology support the movement of goods and people across the border.

The proposed new model will prevent delays at the border through a reduction in the need for physical checks for many types of goods, and by ensuring that checks take place away from ports where this is needed to allow traffic to flow freely.

The proposals in the Target Operating Model apply to imports from all countries. These controls will ensure our environment is protected, deliver food that is safe to eat whilst maintaining security of supply for consumers, and disrupt criminal activity before it can harm our communities.

Biosecurity is vital in an increasingly uncertain world and the full controls will mean that we can protect ourselves against known and unknown threats. The controls will protect consumers, businesses, and the economy as a whole against disease threats such as African Swine Fever and Xylella.

The proposed Target Operating Model secures Great Britain’s borders against such threats while making it as easy as possible to do business. To limit the burden on businesses, our new proposed risk-based global model will use data and technology to simplify and streamline import trade processes.

Central to this proposed model is the new Single Trade Window, delivered from 2023 to be fully operational by 2027. This technology will streamline processes for traders, who will only need to submit information once and in one place.

The government will also test further simplified processes by piloting an ambitious programme of trusted trader assurance schemes.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, said:

The publication of our draft Border Target Operating Model is a huge step forward for the safety, security and efficiency of our borders. Our proposals strike a balance between giving consumers and businesses confidence while reducing the costs and friction for businesses, which in turn will help to grow the economy.

Biosecurity Minister Lord Benyon said:

It is vital that we have strong border controls in place. Invasive diseases could cost our farms and businesses billions of pounds, threaten our food safety and break confidence in UK exports around the world. That is why we are working hand in glove with businesses to devise a strong system that works for the nation.

Amanda Francis, Chief Executive of the Association of International Courier & Express Services, said:

International express operators support the Government’s plans to improve efficiencies at the border to ease the flow of goods and minimise costs of trade for UK businesses. We particularly welcome the proportionate risk based approach this draft Target Operating Model adopts and the proposals to reduce the data requirements for safety and security and allow the use of Transit Security Accompanying Documents. We hope to work with Government to implement these proposals and look at other areas of simplification building on a trusted operator approach.

Gavin Stedman, Port Health & Public Protection Director at London Port Health Authority said:

We welcome the publication of the TOM which will provide the basis for consistent risk based checks across EU and non-EU trade. The establishment of a dynamic and flexible system will afford greater efficiency and transparency allowing us to be more responsive to demands, thus balancing biosecurity and trade needs at our borders.

William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

The BCC is a big believer in the shift to a digital trade system. If it is done properly then smaller firms will see benefits when it comes to importing goods into Great Britain.

Providing certainty for business is crucial and the focus must now be on delivering to the timescales set out. This will need a concerted effort to get the physical and digital infrastructure in place.

It is then vital that companies, here and across the world, involved in sourcing and supply chains, are properly prepared for these changes and the introduction of new trusted trader arrangements.

We look forward to working closely with the UK Government and businesses over the coming months to make sure this switchover runs as smoothly as possible.

A spokesperson for the Fresh Produce Consortium said:

The Fresh Produce Consortium supports the long-awaited publication of the draft Border Target Operating Model. The UK Government is taking its opportunity to implement a world leading, least-cost border solution. We will work with the UK Government to facilitate responsible companies in the fresh produce, flower and plant sector to utilise their expertise to best effect to maximise efficiency, food safety and biosecurity.
05/04/2023

Category: Press Releases

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said: