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  • NEWS STORY : British Government Offer Assistance to Turkey Following Earthquake

    NEWS STORY : British Government Offer Assistance to Turkey Following Earthquake

    STORY

    On 6 February 2023, a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and was felt across neighbouring countries including Syria, Jordan, and Israel. The earthquake happened in the early hours of the morning while people were asleep, with over 2,000 feared killed. The earthquake caused widespread damage and led to the collapse of many buildings, leaving many trapped inside. The earthquake was reported to have originated in Gaziantep, which is located in Turkey’s southeastern region and is a major provincial capital. A second significant wave of the earthquake occurred around 12 hours after the first causing further devastating impact and hampering rescuer workers looking for survivors in collapsed buildings. A large number of historic buildings are also confirmed to have been lost following the earthquakes.

    Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said:

    “My thoughts are with the people of Türkiye and Syria this morning, particularly with those first responders working so valiantly to save those trapped by the earthquake. The UK stands ready to help in whatever way we can”.

    James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, added:

    “The UK is sending immediate support to Türkiye including a team of 76 search & rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs. In Syria, the UK-funded White Helmets have mobilised their resources to respond”.

    RESOURCES

    Comments Made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister

    Comments Made by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary

    EXTERNAL NEWS LINKS

    Guardian News Story

    Daily Sabah

  • Keir Starmer – 2023 Comments on the Growth and Skills Levy

    Keir Starmer – 2023 Comments on the Growth and Skills Levy

    The comments made by Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 6 February 2023.

    The apprentices I met at Airbus this morning are inspiring and ambitious.

    My Labour government will harness the next generation’s talent, and support business to grow.

    We’ll replace the Apprenticeship Levy with a Growth and Skills Levy, to give businesses flexibility to invest in the skills they need and deliver growth for Britain.

  • Keir Starmer – 2023 Comments on Liz Truss’s Comeback to Politics

    Keir Starmer – 2023 Comments on Liz Truss’s Comeback to Politics

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 6 February 2023.

    My heart sinks when I hear more from Liz Truss. She’s done more than enough damage to our economy. And, frankly, when the whole country wants to move forward, we’ve got a cost of living crisis, we’ve got people really worried about being able to pay their bills, they’re looking for a government to take them forward, and all we’ve got is failed prime ministers arguing about who was the biggest failure. That’s the last thing the country needs just right at the moment.

  • Will Quince – 2023 Statement on the Transfer of NHS Digital into NHS England

    Will Quince – 2023 Statement on the Transfer of NHS Digital into NHS England

    The statement made by Will Quince, the Minister for Health and Secondary Care, in the House of Commons on 1 February 2023.

    My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) has made the following written statement:

    Today, NHS Digital legally becomes part of NHS England, to create a single, central authority responsible for all elements of digital technology, data and transformation for the NHS.

    Laura Wade-Gery was commissioned by the Government to lead an independent review of how we can ensure digital technology and the effective use of data is at the heart of transforming the NHS.

    Her report “Putting data, digital and tech at the heart of transforming the NHS”, published in November 2021, recommended merging the functions of NHS Digital into NHS England, to provide a single statutory body for data, digital and technology to provide the right leadership and support to integrated care systems.

    NHS Digital, since its creation as the Health and Social Care Information Centre, has been a powerful force for change in the NHS and guardian of its key data IT and data systems. These will be transferring to NHS England, together with its expert staff.

    All the protections of people’s data which existed in NHS Digital will apply in NHS England. Rigorous internal controls will continue to ensure that data is used and shared safely, securely and appropriately to deliver high-quality care, understand and protect the health of the population, effectively plan and improve services, and research and develop innovative treatments, vaccines and diagnostics.

    This is an important step in bringing together in a single place, the essential systems and programmes to digitally transform the NHS, and to harness the full potential of data. This will enable health and social care services to use digital and data more effectively to deliver improved patient outcomes and address the key challenges we face.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2023 Statement on Register of Overseas Entities

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2023 Statement on Register of Overseas Entities

    The statement made by Kevin Hollinrake, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the House of Commons on 1 February 2023.

    The Minister for Business, Energy and Corporate Responsibility, my noble Friend Lord Callanan, has today made the following statement:

    The register of overseas entities is a vital new information tool for our law enforcement agencies and is part of the Government’s comprehensive and ongoing programme to tackle and prevent economic crime and illicit finance.

    The Government legislated for it within weeks of the invasion of Ukraine and, with the assistance of Parliament, expedited the regulations needed to launch the register, which opened on 1 August 2022.

    Yesterday marked the end of the six-month period for overseas companies and other legal entities in scope to register. By 5 pm yesterday, about 19,665 overseas entities were successfully registered and there were approximately 5,054 pending registrations that were submitted before the deadline. As such, the UK now has a valuable new database for law enforcement and others to access.

    Throughout this period Companies House has been working closely with the three UK land registries to ensure that overseas entities are aware of and comply with the new requirements. Companies House sent 57,000 notice letters to all entities in scope in August, including duplicate letters to those that had multiple contact addresses recorded at the land registries. In October 2022, HM Land Registry issued a notice letter to the entities registered in England and Wales to alert them that a restriction notice had been placed on their land. In early January 2023, Companies House issued further reminders to those that had not yet registered.

    Companies House has endeavoured to ensure that it has the best possible information about those that have not yet complied, matching registrations against data from the land registries. While some entities may have changed their name, not updated the land registry records or may no longer exist, Companies House continues to research and to work with company registries in those jurisdictions with the highest number of in-scope entities to determine the status of all unregistered entities.

    An estimated 7,000 overseas entities have not yet complied with the provisions of the register. From today, those entities will find that they cannot freely lease, charge or dispose of their land. This is a significant and effective sanction for non-compliance. Data about unregistered entities may also provide valuable information for law enforcement.

    Companies House is now assessing and preparing cases for additional enforcement action. These cases will be prioritised using an intelligence-led approach and Companies House will work with those entities making a genuine attempt to comply. Warning letters will shortly be issued to all unregistered overseas entities. Those wilfully failing to comply may find themselves subject to financial penalties or criminal prosecution.

    The Government are also announcing that, through an investment of up to £20 million of allocated spending on economic crime, new anti-money laundering intelligence teams will be created to tackle the misuse of UK companies, corporate entities and property. Intelligence analysts and data scientists will be recruited over the coming months. They will play a key role in supporting the prevention, detection and disruption of money laundering, terrorist financing and kleptocracy through identifying, analysing and disseminating intelligence about high-level threat actors and enablers of those activities, to a wide variety of law enforcement and regulatory agencies. There will be a strong focus on networks controlled from overseas, for example those operating from former Soviet states. The new functions will be based within Companies House and the Insolvency Service, and will work closely with the National Economic Crime Centre and their private sector partners. The teams will use and support the existing powers of both agencies and new powers being introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Government confirms £60 billion for local authorities to deliver vital services [February 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : Government confirms £60 billion for local authorities to deliver vital services [February 2023]

    The press release issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 6 February 2023.

    The local government finance settlement has confirmed £60 billion for councils to deliver local services.

    • Levelling Up Secretary confirms increased funding package for councils to deliver local services and support vulnerable households with council tax bills
    • An extra £5.1 billion available on last year’s settlement, including access to £2 billion new social care grant
    • Government funding gives certainty to local government and stands behind councils in challenging times

    Councils in England will benefit from almost £60 billion to deliver vital frontline services as the Government confirms an average funding increase of 9.4% for town halls over the next financial year.

    After close engagement with councils, the settlement includes £2 billion in additional grant funding for adult and children’s social care for 2023/24 and a one-off Funding Guarantee that ensures every local authority in England will see at least a 3% increase in core spending power before any local decisions around council tax are taken.

    Following consultation, the Government has expanded the total funding allocations to include a further £19 million for all services and £10 million extra for the Rural Services Delivery Grant. This additional funding will help councils deliver core services and address the unique challenges faced by rural communities.

    The Government proposed the funding package in December and consulted with councils on all elements of the settlement. Now, the Government is confirming its intention that councils across England will benefit from an additional £5.1 billion – an increase of 9.4% on last year – as it continues to stand behind councils and public services in the face of financial pressures.

    The final settlement for local government ensures the most relatively deprived areas of England receive 17% more funding per household than the least deprived.

    Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said:

    “Every day councils across the country deliver for their communities and play a crucial role in driving forward levelling up.

    “This funding package represents an increase of over 9% for councils on last year, ensuring a fair deal for local government that reflects the vital work councils do to provide key services on which we all rely.”

    Alongside the provisional settlement, the Government announced a £100 million of additional funding for local authorities to support the most vulnerable households in England – delivering on the manifesto commitment to protect local taxpayers from excessive increases. This funding supports the government’s council tax referendum package, which strikes a fair balance to ensure taxpayers are not over-burdened at a time of significant pressure on the public finances.

    This announcement follows a major £2.1 billion investment for councils across the UK through the Levelling Up Fund, which will deliver transformational projects to help spread opportunity to historically overlooked areas.

    The provisional settlement consultation was open for 4 weeks and closed on 16 January 2023.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Government moves ahead with plans to crack down on illegal waste [February 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : Government moves ahead with plans to crack down on illegal waste [February 2023]

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

    Reforms to crack down on dangerous waste cowboys and illegal practices.

    New reforms to target waste criminals and combat dangerous practices at waste sites were unveiled today (6 February 2023) by Environment Minister Rebecca Pow.

    The current rules in England and Wales allow certain low-risk, small-scale waste activities to be carried out under a registration scheme, exempt from the need to hold an environmental permit, providing a light-touch but valuable form of regulation.

    However, criminals have used the cover of exemptions to carry out illegal waste activities such as stockpiling large amounts of undocumented or unsuitable waste and evading Landfill Tax in England and Landfill Disposals Tax in Wales. These abuses are estimated to cost the English economy £87.2 million a year.

    The government confirmed plans to close these loopholes in the Environmental Improvement Plan, which was published last week, alongside a pledge to seek to eliminate waste crime by 2043.

    The government proposes to remove three of the 10 waste exemptions of most concern, covering the use of depolluted end-of-life vehicle parts, the treatment of tyres, and the recovery of scrap metal. Illegal or improper activity that undermined legitimate operators and posed a risk to the environment and the public was particularly pronounced for these exemptions. The conditions of a further seven exemptions will also be tightened.

    Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

    Waste crime costs taxpayers tens of millions of pounds every year. We are determined to take the fight to those shameful criminals who seek to wreak havoc on our environment and economy.

    We are clear in our commitment to eliminate this kind of illegal activity and these reforms will prevent dishonest operators from gaming the system and putting our health at risk.

    This is just one of the measures we’re taking to tackle waste crime – we’re also giving regulators and local authorities more power to bring criminals to justice.

    Steve Molyneux, the Environment Agency’s strategic lead on Waste Regulation, said:

    The Environment Agency is determined to make life harder for criminals by disrupting and stopping illegal activity through better regulation and tough enforcement action.

    Today’s announcement will help us in our goal by restricting or removing waste exemptions that are used to mask illegal waste sites. These sites are a risk to the environment and people’s safety, and undercut legitimate business. We will keep working with Government and the waste industry to drive further action on waste crime.

    The Environment Agency’s regulatory compliance checks have revealed that certain exemption types have been routinely used to hide illegal waste activities from regulatory oversight in recent years.

    For instance, in November 2020 firefighters tackled a blaze for a week at a site in Bradford that held an exemption allowing the storage of tyres. The exemption was being abused and 600,000 tyres were on the site. The proposed reforms would mean a full environmental permit would be needed for this kind of site.

    The government is also planning to introduce greater record-keeping requirements for all waste exemption holders; impose limits and controls on how multiple exemptions can be managed at one site; and ban the use of exemptions at a site operating under an environmental permit, or where there is a ‘direct link’ between the exempt and permitted activity.

    This follows our consultation on proposals to tackle crime and poor performance in the waste sector.

    We recently consulted on reform of the carrier, broker, dealer regime, meaning increased background checks for firms moving or trading waste; and on the introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking, ensuring better record-keeping to help regulators detect waste crime.

    On top of this we are awarding councils with grants to tackle fly-tipping, and have provided funding of over £450,000 to help several councils purchase equipment to assist further, such as CCTV.

    The Environment Agency has today launched a National Waste Crime Survey to help stop criminals. They want to hear from victims of waste crime such as landowners, insurance companies and residents as well as from those who can provide important information such as industry.

    At present only 25% of waste crimes are reported. Don’t let the criminals get away with it. Report anything suspicious to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or our 24 hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Comments on Supporting Turkey Following Earthquake

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Comments on Supporting Turkey Following Earthquake

    The comments made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, on Twitter on 6 February 2023.

    My thoughts are with the people of Türkiye and Syria this morning, particularly with those first responders working so valiantly to save those trapped by the earthquake.

    The UK stands ready to help in whatever way we can.

  • James Cleverly – 2023 Comments on Supporting Turkey Following Earthquake

    James Cleverly – 2023 Comments on Supporting Turkey Following Earthquake

    The comments made by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, on Twitter on 6 February 2023.

    The UK is sending immediate support to Türkiye including a team of 76 search & rescue specialists, equipment and rescue dogs.

    In Syria, the UK-funded White Helmets have mobilised their resources to respond.

    We stand ready to provide further support as needed.

  • PRESS RELEASE : MDP launch new anonymous reporting line for officers and staff [February 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : MDP launch new anonymous reporting line for officers and staff [February 2023]

    The press release issued by the Ministry of Defence on 6 February 2023.

    On 6 February, the MDP Professional Standards Department will be launching a Crimestoppers Police Integrity Line.

    As the experts in speaking up about crime and wrongdoing, Crimestoppers are working with organisations such as the MDP to improve crime prevention and detection, as well as protect their staff and communities.

    It can be difficult to come forward with information. Often people don’t know what to do, or are scared to say anything, especially in the working environment when an issue involves their colleagues – but Crimestoppers offer a safe way to do this.

    MDP officers and staff can now telephone the Crimestoppers Police Integrity Line, safely and anonymously. This service is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and is specifically designed to protect the caller’s identity.

    A Crimestoppers operator will record the information from the caller and pass it on to the Professional Standards Department to further investigate.

    Head of the MDP Professional Standards Department, Temporary Superintendent Karryann Rogers, joined the MDP in July 2022 after serving with Cambridgeshire Constabulary for 30 years and retiring from their Professional Standards Department as a Detective Chief Inspector.

    Temporary Superintendent Rogers said:

    This new reporting line is part of a bigger piece of work being undertaken by the MDP to set up its own Anti-Corruption Unit.

    The reporting line is a safe avenue for officers and staff to anonymously report any misconduct within the Force. We all need to be ‘doing our bit’ in calling out bad behaviour and reporting any wrongdoing, after all the Police Regulations make it quite clear that we have a duty to challenge and report.

    It is an opportunity for us to improve our working conditions and to establish better processes for dealing with bad behaviour. We want to make the MDP a great place to work and a safe space for individuals to speak up when they feel they have been mistreated.

    In the past, individuals may have felt that they weren’t being listened to, or that they did not have the confidence in previous systems to report any wrongdoing. This new reporting line is 100% anonymous, guaranteed by Crimestoppers, who are specially trained to protect the caller’s identity.

    The new reporting line also supports the MDP’s work to achieve White Ribbon Accreditation and its commitment to stamping out violence against women and girls (VAWG).

    MDP Assistant Chief Constable Territorial, Crime and Support, Jason Gwillim said:

    The MDP is committed to creating an inclusive culture where all our officers and staff enjoy coming to work without fear of being the victims of bad behaviour. We hope that by introducing systems such as this new reporting line, we can not only deal with corruption more effectively but prevent it from happening in the first place.

    The Police Integrity Line is a big step for the Force, in making real lasting change to eradicate corruption within the Force and protect our officers and staff. By bringing the issue to the forefront, we might be able to encourage perpetrators to recognise their behaviour and stop.