Tag: 2023

PRESS RELEASE : Taxi driver’s attacker, Georgia Nicholson, jailed after court intervenes [August 2023]

The press release issued by the Attorney General’s Office on 7 August 2023.

A woman who permanently blinded a taxi driver in one eye after a frenzied attack with her high heels has been jailed for three years.

Georgia Nicholson (23) from Coleshill, West Midlands, has had her suspended sentence quashed by the Court of Appeal after the Solicitor General referred the original conviction as being unduly lenient.

The court heard that on 15 December 2018, the victim was driving Nicholson and a group of her friends home following a night out.

The group had been drinking heavily and when the victim stopped the car as a passenger felt sick, he was subjected to racial abuse before being violently attacked.

Nicholson, who was 18 at the time, repeatedly tried to hit the victim with her high heels before rupturing his eyeball – leaving him permanently blind in his right eye. Members of the public had to intervene to stop Nicholson’s assault.

The Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson KC MP said:

The victim has suffered life altering injuries and lost his livelihood following the offender’s frenzied and unprovoked attack against someone who was just doing his job.

The court has rightfully recognised the offender’s brutality in this case and by upgrading the original suspended sentence to jail time should serve as a warning to others that violence like this will not be tolerated.

On 30 May 2023 Nicholson was sentenced to 24 months’ custody, suspended for 2 years, with 10 days of rehabilitation activity after she was charged with Causing Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent.

On 4 August 2023, the Court of Appeal increased Nicholson’s sentence to 3 years’ imprisonment after it was referred under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

August 8, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Art from Wales and the Midlands to be showcased around the world [August 2023]
The press release issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 7 August 2023.

Works of art by contemporary artists from Wales and across the Midlands are to be displayed in embassies and government buildings around the world.
- Government Art Collection acquires more than 30 new pieces of art
- Artists include Jason Wilsher-Mills, Marlene Smith and Iwan Lewis
- Part of Art X-UK programme to collect works by exciting British artists for display in more than 125 countries
Works of art by contemporary artists from Wales and across the Midlands are to be displayed in embassies and government buildings around the world.

More than 30 new pieces have been acquired by the Government Art Collection (GAC) this year as the first instalment of a five-year drive to ensure it reflects creative talent from across the entirety of the UK.

The new works showcase the diversity of talent in Wales and the Midlands, including the work of Jason Wilsher-Mills from Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

Wilsher-Mills uses digital technologies such as iPads and Wacom tablets to allow him to produce large-scale detailed paintings, despite the physical challenges he faces living with chronic polyneuropathy.

He is well-known for leading community projects and has worked collaboratively with thousands of children and adults around the country to produce his work.

GAC has acquired two photographic pieces from Birmingham’s Marlene Smith and is discussing the acquisition of work from Keith Piper. Both are founder members of the Blk Art Group in Wolverhampton in 1979.

It has also collected prints by Farwa Moledina, who is based in Birmingham, which explore Muslim identities by creating rich patterns that often take the form of large, cloth-based installations.

One of the Welsh artists to be showcased is Iwan Lewis whose paintings draw on his experience of moving back to Ynys Môn, the island of Anglesey, North Wales, after living in London for 10 years. His work explores the history and mythology of these ancient landscapes as well as the impact of tourists to the region.

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

We benefit from an incredible breadth of artistic talent in this country, and I’m delighted that more works from Wales and the Midlands are being added to the Government Art Collection as part of our drive to include the work of talented artists from every part of the UK.

Being in the Government Art Collection means these works can be admired and enjoyed by a global audience — sharing the artistic brilliance of the UK with people all over the world.

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said:

It’s great to see the work of Welsh artists showcased around the world in the Government Art Collection. We have a rich heritage of Welsh artists stretching back to the wonderful landscapes painted by Richard Wilson in the 18th century, to the art of Augustus and Gwen John, and into the 20th century with celebrated artists such as Kyffin Williams.

And that tradition is being continued with our vibrant contemporary art scene in Wales. Congratulations to Manon Awst, Nigel Hurlstone and Iwan Lewis whose work will now be seen by a new diverse global audience.

Last year, GAC, which is part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), launched a five-year acquisitions programme to procure works from exciting talent and showcase the best of British creativity – promoting further interest in the country’s globally renowned creative sector.

The Art X-UK project initially ran as a successful pilot scheme in 2020–21 when more than 90 pieces by 45 contemporary visual artists were acquired for the Collection.

These works are now on display in government buildings around the country and internationally in British embassies and residences including Paris, Ankara, The Holy See in Rome, and 10 Downing Street.

Later this year GAC will work with the Contemporary Visual Arts Network in the North East of England and the Scottish Contemporary Art Network to identify more talented artists from these regions to be featured in the Collection.

Paula Orrell, CVAN England, National Director said:

CVAN is delighted to be working with the Government Art Collection over the next five years. Art X-UK is a significant opportunity to support the profile of artists across England. Our networks are especially concerned with putting forward artists that perhaps curators may have yet to encounter.

Marlene Smith, artist said:

It means a great deal to me to have these works, which celebrate my Windrush-era parents, enter such an important collection for the nation.

Farwa Moledina, artist said:

I’m really delighted to be part of such a respected and recognised collection, and to represent Britain’s Muslim population through my work.

Notes to editors

In 2022–23, GAC worked in partnership with the Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) in East and West Midlands, and Visual Arts Group Wales (VAGW). Each network convened a panel of artists and curators who proposed a shortlist of artists from the region or nation for the GAC team to research. Artists whose work was acquired are:

West Midlands:
- Abdulrazaq Awofeso
- Vanley Burke
- Farwa Moledina
- Marlene Smith
- Keith Piper
Wales:
- Manon Awst
- Nigel Hurlstone
- Iwan Lewis
East Midlands:
- Jason Wilsher-Mills
- Miranda Smart
X-UK acquisitions programme 2022–27:
- 2022/23 – Wales, East Midlands and West Midlands
- 2023/24 – Scotland, North East
- 2024/25 – Northern Ireland, North West
- 2025/26 – Wales, Yorkshire, East
- 2026/27 – Scotland, South East, South West
August 8, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Tripling of fines for those supporting illegal migrants [August 2023]

The press release issued by the Home Office on 7 August 2023.

Fines are to be more than tripled for employers and landlords who allow illegal migrants to work for them or rent their properties.

Fines are to be more than tripled for employers and landlords who allow illegal migrants to work for them or rent their properties, in the biggest shake up of civil penalties since 2014, the Home Secretary announced today (Monday 7 August).

The civil penalty for employers, which was last increased in 2014, will be raised to up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach from £15,000, and up to £60,000 for repeat breaches from £20,000.

For landlords the fines will increase from £80 per lodger and £1,000 per occupier for a first breach to up to £5,000 per lodger and £10,000 per occupier. Repeat breaches will be up to £10,000 per lodger and £20,000 per occupier, up from £500 and £3,000 respectively. The higher penalties will come in at the start of 2024.

Later this year the Home Office will consult on options to strengthen action against licensed businesses who are employing illegal workers.

Since the start of 2018, almost 5,000 civil penalties have been issued to employers with a total value of £88.4m. Meanwhile, landlords have been hit with over 320 civil penalties worth a total of £215,500 in the same period.

Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick said:

Making it harder for illegal migrants to work and operate in the UK is vital to deterring dangerous, unnecessary small boat crossings. Unscrupulous landlords and employers who allow illegal working and renting enable the business model of the evil people smugglers to continue.

There is no excuse for not conducting the appropriate checks and those in breach will now face significantly tougher penalties.

Illegal working and renting are significant pull factors for migrants crossing the Channel, where people smugglers will often use the promise of jobs and housing to lure people into making these journeys. Increasing fines will deter employers and landlords from engaging in these illegal and dangerous practices, further deterring people from attempting to come to the UK illegally.

It also undercuts honest employers, puts vulnerable people at risk of exploitation, cheats legitimate job seekers out of employment and defrauds the public purse as the businesses and workers do not pay taxes.

Employers and landlords should already be checking the eligibility of anyone they employ or let a property to. There are a number of ways to do this, which are not changing, including via a manual check of original documentation and a Home Office online checking system. The online check takes only 5 minutes.

Today’s announcement follows the government’s crackdown on illegal working and renting after it launched a taskforce and re-introduced data sharing with the financial sector to stop illegal migrants from accessing bank accounts earlier this year.

The cross-government ministerial Taskforce on Immigration Enforcement ensures every available power across government is utilised to support law enforcement activity to identify and reduce illegal migrants in the UK, and ensures only those eligible can work, receive benefits or access public services.

Immigration enforcement activity has been stepped up with visits including those targeting illegal working, now at their highest levels since 2019, up 50% on last year. We have already arrested more people in 2023 than during the whole of 2022 as a result of this activity.

August 8, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : New Permanent Secretary appointed to Northern Ireland Office [August 2023]

The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 7 August 2023.

Julie Harrison confirmed as the new Permanent Secretary to the Northern Ireland Office.

The Cabinet Secretary, with the approval of the Prime Minister, has announced the appointment of Julie Harrison as the new Permanent Secretary to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO). Julie Harrison replaces Madeleine Alessandri who left the post in July to become the new Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of the Joint Intelligence Unit.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Chris Heaton-Harris MP, said:

I am delighted Julie has been appointed as the new Permanent Secretary to the Northern Ireland Office. She is an outstanding civil servant, has a passion for the place and will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the post.

The NIO has some of the most dedicated and hard working civil servants I know, all of whom are committed to making a positive difference and to delivering for all the people of Northern Ireland.

Julie will play a central role in supporting them and in guiding the department to realise its vision for Northern Ireland: to make it a better place to live, to work and to invest. I look forward to welcoming Julie to the NIO and to working together.

The Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, said:

I would like to congratulate Julie on her appointment. Julie brings a wealth of experience from her time in the Northern Ireland Civil Service and I look forward to working with Julie in her new role as Permanent Secretary at the Northern Ireland Office.

I would also like to thank Madeleine Alessandri for her excellent leadership of the department over the last three years and Dominic Wilson for steering the department over recent weeks.

Commenting on her appointment, Julie Harrison said:

I am looking forward to working with the Secretary of State, the team in the NIO and a wide range of community, business and political voices to create solutions that enable Northern Ireland and the people who live here to prosper”.

Ms Harrison is expected to take up her new post in September.

August 8, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Natalie Daniels appointed as a Board Member to Sport England [August 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 7 August 2023.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has appointed Natalie Daniels as a Board Member of Sport England for a term of three years.

Natalie Daniels

Appointed from 07 August 2023 until 06 August 2026.

Natalie has been committed to building sustainable and inclusive communities throughout her career. As an urbanist, Natalie has worked in the UK, the USA, Africa and Asia delivering a variety of major programmes, and has won multiple awards for this work. Currently a senior public servant in regional government, Natalie is proud to lead a team committed to improving the lives of Londoners through housing delivery, specialist and supported housing services, and housing policy. An experienced board member, she has had the privilege of serving charities working across housing, homelessness and international development.

The leadership, energy and collaborative spirit Natalie brings to all her work she believes was built through her sporting escapades. She had the pleasure of playing – and coaching – football, rugby league and rugby union to respectable levels. As well as having the scars to show for her sporting experience, it has also given her a deep understanding of the immense benefits of exercise to individuals and communities.

Remuneration and Governance Code

Remuneration for these roles is set at £218 per day. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Natalie Daniels has not declared any significant political activity.

August 8, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Launch of Alderney Occupied website [August 2023]

The press release issued by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation on 7 August 2023.

Launch of website to accompany the review of evidence into the number of prisoners who died on the Channel Island of Alderney during the Nazi occupation.

Today (7 August 2023), the United Kingdom’s Post Holocaust Issues Envoy and Head of UK Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Lord Eric Pickles announced the launch of a website detailing the Nazi occupation of Alderney.

The website www.occupiedalderney.org is an accompanying part of the review, launched on 27 July, of evidence into the number of prisoners who died on the Channel Island of Alderney during the Nazi occupation.

The website will showcase the latest cutting-edge research and will in due course highlight key documents relating to the Nazi occupation of Alderney which are residing in archives.

The website will also be the place where the latest research and evidence can be found on the number of people, including Jews, Spanish, Ukrainians and Russian prisoners of war, who died through the Nazi policy ‘extermination through labour’ (Vernichtung durch Arbeit) in the construction of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.

The launch of this website reiterates our commitment to transparency. It contains information on prisoner biographies and the latest research on the camps, their regimes, and their histories. We encourage those with additional archival material and estimates of the numbers of dead to contact us at ukhmfsecretariat@levellingup.gov.uk

The website is supported by the University of Cambridge, Staffordshire University, and the UK government.

Lord Pickles said:

The website is part of our commitment to transparency. It gives a good overview of the latest published evidence and provides a further opportunity for people who have evidence to contact us. It is a work in progress with new entries planned. The website also offers an opportunity to read the latest research and documents related to the occupation of Alderney.

I thank Professor Caroline Sturdy-Colls and Kevin Colls from Staffordshire University for sharing their latest research on the Nazi occupation of Alderney and getting the website off to such a strong start. I also thank Dr Gilly Carr from the University of Cambridge for seeing through the project from IHRA recommendation to the development of the website.

Professor Caroline Sturdy-Colls and Kevin Colls MSc, Staffordshire University said:

We hope that this website will provide an important resource for anyone interested in the history of the Nazi Occupation of Alderney and the places that were connected to the forced and slave labour programme. Most importantly, we hope that the website will help to increase awareness of the stories of some of the people who lived, worked, and died there between 1941 and 1945.

Dr Gilly Carr, University of Cambridge said:

It gives me a great deal of pleasure to see one of IHRA’s recommendations for Alderney, made in 2019, come to fruition. It is enormously important that local people and visitors to Alderney, as well as researchers further afield, have reliable and peer-reviewed sources of information about the island’s German occupation heritage.

Nearly all information about these sites is either scattered in archives across Europe or is under the soil, accessible only through archaeology. This website brings all these things together and provides cutting edge research to all. It also provides lesson plans for schools. I am sure it will prove to be a valuable resource.

August 7, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : New tech partnership to stop the boats [August 2023]
The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 6 August 2023.

Partnership with social media companies to clamp down on people smugglers’ operations online.
- Illegal crossings remain down on last year and returns are at their highest level since 2019
- Extra funding and resources for law enforcement to tackle harmful content
A voluntary partnership between social media companies and government will accelerate action to tackle people smuggling content online, such as criminals sharing information about illegal Channel crossings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced today [Sunday 6th August].

It comes as new figures show the government continues to make progress on the Prime Minister’s plan to stop the boats: crossings remain down on last year, the legacy asylum backlog has been reduced by a third since December 2022, and enforced returns of people with no right to be in the UK are at their highest level since 2019.

While figures from the NCA show that over 90% of online content linked to people smuggling is taken down when social media companies are notified, the partnership between tech firms and government will drive forward efforts to clamp down on the tactics being used by criminal gangs who use the internet to lure people into paying for crossings.

This content can include discount offers for groups of people, free spaces for children, offers of false documents and false claims of safe passage – targeting vulnerable people for profit and putting people’s lives at risk through dangerous and illegal journeys.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:

To stop the boats, we have to tackle the business model of vile people smugglers at source.

That means clamping down on their attempts to lure people into making these illegal crossings and profit from putting lives at risk.

This new commitment from tech firms will see us redouble our efforts to fight back against these criminals, working together to shut down their vile trade.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

Heartless people smugglers are using social media to promote their despicable services and charge people thousands of pounds to make the illegal journey into the UK in unsafe boats.

They must not succeed.

This strengthened collaboration between the National Crime Agency, government and social media companies will ensure content promoting dangerous and illegal Channel crossings doesn’t see the light of day.

The partnership will build on the close working already in place between government and social media companies, and includes a range of commitments to explore increased collaboration.

Under this initiative, social media companies will look to increase cooperation with the National Crime Agency to find and remove criminal content and step up the sharing of best practice both across the industry and with law enforcement.

The voluntary partnership also includes a commitment to explore ways to step up efforts to redirect people away from this content when they come across it online. This approach is already widely being used successfully by platforms, for example around harmful content promoting extremism or eating disorders, where people are presented with alternative messages to displace, rebut or undermine the damaging content they searched for – diverting them away from harmful messaging and misinformation.

Alongside the partnership, the government will also set up a new centre led by the National Crime Agency and Home Office to increase the capacity and capability of law enforcement to identify this content on social media platforms.

Known as the ‘Online Capability Centre’, backed by £11m funding, its work will focus on undermining and disrupting the business model of organised crime groups responsible for illegal crossings and using the internet to facilitate these journeys by intensifying efforts to combat their online activity.

The centre will be staffed by highly trained technical specialists alongside law enforcement officers and will work by building a clearer picture of the scale of illegal immigration material online. They will work with internet companies to identify more of this material, notifying platforms so they can take the appropriate action. The centre will also focus on developing and building a bank of intelligence around the criminal networks who are promoting people smuggling services online, which will help improve law enforcement’s ability to identify content and in turn help drive investigations.

To harness the potential of new technology such as AI to clamp down on criminals’ content, government will also hold a ‘hackathon’ event with industry experts in order to develop innovative new tools which will better detect people smugglers’ publicly available content online, to help social media companies take it down more quickly.

Government will also intensify the existing work taking place with social media companies ahead of the Online Safety Bill coming into effect.

Once in force, under the Bill social media companies will be required to make sure their systems and processes are designed to prevent people coming into contact with illegal content created by people smugglers, minimise how long this content is available online and remove it as soon as possible once they become aware of it.

Alongside this, the Bill also requires major platforms to publish annual transparency reports setting out what they’re doing to tackle online harms. This could include information around how content around illegal migration is spread across platforms, how frequently it is uploaded, and what systems and processes companies have in place to deal with this kind of content.

The partnership confirmed today also builds on the work of the “Social Media Action Plan”, a voluntary agreement between the Home Office, National Crime Agency and five major social media platforms in 2021 to increase understanding of how organised criminals used their platforms to promote illegal services.

To date, this cooperation has seen more than 4,700 posts, pages or accounts have been removed or suspended as a result, increasing disruption of organised crime groups’ activity, and today’s partnership will drive further progress.

Stopping the boats is one of the Prime Minister’s top five priorities and the government is fully focused on delivering his whole system plan to tackling illegal migration. This includes:
- stepping up law enforcement activity, with 50% more illegal working visits carried out in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year
- tackling the legacy asylum backlog, which has reduced by nearly a third since the end of December
- passing the Illegal Migration Act which will ensure that people who come to the UK illegally will be detained and swiftly removed.
Working with international partners to tackle this global challenge is another key strand of efforts to stop the boats, and since taking office the PM has secured new agreements with allies, including strengthened partnerships with France and Albania which will see 40% more patrols on French beaches, and have resulted in a 90% drop in Albanian small boat arrivals in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year.
August 6, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Wrongly-convicted no longer face being ‘charged’ for saved living expenses [August 2023]
The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 6 August 2023.

Wrongly convicted people will no longer face having “saved living costs” deducted from compensation payments following an update to guidance made today (Sunday 6 August).
- miscarriage of justice compensation guidance on “saved living expenses” scrapped
- guidance changed with immediate effect
- “common sense” change to make system fairer for victims of miscarriages of justice
Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk has taken decisive action to inject greater fairness into how payout decisions for miscarriages of justice are made, ending the possibility that people can be ‘charged’ for saved living costs.

This element of the guidance was added in 2006 and will be removed with immediate effect, applying to all future payments made under the miscarriage of justice compensation scheme.

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Chalk KC, said:

Fairness is a core pillar of our justice system and it is not right that victims of devastating miscarriages of justice can have deductions made for saved living expenses.

This common sense change will ensure victims do not face paying twice for crimes they did not commit.

The miscarriage of justice compensation scheme is designed to help individuals restart and rebuild their lives. It is just one route in which an individual can receive compensation for a wrongful conviction, with other options including suing public bodies.

In order to be eligible for a payment under the scheme individuals must:
- Apply within 2 years of being pardoned or having their conviction reversed as a result of a newly discovered fact
- Have had their conviction reversed on the basis of a new fact which demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt they did not commit the offence
- Not be responsible for the non-disclosure of the new fact
Once eligible, the level of compensation is decided by an independent assessor. An award of compensation will normally fall into 2 parts:
- Compensation for the impact of the wrongful conviction on an individual, including damage to their reputation or to their physical or mental health, loss of freedom and inconvenience
- Loss of past or future earnings, expenses or legal costs resulting from their time in custody
Under previous guidance, the independent assessor could make a deduction from loss of past earnings based on “saved living expenses” such as rent or mortgage payments which were not incurred during their time in prison.

The maximum amount of compensation payable under the miscarriage of justice system is £1 million for 10 or more years imprisonment or £500,000 for up to 10 years.
August 6, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Statement Condemning Atrocities in Darfur [August 2023]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 4 August 2023.

Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) statement condemning the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan.

The Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) condemn in the strongest terms the ongoing violence in Darfur, especially reports of killings based on ethnicity and widespread sexual violence by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias. We call on all parties to immediately cease attacks and prevent the further spread of fighting. Those responsible must be held to account. Full access to conflict-affected areas must be granted so that abuses can be properly investigated and so that life-saving humanitarian aid can reach survivors who urgently need it. We are gravely concerned about reports of a military build-up near El Fasher, North Darfur, and Nyala, South Darfur, where further violence will put more civilians at risk.

The expansion of the needless and ruinous conflict between RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to Darfur has caused incalculable human suffering. Those responsible for any atrocities against civilians, especially those including Conflict Related Sexual Violence and the targeting of humanitarian relief actors, medical personnel, and other service providers, must be held to account. We remind the parties to the conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law related to the protection of civilians. We call on all parties to the conflict to enable humanitarian access in Darfur and throughout the country.

The SAF and the RSF must silence their guns and find a negotiated exit from the conflict they started. The security forces must relinquish their hold on power to a civilian transitional government that fulfils the Sudanese people’s aspirations for freedom, peace, and justice.

August 6, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : £6 million to improve air quality in local communities [August 2023]
The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 4 August 2023.

New round of Air Quality Grants for local authorities opens to benefit communities and reduce the impact of polluted air on people’s health.
- Councils across England invited to bid for funding to tackle local air pollution.
- Previously funded projects include awareness programmes for schoolchildren, e-cargo bike libraries and upskilling healthcare workers on air quality issues.
- Annual fund forms part of wider Government action to protect public health and the environment by cleaning up our air.
Local authorities across England can now apply for a share of £6 million of government funding to deliver projects to improve air quality.

The annual Air Quality Grant helps councils develop and implement measures to benefit schools, businesses and communities and reduce the impact of air pollution on people’s health. Since 2010, more than £53 million has been awarded across more than 500 projects through the scheme.

Funding will be prioritised towards projects which: tackle particulate matter; improve public awareness of the impacts of air pollution; and help local authorities to bring down levels of nitrogen oxide (NO2) and other pollutants to below legal limits.

Air quality in the UK has significantly improved in recent decades, with levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – the most harmful pollutant to human health – falling by 10% and NO2 by 45% since 2010. The government is committed to driving this down further and, through the Environment Act, has set two legally-binding targets to reduce the level of PM2.5 in our air by 2040.

Environment Minister Trudy Harrison said:

Poor air quality is the biggest environmental risk to human health and local authorities play a vital role in tackling it.

This latest round of funding will support innovative projects across England that give communities the tools to limit their exposure and reduce pollution.

Together, this will build on the significant improvements in air quality delivered by the government at a national level and deliver cleaner air for all.

Previous initiatives funded through the Air Quality Grant scheme include delivering an air quality awareness programme to over 3,000 students in Cornwall. The grant has also funded an e-cargo bike library, helping local businesses in Norfolk to cut operating costs while lowering their emissions; and helped train healthcare professionals in Southampton so they can advise vulnerable patients about how to reduce their exposure to air pollution. These projects have benefited communities by delivering targeted solutions to local air quality problems.

Health Minister Neil O’Brien said:

Air pollution poses health risks, particularly for older people, children, and people with heart or lung conditions which is why we’re committed to making our air cleaner.

This year’s fund builds on the significant action we’re already taking to improve air quality, and I urge local authorities across England to bid for funding to help improve the health of people living in their areas.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said:

The £1 million our region received through the Air Quality Fund will make a significant contribution to the work already underway to improve the quality of the air local people breathe.

For the first time ever, we’ll be able to install a West Midlands-wide network of sensors that will provide real-time, publicly accessible information on air quality directly from individual neighbourhoods. Thanks to this government funding, we’ll also take this data back into those communities to improve residents’ understanding of the sources and impact of air pollution on health and wellbeing.

Together, we can empower local people to support our efforts to ensure the air we all breathe is cleaner than ever.

Through the Environmental Improvement Plan and our Air Quality Strategy, both published earlier this year, we have set out interim targets to reduce concentrations of, and reduce public exposure to, PM2.5 by the end of January 2028, alongside a range of policies to work towards these targets.

Together, the Plan and the Strategy committed to challenging councils to improve air quality more quickly including by making better use of existing powers, increasing transparency and improving the way they communicate with the public. Today’s announcement is another key step forward in the delivery of these commitments.

The scheme complements the range of support government is making available to local authorities, including £883 million allocated under the NO2 Programme – which works with local authorities to deliver air quality measures to improve the health of residents and to address their NO2 exceedances in the shortest possible time.

The application window is now open and closes on 29th September. Local authorities can apply for funding on Atamis here.
August 6, 2023