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Tag: 2023

  • PRESS RELEASE : Transition period for XL Bully owners begins [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : Transition period for XL Bully owners begins [November 2023]

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

    Owners who wish to keep their dogs must apply to an exemption scheme or instead can apply for compensation related to euthanasia costs.

    Further legislation to ban XL Bully type dogs has come into force today [14 November] as the transition period for owners to apply for an exemption scheme begins.

    During the transition period, which runs from now until 31 January 2024, owners who wish to keep their dogs must apply to an exemption scheme. Applications for exemption certificates are now open.

    Owners who instead choose to have their dog euthanised can apply for compensation.

    To receive a Certificate of Exemption, owners must hold active public liability insurance for their dog, have had their dog microchipped and pay the application fee.

    Owners will also be required to provide proof that their dog has been neutered by a certain date, depending on the age of the dog.

    If an XL Bully is less than one year old on 31 January 2024, it must be neutered by 31 December 2024. If an XL Bully is older than one year old on 31 January 2024, it must be neutered by 30 June 2024.

    Owners who successfully apply for a Certificate of Exemption must also comply with strict requirements throughout the lifetime of the dog. This includes keeping their dog on a lead and muzzled in public, and keeping the dog in a secure place so it cannot escape.

    After the transition period, owners without a Certificate of Exemption could receive a criminal record and an unlimited fine if they are found to be in possession of an XL Bully type.

    During the transition period, owners who no longer wish to keep their dogs and who arrange for a vet to euthanise them may apply for compensation towards this. Owners and their vets will need to complete a form in order to make a claim.

    Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said:

    “The transition period for XL Bully dogs has now started. It is important that XL Bully owners read the guidance and take all the necessary steps. This includes applying for a Certificate of Exemption if you want to keep your dog and ensuring they are muzzle trained by the end of the year, as your dog will need to be muzzled and on a lead in public after 31 December 2023.

    “XL breeders should have also now stopped breeding their dogs and I would advise all owners to make an appointment with your vet to get your XL Bully neutered as soon as possible.”

    The announcement follows the introduction of laws last month adding XL Bully type dogs to the list of dogs banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

    That legislation set out the requirement from 31 December for XL Bully type dogs to be kept on a lead and muzzled in public, and prohibits breeding, selling, advertising, gifting, exchanging and abandoning these dogs or letting them stray.

    All of these measures ensure that decisive action will be applied quickly to safeguard public safety.

    Owners can access the most up to date information on what action they need to take and when on this dedicated page, Prepare for the ban on XL Bully dogs – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

    Owners whose dogs are dangerously out of control are already breaking the law, and the enforcement authorities have a full range of powers to apply penalties to them. Under the Dangerous Dogs Act, people can be put in prison for up to 14 years, be disqualified from ownership and their dangerous dogs can be euthanised.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech to the FOSI Annual Conference

    Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech to the FOSI Annual Conference

    The speech made by Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, on 14 November 2023.

    Hello and thank you for having me here today, it is a pleasure to be in Washington.

    Now from the outset I must confess I have brought a numerous amount of British bugs with me, and so if I end up coughing, spluttering, drying up, please forgive me and bear with me, but I will do my very best throughout the speech.

    And there is a reason that my first speech on the subject of online safety, since the UK’s world leading Online Safety Act passed is taking place here in the United States. Because the UK and the USA obviously share a special relationship that is fundamentally about our values.

    The Online Safety Act – which I want to talk about for a bit today – is about reaffirming our longstanding values and principles and extending them to the online world. Empowering adults, protecting free expression, standing up for the rule of law, and most importantly, protecting our children.

    These are the values that Britain has pioneered for centuries, and they are also the values that made the extraordinary story of the United States possible.

    In the most recent chapter of that story, the transformational power of the internet has created the online world that is increasingly, seamlessly intertwined with the real world. But the values that made our free, safe, liberal societies possible have not been reflected online – especially when it comes to social media.

    The guardrails, customs and rules that we have taken for granted offline have, in the last two decades, become noticeable in their absence online. FOSI have been an important part of the conversation to identify this problem, and I want to extend my thanks to you for all the tireless work that you’ve done on this incredibly important agenda.

    And thanks to the work of campaigners here and in the UK, lawmakers from Washington to Westminster have taken the issue of online safety increasingly seriously, especially when it comes to the protection of our children.

    And today I want to share with you how we rose to the challenge of online safety in the UK – what we did, how we did it, and I guess why we did it as well.

    I think the why of that equation is the best place to start, given FOSI’s role in helping to answer that question over the years. Now, my department was created back in February to seize the opportunities of our digital age. Not just the opportunities that are in front of our generation now, but the opportunities that will potentially shape the futures of our children and our grandchildren.

    My 6-month-old son will grow up thinking nothing of his ability to communicate with people thousands of miles away and, I hope, he’s going to go on and do much more. Sharing research with his school friends potentially, learning new languages about countries that he might not have even visited, and gaining new skills that will enable him to fully take advantage of his talents when he grows up. Of course, if you ask my husband, he will tell you he hopes that those talents will lead him to the Premier League football.

    But we cannot afford to ignore the dangers that our children increasingly face online and I do think it is a sobering fact that children nowadays are just a few clicks away from entering adulthood, whether that’s opening a laptop or picking up an iPad.

    And despite the voluntary efforts of companies and the incredible work of campaigners, the stats tell us unequivocally that voluntary efforts are simply not enough.

    Did you know that the average age that a child sees pornography is 13? When I first heard that, it really, really struck me as something that needs to be dealt with. And a staggering 81% of 12–15-year-olds have reported coming across inappropriate content when surfing the web, including sites promoting suicide and self-harm.

    Now, regardless of ideology or political party, I don’t think anyone can look at what’s happening to our children and suggest that a hands-off approach that has dominated so far is working.I believe that we have a responsibility and in fact a duty to act when the most vulnerable in our society are under an increasing threat – especially our children.

    So, when I stood in the House of Commons during the Bill’s passage, I said enough is enough – and I meant it.

    Now, I defy any person who says it cannot or should not be done – as adults it is our fundamental duty to protect children and be that shield for them against those who wish to do them harm. And that is why in the UK, I have been on somewhat of a mission to shield our children through the Online Safety Act.

    And we started with the obvious – applying the basic common-sense principles of what is illegal offline, should actually be illegal online. Quite simply if it is illegal in the streets – it should be illegal in the tweets.

    No longer will tech companies be able to run Wild West platforms where they can turn a blind eye to things like terrorism and child abuse. The days of platforms filled with underage users, when even adverts are tailored to those underage users, are now over.

    If you host content only suitable for adults, then you must use highly effective age assurance tools to prevent children from getting access.

    We can and we will prevent children from seeing content that they can never unsee – pornography, self harm, serious violence, eating disorder material – no child in Britain will have to grow up being exposed to that in the future and I think that that is quite remarkable. Because when we consider the impact that that content is having on our children, it is quite frankly horrific.

    Of course, we know that most websites and all the major social media platforms already have some policies in place to safeguard children – in a few days I am travelling to Silicon Valley to meet many of them, and what I will be telling them, is that the Online Safety Act is less about companies doing what the Government is asking them to do – it is about the companies doing what their users are asking them to do.

    Most companies actually do have robust and detailed terms of service. In fact, all of the 10 largest social media platforms in the world ban sexism, they ban racism, homophobia, and just about every other form of illegal abuse imaginable.

    Yet these terms are worthless unless they are enforced – and too often, they are not consistently enforced.

    So, the legislation that we have produced in the UK will mean that social media platforms will be required to uphold their own terms and conditions.

    For the first time ever, users in Britain can sign up to platforms knowing that the terms they agree with will actually be upheld, and that the platforms will face eye-watering fines if they fail to do so.

    But do not make the mistake of thinking that this Act is anti-business. Far from it, we view the Online Safety Act as a chance to harness the good that social media can do whilst tackling the bad, and because we believe in proportionality and innovation, we have not been prescriptive in how social media giants and messaging platforms should go about complying.

    I believe it’s never the role of the Government to dictate to business which technologies they use. Our approach has remained ‘tech neutral’ and business friendly.

    To borrow an American phrase, we are simply ensuring that they step up to the plate and to use their own vast resources and expertise to provide the best possible protections for children.

    And I know this matters on the other side of the Atlantic too, because the online world does not respect borders, and those who wish to do our children harm should not be undeterred by this sense that they can get away with it in some countries and not in others, or that they should be able to use this to their advantage.

    And that is why in the UK, we are taking steps to enable our online safety regulator, Ofcom, to share information with regulators overseas including here.

    These powers will complement existing initiatives, such as the Global Online Safety Regulators Network. A vital programme – which of course was launched at the FOSI conference last year – bringing together like-minded regulators to promote and protect human rights.

    And this momentum has been backed up by government action too. I am talking about the US Administration establishing an inter-agency Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force, and both of these are very welcome signs of the increasing unity between the UK and the US on this important agenda.

    Many of the aims perfectly complement what we are trying to do in the UK and I am keen that both our governments continue to work together.

    And while protecting children has remained our priority throughout the legislative process, we have been incredibly innovative with the way that we help protect adults online too. I believe when it comes to adults, we must take a different approach to the one that we take for children.

    Liberty and free expression are the cornerstones of the UK’s uncodified constitution, and of course at the heart of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. So when thinking about protecting adults online, we knew we could not compromise these fundamental principles.

    In fact, I believe that the Act would have to actively promote and protect freedom and liberty for adults if it were to be successful in the long term, and that’s exactly what we did.

    So rather than tell adults what legal content they can and cannot see, we instead decided to empower adults with freedom and choice – on many platforms for the very first time. Known as user empowerment tools, the Bill requires companies to finally give adults a direct choice over the types of content they see and engage with.

    Taking the power out of the hands of unaccountable algorithms and placing it back in the hands of each and every individual user. Where an adult does not want to see certain types of legal content, they will have the power to toggle that content on and off as they choose, and in some cases, filter out keywords.

    Choice, freedom, and control for adults, while robustly protecting children at the same time. Combined together, these form the framework that we believe will become the global norm for online safety in the decades ahead.

    Now, just finally, while the glow of our successful Global AI Safety Summit is still bright, I want to touch briefly on the challenges of AI when it comes to online safety.

    We are discussing ‘New Frontiers in Online Safety’ today – and it is impossible to do that without talking about the technology that will define this century.

    Although AI brings enormous opportunities – from combating climate change to discovering life-saving drugs, to obviously helping our public services, it does also bring grave risk too – including on online safety, and we saw that just the other month in southern Spain, where fake, nude images of real girls had been created using AI – a case that shocked us all.

    And recently in Britain, fake AI-generated audio also targeted the leader of the opposition and spread rapidly on social media before being promptly debunked. So, we must be clear about the serious threat AI presents to our societies, from our children’s safety to our democratic processes and the integrity of our elections, something that we both care acutely about as we march towards our elections.

    And that is why we hosted the first ever AI Safety Summit earlier this month at Bletchley Park, where 28 countries and the European Union were represented, representing the vast majority of the world’s population. And we signed an unprecedented agreement known as the Bletchley Declaration.

    Despite some claiming that such a declaration would be rejected by many countries in attendance, we actually agreed that for the good of all, AI should be designed, developed, deployed, and used, in a manner that is safe, in such a way as to be human-centric, trustworthy and of course responsible.

    But I have been clear that when it comes to online safety, especially for our children, we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball in the decade to come.

    And the historic Bletchley Declaration lays out a pathway for countries to follow together that will ultimately lead to a safer online world, but it is up to us all to ensure that we continue down that pathway.

    And In support of that mission, I have directed the UK’s Frontier AI Taskforce to rapidly evolve into a new AI Safety Institute, giving our best and brightest minds a key role to really delve into the risks that AI presents as well as the pre-deployment testing. And of course, it will partner with the US’s own Safety Institute which the Vice President announced in London during the summit.

    We must also recognise AI can of course be part of the solution to many of the problems we are discussing today, as well – from detecting and moderating harmful content to proactively mitigating potential risks like the generation and dissemination of deep fakes.

    FOSI’s new report, published today – does provide important insights on the early use of generative AI tools by parents and teens, and how it will impact children’s safety and privacy online.I will be taking these findings back to my officials in London and ensuring that we deepen the already close relationship between our two countries when it comes to protecting our children.

    Now, while I hope my speech today has been somewhat of a soft-sell if you like for the online safety framework that we have created in the UK, I actually don’t think our approach really requires salesmanship to the rest of the world. Because even before our Online Safety Act became law, companies began implementing key parts of its provisions and adapting their behaviour.

    Many social media platforms now allow keyword filtering, some have started exploring and piloting age assurance methods, and many are proactively cleaning up illegal content through new innovative techniques.

    So, if there is one thing I want to say to American policymakers who want to make a real difference for children and adults online, it’s be ambitious, put children first, front and centre, and above all, defend the values that you would expect to see on the streets as ferociously online as you would in person.

    As the online world and the offline world merge ever closer together, now is the time to stand firm and uphold the values that we share, and the values that got us here in the first place.

    Thank you.

  • Jeremy Hunt – 2023 Autumn Statement

    Jeremy Hunt – 2023 Autumn Statement

    The speech made by Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the House of Commons on 22 November 2023.

    Mr Speaker. After a global pandemic and energy crisis, we have taken difficult decisions to put our economy back on track. We have supported families with rising bills, cut borrowing and halved inflation.

    Rather than a recession, the economy has grown. Rather than falling as predicted, real incomes have risen. Our plan for the British economy is working. But the work is not done. Under this Prime Minister we take decisions for the long term.

    In today’s Autumn Statement for Growth our choice is not big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth, not more. Instead we reduce debt, cut taxes and reward work. We deliver world class education. We build domestic sustainable energy.

    And we back British business with 110 growth measures – don’t worry, I’m not going to go through them all – but in summary they…

    …remove planning red tape

    …speed up access to the national grid

    …support entrepreneurs raising capital

    …get behind our fastest growing industries

    …unlock foreign direct investment

    …boost productivity

    …reform welfare

    …level up opportunity to every corner of the country

    …and cut business taxes.

    The Office for Budget Responsibility say that the combined impact of these measures will raise business investment, get more people into work, reduce inflation next year and increase GDP. A dynamic economy depends on the energy and enterprise of people more than any diktats or decisions by ministers.

    So, today’s measures do not just remove barriers to investment, they reward effort and work.  I will go through the measures in three parts.

    In the first, I will use updated OBR forecasts to show the progress we are making against the Prime Minister’s economic priorities.

    The second part sets out growth measures to back British business.

    Finally, I conclude with measures to make work pay.

    Progress on the Prime Minster’s priorities

    Before I start with the forecasts, I want to express my horror at the murderous attack on Israeli citizens on October 7th and the subsequent loss of life on both sides. I will remember for the rest of my life – as I know many other hon members will – being taken to Auschwitz by the Rabbi Barry Marcus and the remarkable Holocaust Educational Trust. But I am deeply concerned about the rise of antisemitism in our country. So, I am announcing up to £7m over the next three years for organisations like the Holocaust Educational Trust to tackle antisemitism in schools and universities. I will also repeat the £3m uplift to the Community Security Trust.

    When it comes to anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, we must never allow the clock to be turned back.

    I now move on to the OBR’s economic and fiscal forecasts, and I thank Richard Hughes and his team for their sterling work in preparing them. Three of my Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister’s five pledges at the start of the year were economic: to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt. Today I can report to the House that we are delivering on all three.

    Inflation

    Let’s start with inflation. When the Prime Minister and I took office, inflation was at 11.1%. Last week, it fell to 4.6%. We promised to halve inflation and we have halved it. Core inflation is now lower than in nearly half of the economies in the EU.  And the OBR say headline inflation will fall to 2.8% by the end of 2024, before falling to the 2% target in 2025.

    I will not take risks with inflation, and the OBR confirm that the measures I take today make inflation lower next year than it would otherwise have been. I thank the Independent Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee for their crucial role in bringing down inflation.  We will continue to back them to do whatever it takes until the job is done. But as we do, we will continue to support families in difficulty.

    Today I add four further measures to help with the cost of living. Firstly, for those on the lowest incomes. I understand the concerns some have about the effect on work incentives of matching benefit increases to inflation.

    I know there has been some speculation that we would increase benefits next year by the lower October figure for inflation. But cost of living pressures remain at their most acute for the poorest families. So instead, the government has decided to increase Universal Credit and other benefits from next April by 6.7% in line with September’s inflation figure, an average increase of £470 for 5.5m households next year.  Vital support to those on the very lowest incomes.

    Second, because rent can constitute more than half the living costs of private renters on the lowest incomes, I have listened closely to many colleagues as well as the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Resolution Foundation, Citizens Advice UK and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation who said unfreezing the Local Housing Allowance was an ‘urgent priority’.

    I will therefore increase the Local Housing Allowance rate to the 30th percentile of local market rents. This will give 1.6 million households an average of £800 of support next year.

    Third, although I am going to increase duty on hand-rolling tobacco by an additional 10% above the tobacco duty escalator, I know that for many people going to the pub has become more expensive. I have listened closely to the persuasive arguments on alcohol duties from my Honourable Friend for Moray and my Rt Hon Friend for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, fierce champions of the Scotch whisky industry. I’ve also listened to defenders of the great British pint such as my Rt Honourable Friends for the Vale of Glamorgan and Buckingham; in my constituency to Councillor Jane Austin who is a big supporter of the Jolly Farmer pub in Bramley; and indeed to The Sun newspaper. So, as well as confirming our Brexit Pubs Guarantee, which means duty on a pint is always lower than in the shops, I have decided to freeze all alcohol duty until August 1st next year. That means no increase in duty on beer, cider, wine or spirits.

    Finally, pensioners. The triple lock has helped lift 250,000 older people out of poverty since it was instituted in 2011 and been a lifeline for many during a period of high inflation.  There have been reports that we would uprate it by a lower amount to smooth out the effect of high public sector bonuses in July, but that would have been particularly difficult for one million pensioners whose only income is from the state.

    So instead, today we honour our commitment to the triple lock in full. From April 2024, we will increase the full new state pension by 8.5% to £221.20 a week, worth up to £900 more a year. That is one of the largest ever cash increases to the state pension – showing this government will always back our pensioners.

    Including today’s measures, our total commitment to easing cost of living pressures has risen to £104 billion. That includes paying around half the cost of the average energy bill since last October and amounts to an average of £3700 per household.

    We are able to do that only because we reduced the deficit by 80% ahead of the pandemic.

    Borrowing and debt

    Next, I turn to my Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister’s pledge to reduce debt.  Before I took difficult decisions at last year’s Autumn Statement, debt was predicted to rise to almost 100% of GDP by the end of the forecast. Since then, the economy has outperformed expectations and I have taken difficult decisions to reduce borrowing. As a result, headline debt is now predicted to be 94% of GDP by the end of the forecast. The OBR today forecast underlying debt will be 91.6% of GDP next year, 92.7% in 2024-25, 93.2% in 2026-27, before declining in the final two years of the forecast to 92.8% in 2028-29. That is lower in every year compared to forecasts in the Spring. We therefore meet our fiscal rule to have underlying debt falling as a percentage of GDP in the final year of the forecast, with double the headroom compared to the OBR’s March forecast.

    And we continue to have the second lowest government debt in the G7 – lower than the United States, Canada, France, Italy or Japan.

    I turn to borrowing. According to the OBR, borrowing is lower this year and next, and on average across the forecast by £0.7 billion every year compared to the Spring Budget forecasts.  It falls from 4.5% of GDP in 2023-24, to 3.0%, 2.7%, 2.3%, 1.6% and 1.1% in 2028-29. That means we also meet our second fiscal rule – that public sector borrowing must be below 3% of GDP – not just by the final year, but in almost every year of the forecast. Some of this improvement is from higher tax receipts from a stronger economy, but we also maintain a disciplined approach to public spending.

    As I set out in the Spring Budget, resource spending will increase by 1% a year from 2025-26 in real terms and we are sustaining the record 2020 increase in capital spending in cash terms until the end of the forecast. Within this, we will meet our NATO commitment to spend 2% of our GDP on defence, critical at a time of global threats to the international order most notably from Putin’s evil war in Ukraine. We also support a group of people to whom we owe our freedom: our brave veterans. I will extend National Insurance relief for employers of eligible veterans for a further year and provide £10m to support the Veterans’ Places, Pathways and People programme. We have shown that we are prepared to increase funding for vital public services, with record numbers of police officers, doctors, nurses and teachers. We are nearly doubling the numbers of doctors and nurses we train, having given the NHS its first ever long-term workforce plan, as I promised to do a year ago. We are also tackling the greatest single preventable cause of mortality the NHS has to deal with by bringing forward plans for a smokefree generation. But alongside extra funding and support, we need to see reform. We need a more productive state not a bigger one.

    That is why I want the public sector to increase productivity growth by at least half a percent a year, the level at which the size of our state starts to reduce as a proportion of GDP. I have already announced plans to cap and reduce the size of the Civil Service to pre-pandemic levels. Today I pay tribute to the excellent former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Rt Hon Member for Salisbury, who started our Public Sector Productivity Programme.  It will now be pursued by his formidable successor, the Rt Hon Member for Sevenoaks who has already been with me to meet police, fire and ambulance personnel to understand where bureaucracy is holding them back. Through this vital work we will ensure that over time the growth in public spending is lower than the growth in the economy whilst always protecting the services the public value. I will also provide HMRC with the resources they need to ensure everyone pays the tax they owe, raising an additional £5 billion across the forecast period.

    Growth

    My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister also promised to grow the economy. Since 2010, we have presided over faster growth than many of our major competitors including Spain, Italy, France, Germany or Japan. But all of us have faced a pandemic and energy shock. As a result, last autumn the OBR forecast a recession in which the economy was expected to shrink by 1.4% in 2023.  Instead, it grew – in fact it has grown faster than the Euro area. Revised numbers from the ONS now say the economy is 1.8% larger than pre-pandemic.

    And looking ahead, the OBR expects the economy to grow by 0.6% this year and 0.7% next year. After that, growth rises to 1.4% in 2025, then 1.9% in 2026, 2% in 2027 and 1.7% in 2028. If we want those numbers to be higher, we need higher productivity.  The private sector is more productive in countries like the United States, Germany and France because it invests more – on average 2 percentage points more of GDP every year. The 110 measures I take today help close that gap by boosting business investment by £20 billion a year. They unlock investment with supply side reforms that back British business in the following areas.

    Growth measures

    Skills

    First, skills. No economy can prosper without investing in the potential of its people.  Despite strong opposition, we took the difficult decisions to reform our schools. England’s 9-10-year-olds are now the 4th best readers in the world and since 2015 our 15–16-year-olds have risen 7 places in the OECD rankings for maths, thanks not least to the efforts of the brilliant Rt Hon Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. But 9 million adults in England still have low basic literacy or numeracy skills. Last month the Prime Minister set out the new Advanced British Standard to ensure all school leavers reach minimum standards in maths and English.

    So following engagement with Make UK and others, I am announcing funding of £50m over the next two years to pilot ways to increase the number of apprentices in engineering and other key growth sectors.

    Infrastructure, housing and planning

    Next, planning. It takes too long to approve infrastructure projects and business planning applications. Many businesses say they would be willing to pay more if they knew their application would be approved faster. So, from next year, working with the Communities Secretary, I will reform the system to allow local authorities to recover the full costs of major business planning applications in return for being required to meet guaranteed faster timelines. If they fail, fees will be refunded automatically with the application being processed free of charge.

    A prompt service or your money back – just as would be the case in the private sector.

    Many planning applications are for housebuilding so today we take further decisions to unlock the building of more homes. We will invest £110m over this year and next to deliver high quality nutrient mitigation schemes, unlocking 40,000 homes. We will invest £32m to bust the planning backlog and develop fantastic new housing quarters in Cambridge, London and Leeds which will lead to many thousands of additional dwellings. We will allocate £450m to the Local Authority Housing Fund to deliver 2400 new homes. And we will consult on a new Permitted Development Right to allow any house to be converted into two flats provided the exterior remains unaffected.

    It is also taking too long for clean energy businesses to access the electricity grid. So, after talking to businesses such as National Grid, Octopus Energy and SSE, we today publish our full response to the Winser review and Connections Action Plan. These measures will cut grid access delays by 90% and offer up to £10,000 off electricity bills over 10 years for those living closest to new transmission infrastructure. Taken together these planning and grid reforms are estimated to accelerate around £90 billion of additional business investment over the next 10 years.

    FDI

    Next, foreign direct investment. I am extremely grateful to Lord Harrington for his excellent report on how to increase foreign direct investment. We accept all his headline recommendations. In particular, we will put in place a concierge service for large international investors modelled on the best such services offered by our competitors and will increase funding for the Office for Investment to deliver it.

    Pension fund reforms

    I now turn to pension fund reforms that will increase the flow of capital going to our most promising growth companies in a way that also improves outcomes for savers. I will take forward my Mansion House reforms starting with measures to consolidate the industry. By 2030, the majority of workplace DC savers will have their pension pots managed in schemes of over £30 billion and by 2040 all local government pension funds will be invested in pools of £200 billion or more.

    I will support the establishment of investment vehicles for pension funds to use including through the LIFTS competition, a new Growth Fund run by the British Business Bank and opening the PPF as an investment vehicle for smaller DB pension schemes.

    I will also consult on giving savers a legal right to require a new employer to pay pension contributions into their existing pension pot if they choose, meaning people can move to having one pension pot for life. These reforms could help unlock an extra £75 billion of financing for high growth companies by 2030 and provide an extra £1000 a year in retirement for an average earner saving from 18.

    Alongside this, I am also progressing further capital market reforms to boost the attractiveness of our markets, and the UK one of the most attractive places to start, grow and list a company. As part of this I will explore options for a Natwest retail share offer in the next 12 months subject to supportive market conditions and achieving value for money. It’s time to get Sid investing again.

    Innovation industries

    Next, I move on to measures to support our most innovative industries. In the last decade we have grown to become…

    …the third largest technology sector in the world, double the size of Germany and three times the size of France

    …the biggest life sciences industry in Europe

    …Europe’s third largest generator of renewable electricity after Germany or Norway

    … and the eighth largest manufacturer in the world

    When it comes to tech, we know that AI will be at the heart of any future growth. I want to make sure our universities, scientists and start-ups can access the compute power they need.

    So, building on the success of the supercomputing centres in Edinburgh and Bristol, I will invest a further £500m over the next two years to fund further innovation centres to help make us an AI powerhouse. Our creative industries already support Europe’s largest film and TV sector. This year’s all-Californian blockbuster Barbie was filmed in the constituency of the Hon Member for Watford, where the sun always shines. I know that even more could be invested in visual effects if we increased the generosity of the film and high-end TV tax credits, so I will today launch a call for evidence on how to make that happen. British-discovered vaccines and treatments saved more lives across the world during the pandemic than those from any other country and I’m incredibly proud of our Life Sciences industry. To further support research and development, I am creating a new simplified R&D tax relief, combining the existing R&D Expenditure Credit and SME schemes.

    I will also reduce the rate at which loss-making companies are taxed within the merged scheme from 25% to 19% and lower the threshold for the additional support for R&D intensive loss-making SMEs that I announced in Spring, to 30%, benefiting a further 5,000 SMEs.  And because 2028 marks the centenary of the invention of penicillin by Alexander Fleming I am giving £5m to Imperial College and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to set up a Fleming Centre to inspire the next generation of world-changing innovations.

    For our advanced manufacturing and green energy sectors, international investors say the biggest thing we can do is to announce a longer-term strategy for their industries.

    So, with the Secretaries of State for Business and Trade and Energy Security and Net Zero, I am today publishing those plans. I confirm that we will make available £4.5 billion of support over the 5 years to 2030 to attract investment into strategic manufacturing sectors.

    That includes support of £2 billion for zero emission investments in the automotive sector, something that has been warmly welcomed by Nissan and Toyota; £975m for aerospace, building on decades of success from firms like Airbus and Rolls Royce; and £520m for life sciences to build on the strength of world-class British pharma companies like AstraZeneca and GSK.  We will also provide £960m for the new Green Industries Growth Accelerator focused on offshore wind, electricity networks, nuclear, CCUS and hydrogen. These targeted investments will ensure the UK remains competitive in sectors where we are already leaders and innovative in areas where we are not. Taken together across our fastest-growing innovation sectors, this support alone will attract an estimated £2 billion of additional investment every year over the next decade.

    Levelling up

    One of the reasons we support our manufacturing and clean energy sectors is they help to level up growth across the United Kingdom, so I now turn to further levelling up measures.  In the Spring, I announced that we would deliver 12 new Investment Zones – 12 mini-Canary Wharfs – where government, industry and research institutes collaborate across the UK.  Since then, the Exchequer Secretary – the Hon Member for Grantham and Stamford – has done outstanding work across government to bring this vision to fruition. Following tenacious representations by the Hon Member for Ynys Mon and the unstoppable Mayor of Tees Valley, I have today decided to extend the financial incentives for Investment Zones and tax reliefs for Freeports from 5 years to 10 years. I will also set up a new £150m Investment Opportunity Fund to catalyse investment into the programme.

    On Monday, I confirmed a new Investment Zone in West Yorkshire. Today having listened to representations from the West Midlands salesman-in-Chief, Andy Street, as well as the Hon Member for Mansfield and the Hon Member for Bury North I am also announcing three further Investment Zones focused on advanced manufacturing in the West Midlands, East Midlands and Greater Manchester. Together, local partners expect these will help catalyse over £3.4 billion of private investment and 65,000 new jobs.

    And having listened to the Hon Member for Wrexham and the Hon Member for Clwyd South, I can announce a second Investment Zone in Wales in the fantastic region of Wrexham and Flintshire, which I will visit tomorrow. We are publishing new devolution deals with four areas including Hull and East Yorkshire and offering devolved powers to even more county areas.

    On Monday we saw the announcement of £1 billion of funding through Round 3 of the Levelling Up Fund, supporting projects following the campaigning efforts of the Members for Keighley, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Scunthorpe …and of course, Mr Speaker, Chorley.

    I can also confirm we will proceed with over £50m of funding for high-quality regeneration projects in communities such as Bolsover, Monmouthshire, Warrington, and Eden Valley all of which have particularly effective local MPs as their champions.

    And I’m announcing £80m for new Levelling Up Partnerships in Scotland, £500,000 to support the Hay Festival in Wales and £3m of additional funding to support the successful Tackling Paramilitarism programme in Northern Ireland.

    Small businesses

    Next small business. I ran my own one for 14 years and have always known that every big business was a small business once. The Federation of Small Businesses say that the biggest thing I could do to help their members is end the scourge of late payments. The Procurement Act we have passed means that the 30-day payment terms which are already set for public sector contracts will automatically apply throughout the sub-contract supply chain.

    But from April 2024 I will also introduce a condition that any company bidding for large government contracts should demonstrate they pay their own invoices within an average of 55 days, which will reduce progressively to 30 days. Any small business will also tell you the biggest frustration is the tax you pay before making a penny of profit – not least business rates. This government has already taken a third of properties out of rates completely through Small Business Rates Relief. We have frozen the tax rate for the last three years at a cost of £14.5 billion. We have removed downwards caps from Transitional Relief.

    And for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses we have introduced a one year 75% discount on business rates up to £110,000. These measures have saved the average independent shop over £20,000. It is not possible to continue with temporary support measures forever. But whilst the standard multiplier, which applies to high-value properties, will rise in line with inflation, I have today decided that we will freeze the small business multiplier for a further year. And following extensive discussions with the FSB and many colleagues in the House, I have also decided to extend the 75% business rates discount for Retail Hospitality and Leisure businesses for another year. This will save the average independent pub over £12,800 next year and at a cost of £4.3 billion, it is a large tax cut which recognises the role of pubs and high street shops in our communities. I thank the Members for Stockton South, Barrow and Furness and East Devon for their tenacious campaigning on this issue.

    Finally, I turn to the smallest of all businesses – those run by the self-employed. These are the people who literally kept our country running during the pandemic. The plumbers who fixed our boilers in lockdowns. The delivery drivers who brought us our shopping. The farmers who kept food on our plates. As part of our plans to grow the economy I want to reform and simplify the taxes paid by the self-employed. So today I am announcing a major reform of one of those taxes. It is one most people haven’t heard of, but it is a big deal for those who have to pay it. Class 2 National Insurance is a flat rate compulsory charge, currently £3.45 a week, paid by self-employed people earning more than £12,570 which gives state pension entitlement. Today, after careful consideration and in recognition of the contribution made by self-employed people to our country, I can announce we are abolishing Class 2 National Insurance altogether, saving the average self-employed person £192 a year.

    Access to entitlements and credits will be maintained in full and those who choose to pay voluntarily will still be able to do so.  But this change simplifies and cuts tax for nearly 2 million self-employed people whilst protecting the interests of those on the lowest pay. Because we value their work, I’m also taking one further step for the self-employed. They also pay Class 4 National Insurance at 9% on all earnings between £12,570 and £50,270. Today, I have decided to cut that tax by 1 percentage point to 8% from April. Taken together with the abolition of the compulsory Class 2 Charge, these reforms will save around 2 million self-employed people an average of £350 a year from April.

    Mr Speaker, we are backing small business by freezing their business rates, extending retail, hospitality and leisure relief, abolishing compulsory Class 2 National Insurance payments and reducing Class 4 National Insurance by one percentage point in today’s Autumn Statement for growth. Small businesses work so hard for us, so tis government is working hard for them.

    Full expensing

    I turn now to my final measure to back British business, Mr Speaker. Since 2010, we have seen the second highest growth in investment of any G7 country.  However, if we are to raise productivity, we need to increase business investment further. In 2021, my Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister introduced the super-deduction for large businesses to further stimulate business investment, and this Spring, I introduced “full expensing” for three years.

    This means that for every million pounds a company invests, they get £250,000 off their tax bill in the very same year.

    The CBI, Make UK, Energy UK and 200 other business leaders from companies including BT Open Reach, Siemens and Bosch have said making this measure permanent would the “single most transformational” thing I could do for business investment and growth. The Centre for Policy Studies say it would ‘maximise business investment, boost productivity and deliver higher levels of GDP.’ But because it costs £11 billion a year, I made clear that I would only do so when it was affordable. Well, with inflation halved… borrowing down… and debt falling, today I deliver on that promise. I will today make full expensing permanent. That is the largest business tax cut in modern British history. It means we have not just the lowest headline corporation tax rate in the G7 but its most generous capital allowances.

    The OBR say it will increase annual investment by around £3 billion a year and a total of £14 billion over the forecast period. The way to back British business is to increase the incentives to invest.  We do that today by introducing one of the most generous tax reliefs anywhere in the world, a huge boost to British competitiveness in an Autumn Statement for Growth. Skills, planning and infrastructure reform, pension fund reform, support for innovation industries, levelling up, backing small business and full expensing… Taken together, the overall impact of today’s growth measures will be to increase business investment in the UK economy by around £20 billion a year within a decade, nearly 1% of GDP at today’s level. That is the biggest ever boost for business investment in modern times, a decisive step towards closing the productivity gap with other major economies and the most effective way we can raise wages and living standards for every family in the country.

    Work

    As well as backing business, you need to back the people without whose effort no businesses can succeed. The entrepreneur taking risks. The builder working weekends. The nurse working nights. And the jobseeker leaving benefits behind. I therefore conclude with three further supply-side reforms designed to improve the incentives to work in a modern, dynamic economy.

    Welfare

    I begin with welfare, and I start by thanking the outstanding Work and Pensions Secretary for his help in developing these reforms. He builds on the work of my Rt Hon Friend for Chingford and Woodford Green who introduced Universal Credit. Those reforms helped to reduce unemployment, which has fallen by over one million.  But post-pandemic we still have over seven million adults of working age, excluding students, who are not working despite nearly one million vacancies in the economy. Many can and want to work – but our system makes that too hard.

    In the Spring Budget I introduced 30 hours of free childcare for working parents of 1- & 2-year-olds. That plan, still opposed by the party opposite, starts rolling out in April. It will help tens of thousands of parents return to work without having to worry about damaging their career prospects.

    Today we focus on helping those with sickness or disability and the long term unemployed. Every year we sign off over 100,000 people onto benefits with no requirement to look for work because of sickness or disability. That waste of potential is wrong economically and wrong morally. So, with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, last week I announced our Back to Work Plan. We will reform the Fit Note process so that treatment rather than time off work becomes the default. We will reform the Work Capability Assessment to reflect greater flexibility and availability of home working after the pandemic. And we will spend £1.3 billion over the next five years to help nearly 700,000 people with health conditions find jobs. Over 180,000 more people will be helped through the Universal Support Programme and nearly 500,000 more people will be offered treatment for mental health conditions and employment support.

    Over the forecast period, the OBR judge these measures will more than halve the net flow of people who are signed off work with no work search requirements. At the same time, we will provide a further £1.3 billion of funding to offer extra help to the 300,000 people who have been unemployed for over a year without having sickness or a disability.

    But we will ask for something in return. If after 18 months of intensive support jobseekers have not found a job, we will roll out a programme requiring them to take part in a mandatory work placement to increase their skills and improve their employability. And if they choose not to engage with the work search process for six months, we will close their case and stop their benefits. Taken together with the labour supply measures I announced in the Spring, the OBR say we will increase the number of people in work by around 200,000 at the end of the forecast period, permanently increasing the size of the economy. We should unlock the potential we have right here at home, which we do with the biggest set of welfare reforms in a decade in today’s Autumn Statement for Growth.

    Ending low pay

    Mr Speaker, if we are to incentivise work, we must also tackle low pay. People who get up early, put in the hours and work hard for their families deserve to be paid fairly. Since 2010, those on the minimum wage – now the National Living Wage – have seen their hourly wage go up from £5.80/hour to £10.42/hour. That’s a real terms increase of more than 20%. Because we’ve also doubled the threshold at which you pay tax or national insurance, their after-tax income has gone up not by 20% but by 25% – more than any other income group.

    Today, I confirm we will go further and accept the Low Pay Commission recommendation to increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 an hour.

    That is the largest ever cash increase in the National Living Wage, worth up to £1800 for a full-time worker. Since the National Living Wage has been introduced, the proportion of people on low pay, defined as earning less than two thirds of national median hourly income, has halved. But at the new rate of £11.44 an hour it delivers our manifesto commitment to eliminate low pay altogether. That means by next year someone working full time on the National Living Wage will see their real take-home after-tax pay go up not by 25% but by 30% compared to 2010. The best way to tackle poverty is through work. By reforming the welfare system, reducing workless households and tackling low pay we have helped lift 1.7 million people out of absolute poverty since 2010 because a central part of our plan for growth is to make work pay.

    Tax

    And so I move to the final supply side measure in today’s Autumn Statement for Growth. Because of the difficult decisions we have taken in the last year, today’s OBR forecast shows that…

    …borrowing will be lower than forecast in the Spring …

    … debt as a proportion of GDP will be lower than forecast in the Spring…

    … inflation will continue to fall…

    …and our fiscal headroom has doubled.

    I said we would cut taxes when we could – but only responsibly and only in a way that did not fuel inflation. The OBR today confirm I can deliver a package which does just that. For businesses, I have today delivered the biggest business tax cut in modern British history with the most competitive investment allowances of any large economy.

    For the self-employed, I have simplified and reformed their taxes by abolishing the compulsory Class 2 charge and cutting Class 4 National Insurance. But high employment taxes on 27 million people working in the public and private sectors also disincentivise the hard work we should be encouraging. On top of income tax at 20%, they pay 12% National Insurance on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 – that’s a 32% marginal tax rate. If we want people to get up early in the morning, if we want people to work nights, if we want an economy where people go the extra mile and work hard then we need to recognise that their hard work benefits all of us. So today, Mr Speaker, I am going to cut the main 12% rate of employee National Insurance.

    If I cut it by 1 percentage point to 11%, that would be an extra £225 in the pockets of the average worker every year. But instead, I’m going to go further and cut the main rate of Employee National insurance by 2 percentage points from 12% to 10%. This change will help 27 million people. It means someone on the average salary of £35,000 will save over £450. For the average nurse, it is a saving of over £520 and for the typical police officer it is a saving of over £630 every single year. Mr Speaker, I would normally bring in a measure like this for the start of the new tax year in April, but instead tomorrow I’m introducing urgent legislation to bring it in from January 6th, so that people can see the benefit in their payslips at the start of the new year.

    The OBR say reducing a tax on work means more people in work – and today’s measures ON JUDT National Insurance will lead to the equivalent of 94,000 more full-time employees in our economy. Because lower tax means higher growth.

    We cut taxes to help bigger businesses invest. We cut taxes to help smaller businesses grow. We cut taxes for the self-employed who keep our country running.

    And from January, we cut taxes for 27 million working people whose hard work drives our economy forward.

    Conclusion

    Mr Speaker, the best universities, the cleverest scientists and the smartest entrepreneurs have given us Europe’s most innovative economy. We can be the most prosperous too.

    In the face of global challenges, we have halved inflation, reduced our debt and grown our economy. As a country we are sticking to a plan that is working. This Autumn Statement for Growth will attract £20 billion additional business investment a year in the next decade…

    … bring tens of thousands more people into work

    … and support our fastest growing industries.

    In a package which leaves borrowing lower…

    … debt lower…

    … and keeps inflation falling…

    We are delivering…

    … the biggest business tax cut in modern British history…

    … the largest ever cut to employee and self-employed National Insurance…

    … and the biggest package of tax cuts to be implemented since the 1980s.

    An Autumn Statement for a country that has turned a corner.

    An Autumn Statement for Growth, which I commend to the House.

  • PRESS RELEASE : New NIHR Research Delivery Network created [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : New NIHR Research Delivery Network created [November 2023]

    The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 14 November 2023.

    The network will play a critical and active role in supporting the health and care research system to bring innovative new treatments and care to patients, carers and the public.

    The new National Institute for Health and Care Research – Research Delivery Network (NIHR RDN) will commence in 2024 to support the successful delivery of health and social care research in England. It will take over from NIHR – Clinical Research Network (NIHR CRN) building on its successes, including the remarkable efforts made during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recovery of the research system.

    The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has designated the University of Leeds as the single host of the new NIHR RDN Co-ordinating Centre (RDNCC) from 1 April 2024. This contract has been awarded following a commercial procurement exercise.

    From October 2024, they will be joined by 12 Regional Research Delivery Networks (RRDNs), hosted by NHS organisations the length and breadth of the country, to make up the NIHR RDN.

    The network will operate as one organisation across England and will play a critical and active role in implementing government policy, including:

    NIHR RDN will be a new organisation with new processes, structures and governance, working to ensure co-ordination and support through a consistent, customer-focused approach. It will increase capacity and capability across the health and care research system, supporting the successful delivery of high-quality research across England for the benefit of patients and the public. It represents a significant government investment to bolster the UK’s position as one of the best places in the world for innovative companies and investigators to carry out research.

    It will work across the health and care system, with staff in all health and care settings, to support the effective and efficient initiation and delivery of research. This will benefit people receiving care now and in the future, support the NHS and social care services and generate benefits for the economy of the UK.

    Growing the amount of commercial clinical research will be a key strategic ambition for the new network. This follows the publication of the review into commercial clinical trials by Lord O’Shaughnessy in May 2023 which set out a clear blueprint for how the UK can return to its global leadership role. The government will shortly be responding to the review in full.

    The network will focus on portfolio monitoring, identifying and resolving strategic challenges to ensure the research system is able to achieve its ambitions around innovative study methodology, increasing the diversity of populations taking part in research and broadening the settings in which research takes place. Research funders, sponsors and sites will remain responsible for the delivery of individual studies.

    It will provide funding to study sites that can be used to support the costs of research delivery across the entire study delivery pathway. It will provide financial oversight to ensure this funding is being used to support research and development activities and provide dedicated support to ensure study sites are recovering all appropriate costs to sustainably fund and grow research delivery staff and facilities.

    The network will provide an enhanced study support service which will facilitate smoother, interconnected access to research infrastructure for the life sciences industry and researchers. The expertise and site-level intelligence of staff from RRDNs will be drawn together with the national oversight and leadership of the RDNCC to provide a more effective end-to-end service for customers across the whole study pathway.

    Background

    DHSC funds research through NIHR, who work in partnership with the NHS, universities, local government, other research funders, patients and the public to fund, enable and deliver world-leading health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing and promotes economic growth.

    See the NIHR press release for more information.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Winners of the first King’s Award for Voluntary Service announced [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : Winners of the first King’s Award for Voluntary Service announced [November 2023]

    The press release issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 14 November 2023.

    • 262 charities, youth groups and museums across the UK recognised for their outstanding work
    • Previously known as The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, this year marks the first award in the name of His Majesty King Charles III
    • Isle of Wight Literary Festival, Bangladeshi Youth Organisation and Swannington Heritage Trust among those awarded

    262 organisations across the UK have been awarded the first ever King’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award given to local volunteer groups in recognition of their outstanding community service.

    Formerly known as The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the award was established in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. It is equivalent to an MBE and is the highest honour awarded to voluntary groups.

    Awarded annually to some of the UK’s most inspiring volunteer-led groups for their charitable endeavours, this year 227 organisations from England, 20 from Scotland, six from Wales and nine from Northern Ireland have received the first ever King’s Award.

    Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said:

    Each year, millions of volunteers give up their time to provide care and support, and this award recognises those truly making a difference to the lives of others across the United Kingdom.

    It’s brilliant to see the King continue the legacy of Her Late Majesty and reward those who support their local communities with kindness and compassion. Congratulations to all those who have been awarded.

    Sir Martyn Lewis CBE, the KAVS Chair said:

    I have no doubt that these awards will delight His Majesty The King, with his well-known commitment to volunteering, on his birthday. This year’s 262 King’s Awards for Voluntary Service honour truly impressive recipients across the length and breadth of the UK.

    The awardees work selflessly as groups of volunteers to address every conceivable kind of local issue across all our communities. We owe them huge congratulations, but also much more than that for the inestimable value they bring to our society.

    From charities offering financial and practical support to cardiac patients; local community arts and culture centres; search and rescue services and volunteer-run community radio stations, the work of the awardees is wide ranging. Organisations support young people, those suffering from loneliness and isolation, and ethnic minority groups amongst others.

    Recipients include:

    • BEEP Doctors (BASICs) Cumbria – a local charity delivering free highly-skilled emergency medical care to seriously injured patients across rural and urban Cumbria. In 2022, the organisation attended to 262 call outs and dedicated 1656 hours of volunteering.
    • Pegasus Men Wellbeing Centre in Redruth – a support centre offering free one-to-one counselling and wellbeing support to those in Cornwall experiencing a range of issues, including depression, relationship and family issues and managing stress.
    • Brill Village Community Herd – a volunteer group caring for a community-owned herd of cows grazing the common in the village of Brill, conserving the habitat and restoring biodiversity. Volunteers check on the herd and work together to relocate it to new grazing areas, bringing the local community together.
    • Northumberland Log Bank – a log bank delivering logs to those in need due to financial constraints, poor health, advanced age or rural isolation in rural Northumberland, aiming to support around 300 households this winter.
    • Isle of Wight Literary Festival – a registered charity promoting literature to enhance the education and wellbeing of the Island community. They currently have 50 volunteers who provide support to festival goers and speakers alike, maintaining the rooms and ensuring the annual event runs smoothly. The organisation also runs a Schools’ Programme to enrich the education of under 18s by increasing available cultural experiences.
    • Wolverhampton ALZ Cafe – a bi monthly gathering offering integrated support to people living with dementia, their families and the community in the West Midlands. They offer a range of free activities including social evenings where beneficiaries can enjoy music, dancing, food and drink as well as day trips.

    Throughout her 70-year reign, Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II took a keen interest in recognising outstanding work and acts of service by individuals and groups, a legacy being continued by His Majesty The King. From this year onwards, awardees will be announced annually on 14 November to mark The King’s birthday.

    The next round of awards will be assessed from December 2023 until May 2024, with the awardees being announced in November 2024.

  • PRESS RELEASE : New multi-million pound Programme helps British SMEs lead the way on net zero air travel [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : New multi-million pound Programme helps British SMEs lead the way on net zero air travel [November 2023]

    The press release issued by the Department for Business and Trade on 14 November 2023.

    The new ATI SME Programme will provide up to £10 million per year in funding opportunities for UK aerospace SMEs’ cutting-edge R&D projects.

    • Government launches new funding Programme targeting cutting-edge SME aerospace research projects to advance net zero aviation and boost high-skilled jobs.
    • Worth up to £10 million per year, the Programme will help secure more high-skilled aerospace jobs across the UK.
    • Funding provided through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) will drive innovative UK SME research projects and grow UK’s share of global aerospace sector, helping to grow the economy.

    Cutting-edge British aerospace companies are set to benefit from a new multi-million pound SME Programme that will secure high-skilled jobs and help the UK lead the way on greener air travel.

    The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) SME Programme will offer UK-based small and medium-sized firms the chance to bid for a share of £10 million total funding per year towards their innovative research projects.

    The Programme is being announced by Industry Minister Nusrat Ghani today (14 November) at the ATI’s 2023 Conference in Birmingham. It will be delivered in partnership with the ATI and Innovate UK.

    Industry Minister Nusrat Ghani said:

    I’m delighted to announce the new ATI SME Funding Programme, which will help propel our world-leading aerospace sector to new heights in the pursuit of innovative, clean, green air travel.

    UK aerospace businesses, with their expertise and innovation, are helping drive the industry on its journey to Net Zero by 2050, and in the process are helping us grow the UK economy and support high-skill, high-wage jobs.

    ATI CEO Gary Elliott said:

    We know from the success of the ATI Programme that supporting advanced technologies secures market share for the UK, bringing economic benefit and delivering against the sector’s sustainability commitments on our journey to Destination Zero.

    By connecting capability and funding technology development, the SME Programme will benefit organisations of all sizes across the nations and regions of the UK.

    The new Programme will open to applications in February 2024 and aims to give SMEs the best opportunities possible to apply for funding to develop innovative technologies supporting the Government’s commitment to Jet Zero.

    This is the plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions for commercial aircraft by 2050, while also keeping the UK’s aerospace industry competitive in the sustainable design, manufacture, assembly and operation of future aircraft.

    The Programme will allow SMEs in the UK aerospace sector to bid for grants of up to £1.5 million each, helping to boost high-skilled jobs in the industry across the UK.

    It also builds on the Government’s commitment to backing UK aerospace R&D to succeed, as demonstrated by the ATI Programme, for which government provided £685 million in 2022.

    Support for organisations engaging with the SME Programme will be delivered by the ATI Hub. This will include sessions with ATI technologists, themed innovation workshops and guidance on preparing for a pitch-panel presentation.

    The ATI Hub can also generate new connections between start-ups, SMEs, bigger and tier one organisations which could become consortia applications to the SME Programme.

  • PRESS RELEASE : 44th Universal Periodic Review of human rights – UK statement on Azerbaijan [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : 44th Universal Periodic Review of human rights – UK statement on Azerbaijan [November 2023]

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

    The UK delivered a statement during Azerbaijan’s Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council.

    Thank you, Madam Vice President,

    The United Kingdom welcomes Azerbaijan’s engagement in the UPR process and their increased protection to those affected by landmine contamination. We encourage Azerbaijan to advance post-conflict reconciliation particularly the protection of displaced persons.

    We remain concerned at restrictions to freedoms of expression and assembly, as highlighted by the case of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu. We urge Azerbaijan to improve human rights protections for all.

    We recommend:

    1. Ensuring that all allegations of human rights violations against human rights defenders, civil society activists and journalists, and detained foreign nationals are investigated effectively and transparently, including pending unresolved cases requiring urgent attention.
    2. Removing articles 147 and 148 from the Criminal Code, which stipulates liability against journalists for slander and insult, as committed to by Azerbaijan in 2001.
    3. Adopting necessary legislation in the Criminal Code to criminalise all forms of domestic violence.

    Thank you.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Funding boost for new train station in Bradford as part of Network North Plan [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : Funding boost for new train station in Bradford as part of Network North Plan [November 2023]

    The press release issued by the Department for Transport on 14 November 2023.

    New station to improve connectivity, benefitting education and business in the UK’s ‘City of Culture’.

    • government invests in plans to develop new railway station in Bradford
    • comes on top of £2 billion Network North commitment to better connect the city and deliver faster rail journeys to Manchester and Huddersfield
    • station will support regeneration, business and job opportunities in the UK’ s ‘City of Culture’

    Rail passengers in Bradford will be connected to more jobs, education and business opportunities, thanks to the government’s commitment to deliver a new train station in the city.

    The plan was first revealed last month as part of the government’s launch of Network North – a £36 billion long-term plan to improve the country’s transport across roads, buses and railways, through unprecedented levels of investment.

    Today (14 November 2023), the Department for Transport is building on its promise of building a brand-new railway station in Bradford by providing £400,000 for the local authority to kickstart master planning on the project.

    The work will consider how the new station can best support regeneration in the surrounding area and maximise its potential to create new homes, jobs and local economic growth – as well as significantly improving transport links and cutting journey times.

    Once complete, the findings will form part of a wider business case for the project which will include details on the proposed location and delivery date for the station.

    Rail Minister, Huw Merriman, said:

    I have championed the case for a new railway station in Bradford for a long time and the funding announced today will make this commitment one step closer to becoming a reality.

    Bradford is soon to become the UK’s ‘City of Culture’ and our scheme to deliver a brand new station and railway line will help attract tourism, unlock access to neighbouring cities and provide the area with the huge regeneration opportunities it deserves to boost connectivity and economic growth.

    The station will be delivered as part of the government’s Network North pledge to connect major cities in the North of England with more frequent trains, increased capacity and faster journeys.

    On top of the £400,000 announced today for regeneration plans in the city, a total of £2 billion will be invested to build the station and a new line to deliver a significantly faster, 30-minute journey to Manchester via Huddersfield.

    Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said:

    It is good to see this moving forward, everyone has worked so hard for so long to get this progressed. Improving connectivity for Bradford to the rest of the North is so important to enable greater investment, jobs and opportunities.  There can be no successful North without Bradford being successful.

    Today’s announcement comes on top of a further £2.5 billion Network North pledge to support the West Yorkshire mass transit system which will improve connections between Leeds and Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax. It will mean Leeds is no longer the biggest European city without a mass-transit system, with up to 7 lines potentially created as part of a transformed network.

    In addition to this, the government continues to push forward plans to electrify the Calder Valley Line between Bradford and Leeds – backed by £500 million – to cut journey times by around 40% from 20 minutes to as low as 12 minutes.

  • PRESS RELEASE : Victims to be protected through Sentencing Reforms [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : Victims to be protected through Sentencing Reforms [November 2023]

    The press release issued by the Ministry of Justice on 14 November 2023.

    Cowardly domestic abusers will continue to face time behind bars under legislation laid in Parliament today which will also see the most horrific murderers face life behind bars and rapists locked up for longer.

    • Sentencing Bill to crackdown on violent offenders
    • Bill will see rapists spend their full custodial sentence in prison and Whole Life Orders for any murder involving sexual or sadistic conduct
    • The reforms to sentencing will also help low risk offenders escape the merry-go-around of short prison terms and turn their lives away from crime
    • Stalkers, abusers, and prolific offenders continue to face time behind bars

    As action is being taken to stop low risk offenders getting stuck in the revolving door of short prison sentences, the Government has confirmed that domestic abusers will continue to face jail, and judges will have full discretion to lock up any tormentor who puts an individual at significant risk of psychological or physical harm.

    Changes to shorter jail stints also won’t apply to those in front of the court for breaching a court order such as a restraining or stalking prevention order. This will keep the safety of women and girls at the heart of the criminal justice system.

    The announcement comes as the Sentencing Bill, which was set out in the King’s Speech, is introduced in the House of Commons.

    As part of this bill, the Government will bring in a raft of measures to better protect the British public from the worst offenders.

    Under the plans, the most heinous murderers will spend the rest of their lives locked up, including for any murder involving sexual or sadistic conduct. With Whole Life Orders being handed down in the worst cases, and judges only able to not impose one in exceptional circumstances, life will mean life.

    The new legislation will also mean rapists and criminals who commit other serious sexual offences spend their full custodial term in prison behind bars, making the average sentence for rape up 50% when the Government came to power in 2010.

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

    “We want domestic abuse victims to know this Government is on their side, so we will do everything possible to protect them from those who cause harm, or threaten to do so.

    “That’s why we are ensuring that judges retain full discretion to hand down prison sentences to domestic abusers  – to give victims the confidence to rebuild their lives knowing their tormentors are safely behind bars.”

    While custody is the only appropriate punishment for the most dangerous and violent offenders, for many, a short time in custody can begin a merry-go-round of reoffending that can devastate communities and leave countless more victims.

    That is why, through the Sentencing Bill, there will be a presumption on the courts to suspend custodial sentences of twelve months or less. This is backed by government statistics which show over 50 per cent of offenders serving a sentence of 12 months or less go on to commit another crime compared to 58 per cent of those serving six months or less.

    Where suspended sentences are given, offenders will be punished in the community, repaying their debt to society by cleaning up our neighbourhoods and scrubbing graffiti off walls. They will also be strictly overseen by the Probation Service and subject to license conditions which could include state-of-the-art electronic monitoring tags and curfews.

    They will also be able to better access drug and alcohol rehab, mental healthcare and other support that properly addresses the root causes of their offending.

    In order to reduce the number of offenders trapped in the revolving prison door, the Sentencing Bill will:

    • Introduce a presumption to suspend prison sentences of 12 months or less in certain circumstances.
    • Expand the use of Home Detention Curfew (HDC) to suitable offenders serving sentences of four years or more.

    Judges will retain their discretion to hand down custodial sentences where they feel it is right in the circumstances of the case.

  • PRESS RELEASE : UK and US hit Hamas leadership with targeted sanctions [November 2023]

    PRESS RELEASE : UK and US hit Hamas leadership with targeted sanctions [November 2023]

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

    The UK and US have targeted Hamas with a new tranche of sanctions today, restricting the terror group’s ability to operate.

    • sanctions on Hamas leadership to include travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargoes
    • package is co-ordinated with US and set to disrupt Hamas operations both in Gaza and wherever their leaders base themselves
    • Foreign Secretary declares UK “stands in solidarity” with the Palestinian people caught up in the crisis and calls on all parties to agree to humanitarian pauses to allow lifesaving aid into Gaza

    The UK’s sanctions are against 4 Hamas senior leaders and 2 Hamas financiers. The stringent measures have been placed on Hamas’ leadership in an effort to disrupt the group’s acts of terror.

    Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ political leader in Gaza, is among individuals from the group’s political and military wings targeted by today’s UK sanctions. He is reported to have been involved in the brutal attacks on Israel last month.

    Also designated is Muhammed Deif, commander of the group’s military arm.

    The sanctions show that the terror group’s leaders cannot escape the consequences of their actions, even if they are pulling the strings from outside of Gaza. Those covered include a Lebanon-based financier and money launderer in Sudan.

    Foreign Secretary David Cameron said:

    We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt the abhorrent activity of this terrorist organisation, working with the United States and our other allies, making it harder for them to operate and isolating them on the world stage.

    The Palestinian people are victims of Hamas too. We stand in solidarity with them and will continue to support humanitarian pauses to allow significantly more lifesaving aid to reach Gaza.

    All those sanctioned by the UK and US were targeted for their leadership or financing roles in the group, which was originally founded in the late 1980s with a commitment to destroy Israel. These designations add to existing UK sanctions against Hamas, including on the organisation itself.

    Those now subject to UK travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargoes, which prohibit the sale of weapons and military equipment by a UK person to the designated person, include:

    • Yahya Sinwar: Sinwar is a senior leader of Hamas and the group’s political leader in Gaza
    • Muhammed Deif: Deif is a senior leader of Hamas and is the commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IQB), the military arm of Hamas, who announced the October 2023 terrorist attacks
    • Marwan Issa: Issa is a senior leader of Hamas and is the deputy commander of the IQB
    • Musa Dudin: Dudin is a West Bank-based Hamas official who has procured weaponry for the group, enabling them to commit acts of terrorism
    • Abdelbasit Hamza: Hamza is a Sudan-based Hamas financier who owned a network of companies that laundered money and traded in currency in order to finance Hamas
    • Nabil Chouman: Chouman has channelled funds to Hamas through his Lebanon-based currency exchange

    The UK and the US stand united in their solidarity with Israel in its fight against Hamas. We continue to use our diplomatic efforts to support a two-state solution to provide justice and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, including through the Prime Minister’s recent visits to the region to speak with their counterparts.

    The UK has sent 51 tonnes of lifesaving aid to the region and doubled our funding commitment to the Occupied Palestinian Territories this year.

    The Prime Minister has called on all parties to allow the humanitarian pauses necessary to allow more aid to enter Gaza and been clear that Israel’s forces must act within international law and stop extremist violence in the West Bank.