Tag: News Story

STORY

Regional mayors in England will be given greater control over innovation funding under Government plans linked to the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. Ministers said the change would allow local leaders to target research and development investment towards sectors with the strongest regional growth potential.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the approach would apply to areas including Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Greater London after the next Spending Review. Two projects in Liverpool are also set to receive £23.7 million in Local Innovation Partnerships funding.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said science and technology should drive growth across every region. The policy forms part of the Government’s wider devolution and Industrial Strategy agenda, with ministers arguing that local leaders are best placed to decide where innovation funding should be directed.

STORY

The Ministry of Defence has announced contracts worth £36 million for hundreds more Lightweight Multirole Missiles for the UK Armed Forces. The missiles, manufactured by Thales in Belfast, are intended to boost UK stockpiles and strengthen protection for British personnel and allies in the Middle East and beyond.

The Government said deliveries would begin in the coming months and continue through 2026. The contracts are expected to support around 700 skilled jobs in Belfast and form part of wider efforts to improve munitions resilience and speed up the supply of military equipment.

Defence Secretary John Healey said the order showed the Government’s partnership with industry in action. The missiles have been used to defeat drone attacks in the Middle East, including through RAF Regiment gunners operating the Rapid Sentry air defence system.

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The Government has said its NHS Modernisation Bill will introduce a single patient record in England, allowing NHS providers including hospitals and GPs to share patient information more effectively. Ministers said the reform could mean up to 20,000 fewer A&E attendances and 6,000 fewer hospital admissions each year.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the measure would reduce the need for patients to repeat their medical history and would give clinicians a fuller picture of medicines, allergies and previous treatment. The Government said it could save more than £20 million a year by reducing medication errors, adverse drug reactions and duplicate prescribing.

The Bill is also intended to reduce bureaucracy by formally transferring NHS England’s functions into the Department and the wider health system. Ministers said the legislation forms part of the Government’s ten-year plan for the NHS, while professional bodies and campaigners are expected to scrutinise its implications for data protection and patient voice.

STORY

A new national support hub has been launched for victims and survivors of terrorism, with ministers saying it will provide a single route into specialist, trauma-informed care. The Home Office said the hub would be available around the clock for anyone affected by a terrorist incident.

The service will provide emotional and practical support, dedicated caseworkers and personalised recovery plans. It will be delivered through a partnership involving Victim Support, the Peace Collective and West London NHS Trust, bringing together practical assistance and clinical expertise.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said victims and survivors had too often had to navigate fragmented services. The launch comes ahead of the UK’s first national day for victims and survivors of terrorism, which will be marked later this summer.

STORY

The Competition and Markets Authority has said it has not found evidence that fuel retailers changed their pricing strategies to take advantage of the Middle East crisis. Its latest road fuel monitoring report said higher wholesale prices continued to explain most of the increase in petrol and diesel prices during March and April.

The regulator said weak competition remained a concern, with average margins still historically high for both supermarket and non-supermarket retailers. It will now carry out a more detailed assessment of retailer pricing strategies, with the results expected in the autumn.

The CMA said motorists could still save money by shopping around, particularly as Fuel Finder-backed services develop. The findings come at a politically sensitive time, with fuel costs feeding into wider concerns about household budgets and the effectiveness of market regulation.

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Skills England has published its first Annual Skills Report, warning that up to 1.8 million additional workers may be needed across priority sectors over the next decade. The report said demand in those sectors is expected to grow by around 24%, increasing pressure on ministers to reform apprenticeships, technical education and adult training.

The body said the skills system needed to respond more quickly to labour market demand, particularly in areas linked to the Government’s Industrial Strategy. It identified shortages in key occupations, falling employer investment, the rapid spread of artificial intelligence, youth employability and weak local alignment between training and jobs as central challenges.

Baroness Smith of Malvern said the report showed the importance of preparing the workforce for future demand while supporting people into lasting careers. The findings follow Alan Milburn’s interim report on young people and work, which highlighted the number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training.

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The UK will not have to pay Rwanda tens of millions of pounds following the cancellation of the previous Government’s asylum partnership, after the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected Rwanda’s financial claims. The scheme, originally designed to send some asylum seekers arriving in the UK to Rwanda, was scrapped by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government after Labour entered office in 2024.

Rwanda had argued that Britain should still make further payments under the agreement, including two annual payments of £50 million and additional compensation. The Hague-based arbitration body rejected the claims, finding that the UK was not liable for the sums being pursued.

The ruling gives ministers a political boost on an issue that has remained central to the immigration debate. The Government has argued that the Rwanda policy was expensive, ineffective and legally flawed, while opposition figures have continued to attack Labour over small boat crossings and its wider asylum strategy.

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The Government has said social landlords and courts will be given new powers to remove domestic abuse perpetrators from social housing under the Social Housing Bill, which returned to Parliament for its second reading. Ministers said the measure is intended to stop victims being forced to leave their homes in order for action to be taken against an abuser.

The Bill would allow courts to transfer a joint tenancy into the victim’s sole name or require landlords to provide suitable alternative accommodation where remaining in the property is not appropriate. The Government said the legislation would also close a loophole that allowed perpetrators in joint tenancies to serve a Notice to Quit and leave victims at risk of homelessness.

The legislation also includes major changes to Right to Buy rules, including extending the minimum tenancy period from three to ten years, reducing discounts and exempting newly built social and affordable homes from the scheme for 35 years. Ministers said the reforms were part of a wider effort to protect social housing stock alongside the Government’s £39 billion investment in social and affordable housing.

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Herefordshire Council has brought day-to-day oversight of highways and public realm services back under council control, marking the start of a new delivery model for roads, drainage, street lighting, street cleansing, green spaces and winter gritting. The authority said the change had taken effect today, with works to be delivered through a new partnership with M Group and a framework of approved local contractors.

The council said the change followed careful mobilisation work intended to avoid disruption as its previous contract with Balfour Beatty Living Places came to an end. The authority said the new framework would allow it to appoint local contractors for schemes of different sizes, with a stated aim of improving value for money while supporting local employment and skills development.

Councillor Dan Hurcomb, cabinet member for local engagement and community resilience, said bringing control back in-house would allow the council to focus on better roads, well-maintained spaces and a service responding more quickly to local needs. M Group said it had spent months preparing for the transition and would be investing in plant and fleet as part of the new arrangement.

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EU home affairs ministers are due to discuss the state of the Schengen area, the implementation of large-scale border IT systems and the progress of the migration pact when they meet later this week. The agenda includes the Entry/Exit System and ETIAS, both intended to strengthen the management of the EU’s external borders.

Ministers will also take stock of the migration pact and discuss the external dimension of migration. That is likely to include cooperation with non-EU countries, returns and efforts to reduce irregular migration before people reach EU territory.

The meeting comes as migration remains one of the most politically difficult issues in the Union. Governments are trying to make the new pact operational while avoiding fresh divisions between frontline states, destination countries and member states more sceptical of common EU action.