Tag: Press Release

PRESS RELEASE : New biosecurity strategy to protect food security, trade and plant health [January 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 9 January 2023.

A new action plan to protect plants from pests and diseases was published today (Monday 9 January) by Defra, in partnership with the Forestry Commission and the Scottish and Welsh Governments.

The Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain sets out a five-year vision for plant health, consisting of an action plan to secure national biosecurity, protect native species and drive economic growth. It positions the UK as a global leader in plant biosecurity, setting out our vision to create a new biosecurity regime and bio-secure plant supply chain, which will safeguard food security and help mitigate the effects of climate change. It comes following updated figures which show that plants provide an annual value of £15.7 billion to the United Kingdom.

Specific actions include expanding the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s Internet Trading Unit to step up monitoring of online retailers and social media sites for the trade of high-risk plant products, in order to stop potentially devastating pests and diseases from entering the country. Additionally, the strategy sets out how more than 30 signatories, including Defra, the Royal Horticultural Society, National Farmers Union and the Woodland Trust, will deliver an ambitious programme of behavioural change across society through the Public Engagement in Plant Health Accord. This one-of-a-kind collective commitment will kickstart a national conversation around biosecurity and promote the actions that the public can take to protect tree and plant health.

Lord Benyon, Minister for Biosecurity, said:

This landmark strategy sets out how we will protect Great Britain’s plants, with the government, industry and the public working together to tackle the risks posed by plant pests and diseases. In light of climate change, tackling these varied and mounting risks will be critical to maintaining our food security, as well as facilitating safe trade amidst a challenging economic backdrop.

Today’s announcement demonstrates this Government’s ironclad commitment to protecting and restoring our natural environment for future generations, as we deliver on our tree planting targets and ambition to achieve net zero.

Nicola Spence, UK Chief Plant Health Officer, said:

Plant pests and diseases know no borders. As the global trade in plants and plant products continues to grow, our precious ecosystems, native species and biosecurity are at risk. The resultant threats posed to our treescapes, food security and the global economy are all too real.

Therefore, I am proud to officially launch the Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain, which will deliver a step change in our plant health protections, actions and behaviours. This will position Great Britain as a global leader in plant biosecurity and set an example for the world to follow.

Lesley Griffiths, the Welsh Government’s Minister for Rural Affairs, said:

The Plant Biosecurity Strategy emphasises our commitment to protect the health of our plants. Plants are the foundation of our ecosystems and provide life to the whole food chain. The strategy outlines what we will do, working with others, to further protect this vital resource.

Sara Lom, The Tree Council CEO, said:

The Tree Council was created nearly 50 years ago in response to Dutch elm disease and now leads activity into the devastating impacts of ash dieback. From first-hand experience, we know that effective biosecurity is vital in defence of Britain’s trees and plants.

We welcome the launch of the Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain and look forward to working with Defra and partners to protect our treescape.

The Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain will also set out how enhancements to the UK Plant Health Risk Register, which currently lists 1,200 pests and diseases of potential threat to our biosecurity, will improve our understanding of complex and cumulative risks to plant health. As part of this, an array of new plant health IT systems will bolster our outbreak preparedness and emergency response.

Incorporated into the strategy is a commitment to work with the UK Plant Health Alliance to develop a new five-year roadmap for the Plant Healthy certification scheme, which provides biosecurity certification to nurseries, businesses and charities operating in the horticultural sector. RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Yorkshire has become the first public garden in England to be certified as Plant Healthy, in recognition of its work to prevent the introduction and spread of plant pests, diseases and invasive species and promote good plant health.

The strategy also emphasises the collective role and responsibilities we all have in upholding high standards of biosecurity — for example, the importance of not bringing home plants, trees, fruit and seeds from overseas, as doing so could inadvertently cause pests, diseases and invasive species to be introduced or to spread in new areas. This aligns with the UK Government’s long-running ‘Don’t Risk It!’ campaign, which featured on the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s Gold Medal-winning stand at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022.

The strategy builds on the work achieved under the previous 2014 strategy as well as the consultation launched in September 2021 by Defra, the Forestry Commission, the governments of Scotland and Wales, and our agencies and delivery partners. It follows the convening of the world’s first International Plant Health Conference in London last year, which brought together 500 policymakers, academics and experts from over 74 countries to address current and future plant health challenges.

Today’s announcement comes ahead of the publication of the GB Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) Strategy in early 2023. This will set out coordinated actions across society to prevent the arrival of new INNS and tackle the impacts of those established – securing our biosecurity and minimising their environmental and economic impacts.

The Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain (2023 to 2028) is available here.

January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Reforms outlined for Britain’s capacity market to secure a clean energy future [January 2023]
The press release issued by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 9 January 2023.

UK government outlines important proposals to reform Great Britain’s Capacity Market, ensuring it is fit for a net zero future while ensuring the security of our electricity supply.
- Consultation launched to reform GB’s Capacity Market, the government’s main mechanism for ensuring security of electricity supply
- proposals will improve the robustness of the energy supply and provide greater incentive for investment in low carbon technologies central to homegrown energy
- this consultation is a step in the government’s long term plan to enhance energy security and deliver a net zero power system
Improved energy security and a more secure transition to net zero are set to be delivered through the UK government’s significant proposals to reform Great Britain’s Capacity Market (CM).

The Capacity Market is the scheme that sits at the heart of the government’s strategy for ensuring security of electricity supply in Great Britain, using competitive auctions to make sure there is enough reliable capacity to meet Great Britain’s peak electricity demands, safeguarding against the possibility of future blackouts.

Since its introduction in 2014, the landscape in which the Capacity Market operates has shifted with renewable energy now making up a significant proportion of our electricity generation system. To ensure the Capacity Market is fit for the future, the government is today publishing action plans to ensure the scheme keeps pace with this transition to cleaner energy sources and technologies – often cheaper than fossil fuel counterparts – and can support the delivery of a decarbonised power system by 2035, without compromising security of supply.

This includes consulting on new contracts for low carbon technologies to incentivise their participation in CM auctions, creating new timelines and requirements for oil and gas generators to reduce emissions from 2034, such as through implementing carbon capture and hydrogen to decarbonise and reducing running hours, and strengthening the scheme’s ability deliver security of supply in times of electricity system stress.

Energy and Climate Minister, Graham Stuart, said:

As we move towards cleaner and cheaper energy, it is essential that the UK provides secure and affordable energy for all.

The plans set out today will deliver this reliable energy and ensure the scheme that sits at the heart of Britain’s energy security is fit for the future.

Through competitive auctions between technologies such as batteries and gas-fired generators, the Capacity Market secures the capacity needed to cope with future demand peaks at least cost to consumers.

Innovative technologies, such as batteries, are playing an increasingly important role in keeping the lights on across Great Britain. New technologies, such as Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) and hydrogen power and storage, are expected to come online over the coming decade, as the UK continues to lead the world in decarbonising.

To accommodate this, the government is setting out today the following proposals to reform Great Britain’s Capacity Market.

Incentivising greener, flexible technologies to compete in CM auctions by offering multi-year contracts for low carbon flexible capacity, such as smart ‘demand side response’ technologies and smaller-scale electricity storage, supporting the move towards delivering secure, clean and affordable British energy in the long term.

Ensuring a clear pathway for carbon intensive forms of capacity as the UK transitions to net zero and the capacity mix of the CM diversifies, by sending a clear signal to oil and gas generators about the timelines and requirements for emissions reduction in the 2030s and seeking evidence on mitigating any barriers this capacity may face in decarbonising.

Underpinning these efforts with a proposed new lower emissions limit in the Capacity Market which will kick in for new build plants from 1 October 2034, meaning all new oil and gas plants receiving long term agreements through the CM will be obliged to lower emissions, through decarbonising their capacity by introducing carbon capture, hydrogen and other low carbon methods into their generation and by reducing running hours.

Taking steps to strengthen the scheme’s ability to deliver security of supply by reforming the CM’s approach to performance testing to ensure confidence as early as possible in the winter that capacity is available and strengthening the non-delivery penalty regime to send a clear signal that capacity must deliver in times of electricity system stress.

Today’s announcement forms part of the government’s work to reduce the UK’s exposure to volatile global gas markets and energy costs for consumers in the long term as part of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA). The government continues to seek views on a wide range of energy reform options, with an update on REMA expected early this year.

RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Dan McGrail said:

It’s vital that we decarbonise our electricity system completely by 2035, so this consultation represents an important step forward in that process. We need to incentivise more investment in new low carbon flexibility in our modern energy system based on renewable technologies including wind, solar, tidal stream and green hydrogen. This will strengthen the UK’s energy security, enabling us to move closer towards energy independence in the years ahead.
January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Procurement Bill to unleash opportunities for SMEs to be debated in Parliament [January 2023]
The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 9 January 2023.
- Procurement Bill, which will simplify four sets of laws into one, to have Second Reading today in House of Commons
- The simpler, more flexible and less complicated rules will open up more government procurement for small businesses and voluntary and community groups
- Bill takes advantage of post-Brexit opportunities, allowing the UK to shape its own procurement rules, while complying with international obligations
Transformative new rules which rip up bureaucratic EU regulations will be debated in the House of Commons today.

The Procurement Bill, which will have its Second Reading in the House of Commons, will make it easier for small businesses (SMEs) to win more of the £300billion of goods, services and works that the government buys each year.

The Bill introduces new rules to help the government procure in emergency situations, such as during health pandemics, ensuring that contracting authorities can act quickly and transparently to buy vital goods.

These simpler rules take advantage of freedoms now that Britain has left the EU, as well as strengthening the government’s ability to exclude suppliers who may have previously underperformed on government work. The rules will help exclude suppliers, both in the UK and overseas who are involved in modern slavery – further clamping down on this abhorrent practice.

The Bill also confirms that value for money remains paramount during contracting, whilst also encouraging buyers to take into account other relevant wider social and environmental considerations the supplier may bring.

Minister for the Cabinet Office Jeremy Quin said:

We are making public sector procurement simpler, more transparent and easier to navigate.

This Bill will seize the opportunity presented by Brexit to rip up outdated rules, increase opportunities for smaller companies and deliver better value for public money.

We are determined to deliver the best possible results from the £300billion the public sector spends each year on procurement.

That’s why by ending the complicated web of rules and regulations inherited from the EU to even bid for public sector work, we will ensure smaller companies are better able to bring their drive, ingenuity and innovation to Government.

SMEs

The new, more flexible rules will benefit SMEs in particular, through a number of provisions being written into the Bill to lift barriers for small businesses. These include:
- Greater visibility of upcoming work, giving SMEs more time to gear up for bidding
- A new central platform showing future work in each area. This means for example a new SME tech firm in Lancashire will be able to search for tech opportunities upcoming in their region
- Creating one single website to register on, rather than the multiple and time consuming systems SMEs currently have to register on before bidding for work
- Reducing unnecessary insurance costs before a supplier has even bid for a contract
- A new Competitive Flexible procedure, which will allow contractors to design more innovation into the process, benefiting smaller tech startups
- Strengthening prompt payment, so that businesses throughout the public sector supply chain receive payment within 30 days
To further underline how the Bill will help SMEs, the Cabinet Office is today publishing a document outlining the benefits of the changes for prospective suppliers.

Cabinet Office Minister Alex Burhart said:

We know that complex rules have long been one of the major challenges for SMEs trying to win government work.

And while government spending with small businesses is rising, we want to turbocharge this growth.

This Bill will deliver on that, making it easier for SMEs, who make up 99% of UK businesses, to compete for and win government contracts, through smarter, simpler and more flexible regulations.

Elizabeth Vega, Group CEO of Informed Solutions, said:

SMEs are vital for growth in our economy and vibrant local communities. They are often the largest local employers, the most active members of our local communities, and amongst those businesses most willing to invest in their local communities, train and upskill their staff.

So I am delighted that Government is strengthening the support for this sector in its proposed reforms. In particular, placing a specific requirement on public sector buyers to ensure a level playing field for small and medium sized suppliers by addressing the procurement barriers that these businesses often face in competing for public sector contract opportunities.

Emergency procurement and transparency

The Bill will make procurement more transparent and effective during times of emergency, for example a health pandemic, where government needs to act quickly to buy vital goods and services at speed.

During the COVID pandemic, the UK, along with many other countries internationally, relied on direct awards to ensure that vital supplies, such as life-saving PPE, were bought quickly and to high standards.

The new rules will bring more competition into this process, by encouraging more competitive buying in a quick time frame.

The normal tendering process takes a minimum of 30 days, which is not practical in most emergency circumstances. The Bill will allow faster competition processes for emergency buying, reducing the reliance on direct awards while retaining and improving the government’s ability to act at pace in situations similar to the COVID pandemic. Clearer requirements on the identification and management of conflicts of interest for those involved in and responsible for procurement are also part of the Bill.

Supplier exclusion

The Bill will put in place a new exclusions framework that will make it easier for government to exclude suppliers who have underperformed on other contracts. It will also create a new ‘debarment register’, accessible to all public sector organisations, which will list companies who should be excluded from contracts. The Bill will also strengthen the government’s ability to exclude suppliers from bidding for work if there’s evidence of modern slavery in their supply chain, both in the UK or overseas.
January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : David Woodward appointed to the National Savings & Investments Board [January 2023]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 January 2023.

David Woodward has been appointed as a non-executive director to the board of the National Savings & Investments bank (NS&I), the Economic Secretary announced today.

David’s three-year term officially began on 3rd January 2023. He began his career as a qualified accountant and has worked in senior roles in the private, public and charity sectors.

His executive career has seen him work in senior finance positions successfully delivering strategic change within large and complex businesses.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith said:

I’d like to welcome David to his new role. His experience in customer-facing businesses will bring a unique perspective to the NS&I board, and ensure the organisation continues to deliver new and innovative services at the nation’s savings bank.

In 2008, David commenced his non-executive career, and he has over 10 years of financial services experience and over 5 years working with community and hospital NHS Trusts. He is an experienced audit committee chair. He is also currently a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Hinckley and Rugby Building Society, and he will complete his final term on the Board in March 2023.

David is also a Trustee of the charity the Consumers’ Association and an Independent Committee Member of the Finance and Estates Committee for Trent.

January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Haverhill carwash boss, Vasile Matcas, banned for 10-years for Covid Loan abuse [January 2023]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 January 2023.

Suffolk director exaggerated the turnover of his Hertfordshire-based business by 5 times the true amount to falsely claim a £50,000 loan.

Vasile Matcas, 30, from Haverhill in Suffolk, has been disqualified as a company director for 10 years after claiming government-backed Covid support money to which his business was not entitled.

Matcas was the sole director of Matcas Ltd, which was incorporated in October 2016 and initially traded as a construction and cleaning company until the Covid-19 pandemic affected trade, when Matcas pivoted the firm to operate as a carwash.

In June 2020 Matcas applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan to support the transition of the business, based on Matcas Ltd’s 2019 turnover, which he stated as £280,000.

Bounce Back Loans were a government scheme to help support businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the rules of the scheme, companies could apply for loans of between £2,000 and £50,000, up to a maximum of 25% of their turnover for 2019.

The company received the maximum loan amount, and began trading as The Pavilions Car Wash, in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. But the carwash folded and Matcas Ltd went into liquidation in July 2021, owing more than £50,400, including the full amount of the loan, and triggering an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Investigators discovered that Matcas Ltd’s actual turnover in 2019 had been around £49,200, and that Matcas had exaggerated the figure by more than 5 times to receive the maximum amount from the Bounce Back Loan scheme. The company should have been entitled to a loan of around £12,300 based on its true turnover.

The Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Vasile Matcas after he did not dispute that he had caused Matcas Ltd to obtain a Bounce Back Loan in excess of the amount allowed by the loan scheme.

Matcas was banned for 10 years, beginning on 14 November 2022. His disqualification prevents him from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Nina Cassar, Deputy Head of Investigations at the Insolvency Service, said:

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme was set up to support businesses in genuine need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vasile Matcas used the loan to start up a new business and gained an unfair advantage by applying for a loan in excess of what was entitled.

Matcas’ lengthy ban should serve as a warning to others that the Insolvency Service will act to tackle financial wrongdoing.

January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Tim Reid appointed Chief Executive Officer of UK Export Finance [January 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for International Trade on 9 January 2023.

Tim Reid has been appointed CEO of UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK government’s export credit agency, taking up the role on 1 January 2023.

Tim was previously UKEF’s Director of Business Group and joined UKEF from HSBC in 2022, where he held senior positions around the world, focusing on connecting businesses with international opportunities. At HSBC, his most recent role was Global Head of Transaction Banking within the bank’s Global Banking division. Previously he managed businesses across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Secretary of State for International Trade, Kemi Badenoch said:

“I’m pleased to welcome Tim to his new role as CEO of UKEF. Tim brings a wealth of experience and has a proven track record for helping businesses expand internationally. I look forward to working with him to deliver the government’s export strategy – helping businesses to grow, create jobs, and deliver the best of British innovation and quality around the world.”

Tim Reid said:

“It’s an honour to be appointed CEO of UK Export Finance. UKEF plays a vital role in helping UK businesses open the doors to international trade, and removing barriers to exporting through access to government-backed trade finance and insurance. With a strengthened commitment to sustainability and continued drive to support SMEs across the UK, I look forward to working with our talented team to deliver the government’s ambitions for export growth.

Thank you to Samir Parkash for his leadership of the department in the interim.”

January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Up to £250 million to speed up hospital discharge [January 2023]
The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 9 January 2023.

NHS will buy thousands of extra beds in care homes and other settings to help discharge more patients to free up hospital beds.
Backed by up to £200 million, local areas will buy thousands of extra beds in care homes and other settings to help discharge more patients who are fit to leave hospital and free up hospital beds for those who need them

Discharged patients will be given the support they need from GPs, nurses and other community-based clinicians to continue their recovery

Additional £50 million capital funding to upgrade and expand hospitals including new ambulance hubs and facilities for patients about to be discharged

As part of measures set to be announced later today, six national ‘Discharge Frontrunners’ will lead the way to explore new long-term initiatives to free up hospital beds

Thousands of extra medically fit patients will be discharged from hospitals into community care settings, such as care homes, over the coming weeks to free up hospital beds and reduce pressure on the NHS, the Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay is set to announce today [Monday 9 December].

The government will make available up to £200 million of additional funding to immediately buy short-term care placements to allow people to be discharged safely from hospitals into the community where they will receive the care they need to recover before returning to their homes.

The move will free up hospital beds so people can be admitted more quickly from A&E to wards, reducing pressure on emergency departments and speeding up ambulance handovers. There are currently around 13,000 people occupying hospital beds in England who are fit to be discharged.

The additional £200 million – on top of the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund already announced which reached the frontline in December and is already helping discharge people more quickly – will fund maximum stays of up to four weeks per patient until the end of March. Integrated care boards – organisations that arrange health services in each local area – will begin booking beds that are most appropriate to patients’ needs.

The government is immediately making available additional £50 million in capital funding to expand hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs. Ambulance queues in some areas are made worse due to a lack of physical space – the new money will create new ambulance hubs where vehicles can manoeuvre more easily to avoid delays handing over patients. The funding boost will also expand discharge lounges in NHS Trusts – areas where patients can be moved out of acute beds while they wait to be discharged, freeing up beds in the meantime.

In a statement in Parliament later today, the Health and Social Care Secretary will outline a series of further measures to address current pressures facing the NHS over winter, including long waits for emergency care and delays to discharging patients who are medically fit to leave hospital.

This will include six areas trialling innovative long-term solutions to free up hospital beds and make sure patients get the right care at the right time, which could be rolled out across the NHS if successful.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:

The NHS is under enormous pressure from Covid and flu, and on top of tackling the backlog caused by the pandemic, Strep A and upcoming strikes, this winter poses an extreme challenge.

I am taking urgent action to reduce pressure on the health service, including investing an additional £200 million to enable the NHS to immediately buy up beds in the community to safely discharge thousands of patients from hospital and free up hospital capacity, on top of the £500 million we’ve already invested to tackle this issue.

In addition, we are trialling six National Discharge Frontrunners – innovative, quick solutions which could reduce discharge delays, moving patients from hospital to home more quickly.

Sussex Health and Care, the Northern Care Alliance, Humber and North Yorkshire, One Croydon Alliance, Leeds Health and Care Partnership and Warwickshire Place have all put forward ideas that will help the patients in their area move out of hospital more quickly whilst providing continuity of care. These ideas include dedicated dementia hubs, new offers of provision for rehabilitative care and creating effective data tools to help manage demand for discharge of medically fit patients – giving them the help they need to live comfortably in the community after a hospital stay.

This new programme will trial long term solutions to issues which result in patients staying in hospital longer than necessary. For example one area, Leeds, is looking to improve how health teams in their local hospitals are working with those providing community services such as rehabilitation, which will mean better support locally for patients who need support after a hospital stay.

Prolonged stays in a hospital bed can contribute to poorer outcomes, particularly for older people, with increased muscle loss making rehabilitation harder, as well at the ongoing risk of exposure to infections and the impact on mental health. These delays also have a knock-on impact for other people, including those awaiting elective care and those needing urgent medical treatment.

The new measures follow the Prime Minister’s speech last week on building a better future, where he set out one of his key promises that NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly.

Minister for Care Helen Whately said:

Getting people out of hospital on time is more important than ever. It’s good for patients and it helps hospitals make space for those who need urgent care.

We’re launching six Discharge Frontrunners to lead the way with innovations to help get people out of hospital and back home.

Winter is always hard for the NHS and social care, and this year especially with flu in high circulation. That’s why we provided the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund earlier in the winter.

As well as helping people right now, we’re looking ahead to make our health and care system work better next winter and beyond. These problems are not new but now is the time to fix them for the future.

People eligible for a Covid booster and flu vaccine is advised to take up the offer as soon as possible to protect themselves and others, and reduce pressure on the NHS.

In total, up to £14.1 billion additional funding will be invested by government over the next two years to improve urgent and emergency care and tackle the backlog – the highest spend on health and care in any government’s history. £7.5 billion of this support is for adult social care and discharge over the next two years which will also help deal with immediate pressures.

The NHS is rolling out virtual wards across England as part of plans to deliver the equivalent of 7,000 more beds using a mix of hospital and virtual wards. The NHS has an ambition to set up 40-50 virtual beds per 100K population by 2024. Virtual wards as where people, for example, who have acute respiratory infections can actually be treated at home with telemedicine or pulse oximeters and there is also a new fall service which can save about 55,000 ambulance call outs a year by treating people with falls at home.

91 Community Diagnostic Centres have been opened so far, delivering over 2.7 million tests, checks and scans already to help diagnose patients earlier.

The government is also continuing to grow the NHS workforce, with around 42,000 more staff than a year ago, including over 10,500 more nurses and almost 4,700 more doctors.

Sarah-Jane Marsh, National Director of Urgent and Emergency Care said:

There is no doubt the NHS is under pressure with latest weekly data showing flu cases in hospital increased by almost half putting additional strain on already busy wards and departments.

We want to ensure all patients ready to leave hospital do so quickly and safely, and NHS staff are working closely with local authority colleagues to help get more patients out of hospital when they are medically fit to do so.

We hope the frontrunner programme will offer new solutions for local systems to help patients access the services they need and help to free up bed space in NHS hospitals.

Background

The frontrunners are:

Sussex Health and Care Integrated Care System: Trialling a new data tool to help services manage performance, give operational oversight and manage demand.

The Northern Care Alliance: Trialling specialised dementia hubs to support people who have a greater chance of re-admission.

Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care System: Supporting patients to move across health and social care organisations through innovative use of data and real-time intelligence.

One Croydon Alliance: Trialling a fully integrated team between acute and community, integrated IT system, integrated financial systems and integrated leadership, to better coordination between hospitals and community care settings like rehabilitation services.

Leeds Health and Care Partnership: Focused on intermediate care, establishing an Active Recovery Service providing short term community rehabilitation and reablement. Focus on rehabilitation and reablement not only improves patient experience but helps prevent future re-admission.

Warwickshire Place: Trialling a partnership between NHS and Social Care to help provide care and support to patients when they are released from hospital into the community, increasing capacity for home care, and expanding recruitment.
January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : £7 million tech fund to decarbonise freight and boost innovation [January 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Transport on 9 January 2023.

Government launches a new fund to help small to medium-sized businesses to develop greener and more efficient solutions for freight.

– new funding to scale up and roll out innovative tech across the industry to decarbonise freight and improve transport links

– £7 million over 3 years to develop ways to make it easier to move freight from one mode of transport to another and improve journey times and predictability

– new solutions could help clean our air, reduce traffic, create UK jobs and allow people to get their packages and goods more quickly

Delivering freight across the UK could become more efficient and cleaner thanks to a £7 million government-backed fund launched today, 9 January 2023 that will roll out innovative new ideas and technology across the industry.

The freight innovation fund (FIF) will go to up to 36 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They will then work with industry-leading companies to develop innovations to make freight more efficient, resilient and greener, such as ways to improve how freight moves between rail, road and maritime transport.

By giving innovators the opportunity to test their ideas, the fund aims to help SMEs roll out new technology and ways of working to unlock potentially huge efficiencies and emissions reductions across the sector. This can include how to organise containers better so they can be more easily broken up for the final part of their journey or how to improve links between rail, maritime and road transport.

Roads Minister Richard Holden said:

Our freight industry is vital to underpinning the economy and keeps Britain moving, so it is crucial we invest in new innovations to make it greener and quicker.

This fund will accelerate new ideas and technologies, helping to develop a future pipeline of innovations that can be rolled out to create jobs and allow everyone to get their goods faster and easier.

The innovation fund was announced last year within the government’s future of freight plan, the first-ever cross-modal and cross-government plan for the UK freight transport sector. It targets the 5 priorities for the freight sector identified in the plan, including being cost-efficient, reliable, resilient, environmentally sustainable, and valued by society.

Working to bolster the capacity of the freight network – for example, to anticipate, absorb, resist or avoid disruption and quickly recover from disruption when it does occur – can increase the resilience of supply chains across the country for a wide variety of industries.

The fund will look to support ideas and tech addressing, in particular, 3 long-standing issues in the freight sector.

– a lack of large-scale cross-industry data collection and sharing between different modes of freight transport, such as road, rail and maritime, that could improve efficiencies and coordination

– difficulties in inter-modal transport, such as between rail and road, and ways to improve how large consignments are broken up into smaller ones, which could reduce emissions and traffic

– improvements in freight distribution in ports across different transport modes that could create knock-on benefits with timings, efficiencies, and predictability of the rest of the journey

The government’s future of freight plan sets a strategy for the government and industry to work closely together to deliver a world-class, seamless flow of freight across the UK’s roads, railways, seas, skies and canals.

The plan also explains how identifying a National Freight Network will help to better understand freight movements and their value to the economy.

The FIF builds on previous government initiatives designed to support increased research and development in the freight industry; previous technologies supported in other funds include:

– Hypermile who developed an artificial intelligence programme that offers real-time feedback to help heavy goods vehicle drivers save fuel

– Fishbone Solutions developed a programme that uses vibrational data from rail freight wagons and artificial intelligence analysis to determine whether the wagons are working correctly

– CGA Simulation created a tool that simulates urban environments to predict the best place for infrastructure to enable radical development in logistics

– Delivered by Connected Places Catapult, the fund will give SMEs access to technical and business support from the organisation.

Nicola Yates OBE, CEO at Connected Places Catapult, said:

Each year in the UK, we transport 1.6 billion tonnes of freight using many different modes of transport, and it has never been quicker or easier. The freight sector makes a huge contribution to our economy and contributes significantly to domestic carbon emissions.

Today, we are delighted to be working with Department for Transport to launch this freight innovation fund as part of their future of freight strategy. The fund will help us to work with innovators and industry partners to develop a pipeline of technology and data innovations that will tackle the freight sector’s emerging needs, ensuring that resilience, efficiency and carbon reduction are core to the sector’s future.

Kate Jennings, policy director at Logistics UK, said:

Efficient logistics is vital to the UK and, as a sector, businesses are innovating to drive down emissions while ensuring the availability of the products households, businesses and public services rely on every day. Achievement of the UK’s net zero target is a challenge our members are committed to but this will require continued partnership between the government and industry to achieve. This innovation fund will be a welcome route for our member organisations to develop and access the technologies needed for goods to be moved in an increasingly green and cost-efficient way.

SMEs will benefit from a freight innovation fund accelerator, which will provide bespoke business support to innovators to help them access private investment, as well as a freight innovation cluster, a community of innovators within the freight industry that hosts regular networking events and activities.

January 9, 2023
PRESS RELEASE : Iran – UK responds to executions of protestors [January 2023]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 7 January 2023.

The UK has condemned the executions of Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini who were part of the recent protests in Iran.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

The execution of Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini by the Iranian regime is abhorrent.

The UK is strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances and the Iranian regime has done further lasting damage to its reputation at home and overseas with yet another disproportionate response to the Iranian people protesting legitimately against their oppression.

We have and will continue to make our views clear to the Iranian authorities – Iran must immediately halt all executions and end the violence against its own people.

January 9, 2023
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Government will help families meet economic challenge [September 2008]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 4 September 2008.

Gordon Brown has promised that the Government will “do what it takes” to help families deal with the effects of the global economic crisis such as rising food and energy costs.

Speaking to business leaders at the CBI Scotland annual dinner in Glasgow this evening, the PM said that the Government would make “careful interventions” on behalf of “hard-pressed families”. In addition to the Homeowners Support Package and the £120-a-year tax cut for basic rate taxpayers, the Government was “working up proposals” with utility companies on tackling rising fuel bills.

The PM said:

“We will do what it takes to bring security to families on modest and middle incomes. And we will ensure that no-one who is prepared to work hard and adapt to change will lose out as a result of global forces. We will act responsibly to prepare people for the inescapable challenges ahead – in the short, medium and long term.”

Mr Brown also said that the UK was better placed as a whole to deal with the credit crunch than during any other period of financial turbulence. He highlighted Bank of England independence, a flexible labour market, the underlying strength of business finances and a reduction in public debt as a share of national income as reasons to be “cautiously optimistic” about the country’s economic resilience.

The PM added that Britain needed to undergo a “revolution” in its energy consumption, reducing its dependence on oil, increasing energy efficiency and creating a low carbon economy . The Government plans to spend £100 billion to ensure that 15 percent of the UK’s energy comes from renewables by 2020.

January 7, 2023