Month: November 2017

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

I am pleased that today (6 November) the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has spoken with one voice on the appalling situation in Rakhine State, Burma. More than 600,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh, amidst horrifying reports of gross human rights violations. The humanitarian situation remains desperate.

The UK has repeatedly called on the Burmese security forces to protect all civilians and act now to stop the violence and allow humanitarian aid to urgently reach all those who need it. The UNSC has today joined us in that call, with this historic Presidential Statement on Burma.

I am encouraged to see State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi making important steps forward, including establishing a domestic body to deliver humanitarian and development assistance in Rakhine, and making efforts to promote interfaith and intercommunal harmony, including a recent visit to northern Rakhine. The UK will be watching closely to ensure that the Burmese security forces do not attempt to frustrate these efforts.

I also applaud the work of the Bangladesh government, which is working hard to ensure the refugees receive urgent aid. The recent agreements between Burma and Bangladesh are welcome, and I hope they can now make swift progress on the voluntary, safe, and dignified returns of refugees to Burma. The Burmese security forces must take steps to ensure the right conditions are in place for refugees to return.” 

Further information

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Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has today (6 November 2017) issued directions to 2 councils to stop publishing their newspapers so frequently, or risk court action.

The London Boroughs of Hackney and Waltham Forest are currently publishing their respective newspapers on a fortnightly basis despite the Publicity Code recommending that councils do not put out a newspaper more than quarterly.

The Publicity Code sets out a series of principles to which all councils must have regard when producing publicity material. The vast majority of councils follow the Code in relation to the frequency of publication.

Ensuring council newspapers are released no more than quarterly aims to protect local democracy by making sure the independent local press do not face unfair competition.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:

An independent free press is vital for local democracy and it’s important that we support them in holding local leaders to account.

Councils shouldn’t undermine local democracy by publishing their own newspapers more often than quarterly.

While the majority of councils abide by the Publicity Code, Hackney and Waltham Forest have ignored repeated requests to stop publishing their council newspapers so frequently. In the interests of local democracy, I will therefore use my powers to require them to do so.

Protecting the press, protecting democracy

Waltham Forest and Hackney have previously received written notices from the Communities Secretary indicating his intention to issue directions requiring them to comply with the Publicity Code around the frequency of publication of council newspapers.

Since then, the Communities Secretary has carefully considered all the representations from them about their free fortnightly newspapers. In doing so, he had regard to the Equalities Statement on enforcing the Publicity Code before coming to his decision to issue directions to both borough councils.

Once a direction has been issued the council is required to take the necessary decision to comply within 14 days or could face court action.

Further information

The Publicity Code sets out 7 key principles for local authority publicity. It notes any publicity should:

• be lawful
• be cost-effective
• be objective
• be even-handed
• be appropriate
• have regard to equality and diversity
• be issued with care during periods of heightened sensitivity

In 2011, the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity – the Publicity Code – was updated, and approved by Parliament, to make clear that no council newspaper or magazine should be published more than 4 times a year. The legislation on the Code was strengthened by the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

The Communities Secretary has the power to issue a direction requiring a specified authority to comply with some, or all, of the Publicity Code. Sections 4A and 4B were inserted into the Local Government Act 1986 via provisions in the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 which gave the Secretary of State this power.

Mochi Mode from Cardiff (University of South Wales) and Shuttershade Studios from Huddersfield (University of Huddersfield) are the winners of Tranzfuser, a graduate talent competition funded by the Government’s UK Games Fund, that saw startup video game studios from across the country battling it out for grants.

The two winning teams, both receiving £25,000, have joined the prestigious portfolio of professional games development studios working with the UK Games Fund community.

Matt Hancock, Creative Industries Minister, said:

The UK games industry is a fantastic success story and we want to see it continue to grow from strength to strength. The Tranzfuser programme is aimed at identifying and supporting the talented young games developers and the original and innovative games they are producing right here in the UK.

Last year’s Tranzfuser alumni went on to publish their own game and I wish this year’s winners the same success in turning their creativity into a reality for us all to enjoy.

Over the summer, Tranzfuser tasked 23 teams with just ten weeks to take their idea for a great game from concept to playable demo to be showcased in front of 80,000 games fans and a panel of expert judges at the UK’s most popular video games festival, EGX. The teams developed all manner of fun and innovative games, from single-player puzzles to multiplayer room-scale Virtual Reality experiences.

Awarded a grant of £5,000 from UKGF, the teams developed their games with invaluable support provided by a nationwide network of Tranzfuser Local Hubs based at some of the best universities for video game design and development.

Mochi Mode wowed the judges and public alike with their game of bright visuals and simple one touch gameplay that sees players controlling a herd of cows. The setting changes to different locations across the Wild West but the goal is the same: players must guide the herd to safety through a host of colourful obstacles in this fun arcade game.

Laura Wells, Team Leader at Mochi Mode said:

After graduating, it’s tough to know what steps will help you ‘breakthrough’ into the games industry. That was especially true for us with the aspiration to start up our own studio. Tranzfuser has given us guidance at a crucial point of our development. Most importantly, it has allowed us to make a little magic!

Shuttershade Studios is a team of graduates from the University of Huddersfield. The small group of four individuals created a virtual reality game, VR Party Ware, primarily consisting of a collection of various minigames. Players can compete globally through an online leader board system or locally with their own friends in a casual competitive environment.

Marcus Nichols from Shuttershade Studios said:

Winning Tranzfuser has had a life changing effect on both me and the entire Shuttershade Studios team. We’re now able to do our dream jobs which is to have very little sleep but to have a tonne of fun developing our own video games. It’s the most varied job that we’ve all had and we wouldn’t change it for the world.

New for 2017 is the Tranzfuser Accelerator, a unique programme where the runner-up teams from the competition receive tailor-made consultancy packages to give them the best chance of successfully applying to the UK Games Fund.

The UK Games Fund and Tranzfuser are both funded as part of the £4m UK Government programme of games development and talent funding announced in 2016, run by UK Games Talent and Finance Community Interest Company (UKGTF).

Paul Durrant, UKGTF’s founder, said:

All of the teams worked hard after securing their place on Tranzfuser 2017. Each of the 23 teams has put in a huge effort and each has benefitted significantly from real-world learning throughout. The winning teams are the ones that best managed the scope of their projects, had a shared creative objective across the team and better understood the target audience for their particular games.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. Many startup studios lack the capital to help develop their ideas and attract private investment. Now in its second year, Tranzfuser was created to help bridge that gap and allow developers to take their ideas from the drawing board to production.
2. The Mochi Mode studio is comprised of four members – team leader and designer Laura Wells, programmer Liam Jones, artist Thomas Woodward, animator Amy Baldwin and level designer Kevin Ho. They aim to develop small, engaging games for app markets.
3. Also at the ceremony was an exclusive screening of the first ever Tranzfuser documentary; a broadcast-quality 30 minute long film charting the summer-long competition and the competitor’s journey from applicant to professional games developer.
4. The Tranzfuser competition is unique in being a UK-wide talent programme linked directly to a prototype fund allowing new teams to benefit from grants and peer to peer interaction with a host of other early stage games development companies. 85% of the UK Games Fund and Tranzfuser’s spend to date has been outside London.
5. Teams that secured support from UKGF in the first Tranzfuser in 2016 are now successful studios. Cold Sun Studios and Miracle Tea Studios are both working towards release of their funded projects.
6. Outside of Tranzfuser, the UK Games Fund supports young start-ups who can apply for funding. Companies such as White Paper Games (based in Manchester) and Coatsink (based in Sunderland) are both excelling as established indie games developers.

Additional quotes

Since first being selected for funding, Coatsink has grown significantly with nearly 50 employees in the business and further growth plans to take that number up in the next couple of quarters. Their latest VR title, the critically-acclaimed Augmented Empire, was released in July.

Eddie Beardsmore, Chief Operations Officer at Coatsink said:

Coatsink expanded rapidly over the last year. Due to our current project roster of over a dozen titles – all in various stages of development – we’re looking to employ a further 15 to 20 developers by April next year.

We continue to develop for multiple platforms and recently announced a partnership with Nintendo to bring our much-loved platformer Shu to the Nintendo Switch later this year. The UK Games Fund has provided a huge amount of support for the studio and we wouldn’t be in this amazing position without them.

White Paper Games, a team of graduate colleagues who were supported by YEAR (the predecessor to the UK Games Fund) is doing incredibly well with the imminent release of a much-anticipated game The Occupation.

Pete Bottomley, Co-Founder of White Paper Games said:
> Working with the UKGF has been a great experience. The fund afforded us the additional time to push the quality and design of the game which ultimately allowed us to announce it in a strong position. This was instrumental to The Occupation’s early success and interest and without this, I don’t believe we would be in the position we are now. I can’t recommend and praise the fund enough.

The 23 participating teams and hubs this year were:

Teesside Launchpad, Teesside University (North East England)

Fox Byte Games


Futureworks Media School (North West England)

Broken Pixel Studios, Foxtrot 203


University of Bradford* (West Yorkshire) 


Gebba Games


University of Huddersfield, Enterprise Team (West Yorkshire)

Giant Games, Nocturnals, Shuttershade Studios

Sheffield Hallam University (South Yorkshire) 


Final Forge, Inside Out Games, Grim Inc 


Brunel University (London)

A Loaded Teaspoon, Drift, Slime Time Studios

Slime Time Studios 
Eastern Enterprise Hub (South East England) 


IndieByte

Wrexham Glyndwr University (North Wales) 


Ethereal, Round Square Studios, Static Shell Studios 


University of South Wales (South Wales) 


Mochi Software, Dark Planet Studios 


Filthy Fresh 
Northern Ireland Screen (Northern Ireland) 


No Piknik


Abertay University (East Scotland)

Pocket Sized Hands

Glasgow Caledonian University (West Scotland)

Pioneer Games