Month: January 2018

Mr Gareth Ward has been appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in succession to Mr Giles Lever, who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Mr Ward will take up his appointment in July 2018.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full name: Gareth Edward Ward

Married to: Olena Ward

Children: Two

2013 – present FCO, Head of China Department

2010 – 2013 St Petersburg, Her Majesty’s Consul General

2007 – 2010 Beijing, First Secretary, Head of Foreign and Security Policy Team

2004 – 2006 FCO, Section Head for Justice and Home Affairs, Europe Directorate

2003 – 2004 FCO, Section Head for Germany and Austria, Europe Directorate

1998 – 2002 Moscow, Second Secretary Development

1996 – 1997 FCO, Desk Officer for Hungary and Bulgaria

1996 Joined FCO

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
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The Charity Commission can announce that its annual public meeting will take place on 23 January 2018. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge will speak at the event at the Royal Institution in London.

The meeting will be chaired by William Shawcross, Chairman of the Commission, who will open the meeting before inviting His Royal Highness to deliver the keynote speech.

Attendees will also hear from the regulator’s new Chief Executive, Helen Stephenson, about the Commission’s work over the last year and plans for the coming months. This will be followed by an opportunity for attendees to ask questions of Helen and the executive team.

The meeting will take place during the morning at the Royal Institution and is an important part of the Commission’s commitment to public accountability and transparency.

Spaces for the meeting are very limited. To register your interest in attending please email publicmeetings@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk including your name and the organisation that you are a representative of. Confirmation of a place, along with the exact timings, will follow via email. Attendees will also be required to bring photo ID.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP will be in Salisbury today to see what is being done to tackle hate crime.

Hate crime is when someone is targeted because of their actual or perceived race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability, it is a criminal offence and the law provides additional penalties for such crimes.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Area of Wessex has the highest conviction rates in the country for hate crime prosecutions, with 90.1% of hate crimes prosecuted in Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, and Wiltshire during 2016-2017 resulting in a conviction.

The Area’s conviction rates have improved in all strands of hate crime, demonstrating how seriously prosecutors take cases where there is hostility based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity.

The Solicitor will visit the CPS Wessex at Salisbury Law Courts to discuss its efforts to prosecute hate crime offences.

While in the region, the Solicitor will attend the Area’s Hate Crime Scrutiny and Involvement Panel. Panel members include volunteers from community groups and key colleagues from the CPS Criminal Justice partner agencies, who support prosecutors in CPS Wessex to identify and adopt best practices reviewing hate crime cases where victims have suffered prejudice or hostility.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP said:

One incident of hate crime is one too many and those responsible need to be brought to justice. I’d like to thank CPS Wessex for the fantastic job it’s doing to tackle hate crime in the region.

Victims need to report these crimes and feel that they will be taken seriously if we are to stamp this out, so it’s encouraging to see the work happening to train prosecutors in case handling. This has no doubt contributed to improving the conviction rate and the CPS’ service to victims.

The CPS rolled out a training programme in 2016 to all prosecutors on Disability Hate Crime that saw the conviction rate increased by 5.7%, to 86.4% for Disability Hate Crime cases prosecuted in Wessex. The Area has plans to deliver new training packages in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Organisations that wish to become or grow as Public Service Mutuals can now apply for a share of up to £1.7 million in funding, Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, announced today.

A total of £1.2 million will be available to create new Mutuals, or strengthen existing ones, by providing access to advice across areas including legal, financial, marketing, human resources and business planning.

The remaining £500,000 will be used to pilot support programmes such as partnership working to help Mutuals collaborate with voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and others to broaden the service they offer. A mentoring scheme will also allow newly-formed Mutuals to benefit from one-to-one experienced advice and support, as well as a peer support network which will bring aspiring Mutuals together to share their experiences, challenges and successes.

Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said:

Mutuals are run under the influence of employees to support the delivery of public services and we want to help them thrive.

This £1.7m funding will deliver training, support programmes and mentoring to expand the high quality services Mutuals provide to communities across the country.

This round of funding will be available until March 2020 and follows the £572k that was awarded in 2017 to support Mutuals.

Organisations can check if they are eligible for funding by contacting the Mutuals Team at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on: mutuals@culture.gov.uk.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

*To apply for support from this programme you must currently, or intend to, fulfil our definition of a Public Service Mutual, which is an organisation that:
i) has left the public sector (also known as ‘spinning out’)
ii) continues to deliver public services and aims to have a positive social impact
iii) has a significant degree of staff influence or control in the way it is run

*If you’re an existing mutual, you must be in your first five years of operation, or delivering your original or extended contract which has not been retendered, or both.

*You must be able to demonstrate how support from this programme will help your organisation grow or diversify its operations

*All applicants will be required to demonstrate their commitment to their project and the mutual model by providing matched funding, in cash, towards the support needed

*For more information on eligibility and support expectations, please contact mutuals@culture.gov.uk.

British Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik was visiting Papua and West Papua as part of his regular provincial visits in Indonesia. The Ambassador visited Sorong, Manokwari and Jayapura for meetings with key Government interlocutors at the local and provincial levels, businesses, civil society groups, and universities.

Ambassador Moazzam Malik said:

I am pleased to be making my third visit to the region since becoming Ambassador. I am here to discuss issues of mutual interest such as climate change, education and development. I am particularly excited to return to UNIPA University so I can encourage more Papuans to consider studying in the UK, including through the UK funded Chevening Scholarships.

The UK fully supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Indonesia. We regard Papua as an integral part of Indonesia. We also support the efforts the Government and civil society organisations to address the challenges in Papua and hope to see it enjoy the same level of peace, stability, and prosperity as other parts of this nation.

Notes to Editors:

• Chevening scholarships are the UK government’s global scholarship programme funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organisation. Indonesia is the fourth largest countries for the Chevening scholarship programme and around 80 awards will be available. Find out more at www.chevening.org
• We want the brightest and best Papuans to come to the UK to study, including through Chevening and LPDP scholarships, to help Papua achieve its full potential
• For more information on the visit please contact Embassy’s Spokesperson Faye Belnis at +62 (0) 811 87777 62

Vice Mayor of Liverpool Gary Millar met with the Mayor of Surabaya Tri Rismaharini to follow up on Sister City agreement between Surabaya and Liverpool. He also discussed the International Business Festival in Liverpool on 2018 and encourages Indonesian businesses to take part.

During the visit Mr Millar was also scheduled to visit Surabaya Creative Centre to learn more about initiatives on E-commerce and offer UK expertise to develop coaching skills in football schools in Surabaya.

Gary Millar said:

I am very pleased to be making my first visit to Surabaya and to identify areas of collaboration with our partners at provincial level. Surabaya and Liverpool have similar characteristics as second cities that rely very much on ports and the maritime sector. I look forward to discussing partnerships and supporting both cities’ development programmes.

Notes to Editors:

1. A Letter of Intent (LoI) of Sister City Agreement was signed by both parties on 17 May 2017 in Liverpool covering 5 areas of cooperation including port and maritime management, economics, human resources and capacity building management, smart cities and creative industries
2. The 2018 International Business Festival is one of the world’s biggest trade and investment expos. The Festival will be held in Liverpool next June and aims to give businesses from all over the world the space, support and expertise they need to grow and explore new international markets. The Festival will focus on high-growth industries such as sustainable energy, global logistics and shipping and manufacturing.
3. With total Indonesian exports to the UK of £1,545 million in 2016 (a 16.4% increase from 2015), Indonesia enjoyed a trade surplus of £578 million. This was lower than the previous year’s surplus of £443 million.
4. The majority of UK exports to Indonesia are in machinery and transport equipment (36.2%), chemicals and related products (25.8%), and crude materials that are inedible (14.4%). By contrast, UK imports from Indonesia are mainly manufactured goods (61.5%).
5. For further information on the visit please contact British Embassy’s Spokesperson Faye Belnis at +62 (0) 811 87777 62.

The UK is already the second largest investor into the country and the Trade Secretary’s visit will promote further opportunities for British companies in Turkey whilst also encouraging inward investment.

The visit will build on the strong foundations laid by the Prime Minister and President Erdoğan in January 2017 when they established the UK-Turkey Trade Working Group.

During Dr Fox’s visit he is scheduled to meet President Erdoğan to discuss how to ensure the strong trade relationship continues to thrive post Brexit. Dr Fox will also attend a number of high level meetings with key members of the Turkish government including the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers as well as Ministers for Economy and Defence.

Turkey is a key market for the UK with total trade in goods and services accounting for £14.5 billion in 2016. The UK is Turkey’s second largest export market, receiving 5% of all Turkish exports, whilst some of the UK’s biggest businesses including Vodafone, Rolls Royce and Diageo are all present in the country.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox said:

The UK and Turkey enjoy a strong trading relationship, but we must seek to build on this, deepening our partnership to boost prosperity and increase security throughout the region.

As an international economic department, we will continue to promote British companies all around the world, strengthening our trade and investment relationships and providing continuity and certainty for businesses and consumers alike as we leave the EU.

During the visit Dr Fox will also see how the partnership between BAE Systems and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is helping to deliver Turkey’s TF-X indigenous fighter programme. The contract for the initial design phase of the fifth generation fighter aircraft was concluded in August 2017 and is worth around £100 million.

This partnership with TAI will involve significant technology and skills transfer, and is the first phase in a long term relationship between the UK and Turkish defence industries.

Notes to editors

UK trade and investment work in Turkey is growing, helped by the appointment of Lord Janvrin as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy.

The most recent UK-Turkey Trade Working Group meeting was held in London on 9 November 2017 with the second scheduled to take place in Ankara on 22 February 2018.