Month: July 2018

The UK is backing the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) Regional Preparedness Plan to support nine countries at high risk of receiving cases of Ebola from their neighbour, the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC).

UK aid’s £1.5m of support will enable WHO to support countries with prevention, detection and containment of Ebola and other deadly diseases. It will also help important work being done at the community level, such as working with traditional healers, health workers and religious leaders around issues including safe and dignified burials. This will lead to an increased number of referrals of those with symptoms in harder to reach areas.

This new funding will help stop the immediate spread of the current DRC outbreak as well as build longer term resilience and follows significant support already committed by the International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt in May. To date, the UK response has helped to stabilise the outbreak, but the threat of it spreading to other countries remains.

Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin said:

The UK continues to act decisively to stop this outbreak of Ebola, an horrific contagious disease which has the potential to cause devastating loss of life.

By supporting the WHO’s Regional Preparedness Plan, UK aid will help to scale up preparedness to ensure sustainability. We are not just waiting for the next outbreak to come along, but are actively working in partnership around the world to strengthen health systems. This is keeping us all safe from current and future global health emergencies.

The UK has the resources and know-how to help contain the spread of epidemics, but there is still work to do. Outbreaks are inevitable but epidemics are preventable.

Dr Ibrahima-Soce Fall, WHO Regional Emergencies Director, said:

Investing in preparedness is crucial to keep the world safe from Ebola. WHO is grateful for this additional funding from UK aid, which will support nine countries to better prevent, detect and respond to this deadly virus.

The UK continues to be a global leader in the fight against deadly diseases like Ebola and support to WHO reform in Africa has helped bring about a swifter and better-coordinated response to the outbreak in the DRC, a sharp contrast to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

Notes to Editors

• WHO’s Regional Preparedness and Readiness Plan aims to fill gaps identified by recent assessments. The estimated budget for the plan (June 2018 – February 2019) is US$15.5m over nine months. The plan is divided into two phases of priority actions. Phase I will be implemented in the next three months and will bolster operational readiness should there be any importation of Ebola cases. Phase II will look at the scale up of preparedness actions to ensure sustainability over the longer term.
• This £1.5 million of new funding support is taken from DFID’s Crisis Reserve, and is being provided immediately to the World Health Organisation’s response plan for at least the next three months.
• It comes after a previous £5 million support was provided to the World Health Organisation’s response plan in May 2018.
• The Crisis Reserve funding is in addition to £1 million which DFID made available from its joint research initiative on epidemic preparedness with Wellcome. Wellcome has also made a further £2 million available to deal with the Ebola outbreak, which is being used to help roll out the vaccine campaign.
• The UK’s response to Ebola in 2014 represented a great success in preventing the spread of a killer disease that threatened to reach 1.4 million cases. However, it came at significant cost to the UK taxpayer and African economies which lost at least $1.6 billion. Following previous DFID programmes (Regional Preparedness Programme and the Regional Malaria Programme, notably) the new Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme (TDDAP) aims to save lives and reduce the impact of disease outbreaks on African populations. This includes support to the reform of WHO in the Africa region, where it is already showing progress through swifter, better-coordinated outbreak responses in the DRC and Madagascar.
• Investing in health systems early is important and good value for money, because it enhances the world’s ability to prevent epidemics, rather than reacting to the next crisis. Evidence suggests that for every £1 invested in preparation a £2 return can be achieved in terms of savings on future spending and investments.
• Public Health England has assessed the risk of this outbreak to the UK as negligible to very low.

On Tuesday 3 July, the Government announced that Zac Goldsmith MP will play a key role in the preparations for an international conference about the illegal wildlife trade.

As Champion for the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference being hosted in London in October, Mr Goldsmith will help bring together global leaders, the private sector and wildlife experts in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade, building support and partnerships among external stakeholders before the conference.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

The London conference is a once in a generation opportunity to produce a seismic shift in global attitudes to better protect the world’s most iconic species from the threat of extinction.

Zac has the extensive knowledge of, and passion for, environmental issues to make the London Illegal Wildlife Conference 2018 in October as ambitious and successful as possible.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

We are introducing one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales and showing global leadership through international funding for enforcement projects.

But wildlife crime does not respect borders. We must share skills and expertise worldwide. That’s why the London conference will be crucial in tackling international issues that allow the vile and illegal trade in wildlife to continue.

Zac will bring tremendous energy and drive to this new role. Through his extensive knowledge and experience of working with international environmental groups I am sure he will help to make the conference a huge success.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

Protecting endangered species and tackling the criminal activity that threatens them also delivers opportunities for people to be lifted out of poverty.

The British public care deeply about this issue, and UK aid is working to eradicate the trade in illegal wildlife which fuels corruption and insecurity. This is a win for developing countries, a win for the UK and a win for our planet.

Zac Goldsmith MP said:

The illegal wildlife trade is not only taking countless species to the brink of extinction, it is a serious organised crime and fuels some of the world’s worst organisations. The UK has led global efforts to tackle it, but the problem continues to grow and now is the time for us to significantly step up our efforts. I am thrilled to have been asked to play a part in making that happen.

The Illegal Wildlife Trade is a serious criminal industry, estimated to be worth between £7bn and £17bn a year.

The UK government has committed £26 million to tackle the Illegal Wildlife Trade. This includes around £14 million through the joint DFID/Defra Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. The fund has been allocated to 47 projects since 2015 and demonstrates the UK Government’s commitment to tackling the wider illegal trade in wildlife. Projects that have received support encourage the development of sustainable livelihoods, strengthening law enforcement, ensuring effective legal frameworks and reducing demand for products made from illegal flora and fauna.

Mr Goldsmith has campaigned for many years on issues related to animal welfare through the Ecologist Magazine, which he edited for a decade, and as an MP since 2010. He is a member of the Environment Audit Committee and during his political career animal welfare has been a strong focus for him.

The Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference will be co-hosted by the FCO, Defra and DFID between 11-12 October.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @BorisJohnson and Facebook
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• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

The Secretary of State for Communities the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP today (3 July 2018) confirmed he is picking up the baton as new Ministerial Champion to drive forward the government’s ambitious plans to fire up the Midlands as an engine for growth in the UK.

A thriving Midlands region is essential to building an economy which works for everyone and the government is playing its part in supporting the Midlands Engine Partnership achieve their ambition of growing the Midlands economy by £54 billion by 2030 to make the Midlands an even better place to live, work, study and do business.

With Coventry named UK City of Culture for 2021 and Birmingham announced as the hosts of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Midlands is playing it’s role on the national and international stage.

The Secretary of State for Communities the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

The economic success of every region of the UK is vital to the success of our country as a whole and this is going to be more important than ever once we leave the European Union.

I am delighted to be the new Ministerial Champion for the Midlands Engine and to act as its advocate across government.

I look forward to working in partnership with Sir John Peace, Chair of the Midlands Engine, to drive forward the government’s plans to fire up the Midlands Engine to improve opportunities and quality of life across the region and to build an economy which works for everyone.

The announcement came as the Secretary of State spoke at the annual Local Government Association conference held in Birmingham.

Following this he also visited important Midlands Engine projects including unveiling plans with Birmingham City University for the site of the second phase of a new innovation centre – the STEAMHouse building – which has received £15 million of government funding.

The Secretary of State also visited the proposed site of the new HS2 station at Curzon Street. This follows the Secretary of State’s visit to Ibstock in Leicestershire last week to see first-hand how Ibstock Brick Ltd are supporting government’s housing programme.

Sir John Peace, Midlands Engine Chairman, said:

I am delighted that the Secretary of State for Communities has been appointed Ministerial Champion for the Midlands Engine. He is already an enthusiastic supporter of our region and I look forward to working with him in the coming months to continue making our region a great place to live, learn and to run a business.

There is no doubt that the Midlands is at the heart of the UK’s growth. The region is benefitting from the biggest increases in exports of any UK region and record levels of foreign direct investment – with 243 projects delivering over 13,000 new jobs in the last year alone.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund together with the Barclays Midlands Growth Fund are making over £600 million available to the SME sector, creating jobs and helping realise our region’s potential through enterprise.

We are in the vanguard of innovation across many forward-thinking sectors from digital connectivity, advanced manufacturing and engineering to the life sciences, clean energy and battery technologies. And, we are poised to cement our position as the UK’s transport hub with the arrival of HS2.

Further information

The Midlands has a £227 billion economy, generating over 13% of the UK’s Gross Value Added (GVA).

The Midlands is home to over 820,600 businesses.

In 2017, the Midlands accounted for a 22.2% share of all of England’s total exports.

On 9 March 2017 the government published the Midlands Engine Strategy including:

• Midlands LEPs awarded £392 million for local growth projects, bringing the total Growth Deal Funding for the Midlands to nearly £1.9 billion.
• A flagship £20 million Midlands Skills Challenge to improve skills across the Midlands.
• £4 million to support the Midlands Engine Partnership.

On 22 September 2017, the Midlands Engine Partnership published their Vision for Growth, in response to the government’s strategy. It sets out their vision and priorities for growth to create a Midlands Engine which powers the UK economy and competes on a world stage. We continue to work with the Partnership to turn this vision into action.

• consultation will look to make process of obtaining new birth certificate less intrusive and bureaucratic for transgender people
• government aims to gather evidence to further advance equality for non-binary and intersex people
• plans will not water down Equality Act protections for single-sex services or for trans people

The government has launched a public consultation on the Gender Recognition Act 2004, on how to make it easier for transgender people to change their legal gender on their birth certificate.

The Prime Minister announced the government’s plan to consult on changes to the Gender Recognition Act in 2017.

The government’s LGBT survey – the largest national survey of its kind, with over 108,000 participants – showed there is considerable misunderstanding about the requirements of applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate, and many trans people find it overly bureaucratic and expensive.

The 16-week consultation, which affects England and Wales, will review the process of acquiring a Gender Recognition Certificate – which is given to people who are legally recognised as being of their new gender – and aim to reduce the time and cost for people applying.

The consultation will look at many aspects of the process of obtaining legal recognition, including the requirements for the transgender person to:

• provide two medical reports, one showing a diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’ and the other outlining details of treatment received
• obtain the consent of their spouse if they are married
• demonstrate that they have lived in their acquired gender for at least 2 years
• pay £140

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Last year I committed to carrying out a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act and I’m pleased to be able to launch that today.

What was very clear from our survey is that transgender people across the UK find the process of legally changing their gender overly bureaucratic and invasive.

I want to see a process that is more streamlined and de-medicalised – because being trans should never be treated as an illness.

Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt said:

The discrimination and bigotry that the trans community currently faces is unacceptable in today’s society – we need a culture change.

In response to our national LGBT survey trans people have told us that the current system to legally change their gender isn’t working and they find the process bureaucratic, costly and intrusive.

We want to help people to thrive and to go about their daily life, living in the gender they choose without intrusion or fear of humiliation.

This consultation is a chance for us to change the current system for the better and I look forward to hearing everyone’s views.

The government has been clear that this consultation will not be making any changes to the Equality Act 2010 and the protections within it. The Act states that individuals must not be discriminated against because they are trans, but that single-sex services such as domestic abuse refuges can provide services in a different way, or exclude a transgender person from the service, if this is proportionate and justified.

The government has not yet taken any decisions and responses to the consultation will be considered very carefully before making any.

Government figures show the number of people who have successfully obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate (4,910) since the legislation came into effect is far fewer than the estimated size of the trans population in the UK.

In recent years, we have made progress in tackling the barriers that transgender people face within the UK. We have:

• introduced a £3m project to help tackle transphobic bullying in schools
• put more money into NHS Gender Identity Services
• conducted one of the largest national surveys of LGBT people in the world, receiving over 14,000 responses from trans and non-binary people

Cara English, Policy Engagement Officer at trans charity Gendered Intelligence, said:

Gendered Intelligence welcomes the government’s plans to make it less difficult to change legal gender. Meaningful reforms to the Gender Recognition Act are desperately needed if we’re going to make the process easier, less bureaucratic and exclusionary for trans and non-binary people.

It’s encouraging to see the government take the needs of LGBTQI people seriously, recognising that the GRA needs to be reformed to make it more transparent for those who need to access it. This consultation is all about highlighting the lived experiences and needs of people disenfranchised from the current GRA and giving value to their voices.

Notes to editors

• the Equality Act allows providers to offer single-sex services that exclude trans people so long as it is proportionate to do so and it achieves a legitimate aim. An example of a single-sex service might be a domestic violence refuge for women. The government is aware of many refuge services that are fully trans inclusive, and allow trans women entry, but is also equally aware of services that may, in some circumstances, choose to exclude trans women and instead refer them on to a different service – this is lawful provided it is adequately justified
• the legal recognition process is separate from the pathway that trans people follow to obtain medical treatment that they may wish to have, such as hormones or surgery
• the government will consider the results of the consultation carefully before making any decision on how to reform the GRA. We are not necessarily proposing self-declaration of gender
• we are examining what safeguards could be needed as part of any new legal gender recognition system, and will work closely with the Ministry of Justice to understand the issues specific to prisoners
• we are not proposing to lower the minimum age limit for legal gender recognition below the current age of 18