Day: August 15, 2018

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Press release: FCO Minister Mark Field to champion rules-based international system in Manila

Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field is visiting Manila today (16 August) for a programme that will include a keynote speech on the rules-based international system (RBIS) and discussions on strengthening further bilateral relations with the Philippines.

During his visit, the Minister will meet governmental officials including Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, Defence Secretary Maj Gen Delfin Lorenzana, and Senator Loren Legarda.

In his speech, Mr Field will join Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorley to highlight the benefits the RBIS has brought to all countries.

Speaking ahead of his visit to the Philippines, Minister Mark Field said:

The rules-based international system has had a hugely positive impact on global security and prosperity, protecting people and countries, and helping them to achieve their potential. This is why the UK is working so hard to cherish and protect these rules.

Mr Field will also meet members of the finance and business communities, as well as green finance experts and trade officials to raise the UK’s profile in the Philippines.

The Minister’s visit to Manila is the second stop on a six-country Southeast Asia trip.

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Link: Press release: FCO Minister Mark Field to champion rules-based international system in Manila
Source: Gov Press Releases

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BS EN 1563:2018 Founding. Spheroidal graphite cast irons

Strength of materials
Shear strength
Proof stress
Modulus of elasticity
Classification systems
Charpy impact tests
Thermal conductivity
Elongation
Mechanical testing
Sampling methods
Impact strength
Poisson ratio
Cast-iron
Hardness
Test specimens
Dimensions
Thickness
Production metallurgy
Foundry engineering
Permeability
Designations
Torsional strength
Electrical resistivity
Thermal expansion
Specific heat
Tensile strength
Spheroidal-graphite cast-iron
Compressive strength

Link: BS EN 1563:2018 Founding. Spheroidal graphite cast irons
Source: BSI Standards

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News story: Environment Agency’s ‘Incident Management Portal’ receives international award

The Environment Agency’s Incident Management (IM) Portal has been awarded a ‘Special Achievement in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Award’ at the 2018 International ESRI User Conference in recognition of its outstanding use of GIS technology.

Launched in October 2016 the IM Portal has already:

  • Reduced the time between data capture and reporting during an incident
  • Improved the Environment Agency’s ability to easily share mapping internally and externally during an incident ensuring consistency
  • Simplified and standardised the tools used, and the process for capturing, storing, analysing and sharing data

Catherine Wright, Director for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management said:

The Incident Management Portal is just one example of how the Environment Agency is working to improve incident response. The portal is a great example of how the Environment Agency is using technology to improve its response to environmental incidents – from everything to flooding and drought to tackling waste crime and improving biodiversity. It has revolutionised how we collect and use data during incidents by providing real-time data and images to our incident rooms across the country.

The portal has already proved invaluable during incidents and we are continuing to look at ways we can build on the system to maximise the longer term benefits from the data captured and use it to help inform future decision making. It is an honour to accept this international award on behalf of the team who have created this innovative system.

Stuart Bonthrone, Esri UK Managing Director, visited the Environment Agency office in Bristol where he presented the award.

The Incident Management Portal Team has put the Environment Agency at the forefront of this international audience.

At the conference in San Diego, Jack Dangermond, President and Founder of ESRI, said:

The work of the Environment Agency stood out from more than 100,000 other applicants and I would like to congratulate you on a job well done.

The Incident Management Portal was established following a review of the Environment Agency’s mapping capabilities after the floods of winter 2015/16. The review identified the need to improve how data is acquired, shared, and used during an incident.

The Incident Management Portal is just one example of how the Environment Agency is working to improve incident response. Since the flooding of 15/16, the Environment Agency has invested £12.5 million in new flood equipment including an additional 40km of temporary barriers, 500,000 sandbags and 250 pumps, including 12 ultra-high volume pumps. There are around 6,500 trained staff across the country, ready to respond to flooding, including 500 flood support officers and the Environment Agency have awarded a new Incident Management Logistics Contract to store and deploy the temporary flood defences.

More than 1.4 million people are signed up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service, which sends a message directly by voice message, text or email when a flood warning is issued. Over the last year the Environment Agency has partnered with mobile phone networks to automatically add thousands of mobile customers to the service and this work will continue throughout 2018.

Link: News story: Environment Agency’s ‘Incident Management Portal’ receives international award
Source: Environment Agency

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Press release: Hoteliers and haulier fined after waste illegally dumped to extend hotel car park

Three North East men have been ordered to pay over £10,000 for illegally landfilling waste after a successful prosecution by the Environment Agency

David Bradley (57) and Alan Bradley (64), the brothers and joint owners of Hardwicke Hall Manor Hotel, near Blackhall in East Durham were fined £3,855 & £971 respectively. The haulier, Alan Waggott (53) of Howden-le-Wear, near Crook was fined £6,007 after appearing at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court today (15 August) where they pleaded guilty to various environmental offences.

Chris Bunting, prosecuting told the court that in September 2016 Environment Agency officers attended the hotel and found part of the car park, which is close to a watercourse, covered in various waste materials. Enquiries revealed that the edge of the car park had suffered from landslip, so the Bradleys had decided to repair the damaged area.

It is illegal to dispose of waste by landfilling without an environmental permit and Hardwicke Hall Manor Hotel had no such authorisations. Environmental permits safeguard people and the environment by placing controls on any activity that could pollute air, water or land.

During their inspection, Environment Agency officers witnessed a fully laden waste vehicle arrive on site belonging to Alan Waggott Haulage. The waste was seen to be of the same type which could be seen on the ground.

Photographs showed a wide range of waste materials which should never have been deposited in such a mixed state, at such a location where no permit was in place. Traces of bonded asbestos, a hazardous waste, were identified by officers although it was made clear that Waggott was responsible for only a fraction of the total waste material which had been used.

The court heard that Waggott was contracted to remove waste from construction sites in North Ormesby and Stockton-on-Tees. Whilst paperwork issued by Waggott claimed that this waste was to be deposited at a permitted landfill site, 36 wagon loads were in fact tipped for free at the hotel.

Having ordered tipping operations to stop and given instructions for the illegally tipped waste to be removed and disposed of at a permitted facility, a subsequent inspection by the Environment Agency found that additional waste had been deposited in the car park area.

In mitigation, John Elwood for the Bradleys showed photographs of fly tipped waste which formed part of the problem, and said that they never realised at the outset that a permit may have been needed. Ben Pegman for Waggott, confirmed that his client had acted on trust, but recognised he needed to improve his working methods to ensure he was acting lawfully.

In passing sentence, the Court said there was no doubt the incident was clearly for monetary gain.

Rachael Caldwell for the Environment Agency said:

We will not tolerate abuses of the environmental permitting system. Those who ignore environmental laws can cause serious pollution to the environment, put communities at risk and undermine legitimate business and the investment and growth that go with it.

We hope that the sentencing handed down today acts as a deterrent to those who may think they can get away with it.

If you see or are aware of waste crime, you can report it by calling the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Link: Press release: Hoteliers and haulier fined after waste illegally dumped to extend hotel car park
Source: Environment Agency

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Press release: Minister for Africa announces funding boost for sexual health services in Malawi

Thousands more women in Malawi will benefit from family planning services through new support announced by Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin today.

During a visit to the Scotland Malawi Partnership in Edinburgh Ms Baldwin set out how the six year programme, called Tsogolo Langa which translates as ‘My Future’, will provide important sexual and reproductive health services for more than 300,000 Malawians and save an estimated 6,000 preventable maternal deaths.

Ahead of the visit Ms Baldwin said:

Every woman has a right to a happy and healthy life. This is about empowering women to take control of their own health and their own futures.

Malawi’s long term success matters to the UK. That is why I am proud UK aid is supporting these vital services for hundreds of thousands of young Malawians, allowing them to make decisions on their families and futures in a safe and informed way.

UK aid will provide access to modern contraceptives, help clinics from running out of stock and provide accurate health information for women in harder to reach rural areas. It will also work with young people to reduce teenage pregnancies and prevent unwanted pregnancies.

The Department for International Development (DFID) will work with the Government of Malawi’s Ministry of Health to deliver the programme, supporting the country’s aim to reduce its high teenage pregnancy rate.

Minister of Health and Population for the Government of Malawi, Atupele Muluzi said:

This assistance is very timely as Malawi continues to further stabilise its population growth that is driven by teenage pregnancy, currently standing at 29%.

Malawi still has a huge gap in providing different choices in contraceptives and this investment will assist in helping young women have more control of their future. Malawi appreciates the support that it receives from the UK Government, as our oldest and largest partner to our development.

DFID’s family planning support in the world’s poorest countries is helping women finish their education, get better jobs, fulfil their potential and in turn provide for their smaller planned families.

This latest support comes after Ms Baldwin’s visit to Malawi last month during which she announced £37.5 million of new UK aid funding to support early grade learning and keep more girls in school. Ms Baldwin also visited Majete National Park to see how the UK is supporting efforts to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.

Chief Executive of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, David Hope-Jones said:

We are delighted to meet Minister Baldwin and discuss the scale and impact of the people-to-people and nation-to-nation friendship Scotland enjoys with Malawi.

We welcome these new DFID funding commitments which will have a significant positive impact in Malawi.

While in Edinburgh, Ms Baldwin also visited the Royal Hospital for Sick Children where she met with the Chief Executive of World Child Cancer Jon Rosser, and Dr Emma Johnson, a paediatric oncologist who has volunteered with World Child Cancer for eight years.

World Child Cancer works to treat children suffering from cancer in developing countries by twinning hospitals with those in richer countries to support training and improve the quality of care available to children with cancer, regardless of where they are born.

Over the last year, World Child Cancer has received UK Aid Match support, meaning for every £1 donated to them by the British public, £1 has been matched by the UK government through DFID.

Notes to editors

  • The Department for International Development’s (DFID) programme Tsogolo Langa (£50.1 million) will build on progress made by previous DFID family planning programmes in Malawi, in support of the UK’s commitment to address adolescent and young women’s sexual and reproductive health needs, particularly access to modern contraceptives.
  • Tsogolo Langa will enable women in Malawi to make informed voluntary choices regarding whether and when to have children, and how many to have. DFID will work collaboratively with the Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Health Reproductive Health Directorate to deliver the programme.
  • The programme is a strategic investment to help the Government of Malawi realise its goal to reach 60% contraceptive prevalence rate for all women and to reduce teenage pregnancies year-on-year by 2020, a commitment made at the Family Planning Summit 2017.
  • In July 2017, the UK hosted a major international summit on family planning, in partnership with UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  • The Summit brought together leaders from around the world to work together to remove barriers to family planning services so that voluntary, modern contraception could be offered to many more millions of women in the world’s poorest countries across Africa and Asia.
  • At the Summit, the UK committed to supporting millions of women in developing countries where there is no or poor access to contraceptives, contraceptive choices are limited or unaffordable, or women are blocked from accessing family planning services due to stigma or lack of information.

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Link: Press release: Minister for Africa announces funding boost for sexual health services in Malawi
Source: Gov Press Releases

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The Social Security (Treatment of Arrears of Benefit) Regulations 2018

These Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967) (the “IS Regulations”), the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/207) (the “JSA Regulations”), the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1792) (the “SPC Regulations”), the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/213) (the “HB Regulations”), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/214) (the “HB (SPC) Regulations”), the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/794) (the “ESA Regulations”) and the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1230) (the “UC (TP) Regulations”).

Link: The Social Security (Treatment of Arrears of Benefit) Regulations 2018
Source: Legislation .gov.uk