Day: October 4, 2018

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox is in South Korea this week to turbo charge talks on our future trading relationship after the UK leaves the EU – with or without a deal. As the 5th and 11th biggest economies in the world, he will also discuss with British businesses how the UK can boost its exports to South Korea, following the recent publication of the UK’s Export Strategy.

Dr Fox is meeting with his counterpart, Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong, to outline the UK’s commitment to maintaining a strong trading relationship and trade continuity for British and South Korean firms after we leave the EU.

As part of this ambition, the Secretary of State will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), reaffirming our ongoing partnership and committing to working closely together on mutually beneficial business opportunities.

The ministers will also discuss how to break down non-tariff barriers to trade, which could help to further boost our exports.

Dr Fox is also meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mr Kim Dong Yeon, as well as with businesses including Hanwha, LG and Samsung.

Speaking ahead of the visit, the International Trade Secretary said:

The Asia-Pacific region will be a major engine of global growth in the 21st century and strengthening our established trading relationship with South Korea is high on our agenda.

I am delighted to continue discussions with Minister Kim Hyun-chong and Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong Yeon and I want to see British and South Korean firms continue to trade as we do now after we leave the European Union.

The UK and South Korea are some of the best places to do business in the world. Trade between our 2 countries is growing rapidly and will grow stronger in the coming months and years.

Total trade between the UK and South Korea was worth £13.3 billion last year, up by 15.2% on 2016, and British firms exported more to South Korea than to India.

The World Bank has rated the UK the 7th easiest country to do business in in the world and South Korea has been rated 4th.

South Korea is one of more than 70 countries, party to more than 40 trade agreements, currently in discussions with the Department for International Trade to achieve continuity of our trading arrangements after we leave the EU.

The government of South Korea has already expressed its desire to continue these arrangements, providing certainty and stability for businesses and consumers.

A man found to be in possession of a gun while on bail and subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order has today had his sentence increased after the Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox QC MP, referred his sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient.

During a search of 29 year old Mafuta Capitao’s home, police discovered a semi-automatic pistol. In addition to this, they found mobile phones and sim cards that had not been disclosed to law enforcement, as required under restrictions placed on Capitao following previous imprisonment for robbery and conspiracy to blackmail. At this time Capitao was also on bail, having been arrested for carrying a lock knife earlier in the year.

Capitao was originally sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court in July, where he was given 5 years 5 months imprisonment. Today, after the Attorney General’s referral, the Court of Appeal increased his sentence to 7 years 5 months.

Commenting on the increase, the Attorney General said:

“Capitao has an extensive history of offending, and failed to adhere to the restrictions put upon him. These restrictions are put in place to enable law enforcement to prevent reoffending and protect members of the public; the Court of Appeal’s decision today sends a clear message that such breaches will be punished severely.”

The work, a major milestone for the project, will help pave the way for the arrival of the specialist tunnelling teams on site next year.

At Euston, HS2 will deliver 11 new platforms in two phases. This will more than double capacity at the station, as well as providing a new concourse and expanded Underground station, linked for the first time, to the nearby Euston Square tube station.

Twin 13 mile (21 kilometre) long tunnels, the biggest tunnelling project since Crossrail, will take the 360 km/h trains out of London via a new station at Old Oak Common linked to Crossrail. At the southern end, a tunnel portal will be built on the site of the carriage sheds, just south of Mornington Street Bridge.

The demolition, which took 9 months to complete was managed by HS2’s London enabling works contractor, CSJV working with demolitions contractor Keltbray. Up to 70 people were employed on site during the painstaking demolition of the sheds, which are adjacent to the west coast mainline.

Timelapse of HS2’s Euston tunnel portal site clearance

Specialist teams used drones to survey the inside of the Victorian structure, before taking the fragile roof structure apart. In total, more than 7,000 glazing panels had to be removed from the 250 metre long building. The team then used a cranes to remove the 27 huge 50 metre long steel trusses which supported the ceiling.

Out of use since 2004, the sheds were built to house carriages and later used for Royal Mail trains. Surplus track, switches and points removed from the sheds have been donated to the Bluebell railway, a heritage line in Sussex.

Welcoming the progress, HS2’s London Programme Director, Rob Carr, said:

The demolition of the old carriage sheds marks an important step forward for the project, clearing the way for the start of construction works next year, and the delivery of one of the most exciting new stations on the HS2 route. I’d like to congratulate the team on a job well done and look forward to moving ahead to the next stage of the project.

Peter Jones, CSJV Programme Director, said:

The CSJV team, consisting of people employed from the local area and other experienced professionals, alongside Keltbray have worked carefully and efficiently to ensure that this structure has been demolished safely. It marks a great milestone in the construction of HS2 and shows the fantastic progress that we are making in Euston and across Area South.

Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech has announced that they are recalling one lot of faulty Clear & Simple Digital Pregnancy Tests following the tests producing a small number of false positive results. See the alert for more information.

People are advised to check if they have any of the affected tests, which are listed in the table below. The lot number can be found on the end of the box and is also printed on the sachet. Only this lot number is affected.

The manufacturer estimates more than 58,000 affected tests have been distributed in the UK.

Anyone who has purchased an affected test is advised to seek alternative testing methods and return affected tests to their pharmacy or shop.

Dr Duncan McPherson, MHRA’s Clinical Director of Medical Devices, said:

It is important people check the lot number of any Clear & Simple Digital Pregnancy Tests they have purchased to see if they have a product from an affected lot.

If you have any questions about using digital pregnancy tests, please speak to your healthcare professional.

Patient safety is our highest priority. We strongly encourage anyone to report any issues with this product, or more generally with any medical device, to our Yellow Card Scheme.

The affected lot number is listed below:

Description	Catalogue Number	Lot Number	Expiry Date
Clear and Simple Digital Pregnancy Test	DM-102	DM10220170710E	Jan-2020

We have, with the operations exposed today, further shone a light on the unacceptable cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. It has targeted institutions across the world, including the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.

This attempt, to access the secure systems of an international organisation working to rid the world of chemical weapons, demonstrates the GRU’s disregard for the global values and rules that keep us all safe.

The GRU’s reckless operations stretch from destructive cyber activity to the use of illegal nerve agents, as we saw in Salisbury. That attack left four people fighting for their lives and one woman dead.

Our action today reinforces the clear message from the international community: We will uphold the rules-based international system, and defend international institutions from those that seek to do them harm.

Brothers Grant and John Kay and the Hauliers Mark Luck from Mark Luck Limited and Robert Body from Robert Body Haulage Limited were prosecuted for the illegal deposit of waste at Great Chart Golf & Leisure, Great Chart, Ashford, Kent.

Mark Luck was fined £40,000 with £4,036 costs and £170 victim surcharge. Robert Body was fined £26,000 with £2,952 costs and £170 victim surcharge. Grant and John Kay were individually fined £325 with Grant Kay having to pay £4,723 costs and £32 victim surcharge and John Kay paying £2,724 costs and £32 victim surcharge.

Sevenoaks Magistrates heard that the brothers were paid by a number of hauliers to deposit waste soil to create bunds around their driving range, build a zorbing ramp and raise an area of ground outside the terms of 3 U1 exemptions that had been registered with the Environment Agency. Only one of these exemptions may be registered on a site in a 3 year period and allows the use of only up to 1,000 tonnes of clean waste soil in a small scale construction scheme.

To import more than 1,000 tonnes of soil the operators should have obtained an environmental permit from the Environment Agency. These permits require operators to put in place stringent measures to ensure the suitability of the waste that is deposited and minimise the impact from the activities on the land and the surrounding land users.

An Environment Agency investigation identified that 2,157 lorry loads of waste soil had been deposited on the site between 2012 and 2015, which could have equated to 42,000 tonnes, significantly exceeding the 1,000 tonne limit. The haulier Mark Luck Limited had deposited 1,292 loads and Robert Body Haulage Limited 715 loads during this timeframe.

The court heard that all 4 parties were fully cooperative with the Environment Agency’s investigation and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. The court accepted that the brothers had limited knowledge of the waste industry but that the hauliers, both of whom have a long history in the business, should have known better than to deposit large volumes of waste on the site.

Environment Manager Alan Cansdale said:

The Environment Agency support the use of U1 exemptions for those who wish to use small quantities of clean waste in construction projects. We will not tolerate however the deposit of excessive volumes or inappropriate waste for financial gain under the terms of this authorisation.

While we will work closely with businesses to help them comply with such legislation, in cases where individuals consistently operate illegally and in this case outside the terms of an exemption, we have no hesitation in prosecuting them.

Notes to editors

The charges brought by the Environment Agency were:

• Mr Grant Kay: Contrary to Regulation 12(1)(a) and 38(1)(b) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010
• Mr John Kay: Contrary to Regulation 12(1)(a) and 38(1)(b) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010
• Mr Mark Luck: Contrary to section 33(1)(a) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended
• Mr Robert Body: Contrary to section 33(1)(a) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended