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• Greg Clark confirms details of £120 million of government’s flagship Faraday Battery Challenge investment into making the UK a world leader in the development and production of battery technology
• £80 million set to be invested in a new state-of-the-art automotive battery development facility, the UK’s first ever facility of this kind, based in West Midlands, following a successful bid by a consortium led by Coventry and Warwickshire LEP and including Warwick Manufacturing Group
• Government will shortly publish details of its Automotive Sector Deal agreement reached with industry, with a strategic vision that builds on the collaborative partnership established between government and the auto sector
• Business Secretary also confirms £53 million of funding for new aerospace projects boosting the West Midlands strength in this sector

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark has today (Wednesday 29 November) announced that Coventry and Warwickshire will be the home of the new National Battery Manufacturing Development Facility (NMDF).

The facility, with £80 million of funding from the government’s flagship £246 million investment in battery technology – the Faraday Battery Challenge – will be the UK’s first ever battery development facility and will help establish the UK as one of the world leader’s in battery technology and innovation.

A key part of the Automotive Sector Deal, the new centre will build on the West Midlands exceptional reputation for automotive expertise and research and development (R&D) with a facility that will host cutting-edge production and assembly processes and support the future scale-up of battery technologies.

The facility will be responsible for turning the most promising early and mid-stage battery research and development activities into scalable business propositions that are commercially viable, while also providing a learning environment to enable training and skills development. The new centre will be an independent facility that is openly accessible to UK-based companies wishing to develop battery technologies.

In a speech to the Battery and Energy Storage Conference, Greg Clark confirmed that the area had won the national competition, led by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), for the new centre, following a successful bid by a consortium led by Coventry and Warwickshire LEP and including Warwick Manufacturing Group. The open competition was overseen by APC and judged by an independent panel.

Business and Energy Secretary, Greg Clark said:

Battery technology is one of the most game-changing forms of energy innovation and it is one of the cornerstones of our ambition, through the Industrial Strategy and the Faraday Challenge, to ensure that the UK leads the world, and reaps the economic benefits, in the global transition to a low carbon economy.

The new facility, based in Coventry and Warwickshire, will propel the UK forward in this thriving area, bringing together the best minds from academia and industry together to deliver innovation and R&D that will further enhance the West Midlands international reputation as a cluster of automotive excellence.

Dr Ralf Speth, CEO Jaguar Land Rover, said

If the UK wants to stay competitive and make domestic EV manufacturing viable in the long run, a high level of ambition is required as set out in the Industrial Strategy. JLR is already investing heavily to make the vision of autonomous and electric mobility come true.

From 2020, all of our new vehicles will be electrified with Mild Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid and Battery Electric solutions, and these are already being designed in the West Midlands. We also intend to produce battery electric vehicles in the region, bringing the West Midlands to the forefront of modern mobility in the UK.

Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group, said

WMG, at the University of Warwick, has a strong record of industry innovation partnerships going back many years. We are delighted that we will be home to the National Battery Manufacturing Development Facility, a core part of the Faraday Battery Challenge.

This will be an openly accessible centre of real impact, working coherently with the application-inspired fundamental research emerging from Faraday Institution and ensuring the transfer of technology takes place at scale to support the industrialisation of batteries in the UK.

This joined up end-to-end approach will be a UK first, and is critical to ensure our fundamental research translates into sustaining and growing manufacturing jobs in the UK.

Faraday Challenge winners

During his speech the Business Secretary also announced the winners of £40 million of additional Faraday Battery Challenge investment, allocated through Innovate UK led Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund innovation competitions, that will help make UK businesses a world leader in battery technology.

27 innovative projects are being funded, involving 66 organisations, covering key technologies such as the development of battery materials and cell manufacturing, design and production of modules and packs including advances in thermal management and battery management systems, and recycling and recyclability of battery packs.

Innovate UK Chief Executive, Ruth McKernan said:

The Faraday Battery Challenge is breaking new ground because it offers for the first time a co-ordinated programme of competitions across research, innovation and scale-up.

It will therefore draw the very best of the UK’s world-leading research into commercial technologies and put UK businesses at the forefront of electric vehicle battery development.

Aerospace R&D funding

Following the launch of the Industrial Strategy White Paper, Business Secretary Greg Clark has also today announced £53.7 million of funding for 7 R&D projects to grow innovation in the aerospace sector. This funding is part of government’s work with industry through the Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP) to tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high value jobs.

Today’s announcement builds on the £923 million of government investment delivered through the ATI programme, which has supported 196 projects involving 208 different companies and organisations. Establishing the Institute in 2013, government and industry made a joint commitment to invest £3.9 billion in civil aerospace R&D projects by 2026.

Two of these projects, Digital Reconfigurable Additive Manufacturing facilities for Aerospace (DRAMA) and the Open Flight Deck project, led by GE Aviation, will directly benefit the Midlands. A further project – the Zephyr Innovation Programme (ZIP) led by Airbus – will develop aerospace battery technology amongst other areas.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

Earlier this week, we launched our ambitious Industrial Strategy which builds on our significant economic strengths, while looking at innovative ways to improve our productivity and will ensure government continues to work closely with industries including our UK aerospace sector.

The UK aerospace sector is one of the most successful in the world, which is why we are today announcing £53.7 million of investment in 7 aerospace research and development (R&D) projects across the UK. This investment, part of the £3.9 billion government and industry committed to this sector by 2026. The Aerospace Technology Institute plays a crucial role in helping to direct this investment and maintain UK excellence in the sector.

Notes to editors

Additional quotes:

Simon Saunders, CEO, Ariel Motor Company, said:

We face significant challenges when looking to progress our vehicle technologies toward low and zero emission platforms, with our combination of specialist niche requirements not currently being met by the existing UK supply chain. Therefore, we are particularly interested in the proposed centre of excellence and the planned capability to support such a broad range of manufacturing requirements.

Chief Executive of the Advanced Propulsion Centre, Ian Constance said:

The new National Battery Manufacturing Development facility will be a national asset and the first of its kind open to all UK-located organisations. It will enable them to develop manufacturing processes for their concept-ready battery technologies at production rates appropriate to ‘giga’ factories.

The objective is that these processes can transfer to UK high-volume manufacturing facilities.

Jonathan Browning, chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

This is excellent news on every level. We have worked very closely with our partners WMG and Coventry City Council with support from the West Midlands mayor and that joined-up approach not only maximised our effectiveness but sent a powerful message to Government.

We believe we are uniquely placed with our links between industry and academia to bring the National Battery Manufacturing Development Facility to fruition and it will give huge opportunities to local companies of all sizes and will continue our push to be world leader in advanced research and manufacturing, especially in the automotive and transport sector.

It will also further enhance our reputation as the Knowledge Capital of the UK in the field of engineering R&D.

Coventry City Councillor Jim O’Boyle, cabinet member for jobs and regeneration and CWLEP board director, said:

Its brilliant news that Government has decided the country’s new National Battery Manufacturing Development Facility should be located here.

I’m glad the final decision has been made and of course I’m delighted that my home city will once again be at the cutting-edge of the automotive sector. For many years our city and region provided the innovation and skilled workforce to help the UK lead the world.

Car manufacturing provided a secure, well paid job for thousands of Coventry people, including me. And now battery development has the potential to do the same for a whole new generation of Coventry people.

I hope battery development will create thousands of new jobs and if there is one thing we know for certain, it’s that having a job changes lives. That’s the real reason this is such good news. And Coventry of course is the it’s the perfect choice. We have a rich heritage in motor vehicle manufacture and it’s only right that we will once again lead the way with this pioneering new technology.

Clean air vehicles and autonomous cars are the future and now the centre of excellence will be here right where it belongs. It’s the public sector, industry and education working together that has got us to this point today but now it’s time for the real work to begin.

Projects linked to the Midlands include:

The Open Flight Deck project, led by GE Aviation, will seek to overcome the barriers to adopting new technologies on the flight deck; traditionally difficult to do because of the high cost of change and certification. Open Flight Deck will be an open platform that allows the OEM to work with a range of suppliers to develop ‘apps’ – easier to build, quicker to deploy, and with the potential for upgrade as new capabilities become possible. The consortium behind the project, which has received a grant of £13.1 million, also includes BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Coventry University and the University of Southampton.

The DRAMA (Digital Reconfigurable Additive Manufacturing facilities for Aerospace) project is led by the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) with partners ATS Global, Autodesk, Granta Design, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, National Physics Laboratory, Renishaw and the University of Birmingham. DRAMA will establish leading additive manufacturing ‘test bed’ facilities for the aerospace industry and its supply chain at the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing (based at the MTC in Coventry) and the Renishaw AM Solution Centre in Stone. The project will showcase the use of digital technologies to drive productivity and reliability in AM, leading to increased adoption of AM technologies by the aerospace sector and, in the long term, other industrial sectors. It will also deliver the world’s first digitally-twinned reconfigurable AM facility and establish the UK as a global leader in additive manufacturing technology. The project, part of the ATI programme, has received a grant of £11.2 million through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Project developing aerospace battery technology

The Zephyr Innovation Programme (ZIP) was created as a strategic R&D project to develop new cutting-edge component technologies to support Airbus’s Zephyr High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS). ZIP is led by Airbus in partnership with Axillium Research, Formtech Composites, Productiv, OXIS Energy, Newcastle University and Cranfield University. The grant of £3.6 million will support the development of key technologies in aerostructures, battery technology and energy storage, and propulsion that will enable flight performance improvements, expanding the operational capabilities of the next generation of Airbus Zephyr.

Government will look at bold options to improve consumer redress across the housing sector, the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid announced today (29 November 2017).

Speaking to an audience of housing professionals in London, the Communities Secretary set out his commitment to fixing the broken housing market and to build the homes the country not only needs – but the homes the country deserves.

Purchasing a home is one of life’s greatest financial investments, they are also the places we live our lives – it is vital that as housing supply increases, the quality of new build homes continues to improve.

Potential measures to address this issue could include introducing a single housing ombudsman to help provide more comprehensive redress for home owners, home buyers, tenants and landlords.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Since 2010 this government has delivered over 1.1 million homes – and last week’s Budget set out our ambitious plans to fix the broken housing market so we get more homes built in the places that people want to live.

But we don’t have to choose between building more and building better – we can do both. Homes are not only the biggest financial investment in our lives, but also provide security, and so it’s only right that developers and builders are held to a higher standard.

That’s why we are looking at bold options to improve redress in the New Year – including whether housing, like other sectors, should have a single ombudsman. This could help drive up standards across the whole industry and increase protections for consumers.

Currently, there are 4 government approved providers of redress that cover some aspects of home buying and renting, but not all. Membership of ombudsman schemes is compulsory for some groups, but not for others.

In the New Year, the government will consult with consumers and the industry, and look at options to explore how the overlap between responsibilities can be improve. This would help to avoid the confusion faced by consumers over where to seek help.

Last week’s Budget set out a range of measures to boost the housing market, including:

• £44 billion over the next 5 years in capital funding, loans and guarantees
• a new National House Building Fund, with more than £15 billion of new financial support over the next 5 years
• planning reforms to ensure more land is available for housing and maximise the potential of our cities and towns to build new homes whilst protecting the green belt
• raising the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap by a total of £1 billion in areas of high affordability pressure for local authorities who are ready to start building new homes

Taken together with the reforms in the housing white paper, published in February 2017, the Budget puts the government on track to raise housing supply to 300,000 a year on average by the mid-2020s.

In the white paper we set out our ambition for a housing market that works for everyone. We expect all housing developers to deliver good quality housing, to deliver it on time, and to treat house buyers fairly.

Further information

Read the full speech.

A full consultation will take place in the New Year to assess the current redress provision and seek views on how access to redress for consumers could be improved.

The Government has announced that following an open recruitment process, Lord (Terry) Burns has been chosen as their the preferred candidate for Chair of Ofcom from 1 January 2018.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee will now hold a pre-appointment hearing with Lord Burns on 13 December 2017.

The Committee’s conclusions will be considered carefully before deciding whether or not to proceed with the appointment.

The term of the outgoing chair, Dame Patricia Hodgson, ends on 31 December 2017.

Lord Burns is Senior Adviser to Banco Santander and a non-executive member of the Office for Budget Responsibility. He is also a member of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee and Chairman of the Lord Speaker’s Committee on the Size of the House.

He was Chief Economic Advisor to the Treasury and Head of the Government Economic Service from 1980 to 1991 and Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 1991 until 1998.

Previous appointments include Chairman of Santander UK plc, Channel 4 Television Corporation; Marks and Spencer plc, Welsh Water, the National Lottery Commission and The Royal Academy of Music.

From 2004 to 2006 he was Independent Adviser to the Secretary of State on the BBC Charter Review.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments.
2. The Chair of Ofcom is appointed by the Secretary of State. Remuneration for this role is £120,000 for up to three days a week. The term of appointments will last for four years.
3. In accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Lord Burns has declared no such political activity.

The number of workless households in the UK is now just 3 million (14.5%). The number of households with at least one working adult has also risen by 126,000.

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), also show that the number of children in a workless household has fallen by 41,000 since last year, while the proportion of lone parents in work has risen to 68.9%. Nearly 9 in 10 children now live in a home with at least one working adult.

Minister for Employment, Damian Hinds said:

We know that being in work is one of the best ways people can improve their family’s lives, and under Universal Credit people are moving into work faster and staying in work longer than the previous system. Unemployment is currently at its lowest level in over 40 years, and 3 million more people have found work since 2010.

On Universal Credit people’s benefits reduce gradually as they take on more hours, ensuring that it always pays to be in work.

Recent employment figures show that there are a near-record 32 million people in work, and the unemployment rate (4.3%) is the lowest since 1975.

Separate figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions on 29 November 2017 also show there were 1.9 million children living in a household where a parent or guardian is receiving out of work benefits in May 2016. This represents a decrease of 76,000 thousand since May 2015.

More information

This report provides new figures for July to September 2017. ONS advise that these estimates can only be compared to the same July to September period in other years, to avoid including seasonal effects. Therefore, only short-term comparisons are possible, back to July to September 2014.

However, estimates for April to June 2017, previously published by ONS and repeated in today’s release, can be compared back as far as April to June 1996, enabling us to measure long-term records.

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Under the plans, the interchange between the M25 and the A3 will be redesigned to create four dedicated link roads for all drivers making left turns at the junction while drivers turning right will use a new enlarged junction roundabout.

The A3 will also be widened from three lanes to four between Ockham and Painshill in both directions with two lanes remaining over the M25. The improvements will create extra capacity at the junction and, on opening, will shave up to seven minutes off journeys made at the junction during the morning peak.

Two options were put to the public for views between December 2016 and February 2017, and today’s announcement considers feedback made during the consultation and ongoing discussions with key stakeholders and residents.

The plans also include improved routes for pedestrians and cyclists, a green bridge linking Wisley and Ockham Commons, and better, safer access to RHS Garden Wisley via a new bridge and link road to the east of the A3. The proposals minimise the impact on trees within RHS Garden Wisley and ancient woodland near Ockham.

Highways England Regional Delivery Director for the South East Chris Welby-Everard said:

This busy junction is used by more than 96,000 drivers every day, and the M25 and the A3 which run through it have a further 173,000 and 57,000 journeys respectively every day. The plans we are putting forward today will make a real difference to all those journeys while respecting the protected environments nearby. I would like to thank everyone who took part in our consultation and helped shape these proposals.

We will continue to work with stakeholders and residents in working up the details of our design and t here will be a further opportunity for people to have their say in another consultation next year.

The M25/A3 interchange is a key congestion pinch point on the strategic road network and has one of the highest recorded collision rates across the Highways England network. The proposed plans will help to reduce delays, make journeys more reliable, ease congestion and improve safety.

The plans being taken forward include:

• an elongated roundabout to add more road capacity and improve safety with provision of dedicated free-flow left turns for all traffic leaving and joining the M25. The existing roundabout will be retained for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
• widening of the A3 between Ockham and junction 10, and Painshill and junction 10, in both directions
  The proposals were referred to as Option 14 during the consultation. The other proposal, known as Option 9, was a four-level flyover with dedicated free-flow slip roads for traffic accessing the M25 from the A3 and was rejected due to strong concerns about the negative impact on the surrounding environment.

Anyone interested in the scheme can sign up to receive updates via the project page on the Highways England website, where they can also download the consultation report, announcement flyer and see visualisations outlining the preferred option.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

All DWP Universal Credit phone lines are now free and nobody will be charged when they need to call to get help with their Universal Credit claim.

In October, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Gauke committed to making all DWP helplines Freephone numbers by the end of the year.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Gauke said:

We’re building a welfare system that is fit for the modern world where people increasingly manage their affairs online.

The vast majority of people apply for Universal Credit online, setting up an account that they can access 24 hours a day to manage their claim.

Work coaches are also there to support people with their online account but we know this is a big change for many, and we want to make sure people can get the extra help they need, without worrying about paying for a phone call. That’s exactly why we’ve set up the new Freephone numbers, which are available from today.

The key Universal Credit Freephone numbers include:

• Universal Credit live service: 0800 328 9344
  (this replaces 0345 600 0723)
• Universal Credit full service: 0800 328 5644
  (this replaces 0345 600 4272)

Anyone calling the old numbers will hear a message informing them of the change and the new number to call.

Freephone numbers for other DWP benefits and services are set to follow, with all numbers switched over by the end of 2017.

More information

99% of applications to Universal Credit are made online.

Universal Credit claimants can update any changes in circumstances, check on their payments and rearrange appointments 24 hours a day through their online journal.

Previously, calls were charged at local rates set by providers and were free for many people as part of their call package. If someone had been concerned about the cost, they could request a free call back.

Anyone calling the old numbers will hear a repeated message informing them of the change and the new number to call. They won’t be charged for listening to this pre-recorded message as long as they hang up before the call is terminated. The message will be clear about the need for the caller to end the call before they are cut off.

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Twenty years since HMRC took its first step into the digital age with the birth of electronic Self Assessment (SA), the department is reminding customers to complete their online tax return ahead of the 31 January deadline.

In 1997, the Inland Revenue introduced an electronic option for tax returns. Agents were sent floppy disks to help complete their SA which was then returned to the department. This year, two decades on, more than 10 million customers are expected to complete their tax return online.

Angela MacDonald, HMRC Director General of Customer Services, said:

Twenty years ago, filing Self Assessment returns on a mobile phone would have been unimaginable. Today, completing your Self Assessment via your Personal Tax Account can be done anywhere or at any time; on the bus, in a coffee shop or while watching TV, using your phone, a tablet or a computer. With our videos and webinars with hints, tips and live support it’s now easier than ever before.

The deadline for returning your Self Assessment, and paying any tax owed, is 31 January 2018 – do it now and enjoy the festive period.

HMRC now has online webchats, live webinars, YouTube videos and social media support for customers which can be accessed at any time, and on any device, to help them fill in and file their returns.

Notes for Editors

• The deadline for Self Assessment returns is 31 January.
• If you are filing your 2016/17 Self Assessment return online for the first time, you will need to create a Government Gateway account if you haven’t already got one. It’s easy to do here
• Help is available from the GOV.UK website or from the Self Assessment helpline on 0300 200 3310.
• Always type in full online address to obtain the correct link to file your SA return online securely and free of charge.
• An audio clip for broadcast is available upon request.
• Follow HMRC on Twitter @HMRCgovuk
• HMRC’s Flickr channel can be found here

Any press enquiries, please contact:

Patrick O’Brien
Tel: 03000 585 024
Email: patrick.o’brien@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Out of hours
Tel: 07860 359544