Category: 0 Archive

The bill to restore and renew the Palace of Westminster has been published in draft today (18 October 2018) – implementing the decision taken by Parliament to move forward with a full programme of work.

The Draft Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Bill establishes the statutory bodies responsible for the work to ensure value for money for the taxpayer, whilst securing the Palace of Westminster as the home of the UK Parliament for future generations.

It also ensures Parliamentarians are consulted and given a vote on the design, cost and timing of the work.

Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons, said:

I am pleased that the publication of this draft bill allows the programme to make progress. It marks the next step in Parliament’s efforts to protect the Palace of Westminster as the home of our democracy for future generations.

Following agreement by MPs across all parties, we are supporting Parliamentary Authorities to deliver on that decision, and press ahead with this work.

The government’s role is to ensure taxpayers’ money is protected, and the measures in this draft bill reflect our determination to ensure the delivery of the restoration and renewal programme runs to time and represents the best value for money. There can be no blank cheque for this work.

The draft bill gives effect to the resolutions voted for by Parliament earlier this year, to create a governance structure for the project by setting up a Sponsor Body, a Delivery Authority and an Estimates Commission.

These bodies will be able to make strategic decisions on the restoration and renewal programme.

The Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body will have overall responsibility for the restoration and renewal programme and is comprised of a mixture of Parliamentarians and external experts.

It will also be empowered to form a Delivery Authority – a non-profit company that will put forward proposals for the restoration works and ensure they are delivered on time and to specification.

This two-tier approach, as used in the successful London Olympics project, was approved by Parliament as the best structure to deliver a value for money programme.

The bill also establishes a Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission which will review and comment on the Sponsor Body’s cost estimates and lay them before Parliament.

This bill also gives the Treasury powers to scrutinise and comment on the annual estimates for the funding of the programme. The National Audit Office will also be able to undertake audits and value-for-money reviews.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park, Leader of the House of Lords, said:

As an important parliamentary project, the publication of the draft bill will give members of both Houses, and other interested parties, an opportunity to scrutinise the approach being taken to the governance of the Restoration and Renewal Programme before the bill is introduced.

We welcome the forthcoming Parliamentary scrutiny to ensure that the draft bill achieves the aim of ensuring that the Restoration and Renewal Programme will be sufficiently independent, transparent and accountable to Parliament and to the public.

The decision to take forward these works was made by MPs across Parliament as a result of serious structural, mechanical and electrical, fire safety and asbestos issues in the Palace of Westminster, which cannot be resolved outside a major programme of refurbishment.

Unless significant restoration work takes place, major, irreversible damage may be done to the building, and the risk of a significant building failure is increasing every year.

Notes to editors

1. On 31 January 2018, the House of Commons approved a resolution that work should commence on the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster.
2. The resolution required that ‘immediate steps be taken’ to establish a Shadow Sponsor Board and Delivery Authority, and that their ‘statutory successors’ be established by legislation in due course.
3. A resolution in identical terms was approved by the House of Lords on 6 February 2018.
4. The UK Parliament’s Restoration and Renewal Programme was established to tackle the significant work that needs to be done to protect and preserve the heritage of the Palace of Westminster, and ensure it can continue to serve as home to the UK Parliament in the 21st century.
5. Both Houses of Parliament decided to create a Sponsor Board in shadow form in July, with the following members:
   • Elizabeth Peace CBE (Chair)
   • Lord Carter of Coles
   • Lord Deighton KBE
   • Rt Hon the Lord Geidt GCB GCVO OBE
   • Neil Gray MP
   • Brigid Janssen
   • Rt Hon Sir Patrick McLoughlin MP
   • Marta Phillips OBE
   • Baroness Scott of Needham Market
   • Mark Tami MP
   • Simon Thurley CBE
   • Simon Wright OBE
6. For more information, please contact the House of Commons Media Relations Team on 0207 219 0969.

Dissolving seaweed sauce sachets and technology inspired by a suckerfish to remove plastics from rivers are among 11 innovative projects to win the backing of a £4 million government fund to clean up the environment.

To showcase the ground-breaking research being led by UK scientists and innovators during Green GB Week, the Business Secretary Greg Clark today announced the winners of a competition to develop new products or processes to end the scourge of plastic waste.

Moving to a greener, cleaner economy which helps protect the environment is a key part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy.

Among the winners are Skipping Rocks Lab in London, whose state-of-the-art facility is working on a scheme which could make the sight of single-use condiment sachets on takeaway counters a thing of the past by replacing plastic packaging with seaweed. The material, which has successfully been used as an alternative to the plastic water bottle, biodegrades as fast as a piece of fruit and is cheaper than plastic.

Other successful companies to win government funding include:

• Ichthion: Filters out plastic clogging up the UK’s waterways with a boat-mounted vacuum which mimics the way remora fish feed.
• Axion: Recycles plastics like car bumpers and motorcycle helmets, currently sent to landfill, and turns them into plastic pellets for moulding into new products such as bins or cables.
• Polymateria: Makes biodegradable plastic which lets you put packaging straight into the compost with your food waste.
  Business and Energy Secretary, Greg Clark, said:

Companies are capitalising on the UK’s world leading research base to develop products that tackle the global scourge of plastic waste while grasping the business opportunities found in the green economy.

When you combine Britain’s leadership, innovation and determination it is an unbeatable combination – exactly what our Industrial Strategy and Green GB Week are supporting and encouraging.

Professor Duncan Wingham, Executive Chair, Natural Environment Research Council and PRIF lead for UKRI, said:

The Plastics Research Innovation Fund starts bringing the strength of UK Research and Innovation’s entire portfolio, from environment to technology to business to behaviour and regulation, to bear on the pressing and very widely recognised problem of plastic waste.

The innovative businesses awarded funding today have stepped up and are bringing their creativity and entrepreneurialism to bear in finding real-world solutions to problem plastics, while at the same time aiming to create cleaner economic growth.

The Industrial Strategy has research and innovation at its heart and as part of this, the Government has committed to boost spending on research and development to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 to ensure the UK takes advantage of the economic opportunities from the move towards a cleaner, greener economy.

The competition is supported by the £20 million Plastics Research and Innovation Fund which aims to build on the UK’s global leadership in the fight against waste plastic, ensuring the UK reaps the economic benefits from the transition to a low carbon economy while leaving the environment in a better place for future generations. This announcement builds on the Government’s world-leading Clean Growth Strategy which sets out more than £2.5 billion in low carbon innovation.

The announcement of the winners comes during the UK’s first ever Green GB Week, calling on governments, businesses and communities to renew their efforts to confront climate change head on while seizing one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our time.

Just last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report stating that more rapid action is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emission to avoid devastating risks of climate change to health and global prosperity. Government support to tackle plastic waste will help the UK realise the economic benefits of this global move to tackle climate change.

The UK has already taken great strides to tackle plastic pollution with thirteen billion plastic bags taken out of circulation through our 5p carrier bag charge and a ban on microbeads in care products.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt will call on the global aid community to take action today, saying “enough is enough”, as the Department for International Development (DFID) and the international aid sector clamps down on sexual predators abusing the most vulnerable people around the world.

Speaking ahead of the International Safeguarding Summit in London today (Thursday 18 October) Ms Mordaunt said:

This is a pivotal moment. The entire international aid community is in one place, as it looks to change for the better the way the aid sector works.

Our message to sexual predators using the sector as a cover for their crimes is ‘Your time is up’.

This summit will consolidate the work we have done to date to tackle exploitation and abuse and we will be announcing concrete practical actions and new law enforcement tools, which will bring about significant changes. We are demanding tough commitments from donors, NGOs and other aid organisations.

We are not complacent. We realise there is much work still to do, but this a moment to say: ‘No more’. We have to give the people that we are here to help the protection that they need.

At the summit Ms Mordaunt will announce that DFID and Interpol are launching a pilot to help stop sexual predators from being able to move between aid organisations without being caught.

In addition, the UK will support NGOs, particularly small organisations, to strengthen their systems and processes via a new platform, which will include access to specialist investigators.

The UK is supporting NGOs to test a new passport for aid workers to prove an individual’s identity, provide background information and vetting status. This will make it easier for employers to gather up to date information on applicants.

DFID will also support the UN Victims’ Rights Advocate to establish a Victims Statement of Rights. This will provide clear, guidance to organisations on how to put victims and survivors first and improve support.

Ms Mordaunt will announce the new Interpol project, named Operation Soteria after the Greek goddess of safety, will include deploying teams of specialists to two regional hubs in Africa and Asia to strengthen criminal record checks and information sharing between all 192 members, including high risk countries, and help ensure a more robust law enforcement response against individuals.

Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock said:

A critical part of Interpol’s mission is to protect the most vulnerable members of society from the most dangerous.

This is all the more important when sexual predators attempt to exploit the very people – be it men, women or children – they are supposed to be safeguarding from harm.

International donors, who collectively provide over 90 per cent of global official aid, the UN and International Financial Institutions and will make concrete commitments at the summit.

The summit follows an event in March co-hosted by DFID and the Charity Commission where Ms Mordaunt challenged UK-based international development charities, regulatory bodies and independent experts to drive up standards to ensure the aid sector protects the people it serves. As part of this, DFID put in place new, enhanced safeguarding standards for the organisations the department works with. Today’s event will focus on the international community.

Notes to editors:

• The pilot will be led by Interpol, ACRO (The Association of Chief Police Officers’ Criminal Records Office) and Save the Children who are coordinating NGO’s participating in the project.
• This is a five-year project with an initial one-year phase focused on testing the online platform, which will build on existing Interpol systems. This is a £10 million project, in which the UK has taken a leading role. It will commit £2 million, subject to approvals for the inception phase.
• For more information on the previous safeguarding summit in March visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/safeguarding-summit-statements-by-the-international-development-secretary-and-dfids-permanent-secretary

Speaking at the 13th Annual Lecture organised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in London tonight, Sir Harpal Kumar, the former CEO of Cancer Research UK outlined his vision for cancer care in the future.

He said earlier diagnosis would enable the UK to catch-up with its international counterparts in terms of survival rates and would also make the NHS more efficient.

Sir Harpal said he would like to see an end to the unacceptable variation in cancer treatment that exists in the UK, whereby some patients have long waits for appointments or tests, depending on where they live.

He also wants to see an improvement in the relationship between research and the NHS so patients receive new treatments much quicker.

Citing recent Cancer UK Research, Sir Harpal said the evidence showed around 60% of doctors felt they’d experienced a barrier to adopting a new treatment, rising to 83% amongst oncologists, with money being the most frequent barrier.

In his speech to an audience of clinicians and healthcare leaders, he made reference to the ageing population meaning in the next decade, there is likely to be an increase in the total number of deaths from cancer in the UK. Last year, more than 162,000 deaths were cancer-related, representing 28% of all deaths in the UK.

Sir Harpal Kumar said:

We have the potential to transform outcomes for many thousands of cancer patients, based on what we know now, even if there were no more research.

We have to think and act differently. If we cracked earlier diagnosis, it wouldn’t just enable us to catch up with our international counterparts, through the thousands of lives saved. It would also mean a huge increase in NHS efficiency.

Dr Ian Hudson, MHRA’s Chief Executive, said:

As a regulator, we know the important role that research and development plays in bringing new treatments to patients.

Given the ageing population, our work is even more vital to help transform outcomes for many thousands of patients – including cancer patients – to help make sure new and innovative treatments are made available to patients at the earliest, safest opportunity.

Notes to Editor

1. The MHRA Annual Lecture is the Agency’s flagship event bringing together more than 200 senior domestic and international leaders from medicine, government, industry, academia, third sector and world health institutions. This year’s event took place on 17 October at the Royal Institution, in London.
2. Each year the lecture is delivered by internationally renowned experts to bring their perspective on topics of global importance. This year, Sir Harpal Kumar, ex-CEO of Cancer Research UK delivered a lecture titled “Medical Innovation and the battle against cancer: is the health system keeping pace?” His lecture follows those by Dr Jeremy Farrar, Wellcome Trust, in 2017, Dr Margaret Chan, World Health Organisation, in 2016, and Dr Dan Hartman, Gates Foundation, in 2015.