Category: Gov Press Releases

The eleven separate foreign investments are expected to create 359 jobs across the UK – in London, Leeds, Newcastle and Reading.

These investments – several of which have originated from growing Latin American and Asian markets, including Brazil, Argentina and India – are set to have major benefits for British consumers and businesses.

The investment wins are the result of the Department for International Trade’s work across its extensive network of more than 100 countries, demonstrating to potential foreign investors why the UK continues to be the best place to build a business.

As well as one of the G20’s lowest corporate tax rates, DIT provides businesses with assistance in growing a UK-based workforce, with insights into specific UK sector markets, and much more at invest.great.gov.uk.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox said:

It’s easy to see why the UK is Europe’s top destination for foreign direct investment. Our country is home to world leading research and development capability, as well as a culture of innovation.

My international economic department has a network of Trade Commissioners operating across the world, seeking investment opportunities that will help create jobs and improve the lives of people in the UK.

As we celebrate the Lord Mayor’s parade, today’s announcement is further evidence that the UK is one of the most attractive places in the world to invest and demonstrates a vote of confidence in our economy and our people.

The FinTech announcements come ahead of the International Trade Secretary’s attendance at the Lord Mayor’s Show this weekend.

Dr Fox and outgoing Lord Mayor Charles Bowman launched a new FinTech steering board earlier this year, aiming to further propel the success of the sector through a partnership between government, academia and industry.

Some of the investment deals secured include:

• Globant: Argentine software and digital design company that has invested £32 million to expand its ongoing operation in London, creating 140 jobs

• ThinCI: US company specialising in software for artificial intelligence products will create a new site in Leeds, creating 40 jobs

• Avnet: US electronics company has spent £5 million to acquire UK-based information technology company Hanhaa, creating 25 new jobs

Nearly half of Europe’s FinTech ‘unicorns’ are based in London, with app-only bank Monzo the latest company to join the list at the end of October, while the Prime Minister announced £2.3 billion of investment in FinTech during London Tech Week, creating 1,600 jobs.

London is the focal point of the UK’s tech sector, and its information and communications technology market – worth £36 billion – is Europe’s largest. There are over 200,000 digital tech professionals in the capital from across the globe, as well as world-leading universities and tech infrastructure.

Total venture capital investment in UK tech companies since 2016 has surpassed £5 billion, and was more than Germany, Spain, France and Ireland combined last year.

Dinakar Munagalam, CEO of ThinCI said:

The Department for International Trade was very helpful guiding us through the unfamiliar regulatory network for setting up a new venture in the UK. This assistance allowed up to get establish quickly and our newly employed engineers and programmers productive in record time.

What attracted ThinCI to the UK is its talent pool of engineers and programmers that could immediately begin providing the chip design and software development assistance we needed. We found that talent in Leeds and Kings Langley.

Mundeep Nayyar, managing director of Infotel UK said:

The technology sector in Newcastle upon Tyne is estimated to be worth almost £1bn and growing more than twice as fast as the rest of the economy.

With access to leading blue-chip businesses that need Infotel UK’s services and nearly 25,000 students in higher education, the City is the ideal location to find and cultivate new talent and to grow a high-tech software business.

It’s a perfect storm for investment as we look to offer more and better solutions to our clients while maintaining our dedication to quality customer service and delivery.

Director, Paper Plus, Kaushal Shah said:

We at Paper Plus believe in making sustainability the new normal for consumers in the UK and over the world. The expertise and advice of DIT have been a significant accelerator for our business.

The professional knowledge of our DIT advisors is phenomenal and it enhances the credibility of the UK as an excellent place to do business.

Further Information:

Full list of investment deals:

• Eye Capital: Argentine Fintech company which has invested £2 million to open a new London office, creating 10 jobs.

• LHV Pank: Estonian bank which has invested £1 million to open a new London branch creating seven jobs.

• Globant: Argentine software and digital design company that has invested £32 million to expand its ongoing operation in London, creating 140 jobs.

• ThinCI: US company specialising in software for artificial intelligence products will create a new site in Leeds, creating 40 jobs.

• Avnet: US electronics company has spent £5 million to acquire UK-based information technology company Hanhaa, creating 25 new jobs.

• Tradify HQ: NZ-based business organisation software company have invested £1.2 million to build a new office in Reading, creating 14 jobs.

• Infotel: French software company that has invested £1 million to build new premises in Newcastle, creating six jobs.

• Engineer.ai: Global venture capitalists Lakestar, Jungle Ventures & Softbank’s DeepCore have announced that they will invest £22.5 million in this London-based AI company, who will be creating further jobs in addition to the 50 already created.

• Aethra: Brazil’s largest autoparts manufacturer has selected the UK as the location for their new European subsidiary. Their £30 million investment will create 10 jobs over the next four years.

• MKW Engineering: Precision engineering company which, as part of US-owned Simmons and Company International, has announced £9.3 million of investment to secure new premises in North Tyneside. The company are relocating and consolidating their operation in the North East and creating 100 new jobs.

• Paper Plus: UK companies will find it easier than ever before to go green, after DIT assisted this carbon-neutral paper manufacturer to secure £5.5 million of investment from India, expanding their London operation and creating seven new jobs. The company has already saved half a million trees in two years, and will use some of the investment to fund research into biodegradable food packaging.

More than 25,000 domestic abuse survivors will be supported to rebuild their lives thanks to a £22 million allocation for projects across the country, Housing Minister Heather Wheeler MP has announced today (10 November 2018).

Over 60 projects in England will be supported by the funding over the next 2 years – ensuring thousands of survivors have access to the help they need, when they need it.

The money will provide over 2,200 new beds in refuges and other safe accommodation, access to education, and tailored employment and life skills guidance as survivors move towards building a safe and healthy future for themselves and their children – free from domestic abuse.

Projects will be delivered by councils working alongside local organisations to help ensure that no survivor of domestic abuse is turned away from the support they need to start their new life.

Housing Minister Heather Wheeler MP said:

Domestic abuse is a devastating crime, which shatters the lives of survivors and their families. It is our duty to ensure survivors can seek help by providing the support they need to restart their lives.

Through providing specialist accommodation and access to employment, this fund will make sure local authorities and charities can provide a strong safety net for anyone facing the threat of abuse in their own home.

Innovative local projects that will receive a share of funding include:

Portsmouth & Hampshire New Approaches

This project will cover 5 local authority areas providing targeted support designed to meet the needs of those who have experienced domestic violence and abuse. It will provide help to women, children and young people living in refuge accommodation across the region in addition to making it easier for those from BAME and LGBT backgrounds to access support services

Norfolk county council – Norfolk Partnership

Norfolk’s ANCHOR initiative will ensure that any survivor of domestic abuse in Norfolk has access to tailored support for their individual needs to assist them on the path to recovery. It will involve strong partnership working between local organisations to ensure services are effectively joined up. This will build support for those with additional needs, such as mental health and substance misuse and help will also be tailored to those from BAME backgrounds.

Sandra Horley CBE, Chief Executive of Refuge said:

That Refuge services will be supported by this fund is hugely welcome news both for us and particularly for the thousands of women and children we support on a daily basis.

Critically, this funding ensures that many of our refuges will remain open and continue to provide life-saving specialist support to those experiencing domestic abuse. A small number would have been forced to close had we not received these crucial funds.

We are equally delighted to be in a position to now expand one of our services in London, which provides essential support for survivors with additional needs.

In the summer, government announced almost £19 million of funding to expand support for survivors of domestic abuse services across England. This fund has now been extended to £22 million.

This follows previous government funding totalling £20 million during 2016 to 2018, which helped create more than 2,000 bed spaces and gave support to over 19,000 survivors and their families.

Further to this, the government has also published new guidance for councils to prioritise domestic abuse survivors in refuges when allocating social housing and encourages councils to use existing powers to support survivors to remain safely in their own homes if they choose to do so.

The government will shortly be introducing a new landmark Domestic Abuse Bill to further protect and support survivors, recognise the life-long impact domestic abuse has on children and make sure agencies are responding effectively to domestic abuse.

We are also committed to reviewing how domestic abuse services are commissioned and funded across England and will set out next steps shortly.

See the
full list of allocations
(PDF, 125KB, 6 pages)

for the £22 million fund.

Further information

The Domestic Abuse Fund was launched on 2 July 2018. It was originally launched as an £18.8 million fund.

The funding builds on other actions being taken by the government to end domestic abuse, support survivors and ensure offenders are prosecuted. Such as:

• allocation of a £20 million fund for local authorities working in partnership with services providers to boost services between 2016 and 2018
• a new domestic abuse offence to capture coercive and controlling behaviour, the criminalisation of forced marriage and the introduction of new stalking laws
• a national roll-out of domestic violence protection orders and the domestic violence disclosure scheme
• the £15 million 3-year Violence Against Women and Girls Service Transformation Fund
• the government previously held a consultation titled Improving access to social housing for victims of domestic abuse from October 30, 2017 to January 5, 2018. This consultation outlined proposals for new statutory guidance to councils to assist survivors of domestic abuse in refuges to access social housing.

Renowned for their high quality medical technology, Becton Dickinson (BD) have operations in the likes of the US, Japan and the Middle East, employing 65,000 people across the world. In the UK and Ireland, they have eight sites which employ 2,800 associates in a variety of research, manufacturing and retail roles.

DIT have helped BD, whose Plymouth operation is predominantly manufacturing based, with export and investment advice and support from our network of International Trade Advisors, who are based across the UK.

With 2.6 billion products being produced at the south-west facility every year, the company specialise in the production of blood collection tubes which sell to hospitals and medical facilities in all corners of the globe.

Speaking on the visit, Baroness Fairhead said:

Becton Dickinson are a great example of a global business whose export and manufacturing operation is helping to drive growth in their local community through initiatives such as their apprenticeship scheme.

The Department for International Trade stands ready to support any business in south west England, and across the country, who has the ambition to export. This support includes our network of Trade Advisors who are on hand to offer guidance, our award-winning export credit agency, UK Export Finance, and a variety of export opportunities through GREAT.gov.uk.

The visit comes after BD announced a further investment of more than £170m last year, which will see additional manufacturing lines added to their Plymouth site.

Mike Fairbourn, VP Country General Manager UK & Ireland, said:

With over 3000 associates working in clinical research, manufacturing and commercial roles, BD UK and Ireland is proud to be helping support the safer, more efficient delivery of healthcare. Our mission is to advance the world of health, and we continue to invest in helping UK and Irish healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes that ultimately give people the best lives possible.

With a need to recruit more engineers in the South West of England, BD are running an apprenticeship scheme which has 40 apprentices working at the site at any one time, including 12 who specifically look at engineering and spend four years working at the site. This is all part of a strategy which the company has set out, with government support, to engage with young people in the Plymouth area.

The South West saw a solid increase of 7% in its goods exports last year with £21 billion of products being sold in markets such as the US, Germany and the UAE. This is partly due to a dedicated team of more than 20 trade advisors in the region. These advisors work with the government’s network of HM Trade Commissioners, the UK’s overseas partners and private companies to locate export and investment opportunities to match the strong ambitions of regional businesses.

DIT’s recently launched Export Strategy sets out how the government will support businesses of all sizes to make the most of the opportunities presented by markets around the world.

A government-led collaboration with business, developed after extensive engagement with a range of UK firms – the Export Strategy sets a new ambition from government to increase exports as a proportion of UK GDP to 35%.

The Dame Lesley Strathie Operational Excellence Award recognises excellence in the delivery of public services. This includes putting user needs at the heart of a project and significantly improving the quality, value for money or productivity of services to the public.

GOV.UK Notify is delivered by a multidisciplinary team of 12 people, including designers, user researchers and developers. They work closely with service teams across the country to constantly iterate and improve it.

The judges said:

GOV.UK Notify is a great example of a small, diverse set of civil servants challenging established ways of doing things, to rapidly deliver a product benefitting millions of people, whilst saving taxpayers millions.

GOV.UK Notify Product Manager Pete Herlihy said:

It’s ace. Obviously we’re incredibly proud of Notify and the impact it’s having right across the public sector, but this recognition for how our little team goes about delivering it really means so much to us.

About GOV.UK Notify

GOV.UK Notify sent its first messages in May 2016. It lets service teams across the public sector send emails, text messages and letters to their users.

It can be used by:

• caseworkers to send one-off messages to people after a call or a visit
• back-office staff to send bulk messages by uploading files
• systems automatically sending messages to people after specified events

GOV.UK Notify is easy to use and easy for teams to integrate with their existing systems. It can be used without any procurement and emails can be sent through GOV.UK Notify at no cost.

So far more than 200 million messages have been sent using GOV.UK Notify, including more than 170 million emails.

It is being used by 438 service teams across 132 organisations – including 64 local government organisations, 58 central government organisations and 10 from the NHS. And this number is growing every day.

Among those teams are the DVSA’s MOT reminder service team, who also won a Civil Service Award – the Digital Award.

Find out more about GOV.UK Notify.

During September, there were two new detentions of foreign flagged vessels in a UK port, three vessels remained under detention from previous months. A total of three vessels remain under detention at the end of October.

1. In response to one of the recommendations of Lord Donaldson’s inquiry into the prevention of pollution from merchant shipping, and in compliance with the EU Directive on Port State Control (2009/16/EC as amended), the Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA) publishes details of the foreign flagged vessels detained in UK ports each month.

2. The UK is part of a regional agreement on port state control known as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU) and information on all ships that are inspected is held centrally in an electronic database known as THETIS. This allows the ships with a high risk rating and poor detention records to be targeted for future inspection.

3. Inspections of foreign flagged ships in UK ports are undertaken by surveyors from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. When a ship is found to be not in compliance with applicable convention requirements, a deficiency may be raised. If any of their deficiencies are so serious they have to be rectified before departure, then the ship will be detained.

4. All deficiencies should be rectified before departure if at all possible.

5. When applicable, the list includes those passenger craft prevented from operating under the provisions of the EU Directive on Mandatory Surveys for the safe operation of regular Ro-Ro ferry and high speed passenger craft services (1999/35/EU).

Notes on the list of detentions

• Full details of the ship.
  The accompanying detention list shows ship’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) number which is unchanging throughout the ship’s life and uniquely identifies it. It also shows the ship’s name and flag state at the time of its inspection.
• Company.
  The company shown in the vessel’s Safety Management Certificate (SMC) or if there is no SMC, then the party otherwise believed to be responsible for the safety of the ship at the time of inspection.
• Classification Society.
  The list shows the Classification Society responsible for classing the ship only.
• Recognised Organisation.
  Responsible for conducting the statutory surveys: and issuing statutory certificates on behalf of the Flag State
• White (WL), Grey (GL) and Black lists (BL) are issued by the Paris MoU on 01 July each year and shows the performance of flag State.

SHIPS DETAINED IN OCTOBER 2018

Vessel Name: SOUTHWESTER

GT: 4150

IMO: 9126728

Flag: Cook Islands (Black list)

Company: Northwester Shipping Corp

Classification Society: RINA

Recognised Organisation: N/A

Recognised Organisation for ISM Doc: N/A

Recognised Organisation for ISM SMC: N/A

Date and Place of Detention: 1st October 2018 in Runcorn

Summary: Eighteen deficiencies with one ground for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
18408 – Electrical	Not as required	No
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Yes
11105 – Rescue boat inventory	Not as required	No
07116 – Ventilation	Not as required	No
01201 – Certificates of master and officers	Missing	No
07113 – Fire pumps and its pipes	Not as required	No
07105 – Firedoors/opening in fire-resisting divisions	Inoperative	No
14615 – Fuel change-over procedure	Missing	No
18312 – Galley, handling room (maintenance)	Not Hygienic	No
99101 – Other safety in general	Other	No
01328 – Ship energy efficiency management plan	Missing	No
07105 – Firedoors/opening in fire-resisting divisions	Inoperative	No
10103 – Radar	Inoperative	No
05105 – MF/HF Radio installation	Inoperative	No
10111 – Charts	Missing	No
07113 – Fire pumps and its pipes	Not as required	No
14402 – Sewage treatment plan	Not as required	No
10106 – Compass correction log	Not as required	No
10119 – Rudder angle indicator	Inoperative	No

This vessel was released on 8th October 2018

Vessel Name: DUYGU

GT: 4388

IMO: 9199787

Flag: Cook Islands (Black list)

Company: Pruvmarine Limited

Classification Society: NKK

Recognised Organisation: NA

Recognised Organisation for ISM Doc: NA

Recognised Organisation for ISM SMC: NA

Date and Place of Detention: 1st October in Birkenhead

Summary: Twenty-one deficiencies with five grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
10104 – Gyro compass	Inoperative	No
08107 – Machinery control alarms	Inoperative	Yes
07116 – Ventilation	Inoperative	No
10116 – Nautical publications	Missing	No
18324 – Cold room, cold room cleanliness, cold room temperature	Not as required	No
09232 – Cleanliness of engine room	Insufficient	No
04108 – Muster list	Incomplete	No
03108 – Ventilators, air pipes, casings	Not properly maintained	No
13199 – Other (machinery)	Other	No
01101 – Cargo safety equipment (including exemptions)	Incomplete	No
10118 – Speed and distance indicator	Inoperative	No
18308 – Furnishings	Damaged	No
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Not as required	Yes
09232 – Cleanliness of engine room	Insufficient	Yes
07105 – Firedoors/openings in fire-resisting divisions	Malfunctioning	No
07125 – Evaluation of crew performance (fire drills)	Lack of training	No
03112 – Scuppers, inlets and discharges	Not as required	Yes
02108 – Electrical installations in general	Not as required	Yes
10129 – Navigation records	Not as required	No
18312 – Galley, handling room (maintenance)	Not hygienic	No
03106 – Windows, sidecuttles and deadlights	Not as required	No

This vessel was released on 3rd October 2018

DETENTIONS CARRIED OVER FROM PREVIOUS MONTHS

Vessel Name: POSEIDON

GT: 1412

IMO: 7363217

Flag: Iceland (White list)

Company: Neptune EHF

Classification Society: NA

Recognised Organisation: NA

Recognised Organisation for ISM Doc: DNV-GL

Recognised Organisation for ISM SMC: DNV-GL

Date and Place of Detention: 19th July 2018 at Hull

Summary: Ten deficiencies with two grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
01199 – Other certificates	Other	No
01218 – Medical	Incorrect language	No
02106 – Hull damage impairing seaworthiness	Holed	Yes
07113 – Fire Pumps	Insufficient Pressure	Yes
07103 – Divisions – Decks, bulkheads and penetrations	Not as required	No
12107 – Ballast, fuel and other tanks	Not as required	No
07105 – Fire doors/openings in fire resisting divisions	Not as required	No
01101 – Cargo Ship Safety Equipment (including exemption)	Missing	No
01102 – Cargo Ship Safety Construction (including exemption)	Missing	No
01104 – Cargo Ship Safety Radio (including exemption)	Missing	No

This vessel was still detained on 31st October 2018

Vessel Name: TECOIL POLARIS

GT: 1814

IMO No: 8883290

Flag: Russian Federation (Grey list)

Company: Tecoil Shipping Ltd

Classification Society: RMRS

Recognised Organisation: RMRS

Recognised Organisation for ISM DOC: RMRS

Recognised Organisation for ISM SMC: RMRS

Date and Place of Detention: 6th June 2018 at Immingham

Summary: Twenty-Seven deficiencies with eight grounds for detentions

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
01123 – Continuous synopsis record	Entries missing	No
01218 – Medical certificate	Missing	No
01320 – Garbage record book	Incorrect	No
01308 – Record of seafarers’ daily hours of work or rest	False	No
04110 – Abandon ship drill	Insufficient frequency	No
10105 – Magnetic compass	Inoperative	Yes
10128 – Navigation bridge visibility	Not as required	No
10104 – Gyro compass	Inoperative	Yes
11122 – Radio life-saving appliances	Inoperative	No
11129 – Operational readiness of lifesaving appliances	Not as required	Yes
04109 – Fire drills	Lack of communication	No
10127 – Voyage or passage plan	Not as required	Yes
10123 – International code of signals – SOLAS	Missing	No
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Yes
05110 – Facilities for reception of marine safety inform.	Not as required	No
05199 – Other (radiocommunication)	Other	No
11104 – Rescue boats	Not properly maintained	Yes
11101 – Lifeboats	Not ready for use	Yes
10101 – Pilot ladder and hoist/pilot transfer arrangements	Unsafe	No
06105 – Atmosphere testing instrument	Not properly maintained	No
07105 – Fire doors/openings in fire resisting divisions	Not as required	No
01117 – International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP)	Invalid	Yes
14604 – Bunker delivery note	Not as required	No
01315 – Oil record book	Not properly filled	No
02105 – Steering gear	Not properly maintained	No
02108 – Electrical installations in general	Not properly maintained	No
11134 – Operations of life saving appliances	Lack of familiarity	No

This vessel was still detained on 31st October 2018

Vessel Name: CIEN PORCIENTO (General Cargo)

GT: 106.

IMO No: 8944446.

Flag: Unregistered.

Company: Open Window Inc.

Classification Society: Unclassed.

Recognised Organisation: Not applicable.

Recognised Organisation for ISM DOC: Not applicable.

Recognised Organisation for ISM SMC: Not applicable

Date and Place of detention: 4 March 2010, Lowestoft

Summary: Thirty deficiencies including seven grounds for detention

This vessel was still detained on 31st October 2018
Notes to Editors
• The MCA is a partner in the Sea Vision UK campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the sea and maritime activities. Sea Vision promotes the importance and economic value of the sector and works to highlight the exciting range of activities and career opportunities available to young people within the UK growing maritime sector at www.seavision.org.uk

• Follow us on Twitter: @MCA_media

For further information please contact
Maritime and Coastguard Agency Press Office, on:
+44 (0) 2380 329 401
Press releases and further information about the agency is available here.

Food Minister David Rutley met with food and drink businesses in Yorkshire and Edinburgh this week to see first-hand the extensive innovation within the sector.

In Yorkshire, the Minister toured the Nestlé York factory to hear about the company’s innovative sugar reduction technique, before visiting Morrisons Bradford site to see an integrated supply chain in action and its commitment to source local produce where possible.

During his day in Edinburgh, Minister Rutley heard more about the Scottish food and drink industry, meeting with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland and members of the Scotch Whisky Association.

He also toured the site at independent bottling company Broxburn Bottlers, where he learnt about the processes involved in the bottling aspect of the supply chain.

Food Minister David Rutley said:

The UK’s food and drink industry is renowned for its high levels of quality, innovation and productivity – and it was exciting to see this in action during my visit to manufacturers and retailers in Yorkshire and Scotland.

I am looking forward to continuing to work closely with businesses from across the sector – and the whole of the UK – to champion our iconic food and drink products both at home and on the global stage.

This week’s trip follows a recent visit to Tate & Lyle’s original refinery in London’s East End.

To mark the centenary of the First World War, the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will lend his support to the forces charity There But Not There to honour the over three million Commonwealth soldiers, sailors, airmen and labour corp who served.

There But Not There will install three 6ft figures of First World War soldiers in the Foreign Office to represent the unique contribution of Commonwealth servicemen from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Australasia and Canada and shine a light on the little known stories of our Commonwealth heroes.

The campaign, which launched in February, is raising money for a range of military and mental health charities. To date, it has raised over £4 million.

Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said:

It is fitting that in the centenary year of the First World War we honour the immense contribution of our Commonwealth soldiers.
Their bravery was key to securing the Allied victory. These men fought thousands of miles from their homeland, for a country they had never been to, but for a purpose they believed in.
This installation will honour their heroism, shine a light on their stories and remind us that in the darkest hour people of all backgrounds can come together for a common cause.

General the Lord Dannatt, Patron of There But Not There and former Chief of the General Staff said:

The First World War had such an impact on towns and villages across the United Kingdom that the contribution of servicemen and women from across the Commonwealth is too often overlooked. Their sacrifice was immeasurable, as was the effect that it had on their own communities.

The Tommies in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office stand in recognition of this service as we approach one hundred years since the guns fell silent.

We are humbled to see the figures appear all over the country as well as outside the FCO and would implore members of the public around the world to get even further behind the campaign by ordering their own 10” perspex Tommy to have at home, as the profits from these will support veterans that continue to suffer from the hidden wounds of war.

There But Not There FCO installation

Over nine million servicemen died in the First World War, including nearly a million from the Commonwealth.

Millions of Commonwealth soldiers helped secure the Allied victory, including that of Ghanaian soldier Alhaji Grunshi, the first soldier in British service to fire a shot in the First World War.

One third of all indigenous peoples of Canada served in the Canadian forces during the war. Many distinguished themselves, including Francis Pegahmagabow an expert marksman and scout who was awarded the Military Medal three times.

Almost two million Indian servicemen served in the First World War, including Hardutt Singh Malik, the first Indian to fly with the British Royal Flying Corps. Malik initially failed to qualify for the Corps but went on to be the sole Indian aviator to emerge alive from the war.

These are just a few examples of the millions of Commonwealth soldiers who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today, and who were fundamental to sustaining the war effort.

The Foreign Secretary’s support for There But Not There, comes as the Ministry of Defence announced that Britain’s military will increase the number of Commonwealth recruits to 1,350 per year, introduced over several years. The importance of the Commonwealth to the military is underlined by the fact that Britain already employs some 4,500 Commonwealth citizens in the Armed Forces.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @Jeremy_Hunt and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn