Category: Gov Press Releases

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has published its annual report and accounts, revealing it provided £2.5 billion in support for UK exports in 2017 to 2018.

Rt Hon. Dr Liam Fox MP, Secretary of State for International Trade, said:

As an international economic department, our priority is to do all we can to support UK businesses as they seize the opportunities of global trade. UK Export Finance is at the heart of our offer to help them do so, and this report shows that it has been a landmark year for the UK’s award-winning export credit agency.

Baroness Fairhead, Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion, said:

UKEF’s results for 2017 to 2018 once again show that when companies take advantage of its support, the effects on their business can be transformative. By providing innovative and flexible finance and insurance, the government is helping British businesses, big and small, realise the value they bring to the international marketplace.

The range of exports supported by UKEF demonstrates that the UK’s exporters have a truly world-class export credit agency behind them – and that’s why the government’s forthcoming Export Strategy will deliver on our commitment to put UKEF at the heart of trade promotion.

The report revealed UKEF has supported £4.1 billion in export contracts through its trade finance products since 2011, which were introduced to help give smaller businesses an exporting edge.

During 2017 to 2018, UKEF was also awarded ‘best export credit agency 2017’ by Global Trade Review magazine and Euromoney’s Trade Finance.

Background

UKEF’s other business highlights included:

• UKEF confirmed increases in, and in many cases doubled, its capacity to support UK exports to over 100 markets worldwide.
• UKEF added 22 new currencies to its list of pre-approved local currencies in which UKEF can lend or guarantee loans to overseas buyers of UK goods – taking the total to a world-leading 62 among its international counterparts.
• UKEF expanded eligibility for its short-term trade finance to include UK suppliers of exporters, enabling even more countries to benefit from UKEF support even if they’re not yet themselves directly exporting.
• UKEF secured at least $250 million of UK exports in support of the construction of two power plants in Iraq, led by Enka UK and General Electric.
• UKEF guaranteed a 1 billion Mexican peso loan in support of Scottish bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis’ major export contract to Mexico City – UKEF’s first ever deal in the currency.
• UKEF provided a €270 million loan to the Ugandan government to finance the construction of a new international airport in Kabaale by Colas UK, with further supplies and services for the project expected to be sourced from the UK too.

To find out more about UKEF, or see if finance and insurance from UKEF could give you an exporting edge, visit great.gov.uk.

Communities across the UK are being urged to back their local high streets by entering them into the Great British High Street Awards 2018.

The awards, run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and sponsored by Visa, recognise and celebrate local achievements on our high streets, supporting the communities they serve.

The Great British High Street awards will not only celebrate the best high streets across the nation, but will also champion ‘Rising Stars’ – the most ambitious high streets which are taking a lead and working together to revive, adapt and diversify.

By shining a light on great examples of how high streets can meet the challenges of changing consumer behaviour and a changing retail environment, the awards will provide all communities with top tips for success.

Speaking ahead of the competition launch on Lower Marsh, Waterloo, a former finalist, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

The Great British High Street Awards acknowledge how vital high streets are to our nation. They are crucial in creating jobs, nurturing small businesses and driving local and regional economies. We want to celebrate the best examples of high streets, as well as those individual businessmen and women playing a leading role.

The government is committed to ensuring high streets continue to thrive and I’m delighted to support this brilliant competition.

The awards, first held in 2014, have been simplified for 2018 with winning high streets to be named in England, Scotland, Wales and for the first time, Northern Ireland – across 2 categories: Champion High Street and Rising Star High Street.

High Streets Minister Jake Berry MP said:

The Great British High Streets competition this year will celebrate the creativity of the many businesses in the UK which are providing the shops and services so vital to our economy.

The previous awards were hugely successful, proving the Great British public really cares about the centres of their cities, towns and villages. I’d urge everyone to get involved in this important competition.

The 26 shortlisted entries in the Champion High Street category and 12 Rising Stars will be announced in October. They will then go through to a public vote and be visited by a judging panel made up of industry leaders from across retail, property and business.

Britain’s best high street will be announced in November, with the winner receiving a £10,000 cash prize for a local community project. Winners from each of the remaining nations will receive a £5,000 contribution to a street party or community project.

The competition was last held in 2016. Blackburn in Lancashire was crowned the Great British High Street overall winner that year thanks to the determination of the community and local businesses who worked together to overcome the challenges their high street was facing.

The government is committed to helping local business communities and has introduced over £9 billion worth of business rate support so that many small businesses now pay no rates. This sits alongside a reduction in annual rises, worth a further £4 billion, and helping shops and restaurants across the country.

Through the Future High Streets Forum, the government is also working closely with retail leaders and industry experts to support high streets and town centres to adapt and compete in the face of changing consumer and social trends.

Further information

There will be 26 short-listed entries in the Champion High Street category, 13 for England, 6 for Scotland, 4 for Wales and 3 for Northern Ireland. There will be 12 short-listed entries for the Rising Star category.

High Streets are changing, and the government is committed to helping communities adapt. By delivering on our commitment to give councils more control over the business rates they raise locally, they have never had a better reason to support their shops and restaurants.

We have introduced over £9 billion worth of business rate support so that many small businesses now pay no rates and we are reducing annual rises which is worth a further £4 billion, helping shops and restaurants across the country.

In 2017, we launched a £300 million discretionary relief scheme over the next 4 years, which local authorities can use to grant relief to businesses.

With our Future High Streets Forum, we are working closely with retail leaders and industry experts so we can develop new solutions to the current challenges we are facing

We are reviewing the wider taxation of the digital economy, including ensuring international corporate tax rules deliver fair results across different businesses and that sellers operating through online marketplaces pay the right amount of VAT.

On 1 May 2018, I informed the House that I had issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN) in respect of the acquisition by Trinity Mirror plc (now known as Reach Plc) of certain publishing assets of Northern & Shell Media Group Limited.

The PIIN triggered the requirement for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to report to me on jurisdictional and competition matters, and for Ofcom to report on the following two media public interest considerations:

• Firstly, the need for, to the extent that it is reasonable and practicable, a sufficient plurality of views in newspapers in each market for newspapers in the United Kingdom or a part of the United Kingdom; and
• Secondly, the need for free expression of opinion in newspapers.

I received the CMA and Ofcom reports on Thursday 31 May and have today published these on the gov.uk website.

I accept the CMA’s findings that whilst it is, or may be, the case that a relevant merger situation has been created, the merger does not give rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition in any market.

I have also accepted Ofcom’s conclusions that the merger does not raise concerns in relation to plurality of views, nor does it raise concerns in relation to free expression of opinion in newspapers.

In light of this, and having considered representations submitted by interested parties in response to the PIIN, I have written to the parties today confirming my decision not to refer the merger for a Phase 2 investigation.

I have also notified the CMA, in accordance with section 56(1) of the Enterprise Act 2002, to now deal with the matter from a competition perspective.

The role of the Secretary of State in this process is quasi-judicial and procedures are in place to ensure that I act independently and have followed a process which is fair and impartial.

19 June marks the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Since the launch of our campaign to Prevent Sexual Violence in Conflict in 2012, the UK has raised awareness of the horror and scale of sexual violence around the world as well as the need for accountability; for victim support; and for action to tackle stigma. The UK has actively supported work in all these areas and we know our assistance has had a real impact. We have also funded ground-breaking research to improve the global understanding of sexual violence-related issues; to inform policy-making; and to provide guidance to those working in the field.

Lord Ahmad, as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, co-hosted an event in New York with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, to highlight the plight and rights of children born of war. Together, they launched UK-funded research by the London School of Economics Centre for Women, Peace and Security which shines a light on an issue which does not receive enough attention, and which challenges policy makers to improve our response and support to these survivors.

The voices of survivors are a central theme for our preparations ahead of the UK-hosted international meeting in November 2019, 5 years on from the 2014 Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. This meeting will seek real commitments from governments and international organisations to secure justice for survivors and end impunity; advance accountability mechanisms; tackle stigma, and develop new ways to prevent and address sexual violence.

In 2014, the UK told the world that it was “Time to Act”. In 2019, we will show the world that we have acted, but are determined to do more.

Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict: Written Ministerial Statement:

Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid Tier agreement holders who claimed in 2017 for their revenue payment will receive a bridging payment by the end of June if they have not been paid by 21 June 2018.

A bridging payment is an interest-free loan to customers in advance of their full year payment. Customers will receive 75% of the current estimated value of their CS 2017 revenue claim. When the full payment is processed and made, the amount paid through the bridging payment will be held back.

While some 82% of 2017 CS claimants have already received a payment for the important environmental work on their farms, bridging payments are being made to ensure that the remaining 18% of farmers and land managers are not left out of pocket for the work and time they have invested.

Letters and emails are being sent to farmers and land managers awaiting payments this week, with a reminder to make sure bank account and contact details on the Rural Payments Service are up-to-date so that bridging payments can be made successfully.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is administrating the payments on behalf of Natural England. This comes ahead of administration work on agri-environment schemes transferring to the RPA later this year.

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has today (20 June 2018) called on communities across Wales to enter their villages, towns and cities into the Great British High Street competition 2018.

The competition celebrates the great work that is being done to revive, adapt and diversify the nation’s high streets and is an opportunity for councils, businesses, community groups and volunteers to learn from the very best.

The last competition in 2016 saw 900 entries from across the UK and over 500,000 public votes with Blackburn’s high street crowned Britain’s best. Prestatyn’s high street in north Wales was a close runner up in the coastal communities category.

In 2014, Colwyn Bay ran out winners in the coastal category.

This year a new award structure has been developed and winners will be named in each of the four UK nations – Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland – across two categories: Champion High Street and Rising Star High Street.

The Champion High Street category will recognise the nation’s best high streets while the Rising Star High Street category will recognise the nation’s most ambitious high streets, which are taking the lead and working together to revive, adapt and diversify.

An overall High Street of the Year in Great Britain and Northern Ireland will also be named.

So with new categories and new prizes at stake, the Secretary of State for Wales said he expected to see far more competition entries from Wales’s high streets this year.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

The Great British High Street competition is a chance to showcase the strengths of Wales’ high streets, to bust myths about the long-term future of our town centres and to reward the local talent, team-work and energy that goes into making our high streets great places to visit, work or live.

This is why I am proud to be the advocate for the Great British High Street competition in Wales. We want to find the hidden gems the country has to offer. So whether you’re a market town, coastal village or city centre, there are so many high streets across Wales doing fantastic work. Let’s get behind them and put Wales’ high streets firmly in the running to take the plaudits when the winners are announced in the autumn.

This year it is easier than ever to enter your high street into the awards.

If you are a local community team, association or authority that represent your high street then click here to register your interest and receive further information and instructions on how to apply.

If you are a member of the public and you would like your high street to be entered into the Awards then please get in touch with your MP or your local authority directly to encourage the council to register on behalf of your community.

Notes to editors.

• Details of how to enter the competition can be found at: www.thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk or via @TheGBHighSt on Twitter.
• ENTRIES CLOSE AT 23:59 22ND AUGUST 2018
• Shortlisted finalists will be invited to an awards ceremony in London in November celebrating the high streets that are succeeding and influencing change.
• In addition Visa GBHS Street Teams will be visiting randomly selected high streets during the Awards to promote entered high streets and surprise and delight local businesses and consumers with activities and giveaways

To enter your high street you will need to be a representative of a:

• Business Improvement District
• Local Authority
• Parish Council
• Town Team
• Coastal Community Team
• Town Centre Partnership
• Community Interest Company
• Chambers of Commerce
• Trading Association

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove has appointed two new members to the Natural Capital Committee.

Professors Melanie Austen and Chris Collins bring their expertise in marine conservation and soil health and are appointed for the remainder of the Committee’s current term, through to December 2020.

Professor Austen said:

The Natural Capital Committee has been influential in advising government on the importance of natural capital on sustainable economic growth, health and wellbeing.

I feel honoured to have been invited to join the Committee and am particularly looking forward to adding a distinctly marine perspective, and considering how implementation of the 25 year Environment Plan could improve our natural marine environment and the sustainable benefits that we gain from it.

Professor Austen is a marine ecologist and interdisciplinary marine researcher who is a Head of Science for the Sea and Society group at Plymouth Marine Laboratory. She has recently been appointed as an independent member of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC); completed a three year term as the Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO); and for the last twenty years has been developing and leading UK and EU funded collaborative marine research projects, including currently GCRF Blue Communities in South East Asia.

Through her interdisciplinary research she has examined and quantified the societal consequences and policy relevance of changes to the marine environment and its ecosystems. She has been an Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter medical school since 2014, a member of other Expert Advisory Groups, and has chaired an EU Marine Board expert group on ecosystem valuation.

Professor Chris Collins is Chair of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Reading, where his research focuses on determining the factors controlling exposure of biota to environmental pollution to develop the evidence base for regulators.

He is the Natural Environment Research Council Soils Coordinator, overseeing a £10 million research investment to improve our understanding of how soils resist, recover and adapt to land use and climate change. Professor Collins chairs the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee providing expert advice to the UK Government on how to protect the environment, and human health via the environment from chemicals.

Professor Collins said:

Soils have been a bit of a Cinderella topic when compared to air and water, so to restate the commitment to manage soils sustainably by 2030 in the 25 Year Environment Plan was a major step forward. Serving on the Committee will help to ensure we develop the approaches to deliver this aspiration.

Professor Dieter Helm, Chair of the Natural Capital Committee, commented:

Melanie and Chris bring world-leading expertise. They will strengthen the Committee’s ability to support implementation of the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan at a vital time for the protection and enhancement of our natural environment.

Other members of the Committee include Professors Ian Bateman, Diane Coyle, Paul Leinster, Colin Mayer and Kathy Willis. Dame Georgina Mace recently left the Committee to take up a position on the Adaptation Sub Committee of the Committee on Climate Change.

Local anglers at Wedgwood pools had been concerned that a number of Cormorants and Goosanders were eating the fish and leaving very little behind. The birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, so it was up to the Environment Agency to step in and protect the fish.

Last week saw the completion of 2 fish refuge ‘floating islands’ at Wedgwood pools, Barleston, Stoke on Trent. The islands allow fish cover from the birds, through the use of cages beneath the islands, allowing fish to swim in but not the birds.

Environment Agency Fisheries Technical Officer, Mick Buxton said:

This has been a really worthwhile project to be involved in. The Cormorants and Goosanders are having a significant impact on the recruitment of fish, so by introducing these islands, the fish have a greater opportunity to thrive.

There is a secondary benefit from the project too. The plants on the island will also help improve the water quality of the pool, because the plants feed off nutrients in the water and this reduces the risk of algal blooms.
The floating islands project was funded through the Fisheries Improvement Program, were the money is collected from anglers through rod licence sales.

An annual fishing licence costs just £30 and now lasts for 12 months from the day you buy it. Money from fishing licence sales is invested in England’s fisheries and is used to fund a wide range of projects to improve facilities for anglers including protecting stocks from illegal fishing, pollution and disease, restoring fish stocks through re-stocking, eradicating invasive species, and fish habitat improvements. Fishing licence money is also used to fund the Angling Trust to provide information about fishing, to encourage participation in the sport and to manage a voluntary bailiff scheme.

Children under 13 fish for free. Anyone aged 13 to 16 also fish for free, but do need to have a valid Environment Agency fishing licence. Anyone over 16 must pay for an Environment Agency fishing licence to fish for salmon, trout, freshwater fish, smelt or eel in England.

More information on fisheries and fishing licences, including how to buy your rod licence is available online.

The Regulator of Social Housing reports that Knowsley Housing Trust has been placed on its Grading under review list.

The Regulator is currently investigating a matter regarding Knowsley’s compliance with the governance element of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard. The regulator has also published a regulatory notice for Knowsley HT.

The GUR list is available on the website.

Further information

1. The GUR list includes providers being investigated for an issue that may result in non-compliant grades for the Governance and/or Financial Viability Standard.
2. The regulatory framework can also be found on the website.
3. Inclusion does not currently have a regulatory judgement as it previously held less than 1,000 homes. The regulatory judgement to be published at the end of the investigation will be its first regulatory judgement.

The regulation of social housing is the responsibility of the Regulation Committee, a statutory committee of the Homes and Communities Agency. The organisation refers to itself as the Regulator of Social Housing in undertaking the functions of the Regulation Committee. Homes England is the trading name of the HCA’s non-regulation functions.

The regulator’s purpose is to promote a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.

For more information visit the RSH website.

Our About the Regulator of Social Housing page has contact details for media enquiries.

For general queries to RSH, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.

New guidance for landlords to further protect tenants from poor living conditions has been published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government today (20 June 2018).

Following legislation introduced last month, from 1 October 2018 any landlord who lets a property to 5 or more people – from 2 or more separate households – must be licensed by their local housing authority.

The move, affecting around 160,000 houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), will mean councils can take further action to crack down on the small minority of landlords renting out sub-standard and overcrowded homes.

New rules will also come into force setting minimum size requirements for bedrooms in HMOs to prevent overcrowding. Landlords will also be required to adhere to council refuse schemes, to reduce problems with rubbish.

The guidance document includes further details on extending mandatory licensing to smaller HMOs and introducing minimum bedroom sizes as government continues to rebalance the relationship between tenants and landlords.

Housing Minister Heather Wheeler MP said:

Everyone deserves a decent and safe place to live.

Today’s new guidance for landlords will further protect private renters against bad and overcrowded conditions and poor management practice.

Selective licensing

Government is also today announcing a review to look at how selective licensing is used and find out how well it is working.

In areas where selective licensing applies, landlords must apply for a licence if they want to rent out a property. This means the council can check whether they are a “fit or proper person” to be a landlord, as well as making other stipulations concerning management of the property and appropriate safety measures.

The review will see independent commissioners gather evidence from local authorities and bodies representing landlords, tenants and housing professionals.

The review’s findings will be reported in spring 2019. There will be an update on progress in autumn this year.

Further information

Selective licensing allows local housing authorities to make it compulsory for all private rented accommodation in a specified area to have a licence.

The schemes are intended to deliver improved standards and safety in the private rented sector for areas suffering serious problems.