Category: Gov Press Releases

Minister Burt said:

At a highly sensitive time in the region, when we must all look forwards and work urgently towards a resolution of the longstanding issues between Israel and the Palestinian people, the fundamentals of peace cannot be built on views of the Holocaust which fly in the face of history. Palestinian President Abbas’s comments at the Palestinian National Congress were deeply concerning. Any attempt to justify or explain away any element of the Holocaust is unacceptable.

President Abbas has shown a commitment to non-violence and a two-state solution. But his recent rhetoric does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people and is deeply unhelpful to the cause of peace.

Further information

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A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The Prime Minister met the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, in Downing Street yesterday for bilateral talks.

The PM and the Secretary General agreed that they were meeting at a time of considerable challenge to the international rules based system. They discussed the recent use of chemical weapons in Syria, and the need to establish an independent investigation and attribution mechanism to deter future use. They also agreed it was important to defend the rules based system, including challenges to the wider non-proliferation system.

The Secretary General thanked the Prime Minister for the UK’s valuable support for the UN’s humanitarian efforts, including those in Somalia, Yemen, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Prime Minister said that the UK was committed to continuing our leading role on international development and humanitarian assistance, and supporting the efforts of the UN.

The pair noted the positive outcome of last month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at which leaders committed to ensuring 12 years of quality education and learning for all across the Commonwealth, and the Secretary General welcomed the UK’s leadership on global education.

The Secretary General also noted the UK’s work to counter modern slavery and the UN’s commitment to action on this. The Prime Minister welcomed the Secretary General’s efforts, and said that she would continue to call on countries to commit to the Call to Action on modern slavery, which she launched at the UN in September last year.

The Heritage Council seeks to strengthen the link between the UK’s heritage and the wider regeneration and placemaking agenda as well as helping government to best support the heritage sector.

Heritage Minister Michael Ellis said:

Heritage is an important part of our communities. It helps us to make sense of our past and shape the places we live, work and visit. The sector provides employment for hundreds and thousands of people and is an economic driver in our economy.

Our history and heritage are part of what make our country an attractive place to live and visit and I am committed to ensuring that we continue to be a world-leader in the protection and preservation of our historic sites so that we remain a go to destination.

The Council will create closer links between the government and the sector and will enable dialogue to drive progress in key policy areas affecting heritage. It will support the government in the implementation of policy and raise issues affecting the sector. In addition the Council and government will work together on issues such as planning, environmental protection, social and economic development and education.

Core membership of the Heritage Council is made up of: DCMS; DEFRA; MHCLG and HMT along with Historic England; The Heritage Lottery Fund; The Heritage Alliance; Natural England; The National Trust and Historic Houses.

The aim of the Council will enable collaboration and the exchange of ideas so that government and the sector can work together to protect and preserve Britain’s heritage for future generations.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Core members of the Council:

• DCMS – Michael Ellis, Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism
• DEFRA – Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Minister for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity
• MHCLG – Heather Wheeler MP, Minister for Housing and Homelessness
• HMT – John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury
• Historic England – Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive
• The Heritage Lottery Fund – Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive
• The Heritage Alliance – Lizzie Glithero-West, Chief Executive
• Natural England – James Cross, Chief Executive
• The National Trust – Hilary McGrady, Director General
• Historic Houses – Dr Ben Cowell, Director General

New analysis also shows that around 170,000 children are now living with a working adult as a result.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey today welcomed the new analysis as evidence that the cap is helping to transform lives by giving children “working role models in their families”.

The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit that working age people can get – introduced in 2013 to restore fairness to the welfare system. It incentivises work, including part-time work, as anyone eligible who moves into work and then earns enough for Working Tax Credit (or the equivalent under Universal Credit) becomes exempt.

Since the introduction of the cap in April 2013, 180,000 households have had their benefits capped. With 48,000 households having moved into work.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey said:

Every child deserves the best start in life, and we know that children living in a household with someone in work do better in school, have better educational attainment and are more likely to have a job later in life than children growing up in a home where no one works.

This new analysis into the number of children in workless families reducing under the benefit cap, shows how our welfare reforms are transforming lives by giving children real-life working role models in their families.

In the past there could have been families living in cycles of worklessness without the proper support or incentives to move into work with the security and peace of mind that comes from a regular wage. We now have record employment in the UK with more than 1,000 people moving into jobs each and every day since 2010.

The unemployment rate (4.2%) has not been lower since 1975, and the number of people out of work is down by 136,000 compared to a year ago. On average, 1,000 people have moved into jobs every day since 2010.

Work remains the best route out of poverty – around 75% of children in poverty leave poverty altogether when their parents move into full employment. Evaluation from the original cap shows lone parents were 51% more likely to go into work after a year than similar uncapped households.

In Universal Credit, claimants are exempt from the benefit cap if they earn at least £542 a month, equivalent to 16 hours at the National Living Wage. Working parents can also claim up to 85% of their eligible childcare costs, regardless of hours worked and how old the youngest child is.

Facts and figures

The benefit cap is set at £20,000 a year outside London and £23,000 in Greater London to reflect higher rent costs.

Anyone working and receiving Working Tax Credit is exempt from the cap, as are households where someone receives:

• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• the support component of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

Those claiming Carer’s Allowance or Guardian’s Allowance are exempt from the cap.

The figures cited above refer to households who had their Housing Benefit capped.

The estimate of the number of children in households that were capped but are now in work is calculated by multiplying the number of children in these households by the number of households.

Households with more than 5 children are grouped together, so for this calculation we have assumed that there are 6 children in these households.

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Minister Burt said:

I am extremely concerned to hear about the attack on the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) in Tripoli today. I condemn the attack in the strongest terms and send my deepest condolences to the families of those who were killed.

The HNEC plays an invaluable role in supporting Libya’s progress on the democratic path. The UK continues to stand by Libya, and our commitment to supporting all Libyans remains steadfast.

Further information

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Unexpected letting fees and high deposits can cause a significant affordability problem for tenants and are often not clearly explained – leaving many residents unaware of the true costs of renting a property.

Introduced into Parliament today (2 May 2018), the Tenant Fees Bill will bring an end to costly letting fees and save tenants around £240 million a year, according to government figures.

The Bill will also give tenants greater assurances that the deposit they pay at the start of the tenancy cannot exceed 6 weeks’ rent.

Housing Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

This government is determined to build a housing market fit for the future. Tenants across the country should not be stung by unexpected costs.

That’s why we’re delivering our promise to ban letting fees, alongside other measures to make renting fairer and more transparent.

The Tenant Fees Bill will stop letting agents from exploiting their position as intermediaries between landlords and tenants, and prevent unfair practices such as double charging for the same services.

It will also help to increase competition between agents and landlords, which could help drive lower costs overall and a higher quality of service for tenants.

Other key measures in the Bill, which reflects feedback from a recent public consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, include:

• capping holding deposits at no more than one week’s rent. The Bill also sets out the proposed requirements on landlords and agents to return a holding deposit to a tenant
• capping the amount that can be charged for a change to tenancy at £50 unless the landlord demonstrates that greater costs were incurred
• creating a financial penalty with a fine of £5,000 for an initial breach of the ban with a criminal offence where a person has been fined or convicted of the same offence within the last 5 years. Financial penalties of up to £30,000 can be issued as an alternative to prosecution
• requiring Trading Standards to enforce the ban and to make provision for tenants to be able to recover unlawfully charged fees via the First-tier Tribunal
• prevents landlords from recovering possession of their property via the section 21 Housing Act 1988 procedure until they have repaid any unlawfully charged fees
• enabling the appointment of a lead enforcement authority in the lettings sector
• amending the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to specify that the letting agent transparency requirements should apply to property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla
• local authorities will be able to retain the money raised through financial penalties with this money reserved for future local housing enforcement

Alongside rent and deposits, agents and landlords will only be permitted to charge tenants fees associated with:

• a change or early termination of a tenancy when requested by the tenant
• utilities, communication services and Council Tax
• payments arising from a default by the tenant such as replacing lost key

The new measures are subject to Parliamentary timetables and will be introduced in law next year.

The Tenant Fees Bill builds on government’s work this year to protect tenants and landlords through the introduction of new rogue landlord database, banning orders for rogue landlords and property agents as well as a new code of practice to regulate the letting and managing agents sector.

Further information

All proposals relate to England only. The ban on letting fees will apply to assured shorthold tenancies and licences to occupy in the private rented sector.

A ban on letting fees was announced at Autumn Statement 2016, it was also a commitment in the 2017 Conservative Manifesto.

The Tenant Fees Bill reflects feedback from the recent public consultation, which ran from April to June 2017 and received over 4,700 responses. 58% of respondents (93% of tenants) agreed with government’s proposed approach to ban letting fees to tenants with the exception of a holding deposit, refundable tenancy deposit and tenant default fees.

A draft Tenant Fees Bill was published by government on 1 November 2017 and underwent pre-legislative scrutiny by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee who published their report on 29 March 2018.

The Committee agreed that the Bill has the potential to save tenants in the private rented sector hundreds of pounds as well as making the market more transparent. Government has carefully considered the Select Committee’s report and accepted the majority of their recommendations. Read the government response to the Select Committee report.

The decision follows analysis by Public Health England (PHE) dating back to 2009, which found that a number of invitations for a final test had not been sent out to women, between their 68th and 71st birthday. The total number of older women affected since 2009 is estimated to be approximately 450,000.

The routine NHS breast screening programme invites more than 2.5 million women every year for a test, with women between the ages of 50 to 70 receiving a screen every 3 years up to their 71st birthday. Around 2 million women take up the offer.

The problem was identified in January 2018 whilst reviewing the progress of the age extension trial (AgeX). It then became apparent that a similar impact has resulted from long term problems with the routine programme as well. In addition, some local services have not invited everyone for a final screen in the 3 years before their 71st birthday.

PHE has carried out a thorough investigation including a detailed analysis of data going back to 2009 and has been advised by experts and clinicians. The fault has now been identified and fixed and women who did not receive their final routine invitation and are registered with a GP are being contacted and offered the opportunity to have a catch up screen. All of these women will be contacted by the end of May 2018. Women can seek advice by calling the helpline on 0800 169 2692. We anticipate that all rescreens will be completed by the end of October 2018 and extra capacity is being identified so that routine screening will not be affected.

Dr Jenny Harries, PHE Deputy Medical Director said:

On behalf of NHS breast screening services, we apologise to the women affected and we are writing to them to offer a catch-up screening appointment. They and their families’ wellbeing is our top priority and we are very sorry for these faults in the system.

A complex IT problem with the breast screening invitation system has led to some women not being invited for their final screen between their 68th and 71st birthdays. We have carried out urgent work to identify the problem and have fixed it. Additional failsafe systems have been introduced to ensure the problem does not reoccur.

The NHS breast screening programme is a world leading prevention service for women in England detecting around 18,400 cancers per year and saving 1,300 lives.

Local breast screening services are currently working closely with NHS England and PHE to ensure that all of the women affected are contacted and offered the opportunity for a screen.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned an independent review of the NHS breast screening programme to look at issues, including its processes, IT systems and further changes and improvements that can be made to the system to minimise the risk of any repetition of this incident.

The review will be chaired by Lynda Thomas, Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support and Professor Martin Gore, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Professor of Cancer Medicine at The Royal Marsden, and is expected to report in 6 months.

Background

1. It is estimated that 450,000 women since 2009 were not invited for a screen and 309,000 women were not invited for a screen and are alive.
2. The long term clinical research trial called AgeX, led by Oxford University, is ongoing to assess reliably the risks and benefits of offering an extra screen to women aged 71 to 73 and between 47 to 49 years.
3. All women that were not sent an invitation for their final screen will be given the opportunity for a new screening appointment. All women under 72 years old who are affected will receive an appointment letter informing them of their time and date. Women aged 72 years old and above will be able to contact a dedicated helpline to discuss whether a screen could benefit them.
4. There are 79 local NHS breast screening services across the country. Women are routinely screened every three years, with the number of women invited per screening service ranging from 25,738 to 254,645.
5. An independent panel concluded in 2012 that, while routine breast screening at ages 50 to 70 confers significant benefit to UK women, the advantages and disadvantages of starting breast screening at younger or older ages were uncertain. A clinical trial, AgeX led by Oxford University, is ongoing to assess reliably the risks and benefits of offering an extra screen to women aged 71 to 73 and between 47 to 49 years.
6. The total number of women screened in 2016 to 2017 was 2.2 million (2,199,342). The number of women invited was 2.9 million (2,959,979).
7. In developing its response to this issue, PHE consulted an expert clinical group including radiologists, consultant breast surgeons, oncologists and epidemiologists.