Category: Gov Press Releases

Providing every girl with at least 12 years of quality education will solve many of the world’s problems, Boris Johnson told pupils during a surprise school visit today (Thursday 8 March). The Foreign Secretary made the remarks during an impromptu trip to St Leonard’s Church of England Primary Academy in Hastings to mark International Women’s Day.

Mr Johnson spoke to more than one hundred pupils about his international campaign to persuade every government to deliver a minimum of 12 years of quality schooling for every girl by 2030. He said he hopes that the pupils would use their voices to become powerful activists for less fortunate children in other parts of the world – and in turn solve many of the biggest problems we face today.

Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson said:

Globally 130 million girls are not in school and in conflict zones, girls are two and a half times more likely to be out of school than boys. Archaic groups like Boko Haram act with impunity kidnapping girls just because they want to learn.

When we empower girls to read and write and have the skills not only to survive but thrive, countries are healthier, more prosperous and crucially more stable.

Young people make up 60 per cent of the Commonwealth, that’s why during the Commonwealth Summit I will call on leaders to prioritise girls’ education to ensure that no girl is left behind, because educating girls is the single most powerful spur to development.

Appallingly 90 per cent of world’s poorest children leave school unable to read and write. That is why the Foreign Secretary will push for a firm commitment from each of the 53 Foreign Ministers attending the Commonwealth Summit to make girls’ education a priority. He will argue that illiteracy and poor schooling are the root causes of poverty, instability and extremism.

Mr Johnson also took part in a Connecting Classrooms session about the links between St Leonard’s and its sister school in Sierra Leone. UK support means that over 8,000 marginalised girls, and 2000 children with disabilities in Sierra Leone now attend secondary school.

Connecting Classrooms is a UK aid backed programme that connects 31,000 schools in more than 50 countries to help children experience other cultures, learn from one another and become good global citizens.

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Tackling food waste with natural composters beneath Glasgow city centre, using grains from breweries to boost milk production and improving packaging for pickled eggs are among the latest ideas to be awarded grant funding at industry event celebrating innovation.

The Food Innovation Network (FIN), which is sponsored by Defra and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, connects food producers across the country with world-class facilities such as test-kitchens and laboratories to help them create new products and production methods.

Yesterday (Wednesday 7 March) food entrepreneurs from across the country showcased their ground breaking solutions to day-to-day problems at a special Food Innovation Network (FIN) Awards event, which was run by Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network to encourage companies to examine ways in which they can revolutionise the food and drink sector.

Micro, small and medium sized businesses pitched their projects to a panel of industry experts and ten companies secured £5,000 grants to turn their pioneering ideas into reality. The winning entries all demonstrated unique ways in which they could increase productivity, enhance the environment, improve sustainability or aid our health and wellbeing.

Congratulating the winners, Food and Farming Minister George Eustice said:

Innovation is key to ensuring Britain’s successful food and drink industry continues to grow, which is why it was great to see such an exciting display of ingenuity from smaller businesses – who often do not have the same research resources available to them as larger companies.

The FIN Awards voucher fund is designed to support small businesses with bright ideas to develop their concepts in partnership with these research organisations. The ten winners of the Food Innovation Network grant are:

• Scratch Meals Ltd -Healthy Pies, Grimsby: The winning proposal from Scratch Meals Ltd will transform one of the nation’s favourite meals: pies. Hoping to access new markets, the innovations will help the company redesign pies to improve their nutritional content, sustainability and reduce packaging.
• Crafty Tech Ltd, Active Transfers, Aylesbury: Crafty Tech Ltd wish to transform the effectiveness of conveyor belts to enhance the production line. They will be testing the automation with the view to patent their concept and access the global market.
• Central Stems, Urban Greens by Sustainable Means, Glasgow: Hidden underground in the heart of the city under Central Station, Central Stems will use their award to trial food production that combines hydroponics and natural composting to address the issue of food waste and agricultural emissions.
• LA Brewery, Non-Alcoholic Kombucha Brewery, Kettering: Kombucha – a fermented tea – is experiencing a surge in popularity due to its potential health benefits. This business will be developing a technique to improve the shelf-life of kombucha. Working with Huddersfield University, the LA Brewery will experiment with bacteria and yeast resulting in a product with longer shelf-life which retains healthy bacteria and remains non-alcoholic.
• PyroGenesys Ltd, Converting Energy From Waste By-Products to Animal Feed Ingredients, Birmingham: Bread waste and used grains from breweries are being incorporated into cattle feed to identify whether this can boost milk production, whilst decreasing methane emissions from cows. If the trial is successful bakers and brewers would be able to transform their waste into animal feed.
• Purely Pickled Eggs Ltd, Bringing Pickled Egg to the People, Gloucestershire: This business is identifying novel ways of packaging pickled eggs to make sure they are in plentiful supply to go with our fish and chips. They will be exploring new methods of applying current application and preservation methods for in new ways.
• Drink Baotic Ltd, Validating New Health Markets, Glasgow: Working with the Glasgow Caledonian University, Drink Baotic Ltd are proposing a pilot to identify how their drink, impacts on health. It is hoped the product will relieve the symptoms of gut issues and constipation.
• Afrique FoodPro, Powdered Mix for Bean Fritters, London: This company has produced a bean mix to create bean fritters, saving time compared to the conventional preparation method which includes soaking black eye beans. In partnership with Greenwich University, they aim to develop their mix into a commercial product and design a manufacturing process. It is estimated the value of this market will be worth £200,000 within the first year.
• Booch & Brine, Scale up Kombucha!, Manchester: The Scale Up Kombucha! Project aims to research best practice, from Canada, with partner Manchester Metropolitan University and turn this into practical resources, processes and guidance that will enable Booch & Brine to scale up production, grow their business and potentially benefit other UK SMEs via knowledge transfer to academia.
• The Cheshire Saffron Company, Multiple Saffron Harvests via Hydroponics Cheshire: Saffron has massive health benefits including treating depression and this project will explore improving the efficiency in how saffron is grown in the UK. In collaboration with Farm Urban, hydroponics will be used in a creative and innovative way to grow saffron, increasing the yields and changing the way saffron is grown.

Most tied pub tenants are aware of the Pubs Code that gives them new rights but have less knowledge about the detail of those rights – the first tied pub tenant survey has revealed.

The Pubs Code Adjudicator Paul Newby today published the findings of an independent survey commissioned to provide more information about the views and experiences of tied pub tenants.

Carried out by experienced research company, GfK, the 2017 survey shows that 72% knew about the Pubs Code but they had lower understanding of its key elements, ranging from 63% of tied pub tenants knowing about the right to a five-yearly rent review to 36% knowing about the right to request a Market Rent Only (or MRO) agreement.

Just over half (53%) of those surveyed were aware of the PCA – with a higher proportion aware of the PCA if they had submitted or considered a MRO option. Those who experienced an event that opened up the right to request a MRO but did not do so cited costs, a belief that few tenants had been successful, that the process was shut down by their pub-owning business, or a concern about making trouble or missing deadlines.

Asked about the pros and cons of being a tied pub tenant, participants said the best aspects were the ability to make choices about how their pub was run, and the backup and support from a big company. More challenging aspects included the costs of tied products and services, unexpected costs associated with starting up, the cost of dilapidations as well as the lack of room for negotiation and lack of clarity over rent calculations.

Another key finding was that more than half the tenants who had experienced a MRO event believed they did not have a genuine choice between a tied and free of tie option. Reasons for this included a lack of transparency around the rent calculation, unaffordability of the MRO proposal or a lack of encouragement from their company’s Business Development Manager.

Many tenants were critical of the general support they received from Business Development Managers although they recognised that the role of these company representatives is vital to successful tenant/landlord relationships and their ability to access their Pubs Code rights.

Paul Newby said: “This survey has provided a very detailed insight into the views and experiences of tied pub tenants. There has been a great deal of talk across the industry about what tenants think and want – but this is the first time that the tenants themselves have been asked for their views.

“The evidence collected will help me target my activity, take up issues of concern with the pub-owning businesses and allow me to track progress over time.

“It reveals a number of priority areas – specifically that more needs to be done across the industry to provide more user-friendly information and greater clarity on MRO issues, and to make progress in changing the culture around the behaviour and operation of Business Development Managers. I was concerned to see the evidence on how often Business Development Managers are changed and the low frequency of contact.

“The Deputy PCA, Fiona Dickie, and I have provided clarity on the terms of Market Rent Only tenancies following recent arbitration awards; advice on this issue was published last week. We are now working on a more detailed response to this survey which we plan to publish shortly. However, the survey provides much food for thought for the pub-owning businesses and I am calling on them to consider their responses to the challenges highlighted.”

Notes to Editors:

1.GfK is an independent research agency that works with government departments and agencies, regulatory bodies, the NHS, local authorities and charities to deliver qualitative and quantitative research to support and inform policy development and evaluation.

2.The tied pub tenant survey was conducted between November 2017 and January 2018. A representative sample of 388 tenants was originally interviewed by telephone and 27 took part in a follow-up depth interview.

3.The full survey results can be found here and the key results here

A South Devon waste processing company has been ordered to pay £16,404 in fines and costs for failing to remove thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste from two sites in Torbay.

The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

Armabridge Ltd, trading as Skip-It Torbay, operates from a waste transfer station at Barton Hill Way, Torquay. In June 2015 an Environment Agency officer discovered asbestos contamination in a pile of approximately 3,200 tonnes of residual waste at the site. In March 2016, following a lack of progress in dealing with the waste, the Environment Agency served an enforcement notice on the company to formalise the removal of the asbestos-affected material.

The company appealed against the enforcement notice, but the appeal was later dismissed by a planning inspector, who in January 2017 upheld the enforcement notice and gave the company 3 months to comply with its requirements.

In May 2017 an environment officer returned to the site and saw the pile of waste was still present. No significant progress had been made to remove it and as a result the company had breached its enforcement notice.

In January 2016, Armabridge Ltd was prosecuted for illegally depositing approximately 2,000 tonnes of asbestos contaminated waste at a second site, Kerswell Gardens, Torquay. In February 2017, following a lack of progress in clearing the waste, the Environment Agency served an enforcement notice requiring that the waste be removed.

In July 2017 an Environment Agency officer returned to the Kerswell Gardens site and found the hazardous waste was still present and that the enforcement notice had been breached.

Jacob Hess, for the Environment Agency, said:

This case emphasises the importance of robust waste acceptance procedures. Failure to segregate wastes appropriately can lead to complex and costly remediation at a later date.

We have recently run a campaign with local roofing businesses and waste operators to raise awareness of asbestos containing materials and how to correctly dispose of them.

Armabridge Ltd was fined a total of £13,334 and ordered to pay £3,070 costs by Plymouth magistrates after pleading guilty to 2 offences of failing to comply with enforcement notices relating to Barton Hill Way and Kerswell Gardens, Torquay contrary to Regulation 38(3) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. The company has been given until 30 September 2018 to safely dispose of waste from both sites.

A man who murdered his ex-partner will spend more time in prison after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP referred his original sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient.

Theodore Johnson, 64, was originally sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 26 years in January at the Central Criminal Court. The minimum term was increased today after the Solicitor’s action, meaning Johnson will now serve at least 30 years behind bars.

Johnson, who had previously been convicted of the manslaughter of 2 former partners, attacked and killed his 51 year old ex-partner after she ended her relationship with him.

The Solicitor General presented the case personally to the Court of Appeal. Speaking after the hearing he said:

“This was a vicious and brutal attack which ended in the tragic death of a woman. The offender is a danger to women and his crimes deserved tougher sentencing. I am pleased the Court has now seen fit to increase the prison term.”

This was agreed during today’s constructive Joint Ministerial Council (Gibraltar, European Negotiations) by Minister at the Department for Exiting the EU, Robin Walker and the Chief Minister for Gibraltar Fabian Picardo.

The package sets out how we will continue to collaborate closely in a range of important areas, such as on the environment, online gaming, financial services market access, transport and the level of university tuition fees during our Brexit negotiations and beyond.

The measures include a commitment to continued market access for financial services, assurance that British Citizens resident in Gibraltar will continue to be eligible for higher education home fee status at English Institutions, enhanced liaison on environmental issues, and that Gibraltar can continue to refer an unlimited number of their patients to the UK for free elective treatment. The full details of the deal are available in the UK Government statement here [link].

Following the meeting, Minister Robin Walker said:

I’m delighted that the sixth meeting with Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and his team saw us agree this set of measures to ensure UK-Gibraltar ties will endure and strengthen.

Today we have agreed a positive package deal on issues surrounding our exit from the EU, once again demonstrating that we stand shoulder to shoulder with Gibraltarians in our unwavering commitment to the UK-Gibraltar relationship.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen said:

We know the people and businesses of Gibraltar have been asking for certainty, and we have heard them. We are ensuring that Gibraltar’s access to UK markets will continue unchanged until 2020, even in the unlikely event of no deal being reached. This will give us the time we need to work with the Government of Gibraltar to design a new, modernised agreement, based on similar, high standards of regulation and enforcement.

Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo said:

Today our bilateral relationship grows stronger and the terms for it to endure are further cemented as we realise the commitment to maintain and enhance market access for Gibraltar service providers into the UK post-Brexit.

There is a lot to celebrate in this and a lot of hard work to recognise on the part also of the team in Gibraltar, in particular the Deputy Chief Minister and the Attorney General, and in the UK FCO, DExEU, Treasury, DCMS, Cabinet Office and Downing Street. I extend the gratitude of Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar and the people of Gibraltar to all involved.

The scheme to improve the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down includes plans for a 1.9-mile long tunnel past Stonehenge, a free-flowing dual carriageway and a much-needed bypass north of Winterbourne Stoke.

Consultation on the plans launched on 8 February but severe weather which swept across the region at the end of last week affected two public information events, at Mere and Salisbury.

They are due to rescheduled for later this month.

The news comes at the conclusion of a three-day fact-finding mission to Stonehenge of a delegation from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).

The aim of the mission was to explain how the designs of the proposed 1.9-mile long road tunnel will bring together the World Heritage Site landscape currently split by the A303.

Derek Parody, Project Director for Highways England, said:

We are grateful to the representatives from ICOMOS who have taken the time to be with us on a 3 day visit to understand the scheme we are proposing. It is been an excellent opportunity for us to explain how we have responded to their previous recommendations and how the scheme is developing.

We look forward to the panel’s report in due course, which will help us further refine the scheme, as well as to all the feedback from all interested parties during the current public consultation.

The consultation events continue today at the Society of Antiquaries at London’s Burlington House (12 noon-8pm).

Since the last ICOMOS visit early last year and the announcement of the tunnel route plan in September, Highways England has continued to work with heritage groups including the National Trust, Historic England, English Heritage, and experts in the field, including the Stonehenge Scientific Committee – a body of leading independent archaeologists – to ensure a new route is built sensitively to the World Heritage Site.

The route was carefully chosen to avoid monuments and barrow groups, and Highways England’s modified plans also included moving the position of one of the entrances to the tunnel to avoid conflicting with the Winter Solstice alignment.

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