Category: Gov Press Releases

Greg Henshaw, 35, has been fined £2,416 after being caught by an Environment Agency bailiff for multiple fishing offences, including obstructing a fishery bailiff and using an illegal bait at Ripple on the River Severn in Tewkesbury.

Henshaw was found guilty by Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court on Friday 12 January for 5 offences; using an unlicensed rod and line, failing to state his name and address when asked by a Water Bailiff, fishing for fresh water in the closed season, wilfully obstructing an officer on duty and illegally using hook and bait during the prohibited close season.

Henshaw, of Wychwood Crescent in Birmingham did not appear in court. In his absence magistrates found him guilty of all charges. For each charge he was given a fine of £440, totalling £2,200, and Henshaw was also ordered to pay £172.61 and a victim surcharge of £44.

Andrew Eardley of the Environment Agency said:

This penalty for 1 angler is amongst the highest I’ve ever seen, and it’s good to see that the courts take instances of obstruction against enforcement officers seriously and that offenders are prosecuted.

An annual fishing licence costs just £30, yet a small number of anglers continue to flout the law and risk prosecution for fishing without a licence. Fishing licence money is invested into England’s fisheries and rivers; improving the sport of angling. So it’s fellow anglers that being cheated by those who choose to fish without a licence.

Environment Agency officers are checking licences regularly throughout the year. A 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 12 fish for free. Anyone aged 12 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.

Anyone witnessing illegal fishing incidents in progress can report it directly to the Environment Agency hotline, 0800 80 70 60. Information on illegal fishing and environmental crime can also be reported anonymously to Crime stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Routes to Diagnosis now includes 10 years’ worth of data, covering more than 3 million cancer cases, making it the most comprehensive diagnosis of its kind in the world.

The data shows a dramatic improvement in the way some cancers are being diagnosed across England, but also pinpoints areas where improvements could still be made.

Key findings from the latest Routes to Diagnosis data include:

• diagnoses from emergency presentations, where outcomes are the worst, have improved falling from 24% to 20% between 2006 to 2016
• diagnoses through urgent GP referrals – 2 week waits – have increased significantly from 25% in 2005 to 37% in 2015, meaning that around 110,000 cases are now diagnosed this way
• diagnoses of pancreatic cancer through emergency presentation – with the very worst outcomes – has fallen by 6%, a significant drop
• diagnoses of colorectal cancers through the national bowel screening programme – the route with the best survival rate – remain under 10%
• the number of cancer cases diagnosed in Accident and Emergency varies across the country , ranging from 8% of all cases in the Peninsular Cancer Alliance to 20% of all cases in the London Cancer Alliance – this is despite similar cancer incidence levels

This latest update includes a new interactive tool which, for the first time, shows trends in cancer diagnosis for 53 different types of cancer. By using the tool doctors and managers will be able to quickly and easily see the differences between cancers and understand where survival rates are improving.

Dr Jem Rashbass, Cancer Lead at Public Health England said:

Diagnosing cancer earlier is one of the most important ways to improve cancer survival and we know that those patients who have their cancer diagnosed as an emergency have poorer outcomes. In England we have pioneered the analysis of routes to diagnosis data which allows us to highlight where we are making an impact and where challenges still remain.

Health Minister Steve Brine said:

With cancer survival rates at a record high it’s imperative that we continue to see a greater awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer.

These figures demonstrate that our healthcare professionals are making a real difference by giving patients quicker referrals so they can access the best treatment available.

Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said:

The earlier cancer is detected, the greater the chance that treatment will be successful. This Routes to Diagnosis data is an invaluable tool to see how we can diagnose cancer earlier.

We’re pleased to see that the proportion of people who are diagnosed as an emergency has fallen, but with 40,000 cancers still diagnosed in A&E each year in England we know that more improvement is needed.

The main reason the number of cancer diagnoses are increasing is because people are living longer and risk is of developing cancer increases with age. Lifestyle factors, such as the increase in obesity over the last few decades have also contributed to the rise in cases.

Case study

Earlier diagnosis leads to more successful treatment, so this data also highlights the importance of our cancer screening programmes in detecting cancer early.

Julia was diagnosed with stage 2a cervical cancer after her GP quickly referred her as a 2 week wait following post-coital bleeding; however she knows that it would have been detected earlier if she had attended her routine cervical screening appointments.

Julia Tugwell, cervical cancer survivor said:

I believe that if a GP or other healthcare professional had questioned me directly about my lack of screening attendance, over many years, I would have been more likely to have attended.

The new data shows that 3-year survival for cervical cancer following a screening diagnosis is 95%, compared to 65% when picked up through the 2 week wait – when symptoms might indicate a later stage cancer.

Background

1. National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) is part of Public Health England and works to drive improvements in standards of cancer care and clinical outcomes by improving and using the information collected about cancer patients for analysis, publication and research.
2. Routes to Diagnosis groups patients into 1 of 8 routes:

• screen detected
• emergency presentation
• 2 week wait
• GP referral
• other outpatient
• inpatient elective
• death certificate only
• unknown

Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. It does this through world-class science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and the delivery of specialist public health services. PHE is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health. Twitter: @PHE_uk, Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland.

Ms Tina Redshaw has been appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia in succession to Mr Bill Longhurst, who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Ms Redshaw will take up her appointment in June 2018.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full name: Tina Susan Redshaw

2016 – present Full time language training

2013 – 2016 Chongqing, Her Majesty’s Consul General

2011 – 2013 FCO, Deputy Head of Climate Change & Energy Department

2011 FCO, Head of Multilateral team, Asia Pacific Directorate

2007 – 2010 Beijing, Head of Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, UK Trade & Investment

2006 – 2007 FCO, Researcher for FCO Board

2003 – 2006 Timor Leste, Her Majesty’s Ambassador

2000 – 2003 Beijing, First Secretary

1999 – 2000 FCO, China, Hong Kong Department

1999 Joined FCO

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Every year, following the 31 January Self Assessment (SA) deadline, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) receives a number of imaginative and intriguing excuses for not completing tax returns on time. Each year also sees some wildly optimistic expense claims. Recent excuses include:

1. I couldn’t file my return on time as my wife has been seeing aliens and won’t let me enter the house.
2. I’ve been far too busy touring the country with my one-man play.
3. My ex-wife left my tax return upstairs, but I suffer from vertigo and can’t go upstairs to retrieve it.
4. My business doesn’t really do anything.
5. I spilt coffee on it.

As well as the excuses, HMRC also receives some questionable items which taxpayers have tried to expense:

1. A three-piece suite for my partner to sit on when I’m doing my accounts.
2. Birthday drinks at a Glasgow nightclub.
3. Vet fees for a rabbit.
4. Hotel room service – for candles and prosecco.
5. £4.50 for sausage and chips meal expenses for 250 days.

The excuses and expenses listed above were all rejected.

Self Assessment – Weakest Excuses and Worst Expenses

Angela MacDonald, HMRC Director General of Customer Services, said:

Each year we’re making it easier and more intuitive for our customers to complete their tax return, but each year we still come across some questionable excuses, whether that’s blaming a busy touring schedule or seeing aliens. However, help will always be provided for those who have a genuine excuse for not submitting their return on time.

We also receive absurd expense claims from vet fees for a rabbit to room service at a hotel. It is unfair to make honest taxpayers pick up the bill for other people’s spurious claims, so HMRC will only accept sincere claims such as legitimate expenses for a job.

If you think you might miss the 31 January deadline, get in touch with us now – the earlier we’re contacted, the more help we can offer.

The deadline for sending 2016-17 Self Assessment tax returns to HMRC, and paying any tax owed, is 31 January 2018. Self Assessment customers can now also submit their return via their Personal Tax Account. It takes five minutes to sign up for an account here.

Notes for Editors

1. If you are submitting your 2016-17 Self Assessment return online for the first time, you will need to register for SA Online. Registering for online filing is simple – you can do it here
2. HMRC has previously announced that we will treat those with genuine excuses leniently, as we focus our penalties on those who persistently fail to complete their tax returns and deliberate tax evaders. This remains the case, although the excuse must be genuine and we might ask for evidence. Those listed above were all declined on the basis that they were either untrue or not good enough reasons.
3. Customers who provide HMRC with a reasonable excuse before the 31 January deadline can avoid a penalty after this date.
4. Help is available from the GOV.UK website or from the Self Assessment helpline on 0300 200 3310.
5. The deadline for Self Assessment returns is 31 January.
6. The penalties for late tax returns are:
   • An initial £100 fixed penalty, which applies even if there is no tax to pay.
   • After three months, additional daily penalties of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900
   • After six months, a further penalty of 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater
   • After 12 months, another 5% or £300 charge, whichever is greater.
7. There are also additional penalties for paying late of 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, six months and 12 months.
8. An audio clip of Angela McDonald’s statement is also available upon request.
9. Follow HMRC’s press office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice.
10. HMRC’s Flickr channel can be found here.

Press contact

Patrick O’Brien
Tel: 03000 585 024
Email: patrick.o’brien@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Today (Wednesday 17 January) the Prime Minister will set out how government is tackling loneliness and combating social isolation.

She will announce that the government is accepting a series of recommendations from the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness.

The Prime Minister will host a reception at Downing Street to celebrate Jo Cox’s legacy, and the important work of her family, Foundation and the Commission in highlighting how many people are experiencing loneliness.

Research shows:

• more than 9 million people always or often feel lonely
• around 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month
• up to 85% of young disabled adults – 18-34 year olds – feel lonely

Ahead of the reception, the Prime Minister paid tribute to Jo Cox, her family and to those working for the Foundation and Commission for highlighting the issue.

The Prime Minister said:

For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life.

I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones – people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.

Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affected.

So I am pleased that government can build on her legacy with a ministerial lead for loneliness who will work with the Commission, businesses and charities to shine a light on the issue and pull together all strands of government to create the first ever strategy.

We should all do everything we can to see that, in Jo’s memory, we bring an end to the acceptance of loneliness for good.

The Prime Minister has today implemented the first of the Jo Cox Commission’s recommendations – appointing a ministerial lead on loneliness. The Minister for Sport and Civil Society Tracey Crouch will lead a cross-government group which will take responsibility for driving action on loneliness across all parts of government and keeping it firmly on the agenda.

In addition, work has also begun on:

• developing a cross-government strategy on loneliness in England to be published later this year. This will bring together government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness, and build more integrated and resilient communities
• developing the evidence-base around the impact of different initiatives in tackling loneliness, across all ages and within all communities, led by the government’s What Works centres
• establishing appropriate indicators of loneliness across all ages with the Office for National Statistics so these figures can be included in major research studies
• a dedicated fund which will see government working with charitable trusts, foundations, and others to:
  • stimulate innovative solutions to loneliness across all ages, backgrounds and communities
  • provide seed funding for communities to come together to develop activities which enable people to connect
  • scale-up and spread existing work offering practical and emotional support to help lonely individuals reconnect with their communities

A number of government initiatives are already in place to help reduce loneliness, including improved mental health support, and the pocket parks programme which has transformed unused spaces into new green areas, giving lonely people the chance to join volunteering groups and interact with neighbours.

New ministerial lead for loneliness, Minister for Sport and Civil Society Tracey Crouch said:

I am privileged to be taking forward the remarkable work done by Jo Cox, the Foundation and the Commission. I am sure that with the support of volunteers, campaigners, businesses and my fellow MPs from all sides of the House, we can make significant progress in defeating loneliness.

This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness.

Loneliness can be triggered by a life event, such as a bereavement or becoming a parent, with certain groups, such as young people and carers, particularly at risk.

The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Rachel Reeves MP and Seema Kennedy MP, has spent the last year considering what the government and others can do to help. They have been working with 13 charities including Age UK and Action for Children to develop ideas for change.

Rachel Reeves MP and Seema Kennedy MP, co-Chairs of the Commission said:

We are really pleased to see that the government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said that “young or old, loneliness doesn’t discriminate.

Throughout 2017 we have heard from new parents, children, disabled people, carers, refugees and older people about their experience of loneliness.

We very much welcome that government has accepted the Commission’s recommendations including the appointment of a new ministerial lead who will have the responsibility for creating a national strategy to tackle loneliness. We look forward to working with Minister Tracey Crouch, businesses, community groups and the public to create a world less lonely.

Mark Robinson, Chief Officer of Age UK Barnet said:

Loneliness can kill. It’s proven to be worse for health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, but it can be overcome and needn’t be a factor in older people’s lives.

Age UK provide a wide variety of services and we welcome the work that the government is doing to support lonely people in communities throughout the country.

Phil Burton, a former Royal Artillery Lance Bombardier, will attend the reception to receive a Point of Light Award from the Prime Minister for his work to tackle loneliness. He founded the Veterans’ Café in Leyland which brings former members of the armed forces together, to talk, share experiences and access support from charities and the NHS. He said:

When I first started the venture with the Veterans’ Café, I never thought it would grow into something this big. I originally wanted to set this up for the veterans, so they had a place to meet, and talk to like-minded people with the same day to day issues. This has now brought the veteran community together, and is allowing veterans of all ages to get the help where needed. This would never have been possible without the help of South Ribble Council, and the veterans that support the café on a fortnightly basis.

Sir Alan Duncan said:

We are deeply shocked and concerned by the killing of Oliver Ivanovic.

We call upon the Kosovo police and other rule of law institutions to investigate this incident thoroughly and bring those responsible to justice at the earliest opportunity.

It is particularly important that politicians and those in public life are able to operate without fear of violence. This is exactly the kind of violence that we wish to see eradicated from the Western Balkans.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan on Twitter @AlanDuncanMP
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter and Facebook

Mr Johnson was speaking at a two day gathering in Vancouver jointly hosted by the US and Canada, focusing on security and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

The Foreign Secretary said:

There can be no doubt that the crisis is intensifying, we had 20 tests within the last year, 20 missiles, two of which flew over Japan, and one testing of a nuclear device.

It’s very important and encouraging that the world is not being intimidated or divided by the threat from North Korea and actually we have come together and in Resolution 2397 there was an unprecedented measure of global consensus about what to do and to intensify the political and economic pressure on the regime.

It’s great that conversations are taking place between North Korea and South Korea and great there is an Olympic truce, but I hope people will recognise that the program is continuing in North Korea and that Kim Jong-un continues with his illegal program.

He can continue on the path of provocation and equipping his country with nuclear weapons that will lead to further escalation, further economic pain and hardship of his people or else he has an opportunity to go down a path that will lead to greater wellbeing for his people and a chance to emulate the astonishing achievements of the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

Further information

Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter: @BorisJohnson and Facebook.

Follow the Foreign Office on Facebook & Twitter.

Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt said:

The UK continues to play a leading role in response to the tragedy in Syria. We have committed nearly £2.5bn to our humanitarian response to the crisis.

I am alarmed that in spite of commitments to de-escalation the regime and its backers continue to bomb and shell opposition areas in eastern Ghouta and Idlib. In recent weeks these regime offensives have killed hundreds of civilians, displaced tens of thousands, and destroyed hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. These attacks must stop.

After nearly seven years of conflict and over 400,000 deaths, it is abundantly clear that only a political settlement can bring a durable end to the human suffering and the regional instability the conflict fuels.

Along with our international partners, the UK supports the efforts of the UN-mediated Geneva process as we believe this is the best way of reaching a lasting political settlement to end the conflict. We commend the constructive engagement by Nasser Hariri and the Syrian opposition in the latest round of Geneva talks and call on the Syrian regime to likewise engage constructively and agree to direct talks.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt @AlistairBurtUK
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

In a positive phone call this afternoon, the Prime Minister spoke to Chancellor Kurz of Austria. During the conversation, the PM extended an invitation for him to visit the UK in the near future, which he accepted.

She gave a brief update on Brexit and confirmed that the government will respect the decision taken by the British public to leave the EU.

Chancellor Kurz updated on his recent European engagement, and they both agreed to stay in touch on Brexit and Austria’s forthcoming European Council Presidency.