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Governments, business and society must continue to be bold if we are to deliver real change for women in Wales and the world, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said today as the UK Government marks International Women’s Day (8 March).

This year’s theme is #PressforProgress – a call to action for the world to take concrete steps to help achieve gender parity more quickly.

And right across Wales today, men and women alike will take part in impressive programme of rallies, concerts, workshops, conferences and performances to send out the message that continued awareness and action is required to ensure that women’s equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.

The UK Government in Wales and Welsh gender equality charity Chwarae Teg will play their part on Monday 12 March when they join forces to host an International Women’s Day themed business breakfast at the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales in Cardiff Bay.

Giving women and girls the support and opportunities to progress from the classroom right through to the boardroom will top the agenda at the event which will also look at ways to break down workplace barriers and how to build inclusive workplaces for the benefit of the Welsh economy.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

For too long, not enough has been done to help women to fulfil their true potential. That is something that we, as a Government, have been working hard to address.

The past few months have seen a real sea change in attitudes to women and gender equality, and the UK Government wants to seize and build upon that strength of feeling and drive forward even more change.

That is why I’m delighted to be working together with Chwarae Teg to welcome women together at this event to celebrate the advancement and achievements of women in business, but to also pause and reflect on the many challenges that lie ahead.

Chwarae Teg Chief Executive, Cerys Furlong, said:

Our vision at Chwarae Teg, is for Wales to become a world leader in gender equality. It is only when women have equal representation and equal access to the workplace that the economy of Wales can truly flourish.

Chwarae Teg works with businesses and organisations across Wales to help them to tackle the barriers that women face and to build inclusive workplaces to the benefit of everyone. Women must be seen and heard at all levels and across all of society.

More women at the table means that the issues affecting women are discussed and solutions are found, leading to better services and better legislation for all. Women must also feel safe in the workplace, we want to see a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and abuse leading to a shift in working cultures.

There are now 44,000 more women in work in Wales than there was in 2010, and the UK Government is making significant strides in delivering the changes and creating the conditions required for women from all walks of life who want their horizons broadened and aspirations lifted.

How the UK Government is leading by example:

• The UK has become one of the first countries to introduce gender pay gap (GPG) reporting requirements. This law will mean all large employers have to publish their GPG figure, shining a light on where women are being held back.
• Introducing Shared Parental Leave to offer choice to eligible parents when it comes to childcare, and allow mothers to return to work sooner if they wish to.
• Rolling out tax free childcare schemes benefitting thousands of families in Wales.
• Pledging to end violence against women at home and abroad by introducing tough new laws to protect women from domestic violence, forced marriage and FGM.
• Launching the Industrial Strategy – a long-term plan to build a Britain fit for the future by helping businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the UK.

Notes to Editors

• International Women’s Day is a day of global celebration marking the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.
• Chwarae Teg is a charity working in Wales to support the economic development of women as well as working with businesses and organisations to develop and improve working practices

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The Prime Minister jointly hosted the inaugural meeting of the UK-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, at Downing Street earlier today.

The meeting agreed a landmark ambition for around £65bn of mutual trade and investment opportunities over the coming years, including direct investment in the UK and new Saudi public procurement with UK companies. This is a significant boost for UK prosperity and a clear demonstration of the strong international confidence in our economy as we prepare to leave the European Union.

These new investment and procurement opportunities will be spread across a range of sectors including education, training and skills, financial and investment services, culture and entertainment, healthcare services and life sciences, technology and renewable energy and the defence industry.

The Prime Minister said the UK was a firm supporter of Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’, an ambitious blueprint for internal reform that aims to create a thriving economy and a vibrant society – conditions that we agree are essential to the Kingdom’s long-term stability and success. She noted that as a world leader across a range of sectors, the UK was uniquely placed to partner Saudi Arabia in delivering these vital reforms.

The Prime Minister welcomed recent reforms in Saudi Arabia, including on women attending sporting events and the cinema, and being legally able to drive from June. The Prime Minister and Crown Prince agreed that we should continue working together to explore ways the UK can support Saudi Arabia to progress and intensify these reforms, particularly on women’s rights, and on universal human rights, where the Prime Minister noted our particular concerns in the case of Raif Badawi.

The Prime Minister and the Crown Prince agreed a new education partnership which will see UK experts help the Saudi education system implement their ambitious domestic reform programme, increasing levels of female participation and boosting inclusivity. This will include UK experts undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the Saudi education system, and sharing best practice and recommendations for modernisation. We will embed gender equality, equal access and equal treatment in all aspects of our programme of support.

Following the meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council, the Prime Minister and the Crown Prince received a briefing from UK national security officials on foreign policy issues, including Yemen.

The Prime Minister raised our deep concerns at the humanitarian situation in Yemen. The Prime Minister and Crown Prince agreed on the importance of full and unfettered humanitarian and commercial access, including through the ports, and that a political solution was ultimately the only way to end the conflict and humanitarian suffering in Yemen.

They also discussed Iran, agreeing on the importance of working together to counter Iran’s destabilising regional activity, and Iraq, including the importance of supporting reconstruction efforts.

Waste company director Lee Reynolds has been fined £1,356 for the illegal storage of wood which went up in flames at Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. He was also ordered to pay £5,000 costs and a victim surcharge of £135.

In just 2 months 3,000 tonnes of processed mixed waste wood was stashed in a warehouse at Lattersey Hill Industrial Estate before being abandoned some time before March 2015. A month later, the first of 3 significant fires broke out.

Reynolds, aged 36, formerly of Eye Road, Peterborough, was the sole director of Biomass Products UK Ltd which owned the illegal business.

Biomass Products UK Ltd was unlawfully operating the site without an Environmental Permit. In pleading guilty at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court (14 February 2018), Reynolds accepted that the offence was due to his consent, connivance or attributable to his neglect as a director of the company.

Miss Wendy Foster, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court Reynolds had a ‘flagrant disregard for the law’ and had deliberately run the site illegally or allowed it to be run illegally. She said:

From January 2015 there can be no doubt that Reynolds was expressly aware that the activities were illegal and posed a significant fire risk.

She told the court that the site, a steel framed warehouse, was leased by Reynolds in October 2014 for 5 years from a pensions’ holding company. The building’s use was restricted to warehousing or workshop use, with a specific condition of the lease that no waste should be stored there. On the same day, Reynolds opened a business bank account stating he would use the building for storage, chipping and onward sale of waste wood.
Miss Foster said that deliveries were made only in the evening or at weekends and soon neighbours noticed a bad smell coming through the wall, which was reported to the landlord. The Environment Agency was alerted to the site in December 2014 and gained access early in January 2015 when it was found that the unit had been stacked from floor to ceiling with processed mixed treated wood. The unit was 7 metres high.

Reynolds was told he was operating without an environmental permit and was potentially committing an offence and that operations should stop immediately and the waste be removed. Waste transfer notes were also requested. The waste was not moved and no transfer notes handed over.

At a site meeting 2 weeks later temperature readings in the waste pile were so high that Reynolds was told the site was a fire risk and the waste needed to be removed imminently, but despite a following enforcement notice nothing was done and the site abandoned.

Following a fire, a multi-agency emergency action plan, put together two months before, was put into action and two-thirds of the waste wood was removed from the building, co-ordinated by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and paid for by the Environment Agency. Four fire service appliances remained at the site for 12 more days leading to significant financial and logistical demands on the fire service.

Miss Foster said the building was structurally damaged and the remaining third of the wood inside had to be cleared by the landlord at their cost. The adjoining building was also damaged.

Reynolds told investigating officers that he had made all the decisions about the operation, had no experience of waste and had only intended to store the wood until it could be shipped abroad.

He claimed he had not been paid to take the wood and a man he had met in a coffee shop said he could buy it off him and ship it abroad for power supply.

He said he did not know he needed an environmental permit, hadn’t looked at waste transfer notes and handed the keys back to the landlord before the first fire assuming they would deal with the waste.

He said he had been an estate agent for 10 years before starting the business.

Miss Foster said:

Research carried out by Mr Reynolds before starting the business was grossly inadequate and the activities that followed were reckless, if not a flagrant disregard for the law.

She said the failure to retain transfer notes for the wood was ‘highly suspicious’.

After the hearing Environment Agency officer Emma D’Avilar said:

This individual has put his own gains before the environment, and the businesses and people who have to live and work on the industrial estate. His story does not add up and the court has seen through his fabricated story.

Companies that deal in waste are governed by extensive legislation and controls so that situations like these do not occur. It was a sham operation from the outset that had to be cleared up by the Environment Agency, Fire and Rescue Service and the landlord which put great pressure on already limited resources.

Reynolds pleaded guilty to:

Between 1 October 2014 and 12 March 2015 on land at Unit 1, Unit B1, Lattersey Hill Industrial Estate, Benwick Road, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, Biowood Products UK Limited did operate a regulated facility, namely a waste operation for the deposit and storage of waste, without being authorised by an environmental permit granted under Regulation 13 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 and that offence was due to your consent, connivance or attributable to your neglect as a director.

Contrary to Regulation 12(1)(a), 38(1)(a) and 41(1)(a) and (b) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.