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Minister of State for Europe and the Americas Sir Alan Duncan met Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office today (27 February) to stress UK concern at the current situation in Syria, particularly the crisis in Eastern Ghouta and the need for a ceasefire as stipulated in Resolution 2401 passed by the UN Security Council last weekend.

Minister Duncan welcomed the fact that all UN Security Council members, including Russia, had voted in favour of a ceasefire and underlined Russia’s obligations to adhere to its commitments to ensure that UNSCR 2401 was implemented in full. Minister Duncan reiterated the UK Government’s deep concern about reports of continued attacks by pro-regime forces in Eastern Ghouta, where an estimated 400,000 people have been under siege since 2013, including reports of chemical weapons use.

Minister Duncan urged Russia to use its influence to ensure the Syrian regime adhered to the ceasefire in order to allow rapid, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access and non-conditional medical evacuations which are urgently needed across Syria, but particularly Eastern Ghouta. Only one inter-agency convoy has accessed Eastern Ghouta since November, reaching just 2.6% of people in need. Humanitarian pauses of limited duration are no substitute for a sustained ceasefire.

Minister Duncan underlined that the violence in Syria reinforces the urgency of achieving a political solution, as called for by the UN Security Council, and urged Russia to work with the international community to achieve this.

Further information

• Follow Sir Alan Duncan on Twitter @AlanDuncanMP

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Shalini Khemka is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of E2Exchange (E2E), which champions and connects entrepreneurs, creates communities, invests equity capital and recruits non-executive directors for SMEs. Shalini’s background is in financial services, with a specialism in banking. In previous executive roles, Shalini co-founded the world’s first online ‘bank to bank’ trade finance company, after which she served as an Investment Director at LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group.

Shalini also brings extensive advisory experience to UK Export Finance (UKEF), having previously served on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Entrepreneurs and the Development Board of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, she is a fellow of Burton & South Derbyshire College, and a member of both the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board and the Advisory Committee of the Commonwealth Entrepreneurs.

As a member of UKEF’s Board, Shalini will support the Chief Executive and Ministers in developing UKEF’s strategy and overseeing its operations by providing advice, challenge and assurance.

New appointees to the Export Guarantees Advisory Council

John Morrison is the founding Executive Director of The Institute for Human Rights and Business. He holds over two decades of business and human rights advisory experience, including roles with the United Nations, UK government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, General Electric and the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.

Dr Roseline Wanjiru is a Senior Lecturer at Newcastle Business School, with interdisciplinary research interests in economic development, trade and industrial policy, foreign direct investment and innovation strategies. She brings over 20 years’ experience in the sector, including time spent in the University of Leeds, University of Huddersfield and presently in Northumbria University.

As members of the Export Guarantees Advisory Council, John and Roseline advise the Secretary of State for International Trade on UK Export Finance operations, including environmental, social and human rights risks, as well as sustainable lending, compliance and transparency considerations.

Baroness Fairhead, Minister of State for Trade and Exports, said:

As an international economic department, we want to make sure that UK exporters benefit from world-leading export credit agency support. The UKEF Board and Export Guarantees Advisory Council play a vital role in our efforts to achieve our ambitions for UK trade, and will be further strengthened with these appointments.

On joining the Board, Shalini Khemka remarked:

I’m excited to be joining the Board of UK Export Finance, a truly world-leading export credit agency. Thanks to UKEF’s support, companies across the UK are realising their export potential in the global marketplace. I look forward to playing a role in this success, supporting the Government in realising its ambitions for UK trade.

John Morrison, Executive Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, said:

The work of the Export Guarantees Advisory Council ensures UK Export Finance remains at the forefront of ethical and sustainable business practices. I’m very pleased to be using my experience in business and human rights to support the government’s trade objectives.

Dr Roseline Wanjiru, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Business with International Management and Business with Economics, Northumbria University, said:

The government has an ambitious trade agenda, and the Export Guarantees Advisory Council plays a vital role providing policy advice to ministers as they look to realise this agenda. I look forward to playing a part in ensuring best practice in trade finance support for the UK’s exporters.

Louis Taylor, CEO of UK Export Finance, said:

Shalini, Roseline and John each bring over twenty years’ experience and a wealth of specialist knowledge as leaders in their respective fields. I’m delighted to welcome them to their new roles, and very much look forward to working with them as we continue to enhance and expand our support for the UK’s exporting community.

Background

1. UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency and a government department, working alongside the Department for International Trade as an integral part of its strategy and operations.

2. It exists to ensure that no viable UK export should fail for want of finance or insurance from the private market. It provides finance and insurance to help exporters win, fulfil and ensure they get paid for export contracts.

3. Sectors in which UKEF has supported exports include: aerospace, construction, oil and gas, mining and metals, petrochemicals, telecommunications, and transport.

4. UKEF has a regional network of 24 export finance managers supporting export businesses.

5. Find the [latest information on UKEF’s country cover positions]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/country-cover-policy-and-indicators).

6. The Export Guarantees Advisory Council is an advisory non-departmental public body, sponsored by UK Export Finance. Its function is to advise the Secretary of State for International Trade on UK Export Finance’s operations.

7. UKEF supports exporters with a range of products that include:

• Bond insurance policy
• Bond support scheme
• Buyer & supplier credit financing facility
• Direct lending facility
• Export insurance policy
• Export refinancing facility
• Export working capital scheme
• Letter of credit guarantee scheme

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) will eliminate avoidable single-use plastics from its UK operations by the end of the year, and from its global operations by 2020. It is the first UK government department to announce such a ban.

This ambitious target makes the FCO a leader in the fight against plastic pollution not just in the UK, but globally too.

In recent weeks, the FCO has already removed all plastic cups, crockery, cutlery, straws and single-use condiment sachets from its London staff canteen, and is providing re-usable or biodegradable alternatives.

It plans to increase its “latte levy” from 10p to 50p to encourage staff to use their own mugs instead of disposable ones – and places the FCO firmly at the top of the pack in taking real action to end plastic waste.

The Foreign Secretary has set a deadline of year-end 2018 for the FCO to find alternatives to the remaining avoidable single-use plastics in use in its UK estate.

As well as a ban by year-end in the UK, the Foreign Secretary has given a 2020 target for its overseas estate, with a significant reduction this year.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

It is time for the world to truly wake up to the damage being done to the environment, and especially by the sheer volume of plastic that is dumped in our oceans.

If the UK is to turn the tide overseas on this crucial issue, it is only right that the Foreign Office leads the way at home.

Sir Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office said:

Since 2009/10, the Foreign Office has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 39%, waste by 45%, paper consumption by 42% and water use by 12.9m litres in our UK operations. But we must do more to reduce our use of plastic. I am confident we can meet the challenge put to us by the Foreign Secretary.

In addition, the FCO is looking at how it can further reduce its environmental impact beyond plastic. Projects identified for consideration include replacing existing vehicles with electric hybrid vehicles, waste to energy projects, and a global automated energy monitoring and reduction programme.

The drive comes on the back of the launch of the Government’s 25-Year Environment Plan last month, which set out measures to eliminate avoidable plastic waste by 2042 across the whole of the UK.

Notes to editors

The drive comes on the back of the launch of the Government’s 25-Year Environment Plan last month, which set out measures to reduce plastic waste.

The FCO already has a strong record in sustainability. Its most recent annual sustainability report show that in 2016/17 in its UK operations the FCO:

• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 39%
• Reduced water consumption by 12.9m litres
• Reduced waste & recycling produced by 45%
• Reduced paper consumption by 42%

In recognition of these efforts, we were shortlisted as a finalist in the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) Awards 2017 for its actions to drive significant reductions in water and energy use across the UK estate – the first central government department to achieve this success in the 16 years the awards have been running.

Estimates of the amount of avoidable single-use plastics in the FCO include:

• 103,201 cold drinks bottles purchased by the FCO in the UK in 2017 (stretching from FCO HQ to Heathrow Airport)
• 655,718 hot beverage cups purchased by the FCO in the UK in 2017 (FCO HQ to Milton Keynes / Brighton)
• 285,600 plastic water cups purchased by the FCO in the UK in 2017
• 14,950 pieces of plastic cutlery purchased by the FCO in the UK in 2017
• 1.37m avoidable single-use plastic items were used purchased by the FCO in the UK in 2017
• Initial estimates suggest that the FCO globally is consuming at least 3.45m items of avoidable single-use plastics.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @BorisJohnson and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

This implies that antibiotic prescribing nationally should be reduced by 10% by 2020, in accordance with the national ambition to cut levels of inappropriate prescribing in half. These data are published in 5 articles in a supplement to the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Professor Paul Cosford, PHE Medical Director said:

Antibiotics are critical to modern medicine, saving millions of lives since the 1940s when they were first introduced. Using antibiotics when you don’t need them threatens their long term effectiveness and we all have a part to play to ensure they continue to help us, our families and communities in the future.

This publication highlights the role GPs can play and I urge all practices to look at ways they can reduce their inappropriate prescribing levels to help make sure the antibiotics that save lives today can save lives tomorrow.

Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said:

Drug-resistant infections are one of the biggest threats to modern medicine and inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics is only exacerbating this problem.

We are leading the world in our response. Since 2012, antibiotics prescribing in England is down by 5% and we’ve invested more than £615 million at home and abroad in research, development and surveillance. But we need to go further and faster otherwise we risk a world where superbugs kill more people a year than cancer and routine operations become too dangerous.

Antibiotics are important for treating serious bacterial infections, but their effectiveness is threatened by antibacterial resistance. Antibiotics are unique among drugs as the more they are used, the less effective they become and over time resistance develops. In response to this, the UK government set an ambition to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing by 50% by 2020. This work seeks to quantify the amount of current antibiotic prescribing that is inappropriate.

The research found that the majority of antibiotic prescriptions in English primary care were for infections of the respiratory and urinary tracts. However, in almost a third of all prescriptions, no clinical reason was documented. Antibiotic prescribing rates varied substantially between GP practices, nonetheless, there is scope for all practices across the country to reduce their rates of prescribing.

For most conditions, substantially higher proportions of GP consultations resulted in an antibiotic prescription than is appropriate according to expert opinion. An antibiotic was prescribed in 41% of all uncomplicated acute cough consultations when experts advocated 10%, as well as:

• bronchitis (actual: 82% versus ideal: 13%)
• sore throat (actual: 59% versus ideal: 13%)
• rhinosinusitis (actual: 88% versus ideal: 11%)
• acute otitis media in 2 to 18 year olds (actual: 92% versus ideal: 17%)

This work demonstrates the existence of substantial inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and poor diagnostic coding in English primary care. Better diagnostic coding, more precise prescribing guidelines, and a deeper understanding of appropriate long-term uses of antibiotics would allow identification of further reduction potentials.

Read the supplement Appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing in English primary care.

Contact Daniel Luzer to request a copy of the journal supplement.

This work was resourced by Public Health England (PHE).