Pulse.Assent

A Downing Street spokesperson said,

“The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump this evening.

“They discussed the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, due to be considered by the US Senate later this month. The Act covers how the US can access data stored in another country, when it is needed to prosecute serious crime or to disrupt terrorism. It will also authorise the US Attorney General to enter into agreements with like-minded allies like the UK to allow reciprocal compliance with US and foreign court orders. With it, law enforcement officials in the US and the UK will be empowered to investigate their citizens suspected of terrorism and serious crimes like murder, human trafficking, and the sexual abuse of children regardless of where the suspect’s email or messages happen to be stored.

“The Prime Minister stressed the great importance of the legislation to the UK authorities in investigating criminal and terrorist activity in the UK. The Prime Minister and President Trump agreed the passage of the Act through the US legislative system was vital for our collective security.”

Through a long-standing project, worth £63 million since 2012, the UK is helping the Lebanese Armed Forces to contain internal threats and secure Lebanon’s border with Syria.

The UK is helping to build 75 border watchtowers and forward operating bases along the border, and training and equipping thousands of troops.

Today the Government has announced to Parliament that, as part of the project, it has placed a further order for £320,000 worth of communications equipment for the border watchtowers.

Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt said:

The UK is committed to working with Lebanon and our partners around the world to tackle head on the global threat from terrorism and violent extremism.

We are steadfast in our support to the brave men and women of the Lebanese army who have successfully repelled Daesh from Lebanese territory.

We firmly believe that Lebanon’s security and stability are in the interests of all across the region and beyond, including the UK. I am proud of the impact our contribution is making.

Further information

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

The Minister visited the school to speak to students ahead of the 100-year anniversary of the first women getting the right to vote.

She heard how students will learn about and celebrate our democracy in this centenary year.

As part of the government’s celebrations of the centenary, Youth Democracy Ambassadors will be recruited this year to make sure young people’s voices are being heard.

There are a number of initiatives and commemorations taking place across the UK this year including a National Democracy Week which will run from 2-8 July. The aim of the week is to engage with under registered groups and work with partners to ensure that every member of society who is entitled to do so has an equal chance to participate in our democracy and to have their say.

Minister for the Constitution Chloe Smith said:

It was fantastic to speak to students at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School and hear about the ways they’re celebrating this important milestone for women.

I hope the young women I met will apply to be Democracy Ambassadors when the scheme opens later this year. Our Ambassadors will learn how they can influence decision making and receive training to enable them to share what they learn with their peers.

Head Teacher Mrs Walker said:

We were delighted to welcome the Minister to mark the Suffrage Centenary. Our girls demonstrated a love of learning and we were proud to hear their ideas for increasing democratic engagement among young people.

In a speech today (6 February) to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage, the Prime Minister reflected on the nature of public life and reiterated her concerns about the increasing intimidation and abuse of people taking part in elections.

The Prime Minister announced that the government will consult on a new offence in electoral law of intimidating parliamentary candidates and their campaigners. The current offence of electoral intimidation relates to undue influence on voters.

She set out plans to bring forward legislation to remove the requirement for candidates standing as councillors in local elections to have their addresses published on ballot papers, in time for local elections in May 2019.

Voters would still be informed whether or not the candidate lived locally, and candidates could still list a home address if they wished. This is in line with the approach already in place for UK parliamentary elections, in which candidates have not had to include their home addresses on ballot papers since May 2010.

The consultation on the offence of intimidation, and the change in the requirement on addresses, were both recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life in its report published in December 2017, which had been commissioned by the Prime Minister.

The Committee found that intimidation of candidates poses a threat to the integrity of the democratic process.

The measures build on work already in train following the 2016 Pickles review on tightening up the definition of intimidation during elections.

Minister for the Constitution, Chloe Smith said:

Intimidation is completely unacceptable in any form – and there is a clear difference between legitimate scrutiny and conduct which is fuelled by hate and personal abuse.

We can’t let intimidation of our candidates, campaigners, the public and those that serve us continue unchecked.

Our democracy is a tolerant and inclusive one. By avoiding giving out personal information that can be abused and legislating against intimidation of candidates and their campaigners we can make public life more accessible to all who want to participate.

A Birmingham robber who punched an elderly man in the head over 20 times for a torch will spend longer in prison.

The term was increased after Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP referred his original sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient.

On 19 January 2017, Kenneth Field, 31, attacked the 72 year old man who was on his way to buy a newspaper. He knocked him to the ground and punched him in the face a total of 24 times. The victim was left with heavy bruising and swelling to his face. He also suffered a fractured eye socket, and had multiple wounds – some of which required stitching.

Shortly before the robbery, the offender had visited his former partner, in breach a restraining order prohibiting him from doing so. When she refused to let him in he smashed her kitchen window.

When Field was arrested several days later he threatened to punch the police officer. He also claimed it was a case of mistaken identity.

Field was convicted of robbery, criminal damage, breach of both a non-molestation order, and a restraining order at Birmingham Crown Court last November. He was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison. The Court of Appeal agreed the sentence was too low and increased it to 8 and a half years.

Speaking after the hearing, the Attorney General said:

The offender launched an unprovoked attack on a defenceless man who was just going about his daily business. He used such force that he broke the victim’s eye socket. I hope the increased sentence sends a clear message that crimes of this nature will not be tolerated.

Julie has been DVLA’s Director of Strategy, Policy and Communications since August 2014. Prior to this, Julie worked at The National Archives where she was responsible for developing strategic policy relationships with senior stakeholders and overseeing Parliamentary and legislative issues.

Julie has also worked for Which? the largest consumer organisation in Europe, in a range of roles including as a journalist and representing the campaigning organisation to government departments, agencies and other stakeholders at a national and international level.

Department for Transport Permanent Secretary Bernadette Kelly, said:

Julie is an experienced and highly regarded leader in government and private sector with a proven track record in delivering results. I am sure Julie’s experience and knowledge of DVLA and its customers will be invaluable as DVLA continues its drive towards becoming a hub for digital motoring.

DVLA’s interim Chief Executive Julie Lennard said:

I’m really looking forward to leading the team here in Swansea at a time when the agency is taking great steps in innovative digital services for motorists.

Notes to editors

Julie will take up her post as interim Chief Executive of the DVLA on the 19 March.

The external competition for the permanent role of Chief Executive of DVLA will be launched shortly.

The DVLA is an executive agency of the Department for Transport. It is responsible for maintaining over 48 million driver records and almost 40 million vehicle records. It collects around £6 billion a year in Vehicle Excise Duty. The agency employs over 5,000 people and is based in Swansea.

Arts Minister Michael Ellis has placed a temporary export bar on Images from the Life (the Norman Album), by Julia Margaret Cameron, to provide an opportunity to keep it in the country.

The extraordinary collection of photographs is at risk of being exported from the UK unless a buyer can be found to match the asking price of £3,700,000.

Arranged in a single sequence from front to back, it includes some of her finest and best-known portraits, including her niece Julia Jackson (the mother of Virginia Woolf), scientist and polymath John Herschel, poet Alfred Tennyson and famed naturalist Charles Darwin.

Apart from the aesthetic and historical value of the individual photographs, the album itself is a labour of love, representing a very personal selection of works chosen and sequenced by the artist herself and intended as a gift for her beloved daughter – whose gift of a camera introduced Cameron to photography.

Between 1864 and 1869, Cameron assembled a number of albums for her family, friends and close acquaintances. She embraced the album format, seeing it as an expressive medium which allowed her to present herself and her work in an artistic way.

It is impossible to ascertain exactly how many albums she made but ten are known to have survived and each is different: designed to be meaningful to the individual recipient.

Each album represented hundreds of hours of work and was assembled with enormous care and considerable thought as to how the images were to be viewed.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) pioneered the portrait photography format and became known for her striking portraits of celebrities of the time, as well as for photographs with Arthurian and other legendary or heroic themes.

Arts Minister Michael Ellis said:

As well as containing extraordinary depictions of some of the most famous faces of the age, this wonderful album is of outstanding aesthetic importance and significance to the study of the history of photography.

I would be delighted to see this unique album on display in the UK, where the public can enjoy and admire it.

The decision to defer the export licence follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), administered by The Arts Council.

RCEWA member Lowell Libson said:

This magnificent album compiled by Julia Margaret Cameron for her daughter contains exceptionally beautiful prints of many of Cameron’s most famous and important images.

Cameron was, during her brief career of twelve years as a photographer, criticized for her unconventional techniques as well as lauded for the beauty of her images. She wished ‘to ennoble Photography and to secure for it the character and uses of High Art by combining the real and the Ideal and sacrificing nothing of the Truth by all possible devotion to poetry and beauty.’

This album undoubtedly both heralds and commemorates the dawn of serious portraiture through the medium of the lens.

The RCEWA made its recommendation on the grounds of the album’s outstanding aesthetic importance and significance to the study of the history of photography and, in particular, the work of Julia Margaret Cameron – one of the most significant photographers of the 19th century.

The decision on the export licence application for the album will be deferred until 5 May. This may be extended until 5 September if a serious intention to raise funds to purchase it is made at the recommended price of £3,700,000.

Offers from public bodies for less than the recommended price through the private treaty sale arrangements, where appropriate, may also be considered by Michael Ellis. Such purchases frequently offer substantial financial benefit to a public institution wishing to acquire the item.

Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the album should contact the RCEWA on 0845 300 6200.

Images from the album can be downloaded via our flickr site.

Notes to editors

1. Details of the album are as follows:
   An album containing 75 photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron, taken between 1864 and 1869, selected by the photographer and presented by her to her daughter, Julia, and son-in-law, Charles Norman, in September 1869. The album measures 45.9 by 31.4 cm. It is bound in red morocco and is embossed on the cover with the title ‘Mrs Cameron’s Photographs from the Life’.
2. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by The Arts Council, which advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.
3. The Arts Council champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. It supports a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. www.artscouncil.org.uk.