Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) Chief Constable and CEO, Mike Griffiths, recently announced he will leave the organisation in March 2019 after over six years in charge.

Since joining the CNC in 2012, Mike Griffiths has overseen a period of rapid organisational change and an equally rapid growth in expectations of the CNC’s capabilities. During his tenure the force was, for the first time, deployed to provide armed police support to other police forces across the country, on two separate occasions.

Civil Nuclear Police Authority (CNPA) Chair Vic Emery said:

‘I would like to thank Mike for his dedication to the CNC during a period of unprecedented change. He has led on so many of the major improvement programmes that has taken the CNC forward into its new era. His commitment to the Constabulary has been an example to us all.’

Chief Constable Mike Griffiths said:

‘My contract was due to end in September 2019 after seven-years but I have decided, after much hard thought, to go slightly early in order to give the CNPA the opportunity to recruit my successor at the start of a new strategic planning cycle.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the CNC, and I remain fully committed to leading this great organisation until my departure in March. We all have a very important role within counter terrorism policing and the civil nuclear industry to deliver and during the next six months that is my focus.’

The CNC began the search for its next Chief Constable and CEO on Monday 8 October through Executive Search company Gatenby Sanderson.

Thank you to Steve and Sally for inviting me this morning and to Judith for that warm welcome. I was sorry to hear that Steve can’t be with us today – do please pass on my regards to him, Sally.

And thank you all for coming. It is great to see so many of you here, representing our wide ranging tourism sector.

One of the best parts of my job is being able to travel across the country, and having the opportunity to meet the businesses delivering tourism on the front line. And those meetings have helped me to understand the incredible opportunities you have, as well as the big challenges you face, and reflect on what I can do to help.

In fact, in the last two months alone I’ve visited the Jubilee Lido in Penzance, the Titanic museum in Belfast and the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh, to name but a few places, and have been thoroughly amazed and taken aback by the dedication and passion which you all demonstrate every day. So thank you for everything you do. Your work provides people with a welcome to Britain, it increases people’s understanding of our history and our culture, and – while doing so – it helps to create jobs and growth as well.

Indeed tourism in the UK continues to go from strength to strength, welcoming record numbers of international visitors who are contributing the highest ever amount of money to our economy. Last year that was over 39m visitors spending nearly £25bn! This is in no small part down to the sterling efforts – no pun intended – of the dedicated individuals here in the room.

And I’d like to use my time with you this morning to look back and reflect on what all of you, working collaboratively with VisitBritain and VisitEngland, have helped to achieve in this past year.

There are many areas that I could draw attention to, but I’d like to focus on four this morning.

First I want to talk about business events. This year has seen a significant emphasis on this area for both Government and VB, collaborating with partners to build on our existing capability and encouraging more events to come to the UK. Events such as MeetGB and workshops aimed at helping destinations market themselves have been well received.

This remains a huge priority for me and one where I remain a very active advocate.

Second. The Discover England Fund continues to grow from strength to strength.

I’ve been fortunate enough to visit some of these projects in the past year; the Brilliant Science project led by Marketing Cheshire, the Majestic Waterways project led by Marketing Birmingham, and I look forward to being part of the launch event for the Great West Way at the end of November!

These projects are great examples of building supply through the delivery of improved tourism products and I am so pleased that the hard work that everyone has put into these projects is starting to deliver strong results.

Third. There is also some excellent ongoing work on expanding our sector for all members of society to enjoy.

Making the tourism industry more accessible can only be a positive thing and the work VisitEngland has carried out by promoting accessible businesses with the Inclusive Tourism awards and working with the National Autistic Society to launch the Welcoming Autistic People guide are brilliant markers for progress in our sector.

Another place I’ve visited over the summer is Eureka, the National Children’s Museum in Halifax, which is a former VE Gold Award winner for Access. And it was superb to see how making an attraction as open and accessible as possible – to as many people as possible – can have a huge impact on experience of visitors.

In fact, I would fully encourage every business here to have a look at how you can open up your business, or those you represent, to more people and share your talent with more of the world.

The fourth – and final – area I’d like to talk about is the huge amount of work that VisitBritain and VisitEngland have carried out on the proposed Tourism Sector Deal.

As you will know, the sector, under the able guidance of Steve Ridgway and VisitBritain, put together an ambitious sector deal proposal which seeks to further strengthen our industry.

Now, I want to stress that this has been an incredibly valuable process.

The proposals set out in the Sector Deal – collated by VisitBritain, working with all parts of the British Tourism industry – are forward thinking and ambitious, and at DCMS we continue to assess what we can do to help deliver some of the ideas.

What I cannot do this morning is confirm whether or not Tourism will get a Sector Deal. A number of industries came forward with proposals, and colleagues across Government will enter into negotiations with those industries they feel best answer the questions set out in the Industrial Strategy.

What I can do though, is guarantee that me and my officials are fully versed in all the ideas you have collated and put forward. And where we think those ideas are workable, where we think they can help to boost productivity in this hugely important sector, we will work with you over the next year to deliver them.

We have had a good year, no doubt. But we need to make sure we continue to work together to ensure there are better years to come.

So thank you once again for all the hard work that all of you put in, day in, day out to make Great Britain’s tourism sector truly GREAT.

And I look forward to continuing to work with you, to make it even GREATER.

Opening the Ministry of Defence’s LOGNET conference on military logistics, he said the UK would need the industry to stay ahead of the game for the country to retain its ability to respond quickly to threats from the likes of extreme terrorists and rogue states.

Today’s event, the fifth of its kind, brought together 250 leading industry and military figures from the defence logistics community. New technologies from 14 companies and departments were showcased including autonomous resupply robots and pioneering logistics software.

Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said:

Our world-class Armed Forces are able to rapidly respond to unpredictable threats like terrorists and rogue states, and even humanitarian disasters like the recent tsunami in Indonesia.

We’ve got to move quickly when crisis strikes, and the logisticians are the unsung heroes behind those on the frontline, ensuring everything runs smoothly so they are there and ready to respond. This conference brings together some of the brightest minds in the sector as we look to spur them on to ensure we remain a world-leading military.

The UK is currently running around 30 logistics operations worldwide, with 15,000 people in the UK, in Africa, and in South East Asia delivering humanitarian aid and disaster relief as well as taking part in major Operations and Exercises. Just last week the MOD deployed an A400M transport aircraft and a team of military experts to Indonesia to help with the aftermath of the earthquake tsunami.

The Armed Forces are continually put through their paces in huge exercises such as the recently launched Saif Sareea in Oman to identify logistical best practice and uncover challenges faced on the modern battlefield. This ensures UK logistics systems are tested in the toughest of operational environments. These exercises help inform and steer the agenda for LOGNET events.

Main areas of interest in the fifth LOGNET conference included:

• Defence’s innovation agenda
• Autonomy and robotics
• Accelerating logistic innovation
• Routes to market
• Modernising defence support

LOGNET is the MOD’s support engagement and future development event for the defence support network. It is designed to improve the understanding of UK defence’s support requirements, pursue knowledge of developments in academic and commercial capability, whilst reinforcing partnerships through continued engagement. Its outcome is to assist defence in arguing the case for the UK to maintain a credible, highly capable and value for money support capability.

Also speaking at LOGNET was the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger who focussed on the importance of logistics support to our Armed Forces and how it ensures the UK maintains its military edge over adversaries.

General Sir Gordon Messenger said:

The ability to meet any threat in the shortest amount of time with the necessary volume of personnel and military hardware is critical to our deterrent posture. This can only be achieved with robust and proven logistics support. LOGNET helps build crucial closer links between academia, industry and defence which ensures our Armed Forces have the support network they need.

The Justice Secretary today (9 October 2018) published an action plan to stabilise HMP Bedford following an Urgent Notification by the prisons inspectorate.

Ministers set up the Urgent Notification system last year to ensure that immediate action could be taken to rectify serious issues identified by inspectors.

Senior experienced prison officers will be deployed to the landings from other establishments to reintroduce a stricter regime and mentor new members of staff. Extra training will reinforce these efforts, ensuring newer officers know the best way of resolving conflict, commanding the respect of prisoners and motivating them to attend work and education classes.

The Prison Service has transferred a further 56 offenders out of the prison, on top of the 20 moved out since May, to ease pressure on staff and allow the full refurbishment of one wing.

Experts from the national safety team, including experienced prison staff, are already in place to increase understanding of the root causes of violence and take action to prevent it.

More perimeter patrols, new windows with grilles and increased searches on staff will stem the flow of drugs entering the establishment, and staff will be working much closer with the police to disrupt the drugs trade into the prison. A programme of treatment and recovery for inmates with an existing drug dependency will also be developed.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said:

We placed Bedford into special measures in May before the inspection because we knew it was facing problems. Since then we’ve made efforts to alleviate these and today I’m outlining further work to improve conditions.

Additional experienced officers will be brought in, we’ve reduced the number of prisoners and are providing special training for newer members of staff – all of which will ensure order is restored and maintained in the long-term.

I am confident that greater security will stem the flow of drugs, which is fuelling violence, and allow staff to properly focus on creating a culture of work and learning that will help turn prisoners’ lives around.

The action plan published today also outlines:

• Extra managers for the Care and Separation Unit to improve processes and staff leadership so that the unit operates safely and properly.
• Extra training for officers on better supporting vulnerable prisoners and a review of early days support – a time when we know that prisoners can be particularly susceptible to self-harm and suicide.
• The prison will become a national pilot site for the Clean and Decent Project, which will see experts come in to the establishment to teach prisoners the best way of keeping their cells clean and tidy, reducing the prevalence of vermin and improving conditions.

The Secretary of State’s full action plan also sets out how Bedford’s progress will be regularly reviewed over the coming year.

The final inspection report for HMP Bedford will be published by HM Chief Inspector later this year.