The UK is backing the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) Regional Preparedness Plan to support nine countries at high risk of receiving cases of Ebola from their neighbour, the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC).

UK aid’s £1.5m of support will enable WHO to support countries with prevention, detection and containment of Ebola and other deadly diseases. It will also help important work being done at the community level, such as working with traditional healers, health workers and religious leaders around issues including safe and dignified burials. This will lead to an increased number of referrals of those with symptoms in harder to reach areas.

This new funding will help stop the immediate spread of the current DRC outbreak as well as build longer term resilience and follows significant support already committed by the International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt in May. To date, the UK response has helped to stabilise the outbreak, but the threat of it spreading to other countries remains.

Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin said:

The UK continues to act decisively to stop this outbreak of Ebola, an horrific contagious disease which has the potential to cause devastating loss of life.

By supporting the WHO’s Regional Preparedness Plan, UK aid will help to scale up preparedness to ensure sustainability. We are not just waiting for the next outbreak to come along, but are actively working in partnership around the world to strengthen health systems. This is keeping us all safe from current and future global health emergencies.

The UK has the resources and know-how to help contain the spread of epidemics, but there is still work to do. Outbreaks are inevitable but epidemics are preventable.

Dr Ibrahima-Soce Fall, WHO Regional Emergencies Director, said:

Investing in preparedness is crucial to keep the world safe from Ebola. WHO is grateful for this additional funding from UK aid, which will support nine countries to better prevent, detect and respond to this deadly virus.

The UK continues to be a global leader in the fight against deadly diseases like Ebola and support to WHO reform in Africa has helped bring about a swifter and better-coordinated response to the outbreak in the DRC, a sharp contrast to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

Notes to Editors

• WHO’s Regional Preparedness and Readiness Plan aims to fill gaps identified by recent assessments. The estimated budget for the plan (June 2018 – February 2019) is US$15.5m over nine months. The plan is divided into two phases of priority actions. Phase I will be implemented in the next three months and will bolster operational readiness should there be any importation of Ebola cases. Phase II will look at the scale up of preparedness actions to ensure sustainability over the longer term.

• This £1.5 million of new funding support is taken from DFID’s Crisis Reserve, and is being provided immediately to the World Health Organisation’s response plan for at least the next three months.

• It comes after a previous £5 million support was provided to the World Health Organisation’s response plan in May 2018.

• The Crisis Reserve funding is in addition to £1 million which DFID made available from its joint research initiative on epidemic preparedness with Wellcome. Wellcome has also made a further £2 million available to deal with the Ebola outbreak, which is being used to help roll out the vaccine campaign.

• The UK’s response to Ebola in 2014 represented a great success in preventing the spread of a killer disease that threatened to reach 1.4 million cases. However, it came at significant cost to the UK taxpayer and African economies which lost at least $1.6 billion. Following previous DFID programmes (Regional Preparedness Programme and the Regional Malaria Programme, notably) the new Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme (TDDAP) aims to save lives and reduce the impact of disease outbreaks on African populations. This includes support to the reform of WHO in the Africa region, where it is already showing progress through swifter, better-coordinated outbreak responses in the DRC and Madagascar.

• Investing in health systems early is important and good value for money, because it enhances the world’s ability to prevent epidemics, rather than reacting to the next crisis. Evidence suggests that for every £1 invested in preparation a £2 return can be achieved in terms of savings on future spending and investments.

• Public Health England has assessed the risk of this outbreak to the UK as negligible to very low.

Good morning and thank you for your kind introduction.

Represented here today are people from a huge range of sectors – from health professionals to architects, to lawyers, vets and dentists.

It’s great to have this opportunity to explain the government’s approach to the negotiations and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the future partnership.

British services and medical professionals have a global reputation for quality.

And that global reputation has been made possible, in part, by the freedom you have had to work and practice outside of the UK and attract key talent from the EEA.

For many of you, your work takes you right across Europe, and the world — supported by a system that recognises your professional qualifications, whether you earnt them here or elsewhere.

You will have seen your own businesses and professions grow and develop thanks to the ability to access professional expertise within the EU, and the ability to provide your own services in another Member State.

And I know the same can be said for businesses in the EU.

Making sure that you can continue to practice and work across Europe, after we leave the EU, will be an important aspect of the new partnership we want to agree.

Because as the Prime Minister has said, whilst we are leaving the European Union, we are not leaving Europe.

Our European neighbours will continue to be friends and allies, and our trading partners.

Brexit should not be about pulling up the drawbridge. It is about putting our relationship with the European Union on a new footing.

The approach we need to take is one that respects the result of the referendum — and reflects the many decades of cooperation between the UK and other European states. Very beautifully illustrated I thought Baroness by your point about cooperation since the war.

In the future, UK citizens will still want to work in other EU countries – just as EU citizens will want to do the same here.

And that’s something I want to focus on a bit today in my comments.

I’m sure many of you are keen to hear more about the government’s approach to the future partnership discussions.

But first, I would like to make a few points about the progress of negotiations so far.

In March, we agreed the terms of a time limited implementation period with the EU, that will start the day we leave the EU and end in December 2020.

During that implementation period though we will no longer be a Member we have agreed that British people will be able to travel and work in the European Union, and European Union citizens vice versa during this period.

And businesses will be able to carry on trading on the same terms they do now.

Importantly for people and professions represented in this room, we have also agreed that common rules will remain in place — this includes the EU’s existing rules on recognising qualifications.

This means that, in practice, professionals will be able to move easily according to their needs between the UK and the EU, and that they will be able to have their professional qualifications recognised.

Just as they do now.

I’ve heard from many different stakeholders in both public and private sectors how important this is, to give certainty about the arrangements that will apply immediately after our exit.

And to make sure that where there may be changes in the future there should only be one set of changes at the end of an implementation period rather than multiple sets of changes.

We have also made rapid progress on the details of the Withdrawal Agreement.

We have reached agreement on much of the legal text and locked down full chapters on citizens’ rights and the financial settlement.

Now, our aim is to finalise the rest of the Withdrawal Agreement by October, and develop the framework for our future partnership.

So, the key question is — what does this mean for you?

We talked about the importance to citizens and professionals who are already here and operating on the basis of their qualifications. Rightly the Prime Minister has put citizens’ rights as the first priority for negotiations. And that includes rights relating to the recognition of professional qualifications.

And this is a commitment that we are delivering.

The deal on citizens’ rights secured in the Withdrawal Agreement will give UK and EU nationals living in each other’s jurisdictions much needed certainty. And we have agreed full legal text on this including on residence, pensions, healthcare and social security coordination.

As part of this, we have also agreed to continue recognising qualifications for residents and frontier workers if their qualifications have been recognised, or are in the process of being recognised, before the end of the implementation period. So right up until December 2020.

This will cover everything recognised under the MRPQ directive, as well as lawyers practising under host title and approved statutory auditors and toxic product handlers.

It means that EU professionals in the UK and UK nationals in the EU will have their rights preserved so that they can carry on living their lives broadly as they do now.

Now there were some issues that we would have liked to get covered in the Withdrawal Agreement but which the EU determined related to the future relationship, particularly on services and we will return to those issues as we focus on the future partnership.

Now, as we look towards the future, we are seeking a bold and ambitious agreement that goes further on services than any of its predecessors or precursors.

It is our intention that the future economic partnership includes further provisions for professions such as yours, to continue working and sharing your knowledge with partners in the EU.

As the Prime Minister herself has said, UK qualifications are already recognised across the EU, and vice versa. So it would make sense to continue doing so in the future.

Encouragingly, this is an objective that is shared by the EU and one that is reflected in their own guidelines for the future relationship, where they refer to “ambitious provisions” for MRPQ.

That is not surprising given the benefits that the current system are benefits to UK and EU professionals, public services, and businesses alike.

In fact, since 1997, the UK has recognised over 142,000 EU qualifications under the MRPQ Directive. And over 27,000 decisions to recognise UK qualifications have been taken in the EU and its Member States.

An ambitious agreement on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications will mean for example, UK architects can continue to design buildings in Paris, or Berlin.

That lawyers right across the EU27 can continue advising clients in the UK and that enormous international expertise and value of UK law is available to EU citizens and companies in their international dealings.

That Spanish nurses and doctors can continue to care for British patients in our hospitals and our NHS.

This next stage of negotiations will also include discussion of topics such as the ability of professionals to provide services on a fly-in fly-out basis.

We will be outlining our position for the future economic partnership in the forthcoming White Paper. This will offer detailed, precise and ambitious explanations of the UK’s position on our future relationship with the EU and I would welcome your views from all the professional bodies around this table following its publication next week.

Because we want to make sure that the future system for continued mutual recognition works in practice — not just in principle — for both professionals and regulators.

Because this is in all of our interests.

And I know that you all have valuable networks and connections with business, regulators, professionals, and public services across Europe.

Your voices are important in this debate.

Just as we listen to British businesses and professional networks, we know the European Commission and its Member States are doing the same.

Existing EU arrangements with third countries — for example the EU’s Free Trade Agreement with Canada — don’t go far enough in providing the level of mutual recognition that we believe our professionals need.

So we hope that you will use your platforms to engage with your European networks to emphasise that an ambitious agreement, going beyond its precursors on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, is in everyone’s best interest.

In this context I particularly welcome the open letter to the Prime Minister regarding the key asks of the professional and business services sector that was sent yesterday by the PBS Council. And that’s something that closely reflects the discussions I have had with that council in terms of what the sector wants to see.

The feedback, engagement and support we are receiving from businesses professionals and regulators and all the bodies represented around this table, is invaluable.

Because it is vital that as we negotiate our exit and our new relationship with the European Union, we continue to work together, so that we can reflect your needs, and your interests, at the negotiating table.

And ultimately get the right deal for you — which I strongly believe will be the right deal for the country.

Thank you.

The resting place of Lieutenant (Lt) Charles Stonehouse and Private (Pte) Frederick William Birks, have both been rededicated more than a century after their deaths. The rededication services took place today, Tuesday 3 July, at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Serre Road Cemetery No. 3 on the Somme and Perth Cemetery (China Wall) near Ypres respectively.

The services, organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), part of Defence Business Services, were conducted by the Reverend Andrew Earl CF, Senior Chaplain HQ NW.

Rosie Barron, JCCC said:

It is an honour to have organised both rededication services for these 2 men and to have, after more than 100 years, given them their names back. It is important that the sacrifices of men such as Lieutenant Stonehouse and Private Birks are not forgotten and their stories are told to future generations.

The Reverend Andrew Earl, said:

It is a privilege to be asked to honour these 2 men who died in the service of their country as we gather and say, ‘We will remember them’. We once again recall all those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy. May they rest in peace.

Lt Stonehouse was a member of the 11th Battalion, The East Lancashire Regiment, better known as the Accrington Pals. On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, he led W Company into the battalion’s attack on Serre, he was killed during the attack aged 34. With no known grave Lieutenant Stonehouse was commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme region of France.

The rededication service at Serre Road Cemetery No. 3 was attended by members of Lieutenant Stonehouse’s family.

Statement on behalf of those family members attending:

Twelve members of the Rowntree and Hoyle families, descendants of Charles Stonehouse’s brother, Harry, and sister, Nellie, were very pleased to be able to attend the rededication service and felt a great sense of humility and pride in the sacrifice made by our great uncle.

Pte Birks was killed on 2 July 1917 whilst serving with 17th Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment) near Ypres. He was aged 36.

Pte Birks was buried in a small battlefield cemetery until after the great war when he was moved to Perth Cemetery (China Wall). However, by this point the wooden cross marking his grave had been damaged and his name was lost. New research found that this grave of an unknown soldier was in fact that of Private Birks and his name has now been added to his headstone. He was previously commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.

The final resting places of these two soldiers came to light after researchers submitted evidence regarding their whereabouts. Further research was undertaken by the JCCC and the National Army Museum to corroborate the submitted evidence and the identification of the ‘Unknown Soldier’ graves were finally confirmed by the JCCC.

Mel Donnelly, CWGC said:

Commemorated on memorials to the missing for almost a century, it is now known that Lieutenant Stonehouse had been buried in Serre Road No 3 Cemetery and Private Birks in Perth Cemetery (China Wall). Thanks to the dedicated efforts of many, they have now been identified and today the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are honoured to be able to mark their graves with headstones bearing their names.

Two new headstones bearing the names of Lieutenant Stonehouse and Private Birks have been provided by the CWGC, who will now care for their final resting places in perpetuity.