The Department for International Development has confirmed today (Thursday 11th October) the latest £20 million round of UK Aid Match, inviting applications from charities working to achieve sustained poverty reduction and to achieve the Global Goals, and particularly encouraging proposals from wildlife and conservation charities.

The announcement came as further evidence of DFID’s commitment to spend its foreign aid budget on programmes that protect and conserve the natural world as well as helping the world’s poorest people.

International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt said:

UK Aid Match gives the British public a chance to see the money they donate to their most passionate development causes matched pound-for-pound by the government.

We owe it to future generations for UK aid to work alongside some of our most innovative and hard-working charities to tackle the scourge of the illegal wildlife trade and protect our natural environment. I want to encourage our partners to look to UK Aid Match as a way of furthering their efforts to do this and connecting with the British public.

To do so is a win for the public; a win for the world’s poorest people; and a win for wildlife.

UK Aid Match brings charities, the public and UK government together to collectively change the lives of some of the world’s poorest people. It also gives the British public an opportunity to engage with international development issues and have a say in how UK aid is spent.

In the last five years, UK Aid Match has supported 42 charities and run projects in 27 countries, which have benefitted more than 25 million of the world’s poorest people. The government has matched every public donation made to these charities pound for, helping them go further in changing and saving lives.

To find out more and apply for UK Aid Match please visit: www.ukaidmatch.org.

Each charity appeal must run for up to three months and raise up to a maximum of £2million, subject to a due diligence assessment.

NOTES TO EDITORS

• Applications for the next round of proposals opens on the 22 October and guidance will be available on the Aid Match website from 12 Oct.
• UK Aid Match brings charities, the British public and the UK government together to collectively change the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
• It is designed to provide opportunities for the UK public to engage with international development issues and have a say in how UK aid is spent, whilst boosting the impact of the very best civil society projects to reach the poorest people in developing countries.
• For every £1 donated to a UK Aid Match charity appeal, the government will also contribute £1 of UK aid, to help these projects go further in changing and saving lives. UK Aid Match is funded from the international development budget, for donations made by individuals living in the UK.
• For more information on the fund, or to make an application, please visit the UK Aid Match website

Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, London, 11-12 October 2018

• With over 1000 delegates, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference will be the largest of its kind ever to be held. 84 countries have confirmed that they will be sending delegations, spanning Africa (26); Americas (14); Asia and Oceania (17); Europe (23) and the Middle East (4).

The conference will focus on three themes:

• Tackling the illegal wildlife trade as a serious organised crime: strengthening law enforcement.
• Building coalitions: engaging the private sector, NGOs and academia; harnessing technology and innovation.
• Closing markets for illegally traded wildlife products: building on the Chinese ivory trade ban.

The next phase of the roll-out of the EU Settlement Scheme, which allows resident EU citizens and their family members to obtain their UK immigration status, has been confirmed in the Immigration Rules.

This follows the successful first private pilot, involving 12 NHS Trusts and 3 universities in the North West of England, which had very positive feedback from customers on the ease of the application process.

The second phase will run from 1 November to 21 December 2018 and will test the full online application process. The number of participating organisations will increase significantly, with staff in the higher education, health and social care sectors across the UK included in this phase.

Vulnerable people with additional support needs are also going to be included in this phase, with the involvement of a small number of local authorities and community organisations.

This second test phase will help to make sure that the EU Settlement Scheme will operate as effectively as possible when it is fully open.

Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said:

As this Government has consistently made clear, EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and to our society and we want them to stay.

The EU Settlement Scheme will make it simple and straightforward for EU citizens to get the status they need but it is important that we get this right.

I am pleased with how the first phase of the scheme has progressed, especially that those who have applied have found the process easy to use.

The Rules also introduce the new form of immigration leave for children transferred to the UK during the Calais camp clearance to reunite with family here, as announced in September 2018. Calais Leave will grant those who qualify the right to study, work, access public funds and healthcare, and apply for settlement after 10 years.

The changes also include bringing forward a new application service for visas. The new service builds on UKVI’s digital application platform and will transfer all data, such as supporting evidence and biometric information, to UKVI digitally. This is a significant step towards UKVI’s ambition to become more digital and user friendly.

As announced in May 2018, the new front-end service will be operated by Sopra Steria and will begin to be rolled out from next month.

The UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services centres will be available across the country, with six core centres in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast and Croydon as well as a premium lounge in London. These will be supported by an additional 50 enhanced service points providing coverage across the UK.

There will also be additional services which include being able to upload your evidence from home or arranging a mobile service to come to your business, university or home.

The Rules are also being amended to specify the evidence for medical exemption from Knowledge of Language and/or Life in the UK requirements. The changes include specifying the medical professionals who can support a request for exemption and the format in which this request must be made.

These changes will come into force on 1 November 2018.

Further information on the EU Settlement Scheme can be found on GOV.UK.

Yesterday [Wednesday 10 October] Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove addressed the UK Parliament on the Agriculture Bill during its second reading. He guaranteed that agricultural funding will not be Barnettised post-Brexit. This is to ensure that the rightly generous settlement which Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales currently receive will be defended.

Welcoming the announcement, Scottish Secretary David Mundell said:

This is great news for Scottish farmers. Under the present arrangements, Scotland receives twice as much money for farming support than might be expected were the Barnett formula alone used to determine allocations. So Michael Gove’s commitment that future agriculture funding will not be Barnettised should be welcomed across the board.

More details of future support arrangements will be announced shortly but this latest guarantee reinforces our commitment to Scottish farmers. It comes with the UK Government already having agreed to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support for Scotland until 2022.

I remain concerned that the Scottish Government is keeping Scottish farmers in the dark about its plans for the future of agriculture. Farmers in Scotland need the same reassurance that the UK Agriculture Bill is giving those in England and Wales and time is running out for the Scottish Government to act.

Published 11 October 2018

A leading science hub has been granted permission to expand so more hi-tech businesses can call its Oxfordshire site home.

In a visit today to Culham Science Centre, Science Minister Sam Gyimah announced that the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) would be able to expand the site to create new facilities for companies working in fusion-related fields. The centre already hosts around 60 companies, including 20 start-ups, employing around 1,500 highly skilled science and engineering specialists.

The site is home to some of the world’s most exciting fusion research. It has hosted the world’s most powerful fusion experiment, JET (Joint European Torus), since 1983. Minister Gyimah addressed staff during his visit, underlining the government’s commitment to fusion research post-Brexit.

Science Minister Sam Gyimah said:

From fusion energy, to software for driverless cars, to air-breathing rocket engines, this site is engineering some of the most exciting science in the world.

The UK is an innovation powerhouse and with science and tech experts moving here, thriving here and growing their businesses here, it’s a vote of confidence in UK science industry. We are committed to attracting and retaining both homegrown and international talent and will keep supporting international collaboration as we tackle the grand challenges of tomorrow and build a Britain fit for the future.

CEO of UKAEA Professor Ian Chapman said:

The minister’s announcement is excellent news and means we can begin to establish Culham as a home for hi-tech business in fusion and adjacent sectors and reinforce Oxfordshire’s status as a powerhouse of innovation.

The visit was also an opportunity to show the Minister how UKAEA’s new research facilities will help to get fusion energy on the grid. Fusion could be the ultimate low-carbon energy source, but commercialising it entails overcoming challenges in physics, materials science, engineering and robotics. Recent government support is enabling Culham and the UK to be right at the centre of this world-changing technology.

Addressing staff during the visit, Minister Gyimah also announced:

• a new academic partnership with the US to make the most of transatlantic research talent and international collaboration – the £3.6 million 3-year scheme will see an exchange programme for post-doctoral researchers from UKAEA to undertake extended visits to Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to work on key areas of common interest in fusion science
• new government funding to extend the UKAEA materials research facility – the facility tests materials that can withstand high energy neutrons from the fusion reaction; critical to the economic viability of both nuclear fission and future fusion power stations

The government has made a clear commitment to science in its ambitious modern Industrial Strategy, which sets out the aim to boost private and public investment in research and development to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

1. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) manages the UK’s fusion research programme at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE), one of the world’s leading fusion research laboratories. CCFE is based at Culham Science Centre (the freehold of which is held by UKAEA). As well as UKAEA, Culham Science Centre – frequently abbreviated to Culham – also hosts a number of technology, research and engineering companies, creating a hub of cutting edge innovation and enterprise in South Oxfordshire.

2. UKAEA operates the world’s largest fusion experiment, the Joint European Torus (JET) on behalf of the European Commission. JET holds the world record for fusion performance and is a vital stepping stone in preparation for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project – under construction in France – which will test the viability of the first fusion power stations.

3. UKAEA’s operation of JET is funded through a contract with the European Commission through Euratom. The JET underwrite was one of the first proactive actions the government undertook following the triggering of Article 50. We guaranteed our share of the JET costs until the end of 2020, even in the event of a ‘no deal’, and are working with our EU partners to agree the contract extension.