To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your email address with anyone.
David Lidington, the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, will make a three-day visit to China this week, building on the announcement of a new chapter in the ‘Golden Era’ between the UK and China during the Prime Minister’s visit earlier this year.
Mr Lidington will lead the UK’s 10th UK-China Senior Leadership Forum to the country. The Leadership Forum is a unique partnership that brings together British Parliamentarians and senior members of the Communist Party of China for frank discussions, debates and collaboration.
The theme of the 10th Leadership Forum this year is ‘Partners for Progress: Strengthening the UK-China relationship in the Golden Era’ and will focus on practical cooperation between the UK and China in light of Brexit. Other prominent figures who are members of the Forum are former Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin, Lord Mandelson and Lord Sassoon.
The Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster will give the keynote speech at the Forum’s meeting in the International Department of the Communist Party of China. He is expected to discuss the importance of the relationship between Britain and China and opportunities for further cooperation on trade and other issues that will arise following Brexit. He will also give a speech about Brexit to Chevening alumni which will include members of the Chinese Government.
This will be the first Ministerial visit since the PM visited in January and comes at an important juncture in Chinese politics – straight after the National People’s Congress and at the start of Xi Jinping’s second Presidential term.
Mr Lidington will be meeting a number of officials from the Chinese Government, including the newly appointed Vice President, Wang Qishan. He will be the first British politician to meet Vice President Wang, who previously served as President Xi’s anti-corruption tsar.
Speaking ahead of the visit, David Lidington, the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, said,
I am delighted to be returning to China at a moment of renewed strength between our two countries. Our relationship with China is, and will remain, a clear priority for the UK Government.
As the UK prepares to leave the European Union, I am confident that we can deliver on our bold vision for a Britain outside the EU that remains open for business and is the same outward-looking, globally minded country that we always have been.
That is why I believe we are now entering a new chapter in the ‘Golden Era’ of UK-China relations, in which co-operation between us is stronger than ever before, and in which we can tackle mutual threats together, and take advantage of the exciting new opportunities that await us both.
The Official Receiver provides an update on employment within the Carillion group in liquidation.
A spokesperson for the Official Receiver said:
More than 10,000 of Carillion’s pre-liquidation workforce have now found secure ongoing employment, following the transfer of 179 staff to new employers.
Regretably 23 employees whose positions are no longer required as Carillion’s business transfers to new suppliers will leave the business later this week.
I am continuing to talk with potential purchasers for Carillion’s remaining contracts and will keep staff, elected employee representatives and unions to keep them informed as these arrangements are confirmed.
Published 9 April 2018
Thank you for your feedback
We’re currently experiencing problems with our phones; we are working to resolve them.
If you’re trying to contact us and it isn’t urgent, please try again later in the week. For any urgent enquiries that can’t wait, you can still email us at: customerservices@publicguardian.gsi.gov.uk
For any urgent safeguarding matters, please email: opg.safeguardingunit@publicguardian.gsi.gov.uk
For the latest updates, please follow OPG on Twitter.
We are sorry for any inconvenience.
The UK has joined a global battle to safeguard the world’s coral reefs from climate change and rising sea temperatures, Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey announced today.
International work to protect these vital marine habitats is gathering momentum as coral reefs come under increasing pressure from climate change and human activity – and today the UK officially joined the Coral Reef Life Declaration, committing to safeguard coral reefs and bolster scientific research into the threats they face.
The announcement comes just one week ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, where member states will gather in London to agree further global measures to protect our oceans.
From Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef, to 8,000 year-old cold-waters corals off the coast of the UK, the countries of the Commonwealth account for nearly half the world’s coral reefs – and over 250 million people across the Commonwealth depend directly on coral reefs for food and income.
Speaking from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, where High Commissioners and members of the UK’s science community gathered today to celebrate marine science across the Commonwealth, the Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said:
Few people know the waters around the UK contain riches to rival the tropics – with our waters home to a vast array of cold water coral reefs that protect important marine life.
Through tapping into the UK’s world-leading marine science and working with our partners across the Commonwealth, we will help to safeguard this vital habitat and protect our oceans for future generations.
The Coral Reef Life Declaration was launched by Prince Albert II of Monaco at the Our Ocean conference in Malta in October last year to encourage countries to come together to protect coral reefs. So far 12 countries have signed the declaration, including Australia, Fiji and the Seychelles.
The UK’s waters are home to cold-water corals over 8,000 years old, with the only known coral reef in English waters protected as a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ).
The Canyons MCZ, located off the Cornish coast, covers an area of more than 650 km2 and was designated in 2013 to protect the cold-water corals found there. There are also extensive reefs off the west coast of Scotland where there are seven Marine Protected Areas safeguarding this fragile habitat from damage.
The UK’s Overseas Territories also hold a huge array of tropical and cold water coral reefs. Through our Blue Belt programme we are currently on track to protect over four million square kilometres of ocean across the Overseas Territories by 2020, working with local communities to protect the coral species within.
This year has also been made the International Year of the Reef by the International Coral Reef Initiative – the leading organisation dedicated to protecting these habitats.