Burial for Private Thomas Edmundson

A burial service will be held on Wednesday 14 March at Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Belgium, for Private (Pte) Thomas Edmundson. Pte Edmundson was killed in action during the first world war while serving with the Durham Light Infantry.

His remains were discovered near the town of Zonnebeke and were identified using DNA testing.

He will be buried with full military honours on 14 March.

The service has been organised by the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre and will be attended by British Defence Staff, members of the family, regimental representatives from the Rifles Regiment and local dignitaries. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission will be providing the headstone.

Burial Service for 2 Soldiers of the First World War

A burial service will be held on Thursday 15 March at Orchard Dump Cemetery, France, for 2 soldiers of the first world war.

Their remains were discovered during excavation work near the town of Gavrelle. One soldier belonged to the Durham Light Infantry; intensive research and DNA testing has been carried out but unfortunately, to date, his identity has not been established The other soldier served with the Bedfordshire Regiment, but it has not been possible to identify him.

They will be buried with full military honours on 15 March.

The service has been organised by the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre and will be attended by British Defence Staff, regimental representatives from both The Rifles and Royal Anglian Regiments and local dignitaries. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission will be providing the headstones.

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.

Email address

Don’t have an email address?

As part of this year’s British Science Week, 1,800 pupils from 10 schools across England are being given the opportunity to take part in interactive science workshops hosted by Public Health England (PHE) scientists.

From pupils extracting DNA from their own cells using household products, to a science and health-related game of Pictionary and quizzes on air pollution, the aim of these workshops is to inspire the young people to consider a career in science and showcase the variety of areas within science they could pursue.

British Science Week is an annual 10-day event, with this year being its 24th year running. It encourages organisations, professionals in the science sector, science communicators and the general public to hold events that get people involved in scientific activities.

This year, PHE is expanding its reach to 10 schools across 3 regions: the North (Manchester, Salford), South West (Bristol, Cheltenham and Torquay) and South East (Harlow). During the week, there will be 25 PHE scientists leading interactive science workshops for pupils aged 13 to 14 years old.

The scientists taking part specialise in a range of disciplines, including toxicology, microbiology, environmental public health, microscopy, vaccine research and epidemiology.

Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of PHE said:

It’s important that the current generation of scientists informs and inspires the next generation, and shows young people the range of routes and opportunities they can pursue within world-leading UK science. We are thankful for the scientists taking part in British Science Week workshops across the country, and hope that their efforts encourage the pupils to consider a career in science as a viable and exciting option.

Sarah Robertson, Senior Environmental Health Scientist at PHE said:

I speak for all of the scientists involved when I say that we are excited to take part in British Science Week and showcase just a few of the many disciplines within science to the students. Although a large proportion of our time is dedicated to research, outreach work such as these interactive workshops is also our responsibility, particularly to highlight the breadth of our roles to young people. Science and research are imperative in our world and we must ensure that the future workforce continues to be made up of talented and passionate individuals.

PHE is in the process of creating a world-leading centre of excellence for public health research, improvement and protection, and a new headquarters, at the vacant GlaxoSmithKline site in Harlow. This will involve relocating facilities from Porton in Wiltshire and Colindale in north London, as well as the current central London headquarters. PHE Harlow is expected to be fully operational by 2024.

1. British Science Week is an annual event and in 2018 takes place between 9 to 18 March.
2. Schools attending the sessions are:
   • Burnt Mill Academy
   • Forest Hall School
   • Mark Hall Academy
   • Stewards Academy
   • Passmores Academy
   • Torquay Academy
   • Fairfield School
   • All Saints’ Academy
   • All Hallows R.C. High School
   • Walkden High School
3. Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. We do this through world-leading science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and providing specialist public health services. We are an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and a distinct organisation with operational autonomy. We provide government, local government, the NHS, Parliament, industry and the public with evidence-based professional, scientific expertise and support. Follow us on Twitter: @PHE_uk and Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland.

Rural communities will be given more options to convert agricultural buildings into family homes to better meet local housing needs through planning rule changes, announced Housing Minister Dominic Raab.

Changes to permitted development rights will mean up to 5 new homes can be created from existing agricultural buildings on a farm rather than the maximum of 3 currently permitted.

Currently several hundred new homes each year are created through conversions of agricultural buildings, and these changes are expected to boost these numbers further.

The changes will help communities make the best use of existing buildings to help meet local housing needs more efficiently, while at the same time ensuring they remain in keeping with the character of the area and safeguard people’s privacy.

Government is also giving applicants an extra year to convert further storage and distribution buildings into new homes that will help relieve local housing pressures.

Housing Minister Dominic Raab said:

We need to be more creative if we are to meet the housing needs of rural communities.

That’s why I’m changing planning rules so rural communities have more flexibility on how best to use existing buildings to deliver more much needed homes for families.

This is part of our comprehensive reform programme to build the homes Britain needs.

The new measures will also help farmers adopt the latest innovations in modern farming practices by increasing the size limit of new agricultural buildings on larger farms from 465 square metres to 1,000 square metres.

Permitted development rights are a national grant of planning permission which allow certain building works and changes of use to be carried out without having to make a planning application.

The rights are subject to conditions and limitations to control impact and to protect local amenity.

The amended development right for the change of use of agricultural buildings to provide up to 5 new homes will allow for:

• up to 3 larger homes within a maximum of 465 square metres or
• up to 5 smaller homes each no larger than 100 square metres or
• a mix of both, within a total of no more than 5 homes, of which no more than 3 may be larger homes

To further support housing delivery, applicants will have a further year in which to benefit from the temporary permitted development right for the change of use of buildings used for storage and distribution to residential use. The right will be extended by a year until 10 June 2019.

The regulations to come into force on 6 April support the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s focus on making the most effective use of land or buildings in the draft revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework, announced earlier this week.