Press release: PM call with Prime Minister Abe: 23 October 2017

This morning the Prime Minister called Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to congratulate him on his success in the Japanese general election.

The Prime Minister and Prime Minister Abe discussed North Korea and agreed to continue to work with the international community to maintain pressure on the regime to cease its destabilising activity. They noted the role the UK played in the EU agreeing tough sanctions on North Korea last week.

The leaders reflected on the Prime Minister’s successful visit to Japan in August and the positive impact it has had on UK-Japan relations. They looked forward to deepening ties between our two countries on trade, security and defence.

The Prime Minister also offered Prime Minister Abe her condolences on the impact and loss of life caused by Typhoon Lan.



Consultation outcome: Proposed Control of Mercury (Enforcement) Regulations 2017

Updated: Summary of responses and government response added.

We want to know what you think about how we plan to enforce controls on mercury in the UK. The controls will apply the requirements of EU Regulation 2017/852 on mercury.

We are interested in the views of those in industries that use mercury or deal with mercury waste, as well as those involved in dentistry. In particular, we would like to hear whether you view the approach proposed as being appropriate and proportionate.

This is a joint consultation led in England by Defra, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), with input from the Department of Health. In the Devolved Administrations it has been led by the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Northern Ireland) and the Department of Health (Northern Ireland).



News story: Making viral vectors for advanced therapies: apply for funding

Businesses can apply for a share of £16 million for manufacturing viral vectors for cell and gene therapy – part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Innovate UK has up to £16 million to invest in capital projects that support the growth of manufacturing capacity for viral vectors used in cell and gene therapies.

Commercial opportunities in advanced therapies

Advanced therapy medicinal products are emerging medicines that use cells, genes or engineered tissues to treat patients.

These therapies usually involve delivery of the treatment by a virus. The therapeutic gene is carried in a viral vector.

It is estimated that the global market for regenerative medicine and cell therapies could be more than $67 billion by 2020 and for gene therapy $11 billion by 2025. While the UK is at the forefront of research into these new therapies, there is a shortage of capacity for making viral vectors. We need to act to take advantage of the commercial opportunities.

The funding for this competition is under the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to develop first-of-a-kind technologies for the manufacture of medicines.

Encouraging public and private partnerships

Funding in this competition is for capital investment in equipment that can be used for making viral vectors. This can include refurbishment.

Projects must:

  • advance UK ability to produce viral vectors for use in advanced therapies
  • encourage partnerships between public and private organisations and maximise further investment

Successful projects are likely to include ones that:

  • create infrastructure that fast-tracks research, development, production and commercialisation of viral vectors
  • increase UK commercial capacity
  • increase competitiveness of the lead business

Competition information

  • the competition is open, and the deadline for registration is midday on 8 November 2017
  • projects must be led by a business with a viral vector manufacturing facility, working alone or with partners
  • we expect projects will range in size from total costs of £2 million to £6 million
  • businesses can attract up to 50% of their project costs


Research and analysis: Approaches to maintaining knowledge on location of ephemeral features

Requirement R083

Requirement detail

An important component of managing impact is clarifying the presence of sensitive features. Traditional methods of determining the location of features provide a snapshot of distribution. For the majority of features, this snapshot remains representative for extended time periods.

Some features however, are characterised by high variability with spatially patchy distributions, temporal instability and/or large natural fluctuations in local populations such that they may be present at a location only for a short period of time (ephemeral). Examples include Sabellaria reef, blue mussel beds, pink sea fan and mobile habitats like sandbanks.

At present the MMO receives advice from statutory nature conservation bodies on a case by case basis. MMO can also receive or require information from developers in the form of an environmental statement or survey results if a need can be identified in advance. This generally requires reactive responses from applicants and managers.

High variability makes attribution of impacts challenging. The MMO therefore seeks approaches to provide and maintain up to date knowledge of the distribution of mobile and ephemeral protected features.



Press release: Dstl analyst supports military in hurricane-hit Caribbean

Richard Hoyes, an operational analyst based at Portsdown West, deployed to the Caribbean to support the military following the devastation caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

With just 3 days’ notice Richard travelled to Barbados to join the military part of the Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) Operations on the island. He provided operational analysis to the headquarters of the HADR Operations, focusing on how best to move people and freight across the many Caribbean islands with the aircraft available, and planning deployment of military force back to the UK.

Richard worked with the military, other government departments and civilian organisations. He said:

The conditions in Barbados were very different to working in a lab, but it was highly rewarding to be part of supporting the aid of the islands. I felt my analytical experience was put to good use and I hope that I made a difference helping the islands get back on their feet.

Richard is just one of more than 30 members of Dstl staff who are trained and ready to deploy anywhere in the world in support of military operations. As part of Dstl’s support to operations capability, Dstl has a pool of operational analysts and scientific advisers who can support the military at a moment’s notice and even deploy on operations.

Dstl also has a 24-hour, 365-day ‘reachback’ capability, which provides rapid access to the breadth and depth of Dstl’s capabilities in support of military operations. This could include anything from computer modelling and highly detailed scientific advice to a review of previous research studies for similar issues.