The Committee provides independent advice to government and Parliament on reducing UK emissions and preparing for the impacts of climate change.

Lord Deben has led the Committee since 2012. His 5-year term, due to end this year, has been extended for a further 5 years until September 2022.

Paul Johnson’s 5-year term, which also concludes this year, has been similarly extended for a further 5 years until 2022.

The reappointments were made by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, and agreed by the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Claire Perry, Minister for Climate Change and Industry, said:

I welcome the reappointment of Lord Deben as Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change and of Paul Johnson as Committee Member.

The UK was the first country to introduce legally binding emission reduction targets under the Climate Change Act and we have led the G7 group of countries in cutting our emissions, while growing our economy by more than two-thirds since 1990. The independent advice provided by Lord Deben, Paul Johnson and the entire Committee will help us continue to lead the world in clean growth.

Commenting on his reappointment, Lord Deben said:

Britain is a leader in the world’s battle against climate change and I am delighted and honoured to continue as Chairman of the Committee.

Since 2012, amongst many other tasks, the CCC has advised government on the fourth (2023 to 2027) and fifth (2028 to 2032) carbon budgets, advised the devolved administrations on emission reduction targets and reported to Parliament annually on UK progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

1. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is the independent statutory body established under the Climate Change Act (2008) to advise the UK government on building a low-carbon economy and preparing for climate change. Further information about the CCC is available at: www.theccc.org.uk.

2. Lord Deben was the UK’s longest-serving Secretary of State for the Environment (1993 to 1997) and has held several other high-level ministerial posts, including Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1989 to 1993). He has consistently championed the strong links between environmental concerns and business interests. He also runs Sancroft, a corporate responsibility consultancy working with blue-chip companies around the world on environmental, social and ethical issues. In addition, Lord Deben is Chairman of Valpak Limited and Chairman of The Personal Investment Management and Financial Advice Association.

3. Paul Johnson has been Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) since January 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London. Paul has worked and published extensively on the economics of public policy, with a particular focus on income distribution, public finances, pensions, tax, social security, education and climate change. As well as a previous period of work at the IFS his career has included spells at HM Treasury, the Department for Education and the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Between 2004 and 2007 he was deputy head of the Government Economic Service. Paul is also a member of the Banking Standards Board and of the executive committee of the Royal Economic Society. He was an editor of the Mirrlees Review of the UK tax system.

But as long ago as 1918, when the predecessor of Dstl (the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory), the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), was based at Farnborough, and the space race hadn’t been thought of, the RAE – working for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) – was at the forefront of rocket science research and development.

Launchers and rockets from the Skylark and Black Arrow were launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) from as early as 1957, with increasingly heavy payloads. By 1962, satellite technology was at an experimental phase, looking into the effects of the atmosphere and the ionosphere on the newest satellite technology.

Early prototype materials like silicon solar cells and gas-jets were tested from the 1970s, and the Skynet satellite systems – which provided military communications support at home and overseas – began in 1969. The Skynet system was so successful that successive developments of the original were launched into LEO until 2012. Infrared telescopes and new solar panels, or cells, were brought from concept to use, and geolocation – which GPS systems used in applications such as satnav now rely on – was then developed.

When the Russians launched Sputnik 1 and then 2, the UK and its cold war allies were watching them, initially with an early radar system from RAF Lasham in Hampshire, which was processed at RAE Farnborough, by the Space Group, which is now part of Dstl.

The Space Object Identification Programme began in RAE Special Systems Department in 1982. The techniques developed at RAE used Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) to produce high resolution images of space objects using ground-based radar data. The Programme continued to provide valuable imaging data until 2001.

The Dstl Space Programme began in 2014 and has just been relaunched with an injection of £50 million over the next 5 years. The programme will continue to build on the historic achievements by Dstl’s predecessors, working on further research into the space environment for the defence and security of the UK.

The government is to review the regulation of air weapons licensing, following a request from the Suffolk coroner.

Speaking in an adjournment debate in the House of Commons, Minister for Policing and the Fire Service Nick Hurd said:

I have recently written to the coroner and confirmed my intention to review the regulation of air weapons in England and Wales. I think that this is an appropriate time to take stock of the regulatory position and assess whether the current controls, which are already strong, continue to be appropriate and effective.

I intend to look carefully at the existing controls on air weapons, including how best to ensure that these weapons are stored safely and securely.

I think that a review of air weapon regulation is important and timely, we will do so against a backdrop of existing controls that are, by all international comparisons, very robust.

The debate was secured by Bristol South MP Karin Smyth after the serious injury in her constituency of 18-month-old Harry Studley in July last year, who was shot with an air rifle by a neighbour.

That incident followed the case of Benjamin Wragge, aged 13 from Suffolk, who died in May 2016 after he was accidentally shot with an air weapon. Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Suffolk, Dr Peter Dean, wrote to the Home Office requesting a review of legislation covering the use and manufacture of air weapons, with a view to preventing similar tragedies occurring in the future.

During the debate last night, the Minister confirmed he would be meeting Benjamin Wragge’s family later this year to listen to their views.

The Home Office will determine the detail and scope of the review and, today (10 October), has published a revised edition of the Home Office guidance leaflet for air weapons users.

The leaflet will be available online and will also be distributed to readers of Airgun World and Airgunner. It advises on the laws and safety procedures to which all air weapon owners must adhere.

The CMA has set out more detail about what it intends to examine in its investigation into the proposed takeover of Sky Plc by 21st Century Fox.

The Prime Minister will challenge society to “explain or change” disparities in how people from different backgrounds are treated, as the government publishes the findings of a ground breaking audit of public services.

Launching the new ‘Ethnicity Facts and Figures’ website today (Tuesday 10 October), Theresa May will host a discussion round the Cabinet Table involving key stakeholders at Downing Street.

She will tell them the audit will become an “essential resource in the battle to defeat ethnic injustice” which must be confronted at all levels of society – from central government to local communities.

The new website – a first of its kind in terms of scale, scope and transparency – contains thousands of statistics covering more than 130 topics in areas including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.

Key findings include:

• employment rates are higher for white people than for ethnic minorities across the country, with a larger gap in the north than in the south (13.6% compared to 9%)
• education attainment data shows there are disparities in primary school which increase in secondary school, with Chinese and Asian pupils tending to perform well and White and Black pupils doing less well, particularly those eligible for free school meals
• ethnic minorities are under-represented at senior levels across the public sector

The website will be a permanent resource, with new datasets being added over time. A specialist unit, run from the Cabinet Office under the First Secretary of State Damian Green, will consider and co-ordinate the government’s work.

Opening today’s roundtable, the Prime Minister is expected to say:

People who have lived with discrimination don’t need a government audit to make them aware of the scale of the challenge.

But this audit means that for society as a whole – for government, for our public services – there is nowhere to hide. These issues are now out in the open. And the message is very simple: if these disparities cannot be explained then they must be changed.

Britain has come a long way in my lifetime in spreading equality and opportunity. But the data we are publishing today will provide the definitive evidence of how far we must still go in order to truly build a country that works for everyone.

The Prime Minister ordered the audit shortly after taking office, as part of the agenda she set out in her first speech on the steps of Downing Street to tackle injustices in society.

This builds on her work as Home Secretary – where her reforms of stop and search have led to continued falls in the unlawful use of the powers. In the year ending March 2016, the number of stops and searches fell by 28 per cent.

Yesterday (Monday 9 October), the Prime Minister visited the Dunraven School in Lambeth, where she met sixth form students who spoke candidly on the issues which had affected them and their hopes for the future.

She told them:

It was really important and helpful to hear your views on your education and the careers you want to follow, as well as the experiences of your friends and family in a whole range of areas from stop and search to mental health, to how different people are treated at work.

What I hope this audit will bring is a change in attitude so that everyone is treated equally, no matter what their background, and this is never a barrier to getting on in life.

By bringing this information together in one place for the first time it will shine a light on the issues we are facing. We must now work together as a society to find solutions.

The government has worked with hundreds of stakeholders across the country over the last 12 months. Today’s roundtable marks the beginning of the second phase of that work once the website is live.

Welcoming publication of the audit, ahead of today’s meeting Simon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote, said:

The findings from the Race Disparity Audit presents us with a real opportunity to make transformative change in tackling persistent race inequality.

Yes, some findings make uncomfortable reading, but unless these things are laid bare we can’t begin to resolve them.

Over many years the Prime Minister has shown a real desire to grapple with the scourge of racism including confronting high levels of BAME Stop and Search, BAME deaths in police custody and now this.

Alongside publication of the report, the government launched a programme of work to tackle some of the disparities identified in the audit.

In employment, the Department for Work and Pensions will take action in twenty targeted hotspots. Measures in these areas could include mentoring schemes to help those in ethnic minorities in to work, and traineeships for 16-24 year-olds, offering English, Maths and vocational training alongside work placements.

And in the criminal justice system, the Ministry of Justice will take forward a number of recommendations made in the recent Lammy Review, including:

• developing performance indicators for prisons to assess the equality of outcomes for prisoners of all ethnicities
• adopting an ‘explain or change’ approach to ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system
• committing to publish all criminal justices datasets held on ethnicity by default
• and working to ensure that our prison workforce is more representative of the country as a whole, holding leaders to account for improving the recruitment, retention and progress of ethnic minority staff

And in schooling, the Department for Education will take forward an external review to improve practice in exclusions. This will share best practice nationwide, and focus on the experiences of those groups who are disproportionately likely to be excluded.

Further announcements on future government work will follow in the coming months.