News story: UK collaboration at the International Astronautical Congress
The UK Space Agency has been busy promoting the UK space sector at the 68th International Astronautical Congress held in Adelaide, Australia. read more
The UK Space Agency has been busy promoting the UK space sector at the 68th International Astronautical Congress held in Adelaide, Australia. read more
The conference, which ran from Monday 25 September to Friday 29 September, saw more than 4,500 space professionals and enthusiasts attend from 84 countries for a week of events, meetings, collaborations and discovery.
Earlier in the week a landmark agreement was signed between Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to provide Australia access to the cutting-edge British satellite NovaSAR-S.
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) will provide CSIRO a 10% share of the tasking and data acquisition capabilities from NovaSAR-S, a small radar satellite due for launch later this year.
Speaking at the conference Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “The UK space sector is in the middle of a renaissance, begun seven years ago under David Williams [former UK Space Agency CEO] here, and carried on over the last six years by a partnership between our excellent UK space industry, represented here by SSTL, and with continued support from the UK government at the highest levels.
“NovaSAR is an exciting opportunity for the UK and for our partners in the mission. Data from orbit has the potential to change the way we understand and interact with our changing environment, strengthening our public services as well as creating new opportunities for commercial services.”
Computer generated image of NovaSAR-S in orbit. Credit SSTL.NovaSAR-S is a technology demonstration mission designed to complement much larger, complex radar satellites with a smaller, lighter and more cost effective platform that delivers Earth observation Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery day and night, and through cloud cover. Managing the energy use on board the small SAR platform has been made possible by using a new, highly efficient S-band solid-state amplifier technology and flying an innovative S-band SAR payload developed by Airbus UK in Portsmouth.
The agreement gives CSIRO tasking rights and the ability to access the raw data directly from the satellite, and a licence to use and share the data with other Australian companies and organisations over an initial 7 year period.
The UK Government provided £21 million grant to assist in the development of NovaSAR-S and will also benefit from access to the SAR data, significantly boosting the UK’s sovereign Earth Observation capabilities for applications such as ship detection and identification, oil spill detection, forestry monitoring and disaster monitoring, particularly flood detection and assessment.
read moreThe International Development Secretary Priti Patel today announced a bold plan for tough reform of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) work with suppliers, by clamping down on the risk of profiteering, excessive charges and unscrupulous practices.
Following a fundamental review of DFID’s work with suppliers, Ms Patel is introducing stricter new rules that will ensure all contractors deliver the best possible results for the world’s poorest people and provide value for taxpayers’ money, with the threat of legal repercussions for those who break the rules.
New measures announced today include:
a robust new Code of Conduct which is leading the way across government to ensure the highest standards of ethical and professional behaviour by DFID suppliers, with legally enforceable sanctions – such as ending contracts early – for those caught breaking the rules by our new compliance team
tougher scrutiny of costs and greater transparency by including new clauses in contracts to allow DFID to inspect costs, overheads, fees and profits of suppliers in detail and new powers to intervene to tackle profiteering and cut out waste
publishing annual league tables of supplier performance to name and shame those who are not delivering value for money
stopping so-called “bid candy” practices, by which large suppliers include smaller businesses to win bids, but then drop them from the contract
cutting red tape to boost competition and open up DFID’s market to new businesses including small enterprises in the UK and the world’s poorest countries.
The International Development Secretary Priti Patel said:
These tough reforms provide a clear message to aid suppliers – any misuse of taxpayers’ money is a scandal that will not be tolerated.
DFID is leading the way across Government with new measures that will ensure aid is spent in the best way, with every single penny delivering value for money. New legal penalties allow us to take firm action against those who break the rules.
We will make the supplier market we work with more competitive and transparent, providing greater opportunities for new and smaller businesses in the UK and ensuring we work with those who can achieve the best results that UK taxpayers and the world’s poorest deserve.
These reforms will ensure that every DFID contractor upholds the highest standards and is held to account for meeting them. They enable DFID to be smart and tough with its big suppliers and give more opportunities to new and smaller businesses in the UK and the poorest countries.
Aid contractors play an important role in development work when they deliver well. They provide specialist expertise, flexibility and deliver UK aid’s life-changing work in some of the most fragile and dangerous places in the world.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced wide-ranging reforms to increase nurse training places and retain staff.
A 25% increase in training posts for nurses is part of a range of measures to:
The government will provide funding for the clinical placements required for an additional 5,170 pre-registration nurse degrees from 2018. This builds on the commitment to 10,000 more training places for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals announced in August this year.
A further 5,000 nursing associates will be trained through the apprentice route in 2018, with an additional 7,500 being trained in 2019. Nursing associate is a new role which provides a work-based route into nursing for existing health and care staff or new recruits who may not be able to give up work to study full-time at university.
A new shortened nurse degree apprenticeship route will also be introduced for qualified nursing associates who wish to work towards full Nursing Midwifery Council registered nurse status.
As part of this expansion in nursing staff, we will explore opportunities for higher education institutes to deliver formal classroom teaching in a more innovative way in employers’ facilities. This training will not compromise on quality and will continue to meet the high standards expected of trainees by the nursing regulator, the Nursing Midwifery Council.
The measures are part of the government’s commitment to widen participation and social mobility throughout the health sector. They will also help to reduce the reliance on overseas recruitment by boosting the supply of home-grown nurses.
Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, said:
The NHS will be looking after a million more over-75s in just a decade, so we need to jump-start nurse training.
This represents the biggest increase in nurse training places in the history of the NHS – and we will make sure that many of the additional places go to healthcare assistants training on hospital sites. This will allow us to expand our nurse workforce with some highly experienced people already working on the NHS frontline.
We will also improve retention rates amongst our current workforce, introducing new arrangements to support flexible working available to all NHS staff, and a new right of first refusal for affordable housing built on NHS property. Combined with the 25% increase in undergraduate medical school places announced last year it will transform the ability of the NHS to cope with the pressures ahead.
As well as training more nurses, the Health Secretary announced new measures to improve working conditions for the NHS workforce, including:
arrangements to support flexible working to help staff to balance work-life commitment.
a system of staff banks for flexible workers across the NHS, increasing opportunities for NHS staff to work on NHS terms and reduce agency costs for employers
a ‘Homes for Nurses’ scheme – which will give 3,000 NHS workers first refusal on affordable housing generated through the sale of surplus NHS land
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Fraud is now the most prevalent crime in the United Kingdom. The annual Government Counter Fraud Awards recognise exceptional achievement and innovation in fighting fraud in the public sector. Entrants included counter fraud teams and individuals from across the UK public sector, including those working in local government and central government agencies and departments.
Our award was for the work we have done in raising awareness of how property fraud can occur, who is most at risk and what people can do to protect themselves. The awareness campaign focused on our free Property Alert service, encouraging people to sign up so they can receive an early warning of fraudulent activity on their property.
With minimal direct contact with citizens itself, HM Land Registry relies heavily on business customers such as conveyancers and estate agents to encourage their clients to sign up for Property Alert and read our fraud advice. In addition to making the public more aware of property fraud and how to protect themselves, our counter fraud team provides training to employees, law enforcement agencies and financial investigators in how to detect and prevent registered title fraud.
The judges said:
Property fraud is an area of significant risk and the campaign left no stone unturned in its efforts to raise awareness and engage citizens with its Property Alert service. They were astute in selecting the most effective, audience-appropriate channels and received justifiably very positive feedback for their efforts.
As a result of the increased numbers of people signing up to Property Alert in 2016/17, 100,000 more properties are better protected against fraud – an estimated £20 billion worth of property assets based on the average house price of £200,000.
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