The International Development Secretary has today announced that the Department for International Development (DFID) will allocate further support to the flood response in Nepal, including by providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene services, as well as support immediate food security needs and health support.

Monsoon flooding and landslides have affected an estimated 8mn and 1.7mn people in Bangladesh and Nepal respectively.

DFID is allocating £400,000 to the Nepal Red Cross Society in partnership with the British Red Cross and International Federation of the Red Cross for monsoon flood response. 75% of this support is earmarked for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), livelihood recovery, and health. This support will:

• Provide safe water supply to over 13,000 people
• Ensure over 3,000 of those most severely affected receive immediate food and financial support
• Reach over 2,000 women and girl’s with health supplies

The International Development Secretary, Priti Patel, said:

The devastating flooding in South Asia is truly heart-breaking. Entire communities have lost their homes, their livelihoods and their loved ones.

The UK has stepped up to support the region, our pre-positioned relief supplies ensured thousands of people received immediate support and we continue to provide assistance to vulnerable people who have lost everything.

Today’s announcement will provide clean water and prevent the spread of deadly and crippling diseases, as we continue to work to meet the immediate needs of people on the ground.

This announcement is the latest support the UK has provided to Bangladesh and Nepal. This includes:

• In Bangladesh, the UK’s START fund has already allocated £660,000 for NGOs working to provide food, financial assistance, water and sanitation quickly to 62,000 people in the worst affected areas. The UK is also funding work to assess needs and humanitarian staffing to lead effective coordination of responses.
• In Nepal, the Humanitarian Staging Area at the capital’s airport in Kathmandu was built with funding from UK aid and provides one of the main relief coordination centres for the government. UK preparedness support, through Oxfam, is providing immediate relief supplies to 30,000 people for emergency shelter and WASH. DFID is also supporting overall coordination.
• The UK will continue to monitor the situation in both countries, and work with their governments to support immediate needs and to help people and communities affected to recover once flooding has receded.
• Flooding has also affected India, where the UK continues to monitor the situation, and our thoughts are with those that have been affected. The Indian Government is leading the response in providing humanitarian assistance to those that require it.

Notes for Editors:

• The Governments of Bangladesh and Nepal are leading the response to monsoon flooding that has affected an estimated 8mn and 1.7m people in the two countries.
• Floods occur annually during Bangladesh’s monsoon season and the Government of Bangladesh has well established response mechanisms in place.
• The Start Fund is a global multi-donor humanitarian response fund managed by consortia of NGOs that provides rapid funding within 72 hours of an emergency unfolding. The fund has specific resources earmarked to respond to emergencies in Bangladesh.
• The UK supports the Humanitarian Affairs Adviser in the UN Resident Coordinator’s (RC) office, which leads coordination of the flood response.
• DFID Bangladesh is also providing £3m to help communities to recover from the impact of floods earlier in the year
• The Government of Nepal formally requested international assistance on Friday, 18 August and the UK Government is providing assistance and helping to co-ordinate the flooding response using support from our existing country budget.
• The UK is supporting the in-country coordination mechanisms in Nepal, including through support to the UN Resident Coordinators Office and the logistics cluster.

ENDS

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Lord Justice Fulford has today started a new role in overseeing the police, law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ use of investigatory powers.

This marks a major milestone in establishing the powerful oversight regime set out in the Investigatory Powers Act, which was given Royal Assent last year.

The role replaces the oversight roles previously undertaken by the Chief Surveillance, Interception of Communications, and Intelligence Services Commissioners, by establishing inspection and oversight functions in a single independent body.

The Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

The Investigatory Powers Act offers a world-leading oversight regime to ensure the powers the security and intelligence agencies and law enforcement use to investigate crimes and protect the public are used responsibly and proportionately.

In commencing his oversight responsibility, Lord Justice Fulford is playing a vital role in providing the enhanced safeguards we set out in the act.

I would also like to thank the outgoing commissioners Lord Judge, Sir Stanley Burnton and Sir John Goldring for their hard work and dedication to their respective roles.

From today, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) takes over the inspection and oversight functions carried out by the previous commissioners’ offices, and takes on responsibility for the pre-approval of certain police activities authorised under the Police Act 1997.

The commissioner’s further powers including the judicial ‘double-lock’, which will require warrants issued by the Secretary of State to also be approved by a Judicial Commissioner will be introduced in due course.

Lord Judge, formerly the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, and Sir Stanley Burnton, formerly the Interception of Communications Commissioner, are standing down.

Sir John Goldring, formerly the Intelligence Services Commissioner, will take on a new role as Deputy Investigatory Powers Commissioner.

More information is available on the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s website.

The Prime Minister has announced today in Tokyo that a UK Season of Culture will take place in Japan between 2019 and 2020, bringing together British and Japanese artists, technology experts, researchers and business, to spur on modernisation and inspire a new generation of innovators.

The season, run by the British Council, will provide UK artists and their Japanese partners with opportunities to share state-of-the-art digital technology, including virtual reality and robotics, and will showcase the best of UK and Japanese creativity in the run-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

In parallel with the UK Season of Culture, Japan will hold a series of cultural events in the UK.

The Prime Minister has also warmly welcomed the proposal by the Japan-Britain Society to plant cherry blossom trees in the UK as a symbol of the friendship between Japan and the UK. In 1912, the Japanese government gifted 3000 cherry blossoms to Washington DC, and the rash of pink blossoms along the Tidal Basin is now a significant feature of Washington’s springtime, and a permanent reminder of US ties with Japan. The aim is for the UK-Japan relationship to be similarly celebrated, and the UK and Japan will now work closely together to develop the proposal.

Tomorrow in Tokyo, as the Prime Minister concludes her visit to Japan, she will attend a reception at the British Ambassador’s Residence to celebrate the close connections between the UK and Japan in the fields of culture and the arts, sport and innovation.

The Prime Minister said:

Next year, we will celebrate 160 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Japan. This important anniversary is a chance to forge new creative partnerships for the future.

And so I am delighted that 2018 will see the opening of a new Japan House in London, to promote Japanese culture in the UK even more widely, and that in 2019 as the Rugby World Cup begins, the British Council will begin a season promoting British culture here in Japan – bringing together artists, technologists, researchers and businesses.

Our two great countries have a natural cultural and artistic affinity, and I look forward to our partnership in these creative areas continuing to blossom.