Author Archives: HM Government

Recognising the unprecedented scale of the crisis in Bangladesh and Burma, Britain is providing an additional £25million to meet the urgent needs in both countries of those affected by the violence.

In Bangladesh, where the majority of the funding will be spent, this will allow us to scale up the critical life-saving assistance that we are already providing – such as food, shelter, water and sanitation – to a greater number of those who have already fled.

In Burma, we stand ready to provide life-saving assistance to those affected in Rakhine State. Improvements in access are urgently needed to allow us to reach those in desperate need.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel has strongly reiterated her call for the violence to stop. She said:

For the second time in a little under a year, the eyes of the world are once again fixed on Burma. I am appalled by the allegations of gross human rights violations against large numbers of Rohingya, including reports of the Burmese military and local militia forcing hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from their homes and villages being burnt.

Latest estimates are that a staggering 370,000 Rohingyas have fled Burma in just over two weeks to seek refuge in Bangladesh, carrying nothing more than a handful of possessions. Innocent people have drowned crossing the border. As each day goes by thousands more pour across the border having left behind their homes, livelihoods and loved ones, uncertain of what their futures hold.

Simply put, the Burmese military must put a stop to the attacks on the Rohingya. Urgently needed humanitarian assistance must be allowed to get to those in need at a far greater scale than has so far been permitted.

Unacceptable intimidation and restrictions on the movement of humanitarian workers must be ended. We also call on the Burmese Government to protect the rights and freedoms that must apply to all people in Burma.

The UK is at the forefront of responding to the plight of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. As a world leader in humanitarian crises, this is what we do best. The issue is a complex one, but the UK has not shied away from its responsibility and we are working hard to provide thousands of displaced men, women and children with the basic essentials like food, shelter and water to stay alive.

Notes to editors

• In a statement on 8 September, we announced an additional £5m to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Rohingya who have fled into Bangladesh. This is in addition to £5.9m that we had programmed before the latest influx, reaching over 55,000 people. People now arriving in Bangladesh are hungry, injured and highly vulnerable – the majority are women and children. Monsoon rains are ongoing and many people are out in the open.

• UK assistance in Bangladesh will continue to focus on the critical needs of the most vulnerable among new arrivals, and among existing refugees and host communities. We will work inside and outside camps providing lifesaving assistance, including emergency shelter, food and nutrition assistance and safe water and sanitation. Protection activities will be central. This will include safe spaces and support for children, care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and dignity kits for women and girls. We will be working closely with our partners on the ground to ensure the specific needs and vulnerabilities of children, women and girls, people living with disabilities and older persons are addressed in all the support we provide. We will continue to invest in strengthening coordination of the whole relief effort, not just our own assistance.

• In Burma, aid workers have been getting British-funded humanitarian assistance to more than 80,000 people in parts of Rakhine State. In the areas affected by the violence, DFID’s partners are ready to provide emergency food to a further 30,000 people and to treat more than 3,000 severely malnourished children and pregnant women but have no access. We could provide significantly more assistance but have no current means of doing so.

• In a statement issued on 8 September, the Secretary of State condemned the appalling violence in and called upon the security forces to de-escalate the situation in Rakhine.

• It is important that the recommendations from the Rakhine Advisory Commission are implemented, and we welcome the Burmese Government’s appointment of an Implementation Committee on 12 September.

The cyber security code of practice for ships was launched by Lord Callanan at Inmarsat yesterday as part of London International Shipping Week.

The MAIB assisted with the development of this guidance, which provides actionable advice on:

• developing a cyber security assessment and plan to manage risk
• handling security breaches and incidents
• highlighting national and international standards used
• the relationship to existing regulation

The code is to be used with organisation’s:

• risk management systems
• subsequent business planning

The code of practice can be downloaded from GOV.UK.

Plans have been announced by Education Secretary Justine Greening for a primary assessment system which focuses on pupil progress, mastering literacy and numeracy, and scrapping unnecessary workload for teachers.

The plans to create a stable, long-term approach that ensures children are taught the essential knowledge and skills they need to succeed at secondary school and in later life were published today following a 12-week consultation with the teaching profession and other stakeholders. This is delivering on the commitments the government made at the election.

Education Secretary Justine Greening said:

A good primary education lays the foundations for success at secondary school and beyond. This year’s key stage 2 results showed our curriculum reforms are starting to raise standards and it is vital we have an assessment system that supports that.

These changes will free up teachers to educate and inspire young children while holding schools to account in a proportionate and effective way.

The government confirmed that it will:

• Introduce a new teacher-mediated assessment in the reception year from 2020 to provide a baseline measure to better track pupils’ progress during primary school. The check, which will be developed in conjunction with the teaching profession, will ensure schools are given credit for all the work they do throughout a child’s time at primary school;
• Improve the early years foundation stage profile – a check on a child’s school readiness at the end of their early years education. This includes reviewing supporting guidance, to reduce burdens for teachers;
• Make key stage 1 tests and assessments non-statutory from 2023 and remove the requirement for schools to submit teacher assessment data to the government for reading and maths at the end of key stage 2, as these subjects are already assessed through statutory tests, from 2018-19;
• Introduce a multiplication tables check to aid children’s fluency in mathematics from 2019-20;
• Improve teacher assessment of English writing by giving teachers greater scope to use their professional judgement when assessing pupils at the end of key stages 1 and 2 from the current academic year (2017-18).

Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT said:

Today the government have confirmed that, from this year, teachers will once again be able to apply professional judgement when assessing pupils’ writing. Teachers and school leaders have argued strongly that sufficient flexibility to properly recognise pupils’ achievements was needed. This move is a welcome step in the right direction.

The decision to make SATs for seven year olds non-statutory in favour of a new reception baseline assessment may well be met with trepidation by some, but it is absolutely the right thing to do. Under current accountability arrangements, the hard work and success of schools during those critical first years is largely ignored. If designed properly, these new assessments can provide useful information for schools to help inform teaching and learning whilst avoiding unnecessary burdens on teachers or anxiety for young children.

We intend to work with government to ensure that this is exactly where we end up. Taken together, these measures are a big step in the right direction.

The government has also set out how it will better support children who are not yet working at the standard of the national curriculum tests.

The changes, which follow a consultation on the findings of the independent Rochford Review, will ensure there are appropriate assessment arrangements in place and there will be a pilot of a new approach to assessing the attainment of children with the most complex special educational needs.

Introducing these measures will help schools support these children to progress on to mainstream forms of assessment during primary school, if and when they are ready, ensuring no child is left behind.