Author Archives: HM Government

In the first week since Hurricane Irma struck the Caribbean, the British Red Cross appeal has raised over £1.3 million.

The public has donated over £650,000 since the British Red Cross appeal was launched on 6 September and the UK government is doubling any public donations made. For every £1 given, another £1 will be matched, up to £3 million.

One of the most destructive hurricanes in the region’s recent history, Irma has impacted communities in more than a dozen Caribbean nations and Island territories, destroying or severely damaging thousands of buildings, and claiming at least 40 lives. It is estimated that more than 1.2 million people have been affected.

The Red Cross are providing drinking water, family hygiene kits, blankets, tarpaulins, and other emergency supplies across the islands.

Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said:

We are overwhelmed by the British public’s generosity in helping us respond to those affected by the devastating Hurricane Irma. We are on the ground providing people with urgent access to clean water and shelter now.

Communities will take years to recover from the destruction of this hurricane. Unfortunately, there will be no quick solutions. The Red Cross will be there to support them every step of the way.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel said:

Hurricane Irma has left devastation across the Caribbean and Overseas Territories. Once again, Britain has acted without hesitation and UK aid funded food, water, emergency healthcare and shelter kits are being delivered to those affected right now.

In times of crises, at home or abroad, the overwhelming generosity of the British people provides hope where there is despair, and by matching pound for pound public donations to the British Red Cross Appeal, the government will double the difference Britons can make to the lives of those affected by Hurricane Irma.

To donate to the British Red Cross Hurricane Irma appeal please visit: www.redcross.org.uk/Irma

read more

“It is time for businesses in Wales to seize global exporting opportunities with both hands,” Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns will say today (14 Sept) during a visit to a Nantgarw- based furniture manufacturer making waves in overseas markets.

Mr Cairns will visit Orangebox in Parc Nantgarw a company that boasts a range of Blue Chip clients and export channels that span Europe, the Middle East, Far East and the USA. He will meet with senior executives at the company to hear about their future expansion plans and underline the UK Government’s commitment to providing certainty and stability to businesses in Wales as the UK prepares to exit the European Union.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

Wales is bursting with innovative and world-class companies that are boosting our economy, creating jobs and changing lives across the country. But now is the time to raise the bar and show the world just what Wales has to offer.

Orangebox is a great example of a company doing just that– a company with local headquarters yet with an internationally renowned reputation – putting Wales on the map right across the globe.

As Britain prepares to exit the EU we now have the opportunity to shape our own ambitious trade and investment opportunities in Europe and beyond, and put Wales and Britain firmly at the forefront of global trade and investment.

Wales is already an exporting nation. In 2016, 4,000 companies took their first forays into the global market at a value of £12.4 billion. Across the UK, exports contribute over £570 billion to GDP annually.

Orangebox, which was established in 1972, is expecting to achieve sales of £60m in 2017. It is also predicted that that the firm will save £30k per year, following the removal of the Severn Bridge tolls in 2018.

The visit comes after the Welsh Secretary announced that he is writing to 26,000 Welsh businesses that have been identified as potential exporters and sending them a copy of a dedicated exporting guide for Welsh businesses.

The Wales Export Guide, sets out the full range of support available to Welsh businesses from the UK Government and contains inspiring stories of companies based in Wales that are successfully exporting. Alun Cairns hopes that businesses will recognise the huge potential available to help them invest and grow.

Mr Cairns added:

Our mission is to become the world’s greatest exporting nation,, boosting business confidence and national pride, and empowering more Welsh companies to go out and succeed in global markets.

That is why we are sharing the advice, guidance and support available from the UK Government, in particular from the Department for International Trade, for businesses in our Wales Export Guide. We want to help them to build their brand abroad as we continue to increase UK exports and encourage inward investment.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Orangebox has a 420-strong workforce across sites in Ystrad Mynach, Parc Nantgarw and a London showroom. Their clients range from Blue Chip Organisations to Government Departments and 78% of their supply chain is based in the UK with many key suppliers in Wales.

ENDS

read more

• Bill will introduce safeguards to prevent and detect fraud, protect the freedom of the press, allow scientific research and maintain the integrity of professional sports
• Specifically includes measures to allow action against terrorist financing, money laundering and child abuse
• Processing done for legitimate interests will be allowed if it achieves a balance with individuals’ rights

The Data Protection Bill will make data protection laws fit for the digital age in which an ever increasing amount of data is being processed and empower people to take control of their data.

With individual data rights being strengthened, it is the Government’s view that, as far as possible, existing lawful data processing should be allowed to continue.

So the Bill assures specific UK businesses and organisations the vital data processing they undertake for legal or public interest reasons can continue uninterrupted.

It will preserve existing tailored exemptions that have worked well in the Data Protection Act 1998, carrying them over to the new law.

The government successfully negotiated these exemptions from the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation to create a proportionate data protection regime which is right for Britain.

Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Digital, said:

We are strengthening Britain’s data rules to make them fit for the digital age in which we live and that means giving people more control over their own data.

There are circumstances where the processing of data is vital for our economy, our democracy and to protect us against illegality. Today, as we publish the Data Protection Bill, I am offering assurances to both the public and private sector that we are protecting this important work.

The Bill will include exemptions for data processing in the following areas:

• Processing of personal data by journalists for freedom of expression and to expose wrongdoing is to be safeguarded
• Scientific and historical research organisations such as museums and universities will be exempt from certain obligations which would impair their core functions
• National bodies responsible for the fight against doping in sport will continue to be able to process data to catch drug cheats
• In the financial services sector, the pricing of risk or data processing done on suspicion of terrorist financing or money laundering will be protected
• Where it is justified, the Bill will allow the processing of sensitive and criminal conviction data without consent, including to allow employers to fulfil obligations of employment law

In its recent statement of intent Government committed to updating and strengthening data protection laws through the bill to provide everyone with the confidence that their data will be managed securely and safely. Research shows that more than 80 per cent of people feel that they do not have complete control over their data online.

Under the plans individuals will have more control over their data by having the right to be forgotten and ask for their personal data to be erased. This will also mean that people can ask social media channels to delete information they posted in their childhood. The reliance on default opt-out or pre-selected ‘tick boxes’, which are largely ignored, to give consent for organisations to collect personal data will also become a thing of the past.

Businesses will be supported to ensure they are able to manage and secure data properly. The data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), will be given more power to defend consumer interests and issue higher fines, of up to £17 million or 4 per cent of global turnover, in cases of the most serious data breaches.

Data protection rules will also be made clearer for those who handle data but they will be made more accountable for the data they process with the priority on personal privacy rights. Those organisations carrying out high-risk data processing will be obliged to carry out impact assessments to understand the risks involved.

The Government has published a number of factsheets on the Data Protection Bill.

Notes for Editors

• Media enquiries from accredited journalists only: DCMS News and Communications team – 020 7211 2210.

• Public enquiries: DCMS enquiries team on 020 7211 6000 or enquiries@culture.gov.uk.

read more

Loss of control and grounding of a ferry in Lochmaddy, Scotland.

read more

Thank you Mr President and thank you Under-Secretary-General Feltman for your valuable briefing. And thank you to Fatima on the phone for sharing your thoughts.

It was six months ago in a dusty IDP camp in Maiduguri that we heard her testimony – together with that of many others – and it really brought home to me, and I think probably to several of us who were there, the human cost of the crisis in the Lake Chad Basin. So it’s very good to hear from Fatima again today and it’s vital that the Council continues to hear from those most affected by the issues on our agenda and continues to use that analysis, and those from-the-heart interventions, to inform our decision making.

Sadly, as both Fatima and the Secretary-General’s report make clear, six months on from our visit to the Lake Chad Basin, and the situation remains deeply troubling. Yes, Boko Haram has been degraded, yes territory has been reclaimed, but Boko Haram is far from a spent force. They are down but not out, shifting their tactics from land grabs to opportunistic attacks.

Maiduguri now faces weekly suicide attacks, many from girls forced to be suicide bombers. Over 400 people have been killed since we visited. And Boko Haram’s shameful, sickening abductions of young women and girls continues unabated. Those that return continue to face stigma and discrimination, which is why the UK will host a ministerial event here on the 18th of September to launch a new set of global principles to tackle such stigma.

The continuing barbarity is only exacerbating the humanitarian crises. Since we visited, the number of Nigerians seeking refuge in neighbouring countries has only marginally decreased, with nearly 2 million people still displaced in North East Nigeria and over 8 million in need of urgent, life-saving assistance. And while the numbers of forced returns have fallen, we have seen thousands of people pressured back into areas where they don’t feel safe.

So it’s clear that we should all redouble our efforts to implement the commitments that we made in resolution 2349. The UK will play our part. We remain committed to partnering with Nigeria and its neighbours to degrade and defeat Boko Haram. We remain committed to helping people in need in the region, having scaled up our humanitarian support to 130 million dollars this year and announced an additional 260 million over four years, as part of the North East Nigeria Transition to Development programme.

But we all need to play our part. The Nigeria Humanitarian Fund launched in February with an appeal for 1 billion dollars this year. As of last month that appeal is less than half funded. As the Secretary-General’s report makes clear, insufficient funding from the donor community continues to limit the provision of food aid, development and recovery activities.

And just as the international community must act, so too should governments in the region. We look to the Government of Nigeria and affected countries to provide greater resources where they can and to further prioritise the humanitarian response. We also call on them to expedite all remaining registrations for humanitarian organisations in the region, as the Secretary-General’s report notes. We welcome the increased civil-military coordination in the humanitarian effort and urge this to continue. However we deeply regret the raid on the UN Red Roof Compound by the Nigerian military last month, though we do welcome the swift response by the authorities.

It’s clear Mr President that a long term solution will only be found through addressing the root causes which led to Boko Haram’s emergence. That, I think, was the main lesson for many of us on our visit. That search for the longer term root causes requires a regional plan to address the political, economic, governance, transparency and accountability issues. And if such an effort is to succeed, it must respect human rights. The ongoing reports of torture, arbitrary arrest and sexual exploitation are deeply concerning and must stop. So we support calls for greater funding to strengthen the UN’s monitoring presence on the ground.

Finally, the role of women in this crisis cannot be overlooked. We reiterate the Council’s call for greater engagement between regional governments, the Multinational Joint Task Force and women’s civil society, as well as deployment of a gender advisor to the MNJTF.

So in short, Mr President, there is a lot more that all of us need to do. Six months on from our visit, we cannot afford to lose focus. I hope that through briefings like the one we’ve heard today from Fatima and from Jeff, we will all be reminded of what is at stake, just as we were in Maiduguri. Thank you.

read more