Press release: UK’s rarest freshwater fish caught on film for the first time

The film was shot on a remote controlled yellow submarine while assessing how much sediment is building up on the bottom of Derwentwater in Cumbria. Watch it here

Vendace (coregonus albula) is the UK’s rarest freshwater fish and a relic of the ice age. Its UK habitat is in Derwentwater and like lamprey, Arctic charr, spined loach, allis shad, twaite shad and smelt, it is an international conservation priority.

The Environment Agency carries out regular surveys of water quality around the country and over the past five years has worked with farmers, businesses and water companies to improve and protect over 15,000km of rivers, lakes, coastal waters and bathing waters. England’s rivers are the healthiest they’ve been for 20 years and salmon, sea trout and other wildlife have returned to many rivers for the first time since the industrial revolution.

Andy Gowans, Environment Agency fisheries specialist, said:

It was a unique moment to capture this iconic fish live on film. Seeing the vendace is a good indication of the health of the lake’s water. Derwentwater is the only place these fish inhabit in the UK, so maintaining the quality of the water is vital for their survival.

Dr Ian Winfield, from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who leads the survey on Derwentwater and operated the remote-controlled yellow submarine, said:

As the day closed, I decided I would go out to the deepest part of the lake which is about 20 metres and drop the submarine in. I’m able to view the images from the submarine’s filming live and was keen to see what fish showed up.

Although, the vendace came and went within in a matter of seconds, I knew it was a vendace. This was an amazing moment for a scientist, I was not expecting to see one, never mind film one. I knew I had captured for the first time on film the elusive vendace species.

The Environment Agency and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology plan to do further surveying later in the year using more advanced filming technology.

News story: One Public Estate expands to help councils deliver 44,000 jobs and 25,000 homes

One Public Estate expands to help almost three quarters of councils to deliver 44,000 jobs and 25,000 homes through property.

The Cabinet Office and Local Government Association have today announced that a further 79 councils will join the One Public Estate (OPE) programme, bringing the total number of councils participating in OPE to 255 – almost three quarters of all councils in England.

£3.6 million has been allocated to councils across new and existing partnerships on the programme.

The latest funding round means that by 2019 to 20 the partnerships on OPE expect to:

create 44,000 jobs
release land for 25,000 homes
raise £415 million in capital receipts from land and property sales
cut running costs by £98 million

The funding will support public sector partnerships to work collaboratively on land and property initiatives, generating new jobs and homes, creating more joined up public services to local communities, and delivering savings for the taxpayer.

OPE remains firmly on track to achieve the ambition of 95% of councils on the programme by 2018, with 72% of councils across England now delivering through OPE.

Ben Gummer, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, said:

One Public Estate is not just about creating savings and collecting land receipts, it also enables the delivery of houses and jobs.

Through this groundbreaking programme, local councils can transform services, unlock significant local growth and crucial efficiency savings through smarter use of property and land.

Lord Porter, Chairman of the Local Government Association, said:

In the drive to get Britain building again it is encouraging to see that over 70% of Councils have now joined the OPE Programme. These councils will strive to collaborate with government and wider public sector bodies to deliver much needed Housing and services at a local level.

Background

One Public Estate is a national programme initially launched in 2013. It is jointly delivered by the Government Property Unit within the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association. It supports joint working across central and local government to use land and property to boost economic growth, unlock regeneration, and create more integrated public services. It encourages public sector partners to share buildings, transform services, reduce running costs, and release surplus and under-used land for development.

Partnerships joining the programme will receive funding and both practical and technical support from our team to help solve issues and deliver ambitious transformational projects.

Launched in 2013, One Public Estate has grown from the original pilot scheme of 12 councils to 264, all delivering ambitious projects to meet local needs.

Following on from the successful pilot stages, it was announced in the Autumn Statement 2015 that One Public Estate would receive £31 million to further expand the programme.

A further application window for councils wishing to join One Public Estate will be open in April 2017. To find out more about the programme, email onepublicestate@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

News story: Accelerator face-to-face meetings

An opportunity to book a meeting with the Defence and Security Accelerator team to discuss your research idea.

The Accelerator is holding a series of 30-minute face-to-face meetings across the UK to give you the opportunity to discuss your innovative research idea in private.

Meeting slots will be announced for Newcastle shortly, while other meetings will be arranged at different locations across the year.

The Accelerator focuses on innovations which can provide advantage to defence and national security to protect the UK from its adversaries. It funds the development of suppliers’ innovative ideas and provides support through to potential application. This is through the enduring competition or specific themed competitions.

Before you come to your meeting please prepare by thinking about:

what is your research idea?
what do you think is the military benefit? will it save time/costs, improve capability/performance/reliability? why should MOD invest in this work?
what will your approach be? how will you structure your research?
what will you deliver? what evidence will you produce?
what will the impact of your research be? how will you demonstrate progress towards the claimed benefit?

The main purpose of this meeting is for you to ask questions, and most importantly, receive advice from the team, so please leave time for this during your 30 minutes.

Spaces will be on a first-come, first-served basis and an organisation should only register once.

Government response: Citizen Go’s campaign about Marie Stopes International (MSI)

The Department of Health’s response to the Citizen Go campaign about Marie Stopes International (MSI).

Ministers agree that Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections and reports have raised considerable concern about compliance by Marie Stopes International (MSI) clinics with requirements set by the Department of Health and the CQC.

Findings of non-compliance related both to practices in the clinics inspected and at a corporate level and were so serious that they led to the suspension of certain services provided by MSI until steps were taken to ensure that these issues had been resolved to the satisfaction of the CQC. The CQC also issued 4 warning notices to MSI in response to regulatory breaches around ‘consent’, ‘safeguarding’, ‘care and treatment’ and ‘governance’, as well as a number of ‘requirement notices’ to support improvement.

The CQC considered MSI to have made sufficient progress and allowed services to be resumed from 7 October 2016. The CQC continues to monitor the progress of MSI and plans to inspect its centres and UK administrative offices again in the near future to ensure that ongoing improvements are made and maintained. The re-inspections will determine exactly how embedded the improvements have been.

The CQC has made clear that it will not hesitate to take further action, if necessary, to guarantee that MSI meets the standard of care it expects and that its patients deserve.

The Department continues to monitor the situation, with particular regard to the statutory approval responsibilities of the Secretary of State.

News story: The first English EMFF FLAG launch events get underway

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) supports launch event.

The MMO is delighted to support the launch events of two of our European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs) over the next few days.

The launch events mark the next stage in the process after each of the successful English FLAGs were issued £800,000 under the EMFF scheme to deliver their community led local development strategies in England. The MMO is pleased to be able to attend both events.

Holderness FLAG will hold their launch event on 27 January 2017 at The Spa, Bridlington and Hastings FLAG will launch on 30 January 2017 at The Stade, Hastings.

Commenting on the FLAG launches Andrew Wells (MMO Board Member) said:

“It is very rewarding for the MMO to see Holderness and Hastings formally launch their FLAGs, knowing that they will use the knowledge of local stakeholders to tackle fisheries issues at a local level.

The journey the FLAGs have taken from application to refinement to panel has been a challenging one and it is a testament to the FLAGs that they were successful in securing EMFF funding. They can now use that funding to benefit fisheries communities.

I very much enjoyed reading about the Holderness FLAG journey to this point on our marine developments blog and I am looking forward to attending the Hastings FLAG launch in person on 30 January 2017.”