Guidance to support NHS antenatal and newborn (ANNB) screening providers and commissioners in addressing inequalities throughout the screening pathway.

Chair, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

The United Kingdom is pleased to have the opportunity to share with you the progress and developments we have made since the last meeting of this committee in 2019.

The UK will shortly be releasing a National Space Strategy. Through this strategy, the UK recognises the importance of space in the fight against climate change, and in supporting the UK’s ambitions to become a science superpower, and to build a better and greener world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK’s National Space Strategy, along with the establishment of the UK National Space Council in June 2020 – which is chaired by our Prime Minister – will provide strategic direction across the whole of the UK Government on future space activities and investment.

Chair,

Regarding our spaceflight ambitions, the UK Space Industry Regulations were signed into law in our Parliament this year on 29 July. These new Regulations will enable a range of commercial spaceflight activities, including horizontal and vertical launch from the UK.

An example of the new type of missions that are being licensed from the UK is the OneWeb constellation. As other, similar systems start to be deployed, we must collectively work together to ensure near-term safety and the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

Chair,

The UK believes that space has an important contribution to make to the Sustainable Development Goals – the SDGs. To support developing countries, and the implementation of the SDGs, the UK Space Agency’s award-winning initiative, the International Partnership Programme (IPP), uses the UK space sector’s capabilities in satellite technology and data services to develop space-enabled projects in partnership with developing countries. The International Partnership Programme has an impressive portfolio of 43 grant-funded projects benefitting 47 countries, in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, which tackle global development challenges such as climate and disaster resilience, food security, maritime safety, health, and education.

Chair,

I already mentioned the importance of space in the fight against climate change. The UK is delighted to be assuming the Presidency of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties – COP26 – in partnership with Italy, later this year. We were proud to be the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end our country’s contribution to global warming by 2050. The UK’s expertise in the analysis and exploitation of climate data from satellites is helping the development of global climate change policy and we are excited by the potential that space has to help combat climate change, including through supporting and improving climate adaptation.

Chair,

We also attach great importance to the Long-Term Sustainability of the Outer Space Environment. Sustainability is just as important in space as it is on earth. To achieve that, the UK is playing a leading role in supporting an inclusive approach to capacity building and implementation of the Long-Term Sustainability guidelines – the LTS guidelines.

The UK is proud to have established our first project with UNOOSA in January 2021. There are four parts to this project:

1. The publication of the LTS guidelines in an accessible format in all six official UN languages;
2. Hosting a series of three international expert events to promote space sustainability by identifying examples of the sustainable use of outer space;
3. Supporting Member States to engage constructively in the upcoming LTS working group; and
4. Identifying gaps and challenges associated with LTS guideline implementation, so as to support the capacity-building needs of all countries.

The UK will showcase this work at a side event that we are co-hosting with UNOOSA on Tuesday 31 August between 5.15pm and 6.15pm Vienna time. We hope many of you will join us, and Director Simonetta Di Pippo, for that event.

Chair,

As part of the UK’s Presidency of the G7 this year, delegates pledged to take action to tackle the growing hazard of space debris. The G7 published a Common Statement recognising the importance of the LTS guidelines and the need for a collaborative approach for space traffic management. This important issue was also reflected in the G7 Leaders’ Communique.

Additionally, Astroscale – the innovative private company that works on the safe and sustainable development of space – launched a demo programme from their UK operations centre in March this year, which aims to tackle space debris with a spacecraft that uses a magnetic plate, which can pull the debris into freefall to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Chair,

The UK looks forward to the establishment of a working group in COPUOS to address the use of in-situ space resources and we welcome the political interest in this. We note, however, that other issues, such as spectrum and Geostationary Satellite Orbit slot allocation by the ITU, are best discussed at the ITU in Geneva.

Chair,

In 2020, the UK was a signatory to the Artemis Accords with NASA. By signing the Artemis Accords, the UK joined international partners to agree a common set of principles to guide cooperation in space exploration for years to come. The Artemis Accords will ensure a shared understanding of safe operations, use of space resources, minimising space debris and sharing scientific data.

Finally, Chairman, distinguished delegates, we look forward to a productive session. You have the UK’s full support in furthering joint cooperation and dialogue in the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space.

Callers to the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) helpline with family issues will no longer be referred to specialist telephone advice from 1 September 2021. Instead, they will be offered alternative support arrangements by being signposted to their nearest face-to-face family providers.

Other areas of telephone advice provided by the CLA in England and Wales will be unaffected by this change. These include education, discrimination, debt, and housing work.

How will the new family process work?

Operators will carry out an initial ‘means and merits’ assessment for the client. This will provide an early, initial case determination.

If the issue is in scope, and clients are financially eligible, they can then be signposted to their 3 closest providers. If not, they will continue to be signposted elsewhere for possible help.

This is a change from the current referral process for specialist telephone legal advice on family issues. However. these changes do not affect access to family advice. Clients who qualify for legal aid can continue to get face to face help from family practitioners with legal aid contracts, including over the telephone.

Why is this happening now?

The CLA is introducing these changes to replace the current referral arrangements for specialist telephone advice in the family category of law.

It adapts the process to the reality that more than 90% of family cases billed under CLA are only reaching the determination stage.

At the moment, the service is not delivering substantive legal advice in most cases. Instead the service is mostly being used to determine scope and financial eligibility for legal aid.

Amendments to Standard Civil Contract 2018

Changes have been made to the Standard Civil Contract 2018, which we consulted on with representative bodies. Contract amendments will apply from 1 September 2021 to:

• support the referral of clients from the CLA operator service to a face to face family provider
• require face to face providers to carry out full scope and eligibility assessments of the client’s issue
• give face to face providers the option of using remote methods of communication where the client has been referred to them by the CLA operator service

Details of the contract amendments can be found on the Standard Civil Contract 2018 page on GOV.UK.

Further information

Standard Civil Contract 2018 – to download table of amendments, general specification and family category specific