• Bids received from every nation in the UK as regions and groups of towns were encouraged to apply
• The new winner will be announced next year and will be at the centre of the UK’s cultural spotlight in 2025

A record 20 places from across the UK have submitted an expression of interest to become the UK City of Culture 2025 – an all time high of entries for this prestigious competition.

The competition, delivered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in collaboration with the devolved administrations, uses culture as a catalyst for levelling up areas outside London and putting new parts of the UK on the cultural map internationally.

Entrants have been tasked with proving that they can put culture at the heart of their plans to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

Regions and groups of towns have been encouraged to apply in this competition, with a number stepping forward from across the UK.

Bidding for the title in its own right has been shown to have a hugely positive impact on a place, for example previous longlisted bids have used the bidding process to bring together lasting local, national and international partners, share a vision for their area and attract investment.

To ensure as many places as possible across the country can take up this opportunity, DCMS are awarding grants of £40,000 to successful longlisted places for the first time to support their long applications.

The winner, which will be announced next year, will take on the baton from Coventry as the 2021 UK City of Culture and be at the centre of the UK’s cultural spotlight in 2025.

The benefits to the winner of the title are huge, attracting millions of visitors and investment and bringing communities together to showcase the place where they live to the country and the world.

Throughout the history of this competition the winning cities have always benefited from financial support to ensure the programme’s success and lasting legacy. Coventry has received over £15.5 million from the Government to directly support its year as UK City of Culture.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:

This record number of applications from all four corners of the country is testament to the huge success of City of Culture in generating investment, creating jobs and boosting local pride.

This prestigious prize creates a fantastic opportunity for towns and cities to build back better from the pandemic and I wish all bidders the very best of luck.

Sir Phil Redmond, Chair of the City of Culture Expert Advisory Panel, said:

From Derry-Londonderry to Hull and Coventry it has been a difficult and rewarding challenge to select the next UK City of Culture, and the list of potential candidates for 2025 indicates that life in the immediate future is going to be even more challenging!

The three previous title holders have demonstrated the transformative and catalytic effect culture can bring about, even within places that have been ultimately unsuccessful but have gone on to develop collaborative and sustainable partnerships.

The list for 2025 also demonstrates the breadth of ambition, aspiration and innovation that exists from coast to coast and nation to nation across the UK and I am looking forward to that challenge of immersing myself once again in the UK’s rich seam of creativity.

Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 is providing a blueprint for how culture can be at the heart of social and economic recovery. The city has already attracted over £100 million so far in capital investment to support cultural projects, such as Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry Cathedral and Belgrade Theatre, among many others.

City of Culture status also had a huge impact on Hull and Derry-Londonderry. Hull saw more than 5.3 million visits to over 2,800 events, cultural activities, installations and exhibitions. 75% of those who visited Hull in 2017 stated that it changed their perception of the city for the better and 9 out of 10 people in Hull thought that UK City of Culture had a positive impact on the city and more than nine-in-ten residents took part in at least one cultural activity.

The twenty bidders will be reduced to an initial long list of bidders in the coming weeks and then cut down further to a final shortlist in early 2022. The winner will be announced in May 2022.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

More information on Coventry City of Culture 2021

Full list of bidders:

• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
• The City of Bangor and Northwest Wales
• The Borderlands region, comprising Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria and Carlisle City
• Bradford
• Conwy County
• Cornwall
• Derby
• County Durham
• Lancashire
• Medway
• City of Newport
• Powys
• Southampton
• Stirling
• The Tay Cities region
• Torbay and Exeter
• Wakefield District
• City of Wolverhampton
• Wrexham County Borough
• Great Yarmouth & East Suffolk

Thousands of offenders will be steered away from a life of crime thanks to the roll-out of The Clink training kitchen scheme to 25 jails by the end of the year, Prisons Minister Alex Chalk has announced.

Already running at eight prisons including HMPs Bristol, Downview, and Styal, the programme sees prisoners train in professionally-run prison kitchens for up to 35 hours a week – preparing and cooking thousands of meals daily – while simultaneously working towards professional qualifications which will help them find employment on the outside.

The Clink has already helped over 2,500 offenders into stable and secure jobs since launching just over a decade ago through their training initiatives, with the expansion announced today expected to support a further 2,000 prisoners into employment.

In 2019 alone, The Clink trained up over 440 prisoners – a total of 330,000 training hours – with over 280 employers across the country taking on Clink graduates upon release from prison.

Research shows that ex-offenders in work are more likely to turn their backs on crime for good, with prisoners who have taken part in The Clink’s training scheme almost a third less likely to go on to commit further offences – reducing the £18 billion a year cost of reoffending and keeping communities safe.

Prisons Minister, Alex Chalk, said:

Prisoners with a job on release are far less likely to reoffend – meaning if we can provide the path to employment, we can make our communities safer.

As we continue to build back safer from the pandemic, it is absolutely vital that we continue to address the root causes of crime by supporting offenders to turn their lives around – and this scheme will do precisely that for thousands of ex-prisoners.

The Clink Chief Executive, Christopher Moore, said:

The roll-out of The Clink Kitchens project over the next three years to 70 prisons in England and Wales, will enable us to continue to repair society and support the hospitality industry that has a major skills shortage.

Social mobility is at the heart of many companies’ recruitment agenda and employing a highly trained Clink graduate not only is a benefit to their business but increases the diversity of their workforce.

The partnership with The Clink Charity is one of many government schemes aimed at supporting offenders into employment with the ultimate aim of cutting crime. Other initiatives include work placements for dozens of offenders during the construction of HMP Five Wells (Northamptonshire) and the new prison in Glen Parva (Leicestershire).

Boosting access to work and safe accommodation for prison leavers will also help build back safer communities by cutting crime and reducing reoffending.

Notes to editors

• The 19 prisons anticipated to be operational by the end of the summer are: HMPs Bristol, Brixton, Bronzefield, Bullingdon, Channings Wood, Dartmoor, Downview, Eastwood Park, Erlestoke, Exeter, Forest Bank, Guys Marsh, High Down, Highpoint, Hollesley Bay, Leeds, Lewes, Liverpool, Low Newton, Moorland, New Hall, Northumberland, Peterborough, Preston, Styal, and Wealstun.
• Justice Data Lab figures show the rate of reoffending for prisoners who participated in the scheme was 15%, compared to 22% for those who did not. This is a difference of 32%.
• Over the next 3 years the New Futures Network, a specialist part of HMPPS which works to create employment opportunities for serving prisoners and prison leavers, will support The Clink Charity to deliver their sector-led training programme.
• For more on the New Futures Network, visit: https://newfuturesnetwork.gov.uk/
• · The scheme is being funded entirely by The Clink Charity through generous donations from philanthropic individuals and grant maintaining trusts.
• For more information on The Clink Charity, visit: https://theclinkcharity.org/.
• For interviews with The Clink Charity, contact: mediaenquiries@theclinkcharity.org.

NEW YORK – The UK Department for International Trade (DIT), alongside the City of London Corporation, the Investment Association, and the Green Finance Institute, announced today that after a highly competitive recruitment process, 11 UK-headquartered FinTech companies specializing in ESG and sustainability were chosen to join a virtual trade delegation to New York Climate Week starting September 20th.

This group of fintechs, which includes 2RSquared, All Street Research, Amplyfi, Arabesque Group, Carbon Trade Exchange, corfinancial, Net Purpose, OakNorth, Solidatus, Tumelo, and Urgentem, have developed groundbreaking new products and services that are already helping companies, investors, consumers, and regulators around the world overcome key challenges in ESG adoption. DIT looks forward to showcasing these solutions, and more, during the mission.

This trade mission comes at a critical moment as US financial services firms scramble to upgrade their capabilities, tools, and products to meet the growing demand for environmental, social, and governance conscious investment strategies. One in 3 dollars invested in the US, or $17 trillion in AUM, already falls within an ESG or sustainability mandate and that number will only continue to rise. Outside of investment, the financial industry is also expected to play a key role in helping the world achieve net-zero, enabling climate action, and ensuring universal access to services, all of which can be aided by new technology.

Kunal Khatri, Her Majesty’s Acting Trade Commissioner for the US said:

The UK has been at the heart of global financial services innovation for decades, and as we lead up to the COP26 Summit in Glasgow, UK companies are poised to play an even greater part in driving ESG and sustainability across the financial industry. Fintech in particular will have a crucial role to play in achieving net-zero by spurring green innovation and expertise into sustainable investments, by providing companies with better tools to measure and mitigate their climate impact, and by giving consumers the information they need to make more informed decisions. The UK has world leading talent, technology and businesses with an enormous amount to offer to the US market we are excited to bring this delegation of cutting-edge technology firms to New York Climate Week.

To deliver this program, DIT has partnered with the City of London, the Investment Association, and the Green Finance Institute.

In discussing the Mission, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, William Russell said:

The City of London Corporation is delighted to partner with DIT on this mission. The UK is a fintech powerhouse with UK fintechs raising a record-shattering $24.5bn of investment in the first 6 months of this year alone. The City of London Corporation has long played an active role in helping to scale up the UK’s fintech sector by bringing together our existing strengths in financial services with burgeoning tech expertise across the country. As the world faces up climate change it has never been more important to discuss the role that tech can play in sustainable development for financial institutions.

US firms interested in learning more about the mission, the participating fintechs, and how to get involved are encouraged to contact hayden.boilini@mobile.trade.gov.uk.

For media enquiries, contact: Natalie Mclaughlin British Embassy Washington Natalie.Mclaughlin@fcdo.gov.uk

About the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT)

DIT helps businesses export, drives inward and outward investment, negotiates market access and trade deals, and champions free trade. We are an international economic department, responsible for:

• supporting and encouraging UK businesses to drive sustainable international growth
• ensuring the UK remains a leading destination for international investment and maintains its number one position for international investment stock in Europe
• opening markets, building a trade framework with new and existing partners which is free and fair
• using trade and investment to underpin the government’s agenda for a Global Britain and its ambitions for prosperity, stability and security worldwide

Mr President, thank you for convening this important debate.

Two years on from its territorial defeat, Daesh remains a significant global threat. The recent attacks in Baghdad and the continuing violence in Syria provide further tragic evidence of that fact.

So we welcome the Secretary General’s report on the threat posed by Daesh. I would like to thank Under-Secretary-General Voronkov, Executive Director Coninsx and Dr. Moradian – particularly for his moving presentation – for their briefings. We are also indebted to the UN Monitoring Team, UNOCT and CTED for their important work in analysing this threat.

The UK’s position in countering Daesh is very clear. We remain an active and committed member of the Global Coalition against Daesh. We are a co-leader of the Coalition’s counter-propaganda effort and we host the Counter Daesh Communications Cell in the UK.

We continue to provide significant humanitarian and stabilisation support to those liberated areas of Iraq and Syria.

We also continue to facilitate the return of unaccompanied or orphan children on a case-by-case basis and subject to national security concerns.

However, we remain clear that those who have fought for or supported Daesh should face justice for their crimes in the most appropriate jurisdiction. Often that will be the region where those crimes were committed.

While it is vital that we focus on the immediate threats Daesh pose, we must also work together to tackle the long-term drivers of terrorism. That’s why the UK recently announced an additional £2.6 million of funding to support stabilisation in North East Syria.

We must also remain alive to the rising threat in other geographies. What is happening now in Afghanistan is a tragedy. We will remain vigilant to the return of the terrorist threat from Afghanistan. We all share an interest in making sure Afghanistan does not again become a safe-haven for terrorists.

The threat continues to grow in sub-Saharan Africa and we are providing security, stabilisation and humanitarian assistance in many affected countries to help them tackle the threat, build stability and support affected communities.

Meanwhile, Daesh continues its attempts to incite and recruit supporters around the world, particularly using social media and encrypted online platforms. Terrorism is global, and it requires a global response.

Multilateral cooperation lies at the heart of that global response. At the UN level, we welcome the continued efforts of the UNOCT, CTED and other UN agencies in supporting states to tackle it.

At the same time, we must be agile in recognising other new and emerging threats, including the use and misuse of new technologies. We should continue efforts to counter terrorist financing and extreme Right-Wing terrorism, and to prevent terrorist misuse of the internet.

Finally, we believe it is important to bring our values to this effort.

When countering terrorism, we must all ensure that we protect and promote human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. We must integrate a gender sensitive and whole of society approach into our efforts.

In this way, we would uphold the very principles on which the UN was founded.

Mr President, the UK will remain steadfast in the global fight against terrorism and violent extremism. We will continue to stand up for our shared values and interests. And we will continue to work with our partners and through the multilateral system to that end.
Thank you.