Since the weekend, fish have been in distress in the River Mole due to environmental impacts caused by the current hot and dry weather conditions. The Environment Agency has been at the watercourse throughout to take all necessary actions to prevent widespread fish deaths and to use re-oxygenating equipment to boost levels in the river.

Sadly, a significant number of fish, including perch, pike and roach have already died as a result of the naturally occurring incident. Due to the Environment Agency’s emergency response it is hoped that now oxygen levels are stable, thousands more fish have now been saved.

Anna Burns, Environment Manager at the Environment Agency, said:

Our officers have worked around the clock to prevent widescale fish deaths at this much-loved river. It is distressing that a large number of fish had perished ahead of our efforts, but our swift emergency response has ensured that many more will now be saved.

We have worked in partnership with Gatwick Airport and Thames Water and we thank them for their valuable assistance regarding this incident. We will all continue to work to prevent further fish deaths and reduce potential harm to local wildlife.

During summer the Environment Agency regularly respond to reports of fish in distress due to natural processes reducing oxygen levels in the water. Hot, sunny weather can lead to low flows in rivers and still water fisheries (ponds and lakes) start to warm up.

Small still waters are particularly susceptible. Rescuing fish is part of the Environment Agency’s fisheries management role. Fisheries teams are trained to use aeration equipment or hydrogen peroxide to restore dissolved oxygen levels. When necessary, fish will be rescued and transferred to safety.

Members of the public are encouraged to report any sightings of fish in distress to us via the Environment Agency’s 24-hour emergency hotline: 0800 807060.

The organising committee for the UK’s presence at Expo 2020 Dubai today announces the panel of experts that will decide the winning design for the UK Pavilion. From architects to artists, the 11 members are looking for a design concept that will create the most original, inspiring and memorable visitor experience possible.

Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton Dame Wendy Hall; Founder and Principal of AL_A Amanda Levete CBE; UK Space Agency director Rebecca Evernden and artist Idris Khan OBE are among the panel members, and will challenge all entrants from a creative and technical standpoint.

The theme of the UK Pavilion will be ‘Innovating for a Shared Future’ and will be built in the Opportunity District of the Expo site in Dubai. The winning design will be announced later in 2018. Led by the Department for International Trade (DIT), the UK Pavilion will host a business and cultural programme to promote the UK as a world-class destination for business, education and tourism.

Baroness Fairhead, Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion, said:

Expo 2020 is a fantastic platform to promote Global Britain on the world stage. The UK Pavilion will demonstrate the best of British to millions of people, emphasising the high quality of the innovative goods and services produced by our world-leading businesses.

The UK has a proud history of building successful showcases at World Expos, and supported by this excellent panel, the government is confident that Expo 2020 will create even more terrific opportunities for UK companies.

Laura Faulkner, UK Commissioner and Project Director, Expo 2020 Dubai, said:

We’re delighted that such an esteemed, accomplished and varied panel are joining us to decide on the winning design of the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020.

Previous UK Pavilions at World Expos have attracted a significant number of visitors, with the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Seed Cathedral and Wolfgang Buttress’s Hive both going on to win a number of major awards.

The Pavilion will showcase the best of UK design, manufacturing, technology and much more throughout the 172 days of the Expo, and we look forward to announcing the winning design later this year.

Expo 2020 is taking place in Dubai from 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021. With 180 nations participating and an expected 25 million visitors, it is a global platform to promote UK international agendas and showcase the best of British innovation, creativity and global leadership. The focus in Dubai will be on space, technology, entrepreneurship, global and regional development and creative industries.

The judging panel comprises:

• Rebecca Evernden: Director of International UK Space Agency
• Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FREng FRS: Professor of Computer Science and Executive Director of the Web Science Institute, University of Southampton
• Idris Khan OBE: Artist
• Amanda Levete CBE; Founder and Principal of AL_A
• Sarah Mann; Head of Architecture, Design & Fashion, British Council
• Jim MacDonald, Chief Executive, Architecture & Design Scotland
• Stephen Metcalfe MP, Member of the Science and Technology Select Committee
• Professor Sadie Morgan, Director, dRMM Architects
• Kathryn Parsons MBE, Founder and CEO, Decoded, UK
• Dr Mike Short CBE, Chief Scientific Advisor, Department for International Trade
• Laura Faulkner OBE: UK Commissioner and Project Director, Expo 2020 Dubai

In addition to creating a stand out pavilion, UK businesses are winning a significant amount of Expo 2020 related contracts, exceeding £1.3 billion to date, playing a major part in helping deliver Expo 2020 Dubai.

Media enquiries:

• Contact the DIT Media Team on 020 7215 2000 or email newsdesk@trade.gov.uk
• Follow us on Twitter @tradegovuk and @ukpavilion2020

The government agency responsible for managing England’s motorway and major A-road network won three awards at the TyreSafe Awards 2018. It scooped the prestigious ‘Safety in the Community’ category and Online and Social campaign for for its ‘Vehicle Checks’ campaign.

It was also presented with an Emergency Services Award which was a joint initiative to pilot tyre safety checks at the charity car wash events with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS), Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS), The Fire Fighters Charity (FFC).

This is the first time the Fire Fighters Charity have introduced a theme to its charity car washes. The drivers and occupants of the vehicles going through the car washes received information and education about the importance of the tyres on their vehicle, how and when to carry out checks, and the consequences of unsafe tyres.

The national Highways England ‘Vehicle Checks’ campaign ran across television, radio and online platforms last summer and called on motorists to consider basic checks such as topping up oil, checking tyre pressures and ensuring there was plenty of fuel in the tank.

The campaign underlined the importance of checking the vehicle before setting off and drew comparisons with the high-level of safety placed on those travelling by plane.

By taking a humorous approach to the advert – which featured a pilot announcing he’d done no pre-flight safety checks whatsoever to the aeroplane – the ‘passengers’ quickly set about disembarking underlining the seriousness of safety checks before travelling.

Head of Road Safety at Highways England, Richard Leonard said:

These awards are testament to the evidence-based approach that marketing have taken since 2015 when our Health and Safety five-year plan was launched.

We work closely with TyreSafe to promote tyre safety. Our vehicle checks campaign focused on the six most important checks – two of which are tyre checks – that drivers can make to ensure they have safe journeys.

Head of Marketing at Highways England, Alison Holliday said:

We delivered four phases of this campaign during 2017/18 following a strategic review of the causes of breakdowns and collisions leading to people being killed and seriously injured on our network.

Persuading drivers to carry out vehicle checks before a long journey offered a high potential for change and the great creative approach taken in comparing the critical nature of aircraft checks to vehicle checks really caught people’s imaginations. Most importantly, the summer 2017 campaign led to a recorded drop in vehicles breaking down on our network. This is evidence that our vehicle checks campaign has contributed towards behaviour change.

Highways England has a target to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on its network by 40% before 2020 – so raising awareness of tyre safety can make a significant contribution to achieving this.
Each breakdown is a major inconvenience for driver and passengers. Even if no-one is hurt, the knock-on effect has the potential to cause congestion for thousands of other road users.

TyreSafe chairman, Stuart Jackson, said:

The diverse range of activities to engage communities in the tyre safety message and the breadth of organisations delivering them always makes this a hotly-contested category. However, this year’s winner stood out with the scale of its ambition and proven results.

Highlights included the significant reduction in breakdowns on the Strategic Road Network month-on-month during the campaign.

Some 48 per cent of the target audience saying they were more likely to perform vehicle checks having been exposed to the campaign. And 15 per cent of respondents have carried out vehicle checks prior to a recent journey having been exposed to the campaign.

Congratulations Highways England for the Vehicle Checks campaign, which claims this year’s Safety in the Community Award.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

The award-winning TV series Peaky Blinders and critically acclaimed film Darkest Hour are among the productions to have made use of the High-End TV and Film Tax Reliefs respectively.

Since their respective introductions, 2,420 films, 310 TV productions and 480 videogames have benefited, and for the first time, Orchestra Tax Relief has helped to showcase 205 musical productions across the UK.

Mel Stride, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General said:

The UK’s world class creative industries – from films to video games to orchestras – are championing culture and innovation both at home and abroad.

We supported these vital businesses with a record £850 million of tax relief last year, helping to boost growth across the country and contribute to the UK’s rich cultural fabric.

Creative Sector Tax Reliefs were introduced to help UK businesses in these highly skilled and innovative sectors thrive at home and abroad, and this year marks the sixth anniversary since they were introduced.

The creative industries employ people from across all parts of the UK. These tax reliefs are helping to ensure creative sector companies can continue to hire people and boost local economies.

Around 6,000 jobs are already supported by the project. Many of those are within the 2,000 businesses that have delivered work supporting the project, ranging from conducting the largest ground investigation programme in British history to the planting of over 7 million trees and shrubs.

HS2 Ltd Chairman, Sir David Higgins, is expected to say:

Britain invented the modern railway and it is right that, because of HS2, we have the opportunity once again to lead the world in this important sector.

As we move towards construction, we are already seeing thousands of people around the country working to bring Britain’s new railway to reality. We’re in the middle of the largest programme of early works that the UK has ever seen, leading to major construction next year; supporting jobs and businesses around the UK and building the skills base we need to export around the world.

On top of this, people only need to look to Birmingham and its booming economy to see the benefits that HS2 will bring right around the country happening already in the Midlands. Further proof that HS2 is more than just a railway.

Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, said:

HS2 will not only be the backbone of our national network, but a truly ambitious project that will drive huge economic growth right across the country.

It will create significant benefits for all, delivering improved connections between our major cities, introducing more seats and services for passengers, and creating thousands of new jobs and opportunities for people and businesses across the UK.

Sir David Higgins has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for the success of this vital project. As this report shows, before he steps down from the role of chairman, HS2 is already delivering on its incredible potential, with jobs and business opportunities already being created well before the first services are expected in 2026.

The HS2 programme will span over 15 years and then continue to provide direct economic benefits through operation and maintenance contracts once in operation. In addition to this, cities and regions across the UK are already seeing the benefit HS2 will bring, attracting new investment outside of London and the South East, beginning to rebalance the UK economy.

The report, HS2: Realising the potential, launched at an event in Leeds to an audience of over 100 business and civic leaders from across the country, also points to the transformation in rail travel that the new high speed trains will have on travel in the UK. HS2 trains will call at over 25 stations from London to Scotland, serving around 30 million people in regions representing over half of the UK economy.

Core Cities UK Vice Chair and Leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Nick Forbes, said:

Core Cities UK Leaders and Mayors believe HS2 is of enormous economic benefit to all our cities, even those not directly on the route. It will pay for itself many times over. And there is no reason why HS2 should be the end of the story, we believe it can be a first step towards high speed rail for the whole of the UK.

Ensuring that passengers can move around the country easily can help companies build a critical mass of skills, talent and expertise which is necessary to increase regional productivity. But passengers also need to have confidence in rail travel, knowing that their journey will be stress free and comfortable.

Passengers on the new high speed network will experience fast, reliable services, rivalling those of other high speed networks across the globe. Trains, stations and ticketing are being designed to revolutionise the user experience, ensuring that future generations of travellers will be catered for on HS2, with any delays to service on high speed lines no longer than an average of 30 seconds.

Sir David Higgins continued:

HS2 services will be unrecognisable to today’s commuters. A service that is dependable, if you’re travelling for work, attending a meeting, or seeing family and friends, the standard set by HS2 will be world class, with the stress of tickets, delays and other frustrations designed out of the system. HS2 will be judged, in the end, if it can be considered a railway for everyone.