The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) hosted an event last week in celebration of World Hydrography Day 2018, organised in partnership with the Museum of Somerset. The event was free to attend and was aimed at showing the local community the importance of hydrography and the vital role it plays in our lives.

The event offered a range of maritime-themed activities for both children and adults – from guessing marine mammal sounds to navigating around obstacles by calculating depths. Elsewhere on display was an augmented reality sandbox showing hydrography in action, with responsive contours projected onto the sand that moved in real-time as it was moved and sculpted by guests.

From the UKHO’s archive were a number of historical items on display and a film with old footage of chart printing. A re-enactment of an 18th century sailor firing a musket was also conducted in front of audiences, and members of the Royal Navy displayed two autonomous marine robotic systems.

Alia Weir, Head of Corporate Marketing Communications at the UKHO, commented:

“World Hydrography Day provides a valuable opportunity to show the importance of hydrography and why it is essential for almost all activity in the marine environment – from safe navigation to managing marine resources.

“We are proud to demonstrate to the local community some of the world-leading work we do here from the heart of Taunton, whether it’s the nautical charts that we have produced for over 200 years, or the cutting edge marine geospatial data that we handle today.”

First established in 2005 by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), ‘World Hydrography Day’ is celebrated annually to increase public awareness of hydrography and the work of hydrographers around the globe. The theme for 2018 is “Bathymetry – the foundation for sustainable seas, oceans and waterways”.

The UKHO will hold a national event in October, held in London. This evening reception will be attended by senior Government officials and key stakeholders in marine, science, academic and cultural industries.

The sell-out ticket-only event, which this year celebrates 100 years of the RAF, takes place at Cosford on the Staffordshire and Shropshire border, on Sunday (10 June 2018).

Around 60,000 people are expected to attend with 14,000 vehicles booked into the event car parks.

Highways England is advising motorists to leave plenty of extra time to travel as the local area is expected to start getting busy from as early as 7.30am with the peak period from 8am onwards and again from 4.30pm to 8.30pm.

Frank Bird, West Midlands emergency planning officer for Highways England, said:

We’re reminding road users to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys with roads leading to the event likely to be very busy, particularly the M54 westbound and the M6.

We’d also advise people to check our traffic and travel information channels before setting off.

Motorists travelling from Birmingham are advised to use the M54 to junction 3 and follow the signs.

Those travelling from Shrewsbury before 10.30am should use M54 junction 4 and follow signs, after which people should follow the event signing.

Highways England provides live traffic information via its website, local and national radio travel bulletins, electronic road signs and mobile platforms, such as Android and iPhone apps.

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 Department for Education has today (7 June 2018) announced six new members to the new Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, drawing on a range of professional experience from the police, children’s social, education and health sectors.

The independent panel, created under the Children and Social Work Act 2017, is one of the Government’s major reforms to child safeguarding and protection, and will bring together individuals who have a wide range of expertise to improve the welfare of children around the country.

The new panel members will work with the chair, Edward Timpson CBE, to consider and share lessons to improve practice from the most serious child safeguarding cases.

Minister for Children and Families Nadhim Zahawi said:

We want to improve care and support for every child, which is why it is so important we reflect and learn from the most serious cases of abuse or neglect, to help ensure the right protection is in place for some of the most vulnerable children in our society.

The new Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel will play an important part in improving this understanding. Led by Edward Timpson, it will support local areas to make improvements to services where they are needed and reduce the risk of future harm to children.

The six panel members announced today will bring valuable experience from different professions with responsibilities for safeguarding children, including the police, children’s social care, school and health sectors. They include:

• Sarah Elliott – Non-Executive Director at Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and the Chair of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB) for Poole, Bournemouth and Dorset. She was previously Regional Chief Nurse for NHS England South;

• Mark Gurrey – Chair of the South Gloucestershire Improvement Board and Chair of the LSCB for Devon & Wiltshire. He has a wealth of experience working to bring about improvements at authorities in intervention;

• Karen Manners – Deputy Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police, she has 32 years of experience in policing. She is also the national lead for policing on the Vulnerability Action Plan;

• Professor Peter Sidebotham – Associate Professor in Child Health at Warwick Medical School, Consultant Paediatrician at South Warwickshire NHS Trust and a designated doctor for safeguarding children at Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG);

• Dale Simon CBE – a qualified barrister and previously the Director of Public Accountability and Inclusion at the Crown Prosecution Service. She is currently the Non-Executive Director at the Parole Board; and

• Dr Susan Tranter – Executive Headteacher of Edmonton County Schools and Chief Executive of Edmonton Academy Trust. She is a member of the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) Strategy Group and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel will be responsible for identifying and reviewing serious child safeguarding cases which the panel believe raise issues and themes that are complex or of national importance. It will look at what could be done differently to improve the protection and welfare of children, and what implications these cases have on current and future policy or practices.

A further panel member will be appointed from the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, and a final position is occupied by the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families, Isabelle Trowler.

The panel will begin operating on 29 June 2018 and will work closely with the What Works Centre to build a stronger evidence base to help improve outcomes for children and share effective, innovative practice.

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Chair, Edward Timpson CBE, said:

Nothing is more important than keeping children safe and the work of the new National Panel will be pivotal in driving improvements in child safeguarding practice.

That’s why I’m delighted to have been joined by Panel Members with a deep and broad level of practical experience in children’s social care, health, police, law, education and other relevant services. I look forward to working alongside them as we begin to build clear and consistent practice improvements when learning from serious cases.

Faster intercity journeys, enhanced compensation for delays and more services and seats, are all in the blueprint for the new East Midlands franchise, Rail Minister Jo Johnson announced today (7 June 2018).

A huge package of benefits for passengers in the region also includes a Stations Improvement Fund and £250,000 of annual funding for community rail partnerships.

The announcement comes at the same time the Department for Transport (DfT) launches a 12-week public consultation on the next Cross Country franchise.

Mr Johnson urged people to contribute to the Cross Country consultation and added that the onus was now on East Midlands franchise bidders to show how they could deliver an ambitious upgrade programme.

Rail Minister Jo Johnson said:

We are investing in the biggest upgrade to the Midland Main Line since it was completed in 1870.

We have listened carefully to what thousands of passengers and stakeholders have said they want to see in the next East Midlands franchise.

We expect the next operator to unlock the unrealised potential while building on its stable foundations.

The new East Midlands operator will also need to:

• increase the frequency of services across the franchise, including an additional train every hour between Corby to London
• provide more trains on a Sunday, with earlier starts and later finishes for many services throughout the week
• provide high quality wi-fi and mobile connectivity on trains
• improve seating and luggage on trains and enhanced facilities at stations
• provide enhanced delay repay compensation for journeys delayed by more than 15 minutes – compared to 30 minutes now

The public consultation on the new East Midlands franchise ran from July to October 2017 and generated nearly 2,500 responses.

The next operator is due to take over the franchise in August 2019 and will work closely together with Network Rail to make these transformative changes happen.

The current Cross Country franchise is due to end late next year.

Following the end of the public consultation, details of what bidders for the new franchise will need to provide will be drawn up in the form of an invitation to tender.

Details of the East Midlands franchise have been published on GOV.UK.

The government is committed to giving Teesside every opportunity to expand its trade with the rest of the world, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, said today (7 July 2018) on a visit to Redcar Bulk Terminal.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss said:

Teesside is one of the great success stories of the past few years, with trade on the rise and unemployment down.

There are fantastic opportunities out there for businesses looking to expand their exports and as a government we want to do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for trade to prosper.

Because we know that when trade goes up, so does employment and wages which means more families have more money in their pocket.

With regional airports such as Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley set to benefit from Heathrow expansion, I hope to see exports continuing to rise in the region.

The Teesside tour comes as latest figures show goods exports from the North East were worth £12.9 billion in 2017, up by £1 billion on the previous year.

Analysis shows that as trade rises, so has average pay which is up by nearly 14% in the North East since 2010, the fastest growth of any English region.

Medicines, machinery and transport continue to be most successful exports from the region.

Latest figures show that:

• export goods from the North East of England to North America were worth £1.2 billion in 2017, up from £1 billion the year before
• exports to Asia were worth £1.7 billion, up from £1.5 billion the year before
• trade to the Middle East and North Africa saw a big leap by nearly 20% to £635 million worth of goods

The government set out its final proposals to back Heathrow expansion this week, with legally binding mechanisms in place to reserve take-off slots for regional airports, with Durham Tees Valley airport identified as a beneficiary of the expansion.