From: First published: 26 January 2017 Part of: New appointments to the body that oversees the specialist rail police force in Britain. The body that oversees the specialist rail police force in Britain is to be further strengthened by the … read more
The UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme (IPP), is a five-year, £152 million programme designed to partner UK space expertise with governments and organisations in emerging and developing economies around the world to deliver a sustainable, economic or societal benefit. Satellite data will be used to tackle problems such as flooding, drought, and deforestation.
The 21 chosen projects help provide solutions for local issues in countries across Africa, Asia and Central and South America. They include providing communications in remote areas for education and health provision, improving maritime safety for small fishing vessels in South Africa and Madagascar and reducing illegal logging in Guatemala.
The IPP focuses on using the UK Space sector’s research and innovation strengths to deliver practical and measurable effects to end-users in developing countries. As GCRF forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) ring-fenced budget, the new IPP programme is fully ODA compliant.
Funded from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the IPP forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) ring-fenced budget. They projects underwent a rigorous selection process to ensure that they met strict requirements for ODA and UN sustainability goals. The UK Space Agency part funds IPP projects with a proportion of the cost shared by the programme applicants to ensure cost effectiveness and value for money.
View the whole list of IPP funded case studies.
The IPP will make a second call for applications later this year, with an opportunity for new projects to secure funding.
Grant: £14.3 million Target country: Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Ghana and Kenya
This project addresses critical gaps in current forest monitoring systems by providing a sustained and effective forest monitoring system capable of measuring forest change and providing information on the risks and drivers of forest loss. The project focusses on Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Ghana and Kenya. It will use publically available Earth Observation optical data and commercial LIDAR/radar products as well as set up in-country capacity building EO monitoring stations.
Grant: £1.1 million Target country: South Africa, Madagascar Following on from their IPSP project, this project will install 1,500 transponders across the most at-risk artisanal fishing boats in South Africa. exactEarth will use their constellation of ‘Automatic Identification System’ monitoring satellites to track these boats in partnership with the South African Maritime Safety Authority; and this will ensure a more effective rescue approach for the small boats and reduce the current high loss of life in this sector.
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Sir David Henshaw has been appointed by the Secretary of State as Chair of NML for a term of four years from the 13 February 2017
Born and educated in Liverpool, Sir David went on to obtain a degree in Public Administration and then a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham (INLOGOV).
He has had an extensive career in the public sector with Chief Executive roles at Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council (1989-1999) and Liverpool City Council (1999-2006). During his time at Liverpool he was part of the core team which secured the successful bid to be European Capital of Culture 2008, managed the Council in developing Liverpool One, and saw Liverpool recognised as Council of the year.
He led a major review of Child Support and the Child Support Agency for central government (2006-2007) and was also involved in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit Capability Review programme of central government departments.
Sir David has also held a number of senior roles in the NHS. He has held positions as Interim Chair at University Hospitals of Morecombe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (2012-2013), at Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust (2013-2014), at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (since 2016). Sir David was Chair of the North West Strategic Health Authority (2006-2011) and has been Chair of Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust since 2010, leading the Board in the building of the new hospital. He was knighted in 2004 and is an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University, a Fellow of Liverpool University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Honorary Doctor at Sheffield Hallam University.
The NML Chair role is not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the OCPA Code of Practice. It is a requirement of the Code that political activity by those appointed is declared. Sir David has declared no political activity.
Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to Michelle O’Neill to congratulate her on becoming the leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.
A Downing Street spokesperson said:
The Prime Minister spoke to Michelle O’Neill to congratulate her on her new appointment as leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister said she looked forward to working with her and that she hoped that following the elections all parties would be able to come together to find a way forward for Northern Ireland.
She added that the UK government remained committed to building on the progress made in Northern Ireland to ensure a strong, stable devolved government that works for everyone.
GDP measures the total value of all of the goods made, and services provided, during a specific period of time.
Goods are things such as your new washing machine, or the milk that you buy. Services include the haircut from your hairdresser, or repairs done by your plumber.
It’s only final goods and services that are sold to you and me that matter for GDP though. So if some tyres roll off a production line and are sold to a car manufacturer, the value of the tyres isn’t included in GDP, it is reflected in the value of the car.
The amount you pay, or the market value of that good or service, is what’s important as these are added together to get GDP.
Gross Domestic Product means that GDP is only measuring things that are produced within the borders of the UK.
This is important, because if a British company is producing cars in China, they’re not contributing towards UK GDP.
This is because GDP can be expressed in nominal or real terms. Real GDP takes the value of goods and services produced in the UK, but it takes into account changing prices to remove the effect of rising prices over time, otherwise known as inflation.
Real GDP is otherwise known as the ‘constant price’ measure of GDP.
Nominal GDP still measures the value of all the goods and services produced in the UK, but at the time they are produced.
It is otherwise known as the ‘current price’ measure of GDP.
Just imagine trying to add together the value of everything made in the UK – that’s no easy feat, which is why there is more than one way of measuring GDP.
GDP is calculated three ways, adding up:
These are known as the expenditure, income and output measures of GDP, respectively. All three different methods of calculating GDP should, in theory, give the same number.
So if the GDP figure is higher than it was in the previous 3 months – the economy is growing.
If it’s lower – the economy is getting smaller.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for calculating the GDP figure for the UK. Naturally it collects a lot of data from a lot of different sources to do this. It surveys tens of thousands of UK firms working in manufacturing, services, retail and construction, as well as using a wealth of administrative data.
The ONS calculates GDP using each of the expenditure, income and output measures of GDP. The first estimate is just the output measure, with expenditure and income measures added from the second estimate.
The UK is one of the fastest countries in the world to compile the first estimate, although to do this it doesn’t have all the data it needs for a complete picture.
At this point, the ONS has only gathered about 40% of the information it needs – so this can be revised at the second and third estimates, when they have gathered more information. GDP can also be revised at a later date due to changes in the methods for estimating it, or to incorporate less frequent data.
Rising GDP means the economy is growing, and the resources available to people in the country – goods and services, wages and profits – are increasing.
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