Windsor based Groupe SEB UK Ltd, a large global importer and holder of well known cookware and small kitchen appliances, has paid £12,000 to two water charities for failing to meet its recycling responsibilities.

The money was split equally between charities, Thames Rivers Trust and The Marine Conservation Society, to help pay for projects including litter picking and removal at London Rivers Week and The Great British Beach Clean. Both projects are aimed at dealing with the impact of packaging waste on the environment and local communities.

Any company producing more than 50 tonnes of packaging a year with a turnover of above £2 million must register with the Environment Agency or a packaging compliance scheme, and meet their responsibilities for recycling waste packaging.

Groupe SEB of Riverside House, Windsor, failed to recover and recycle the weight of packaging it added to the UK waste stream in 2017, and a total of 1,183 tonnes of packaging waste may not have been diverted from landfill, which impedes the UK’s ability to meet its recycling targets.

The original proactive enforcement undertaking offer was made in 2018 to the Environment Agency and was for Groupe SEB’s failure to register as a producer and recover or recycle packaging waste in 2017. The company had previously been compliant but mistakenly believed it was registered when it moved from one compliance scheme to another.

For its enforcement undertaking, the company offered £12,000, more than double the calculated amount of avoided costs (£5,950.17).

Follow up work by the Environment Agency confirmed these charities received and have used their donations in their projects.

Manna Wan, a Regulatory Officer with the Environment Agency in Berkshire, said:

Enforcement undertakings are a type of civil sanction that allow us to secure regulatory compliance from organisations. They also ensure businesses don’t profit from non compliance and provide an opportunity for them to react responsibly to any offending.

While agreeing to enforcement undertakings, the Environment Agency continues to prosecute organisations and individuals where evidence shows high levels of culpability and serious environmental harm.

Thousands of young people in the most disadvantaged parts of England are to benefit from a new focus on making up lost learning time due to the pandemic, as well as levelling up their education outcomes and tackling barriers to skills and employment.

Michelle Donelan, Minister for the Opportunity Areas, today announced how the expanded programme will address the impact of coronavirus, building on the successes across each of the 12 areas by ‘twinning’ them with places facing similar challenges to help unleash the potential among young people in other parts of the country.

The fourth year of the flagship programme, announced last year, will raise the bar for young people boosting social mobility by raising educational outcomes and addressing inequality in skills and employment.

Funding allocations for each area have also been confirmed today, following the announcement of an £18 million expansion for an additional year in November. Within each allocation is a share of £1 million specifically to support the new ‘twinning’ work.

As part of the renewed focus for Year 4 of the programme, Minister Donelan will bring together ministers responsible for employment, youth services, public health, business and industry and policing to help chart a course to recovery from the pandemic and get Britain moving.

Opportunity Areas have already made a difference by improving the quality of careers advice, work experience, digital and other skills for employment as well as providing opportunities to develop confidence, leadership and resilience. The programme will now build on these successes by giving young people the skills they need for the jobs they want.

Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said:

Throughout the coronavirus outbreak, the Government’s focus has been on making sure the most disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in our society get the support they deserve.

Around the country, the response to the pandemic has been heroic, and each of the 12 Opportunity Areas has co-ordinated its approach to help those who need it most respond to immediate challenges.

Now as we chart a course to recovery, we will build on the programme’s success so far to benefit young people in new areas and level up their life chances.

We know that we can tackle these barriers more effectively when we come together across our different policy areas and by harnessing the expertise and experience of these dedicated professionals.

Year 4 priorities across the 12 Opportunity Areas include early speech and language development because, for too long, pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds start school already behind their peers elsewhere in the country. Other areas will learn from the rapid rise in the Good Level of Development at age 5 – a key indicator of school readiness – already seen in West Somerset, Oldham and Derby OAs.

The programme will also help pupils catch up on lost learning time while schools were closed to many pupils during the pandemic, and to help narrow the attainment gap. Many of the Opportunity Areas (OAs) have already put in place important support programmes, including:

• Funding for holiday clubs, helping thousands of children learn new skills and develop essential life skills like resilience, leadership and confidence. ‘Ay Up Duck’ in Stoke-on-Trent is supporting families during school holidays and since summer 2018 it has delivered over 26,000 meals for 18,260 attendees (including 15,700 children) in schools and community centres, alongside sport, music and art sessions and is also helping rebuild the community.

• Online maths and English tutoring for pupils in Ipswich and Norwich OAs. ‘What a difference a day makes’ provided 24 hours of tuition in English and maths to pupils in need of extra support and has already helped over 200 pupils in Ipswich increase their predicted GCSE maths grades by at least one grade. The programme has been adapted due to Covid-19 and around 60 pupils in both OAs will get support to get back into the swing of learning with English and maths online tutoring as well as study skills and wellbeing sessions to get them ready to start college or sixth form in September.

• Career and work opportunities for secondary pupils in all 12 Opportunity Areas. Pupils have had the chance to experience the world of work to motivate and inspire their career ambitions, working with the Careers and Enterprise Company to offer nearly 1.3 million meaningful encounters with employers for secondary pupils, more than four per pupil.

• Support for pupils at risk of exclusion. In Blackpool, ‘Team around the school’ has supported around 200 secondary pupils at risk of being excluded from school since it started in April 2019. Inclusion and parental engagement workers have been delivering free school meals, vouchers and work packages during lockdown, supporting around 130 vulnerable children during the pandemic through texts, calls or online contact to keep them engaged with schoolwork and other key services.

The programme is already having an impact in a wide range of areas from early years education to employment, following an initial £72 million boost for interventions across literacy, maths, attendance, teacher training and recruitment, post-16 options and careers advice since its launch in 2017.

Teacher recruitment and training is another focus for Year 4 to help raise standards – one of the best ways to support disadvantaged pupils. North Yorkshire Coast OA will share its innovative recruitment campaign which attracted 24 teachers from outside the area to take up posts and filled over 100 teaching vacancies across 28 schools.

Bradford OA is already taking a joined up approach between education and health with its ‘glasses in classes’ project to make sure children who fail an eye test are provided glasses in school to learn, and its early identification of autism so children get the support they need when they need it.

During June, there were five new detentions of foreign flagged vessels in a UK port.

1. In response to one of the recommendations of Lord Donaldson’s inquiry into the prevention of pollution from merchant shipping, and in compliance with the EU Directive on Port State Control (2009/16/EC as amended), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) publishes details of the foreign flagged vessels detained in UK ports each month.

2. The UK is part of a regional agreement on port state control known as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU) and information on all ships that are inspected is held centrally in an electronic database known as THETIS. This allows the ships with a high risk rating and poor detention records to be targeted for future inspection.

3. Inspections of foreign flagged ships in UK ports are undertaken by surveyors from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. When a ship is found to be not in compliance with applicable convention requirements, a deficiency may be raised. If any of their deficiencies are so serious, they have to be rectified before departure, then the ship will be detained.

4. All deficiencies should be rectified before departure.

5. When applicable, the list includes those passenger craft prevented from operating under the provisions of the EU Directive on a system of inspections for the safe operation of Ro-Ro passenger ships and high-speed passenger craft in regular service and amending directive 2009/16/EC and repealing Council Directive 1999/35/EC (Directive EU 2017/2110).

Notes on the list of detentions:

• Full details of the ship: The accompanying detention list shows ship’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) number which is unchanging throughout the ship’s life and uniquely identifies it. It also shows the ship’s name and flag state at the time of its inspection.
• Company: The company shown in the vessel’s Safety Management Certificate (SMC) or if there is no SMC, then the party otherwise believed to be responsible for the safety of the ship at the time of inspection.
• Classification society: The list shows the classification society responsible for classing the ship only.
• Recognised organisation: Responsible for conducting the statutory surveys: and issuing statutory certificates on behalf of the flag state.
• White (WL), grey (GL) and black lists (BL) are issued by the Paris MoU on 01 July each year and shows the performance of flag state.
• Deficiencies: The deficiencies listed are the ones which were detainable. Further details of other deficiencies can be provided on request.

SHIPS DETAINED IN JUNE 2020

Vessel Name: MARCO POLO

GT: 22080

IMO: 6417097

Flag: Bahamas (white list)

Company: Global Cruise Lines Ltd

Classification society: DNV GL

Recognised organisation: DNV GL

Recognised organisation for ISM Doc: DNV GL

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: DNV GL

Date and place of detention: 19th June 2020 at Avonmouth

Summary: Six deficiencies with one ground for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
01220 – Seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA)	Expired	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Vessel Name: VASCO DA GAMA

GT: 55877

IMO: 8919245

Flag: Bahamas (white list)

Company: Global Cruise Lines Ltd

Classification society: Lloyd’s Register

Recognised organisation: Lloyd’s Register

Recognised organisation for ISM Doc: DNVGL

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: Lloyd’s Register

Date and place of detention: 19th June 2020 at Tilbury

Summary: Five deficiencies with three grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
01220 – Seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA)	Expired	Yes
18204 – Non-payment of wages	Not according to SEA	Yes
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Vessel Name: ASTOR

GT: 20704

IMO: 8506373

Flag: Bahamas (white list)

Company: Global Cruise Lines Ltd

Classification society: DNV GL

Recognised organisation: DNV GL

Recognised organisation for ISM Doc: DNV GL

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: DNV GL

Date and place of detention: 19th June 2020 at Tilbury

Summary: Two deficiencies with two grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
01220 – Seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA)	Expired	Yes
18203 – Wages	Missing	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Vessel Name: ASTORIA

GT: 16144

IMO: 5383304

Flag: Portugal (white list)

Company: Global Cruise Lines Ltd

Classification society: BV

Recognised organisation: BV

Recognised organisation for ISM Doc: BV

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: BV

Date and place of detention: 19th June 2020 at Tilbury

Summary: Five deficiencies with four grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
01220 – Seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA)	Expired	Yes
18204 – Non- payment of wages	Non – payment of wages	Yes
01220 – Seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA)	Invalid	Yes
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Vessel Name: COLUMBUS

GT: 63786

IMO: 8611398

Flag: Bahamas (white list)

Company: Global Cruise Lines Ltd

Classification society: Lloyd’s Register

Recognised organisation: Lloyd’s Register

Recognised organisation for ISM Doc: DNVGL

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: Lloyd’s Register

Date and place of detention: 19th June 2020 at Tilbury

Summary: Five deficiencies with four grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
01220 – Seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA)	Not as required	Yes
18203 – Wages	Not according to SEA	Yes
01220 – Seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA)	Invalid	Yes
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

DETENTIONS CARRIED OVER FROM PREVIOUS MONTHS

Vessel Name: LIVA GRETA

GT: 851

IMO: 8801072

Flag: Latvia (white list)

Company: Regulus SIA

Classification society: RINA

Recognised organisation: RINA

Recognised organisation for ISM Doc: RMRS

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: RMRS

Date and place of detention: 11th January 2020 at Birkenhead

Summary: Nine deficiencies with two grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
11113 – Launching arrangements for rescue boats	Inoperative	Yes
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Vessel Name: POSEIDON

GT: 1412

IMO: 7363217

Flag: Iceland (White list)

Company: Neptune EHF

Classification society: NA

Recognised organisation: NA

Recognised organisation for ISM Doc: DNV-GL

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: N/A (SMC issued by Flag)

Date and place of detention: 19th July 2018 at Hull

Summary: Ten deficiencies with two grounds for detention

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
02106 – Hull damage impairing seaworthiness	Holed	Yes
07113 – Fire Pumps	Insufficient Pressure	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Vessel Name: TECOIL POLARIS

GT: 1814

IMO No: 8883290

Flag: Russian Federation (Grey list)

Company: Tecoil Shipping Ltd

Classification society: RMRS

Recognised organisation: RMRS

Recognised organisation for ISM DOC: RMRS

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: RMRS

Date and place of detention: 6th June 2018 at Immingham

Summary: Twenty-seven deficiencies with six grounds for detentions

Defective item	Nature of defect	Ground for Detention
10104 – Gyro compass	Inoperative	Yes
10127 – Voyage or passage plan	Not as required	Yes
15150 – ISM	Not as required	Yes
11104 – Rescue boats	Not properly maintained	Yes
11101 – Lifeboats	Not ready for use	Yes
01117 – International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP)	Invalid	Yes

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Vessel Name: CIEN PORCIENTO (General Cargo)

GT: 106.

IMO No: 8944446.

Flag: Unregistered.

Company: Open Window Inc.

Classification society: Unclassed.

Recognised organisation: Not applicable.

Recognised organisation for ISM DOC: Not applicable.

Recognised organisation for ISM SMC: Not applicable

Date and place of detention: 4 March 2010, Lowestoft

Summary: Thirty deficiencies including seven grounds for detention

This vessel was still detained on 30th June 2020

Notes to Editors • The MCA is a partner in the Sea Vision UK campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the sea and maritime activities. Sea Vision promotes the importance and economic value of the sector and works to highlight the exciting range of activities and career opportunities available to young people within the UK growing maritime sector.

• Follow us on Twitter: @MCA_media

For further information please contact Maritime and Coastguard Agency Press Office, on: +44 (0) 2380 329 401 Press releases and further information about the agency is available here.

Requirements

The Green Finance Programme Team in Brazil opens this tender to compose a Research and Innovation Committee with experts from the sustainable finance and infrastructure, climate change, gender and social development areas aiming to maximise the Programme’s positive impact in Brazil.

The Research and Innovation Committee will work as a curator of primary data generated by the Programme (advising on and assessing applied methodologies and resulted quality) and of secondary data used by it (assessing reliability and accuracy). It will contribute to ensure data quality and, therefore, to provide scientific-based inputs to influence the process of decision making along the Programme. Moreover, the Research and Innovation Committee is expected to produce high-quality collaborative research, adding value to Programme knowledge management, scaling up methodologies and results and fostering innovation.

Objectives and required tasks

The members of the Research and Innovation Committee will provide a strategic scientific overview as well as scientific assessment and advice on outputs developed by the consortium to maximise the Programme’s impact in Brazil.

The Research and Innovation Committee will work as a curator of primary data generated by the Programme (advising on and assessing applied methodologies and resulted quality) and of secondary data used by it (assessing reliability and accuracy). It will contribute to ensure data quality and, therefore, to provide scientific-based inputs to influence the process of decision making along the Programme.

Moreover, the Research and Innovation Committee is expected to produce high-quality collaborative research, adding value to Programme knowledge management, scaling up methodologies and results and fostering innovation.

More objectives and tasks on the Terms of Reference – Research and Innovation Committee (ODT, 160KB)

Budget and payment

The budget will be based on the agreed financial proposal. The payment will be made in instalments upon the attendance on the Committee meetings and the delivery and approval of the Recommendation reports.

The maximum budget for the required work is £25,000, which should include taxes, day rates, travel and subsistence and any other costs. Any proposals above this range will not be considered. Bids under this amount are welcome.

Applicants will be evaluated from both technical and commercial perspectives to ensure the best value for British Taxpayers’ money is being achieved. Evaluation criteria include I. Understanding of the brief and knowledge of the subject matter (40%), II. Proven experience and expertise on the topic in Brazil (40%), and III. Pricing (20%).

A Selection Board will assess all proposals received, interview the shortlisted candidates and select the awarded Committee.

Selection process

Only Committees presented by an Institution will be selected for the process. Individuals’ applications will not be considered.

The proposals must be in English and include:

• names and curricula of all experts that will compose the Committee
• recent example of each expert’s analytical work (10 pages maximum) in their area of expertise
• commercial proposal in pounds, including details on fees, travel, subsistence and all included costs and expenses (Please use the template in Annex I of the Terms of Reference)

The institutions interested in applying for this work should submit their proposals to maud.chalamet@fco.gov.uk cc katia.fenyves@fco.gov.uk and anaclara.barbosa@uk.org.br by close of business on 9 August 2020.

Applications received after this deadline will not be considered in the selection process.

For any queries during the application time, please forward an email to katia.fenyves@fco.gov.uk cc anaclara.barbosa@uk.org.br.

Terms of reference