Kyle is a Senior Lawyer in the Government Legal Department (GLD). Here he discusses his training contract and work within the Commercial Law Group:

“Following the completion of the Legal Practice Course, and a brief stint as a paralegal at a personal injury law firm, I took a paid position at a Citizen Advice Bureau for a couple of years. This cemented my desire to pursue a career path which offered a range of interesting and diverse work, in an organisation which was not driven solely by profit, but also committed to furthering the public good. The Government Legal Department appeared to be a perfect fit and I secured a training contract in 2015.

Throughout my training I was given the opportunity to work on a number of high profile matters including:

• the Medical Innovation Bill
• amending  guidance on the law relating to abortion
• working on appeals against the application of the spare room subsidy (informally known as ‘the bedroom tax’) by benefit claimants. This included appeals that were taken to the Supreme Court

My last seat was in the Commercial Law Group (CLGp), advising the Department of Health and Social Care. I enjoyed the work so much that I joined the team upon qualification/when I qualified in 2015.

Whilst some of the work of CLGp is no doubt similar to that undertaken by private commercial law firms, in my experience, the interplay with public  law issues and the unique position of central government, means that GLD is involved in some of the most novel and interesting commercial law work in the sector.

In particular, the constant balancing of vital commercial issues, such as achieving value for money for the taxpayer and ensuring unbroken continuity of vital public services, means the work remains fresh and challenging.

During my time in the team I was closely involved in:

• the introduction of a new state-backed scheme to cover NHS GPs for incidents of clinical negligence and defending a judicial review to the scheme
• the rapid introduction of a replacement contractor to deal with a hundred of tonnes of clinical waste generated by over 40 hospital trusts
• the development of a multi-million pound grant scheme to combat antimicrobial resistance, by increasing data gathering capacity in low and middle income countries
• the protection of vital intellectual property including the blue NHS lozenge and letters
• grant funding, to help prepare for the UK’s exit from the European Union

Work on such matters has involved traditional commercial work, such as the drafting of contracts, intellectual property licences and non-disclosure agreements, as well as specific public sector advice on procurement law and State Aid.

CLGp has proven to be an environment in which I could thrive, and in late 2019, I was promoted and began working for the Government Digital Service, which is tasked with leading digital transformation to help the government work better for everyone.

One of the great things about GLD, which sets it apart from private practice, is that having a breadth of experience is really valued and you are actively encouraged to move into different areas of law. Over the last few months I have greatly improved my knowledge of data protection and tech law and I continue to look forward to the challenges ahead.

The Chancellor today set out the next steps in the UK Government’s strategy to secure Wales’ economic recovery from coronavirus – announcing a “Plan for Jobs” to level up, spread opportunity and unite the UK.

Rishi Sunak outlined how he would focus on protecting, supporting and creating jobs as the UK enters the next phase in its recovery following the outbreak.

Delivering his summer economic update, he said:

Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support and create jobs. It will give businesses the confidence to retain and hire. To create jobs in every part of our country. To give young people a better start. To give people everywhere the opportunity of a fresh start.

As part of a series of landmark measures, the Chancellor announced that the government will:

• support jobs with the Job Retention Bonus to help businesses keep furloughed workers. UK Employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of 31 January 2021.
• expand Worksearch Support including a Flexible Support Fund and a £2 billion Kickstart scheme to subsidise jobs for young people
• create jobs in the construction and housing sectors through funding to decarbonise public sector buildings, a demonstrator project to decarbonise social housing and funding to support research and development for Direct Air Capture (as announced by the PM on 30 June) and modernisations to courts and prisons and prison and probation estate improvement,
• and protect jobs with VAT cuts for hospitality and tourism, as well as a Eat Out to Help Out discount scheme.

The Summer Economic Update confirms an additional £500 million of Covid-19 funding for the Welsh Government through the Barnett formula.

The UK Government is now providing £2.8 billion through the Barnett formula to help the Welsh Government support individuals, businesses and public services through Covid-19.

Rishi Sunak said the plan for jobs was the second phase of a three-phase plan to secure the UK’s economic recovery from coronavirus.

The first phase, beginning in March, focused on protection with a £160bn package of support – one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world. In Wales this package has so far protected more than 316,000 jobs, helped thousands of businesses and paid £273 million to more than 100,000 self-employed people.

The Chancellor outlined that following the second phase focusing on jobs, there would come a third phase focusing on rebuilding, with a Budget and Spending Review in the autumn.

Speaking about the impact for Wales, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:

Throughout this crisis we’ve supported hundreds of thousands of people in Wales, putting in place one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world.

Today I’ve set out the next steps in our plan to secure our recovery. It will protect, support and create jobs in every part of Wales – levelling-up opportunity and strengthening the Union.

We are supporting jobs throughout Wales with a massive investment in our Jobcentre offer, including doubling the number of work coaches. We’re creating green new jobs with decarbonisation projects, modernisations to courts and prisons and £500m allocated through the Barnett formula. And we’re protecting existing jobs by cutting VAT and introducing the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, providing a welcome boost to the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart said:

The Chancellor’s package of measures delivers for Wales and will rebuild and refocus our economy as we bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic.

Our priority remains firmly on levelling up the nations and regions of the UK, safeguarding people’s livelihoods and delivering prosperity. The opportunities we are creating and the new routes into employment are great news for young people in Wales, while VAT cut for tourism and hospitality will be a huge boost for that sector. It is now absolutely essential that Wales’ world-class tourism and hospitality industry can properly open for business.

This has been an exceptionally challenging time for everyone in the UK. We have supported Wales throughout, and our decisions will mean the devolved government will also receive an extra £500m bringing their additional Covid-19 support funding to £2.8 billion.

The Chancellor has set out a fantastic package of support paving the way to Wales’ economic recovery.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will today (8 July 2020) launch the first meeting of the Net Zero Transport Board to help guide the decarbonisation of UK transport.

The board will bring together high-profile leaders from a range of fields including behavioural change and policy, as well as experts from a number of prominent industry sectors including environment, science, aviation and technology. The meetings will guarantee a truly collaborative and joined up approach to tackling the wide-ranging issue of transport decarbonisation.

The group, who will meet for the first time later today, will provide the opportunity for the Transport Secretary, Transport Minister Rachel Maclean and Minister for Clean Growth Kwasi Kwarteng to hear from high-profile expert stakeholders on what steps they feel government should be taking to ensure a green recovery from coronavirus (COVID-19) and the associated economic impact.

The agenda will cover what further action the government should be taking to support jobs and the economy in line with the UK’s transport decarbonisation goals with the Transport Secretary highlighting the government’s aim for 2 million jobs by 2030 in the low carbon economy and its supply chains, up from 460,000 today.

Mr Shapps will add that many of the actions being taken to deliver net zero are investments that will also stimulate the economy and grow new low carbon industries across the UK.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

Transport has a huge part to play in tackling climate change and today’s meeting is another important step for this country on our road to net zero.

Clearly our ground-breaking transport decarbonisation plan must be shaped by the best brains and informed by the widest array of expertise and experience.

I’m determined to build a greener, healthier, more prosperous Britain for future generations and I have no doubt that the Net Zero Transport Board will play an integral part in our green recovery.

The board will also help shape and inform the transport decarbonisation plan coming later this year. It is the first time the UK will lay out its approach to decarbonising every form of transport, setting out a credible and ambitious pathway to delivering transport’s contribution to carbon budgets and to meeting net zero by 2050.

Last year, the UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. The target will require the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, compared with the previous target of at least 80% reduction from 1990 levels.

Alongside the first meeting of the board today, the government is also providing an opportunity for the public to feed back their views online on the development of the transport decarbonisation plan to ensure that the plan works for everyone.

Transport Minister Rachel Maclean said:

The Transport Net Zero Board will be a key component of our greenprint for the future.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to people making huge changes to the way they live, work and travel, and we want to capitalise and build on the new habits people have developed, as well as champion the power of new, cleaner technologies on our road to a green recovery.

The government has pledged to put a green recovery for transport at the heart of its decisions, and the meeting later today follows the unprecedented work taking place as part of the green economic recovery including a £2 billion fund for cycling and walking – the largest investment ever made in this area.