Trade Credit Insurance, which provides essential cover to hundreds of thousands of business-to-business transactions, will receive up to £10 billion of government guarantees, ministers announced today.

The Trade Credit Reinsurance scheme, which has been agreed following extensive discussions with the insurance sector, will see the vast majority of Trade Credit Insurance coverage maintained across the UK.

The guarantees will support supply chains and help businesses during the coronavirus pandemic to trade with confidence, safe in the knowledge that they will be protected if a customer defaults or delays on payment.

Business Secretary of State Alok Sharma said:

Trade Credit Insurance is a daily necessity for hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK – particularly those in non-service sectors such as the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Our £10 billion guarantee gives peace of mind to businesses, allowing them to continue to trade and maintaining liquidity in supply chains. This reinsurance scheme is an important step as we carefully set about firing up our economy as we emerge from the pandemic.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen said:

Billions of pounds of business turnover is supported by Trade Credit Insurance each year. This reinsurance scheme will see the government and insurers working closely together to ensure that the vast majority of this cover remains in place. This means that businesses and supply chains can continue to be protected at this pivotal time as we begin to kick start the economy.

BCC Director General Adam Marshall said:

The government has demonstrated once again that it is listening to the concerns of our business communities.

The launch of a government-backed guarantee to support the provision of trade credit insurance will help ensure that this vital lifeline remains available to businesses during and after this crisis, helping to maintain supply chains and trade.

Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK, said:

For most manufacturers, credit insurance is essential – giving them certainty that they will be paid for the orders they deliver. We’re pleased that the government has taken action to jump-start the credit insurance market – which will provide a welcome boost to our nation’s makers as they recover from the COVID crisis.

IoD Head of Europe and Trade Policy Allie Renison said:

These measures are a lifeline for many businesses with nowhere else to turn. To help the economy get up and running again, maintaining confidence in supply chains is crucial, and we are encouraged to see this come as the product of collaboration between government and industry.

CBI Director of Financial Services, Flora Hamilton said:

The new government guarantee to backstop trade credit insurance will be welcome by businesses across the UK. The TCI scheme will support supply chains, enable many to prepare for restart in earnest and bring employees off the job retention scheme and back into work.

This is a very critical step, along with other government financial support, in driving the recovery of the UK.

The scheme is available on a temporary basis for nine months, backdated to 1 April 2020, and running until 31 December 2020, with the potential for extension if required.

The scheme will be followed by a joint BEIS/HMT-led review of the Trade Credit Insurance market to ensure it can continue to support businesses in future.

Notes to editors

• Trade Credit Insurance underwrites an estimated £350 billion of economic activity of more than 630,000 businesses in the UK each year. It insures suppliers selling goods against the company they are selling to defaulting on payment, giving businesses the confidence to trade with one another
• due to coronavirus and businesses struggling to pay bills, there is a risk of credit insurance being withdrawn or premiums increasing to unaffordable levels, which could cause serious issues for liquidity and working capital across business supply chains
• the scheme will be delivered through a reinsurance agreement that is open to all insurers currently operating in the UK market, covering both domestic and overseas trade with payment terms of up to 2 years
• the scheme rules will also require participating insurers to comply with certain undertakings regarding the conduct of their business during the period of the scheme. This includes conditions that insurers will forgo profits and will not pay dividends or bonuses for senior staff for their guaranteed Trade Credit Insurance business
• to protect businesses that the private credit market cannot insure, export credit insurance is also available from UK Export Finance to cover UK exports to 180 countries. Government-backed export insurance from UKEF can protect the 230,000 businesses that export from the UK against the risk of not getting paid when selling internationally
• implementation of the scheme is subject to state aid approval, agreement of full form documentation with insurers and acceptance of applications from insurers for participation

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will today (Thursday 4 June) open the UK-hosted Global Vaccine Summit and urge nations to pledge funding for vaccinations to save millions of lives in the poorest countries and protect the world from future outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Representatives of over 50 countries, including at least 35 heads of state or government, as well as leaders of private sector organisations and civil society, will come together to raise funds for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The summit aims to raise at least $7.4 billion (approx. £6 billion) for Gavi to immunise a further 300 million children in the world’s poorest countries by 2025.

This vital funding will not only protect children from deadly diseases like polio, diphtheria and measles and save up to 8 million lives, but will also help ensure our global recovery from coronavirus.

By vaccinating millions of children against these other deadly diseases, we are protecting healthcare systems in the world’s poorest countries so they can cope with rising coronavirus cases.

Health experts have warned that if the virus is left to spread in developing countries, this could lead to future waves of infection reaching the UK.

Addressing attendees as he opens today’s summit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will say:

I hope this summit will be the moment when the world comes together to unite humanity in the fight against disease.

Just as the UK is the single biggest donor to the international effort to find a coronavirus vaccine, we will remain the world’s leading donor to Gavi, contributing £1.65 billion over the next five years.

I urge you to join us to fortify this lifesaving alliance and inaugurate a new era of global health co-operation, which I believe is now the most essential shared endeavour of our lifetimes.

People who are vaccinated protect themselves and the rest of the population by lowering the spread and risk of infection. When children are immunised against measles, typhoid and polio, it prevents outbreaks of these infectious diseases at a time when many countries are struggling to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

As the world focuses on tackling coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and Gavi have warned that the pandemic is disrupting routine immunisation, affecting approximately 80 million children under the age of 1 across 68 countries.

The Prime Minister will also be joined by Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chair of the Gavi Board.

The UK is the largest supporter of Gavi to date, with International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan recently announcing the UK’s £1.65 billion pledge – funding which will immunise up to 75 million children.

International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who will also take part in today’s summit, said:

The world is quite rightly focusing on responding to the invisible killer that is coronavirus. But we cannot allow this pandemic to disrupt routine immunisation in some of the world’s poorest countries and cause other deadly diseases to spread across the globe.

We know vaccines work, which is why at today’s summit we need others to step up and pledge funds to Gavi, so it can continue to save the lives of millions of children and protect everyone from infectious diseases.

At the summit the Presidents of Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Bangladesh will explain how Gavi’s support has helped save lives in their countries and strengthened the resilience of their healthcare systems against major disease outbreaks.

Health workers will speak about their experiences on the frontline, such as immunising people in the Democratic Republic of Congo against Ebola.

CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Dr Seth Berkley said:

Over the past two decades we have witnessed incredible progress boosting vaccine coverage in the world’s poorest countries: more children in more countries are now protected against more diseases than at any point in history.

However, these historic advances in global health are now at risk of unravelling as COVID-19 causes unprecedented disruption to vaccine programmes worldwide. We face the very real prospect of a global resurgence of diseases like measles, polio and yellow fever, which would put us all at risk.

That’s why today’s Global Vaccine Summit is so important, bringing together leaders from around the world – led by the UK – to build global health security and keep us all safe from further outbreaks.

Gavi, with UK support, is addressing the immediate needs triggered by coronavirus, including providing essential medical supplies and helping to increase testing and surveillance of the disease.

As part of the global effort to find a coronavirus vaccine, the UK is also the single largest donor of any country to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ (CEPI) urgent appeal.

If a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine is developed, Gavi will have a role in its delivery around the world. Global access will ensure a collective international recovery and reduce the risk of future waves of infection, which could come to the UK.

First let me first run you through the latest data on our coronavirus response.

4,786,219 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out or posted out in the UK, including 171,829 tests yesterday.

279,856 people have tested positive, and that’s an increase of 1,871 cases since yesterday.

7,485 people are in hospital with COVID-19 in the UK, down 16% from 8,921 this time last week.

And sadly, of those tested positive for coronavirus, across all settings, 39,728 have now died. That’s an increase of 359 fatalities since yesterday and once again we are with their families in mourning.

Now that the rate of transmission in the UK has significantly fallen from its peak, we need to take steps to manage the flare-ups and stop the virus re-emerging in the UK.

I want to update you on the progress we are making on three fronts to prevent a second wave of infections that could overwhelm the NHS.

First, we have set up NHS Test and Trace in order to identify, contain and control the virus in the UK, thereby reducing its spread.

As we move to the next stage of our fight against coronavirus, we will be able to replace national lockdowns with individual isolation and, if necessary, local action where there are outbreaks.

NHS Test and Trace will be vital to controlling the spread of the virus. It’s how we will be able to protect our friends and family from infection, and protect our NHS.

It does this by identifying anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, and asking them to isolate for 14 days in order to avoid unknowingly infecting others.

The system clearly relies on everyone playing their part.

So I want to stress again today: we need you to get a test if you have coronavirus symptoms – a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, or a loss of taste or smell.

There is plenty of capacity and everyone with symptoms is eligible, everyone with symptoms, so please order a test from nhs.uk/coronavirus as soon as you develop symptoms.

And we need you to isolate yourself if a contact tracer tells you that you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive.

NHS Test and Trace started operating a week ago. And already thousands of people are isolating who wouldn’t have been doing so before this service was introduced. They are thereby protecting others and reducing the spread of the virus.

So while we are going to all these efforts here in the UK to control the virus, we must also ensure we don’t reimport the virus from abroad.

So the second action I want to update you on is the introduction of public health measures at the border.

Today the Home Secretary has brought forward the legislation needed to establish the new regime from Monday.

And I want to explain the reasons for introducing these measures now.

When coronavirus started to spread around the world, first from Wuhan and then from northern Italy and other areas, we introduced enhanced monitoring at the border in an attempt to stop the virus from gaining a foothold in the UK.

These measures applied, at various different times, to arrivals from China, Japan, Iran and Italy, and required people with symptoms travelling from those countries to self-isolate for 14 days.

However, once community transmission was widespread within the UK, cases from abroad made up a tiny proportion of the total. At the same time you’ll remember that international travel plummeted as countries around the world went into lockdown. So as a result, measures at the border were halted because they made little difference at the time in our fight against the virus.

Now that we’re getting the virus under control in the UK, there’s a risk cases from abroad begin once again to make up a greater proportion of overall cases. We therefore need to take steps now to manage that risk of these imported cases triggering a second peak.

So just as we are asking people already in the UK to isolate for 14 days when contacted by NHS Test and Trace, we’re also asking those arriving from abroad to isolate so that they don’t unknowingly spread the virus.

There will be some exemptions for a limited number of people who need to cross the border, such as those engaged directly in the fight against coronavirus or who provide essential services.

And we will review how the policy is working after three weeks. And of course we will explore the possibility of international travel corridors with countries that have low rates of infection – but only when the evidence shows that it is safe to do so.

The third point I want to make today is we need effective international action to reduce the impact of the virus across the globe.

This is the moment really for humanity to unite in the fight against the disease.

Health experts have warned that if coronavirus is left to spread in developing countries, that could lead to future waves of infection coming back and reaching the UK.

While our amazing NHS has been there for everyone in this country who needs it, many developing countries have healthcare systems which are ill-prepared to manage this pandemic.

So to ensure that the world’s poorest countries have the support they need to slow the spread of the virus, tomorrow I will open the Global Vaccine Summit.

Hosted by the UK, and will bring together more than 50 countries and leading figures like Bill Gates to raise at least $7.4 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Over the next five years – with the UK’s support as Gavi’s biggest donor – this Vaccine Alliance aims to immunise a further 300 million children in the poorest countries against deadly diseases like polio, typhoid and measles – again saving millions of lives.

This support for routine immunisations will shore up poorer countries’ healthcare systems to deal with coronavirus – and so help to stop the global spread and, as I say, prevent a second wave of the virus reaching the UK.

This virus has shown how connected we are. We’re fighting an invisible enemy. And no one is safe frankly until we are all safe.

And again, of course this is all contingent upon each of us continuing to do our bit.

And as I never tire of telling you

Let us not forget the basics.

Wash your hands regularly and for 20 seconds, wash your hands.

Do not gather in groups of more than six outside.

Always observe social distancing, keeping 2 metres apart from anyone outside your household.

And I want to stress one final point which may be relevant today as the weather threatens I think to take a turn for the worse. Some of you may be tempted to move the gatherings you’ve been enjoying outdoors, indoors, out of the rain.

I really urge you – don’t do that.

We relaxed the rules on meeting outside for a very specific reason – because the evidence shows that the risks of transmission are much lower outdoors, much lower outdoors.

And the risks of passing on the virus are significantly higher indoors, which is why gatherings inside other people’s homes are still prohibited.

Breaking these rules now could undermine and reverse all the progress that we’ve made together.

I have no doubt that that won’t happen, I’ve no doubt that that won’t happen. I think the British public will continue to show the same resolve in fighting the virus as they have throughout the outbreak.

We will get through this if we stay alert, control the virus, and in doing so save lives.

On Monday 1 June Fisheries Enforcement Officers received information from the Northumberland Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority (NIFCA) that illegal nets had been found at the River Blyth Estuary at East Sleekburn.

They recovered and seized two illegal and unlicensed gill nets – one measuring 75 metres by 2 metres that had been set across the width of the river, and a second which had been hidden close by and measured 15 metres in length.

It’s suspected they were being used to target salmon and sea trout.

A similar 100-metre salmon gill net, which had been set on the beach at Lynmouth, was previously recovered by NIFCA on 21 May. Their investigation into who deployed the net and where it was obtained is ongoing. The seizure also comes on the back of an illegal 40-metre net seizure last Wednesday (27 May) at Skinningrove in Redcar and Cleveland, which saw fisheries officers from Yorkshire and the North East working in partnership with North Eastern Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority.

Nets are ‘indiscriminate’

John Crowl, Enforcement Team Leader for the Environment Agency, said:

Unattended and unlicensed gill nets are not only capable of killing fish indiscriminately, they will also kill any other wildlife that are unfortunate enough to get entangled in them.

This incident again highlights how vital it is for people to provide information to us and demonstrates that we will take action. Even during the current unprecedented times created by Covid-19, we are still actively patrolling the rivers and coastline and responding quickly to any reports of illegal fishing.

It’s important individuals wanting to fish obtain a licence from the Environment Agency. Regulations are in place to protect the local fishing industry.

Environment Agency officers are wearing the appropriate protective equipment and adhering to social distancing measures.

Recovering river

A licensed, strictly regulated and managed sea trout fishery operates off the coast of Northumberland, but the use of illegal nets have a serious impact on sea trout and salmon returning to rivers to spawn.

The River Blyth is designated as a ‘Recovering River’ under the Salmon and Sea Trout Protection measures 2018 therefore any potential loss of fish can have a negative impact. Anglers on the river must catch and release any salmon caught.

Those who operate unlicensed nets risk prosecution, with unlimited fines and possible prison sentences available to the courts, and Environment Agency officers can seize equipment and vehicles.

Information about illegal fishing can be reported to the Environment Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

You can buy a fishing licence online.