• Only go outside for food, health reasons or work (but only if you cannot work from home)
• If you go out, stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people at all times
• Wash your hands as soon as you get home

Do not meet others, even friends or family.

You can spread the virus even if you don’t have symptoms.

A group of keen sewers who work at Wylfa Site, on Anglesey, are converting bedding and other material into scrub bags for NHS workers.

The staff put their uniform in the bags at the end of their shifts and then put the bag and the contents straight into the wash, minimising handling and helping to avoid spreading the virus from work to home.

Volunteer Sue Evans said: “During such unprecedented times we all want to do our bit to help in any way we can. So, when Lisa Thomas forwarded a shout out to all sewers, Elaine Hulse and I took to our sewing machines.

“Instructions were provided and after an initial test run I ended up making 10 – the first of many. It is surprising what you can do with an old duvet cover!”

Kevin Titley, a Quality Assurance Engineer from Trawsfynydd Site, has become the Community Volunteer Co-ordinator for Llanbedr Community.

Kevin said: “I’ve taken the lead in setting up and coordinating a community volunteer group in Llanbedr, where I live. The group collect shopping, prescriptions and other essentials for people.

The scheme operates under the umbrella of Llanbedr Community Council, where I’m the current Chairman, and we now have 23 volunteers, including some people who are self- isolating but still able to take phone calls.”

And engineer Jon Hall, also based at Trawsfynydd Site, has turned his home office into a production line for 3D printing of visors and accompanying headbands for GP practices, using acetate sheets and polypropylene.

The service can be used to help make a new claim or for those already claiming Universal Credit.

This supports a package of measures put in place to provide quicker and easier access to benefits during the Coronavirus outbreak.

British Sign Language users can now easily access Universal Credit through a video relay service provided by the Department for Work and Pensions. The move will support many of the 87,000 Deaf BSL users currently living in the UK.

The Video Relay Service (VRS), allows users to make BSL interpreted video calls via their tablet, smartphone, computer or laptop. A professional interpreter then relays the call in English to a member of DWP staff.

Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Justin Tomlinson said:

With more than 1.4 million people accessing Universal Credit in these unprecedented times, this technology will provide vital and equal accessibility for Deaf people and those with hearing loss.

It is fantastic to see concern for increasing accessibility going right to the top and I am delighted that we are championing this cause for people accessing the welfare safety net.

The service, which is already available for people accessing other disability benefits and the Access to Work scheme, will be available through GOV.UK.

DWP staff won’t see the caller or the interpreter; but will receive a phone call from the interpreter who will translate into BSL. There is no need to book the service in advance which allows the conversation to take place in real time. 

Customers will be able to access a VRS hyperlink on GOV.UK. Alternatively, SignVideo offer an app that can connect to Universal Credit. Colleagues won’t see the caller or the interpreter; they simply receive a voice telephone call and allow additional time for translation into BSL.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 3267 5144

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Today (20 April) the government is outlining a numbers of recommendations to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) following a request for views across all of its sectors.

The AHDB was established in 2008 to help farmers improve their performance and drive growth, for instance through knowledge exchanges, improving market access and marketing activities.

Following a review into its role and function, the government has today set out a series of recommendations so the AHDB can be a modern and dynamic organisation that keeps pace with the needs of industry. For instance, to give levy payers and industry a greater say in the future direction of the AHDB, the government is recommending a ballot every five years on the future of the levy and the strategy in each sector. With the AHDB serving a number of sectors, this will ensure that the levies paid continue to provide good value for money for farmers and growers as the industry enters a time of significant change outside the EU.

The review showed strong support for structuring AHDB around two central priorities: market development and improving farm performance. This should allow an increased focus on business resilience, skills, environment, reputation and market development at home and overseas.

These priorities will be increasingly crucial to ensure British agriculture and horticulture fulfils its full potential now we have left the EU – whether opening new export markets for beef and lamb or providing technical expertise on pest management for cereals and horticulture.

The government is recommending maintaining the statutory levy, as the majority of respondents felt this should continue to support collective endeavours, such as market access, research and development and technical advice.

The option of exploring a new governance structure has also been recommended, to facilitate cross-sector working and break down communication barriers between different parts of the organisation.

The government response and recommendations are based on the evidence gathered during the request for views and act as a starting point for the AHDB to develop their policies and structures further in order to deliver the best service for its levy payers.

The full government response and the publication of the request for views can be found on GOV.UK.

• The lab is part of what will be the biggest network of diagnostic testing facilities in British history, testing samples from drive-through test sites across the country

• Testing Minister Lord Bethell has today personally thanked the teams staffing the new Lighthouse Labs for their efforts to rapidly scale coronavirus testing

The second Lighthouse Lab in Alderley Park is now operational, testing thousands of patient samples each day for coronavirus.

The lab will help rapidly increase the country’s capacity to test for coronavirus to tens of thousands of samples each day.

Alderley Park is the second site to become fully operational, after the Health Secretary officially opened the first Lighthouse Lab in Milton Keynes last week. The final site will open in Glasgow next week, completing the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities in British history.

Testing Minister Lord Bethell spoke to teams at the 2 fully operational Lighthouse Labs on Friday to thank them for their tireless efforts to rapidly scale up testing and was taken on a virtual tour of the new site at Alderley Park.

Lighthouse Labs in Milton Keynes, Alderley Park and Glasgow have increased their staff with teams of highly qualified volunteers from industry and academia, supporting them to rapidly set up facilities with huge capacity to test patient samples.

Every day new drive-through testing sites are being opened to fill the testing capacity the Lighthouse Labs can now provide, with 20 new sites now taking patient samples across the country.

Testing Minister Lord Bethell said:

Our target to reach 100,000 coronavirus tests a day requires a national effort. It is truly humbling to see remarkable experts from across the country use their skills to rapidly scale up testing capacity, with people from all sectors including industry and academia working tirelessly each day.

Today is a milestone moment, as we applaud the staff at Alderley Park, the country’s second mega-lab.  

I had the privilege of speaking personally to some of the exceptional staff that made the Lighthouse Lab project possible, but I want to extend my thanks to every single person doing their bit to help the country get through the coronavirus pandemic.

National Testing Coordinator Professor John Newton said:

Every day we take important steps to provide the testing capability the country needs to respond to this pandemic, as Lighthouse Labs increase their capacity and new drive-through testing sites are set up.

The Lighthouse Labs will be the biggest network of diagnostic testing facilities in British history. In unprecedented times, remarkable people across the country are achieving unprecedented things. Alderley Park will help to rapidly scale up testing thanks to its team of highly skilled staff working tireless around the clock.

Earlier this month the Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the UK government’s 5-pillar plan to rapidly scale up coronavirus testing across the UK.

The new 5-pillar plan outlines the ambitions to:

• Pillar 1: scale up swab testing in PHE labs and NHS hospitals for those with a medical need and the most critical workers to 25,000 a day in England by mid to late April, with the aligned testing strategies of the NHS in the devolved administrations benefiting from PHE’s partnership with Roche through a central UK allocation mechanism
• Pillar 2: deliver increased commercial swab testing for critical key workers in the NHS across the UK, before then expanding to key workers in other sectors
• Pillar 3: develop blood testing to help know if people across the UK have the right antibodies and so have high levels of immunity to coronavirus
• Pillar 4: conduct UK-wide surveillance testing to learn more about the spread of the disease and help develop new tests and treatments
• Pillar 5: create a new national effort for testing, to build a mass testing capacity for the UK at a completely new scale

The new Lighthouse Labs have been created through a partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care and Medicines Discovery Catapult with UK Biocentre and the University of Glasgow.

They are being closely supported by both NHS and Public Health England. The Alderley Park facility is hosted by the Medicines Discovery Catapult, working closely with AstraZeneca.