• Funding will be awarded to more than 100 projects dedicated to making our streets safer
• Money forms part of the Safer Streets Fund, taking its total to £120m
• Comes as government marks one year since publication of its Tackling VAWG strategy

£50 million of new funding will be given to communities across England and Wales to make the streets safer for all, the Home Secretary has announced today, Monday 25 July.

The money will go to police forces, local authorities, British Transport Police and eligible community groups across England and Wales to prevent violence against women and girls in public, neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour.

These projects will be able to roll out extra CCTV and streetlighting in their communities and expand work to change attitudes and behaviours and prevent these crimes happening in the first place.

Northamptonshire, Humberside and Nottinghamshire PCCs are just some of the organisations which have already received funding through previous rounds. The money has been spent on home security, community outreach and initiatives such as football and boxing, to divert young people from crime.

This is the fourth round of funding from the Safer Street Fund and takes the total awarded through this fund and the Safety of Women at Night Fund to £125 million.

Home Secretary, Priti Patel said:

It has been one year since I launched our dedicated violence against women and girls strategy and in that year I have overseen incredible work to support victims, prevent violence against women and girls, protect citizens and deliver justice.

Our essential work with specialist groups is delivering practical support and change for women and girls across our communities and the Safer Streets Fund continues to make a difference to the safety of women and girls at a community level.

This marks one year since the publication of the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. Since publishing the strategy, the government has delivered a number of key commitments to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere – at home, online, at work and in public spaces.

Safer Streets Fund

The Safer Streets Fund allows forces and local authorities to invest in transformative crime prevention initiatives.

The latest round of the fund is the first to accept bids from eligible civil society organisations, and among the successful bidders for this round is Her Centre, a London-based charity which offers free and confidential advocacy, counselling, advice and training relating to domestic abuse, rape and sexual abuse and other issues that affect women.

Her Centre has been awarded £140,000 to deliver support to victims of sexual harassment, assault, rape, and stalking so that they recover confidence to live lives free of fear. Her Centre will also use the funding to work to help prevent acts of violence against women through active bystander training and engagement with young people around understanding and responding to violence against women and girls in areas particularly affected by these issues.

CEO of Her Centre, Stacy Smith said:

Her Centre want to see more focus on making men stop harassing and threatening women. We are pleased that this grant allows us to take forward work to educate the community in simple ways they can be active bystanders so that men who are abusive and violent become the target of attention, rather than saying women have to keep themselves safe. These attitudes should be the outliers and not the norm.

Round 3 of the fund had a particular focus on helping to combat violence against women and girls, and £25 million was allocated to 57 projects across England and Wales through this round.

The government has also invested £5 million through the Safety of Women at Night Fund, which supported 22 projects piloting initiatives to improve the safety of women in public spaces at night, including in the night-time economy.

Tackling street harassment

Marking one year since the publication of the VAWG Strategy, the government is also announcing the launch of a targeted consultation on whether there should be a new offence for public sexual harassment. Experts from a range of sectors, including charities, the police, law, education and transport, are invited to share their views on whether a new specific offence would help to tackle this issue.

This follows the VAWG Strategy’s Call for Evidence which saw over 180,000 responses, the majority from the public, and complements other work the government is undertaking to tackle public sexual harassment, such as new police guidance and forthcoming new guidance for prosecutors to make sure existing laws are implemented, and the ‘Enough’ behaviour change campaign.

Preventing domestic abuse and stalking

The Tackling VAWG strategy made clear that in addition to supporting victims, we must also prevent crimes being committed in the first place.

The Home Office has awarded over £25 million over the last two years to Police and Crime Commissioners to support increasing the availability of interventions for domestic abuse and stalking perpetrators. These interventions aim to reduce the risk posed by perpetrators and hold them to account, including through group or individual behaviour change programmes.

The Early Awareness Stalking Intervention programme, overseen by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner and funded by the Home Office, is one of the first attempt of its kind in England and Wales to deliver rehabilitative treatment for stalkers, which aims to improve victim/survivor safety.

West Midlands Victims’ Commissioner, Nicky Brennan, said:

There is no excuse for abuse of any kind. Reducing incidence of crime is paramount and that’s why we are working hard on prevention and early intervention in the West Midlands, particularly in tackling violence against women and girls.

That is why we partnered with West Midlands Police, Midlands Psychology Services, Black Country Women’s Aid, The Alice Ruggles Trust and the University of Derby to pilot and evaluate the Early Awareness Stalking Intervention across the whole West Midlands, through funding from the 2021 Home Office Perpetrator Fund.

Early results are promising and we have already learnt a lot and are looking forward to a full evaluation early next year.

Supporting victims of intimate image abuse

In order to support victims of non-consensual intimate image sharing, a deeply serious and harmful issue, the Home Office increased its funding to the Revenge Porn Helpline to £120,000 in the 2021/2 financial year. The Helpline supports victims of non-consensual intimate image sharing by providing confidential support and advice, helping to report and remove content from the internet, offering advice and support on reporting crimes to the police and providing referrals for specialist and longer-term support for victims.

This financial year, the Home Office is increasing this funding to a further £150,000, to ensure the Helpline can continue to provide expert support to victims of intimate image abuse.

Revenge Porn Helpline Manager, Sophie Mortimer said:

The Tackling VAWG Strategy has given welcome focus on providing substantial help and support to people affected by violence against women and girls.

The additional funding that the Revenge Porn Helpline received during the pandemic, consolidated under the new strategy, gave us the opportunity to provide meaningful, effective help to people affected by intimate image abuse. The helpline sees a wide range of complex behaviours requiring expert practitioners to give direct support and carry out the reporting and removal of intimate images shared without consent. This is difficult and time-consuming work, but it has achieved, to date, the removal of over 260,000 individual pieces of content on behalf of nearly 15,000 people.

This support for victims of intimate image abuse comes alongside action through the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to strengthen the law in this area to ensure those who threaten to share intimate images without consent and with an intent to cause distress are held to account and face justice for their actions.

Ratification of the Istanbul Convention

The government is also pleased to announce the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.

In the Tackling VAWG Strategy, the government committed to ratifying The Council of Europe Convention on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, commonly known as the Istanbul Convention. The Convention is a gold standard international charter for the protection of women and girls, and since signing it in 2012, the government has worked to significantly strengthen its legislative framework and introduce a wide range of tools to better protect victims.

Our measures to protect women and girls from violence are some of the most robust in the world, and in some respects go further than the Convention requires.

The ratification sends a strong signal that the UK continues to treat violence against women and girls with the utmost seriousness and will help us to continue the lead the way in tackling these terrible crimes.

Transforming rape investigations

Having taken a hard and honest look at how the entire criminal justice system leads with rape through the Rape Review, the Home Office is committed to funding Operation Soteria, a programme to transform the way that rape investigations are handled and progressed, with a focus on the suspect rather than the victim. After initially being taken forward in five forces, the government announced earlier this year that an additional 14 forces will be taking part in Operation Soteria.

This work will inform a new national operating model for the investigation of rape cases which will be available for all forces from June 2023. The key findings from the programme to date were published in the Rape Review Progress Update on 16 June. It is encouraging that we are seeing more victims coming forward to report crimes to the police, more referrals from the police to the CPS and an increase in the volume of suspects charged.

Behaviour change campaign

In March 2022, we launched our nationwide, multi-year ‘Enough’ communication campaign across England and Wales.  With a television advert, billboards, digital content and a comprehensive campaign website, the campaign aims to target and challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within wider society, educate young people about healthy relationships and consent, and ensure victims can recognise abuse and receive support.

Successful Safer Streets Fund round 4 bids

Wild Atlantic salmon stocks are reaching crisis point the Environment Agency (EA) has said today (Monday 25 July) as the latest stock assessment report estimates they are at their lowest levels on record.

UK rivers are traditional breeding grounds for Atlantic salmon and are classed as an iconic species in our rivers, however, many factors are impacting on their numbers at freshwater and marine sites. In particular, climate change is leading to rising sea and river temperatures and overfishing are impacting on salmon stocks globally. Water quality in rivers and estuaries can also affect the fish lifecycle as well as barriers stopping salmon travelling upstream.

Through the Salmon Five Point Approach action is being taken by the EA and its partners to remove barriers to migration with 19 fish passes improved in the last year. Work is also taking place to improve water quality and reduce the exploitation of salmon by both net and rod fisheries.

Kevin Austin, Deputy Director for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment for the Environment Agency said:

Today’s assessment for England is of great concern and without urgent action Wild Atlantic Salmon could be lost from our rivers in our lifetimes.

We have seen some real successes through our work with partners, particularly on the river Don and Tyne, but more much progress is needed.

As the climate emergency becomes more acute, we need coordinated action between governments, partners and industry to enable stocks to stabilise and recover to sustainable levels.

The latest stock assessment report, from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, is of significant concern. In 2020, 20 salmon rivers (48%) were thought to be ‘at risk’ – meaning salmon stock are no longer at sustainable levels – but in the latest report this has now risen to 31 (74%) with rivers in the South West, North West and Wales considered to be the most affected.

Only one river in England, the River Tyne, remains within the ‘not at risk” category and has improved due to better water quality in the estuary and action against barriers to migration. On the River Don, fish pass improvements and habitat restoration initiatives have enabled salmon to return.

EA Action

In 2019, the EA implemented the closure of salmon net fisheries in England, until at least until 2029, and an overall catch and release rate of 95 per cent in rod fisheries has been achieved through a combination of both voluntary and mandatory controls. Further options are being considered in England to ensure that all remaining rivers categorised as being ‘at risk’ implement a 100 per cent catch and release rate.

In the last year, the EA has improved 19 fish passages at weirs or barriers across English rivers giving salmon better access to the Severn, Ribble, Camel, Tyne and Test. A new fish pass at Diglis Weir on the River Severn has also been completed as part of the Unlocking the Severn project, restoring 158 miles of river and to aid migration.

To safeguard river flow and improve water quality, the EA has also identified improvements through the Water Industry National Environment Programme. In 2021, 53 schemes were completed that will bring benefits to salmon. 37 of these were on our main salmon rivers and 16 on recovering salmon rivers. 50 new agricultural officers, funded by Defra, have also been appointed to work with the agricultural community to address diffuse and acute water quality issues.

Ensuring clean and plentiful water is one of the biggest challenges we face and is a priority for the EA and the Government. Earlier in July, the EA published its annual Environmental Performance Assessment on water quality the EA called for tougher fines and prison sentences for those responsible for serious and deliberate pollution affecting water quality.

The EA, Defra and key partner organisations continue to deliver on the Salmon Five Point Approach and NASCO’s implementation plan to co-ordinate effort and drive forward actions that will benefit all aspects of the salmon life cycle. To add further weight to this initiative, the EA and NRW have also joined forces to develop the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) salmon management implementation plan to co-ordinate actions to benefit all aspects of the salmon life cycle.

Notes to editor:

All of the Environment Agency’s fisheries improvement projects are funded through government Grant in Aid and fishing licence sales.

The Salmon Five Point Approach has been jointly developed and committed to by a wide range of partners which include Government, Atlantic Salmon Trust, Angling Trust, River Trusts, Wild Trout Trust and the Institute of Fisheries Management. It sets out the actions to address the key pressures that affect the different life stages of salmon. The priorities are:

• Improve marine survival.
• Further reduce exploitation by nets and rods.
• Remove barriers to migration and enhance habitat.
• Safeguard sufficient flows.
• Maximise spawning success by improving water quality.

Kate de Rothschild-Agius

Kate has been a Trustee of the Wallace Collection since 2018 having served two terms and was appointed Head of Fundraising on the Board in January 2022. Outside of the Wallace, Kate is on the board of Exbury Gardens, her family garden which is open to the public (125,000 visitors last year) and also serves on the PCC of her local church, St Katharine’s, Exbury.

Kate actively enjoys the museum world, supporting many of the London museums as a Patron, and visiting exhibitions. She was formerly Chairman of the Patrons at both the British Museum and Kew Gardens. She divides her time between London and Exbury.

Dr Ashok Roy

Dr Ashok Roy, FSA is a scientist and a leading analytical specialist in the material history of works of art, particularly Old Master paintings. His career has been in museum science from 1977 when he was appointed to the National Gallery’s Scientific Department, of which he became Director in 1990. He was later appointed Director of Collections at the National Gallery from where he retired in 2016. He remains particularly interested in developing interdisciplinary study of works of art with curators and conservators with a view of presenting to a broad public the interest and value of understanding and preserving collections through material knowledge.To this end he has organised a number of exhibitions devoted to these subjects as well as many publications and lectures.

He is passionate about promoting the widest variety of free public access to the national collections, and ensuring that the results of research on collections are made available to visitors both physical and virtual. He believes that presenting the materials and making of works of art provides a powerful way of engaging new audiences, particularly younger visitors. He is also interested in the importance of environmental sustainability of museums as public institutions.

Timothy Schroder

Timothy Schroder is a historian and lecturer on the history of silver and goldsmiths’ work. Previous roles include head of silver at Christie’s, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Consultant Curator at the V&A. In addition to being a trustee of the Wallace Collection, he is a past Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company, a member of the Fabric Commission of Westminster Abbey and former chairman of the Prostate Cancer Research Centre.

Remuneration and Governance Code

Trustees of the Wallace Collection are not remunerated. These are short reappointments to third terms from 07 January 2023 until 06 July 2023 and have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Kate de Rothschild-Agius, Ashok Roy and Timothy Schroder have declared no activity.

UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) have announced a new trans-Atlantic agreement to advance commercial fusion energy.

The new five-year Collaboration Framework Agreement establishes the terms under which a series of work projects between US-based CFS, from Massachusetts, and UKAEA will support the development of fusion energy and related technologies.

This agreement is the result of a shared mission of both organisations to leverage innovative research and the speed of the private sector to support the fastest path to low carbon commercial fusion energy – based on the same processes that power the sun and stars.

Prof. Ian Chapman, UKAEA CEO, said: “Achieving our shared missions to deliver low carbon and sustainable fusion energy involves working at the forefront of science, engineering, and technology. This new collaboration agreement with CFS will help push these developments and capabilities, drive innovation and accelerate progress.

“Fusion presents an exciting opportunity for the UK and we’re proud our ground-breaking work here continues to support economic growth and attracts such leading international partners.”

Bob Mumgaard, CFS CEO, added: “CFS and UKAEA have a mutual interest and strong belief that public-private collaborations such as this represent a way to accelerate advances in commercial fusion energy technology and support CFS’ plans to deliver commercial fusion as quickly as possible.

“UKAEA is a leader in fusion energy research and CFS plans to establish a UK presence as we leverage the combined skills and talents of both organisations to develop the fastest path to commercial fusion power on the grid.”

The scope of the collaboration could include:

• Operations teams sharing and learning best practices from fusion experiments
• Access to fusion-adjacent technology facilities, including robotics
• Collaboration on fuel cycle technologies, neutronics modelling, systems integration models, advanced manufacturing, diagnostics, remote handling and remote maintenance
• Collaborative work to identify and answer emerging plasma physics questions

Last month, the UK government confirmed that future fusion energy facilities will be regulated by the Environment Agency (EA) and Health & Safety Executive (HSE). This provides clarity to developers of prototype and demonstration fusion facilities currently being planned, including the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), UKAEA’s ambitious plan to accelerate the delivery of sustainable fusion energy.

• Oxfordshire joins five other local authorities as a trailblazer for government’s charging reform
• Trailblazers will implement the new adult social care charging reform system early ahead of national roll out in October 2023
• Charging reforms will mean no one will have to face unpredictable care costs in the future

Oxfordshire is the latest local authority to join as a trailblazer for the government’s social care reform. It will implement the changes of the charging reform early to end unpredictable care costs for local care receivers.

To ensure a smooth transition from the current charging system Oxfordshire joins Wolverhampton, Blackpool, Cheshire East, Newham, North Yorkshire to make changes early ahead of national roll out in October next year. This will include the lifetime cap for care costs of £86,000 for anyone receiving care in England, and a more generous means test to determine financial support from local authorities.

The government selected the six local authorities to ensure there was a representative cross section of communities so that any insight, evidence and lessons learned from this initiative would be helpful to all providers, local authorities and areas across England.

Minister for Care and Mental Health, Gillian Keegan, said:

It’s great to have Oxfordshire join our trailblazers to implement the charging reform early.

Oxfordshire, along with our other trailblazers, will pave the way ensuring we learn from any insight, evidence and lessons to help providers and local authorities across England in the future. We’re looking forward to working with them to make the ambitious change a reality.

Councillor Tim Bearder, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care said:

We know reform in adult social care is needed to remove the unpredictable care costs people face as they get older.

Oxfordshire is a national leader in adult social care and being a part of this small group of early adopters gives us the opportunity to influence how the programme will be rolled out and share our best practice with national government.

The government’s charging reform will be funded by the Health and Social Care Levy, which is set to raise more than £5.4billion including £3.6billion to reform the way people pay for their social care.

From October next year, no-one starting to receive care will pay more than £86,000 over their lifetime and no-one with assets of less than £20,000 will have to make any contribution from their savings or housing wealth – an increase from £14,250.

Means-tested support will be available for people with assets between £20,000 and £100,000, with this upper limit more than four times the current limit.

The trailblazers will shape the governments approach to the implementation of the charging reform across England, by allowing the Department of Health and Social care to trial key aspects of the reforms.

The initiative will produce valuable insight, evidence and lessons to aid the government in monitoring progress and identifying challenges to improve understanding of how it’ll work in practice.

These six local authorities will work with the department to educate and inform other local authorities with a series of events taking place before the final rollout.