The UK is significantly increasing its support for vulnerable Venezuelans suffering in the wake of their country’s economic collapse.

Today’s announcement of additional UK aid support will help aid organisations in Venezuela deliver life-saving medicine and clean water to those suffering from the dire humanitarian crisis. It will also provide longer-term support in neighbouring countries, which are hosting millions of Venezuelans.

This new funding builds on existing UK support which is helping malnourished children and providing vaccinations and clean water to some of the most vulnerable communities. Inflation in Venezuela remains dangerously high at well over one million percent, leaving many Venezuelans unable to afford basics, such as food and medicines. Poverty in Venezuela has almost doubled since 2014 and there has been a stark increase in disease outbreaks such as measles and diphtheria.

This is forcing Venezuelans to flee neighbouring countries and increasing the threat of human trafficking.

International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said:

The people of Venezuela are needlessly suffering as a direct result of Maduro’s refusal to accept the scale of his country’s worsening humanitarian crisis.

This new UK aid will help provide immediate life-saving support to the millions of Venezuelans in need inside the country and to those forced to flee.

Neighbouring countries have already shown immense generosity, and other donors must now step up or this crisis will deepen further.

Today’s allocation of up to £30 million comes shortly after the United Nations called on donors to give US$223 million to support a bigger humanitarian response this year.

Notes to editors

• Today’s announcement of UK aid is in addition to the £14.5 million announced by DFID earlier this year, taking the UK’s total response to £44.5 million.
• It will support humanitarian agencies across the region. We are not disclosing which specific agencies we are funding inside Venezuela for security reasons. No UK funding goes to the Government of Venezuela.
• In addition to today’s new support, DFID already gives core funding to multilateral organisations on the ground, which are providing emergency humanitarian aid in the region.
• The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund, to which the UK was the largest donor in 2018, has allocated a total of US$32 million to the region for this crisis, including US$19 million for use within Venezuela.

The agreement, announced this morning at the UK Space Conference will further the ambitions set out in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two agencies in October 2018 and lay the foundations for swift and amicable negotiations for space-related opportunities under any potential future UK-Australia trading arrangements.

Dr Graham Turnock, CEO of the UK Space Agency said:

The UK’s space heritage has strong links to Australia, with the first British rockets lifting off from Woomera in the 1950s, and we are committed to strengthening our friendship and partnership. A Space Bridge agreement will bring significant benefits to both our thriving space industries, facilitating new trade and investment opportunities and the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

It was a pleasure to welcome the Australian Space Agency to the UK Space Conference 2019 and to set out our intent to increase collaboration.

The two national space agencies will work with the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) and Australian Trade & Investment Commission (Austrade), and with industry leaders including the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult, and the new Australian SmartSat Collaborative Research Centre to establish this world-first concept for international space collaboration.

Dr Megan Clark AC, Head of the Australian Space Agency said:

This latest agreement builds on a number of recent international agreements that are positioning Australia to play an increasingly important role in the global space industry.

The Space Bridge will open up new opportunities for Australian space businesses to access the global space sector through future trade agreements. This is an important step in the Agency’s goal to transform and grow the Australian space industry.

The UK Space Agency and the Australian Space Agency with DIT and Austrade, will now work with interested stakeholders to develop the Space Bridge Framework Agreement in the coming months, building on the significant industrial engagement from the Satellite Applications Catapult and SmartSat CRC

Joint work is ongoing between the UK and Australia in space, with the launch last year of the Surrey Satellite NovaSAR, which uses radar to view the Earth through cloud cover. The satellite will share 10% of its data with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia.

All labour and materials were donated for the DIY SOS-style project which included a renovated seating area and shelter, a new footpath, redecorating and repairs.

Delighted pupils at English Martyrs Catholic Voluntary Academy Trust in Oakham were over the moon on the first day of term when they arrived to see the work that had been done.

While the children were enjoying their summer break, work was being carried out by a group of volunteers from the East Midlands Asset Delivery (EMAD) team – made up of Highways England and 22 partners including NMCN, Kier, Tarmac and Hanson.

Over three days the team laid a new footpath to the sports area, repaired the Early Years playground fence, refurbished a shelter, renovated flooring and classroom carpet tiles and painted the toilet blocks.

Alison Chambers, head teacher at English Martyrs Catholic Voluntary Academy, said:

The children and staff were delighted to discover when they returned after the summer holidays that there was a new path, painted fences, line markings, painted toilets, a painted hall and new floorings in adult and pupil toilets.

We would like to say a big thank you to all involved, school budgets are tight and this has helped enormously with providing a real lift to our external and internal premises. We are hoping to invite some of the contractors back into school for our Aspirations Week later on in the school year.

The school won the makeover thanks to the artistic talents of 10-year-old pupils Lilly Gerstner and Sophia Rice after a team of road experts from EMAD visited local primary schools. They helped pupils between the ages of eight and 11 to plan, design and build their own road bridges.

The children were challenged to design a poster reflecting the work of Highways England which plans, designs, builds, operates and maintains 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads across England.

The best posters were displayed in the Highways England marquee at the Rutland Show in June where the winners were announced.

Highways England assistant collaboration manager for the region, Nicola Tomlinson, said:

Working with our supply chain partners on this great initiative we exceeded all expectations on the improvements we were able to carry out at the school which will benefit both staff and children.

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The CELTIC-NEXT programme supports innovative business research and development of the next generation of telecommunications services.

It is part of the EUREKA inter-governmental network that promotes innovation across national borders in Europe and beyond.

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, has up to £2 million from the CELTIC-NEXT programme to support UK companies working with partners in this country and overseas on new 5G technologies.

5G is the next generation of mobile networks. It could be 100 times faster than 4G and opens the possibility of many new products and services across large areas of the economy that were not possible before.

The competition aims to help UK organisations to work with others on an international programme to develop new 5G infrastructure and services.

Projects could include:

• development of innovative 5G infrastructure technologies that use artificial intelligence
• applications and services that use 5G to offer new or improved user experiences
• 5G features in satellites or 5G applications and services that use satellites

Applications and services must focus on 1 or more of the Internet of Things, the tactile internet, mission critical applications, infotainment and immersive technologies.

##Competition information

• the competition opens on 14 October 2019, and the deadline for applications is at midday UK time on 11 December 2019
• businesses of any size may apply
• projects must include at least 1 UK SME and at least 1 organisation from a EUREKA country
• projects must submit a CELTIC proposal before applying to the competition
• we expect projects to range in size between £400,000 and £2.5 million
• a London briefing event will be held on 10 October 2019

Azeem Akhtar

Azeem Akhtar, is currently Chief Technology Officer at BT Global where he engages with multi-national clients at C-Level to articulate BT’s vision for digital transformation to deliver the client’s desired business outcomes. After graduating from King’s College London in Mathematics and Business Management, Azeem went on to complete a Masters in Sea-Use Law, Economics and Policy Making at The London School of Economics.

He commenced his professional career working first in the oil and gas industry before moving into the telecommunications industry just as the dot.com era was really taking off. Azeem has held senior commercial, finance, business development and technology leadership roles to date and has extensive international experience where he has utilised his multi-lingual skills.

A committed sportsman, Azeem plays cricket, football, squash and tennis and is a die-hard Liverpool FC supporter. He currently holds a non-executive director role as Chairman of Active Essex and passionately leads the charge against physical inactivity to improve the quality of life for all people, of all ages in Essex.

In 2016, Azeem was named in the UK’s Top 100 Most Influential BAME Business Leaders. Azeem is married with 3 children.

Tove Okunniwa

Tove Okunniwa is Chief Executive Officer of London Sport, an ‘Active Partnership’ dedicated to making London the most active city in the world, funded by Sport England and the Mayor of London. She has a background in strategic marketing and content creation, with extensive experience in both commercial and non-profit sectors. Previously, she led two successful sport and entertainment marketing agencies, WPP owned MEC Access and Havas Sports & Entertainment.

Prior to this, Tove spent 10 years at the BBC in senior brand marketing roles, including Head of Marketing at BBC Sport and during which time she completed an Executive MBA. Her career started in the Arts at the London Symphony Orchestra and the South Bank Centre.

She is a long-time Trustee of Catch 22, a leading social business and a Non-Executive Director of England Boxing.

David Mahoney

David is currently Chief Operating Officer at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Prior to this, he oversaw the strategy, insights, HR, integrity and public policy teams as ECB’s Chief Strategy Officer.

Before joining ECB, David held a number of senior roles at Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, including Director of Policy and Chief Advisor to its CEO. He was also seconded into Government in 2009 as a Director of the Digital Britain Report, which examined the transformational nature of digital technologies and the policy responses needed as a result.

A qualified lawyer who specialised in competition and media law before joining Ofcom, David is a keen sports fan who enjoys cricket and golf as well as following West Ham United.

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These roles are remunerated at £218 per day. This reappointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Azeem, Tove and David have made no such declarations.