Councils all over the country can today bid for a share of £4.8 billion of flagship levelling up funding for projects that improve everyday life for people across the UK.

Applications for the second round of the government’s Levelling Up Fund opened for submission today (15 July 2022) and will remain open until midday on 2 August 2022.

The fund empowers communities by putting money directly into the hands of councils, and in Northern Ireland to a range of public and private organisations, to invest in projects which give people pride in the places where they live.

Previous grants from the first round have gone towards improving town centres, boosting local transport links and supporting cultural and historical assets.

Greg Clark, the newly appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said:

I am determined to press full steam ahead with levelling up communities across the United Kingdom.

The Levelling Up Fund can provide the investment needed to make a project that communities have been dreaming of for years a reality.

So I’m delighted to open applications for the second round of the Levelling Up Fund and I’m looking forward to seeing proposals that will make a positive impact on people’s lives.

In a change to the application process, MPs in Great Britain will now be able to provide support to two bids that benefit their constituencies in this round, rather than a single one. This recognises the fact that many MPs’ constituencies cover more than one council area.

The second round will look to build on the success of the round one, which saw £1.7 billion awarded to 105 successful projects across the UK.

In round one, grants included £17.7 million provided for the restoration of the 900-year-old Haverfordwest Castle in Pembrokeshire into a high-quality all-weather visitor attraction and to develop the potential of the river as a feature of the town centre. Elsewhere, Omagh in Northern Ireland has received £4.1 million to regenerate its vacant health centre and transform it into a digital hub, creating 250 jobs and attracting local businesses and entrepreneurs.

£19.9 million was also awarded to West Dunbartonshire for a series of projects including revamping the Artizan Shopping Centre and transforming the area’s oldest building into a library and museum.

In England, ‘Northolt Travel Scheme’ in Ealing received £7.2 million for a high-impact active travel scheme that will improve accessibility to services and employment areas, and connect Northolt to the strategic cycle, pedestrian and public transport network. Bishop Auckland received £20 million to reopen the UK’s oldest suspension bridge and improve transport links for local people.

Millions of UK workers will be able take home more of their hard-earned cash under new legislation, backed by the government today (Friday 15 July), banning employers from withholding tips from their staff.

Despite most hospitality workers – many of whom are earning the National Minimum Wage – relying on tips to top up their pay, there are still sadly too many businesses who shamefully fail to pass on service charges from customers to their staff.

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill, introduced by Dean Russell MP and backed by the government, will ensure that all tips go to staff by making it unlawful for businesses to hold back well-earned service charges from their employees.

This overhaul of tipping practices is set to benefit more than 2 million UK workers across the hospitality, leisure and services sectors – who tend to reply on tips the most – and will help to ease pressures caused by global inflation and an increase to the cost of living.

Business Minister Jane Hunt said:

At a time when people are feeling the squeeze with rising costs, it is simply not right that employers are withholding tips from their hard-working employees.

Whether you are pulling pints or greeting guests, today’s reforms will ensure that staff receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work – and it means customers can be confident their money is going to those who deserve it.

I particularly want to tip my hat to the work of Dean Russell MP and all the campaigners who have helped make the Tipping Bill a reality.

Through the Bill, a new statutory Code of Practice will be developed to provide businesses and staff with advice on how tips should be distributed. On top of this, workers will receive a new right to request more information relating to an employer’s tipping record, enabling them to bring forward a credible claim to an employment tribunal.

Dean Russell, Conservative MP for Watford, said:

I am delighted that my Tips Bill has passed second reading in Parliament. It is fantastic that we are on track to securing a fair deal for millions of people working in hospitality across the country.

It has always felt wrong that some employers have retained tips intended for their staff. This new legislation will halt this practice, particularly given the current challenges around the cost of living. I would like to thank all of the businesses and stakeholders that have got in touch to voice their support.

The move towards a cashless society has exacerbated the problem of companies keeping card tip payments for themselves, and today’s measures, once in law, will ban that practice.

UK Hospitality Chief Executive, Kate Nicholls, said:

Tips and service charges provide a significant and welcome boost to hospitality employees’ take-home cash. So we’re delighted to see this proposed legislation recommend that employers can set a fair distribution policy for staff, meaning they all benefit. This should also reassure prospective hospitality sector workers at a time when the industry is seeking to fill vacancies.

Today’s reforms follow a range of government action to support people with the cost of living and help those on lower incomes keep more of what they earn. Most notably, earlier this year the government increased the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour – equivalent to an extra £1,000 a year for a full-time worker – with a full campaign which encouraged workers to check their pay.

In addition, the government recently announced a widening of the ban on exclusivity clauses, giving the lowest paid workers flexibility to top up their pay and work multiple jobs if they wish.

The reforms come at a time when there are more employees on payrolls than ever before – and unemployment has reached an all-time low.

Individuals who were affected by the pre-2000 ban on homosexuality in the armed forces are urged to respond to a 17 week call for evidence to inform recommendations to ensure that the service of every LGBT veteran is understood and valued.

Responses are welcomed from all those who served in the UK Armed Forces from 1967 – 2000 and their families, and from academics and organisations with an interest in the UK Armed Forces and the LBGT community.

The call for evidence has been designed to be user-friendly, quick to fill in and easily accessible. Individuals will be able to come forward through an online survey here or via Freepost.

Regardless of where they live, veterans affected by the UK armed forces ban will be able to provide their testimony to the call for evidence.

This call for evidence comes following the appointment of The Lord Etherton PC QC last month.

The Lord Etherton PC QC said:

The object of the Review is to provide evidence based recommendations to the government as to how best the government can meet its commitment to ensure that all veterans’ experiences are understood and their military service valued, and how best to acknowledge and remedy the injustice of dismissal of LGBT service personnel prior to 2000 on the grounds of their sexual orientation.

This call for evidence will ensure that veterans can share their experiences. I encourage all those affected by the ban to come forward with testimony in this safe environment, to shape the review’s recommendations.

The review was announced by the Defence Secretary and former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay, as part of the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan in January 2022. The independent review will provide the opportunity for the government to better understand the lived experience of LGBT veterans who served prior to 2000, including how being discharged from the military because of their sexuality affects their life.

The review will consider the experiences of LGBT veterans and their families in the context of the pre-2000 ban, including the nature of dismissal, the impact this had on their subsequent lives.

From these testimonies, the review team will be able to make evidence-based recommendations as to how the government can meet its commitment in the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan and ensure the service and experience of every LGBT veteran is understood and valued.

Last week, the government also announced the appointment of Johnny Mercer as Minister for Veterans’ Affairs at the Cabinet Office.

The MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) Commemorations Team, also known as the MOD’s ‘War Detectives’, is responsible for attempting to identify British personnel killed in historic campaigns dating back to the Great War and arrange a military ceremony.

Due to the nature of our work, one of the first questions we’re often asked is “Do you have any jobs?”. As we are a small team based in Gloucester, opportunities to work with us are rare but any vacancies will be advertised – like all civil service posts – on Civil Service Jobs. Sadly, we’re not able to offer any volunteering opportunities.

We receive a variety of enquiries regarding all aspects of our work and so we have collated the most common, interesting facts.

How we research our recovery cases and how it can lead to an identification; when DNA is used and how we find family members.

There are some differences between World War One (WW1) and World War Two (WW2) casualties.

WW1

Finding the remains of fallen British servicemen

When the remains of British military personnel are found on historic battlefields, one of the first thing we look for is any clues as to who they served with, for example shoulder titles or cap badges.

Without this information we have little chance of making an identification (unless the casualty is found with personal items that include their name or service number). Once we know a casualty’s regiment, we can try to work out when they were in the recovery area. The other types of clues that are invaluable is if we find some rank insignia, for example sergeant’s stripes.

Reference sources we use

The first step we take is to look at the battalion war diaries to find out exactly where a regimental battalion was on any given date. The whole of the Western Front was mapped into squares of 500 yards so troops’ movements can be plotted, and a recovery location pinpointed accurately; these are known as trench maps (available via various websites online). The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) holds records of exhumations from each of the trench map “squares”, which can be helpful in showing which regiment’s casualties have previously been found in the same location. We also look at regimental histories, personal diaries, information held by regimental museums and online. Each of the Services has a specialist historical branch who can assist us when required. Some of the other sources of useful information we look at are Soldiers’ Effects Registers, pension cards, Red Cross Prisoner Of War (POW) records, medal index card and newspaper archives.

Establishing date of death

When we’ve done our regimental research, we should have some idea when a particular regiment was in the recovery location. We will also have another look at the artefacts to see if there’s anything that might help us with a date of death. For example, there may be parts of a small box respirator found with a casualty. These weren’t first issued until 1916, so we can rule out a date of death before then. We will look at CWGC exhumation records to see if any other recoveries from the same regiment were made, and when. All the information should help us to narrow down a date of death to within a few days.

The next stage in our process

Once we have a regiment, a timeframe for the death and hopefully a rank, we will search the CWGC database to find out how many casualties of a particular rank/battalion/regiment died during the day(s) in question and have no known grave.

How we use DNA for identification

If we can narrow a list of potential casualties to around 10, we will consider taking DNA to help us. DNA is only ever used as a confirmation of what we suspect. Instead, our process uses all the available evidence from the site of the recovery and military records to establish the potential identity of a casualty before using anthropology and finally DNA to add an additional level of confirmation. DNA matching to the standard needed to make a positive identification is rarely sufficient in its own right. Given the passage of time, the condition of many of the remains found, and the changes in family dynamics, it is often the case that even those with a very strong likelihood of a direct family relationship will only have a partial DNA match. Hence to start the identification process by trying to work from DNA matching would be unlikely to succeed and is more likely to result in raising expectations that could prove upsetting to the families involved.

We contract our DNA work out to a reputable firm of forensics experts. They will take samples from the casualty’s remains, prepare male and/or female profiles, before comparing them against a sample taken from a suitable relative. They also undertake anthropology work for us, giving us an approximate age range and height, which can be used to further narrow down a pool of potential candidates. Our DNA contract is re-let periodically through an open commercial competition.

Suitable DNA donors

Not every member of a casualty’s family is a suitable donor for DNA. In short, we need to follow either a direct male (Y STR) or female (MtDNA) line through the generations. For example, a casualty’s son/grandson/great grandson etc would all be suitable donors; as would a sister/niece/great niece etc. But if the casualty had a daughter, her father’s DNA would stop with her and any of her subsequent children/grandchildren etc wouldn’t be suitable for comparison.

Recording DNA

We never collect DNA from living relatives in anticipation of future finds due to the ethical and legal implications enshrined in UK law.

DNA profiles stored in family history/genealogical websites

In practical terms, processing DNA samples to the level required for positive identification of casualties is a complicated process, and far exceeds the more generic service offered by family history companies.

How we trace a casualty’s family

We take what information we have (date and place of birth, parents and/or siblings names) and build a family tree. We will look at census information (the last one available is the 1939 Register) and try and work down to a current generation. We are only able to use information already in the public domain, for example, electoral rolls, but this usually gives us enough to have some idea of who a current relation might be. We’re sometimes able to locate them via social media or we put out an appeal on local TV, radio or newspapers, as well as via our own Facebook account: @wardetectives.

The missing

The vast majority of those recorded as having no known grave are likely to be amongst those buried ‘Known Unto God’ in CWGC cemeteries or, sadly, were lost in circumstances where no remains will survive. Some are still buried where they fell in shallow field graves and it is this category that make up the majority of our work, as human remains are always being found, especially in France and Flanders. The cases we deal with make up only a tiny proportion of the total of those without a named final resting place. There are over half a million still missing from the Great War. About a third of those are thought to be buried as “unknown” while the other two thirds are still “missing”.

WW2

The majority of our work for WW2 casualties is made up of RAF personnel where aircraft crash sites are excavated, particularly in the Netherlands and Germany. Our research in these cases uses RAF Combat Reports, Operations Record Books, Aircrew Logs and Casualty Files. If the identity of the aircraft can be established, it’s usually much easier to name its casualties, since there would be a maximum number of potential candidates (depending on the type of aircraft) and the names of the crew on lost aircraft are kept on RAF Casualty Files. The information about DNA and searching for families (shown above) still applies. As far as Royal Navy casualties go, sadly their casualties’ remains are lost at sea rather than recovered.

There are still occasionally Army casualties found from WW2 conflicts. We would use the same research methods as for WW1 casualties.

Identification of unknown graves

It is sometimes possible to work out who is buried in an “unknown” grave in one of CWGC’s cemeteries and a number of researchers/historians/family members/members of the public do this and submit their evidence for consideration. This must be done by research only – the exhumation of a war grave for the purposes of identification is not permitted. As well as proving the link between a potential candidate and the unidentified casualty, it’s equally important to discount all other potential candidates from the investigation. All cases must be sent to CWGC in the first instance for them to check against their records; if they feel a case has merit, it will be forwarded to the Service historical branch and then on to us for a final decision. Guidance on how to submit an Identification case can be found on the CWGC’s website.

For clarity, the main aspects of our work can be summed up as:

1. The authority to establish identity of the remains of British Service personnel from World War 1 onwards, then coordinating a burial with military honours, and

2. Making the decision as to whether a previously “Unknown” grave can be accepted as being the final resting place of a named individual and overseeing the rededication service carried out at the grave in question.

Repatriation

Since the 1980s, the families of service personnel who died overseas have had the option of their loved ones’ bodies being repatriated to the UK for burial and/or cremation. Prior to that, all war dead were buried in the country of their death and no repatriation was permitted. Those rules are still in force for those who died in either or the World Wars. They are buried with their compatriots; “served together, died together, buried together”.