The British Embassy in Cairo and leading British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca are sponsoring eleven Egyptians to travel to the UK to visit the research and development labs of AstraZeneca in Cambridge.

The partnership between the British Embassy and AstraZeneca is designed to encourage young Egyptian graduates in the faculties of Pharmacy and Medicine to develop innovative digital solutions that will better serve Egyptians in several medical fields, including diabetes and oncology. As part of the initiative, known as ‘Astrafekra’, recent graduates have been invited to pitch their ideas to a panel.

The winners will get the chance to explore state-of-the-art labs, and talk to world-renown scientists to help them develop innovative and cutting-edge medical solutions that will benefit Egyptians.

British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams said:

The UK is well-known for its exceptional healthcare system and world-class medical research. Our support for this project reflects our wider commitment to share British expertise in pivotal sectors like health and education. I am proud we are supporting young Egyptians to think innovatively as they work on life-changing medical discoveries that will benefit all Egyptians.

The Embassy’s support is part of its ‘Inspire Egypt’ programme, which aims to invest in the potential of Egyptians from all walks of life in order to make a positive difference. Through the programme, the embassy has held a series of events, workshops, activities and competitions to celebrate and encourage successful Egyptians innovating in fields including healthcare, education, entrepreneurship, and many others.

Councils across England are set to receive the biggest year-on-year real terms increase in funding for almost a decade, after details of the Spending Round were announced.

The Chancellor confirmed local authorities can expect to see the funding they have access to now rise in real terms by an estimated 4.3% in 2020 to 2021, with a £2.9 billion increase in their core spending including £1 billion government grant for adults and children’s social care.

Councils will also have the option to raise up to half a billion pounds more for adult social care, where needed, through additional council tax flexibilities to fund more care home places, more social workers and to provide residents with the local services that they need and deserve. 

Together with over £700 million of additional funding for children with special educational needs, the funding available to support vital local services next year will come to more than £3.5 billion. 

Communities Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

I am delighted the Chancellor has announced the biggest year-on-year real terms increase in spending power for local government in almost a decade.

Next year councils will benefit from £3.5 billion of extra funding available to them for the core services that are so important to residents – including a £1 billion cash grant for social care. 

This package comes in recognition of the central role that local authorities play in supporting communities and our most vulnerable people across the country.

Funding was also announced in the Spending Round for other areas for which the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for, including:

Homelessness

The Chancellor confirmed £422 million will be spent tackling homelessness and rough sleeping next year, with funding up by £54 million in 2020 to 2021 – a 13% real terms increase in funding.

The money is part of the government’s drive to ensure no one is left without anywhere to go, and follows the publication of the Rough Sleeping Strategy last year.

Schemes such as the Rapid Rehousing Pathway scheme and the Rough Sleeping Initiative will be supported by this funding.

Towns Fund

The Chancellor confirmed £241 million from the Towns Fund in 2020 to 2021 will help support high streets, towns and local economies so they can harness their unique strengths to deliver growth, prosperity and level up the regions.

Building safety

An extra £24 million will be made available for the building safety programme – as the government takes urgent steps to ensure a tragedy like Grenfell can never happen again.

It comes on top of £600 million the government has committed for social and private building owners to remove ACM cladding from residential buildings.

Backing for other projects

The government is continuing to provide funding to make the housing market work and backing the Midlands Engine and Northern Powerhouse.

The package also includes continued support to increase home ownership through the Help to Buy equity loan and other housing programmes, including providing Homes England additional funding to deliver more homes where people need them.

There will also be continued funding for the Troubled Families programme, which is transforming the way public services are delivered to support families with complex needs.

There will also be an extra £10 million funding for Integration Areas to support English as a second language, under the integration programme. The scheme will provide improved access to education, jobs and other opportunities.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said:

We are concerned that North Korea has conducted a further set of short range ballistic missile tests, another clear violation of UN Security Council Resolutions.

We urge North Korea to honour the commitments they have made to engage in meaningful negotiations with the US and take steps towards complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. This is the only path that can lead North Korea towards a peaceful and more prosperous future for its people.

Further information

Published 10 September 2019

The Department for International Trade (DIT) last week welcomed a delegation of operators and contractors to the Offshore Europe Conference, Europe’s leading oil and gas conference and exhibition.

Delegates from all corners of the world, including India, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Norway were in attendance. DIT introduced them to the UK’s best innovative technologies in the offshore oil & gas sector, through a series of workshops hosted in the DIT Export Hub.

In total over 200 meetings were arranged between delegates and supply chain companies based in the UK.

The delegation, one of a number of inward missions hosted by DIT this year, was in support of the government’s commitment to helping innovative UK oil & gas supply chain companies win international business, as was set out in the Government’s Export Strategy last year.

One company already leading the way in the Oil and Gas sector is JDR Cable Systems. The Cambridgeshire based company is a provider of subsea technologies and services connecting the global offshore energy industry. They design, engineer and manufacture subsea power cables, production umbilicals and a variety of other control systems and technologies for the oil and gas and energy sectors.

The majority of the firm’s output – more than 80% – is exported to overseas markets including Asia Pacific, the US, West Africa and Europe.

UK Export Finance’s support of JDR’s exports has underpinned a series of contract wins including one for more than 100 kilometres of inter-array power cabling located in German waters.

Campbell Keir, Deputy Director, Energy and Infrastructure at DIT commented:

I am delighted to have welcomed these global delegations to explore business opportunities with UK supply chain companies.

The UK remains the global partner of choice in the Subsea and Oil & Gas industries and we export goods, services, skills and expertise all over the world. We are committed to the Export Strategy target to increase exports to 35% of GDP, and I am confident that activities like this will help us to achieve it.