[unable to retrieve full-text content]Latest information and actions from the Education and Skills Funding Agency for academies, schools, colleges, local authorities and further education providers.

I am deeply saddened by Sir Kim Darroch’s decision to resign as Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Washington. For 42 years, Sir Kim served his country with the utmost dedication and distinction.

His career took him from Tokyo to Brussels, from Downing Street – where he became National Security Adviser – to our Embassy in Washington. If one theme ran through all his endeavours, it was his unswerving devotion to upholding the interests of the United Kingdom, in the best tradition of British diplomacy.

In that spirit, he brought dispassionate insight and directness to his reporting to ministers in London. Whenever I visited Washington as Foreign Secretary, I was struck by Sir Kim’s professionalism and intellect. I am outraged that a selection of his reports should have been leaked.

I am sure that our Ambassadors worldwide will continue to provide the objective and rigorous reporting that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has always prized. I profoundly regret how this episode has led Sir Kim to decide to resign. He deserves to look back upon his career as a servant of Britain with the greatest satisfaction and pride.

The British Embassy is part-funding a joint Turkmen-Afghan workshop to promote gender equality in the Border Service. Organised by the OSCE and supported by the UK, Japan, Germany and Italy, the workshop will last three days and bring together Turkmen and Afghan border officials to equip them with the knowledge and skills to maintain and promote gender mainstreaming in border security.

Opening the workshop, British Ambassador Thorda Abbott-Watt welcomed Afghan colleagues and gave some of the rational for the workshop. Experience had shown that even in situations of conflict there were advantages to having women on your staff. Their presence alone sometimes defused tension and avoided the escalation of violence. And there were sound economic arguments.

If you fail to recruit women, you are reducing by half the pool of people on whom you can draw for one of the most important jobs in the country.

Thank you, Madam Vice-President,

The United Kingdom welcomes the Independent Expert’s report and her analysis of the human rights situation in Central African Republic.

The UK is deeply concerned that violence in CAR endures despite the promise of tangible change. We call on armed groups to cease all forms of violence, without which there can be no peaceful resolution to the current crisis in CAR.

The UK condemns the cruel and brutal attacks in villages near Paoua on 21 May in which 50 civilians were killed. These acts of violence were committed by armed group signatories to the Peace Agreement, demonstrating flagrant disregard to the integrity of the Peace Process.

The UK commends the effort by the CAR government, together with MINUSCA and United Nations Development Programme, to bring perpetrators of serious crimes to account and to end impunity. We welcome the establishment of the Special Criminal Court and progress made so far, including the initiation of its first investigations.

More broadly, the UK recognises the need to keep up momentum following the Peace Agreement, and to deliver much-anticipated peace dividends to women, civil society and the youth of CAR.

We would like to ask the Independent Expert for her view on the inclusiveness of the Peace Agreement.

We would also welcome her advice on what we can all do to support institutions such as the Special Criminal Court in CAR.

Thank you, Madam Vice-President.

The Front Line Review has seen the Home Office engage directly with officers and staff for more than a year. Today (10 July) the department publishes everything it has heard from the front line, alongside a package of new measures which aims to transform the support given to them.

This includes plans to work with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to embed wellbeing into the culture of policing through inspecting forces.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Our world-leading police keep us safe in the most challenging of circumstances – so it’s vital we do everything possible to support them in their roles.

Over the past year we’ve been speaking to officers and listening to their views around how they can make the service they provide even better.

As a result, we are taking action to reduce their workloads, ensure their wellbeing and give the front line a stronger voice in decision making.

The Front Line Review will be launched later today by Policing Minister Nick Hurd and the Police Federation at their headquarters.

Officers from the front line and representatives from the College of Policing, Superintendents’ Association, National Police Chiefs’ Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners will also be present.

The minister will also visit forces in Surrey, Wales and Essex to engage with officers directly on the new package of support.

Minister for Policing and Fire, Nick Hurd, said:

We wanted to hear directly from the front line of policing and the messages were clear.

The need for more people. The call to stop wasting police time. The desire for more of a say in the decisions that affect the front line. The need for more time and support for both training and wellbeing.

We have listened and now we are taking action with our partners to make sure police officers, staff and volunteers have the support they need, wherever they serve. This is on top of the increased investment to recruit more officers.

New guidance will also be issued empowering police to push back against responding to inappropriate requests for attendance, often health or welfare related, and where the police have neither the right skills or powers to respond.

This is designed to make a difference for vulnerable people, giving them the right support from the right agencies, while also freeing up time for the police to focus on tackling crime.

John Apter, National Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says:

In my 27 years’ service, this is the first time I can recall the Home Office directly engaging with the front line to seek their views and I welcome that.

I admit to being sceptical at first, concerned the review would side-step the important issues of pay, morale and trying to do more with fewer officers, but I was reassured to hear the police minister acknowledge these views have been captured and will be considered alongside this.

It is now important that we all work together to ensure these recommendations to prioritise the mental health and wellbeing become a meaningful reality for police officers.

Other measures in today’s Front Line Review launch include:

• plans to bring the front line into the decision-making process on future policies and change
• a commitment to look into shift patterns with a view to give officers more time for wellbeing, as well as personal and professional development
• bringing police chiefs and their staff together to find solutions to the front line’s frustrations over internal bureaucracies, including administration and inefficiencies, to free up time

These measures have been informed by the feedback from police officers and staff. An Office for National Statistics (ONS) report summarising the views from 28 face-to-face workshops with police provides candid views from the front line about demand, wellbeing challenges, insecurities around personal safety, training and morale.

The government has worked closely with the College of Policing, National Police Chiefs Council, the Police Federation, HMICFRS, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and others to see how we can learn from these findings.