At the start of World Refugee Week, Sajid Javid confirmed the UK plans to resettle in the region of 5,000 of the world’s most vulnerable refugees in the first year of the new scheme, once the flagship Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme concludes next year.

The UK will aim to resettle refugees at current levels, adding to the nearly 16,000 refugees who have already found safety here since 2015 under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and the many thousands resettled under other routes.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Since 2016, Britain has resettled more refugees from outside Europe than any other EU state – and it’s vital we continue to do all we can to help the world’s most vulnerable.

Under our new scheme, thousands more people fleeing conflict and persecution will have the opportunity to build a new life in the UK.

I’m proud of the world-leading work we have done in the Middle East and Africa so far – but there is so much more to do.

Rossella Pagliuchi-Lor, UK Representative for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said:

We are delighted by this announcement from the UK, which is extending its commitment to offer international protection to a meaningful number of refugees from wherever the need is most acute.

Resettlement is a crucial component of international solidarity for those states bearing the greatest burden and gives refugees the possibility of rebuilding their lives.

We hope this serves as a signal for other countries to provide more routes to safety for those forced to flee as the international community moves to make the global compact on refugees a reality.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said:

The resettlement of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable refugees over the past four years is something the UK can be proud of. I am pleased to hear that the government intends to continue this life-saving programme.

I am delighted that the government recognises the value of communities welcoming refugees through community sponsorship, a scheme I am privileged to have been involved with.

From 2020 refugees resettled through community sponsorship will be in addition to the government’s commitment. I call on faith leaders and communities to make the most of this opportunity to change the lives of more refugees, and transform communities in the process.

The Home Secretary outlined the new plans at a roundtable with faith leaders on resettlement, asylum, and faith-based persecution in Parliament today (Monday 17 June). The immigration minister also met resettled refugees in Lambeth and those who support their integration into communities.

From 2020, the new resettlement scheme will consolidate the Vulnerable Persons’ Resettlement Scheme, the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme and the gateway protection programme into one global scheme.

The new programme will be simpler to operate and provide greater consistency in the way that the UK government resettles refugees. It will broaden the geographical focus beyond the Middle East and North Africa.

A new process for emergency resettlement will also be developed, allowing the UK to respond quickly to instances when there is a heightened need for protection, providing a faster route to resettlement where lives are at risk.

The community sponsorship scheme, which enables community groups to directly welcome and support refugees in the UK, will continue. Refugees resettled under this new community-led scheme will be in addition to the government commitment.

The success of resettlement in the UK has been achieved working in partnership with over 300 local authorities who are participating in delivering the current schemes.

The global humanitarian need continues to grow with over 68.5 million people around the world forced from their homes and nearly 25.4 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. Like its predecessors, the global resettlement scheme will be based on need. We will work closely with the UNHCR to identify the most vulnerable refugees from around the world.

The Coal Authority has today issued a technical guidance note, following completion of its review of findings into a large subsidence event in north-east England.

The government body, which manages the effects of past coal mining across Britain, said it had issued the note following successful completion of the engineering works and following a sustained period of monitoring

James Lowth, Operations Director at the Coal Authority, said: “Following the release of our initial recommendations last year, we have published further details to ensure awareness of the risks posed by historical coal mining legacy.

“Our technical guidance note builds on our initial recommendations, and is relevant to local authority planners, surveyors, developers and geotechnical and engineering consultants, for when they are considering coal mining legacy issues.”

Mark Bettney, Head of Engineering, Coal Authority, confirmed that this subsidence event was caused from roof and pillar failure within the mine workings.

He added: “The weak, laminated, weathered and fractured sandstone, which formed the roof of the workings had progressively deteriorated since the mine workings were abandoned. As the deterioration increased, it redistributed the loading on the remaining coal pillars.

“The coal pillars would have been of marginal stability at the time of mining due to the high degree of extraction, and the resulting failure of the remaining coal pillars led to the ground movements and subsidence at the surface.”

The Coal Authority also reiterated its earlier statement that “caution must be adopted in assuming that the absence of a record means the absence of mining”.

Whilst its historical plans in this case did not reveal the coal workings, they are a vital part of any site assessment prior to development.

It added that in future “we may ask for more information, or for more works to take place, to reduce the likelihood of a similar subsidence event happening again”.

View the Coal Authority’s Technical Guidance Note TGN01

Notes to editors

Background to the subsidence event

In July 2016, the Coal Authority carried out initial ground investigations at a housing development in the north-east of England after it was contacted by the National House Building Council.

The Coal Authority carried out further extensive ground investigations, including underground camera and laser void surveys, to identify the root cause of the subsidence. It also installed 300 survey points above and below the ground to monitor for ground and property movement.

The Coal Authority’s ground investigations revealed coal mine workings at a depth in excess of 30 metres. The workings dated back around 120 years and had not been recorded on the historical mining plans held by the authority.

The ground investigations proved this specific area had been extensively worked with extraction rates at over 75%, however the plans had showed an area of solid coal. Recorded workings adjacent to this area had typical extraction rates of between 45% and 50%.

This high level of extraction resulted in narrow residual supporting coal pillars and wide extraction rooms in the High Main coal seam, leading to compression on the remaining coal pillars and roof instability.

This, together with a weak, laminated, weathered and fractured sandstone layer above the coal seam, resulted in an underground collapse and subsequent movement at the surface that affected a number of properties and had an elliptical subsidence zone footprint of around 150 metres x 70 metres.

Coal Authority engineers designed a solution to stabilise the ground, and work to drill and grout the voids was completed over a 5 month programme of works. The Coal Authority continues to monitor the ground since the works have been completed to ensure the ground is stable for redevelopment.

About the Coal Authority

The Coal Authority is a non-departmental public body, which is sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. It was set up in 1994, and it manages the effects of past coal mining, including subsidence damage claims and other coal mining legacy issues in Britain.

The legislation relating to coal mining subsidence damage is contained in the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991, amended by the Coal Industry Act 1994.

For more information please visit www.gov.uk/coalauthority or to report a coal mine hazard or incident phone 01623 646333.

The call comes after the release of the 2018 Salmon Stock Assessment report showing that salmon stocks are continuing to decline.

After several years of poor catches on most rivers, the Environment Agency and partner organisations are now asking anglers to take great care in returning voluntarily the salmon they catch this year to the water. Some of the most vulnerable rivers already have byelaws to require all fish to be returned. Even where the rules don’t require anglers to release their catch, they are being asked to help secure salmon fishing for the future – by releasing more of the fish they catch using best practice.

With the salmon fishing season underway in England, anglers can play an important role in reviving this species by returning any caught salmon, so they have a chance to return to their headwater streams and spawn. Byelaws are already in place requiring that any salmon caught before 16 June are returned safely to the water. The Environment Agency also prohibits the sale of rod caught fish.

Current salmon return rates across rivers in England and Wales vary widely and the Environment Agency is asking anglers to increase these rates above 90% and to 100% where stocks are most threatened.

The Environment Agency is taking these actions because of the need to protect salmon stocks that have declined to unsustainable population levels in many of our rivers. The decline in the numbers of wild salmon, seen not just in English rivers but throughout the North Atlantic, is of great concern and the Environment Agency is determined to protect the future of this important species.

Kevin Austin, Head of Fisheries at the Environment Agency, said:

We need anglers to support the recovery of this iconic and endangered fish by adopting 100% catch and release in our rivers.

We know that salmon have good chances of surviving after being caught by a rod fisherman if they are handled with care and returned quickly to the water.

The Environment Agency aims to restore the abundance, diversity and resilience of salmon stocks throughout England working with partners.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust & Fish Legal said:

We warmly welcome the Environment Agency’s voluntary approach to the management of fish mortality from salmon angling.

Now it is up to the angling community to deliver these voluntary targets. We also need to play our part by releasing fish carefully and not taking them out of the water for anything more than a few seconds.

This can make a huge difference to the survival rates of released fish. There is a best practice guide on our web site available to everyone.

The International Year of the Salmon is a collaboration among organisations and countries throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It aims to support the conservation and restoration of wild salmon species, which are under threat worldwide.

The effort to increase catch and release of Salmon in England is part of the salmon five point approach which sets out commitments to restoring salmon in England.

The 5 points are:

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

This work has been prompted by the Roberton Review, an Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland, and will provide evidence to assist the Scottish Government in determining how to take forward the recommendations made by that report. Led by Esther Roberton, that Review made a number of recommendations, including that there should be a single independent body to regulate the legal profession, set standards and handle complaints.

Building on work already done as part of the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) market study into the supply of legal services in England and Wales, this work will examine whether there is evidence of a lack of competition among legal services providers in Scotland, as was the case in England and Wales.

The research will also focus on:

• the benefits of independent regulation of legal services in Scotland and whether the current institutional arrangement – where the bodies regulating the professions are also those representing and lobbying for them – dampens competition

• the impact of the current legal services regulatory framework in Scotland on competition, particularly on innovation and the entry of new business models to the market

It is the CMA’s first Scotland-specific project since the expansion of its Edinburgh office last year to help the organisation better identify and resolve issues that harm Scottish consumers.

The CMA has today also published a document setting out its views on the Roberton Review’s recommendations. The CMA welcomes the review, which has sparked a debate about how to ensure the regulation of Scottish legal service providers delivers value for money and choice for consumers, as well as benefitting businesses and the economy.

The CMA intends to publish its findings in early 2020.

Notes to editors

1. The Independent Review of the Regulation of Legal Services, led by Esther Roberton, was invited by the Scottish Government to review the regulation of legal services in Scotland. It reported in October 2018

Singapore has been a driving force for global innovation for many years, referred to as ‘a mini Silicon Valley’ by Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman.

1 of only 3 city states in the world, Singapore rose to fifth place in the 2018 Global Innovation Index, an annual ranking that measures the innovation performance of 126 countries. Placing behind only Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, Singapore scored highly on foreign direct investment, high and medium-high tech manufacturing and high-tech net exports, positioning the city state as a focal point for international collaboration.

A share of £1 million is available for partnerships between the UK and Singapore which develop disruptive and game-changing innovations in a variety of fields. The funding is available through Innovate UK and the EUREKA Network. EUREKA is an intergovernmental network, bringing together 41 member states to facilitate wider international cooperation and innovation.

Singapore/UK collaborative R&D

The competition aims to support the development of collaborative research and development projects between the UK and Singaporean companies. Although the competition scope is open to any sector, applications are particularly encouraged in:

• medical technology
• smart mobility and logistics
• advanced manufacturing

Projects must be collaborative, including at least 1 business from Singapore and 1 from the UK, independent from each other, and show:

• a clear game-changing, disruptive and innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
• a strong and deliverable business plan that demonstrates awareness of market potential and needs
• a clear route to market within 2 to 3 years of project completion

Competition information

• the competition opens 17 June 2019. The registration close date is 19 September 2019, and the deadline for both the Innovate UK document and EUERKA application submissions is 26 September 2019
• organisations of any size may apply
• up to £350,000 is available per project
• an online briefing event will be held on 1 July 2019 where organisations can find out more about the competition and process of applying