Innovate UK is seeking proposals from UK organisations to set up national centres that will help businesses to develop, commercialise and manufacture new vaccines and medicines.

Up to £66 million in capital funding is available to build and establish a national vaccines development and manufacturing centre. A further £13 million is available towards the setting up of a national medicines manufacturing and innovation centre.

The funding is under the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to develop first-of-a-kind technologies for the manufacture of medicines.

Vaccines development and manufacturing centre

The UK has strong expertise in researching new vaccines. However, there are gaps in our ability to develop, commercialise and manufacture new vaccines.

Establishing a new national centre will bridge that gap and ensure that the UK is best set up for infectious disease outbreaks. It will also be able to provide expertise and advice to those working in the sector.

It will be an independent, physical centre based in one location, and will have pilot and medium-scale manufacturing capacity. Other centres of national and international importance will link in.

Competition information

• this competition is open, and the registration deadline is at midday on 15 November 2017
• up to £66 million is available in capital funding to establish the centre
• the project can be led by a business, a research and technology organisation, or a not-for-profit company with experience in vaccine development and manufacture. It must include partners from academia and industry
• the project is expected to last up to 4 years
• businesses could attract up to 50% of their total project costs

Medicines manufacturing and innovation centre

While the UK has a strong medicines manufacturing sector, with more than 1,300 companies producing £26 billion in exports in 2015, its relative impact has declined in recent years.

The medicines manufacturing and innovation centre aims to reverse that decline by delivering radical improvements in productivity through new small-molecule drug products. The centre will be a focal point for innovation in fine-chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturing and will be able to prove the viability of production methods to relevant standards.

By working with partners across research and manufacturing it will act as a hub around which small and large businesses can base themselves.

Competition information

• this competition is open, and the deadline for registration is midday 1 November 2017
• up to £13 million is available towards the total costs of establishing the centre
• projects must be led by a UK-based research and technology organisation or not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. You must have experience in manufacturing processes producing small-molecule pharmaceuticals or fine chemicals
• projects must include partners from academia and industry
• the project is expected to last up to 4 years

• Practice costs travel industry millions and risks pushing up prices for law-abiding holidaymakers

Travel industry bosses and others are today being invited to submit evidence to help drive the government’s crackdown on the holiday sickness claims culture.

The call for evidence being launched today (13 October 2017) will give Ministers a greater insight into the reported rise in suspected false insurance claims for gastric illnesses like food poisoning being brought by British holidaymakers.

It is the latest stage of the government’s crackdown on a problem which is damaging Britain’s reputation overseas and which could drive up holiday costs for hard-working families.

The upsurge in holiday sickness claims in this country – partly fuelled by touts operating in European resorts – could be as high as 500% since 2013, according to travel industry estimates. This is not seen in other European countries, and has raised questions over the scale of bogus claims.

The call for evidence will ask the industry and others to submit a wide range of information, from the volumes of claims to the amount of damages awarded. This will be used to help Ministers identify next steps to tackle false claims.

Justice Minister Dominic Raab said:

Bogus claims against tour operators risk driving up the price of summer holidays abroad for hard-working families who have earned a break. We’re taking action to deter these claims, and protect holiday-makers from being ripped off.

The call for evidence, which will remain open for four weeks, follows government action over the summer aimed at reducing cash incentives to bring spurious claims against package holiday tour operators.

Tour operators often settle holiday sickness claims out of court, rather than challenge them because – due to the fact these spurious claims are arising abroad – legal costs are not controlled, so costs for tour operators can be out of all proportion to the damages claimed.

Ministers have put forward proposals which would mean tour operators would pay a prescribed sum depending on the value of the claim, making defence costs predictable and helping to deter bogus claims.

These proposals will be considered by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, which is responsible for setting rules on legal costs. We aim to bring the new rules into force early next year.

Notes to editors

1. The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) reports a 500% increase from around 5,000 claims in 2013 to around 35,000 claims in 2016. This is despite the fact that travel industry data on the global trend for reported incidence of illness in resorts has actually declined in recent years.

2. ABTA has also found that while the average value of a gastric illness claim is about £2,100, the average cost of defending a claim is almost £3,800. The projected total cost of claims to the industry in 2016 (including damages paid) was estimated by ABTA to be over £240 million. We will look into these figures as part of the call for evidence.

3. For more information call the Ministry of Justice press office on 020 3545 8953.

The UK government is to set up a private sector Task Force to help long-term reconstruction in countries and territories hit by last month’s Caribbean hurricanes, International Development Secretary Priti Patel will announce today (Friday, October 13).

It will mobilise private sector support to rebuild critical infrastructure such as roads and power supplies essential to get economies up and running again, and better withstand future natural disasters.

The team of top business leaders, either CEOs or Chairs with experience in the Caribbean, will sit on the Task Force.

Ms Patel will announce the Task Force at a meeting to discuss the response to the hurricanes and how to enhance global crisis preparedness and response, hosted by the World Bank in Washington D.C.

The Task Force will look at ways in which support from the private sector, both financial and technical, in industries such as construction, insurance, banking and tourism, can be used to help reconstruction on the three UK Overseas Territories worst hit by last month’s Hurricane Irma: British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos.

Ms Patel will convene a meeting in London in November to discuss how best to maximise the contribution of the private sector.

The UK government has already committed over £62 million towards the immediate relief effort, and has delivered or procured nearly 180 tonnes of aid for the region.

It also established a UK Joint Task Force, led by DFID’s Chris Austin, in the immediate aftermath of the hurricanes to deal with the humanitarian crisis on the ground and the initial relief effort as well as to carry out assessments to identify both short and longer term needs.

The focus of the private sector Task Force announced today will specifically be the long-term reconstruction on the affected islands.

Ms Patel will say at the World Bank hosted event:

No small island can reasonably be expected to recover and rebuild from a catastrophic disaster that undermines their entire economy without international support.

They need businesses to step up. The private sector is key to reviving the region’s economies and must play a central role in the reconstruction of these islands, helping them to build back better.

Ms Patel, who visited British Virgin Islands and Anguilla last month, will say the longer-term reconstruction involves “working with the affected islands to build back better and more resilient hospitals, schools and other public services like water and power on which people survive.”

She will add:

we need to reduce the future potential impact on public services and livelihoods of any future disasters. Investing in preparedness makes good financial sense: each pound saves two pounds of aid.

Ms Patel will also confirm today that the UK-led Centre for Global Disaster Protection in London will offer all the hurricane-hit countries and territories support and advice on disaster risk financing and insurance to ensure they are better prepared to cope with any future hurricanes. The Centre will also offer advice on building more resilient infrastructure.

DFID will work with experts to ensure new buildings and systems are more resilient, efficient and use more renewable energy options.

This will include more than 12 major climate resilient infrastructure projects, at least 50 strengthened health facilities, and geothermal energy development where the potential exists.

These projects were already planned before the hurricanes and will now be able to quickly mobilise to build resilience. They include £25 million set aside for Dominica and £14 million for Antigua and Barbuda.

Ms Patel’s words on building back better come amid wider calls from her for reform of the international system.

She will say:

“The international system needs to explore new ways to prevent, prepare for and respond to crises in the future.”

The UK is also today publishing its Humanitarian Reform Policy, which reaffirms its leadership in responding to global emergencies and reforming the international humanitarian system.

Notes to Editors

• The UK government has already committed £62 million towards the immediate relief effort in the region, and is doubling any UK public donations to the British Red Cross Hurricanes appeal up to £3 million.
• So far nearly 180 tonnes of UK aid has arrived or been procured in the region, including food, water, shelter kits, solar lanterns and building materials. The UK government has also helped reinstall airport runways and powers lines in the islands, and provided shelter, food and water.
• Private sector insurance (for businesses, some homes and property) is already likely to provide considerable support for reconstruction – with pay outs estimated by leading catastrophe modellers Risk Management Solutions to be up to £27.4 billion ($36 billion) for the region, of which £4.6 billion ($6 billion) is for the UK Overseas Territories, including £3 billion ($4billion) for the British Virgin Islands.
• The Prime Minister announced the London-based Centre for Global Disaster Protection at the G20 Summit earlier this year. It aims to save lives and help countries get back on their feet quickly after a disaster strikes, working with governments to strengthen plans and help them to use tools like insurance to access quick and reliable finance in emergencies.
• The Centre will also work with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and private sector partners to consider options to step up the risk financing available to the Caribbean. The UK, alongside the World Bank and other donors, helped to establish CCRIF a decade ago. It has paid out over £91.2million ($120million) since then, including £38 million ($50 million) to islands affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
• The UK has a long-standing development partnership with the Caribbean. It already has programming in place to support the construction of disaster-resilient infrastructure. This includes £300 million from UKCIF (UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund) to build more than 12 climate resilient infrastructure projects, including roads and ports, and a £38 million Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) programme to help at least 50 health clinics to better withstand natural disasters. This is all UK aid money. From the UKCIF fund, £25 million can now be set aside for Dominica and £14 million for Antigua and Barbuda to help reconstruction after the hurricanes.
• The UK has also confirmed its core contributions to United Nations Humanitarian Agencies, including CERF, OCHA, IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, WHO and M&E. This constitutes total contributions of £684 million. Almost a third of this funding will be dependent on improved results and progress on reform priorities, as the International Development Secretary announced at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
• Footage and photos: click here for new content from Dominica

Thank you Mr President and thank you Secretary-General for your briefing.

Eight months ago, Secretary-General, you issued an urgent wake up call to the world. The threat of famine, the threat of millions starving to death, loomed large over the people of Somalia, South Sudan, northeast Nigeria and Yemen. Today, thanks to your call to action and thanks to the global efforts that followed, famine has been kept at bay.

And yet, this is no cause for celebration. As you have set out in your briefing, the absence of famine is not the absence of need. Hunger by any other name is still hunger. And in each of those countries I just mentioned, the need remains colossal, overwhelming in fact, and even greater than it was in February.

In Somalia, over 3 million people are going to bed hungry. The same can be said forover 5 million people in northeastern Nigeria. In South Sudan, there are literally more people without food than there are with food; more than half of the population – over 6 million people –are severely food insecure. And in Yemen, as we heard earlier this week, over 17 million people are now food insecure, nearly 7 million of whom are just one step away from famine.

And if only to deepen the tragedy further, in all four of these countries the impact falls most acutely on women, girls and children.

As this Council well knows, the long-term solution to all these crises is ending and preventing conflict. But long-term fixes alone are no good when hunger kills in the short term. We need aid to reach people in need quickly. And as a Council we need to find the political will necessary to overcome the barriers that too often prevent this from happening.

We need only look to South Sudan, where fighters from each side accuse civilians of feeding or being fed by the enemy. Access restrictions, bureaucratic impediments and attacks on humanitarian workers continue to delay the delivery of life-saving assistance, with over 1,600 access incidents reported since the start of 2016. That’s the delivery of food being denied to those most in need at least twice a day for nearly two years.

In northeast Nigeria, it’s a similar story, with aid agencies unable to access many of those in need due to continuing fighting between Boko Haram and government forces. As a priority, the Government of Nigeria must protect civilians and provide unimpeded humanitarian access.

In parallel, the government needs to set out clear steps for ending the conflict which aren’t reliant on military measures alone. Sustainable peace can only be achieved through addressing the root causes of the violence.

In Yemen, the gravest humanitarian situation today, food is the biggest weapon, and lack of food the biggest killer. The Council has been very clear this week about the need for increased commercial and humanitarian access into and across Yemen, including through increased capacity at all Yemeni ports, particularly Hodeidah.

We also need to see public-sector salaries paid regularly across the country, starting with the health, water, sanitation and waste management sectors, to stem cholera and preserve essential government services.

It’s only in Somalia, Mr President, that drought is partially responsible for the situation. Even then, the war remains the principal trigger and contributor to this unfolding humanitarian tragedy. Access restrictions are again a central cause of the crisis, with impediments to the delivery of humanitarian assistance at the federal and state levels as well as hefty, illicit fees that limit reach and increase delivery costs.

In conclusion Mr President, what we are witnessing in all of these countries is the return of hunger as a weapon of war.

The destruction of farms, livestock herds and markets; the blocks on humanitarian aid and access for commercial goods; these are all deliberate tactics to decrease people’s access to adequate nutrition and healthcare.

We need to recognise that this is happening as a result of political decisions. So in turn, this Council must bring our own political pressure to bear on those responsible and hold them to account.

We have the power and duty to influence their behaviour in the right direction. It is time to say “enough is enough.”

Thank you.

The charity regulator is writing to recently registered veterans’ charities, reminding them to ensure they are safeguarding people in their care.

This follows a proactive review of a sample of military charities that were registered since 2007 and are involved in service delivery to veterans and / or in public fundraising.

The review found the charities were providing a wide range of services and activities that had a positive impact on the lives of veterans. It also found areas of good practice, including around trustees working together to make decisions in the best interests of their charity.

However, the Commission also found a concerning lack of safeguarding policies and practices in some of the charities reviewed. In a number of other cases, it found that the charities needed to strengthen their safeguarding policies.

The Commission says that this resulted in part from not recognising the veterans they help as being potentially vulnerable on account of their personal circumstances. The potential vulnerabilities of former service men and women with physical injuries were more likely to be considered than those with other conditions, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The issues included not considering whether those who were in direct contact with veterans should undergo appropriate background checks (DBS checks).

The review also found weaknesses in most of the charities’ oversight of fundraising, with some having no basic agreement in place with professional fundraisers, and some having no systems to ensure the charity receives all of the funds raised by professional fundraisers.

The Commission was prompted to conduct a proactive review after identifying from its case work, social media, and media reporting that some more recently registered military charities may be at greater risk of compliance and reputational issues. The regulator wanted to establish whether there were any themes or patterns of concern in this type of charity.

As a result of the Commission’s findings, it is now working collaboratively through Cobseo, the Confederation of Service Charities, and writing to veterans’ charities registered since 2007, to remind them to:

• be alert to the specific needs and potential vulnerabilities of some of their beneficiaries

• put robust safeguarding policies in place and ensure they are followed in practice

• ensure they have proper arrangements in place with any professional fundraisers or commercial firms providing fundraising services

Michelle Russell, Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement at the Charity Commission, said:

The charities we examined had been set up with good intentions by people with genuine compassion for veterans. And we saw some really innovative work being done in those charities.

But it takes more than good intentions and a good idea to run a charity properly. The trustees’ role is to govern a charity well. And one of their most basic duties is to take safeguarding seriously. Some veterans may be potentially vulnerable for a variety of reasons because of what they’ve seen and been through, and charities set up to help them must make caring for them, and protecting them, an absolute priority. The public would be rightly concerned if veterans were exposed to harm through a charity supposed to help them.

Charities working with veterans rely on public generosity, and our advice to the public is simple: give with your head as well as your heart. Ask some basic questions before you give: how much of my pound will reach the beneficiaries? Are you giving direct to the charity or is a fundraising company taking a cut? There is no right or wrong charity to support – but we can all take basic steps to ensure our donations are making a difference.

And if you see something you’re not comfortable with, for example aggressive or disrespectful fundraising, report it to the Fundraising Regulator, which is the self-regulatory body for fundraising.

And my message to those thinking of setting up new military charity is to think carefully before doing so; there are other ways of supporting the armed forces community, including supporting with money or time an existing, established veterans charity. Setting up a new charity may not be the most effective way to help.

General Sir John McColl, KCB, CBE, DSO, Executive Chairman of Cobseo, The Confederation of Service Charities said:

We strongly support the Charity Commission’s scrutiny of safeguarding and fundraising practices, not just for the Military Charities on its register, but across the entire charitable sector.

Service charities play a crucial, and highly effective, role in supporting the Armed Forces Community. Cobseo, The Confederation of Service Charities, strives for the highest of standards among its membership and will continue to work closely with the Charity Commission in pursuit of this goal.

Wider case work involving veterans charities

Since 2016, the Commission has opened 17 compliance cases into military charities resulting from complaints or concerns raised in the media; of these 13 have concluded. The Commission has also announced 5 statutory inquiries into charities working with veterans (The Veterans Charity, Support the Heroes, Afghan Heroes, 1st Knight Military Charity, Our Local Heroes).

The Commission says that these cases indicate that some recently registered veterans’ charities can be vulnerable to problems resulting from inappropriate dominance of one or two individuals; often excessive power rests with a charity’s founder, who is not properly challenged by other trustees. This can lead to poor decision making and to concerns such as conflicts of interest and unauthorised private benefit.

The findings of the review, and of its reactive case work involving veterans’ charities, have also prompted the Commission to strengthen its approach to assessing applications for new veterans’ charities, and undertake a wider tranche of further proactive case work among military charities registered since 2007.

Ends

PR 67/17

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Our review examined 21 charities, chosen from military charities registered since 2007 that provide services to veterans and /or are involved in public fundraising.
3. While the number of new military charities registering increased following Britain’s involvement in conflicts in Afghanistan, overall the number of military charities coming off the register has outstripped new registrations by 2 to 1 and the number of registered charities has shrunk by around 10% over the last decade.
4. The Fundraising Regulator holds the Code of Fundraising Practice for the UK; it sets and maintains standards for charitable fundraising, aims to ensure that fundraising is respectful, open, honest and accountable to the public and regulates fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.