The Chevening Secretariat is accepting applications for UK Government scholarships to study in the UK in 2018/2019. Applications for Chevening Scholarships are open between 7 August and 7 November 2017, with applications to be submitted via www.chevening.org/apply

Chevening Scholarships are awarded to individuals with demonstrable leadership potential who also have strong academic backgrounds. The scholarship offers full financial support for future leaders to study for any eligible master’s degree at any UK university whilst gaining access to a wide range of exclusive academic, professional, and cultural events. There are more than 1,500 scholarships on offer globally for the 2018/2019 academic year, representing a significant investment from the UK Government towards developing the leaders of tomorrow.

Chevening Secretariat Director, Anne Marie Graham, said:

We are looking for ambitious, professional, forward-thinking leaders from any walk of life. Although there is no single personality profile for a Chevening Scholar, all of our scholars do have one thing in common; they were bold enough to step forward and apply.

If you are chosen for Chevening, you will receive a first-rate UK education which can open doors in your career. You will also become part of the global Chevening Alumni network full of dynamic influencers who have shared the same experience as you will, and can offer mentorship or advice.

There is a lot to potentially gain from submitting a thoughtful application, so if you or someone you know has what it takes to be a Chevening Scholar, I would encourage you to apply before the 7 November deadline.’

Chevening Programme Manager, Louise Thomson, said:

Chevening allows you to truly follow your passions by allowing you to choose from over 14,000 eligible courses at over 150 different institutions. Whilst we expect that your experience will be academically fulfilling, you will also enjoy exclusive access to social opportunities to meet new people and travel to new places.

You experience Britain’s heritage and history, discuss international policy, and interact with high profile personalities at a range of academic, cultural, and social events.

Recent scholars have visited the Houses of Parliament in London, Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, Mount Snowdon in Wales, Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, and the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Some have even visited Hogwarts at the film studio where the Harry Potter films were shot.

It’s a challenging year of intense growth for our scholars in the UK. Their academic knowledge deepens, their networks expand, and their ambitions grow, leaving them motivated to return home and strive for progress.’

The call for new applicants follows the selection of 20 scholars from Ghana who won an award to study at a UK university this year. Many of last year’s successful applicants have been sharing their stories through the #ChosenForChevening hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.

More information

Visit www.chevening.org/apply/guidance for detailed information on the eligibility criteria and award specifications.

Contact

The British High Commission Accra on 000233 302 213 200 or High.Commission.Accra@fco.gov.uk

ENDS

Note to editors

Chevening Scholarships are the UK Government’s global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organisations. The scholarships support study at UK universities – mostly one year taught master’s degrees – for individuals with demonstrable potential to become future leaders, decision-makers, and opinion formers.

Chevening began in 1983 and has developed into a prestigious international awards scheme. Chevening Scholars come from over 160 countries and territories worldwide (excluding the USA and the EU), and more than 1,500 scholarships were awarded in 2017/2018. There are over 48,000 Chevening Alumni around the world who comprise an influential and highly regarded global network.

The name ‘Chevening’ comes from Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Kent – currently the joint official residence of the UK’s Foreign Secretary.

More information is available on www.chevening.org

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) on behalf of the Ministry of Defence along with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have worked together to develop an overseas principal support provider (PSP) framework.

Six companies have been selected as suppliers for the framework to deliver multi-disciplinary design and project management services, advisory services, construction technical services, specialist surveys and clerk of the works duties.

The 6 companies that have been awarded a place on the framework are:

• AECOM
• Atkins
• Mott MacDonald
• Ramboll
• Ridge & Partners LLP
• WYG

The successful suppliers will deliver services overseas for the next 4 years and will work on key international projects across the globe. The framework has an estimated spend value of £60 million and demonstrates a commitment across government departments to work together on overseas procurement.

DIO worked with the Foreign Office, the Permanent Joint Headquarters and other government stakeholders on this innovative approach. The framework helps to deliver the Cabinet Office initiative to ensure consistency and value for money across overseas government projects.

The framework will use mini-competitions among the 6 companies as the primary way of selecting the most appropriate contractor to deliver a project. This will allow departments to share good practice and deliver value for money by ensuring they are all working to the same standards on large overseas projects.

David Graham, Deputy Head of International Projects at the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, said:

We are pleased to welcome these suppliers on board following a successful procurement process. We look forward to working with them, the Foreign Office and other areas of government to lead on projects that support our military personnel who live, train and work overseas.

As the key government departments which manage overseas projects it’s essential that we continue to work together to ensure a consistent approach to procurement of project management and other support for our overseas estate.

The following products were seized from Jodies Cyprus Dog Rehoming, Shrewsbury, Shropshire as they are not authorised in the UK:

• 221 tablets of Alopron
• 100 tablets of Zyloric

These products were not obtained in accordance with the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013.

The funding follows a successful regional pilot, led by Norfolk police, which saw dedicated officers operating online in forums and chatrooms, to identify and disrupt offenders.

The year-long pilot led to 43 arrests and 19 people charged, nine of whom were identified as repeat offenders and 11 of those arrested were registered sex offenders. Police estimate that at least 25 children were safeguarded because of their intervention. Among those charged was a male, who travelled from the south coast to London with the intention of raping a 8-year-old girl. He was arrested and charged through the work of the pilot and sentenced to over 5 years’ imprisonment.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

Child sexual exploitation has a profoundly devastating impact on the lives of its victims, and it’s a national policing priority to take on the threat it poses. We believe this project has shown early promise in tackling these complex crimes through an innovative approach.

Crime as traditionally measured by the independent crime survey for England and Wales is down by more than a third since 2010. However, we know that the nature of crime is changing, and through projects such as this we can help the police to adapt and develop the tools they need to respond to the challenges of the future.

The project will now be rolled out across the country and forms part of a renewed effort to tackle child sexual exploitation and increase protection for vulnerable people in society. This will allow police to build a greater intelligence picture and develop a coordinated approach across the law enforcement network.

National Police Chiefs Council Lead for Child Protection, Chief Constable Simon Bailey said:

The internet is not a safe or anonymous place for abusing children. In collaboration with the National Crime Agency Child Exploitation and Online Protection command, the police service is doing more than ever before to stop the sexual abuse of children.

We are already arresting over 400 offenders and safeguarding over 500 children each month. This increased investment will enable us to consistently target predatory offenders intent on using the internet to facilitate their criminal behaviour and intervene earlier to prevent children being abused.

This increase in our undercover capability will send a clear message to so-called paedophile hunters: if you have information about child abuse, tell the police. Don’t try to take it into your own hands, you could undermine police investigations creating more risk for the children we all want to protect.

If any member of the public has concerns about online grooming, they should report them to their local police, to CEOP at www.ceop.police.uk, or to Crimestoppers. If you think a child is at immediate risk of harm call 999.

The funding is part of £52 million awarded by the Home Secretary from the police transformation fund, which through a police-led process, allocates extra investment to continue the job of reform and shape policing for the future. As well as tackling child sexual exploitation, the funding is focused on greater digitisation and efficiency across policing, making more than £24 million available over three years to help increase productivity and to enhance cyber security. Some of the police-led projects funded include:

• up to £12.4 million for the digital policing programme, including the Digital Evidence Transfer Service. This is designed to allow forces to rapidly transmit the increasing body of digital evidence across the criminal justice system.
• up to £10.5 million for national enabling programmes to deliver a joined up approach to flexible IT access and back office software.
• £3 million for the specialist capabilities programme, which will examine the potential of greater force-to-force collaboration across specialist policing capabilities.

The UK’s independent expert screening committee is today (4 August 2017) launching a consultation to look at whether screening for Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) in babies should be tried within the NHS.

SCID is a rare inherited condition which makes it more difficult for babies to fight off infections. An infection is not serious for most babies but can be life-threatening for those with SCID, with around 15 to 25 babies born with the condition every year.

The consultation findings will provide valuable information about whether SCID should be added to the existing NHS newborn blood spot screening programme, which currently checks for 9 rare but serious health conditions by taking a blood sample from a baby’s heel.

Screening for SCID would use blood from the current heel prick test to check if a baby has a low white blood cell count, which may make them more likely to have infections.

Before a decision can be taken, more needs to be known about:

• whether screening will save lives
• the number of healthy babies found to have low numbers of white blood cells
• what care and treatment is best for babies who are found to have low numbers of white blood cells for reasons other than SCID

Dr Anne Mackie, Director of Programmes for the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), said:

We currently test babies for 9 rare but serious health conditions as part of the NHS newborn blood spot screening programme. This consultation will consider key organisations’ and the public’s views on how testing for SCID would work practically within the NHS. We need this information before the Screening Committee can make a recommendation on including SCID as part of the newborn programme.

The consultation will run until early November.

The committee also recommended against screening pregnant women for vasa praevia, a rare condition that can cause heavy bleeding during birth. It had been suggested that screening all pregnant women for the condition could be useful in finding which women might benefit from a caesarean.

Screening was not recommended for a number of reasons, including concerns over the accuracy of the test and that screening would find other, more common, conditions which could lead to a larger number of pregnancies being wrongly considered at risk. The inaccuracy of the test means that some women would be offered an early caesarean when unnecessary.

As part of a regular review process all of the recommendations will be looked at again in 3 years – or earlier if significant new evidence becomes available.

The latest screening recommendations were made at the UK NSC’s meeting on 23 June 2017. Read the minutes which were published today (4 August 2017).

All recommendations will now be considered by ministers.

This press release is issued on behalf of the UK NSC, an independent organisation, by Public Health England (PHE). For more information please call the PHE screening press office:

1. The UK National Screening Committee is independent of, but supported by PHE.
2. Information on how to participate in the public consultation on SCID is available at: legacyscreening.phe.org.uk/screening-recommendations.
3. The committee did not recommend screening for 2 further conditions: tyrosinaemia type 1 (TYR1) in newborns and thrombophilia in all ages.
   • TYR1 is a very rare, inherited condition which prevents the body breaking down an amino acid called tyrosine from food which can lead to the build-up of toxic substances in the blood. If these substances are left untreated they can cause damage, particularly to the liver, kidneys and the nervous system. Screening was not recommended because although the screening test finds most babies with TYR1, there is not enough information to know if the test misses other affected babies. The UK NSC is continuing to work with stakeholders to understand more about the issues.
   • Thrombophilia increases a person’s risk of developing blood clots which can be dangerous if they break away and block blood flow to important organs such as the heart, lungs or brain. The condition can cause stroke, heart attack and deep vein thrombosis. Screening pregnant women was considered because women with thrombophilia may be at increased risk of blood clots in their leg, complications such as high blood pressure or the birth of an early or small baby. However, there was no evidence of benefit compared with current practice and inconclusive findings on the safety and effectiveness of treatment. Screening was also not recommended for newborn babies and adults as there was insufficient evidence to suggest that a screening programme would offer more benefit than current practice. There was also not enough evidence about how good the treatment is.
4. The blood spot test screens for the following 9 rare but serious conditions:
   • sickle cell disease
   • cystic fibrosis
   • congenital hypothyroidism
   • phenylketonuria (PKU)
   • medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD)
   • maple syrup urine disease (MSUD)
   • isovaleric acidaemia (IVA)
   • glutaric aciduria type 1 (GA1)
   • homocystinuria (pyridoxine unresponsive) (HCU)
5. Detailed summaries of the recommendations for all of the conditions mentioned can be found at legacy.screening.nhs.uk/screening-recommendations.
6. Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. It does this through world-class science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and the delivery of specialist public health services. PHE is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health. Follow us on Twitter: @PHE_uk and our blog phescreening.blog.gov.uk.