Able Cadet David Morgan of Porthcawl Sea Cadet Corps, Cadet Corporal Nyah Pope of Dyfed and Glamorgan Army Cadet Force, Cadet Flight Sergeant Garyn Kiff of No 1 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets and Cadet Flight Sergeant Corey Luke of No 3 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets have been appointed as Lord-Lieutenant cadets for Mid Glamorgan for 2022.

The Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan, Colonel Phil Hubbard OBE appointed the four on behalf of the Lord-Lieutenant, Professor Peter Vaughan QPM CStJ at an awards ceremony at Pontypridd Army Reserve Centre.

Around 100 people attended the event on April 7, to mark the new appointments and celebrate high achievers from the reserve and cadet communities.

The role of Lord-Lieutenant cadet lasts for one year and includes attendance with the Professor, who acts as the Queen’s representative, at a number of official engagements such as Remembrance events, Royal visits and parades.

The four will follow in the footsteps of Able Cadet Aaron Thomas from Pontypridd of Rhondda Sea Cadet Corps, Cadet Flight Sergeant Morgan Hunter-Smith from Merthyr Tydfil of No 1 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets and Cadet Warrant Officer Maddison Parkhouse from Bridgend of No 3 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets who were awarded the Lord-Lieutenant’s Certificate and Badge for being the 2021 representatives.

Seven adults were also recognised for their outstanding service and devotion to duty and awarded the Lord-Lieutenant’s Certificate of Merit.

They were Warrant Officer First Class Mark Edwards of HMS CAMBRIA, Colour Sergeant Andrew Jones of 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh, Sergeant Jonathan Wood of No 2 Flying Training School RAF, Flying Officer Matthew Hackett of No 1 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets, Warrant Officer Ian King of No 1 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets, Civilian Instructor Karen Gough of No 1 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets and Mr Richard Jones of Porthcawl Sea Cadet Corps.

There are nearly 5,000 cadets in Wales who gain skills and qualifications through working with local communities, charities and taking part in a variety of practical activities. The cadet syllabus is delivered by 1,500 volunteering adult Instructors and civilian assistants, who give up their spare time on weeknights and weekends.

The virtual awards event was organised by the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association (RFCA) for Wales – an organisation that has supported the Armed Forces for over 100 years.

Damaging fishing activity will be prohibited in four new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the government has announced today. The move has been made possible by new post-Brexit freedoms which allow the government to protect rare habitats and wildlife in UK waters.

The byelaws, which have been subject to extensive consultation with industry and other stakeholders, will come into force in two months’ time (13 June 2022).

They are being introduced using new powers under the Fisheries Act, the UK’s first major domestic fisheries legislation in nearly 40 years. The new measures will prohibit fishing activities in MPAs where there is evidence that they harm wildlife or damage habitats.

The four byelaws ban the use of bottom trawls, dredges, demersal seines and semi-pelagic trawls, collectively known as bottom towed gear, over certain areas. There are also additional restrictions in two of the sites preventing the use of certain static gears such as pots, nets or lines over especially sensitive areas.

The byelaws will bring in management measures on fishing within these four MPAs in English waters: 

• Dogger Bank Special Area of Conservation
• Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge Special Area of Conservation
• South Dorset Marine Conservation Zone
• The Canyons Marine Conservation Zone

Environment Secretary, George Eustice, said:

“Outside the EU, we are using our new freedoms to protect our marine environment. We will be stopping trawling and dredging in these Marine Protected Areas to protect wildlife and habitats, through powers we have in our Fisheries Act 2020.”

Tom McCormack, Chief Executive Officer of MMO, said: 

“Many of our inshore marine protected areas are already protected through MMO and Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority byelaws.

“The Fisheries Act includes new powers allowing us to better manage and control fishing in our offshore Marine Protected Areas.

“These new byelaws represent the next step in our nature recovery journey, ensuring our marine life can recover and thrive.”

The first four MPAs were chosen as a priority to help protect their vibrant and productive undersea environments. They include the Dogger Bank Special Area of Conservation, which has the largest shallow sandbank in British waters and supports commercial fish species such as cod and plaice, as well as sand eels that provide an important food source for kittiwakes, puffins and porpoises. They also include the Canyons Marine Conservation Zone which protects rare and highly sensitive deep water corals.

The names of the byelaws are:

“When the Government Legal Department (GLD) introduced commercial training contracts in 2019, I was instantly drawn to the scheme, which offered an appealing mix of commercial and public law. Having been a paralegal in a charity, I already had an interest in advising an organisation with wider legal considerations than a conventional private sector business. As such, GLD’s commercial training contract aligned with my interests and seemed like a great opportunity to learn about new areas of law, such as public procurement and subsidy control.

As a legal trainee on the Department for Transport (DfT) commercial training contract I completed seats in the rail passenger services team and aviation team within DfT Legal Advisers, the Commercial Law Group’s litigation team and also undertook a secondment at one of the Rail Legal Services panel firms (in its infrastructure, projects and energy team).

The breadth of experience on offer was immediately apparent. In the commercial litigation team, I was involved with commercial disputes for a number of government departments and agencies, including procurement disputes, contractual claims and judicial reviews, which provided the opportunity to assist with drafting court filings and preparation for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes. Perhaps most interesting was having first-hand experience of the impact of the pandemic on the type and nature of work.

My seat in DfT Legal Advisers’ aviation team provided the opportunity to develop public law advisory skills. This included regularly advising on vires and proposed courses of actions, including the interpretation of and powers to amend retained EU law, assisting with drafting secondary legislation and supporting the provision of financial support to the industry as a result of the pandemic.

A unique feature of the GLD commercial training contracts is the opportunity to undertake a seat on secondment at a private practice firm. As well as gaining experience in interesting new areas such as renewable energy, this seat provided an insight into the concerns of private-sector stakeholders involved in public projects. It also provided the opportunity to develop effective transaction management and drafting skills which are undoubtedly valuable for a government commercial lawyer.

For my first posting on the 2+2 Scheme (the scheme whereby lawyers are allocated to two, two-year postings in GLD over the four years following qualification), I am delighted to have returned to DfT Legal Advisers’ rail passenger services team which advises on a broad range of commercial work arising from the relationship between the government and private-sector stakeholders in the rail industry, including high value rail procurements. Legal advice regularly focuses on the commercial arrangements for rail franchises in England which have evolved considerably in recent years in response to the pandemic and the intention to transition to implementation of the recommendations of the White Paper (Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail).”