• In a new, motivational film released today the pair guide the nation through the most important work out of their lives – getting boosted to top up immunity against COVID-19
• So far more than 80% of eligible adults in England have been boosted as part of a huge national effort

Made in Chelsea stars Julius Cowdrey and Miles Nazaire are calling on young people to get boosted as the easiest New Year’s health resolution you can make in 2022.

The reality TV actors, who together form two of the ‘Tricep Trio’, have released a new film supporting the COVID-19 vaccination programme. It calls for everyone to take part in the ultimate New Year’s workout, the ‘Booster Bootcamp’ as the quickest and easiest way to protect yourself and others from this virus.

While more than 80% of eligible adults in England have had the booster, uptake is lower among younger people, with around 54% of eligible 18 to 30 year olds boosted. With Omicron continuing to spread, it’s more important than ever for people to get their vaccinations to keep them and their loved ones safe.

The new film is part of the ongoing drive by the Government and the NHS encouraging all those eligible to Get Boosted Now to ensure the vital protection they have secured from their first two doses is maintained.

The booster dose not only offers protection to the individual, but also to those close to you, as well as helping to prevent serious illness.

Recent data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that people who haven’t been vaccinated are up to eight times more likely to be hospitalised with COVID-19.

The booster vaccine has been shown to be 88% effective in preventing people from ending up in hospital due to Omicron.  

Miles Nazaire, who features in the film, said:

If you make just one change this year, make it getting vaccinated against COVID-19. It’s the simplest and best way to protect yourself and others which is why I’m urging people to come forward.

I’ve had my booster – it was quick and easy, and I want to thank the NHS for everything they’re doing to get jabs in arms.

So please, if you haven’t already, get boosted and get protected.

Julius Cowdrey, who also features in the film, said:

As someone who prioritises their health, getting boosted was a no-brainer. It’s simply the best way to take care of yourself and it protects your loved ones from COVID-19.

And if you have been boosted, great! Make sure you urge your friends and family to get their COVID-19 vaccines too.

More than 36 million boosters have been administered across the UK. In England, more than 90% of eligible over-70s, and 86% of eligible over-50s, have had their top-up jabs.

Dr Emeka Okorocha, TV doctor and Emergency Medicine Physician, said:

It’s so important for people to come forward for their first, second or booster vaccine as soon as possible. Whilst Omicron may have less severe symptoms for some people, it’s much more transmissible and as an A&E doctor I’ve seen the devastating impact it can have. I’m all too aware that COVID-19 hasn’t gone away.

Vaccines are the best protection we have against this virus, so please do your bit to protect yourself and others. If you have just one New Year’s resolution this year it should be to get vaccinated.

While two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine initially provide strong protection against the Delta variant, data from the UKHSA shows that over time two doses are not enough to protect people from symptomatic infection caused by Omicron. A third dose provides around 70% protection against symptomatic infection from Omicron 2 to 4 weeks after the booster is given.

All adults are now eligible for their booster, provided it has been at least three months since their second jab. People can visit a walk-in centre or book via the National Booking Service online.  

Notes to editors

• Watch the film here
• Stills from the film and photos of Miles and Julius getting vaccinated can be found here

• More firms providing essential digital services should follow strict cyber security duties with large fines for non-compliance

• Other legislative proposals include improved incident reporting and driving up standards in the cyber security profession

New laws are needed to drive up security standards in outsourced IT services used by almost all UK businesses, the government says.

Other proposals being published today include making improvements in the way organisations report cyber security incidents and reforming legislation so that it is more flexible and can react to the speed of technological change.

The UK Cyber Security Council, which regulates the cyber security profession, also needs powers to raise the bar and create a set of agreed qualifications and certifications so those working in cyber security can prove they are properly equipped to protect businesses online.

The plans follow recent high-profile cyber incidents such as the cyber attack on SolarWinds and on Microsoft Exchange Servers which showed vulnerabilities in the third-party products and services used by businesses can be exploited by cybercriminals and hostile states, affecting hundreds of thousands of organisations at the same time.

They also follow an increase in ransomware threats to organisations, including some in critical national infrastructure such as the Colonial Pipeline attack in the US.

Minister of State for Media, Data, and Digital Infrastructure, Julia Lopez, said:

Cyber attacks are often made possible because criminals and hostile states cynically exploit vulnerabilities in businesses’ digital supply chains and outsourced IT services that could be fixed or patched.

The plans we are announcing today will help protect essential services and our wider economy from cyber threats

Every UK organisation must take their cyber resilience seriously as we strive to grow, innovate and protect people online. It is not an optional extra.

To make the UK more secure and help prevent these types of attacks the government is aiming, through new legislation, to take a stronger approach to getting at-risk businesses to improve their cyber resilience as part of its new £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy.

Updating the NIS regulations

Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations came into force in 2018 to improve the cyber security of companies which provide essential services such as water, energy, transport, healthcare and digital infrastructure. Organisations which fail to put in place effective cyber security measures can be fined as much as £17 million.

The government wants to update the NIS Regulations and widen the list of companies in scope to include Managed Service Providers (MSPs) which provide specialised online and digital services. MSPs include security services, workplace services and IT outsourcing. These firms are crucial to boosting the growth of the country’s £150.6 billion digital sector and have privileged access to their clients’ networks and systems.

The NIS regulations require essential service providers to undertake risk assessments and put in place reasonable and proportionate security measures to protect their network. They have to report significant incidents and have plans to ensure they quickly recover from them.

While the regulations apply to some digital services such as online marketplaces, online search engines and cloud computing, there has been an increase in the use and dependence on digital services for providing corporate needs such as information storage, data processing and running software.

Research by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport shows only 12 per cent of organisations review the cyber security risks coming from their immediate suppliers and only one in twenty firms (5 per cent) address the vulnerabilities in their wider supply chain.

The government is today launching a consultation on amending the NIS regulations which includes proposals to:

• Expand the scope of the NIS Regulations’ to include managed services. These are typically provided by companies which manage IT services on behalf of other organisations.

• Require large companies to provide better cyber incident reporting to regulators such as Ofcom, Ofgem and the ICO, including a requirement to notify regulators of all cyber security attacks they suffer, not just those which impact their services.

• Give the government the ability to future-proof the NIS regulations by updating them and if necessary bring into scope more organisations in the future which provide critical support to essential services.

• Transfer all relevant costs incurred by regulators for enforcing the NIS regulations from the taxpayer to the organisations covered by the legislation to create a more flexible finance system and reduce the taxpayers’ burden.

• Update the regulatory regime so the most critical digital service providers in the economy have to demonstrate proactively they are following NIS Regulations to the ICO, and take a more light-touch approach with the remaining digital providers.

NCSC Technical Director Dr Ian Levy, said:

I welcome these proposed updates to the NIS regulations, which will help to enhance the UK’s overall cyber security resilience.

These measures will ensure that cyber security risks are properly managed by organisations and those on whom they rely.

Empowering the cyber security profession

Cyber security is a core part of the UK’s booming tech sector which already has hundreds of successful cyber startups and more than a hundred tech ‘unicorns’ – companies worth more than £1 billion. As more people are drawn into cyber careers it can be difficult for businesses to know which skills to look for and whether a job candidate has those skills and the necessary qualifications or experience.

In March the government established and funded the UK Cyber Security Council, a new independent body to lead the cyber workforce and put it on a par with established professions such as engineering.

Today’s proposals would give the council the ability to define and recognise cyber job titles and link them to existing qualifications and certifications. People would have to meet competency standards set by the council before they could utilise a specific job title across the range of specialisms in cyber security.

This would make it easier for employers to identify the specific cyber skills they need in their organisations and create clearer information on career pathways for young people as well as existing practitioners, without providing unnecessary barriers to entry and progression.

The proposals include the creation of a Register of Practitioners, similar to what exists in the medical and legal professions, setting out the practitioners who are recognised as ethical, suitably-qualified or senior.

Simon Hepburn, CEO, UK Cyber Security Council, said:

The UK Cyber Security Council is delighted that these proposals recognise our cyber workforce lead role that will help to define and recognise cyber job roles and map them to existing certifications and qualifications.

We look forward to being involved in and contributing to this important government consultation and would encourage all key stakeholders to participate too.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The consultations can be found here:

These consultations are part of the government’s wider work on cyber resilience which is helping organisations across the economy adopt stronger cyber security measures. The consultation on the NIS Regulations follows a recent call for views which saw government proposals to boost the cyber security of UK’s digital supply chains.

The work is part of the UK Government’s ambition to maintain the UK’s position as a leading democratic and responsible Cyber Power, outlined through the 2022 National Cyber Strategy, which was released on 15 December 2022.

The government is also publishing the 2022 Cyber Security Incentives and Regulation Review, which sets out how the government can strengthen cyber resilience, revealing UK organisations currently do not have enough robust measures to successfully defend against the rapidly increasing risk of cyber attacks.

Set up in 1918 by Robert Buchanan in memory of his son Alan who died in World War I, the Buchanan Trust has been helping former service personnel readjust to civilian life for more than 100 years.

In 2018 the trust also became an almshouse provider, offering veterans and their families quality homes and the opportunity to gain skills and experience in the agricultural and construction sectors in rural Herefordshire.

Drew is no different. Since leaving the armed forces, the Trust has helped him to think about his next steps. He’s one of the first residents to move into the Trust’s new North Farm site, a redundant farmyard which has been transformed into four new homes with the help of a £152,000 grant from the Government’s Affordable Housing Programme.

Designed for people living with physical injuries or reduced mobility, the mixed size accessible bungalows are built around a courtyard with a communal meeting room, creating a sense of community and enabling veterans to support each other as they get used to civilian life.

The site will provide six homes in total, with further plans to convert a milking parlour, dairy, stables and hayloft into two, two bedroomed cottages, one with full disabled access.

As identified by charity Help for Heroes, former service personnel are particularly interested in working in the rural, farming and forestry sectors.

North Farm is designed to address this, forming part of the Buchanan Trust’s wider vision to create a national facility for former service men and women to live in a community where they can help each other to recover, learn, grow, and work.

For Drew, it’s chance to reflect and start to plan for the future: “I’m grateful for having the chance to rebuild my life since I have come to the Buchanan Trust.”

Mr Speaker, with permission I will make a statement on our progress against Omicron and the review of our Plan B measures.

Within hours of learning from scientists in South Africa about the emergence of a new Covid variant last November,

this government acted,

introducing balanced and proportionate restrictions at our borders to slow the seeding of Omicron in our country.

As we learned more about this highly transmissible new variant,

we implemented the Plan B measures we had prepared precisely in case our situation deteriorated,

encouraging people to change their behaviour to slow the spread of the virus and buying crucial time to get boosters into arms.

We made the big call to refocus our National Health Service,

necessarily requiring the difficult postponement of many other appointments –

So that we could double the speed of booster programme.

And thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our NHS and its volunteers,

we delivered the fastest booster programme in Europe, reaching half our population before any other European country,

with more than 36 million boosters now in arms across the UK, including more than 90 per cent of all over 60s in England.

And taking a balanced approach, we resisted calls from others to shut down our country all over again.

Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns.

Many have seen hospitality curfews and nightclubs closed,

capacity limits at sports stadiums,

the return of social distancing,

and, in some places, Christmas and New Year as good as cancelled.

But this government took a different path.

We kept England open.

And we supported those businesses which faced reduced demand because of the response to Plan B measures.

And while we must continue to remain cautious,

the data are showing that time and again

this government got the toughest decisions right.

Today’s latest ONS data show clearly that infection levels are falling in England.

And while there are some places where cases are likely to continue rising,

including in primary schools –

our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally.

There remain, of course, significant pressures on the NHS across our country, and especially in the North East and North West.

But hospital admissions

which were doubling every 9 days just two weeks ago –

have now stabilised, with admissions in London even falling.

And the numbers in intensive care not only remain low but are actually also falling.

So this morning, the Cabinet concluded that because of the extraordinary booster campaign

together with the way the public have responded to the Plan B measures –

we can return to Plan A in England and allow Plan B regulations to expire.

As a result, from the start of Thursday next week mandatory certification will end.

Organisations can, of course, choose to use the NHS Covid Pass voluntarily but we will end the compulsory use of Covid status certification in England.

From now, the government is no longer asking people to work from home and people should now speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office.

And having looked at the data carefully, the Cabinet concluded that once regulations lapse, the government will no longer mandate the wearing of face masks anywhere.

Mr Speaker, from tomorrow, we will no longer require face masks in classrooms, and the Department for Education will shortly remove national guidance on their use in communal areas.

In the country at large, we will continue to suggest the use of face coverings in enclosed or crowded places, particularly where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet.

But we will trust the judgement of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one.

The government will also ease further restrictions on visits to care homes and my Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will set out plans in the coming days.

Mr Speaker, as we return to Plan A, the House will know that some measures still remain, including those on self-isolation.

In particular, it is still a legal requirement for those who have tested positive for Covid to self-isolate.

On Monday we reduced the isolation period to five full days with two negative tests.

And there will soon come a time when we can remove the legal requirement to self-isolate altogether – just as we don’t place legal obligations on people to isolate if they have flu.

As Covid becomes endemic we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others.

The self-isolation regulations expire on 24th March, at which point I very much expect not to renew them.

Indeed were the data to allow, I would like to seek a vote in this House to bring that date forwards.

In advance of that, we will set out our long-term strategy for living with Covid-19, explaining how we hope and intend to protect our liberty and avoid restrictions in future by relying instead on medical advances – especially the vaccines which have already saved so many lives.

But to make that possible, we must all remain cautious during these last weeks of winter.

When there are still over 16,000 people in hospital in England alone, the pandemic is not over.

And, Mr Speaker, make no mistake, Omicron is not a mild disease for everyone – and especially if you’re not vaccinated.

Just look at the numbers in intensive care in other countries where vaccination rates are far lower.

Indeed, from our NHS data, we know that around 90 per cent of people in intensive care are not boosted.

So I urge members across the House to do everything possible to encourage any remaining constituents who have not done so – to get boosted now.

And for the next few weeks, I encourage everyone across the country to continue with all the cautious behaviours that we know help to keep each everybody safe.

washing hands,

letting fresh air in,

getting tested,

self-isolating if positive,

and, as I say, thinking about wearing a face covering in crowded and enclosed settings.

Mr Speaker, Omicron has tested us, just as Alpha and Delta did before.

But let’s remember some of what we’ve achieved.

We were the first nation in the world to administer a vaccine. We were the fastest in Europe to roll it out.

Because outside of the European Medicines Agency, this government made the big call to pursue our own British procurement strategy rather than opting back into the EU scheme as some people urged.

We created a world-beating testing programme, the largest in Europe,

and procured the most antivirals of any country in Europe too,

because this government made the big call to invest early in lateral flow tests and in cutting-edge drugs to protect the most vulnerable.

We’ve delivered the fastest booster campaign in Europe, and we’re the first to emerge from the Omicron wave, because the government made the big call to focus on our NHS, and to refocus our activity and lead that campaign to Get Boosted Now.

And that’s why we’ve retained the most open economy and society anywhere across the European continent,

and the fastest growing economy in the G7 –

because we made that tough decision to open up last Summer when others said that we shouldn’t,

and to keep things open this winter when others wanted them shut.

This week the World Health Organisation said that while the global situation remains challenging, the United Kingdom can start to see “light at the end of the tunnel”.

And Mr Speaker, this is no accident of history.

Confronted by the nation’s biggest challenge since the Second World War and the worst pandemic since 1918, any government would get some things wrong.

but this government got the big things right.

And I commend this Statement to the House.

• Historic fusion energy milestone achieved by UK Atomic Energy Authority machine in close collaboration with EUROfusion
• Joint European Torus (JET) is largest and most powerful tokamak in the world
• Fusion energy is crucial in addressing climate change through safe, sustainable and low-carbon energy supply

Iconic fusion energy machine JET – which reaches controlled temperatures 10 times hotter than the core of the sun – completed its 100,000th live pulse last night.

Weighing 2,800 tonnes, the same as three blue whales, the Joint European Torus (JET) is the largest and most powerful operating tokamak machine in the world, with its original design standing the true test of time. First put into action in the 1980s, it is operated by the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Culham Science Centre, Oxford.

The milestone experiment – known as a pulse – was this week completed by the EUROfusion consortium, a team of 4,800 experts from across the continent dedicated to realising sustainable fusion energy. The historic moment was filmed from inside the JET control room and is now available to watch below.

JET’s 100,000th pulse video

Fusion, the process that powers the sun and stars, promises a near-limitless green electricity source for the long term. Pound for pound, it releases nearly four million times more energy than burning coal, oil or gas, and has the potential to deliver safe and sustainable low carbon energy over the coming decades.

Professor Ian Chapman, CEO of UKAEA, said: “JET is one of the most important machines in the history of fusion energy research. We’re extremely proud to have been operating it here in Oxford on behalf of the EUROfusion consortium over the past four decades. Its longevity and successes have allowed us to break down many barriers on our mission to turn this ultimate science experiment into sustainable commercial power.

“It is clear significant changes are needed to address the effects of climate change, and fusion energy has huge potential. JET has inspired and driven physicists and engineers across the world to build invaluable knowledge and develop ground-breaking new technology through a staggering 100,000 live pulses. It is truly one of a kind, the best there has been, and will be remembered long into the future.”

The history of JET:

• 1975: Proposals for the JET machine were completed
• 1977: Culham in Oxfordshire was chosen as the host site for JET
• 1983: Doughnut-shaped tokamak turned on and JET achieved its first plasma before official opening by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
• 1991: Performed the world’s first deuterium-tritium experiment – the fuel mix that will be used in the first commercial fusion power plants
• 1997: A world record 22.5 megajoules of fusion energy and 16 megawatts of fusion power achieved in the first dedicated deuterium-tritium run of experiments, proving large amounts of power can be produced from fusion
• 2011: JET installs a new inner wall made of beryllium and tungsten metals, the same materials to be used in its international successor, ITER
• 2021: Completes a second full-power run of experiments using deuterium and tritium
• 2022: 100,000th pulse completed, with new scientific results to be released in February

Prof Chapman added: “Reaching this milestone is testament to the ingenuity of the original design team and the operations teams who have upgraded and enhanced the machine so many times to ensure it continues to be the world’s foremost device – even after four decades of operation.”

Tony Donné, Programme Manager (CEO) of EUROfusion, said: “This year JET has been operating for 39 years and during all this time it delivered significant results. JET has been upgraded several times and its capabilities have been continuously enhanced to keep up with the latest developments in the field.

“The recent deuterium-tritium campaign has resulted in highly interesting scientific data that will help to optimise the operation and research plan of the international ITER experiment. In close discussion with ITER we are preparing for further experiments to be carried out in the coming years.”

JET is the only tokamak in the world capable of running experiments using deuterium and tritium, the two isotopes of hydrogen. It has been key to the development of its successor ITER, one of the biggest collaborative science projects in history and supported by 35 nations.

The larger and more advanced French-based experiment, ITER, which is expected to come into operation in the mid-2020s, plans to operate under similar conditions and will continue working towards demonstrating the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy.