Elizabeth Hambley and Mel Nebhrajani CB have been appointed permanent Director Generals.

Elizabeth Hambley will lead the new Commercial with Trade and International Directorate and Mel Nebhrajani the new Employment with Economic Recovery and UK Governance Directorate. Stephen Braviner Roman remains Director General and will lead Litigation with Justice and Security.

Elizabeth has been interim Director General (DG) of Directorate C since November last year and Mel Director of Litigation. They both bring a wealth of experience from across government and we are looking forward to welcoming them as permanent members of the GLD Board, Executive Committee (ExCo) and Executive Team (ET).

Elizabeth said of her appointment: “It’s a privilege to be taking up this role in the Executive Team and lead the newly created Commercial with Trade and International Directorate. We do amazing work in GLD and I am proud to be working alongside brilliant lawyers and professional colleagues, supporting them to deliver the best legal services for government and create life-changing law for the country.”

Likewise Mel said: “It is an honour to be appointed Director General at such an important moment for GLD. I am very much looking forward to working closely with the directors and their teams in my new Directorate, Employment with Economic Recovery and UK Governance, and with my Executive Team colleagues and the wider Board to achieve the best for both GLD colleagues and our clients.”

The directorates and groupings have been revised:

Stephen Braviner Roman DG will lead Litigation with Justice and Security Litigation Group, DCMS, HO & NIO, HSE & ONR, MoD, MoJ, BV

Elizabeth Hambley DG will lead Commercial with Trade and International CLGp, BEIS, COELA, Defra, DIT, HMT, K&I

Mel Nebhrajani DG CB will lead Employment with Economic Recovery and UK Governance Employment Group, COLA + SI hub, DfE & GEO, DfT, DHSC, DWP, DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities – formally MHCLG) 

Congratulations to Elizabeth and Mel, we look forward to working with you.

The Hebden Bridge Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS), led and developed by the Environment Agency, aims to improve flood protection for approximately 400 properties and is vital to improving the town’s flood defence.

The range of electric vehicles being used include:

• Electric cars – for site visits throughout Hebden Bridge and the Calder Valley
• Small electric vans – for engineers and supervisors to visit Hebden Bridge and other schemes within the Calder Valley
• Large electric vans – to transport people around site and minimise traffic within the town
• Large electric pick-ups – to replace transit van pick-ups to transport materials and people

Christian Merriman, Flood & Coastal Risk Management Advisor at the Environment Agency, said:

We’re already seeing the impacts of the climate emergency in the UK. The Environment Agency is committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2030. To achieve this, we will need to cut our carbon emissions by 45%.

This is a huge and important challenge to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The use of electric vehicles at Hebden Bridge is just one of the measures we have implemented to help achieve our target.

Our partnership with BAM Nuttall takes us one step closer to our goal and we will continue reducing our carbon emissions for wider projects.

Steve Hamer, Contracts Manager at BAM Nuttall, said:

BAM Nuttall is at the cutting edge of Electric Vehicle technology and is one of the leading civil engineering companies in this field. Here at Hebden Bridge, we’ve taken strong steps to make sure that our carbon footprint is as low as possible during construction by using various types of electric vehicles. Our vehicles also have bespoke messages to help promote sustainable solutions.

Personally, and more importantly, I believe that this is the right thing to do to play our part in helping combat the climate crisis as much as we can. We’re also utilising Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil to run all our equipment on site, which reduces the use of fossil fuels, saving up to 95% of carbon emissions compared with normal fuel usage.

Councillor Scott Patient at Calderdale Council said:

It’s fantastic to hear that the Environment Agency and contractors BAM Nuttall are using electric vehicles as part of the Hebden Bridge scheme. The Council declared a climate emergency in early 2019 and, since then, work has accelerated to minimise the impacts of the climate crisis and ecological breakdown whilst providing much needed resilience for our flood-prone communities.

By working with our partners, Calderdale’s bold ambitions of being carbon neutral by 2038 or sooner can be achieved.

We have also supported this by installing a network of on- and off-road charging infrastructure to help workers and visitors stay fully charged.

Early flood defence works

A key element of the early flood defence work in Hebden Bridge includes a revamp of the Vale Centre site on Stubbing Holme Road, which will be used as a construction site compound to store materials and machinery.

Land adjacent to Trinity Street is currently being used to store materials and will continue into early 2022.

The work also involves repairing the dilapidated wall at the Vale Centre and construction of a canal overflow weir. This work is due to start in winter 2021 and aims to reduce flooding on the canal front upstream of the aqueduct in Hebden Bridge by discharging excess water into the River Calder.

A planning application will be submitted by the Environment Agency to Calderdale Council later this year, outlining the preferred location of the canal overflow weir – adjacent to the former Adult Learning Centre between Stubbing Holme Road and Hebble End.

Further work to deliver the fluvial and surface water elements of the scheme are forecast to commence in summer 2022 until 2025.

Other early work carried out by BAM Nuttall in preparation for the main Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) include ground investigations at a number of areas around Hebden Bridge, which assesses the suitability of the ground around the site for construction to take place; CCTV culvert surveys, which review and examine conditions inside a culvert using video monitoring systems to identify any issues; and minor in-channel works.

Find out more

For any questions about the Hebden Bridge Flood Alleviation Scheme contact the project team by email: HebdenBridgeFAS@environment-agency.gov.uk or to receive regular updates about the scheme email ‘subscribe’ to the same address.

For the latest information and progress on Hebden Bridge FAS, please visit: https://eyeoncalderdale.com/hebden-bridge-flood-alleviation-scheme

Thank you, Madam President,

The United Kingdom remains staunchly committed to tackling all forms of racism, whether that be at home or abroad. We remain resolute, and steadfast, in our mission to combat all forms of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Discrimination and intolerance of any kind has no place in society, and we will continue to treat all forms of intolerance with equal seriousness. That is why we are proud of Britain’s strong legal framework, which penalises offences such as incitement to racial hatred and racially aggravated offences.

In addition to this strong framework, we also recently conducted a detailed, data-led examination of racism and inequality across the United Kingdom, and set out a positive agenda for change.

The examination, led by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, made 24 recommendations that will change for the better the lives of millions across the UK, whatever their ethnic or social background.

Internationally, we will continue to participate actively in anti-racism related mechanisms – such as this dialogue – to share best practice on upholding human rights obligations to tackle discrimination.

Madam President,

What steps should we, as an international community, take to foster healthy dialogue about racism and bolster our joint efforts on this agenda?