New plans to unlock the power of gene editing to help our farmers grow more resistant, more nutritious and more productive crops have been published as part of the government response to the gene editing consultation, announced today (29 September) by Environment Secretary George Eustice.

The response sets out how we plan to pave the way to enable use of gene editing technologies, which can help better protect the environment.

Gene editing is a tool that makes plant breeding more precise and efficient so we can breed crops that are more nutritious, resistant to pests and disease, more productive and more beneficial to the environment, helping farmers and reducing impacts on the environment.

Research could lead to sugar beet varieties resistant to viruses that can cause serious yield losses and costs to farmers unless pesticides are used. Such new varieties would help make our farmers more productive and, importantly, also reduce the need for chemical pesticides, protecting our bees and other pollinating insects.

Gene editing is different from genetic modification, because it does not result in the introduction of DNA from other species and creates new varieties similar to those that could be produced more slowly by natural breeding processes – but currently they are regulated in the same way as genetically modified organisms.

Leaving the EU allows the UK to set our own rules, opening up opportunities to adopt a more scientific and proportionate approach to the regulation of genetic technologies. As a first step, the government will change the rules relating to gene editing to cut red tape and make research and development easier.

The focus will be on plants produced by genetic technologies, where genetic changes could have occurred naturally or could have been a result of traditional breeding methods.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said:

Gene editing has the ability to harness the genetic resources that nature has provided. It is a tool that could help us in order to tackle some of the biggest challenges that we face – around food security, climate change and biodiversity loss.

Outside the EU, we are able to foster innovation to help grow plants that are stronger and more resilient to climate change. We will be working closely with farming and environmental groups to ensure that the right rules are in place.

Defra chief scientific advisor Gideon Henderson said:

Gene editing technologies provide a more precise way of introducing targeted genetic changes – making the same types of changes to plants and animals that occur more slowly naturally or through traditional breeding.

These tools enable us to harness the richness of natural variation to build better crops, speeding up a process humans have done through breeding for hundreds of years.

There are exciting opportunities to improve the environment, and we can also produce new varieties that are healthier to eat, and more resistant to climate change.

Scientists will continue to be required to notify Defra of any research trials. The planned changes will ease burdens for research and development involving plants, using technologies such as gene editing, to align them with plants developed using traditional breeding methods.

The next step will be to review the regulatory definitions of a genetically modified organism, to exclude organisms produced by gene editing and other genetic technologies if they could have been developed by traditional breeding. GMO regulations would continue to apply where gene editing introduces DNA from other species into an organism.

The government will consider the appropriate measures needed to enable gene edited products to be brought to market safely and responsibly. In the longer term, this will be followed by a review of England’s approach to GMO regulation more broadly.

We are committed to the very highest standards of environmental and food safety in the UK. There will be no weakening of our strong food safety standards. Gene edited foods will only be permitted to be marketed if they are judged to not present a risk to health, not mislead consumers, and not have lower nutritional value than their non-genetically modified counterparts.

The government will continue to work with farming and environmental groups to develop the right rules and to ensure robust controls are in place to maintain the highest food safety and environmental protection standards, while supporting the production of healthier food.

Professor Robin May, the Food Standards Agency’s Chief Scientific Adviser, said:

There are significant benefits to changing the way we regulate genetic technologies, to make sure the system is as up to date as possible and properly takes into account new technologies and scientific discoveries.

We support giving consumers choice and recognise the potential benefits that GE plants and animals may bring to the food system.

We are working closely with Defra and a range of other partners to ensure that potential changes to the regulation of genetic technologies will maintain the high food standards that UK consumers currently enjoy.

Samantha Brooke, Chief Executive of the British Society of Plant Breeders, said:

Changing the way new agricultural breeding technologies are regulated, by taking gene editing out of the scope of GMO rules, will encourage research and innovation to develop healthier, more nutritious food, and to make farming systems more sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change.

Gene editing involves making desired changes to a plant or animal which could have occurred naturally or through conventional breeding, but more quickly and with greater precision. Developing an improved crop variety using conventional breeding – for example to improve its nutritional quality or resistance to disease – can take up to 15 years, but gene editing can help reduce that timescale significantly.

Without the contribution of plant breeding over the past 20 years, farmers would have produced 20% less food in this country, which means an extra 1.8 million hectares of land would have been needed to supply our food needs. That expansion would have impacted vulnerable ecosystems, and generated an extra 300 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Current regulations on plant breeding and seeds support safer and more sustainable food production, and this regulatory system can also embrace new crop varieties produced using gene editing techniques, which replicate what plant breeders are already doing, but in a much quicker and more targeted way.

We strongly welcome the Government’s plan to make controls on gene editing more science-based. This sends a clear signal that the UK is set on a more pro-innovation trajectory outside the EU. It will certainly boost prospects for plant breeding companies large and small, as well as scientists in the public sector, to continue improving our food crops for the benefit of society and the environment.

Professor Helen Sang OBE, Head of Division of Functional Genetics and Development, The Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS, said:

Gene editing offers major opportunities to address the combined challenges of rapidly increasing global demand for healthy and nutritious food with the goal of net zero carbon emissions.

I welcome today’s announcement as a first step towards reducing unnecessary and unscientific regulatory barriers to the use of advanced breeding techniques which are precise and targeted, allowing us to make specific genetic changes.

Adopting a more proportionate and enabling approach to regulation will open up increased opportunities for international research collaboration, inward investment and technology-based exports, bringing a major boost for UK science.

A team of industry experts has been assembled to help England’s pubs, restaurants and cafes to thrive, Business Minister Paul Scully has announced today (Wednesday 29 September). 

The Hospitality Sector Council is made up of experts who represent a cross-section of the sector, to support the delivery of the government’s Hospitality Strategy. The council will identify and oversee actions related to the 22 commitments in the strategy, create sensible solutions using their expert knowledge and assess the strength of the sector. 

The council is co-chaired by Minister Scully and hospitality entrepreneur and Chair of Prezzo Karen Jones. The first meeting of the council takes place today. 

Council members include UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls, Emma McClarkin of the British Beer and Pub Association, Nando’s UK & Ireland Chief Executive Colin Hill, Greene King Chief Executive Nick MacKenzie, Starbucks UK General Manager Alex Rayner and Mowgli’s Nisha Katona.

Small Business Minister Paul Scully said:

The hospitality industry has shown incredible creativity and resourcefulness through the pandemic, pivoting to new ways of doing business like al fresco dining and takeaway pints to stay safe, meet changing consumer demands and protect livelihoods.   

With the launch of this council, we’re taking the next step in the journey to build back better from the pandemic by unveiling the experts who’ll be driving the reopening, recovery and resilience of the sector. It’s a real ‘Avengers Assemble’ moment for the industry.

Entrepreneur and Hospitality Sector Council Co-Chair Karen Jones said:

I think the lockdowns have shown us many things, particularly the importance of our people and our teams and the key role hospitality has to play in lighting up our high streets and city centres. We now need to capitalise on our combined energy, creativity and innovation to continue the creation of a world-class hospitality industry: the Hospitality Sector Council will aid in making that a reality.

I am honoured to be co-chair alongside Minister Scully and, together with a group of hospitality leaders, to put in place all that our wonderful industry need to flourish.

The Hospitality Strategy supports the reopening, recovery and resilience of the sector following the pandemic. This includes making it easier for pubs, restaurants and cafes to offer al fresco dining by making pavement licenses permanent, and extending takeaway pints in England and Wales until September 2022 to further boost sales. 

The strategy also sets out ways to help the sector grow and boost its creativity, including through exploring options for vocational skills and training such as apprenticeships, bootcamps and other qualifications like a T Level. 

Since the strategy was launched on 16 July, progress includes:

• the National Employers and Partners Team creating a steering group to find hospitality vacancies and support employers in filling them. The Department for Work and Pensions has also been filling vacancies by using their work coaches and Plan for Jobs programmes including Kickstart and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs)
• the Department for Education adding hospitality and catering qualifications to Free Courses for Jobs. This offers adults without Level 3 qualifications a range of free courses which now includes food and beverage supervision, professional cookery, and patisserie and confectionary

The government wants to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business and is working with the country’s small businesses to seize every opportunity to grow. The ‘Help to Grow: Management’ course is 90% subsidised by government and equips business leaders with the tools to take their business to the next level, combining a practical curriculum with 1:1 support from a business mentor, peer-learning sessions and an alumni network. The course is designed to be manageable alongside full-time work and helps business leaders develop their strategic skills, create jobs and boost their business performance. 

Today’s announcement builds on the Plan for Jobs – the government’s blueprint to protect, support and create jobs across the UK and help people gain the skills they need to get into work through schemes such as Kickstart, apprenticeships and traineeships.  

The members of the council are:

• Business Minister, Paul Scully (co-chair)
• Hospitality leader and Chair of Prezzo, Karen Jones (co-chair)
• UKHospitality CEO, Kate Nicholls
• British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) Chief Executive, Emma McClarkin
• British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) CEO, Steve Alton
• The Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS) Managing Director, Nick Summers
• Small Independent Brewers Association (SIBA) CEO, James Calder
• Restaurant Group PLC CEO, Andy Hornby
• Nando’s UK & Northern Ireland CEO, Colin Hill
• Limewood Hotels Ltd. Chairman and CEO, Robin Hutson
• Fuller, Smith and Turner PLC CEO, Simon Emeny
• Greene King CEO, Nick MacKenzie
• Revolution Bars Group CEO, Rob Pitcher
• Turtle Bay, Caravan Restaurants and FlightClub Darts Chair, Jane O’Riordan
• Nightclub and Events Entrepreneur, Rich McGinnis
• Mowgli Street Food Founder and CEO, Nisha Katona MBE
• Co-Founder and CEO, Hawksmoor Chairman, Rockfish Restaurants, Will Beckett
• Starbucks UK, Austria and Switzerland Vice President and General Manager, Alex Rayner
• Deliveroo Vice President, Consumer, Emma Simmonds
• Burger King UK CFO, Tim Doubleday
• Budweiser Brewing Group UK, Ireland, Spain and the Canary Islands President, Paula Lindenberg
• Westbury Street Holdings Ltd Chairman and Chief Executive, Alastair Storey

Help to Grow: Management offers a 12-week course delivered by leading business schools across the UK. A total of 30,000 places are available over 3 years. The programme is 90% subsidised by government – costing only £750 to the business. Register for Help to Grow: Management.

Thank you Madam President, I’d like to start by thanking our briefers Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed and Dr Shukria Dini.

Madam President, I am very struck and I am grateful to Ireland for convening this briefing. Here in the Security Council we tend to focus on the so-called big picture of political crises and including the security situation in Somalia. But today we have a chance to focus on the day to day lives of Somali women and girls are shaped by those big picture factors. As we heard from Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed and Dr Shukria Dini, Somali women and girls are not just passively affected by politics and security: they can be powerful agents of change.

I would like to make three points in this regard. Firstly, we should be clear that both the COVID-19 pandemic, and Somalia’s persistent political crises have prevented substantial progress on Somalia’s other priorities including on the Women, Peace and Security agenda. That is the opportunity cost of the current crisis.

This setback exacerbates Somalia’s political problems. Gender inequality and the perpetual cycle of violence against women and girls contributes toward Somalia’s protracted insecurity, instability, and Al-Shabaab’s insurgency.

In this respect, I want to underline that the United Kingdom is deeply concerned by the continued pervasiveness of sexual and gender-based violence in Somalia. Reports indicate that rates of forced marriage and female genital mutilation have increased during the pandemic. We again urge Somalia’s leaders to prioritise adoption of the 2018 Sexual Offences Bill as soon as possible and to implement its provisions.

Secondly, Madam President, to solve these problems as we’ve heard, we to ensure women have a seat at the table when decisions are made. For Somalia’s long-term development to be inclusive and effective, it is vital to take steps to bring about equal participation and representation of women in decision-making and leadership positions.

As we have heard today from Dr Shukria, and as we have heard before from female Somali civil society leaders, women have an important, constructive role to play in Somalia’s development and they deserve a level playing field.

The United Kingdom therefore calls again on Somalia’s leaders to deliver their commitment to ensure that a minimum of 30% of Parliamentary seats go to women in the ongoing elections, in accordance with the 2020 and 2021 electoral agreements. As the Upper House electoral process moves towards its conclusion it is disappointing to see that Somalia’s leaders have failed to meet this commitment. We urge Somalia’s leaders to take steps to ensure that their commitment is met for the upcoming Lower House elections.

Thirdly, Madam President, we also encourage Somalia to accelerate the finalisation, adoption and full implementation of its National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, in close cooperation with civil society. This is a vital component of efforts to strengthen women’s participation in peacebuilding and socio-economic progress.

The United Kingdom reiterates its commitment to continue to work constructively with Somalia to strengthen the role of women in peace and security and advance progress in human rights and democracy to enable long-term stability.

Thank you, Madam President, and may I start by thanking Special Envoy Pedersen and Dr Mhaissen for their briefings

Madam President, we join others in welcoming Mr Pedersen’s announcement that a 6th round of Constitutional Committee talks will take place in Geneva in mid-October. We commend Mr Pedersen for his persistent efforts to secure agreement to the further talks. As Mr Pedersen has made clear, the next meeting needs to be different to those that have gone before. Just as the UN strives to facilitate a political process in implementation of its side of resolution 2254, so it is now down to the Syrian parties to take responsibility for implementing their side. It is time for the regime to end its artificial delays of the process, and for substantive progress to be made on a new constitution as envisaged in resolution 2254.

Madam President, resolution 2254 explicitly recognises the link between the political process and a nationwide ceasefire. We therefore remain very concerned by the ongoing escalation of violence in north-west Syria, which has recently led to the deaths of civilians and humanitarian workers, including in heavy shelling of residential areas, and the destruction of medical facilities. We hope the upcoming meeting between Turkey and Russia in Sochi will lead to the full implementation of the 5 March 2020 ceasefire agreement.

We remain concerned, too, about the potential for renewed conflict to break out across the rest of Syria. The recent hostilities in Da’raa are a reminder of this. We welcome the recent ceasefire there, but this, and the ceasefire in Idlib, need to form part of a nationwide ceasefire agreed in parallel with the upcoming political talks in accordance with resolution 2254.

Madam President, until progress is made on the political process and until there is a nationwide ceasefire, the suffering of the Syrian people will continue, and the millions displaced will be unable to return home. In this regard we take note the Commission of Inquiry’s latest report, which documents the atrocities, abuses and violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law that continue in Syria to this day, including the indiscriminate use of weapons, targeted killings, arbitrary and incommunicado detention and torture, and denial of humanitarian access- which Dr Mhaissen described so eloquently to us.

Madam President, we urge the Syrian parties, particularly the regime, to commit to compliance with their obligations, commit to a nationwide ceasefire, and to seize this opportunity for progress with both hands. The international community will support you.

Almost 1,700 EU vessels licences have now been licensed to fish in UK waters. Of these, 117 licences have been issued for EU vessels to fish in the 6-12 nautical mile zone where supporting evidence of a track record was available.

There are thirty five smaller vessels which did not have supporting evidence where licences have not been issued but where the UK government remains open to further discussion and evidence. The UK is clear on methodology with decisions based on evidence available and in line with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

The UK government will publish the list of EU under 12m in length vessels that will be licensed to fish in the UK 6-12 nautical mile zone on Wednesday 29 September.

A UK Government spokesperson said:

The government has this year issued a large number of licences to EU vessels seeking to fish in our exclusive economic zone (12-200 nautical mile zone) and our territorial sea (6-12 nautical mile zone). Our approach has been reasonable and fully in line with our commitments in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

As regards the 6-12nm zone, as set out in the TCA, EU vessels must provide evidence of a track record of fishing activity in those waters. We have been considering applications for vessels of under 12 m in length to fish in this zone and, on the basis of the evidence available, we are able to grant licences for 12 of the 47 applications made.

We continue to work with the Commission and the French authorities and will consider any further evidence provided to support the remaining licence applications.

Almost 1,700 vessels have already been granted licences to fish in the UK 12-200 nautical mile zone and a further 105 licences were issued for vessels to fish in the 6-12 nautical mile zone where evidence was available to support a track record over the five year reference period.

There were 47 smaller vessels, under 12 metres, where data was less available and where further supporting evidence was requested to support their application to fish in the 6-12 nautical mile zone. Having assessed all available evidence, we have now licensed a further 12 under 12m vessels to fish in the 6-12 nautical mile zone of our territorial sea. The approach we have taken is reasonable and fully in line with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement brought in changes to fishing arrangements between the UK and the EU. The UK is required to grant access to vessels which fished in the relevant parts of the UK’s 6-12 nautical mile zone in four out of five years between 2012 and 2016.

The UK requires reasonable evidence to assess applications against the requirements:

• Positional data showing fishing activity in our territorial waters.
• Data recording catches of any of the permitted species corresponding to the same date or time period as that positional data.

The UK has left the EU and as an independent coastal state is committed to sustainable fisheries management. Defra continues to work with counterparts in the Commission and with French authorities. We welcome any further evidence from the EU, using our published methodology, to assess other existing licensing applications from EU vessels.

Full licensing criteria will be published on the UK Single Issuing Authority’s website on Wednesday (29th September 2021).