Our main objective is to make sure the homes the country needs are built where they’re most needed, but we’re also committed to creating sustainable and well-designed places that protect and enhance the natural environment.

The former Lea Castle Hospital site near Kidderminster, Worcestershire, is surrounded by woodland which is home to a diverse range of plant and animal species.

In order to create a community that works in harmony with this unique setting, we worked with partners at Worcestershire Green Infrastructure Partnership (WGIP) and Borough and County ecologists in our role as site owner to develop a framework for green infrastructure at Lea Castle, proposing measures in the outline planning application which would safeguard and enrich the existing environment.

Green infrastructure is defined by Natural England as ‘…a network of multi-functional green space, both new and existing, both rural and urban, which supports the natural and ecological processes and is integral to the health and quality of life of sustainable communities.’

With outline planning approved, we stipulated the developer must be an early adopter of our emerging approach to place making, including seeking Building with Nature accreditation.

Building with Nature (BwN) is a voluntary scheme that sets out standards for high quality green infrastructure at each stage of the development process, from planning and design to long-term management and maintenance. The BwN standards enable nature friendly features to be integrated throughout a development and cover areas including biodiversity, water management and green infrastructure.

Since the start on site to create 600 new homes in October 2020, developer Vistry Partnerships have worked with us, local councils, the WGIP and a number of specialist consultants to ensure the new Lea Castle Village development meets BwN standards.

The site is home to a number of European Protected Species of bat, including lesser horseshoe, brown long-eared and pipistrelle bats. As some of the redundant buildings due for redevelopment were roosts for the animals, replacement roosts were needed elsewhere on site. In addition to creating new homes for the bats, a redundant substation on site was converted.

Doors were removed and blocked up, and hanging tiles added to external walls to create crevices for the bats. A specially designed tile access was made for the roof to enable the bats to get into the building. As more residents move onto the site, information boards will be provided to explain the use and importance of the bat roosts.

Vistry and their consultants TEP also created a lighting strategy including dark corridors and specialist bat lighting to maintain the commuting and foraging corridors between bat roosts and surrounding off-site foraging habitats. Additional planting and screening are also being introduced to further mitigate the impacts of the development on the bats.

As a dormouse nest had previously been found on the site, all existing tree groups and woodland at the site’s edges were retained, to maintain existing commuting routes for the species. Additional landscape planting on the sides of the site’s main spine road will provide an arboreal commuting route across the road and create further foraging and nesting resources for the mice.

In June 2021 Vistry were awarded a Building with Nature Design Award for their development at Lea Castle, demonstrating that the scheme’s design had gone beyond statutory requirements to deliver a high standard of green infrastructure for people and wildlife.

It’s the first of our sites to be granted the award – but the work doesn’t stop there. The Lea Castle site has allocation for a further 800 homes, as well as employment land, a new primary school, sports pitch, orchards and allotments.

With the support of the Worcestershire Green Infrastructure Partnership, we’re looking at how we can improve green infrastructure on the site by ensuring woodland is protected and opportunities for wider biodiversity and recreational links are created. Access to woodland will be opened up with footpaths and a significant area of acid grassland habitat, a priority habitat in Worcestershire, is proposed, as well as sustainable drainage features.

Around 40 per cent of the wider Lea Castle site will consist of green infrastructure with the aim of delivering 10 per cent biodiversity net gain – and securing further Build with Nature accreditation.

To make sure more of our sites are designed with Building with Nature’s principles at their heart, Leanne Tipple (Senior Technical Manager – Environment) and Lisa Palframan (Senior Technical Manager – Environment) have qualified as Build with Nature assessors. This will enable them to provide our project managers with the guidance they need to make space for nature, creating places and communities that support wildlife, water and wellbeing.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

This resolution – which has been driven by the UK, US and France – is a strong signal of the determination within the international community to send a clear message to the Taliban and set clear expectations of the new Afghan government.

The resolution calls for safe passage for all those who wish to leave, urgent humanitarian access and respect for human rights, and insists that Afghan territory must not be used to threaten or attack any other country or to shelter and train terrorists.

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Objective

The objective of this project, under the Indonesia Digital Health Programme (Phase 1), is to start the implementation of two of these – to establish a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and a multi-agency Health Data Protection and Cyber Security Coordination Group. Related UK funded work is supporting incident simulation training, a security outcomes framework and a privacy impact assessment of electronic medical record data. The implementer(s) of this project will be expected to maintain close alignment with these activities.

The Ministry of Health has recently created a Data Transformation Office, complementing the Centre for Data and Information. The digital platforms and services, however, are the responsibility of other delivery units. The incident response team will need to bring together resources from across the Ministry. The proposed Coordination Group will also include other ministries and agencies across the government.

The following guidance provides details of the requirements, the eligibility criteria and how to bid.

Timing and indicative budget

£200k from October 2021 to end March 2022

The establishment of health ministry Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and a multi-agency Health Data Protection and Cyber Security Coordination Group, will act as a focal point for strategic risk management relating to healthcare data and systems, an area which is currently lacking and undermines operational planning and incident response capability.

CERTs usually provide a combination of reactive services (e.g. alerts, warnings, incident response coordination) and proactive services (e.g. announcements, security assessments, development of tools). The MoH is already in discussions with BSSN over the remit and functions of their CERT, so an important area of this work will be selecting the right services to underpin the definition of the MoH CERT.

In terms of the Strategic Coordination Group, it is envisaged that the implementer will agree a terms of reference with key government stakeholders and support in setting up appropriate cross departmental governance structures focused on incident response strategies and threat intelligence sharing.

Please indicate in proposals:

• the foundational activities in the establishment of a CERT which will be delivered in the period
• the key agencies and organisations to be engaged in the Coordination Group and realistic (potential) agenda for the period
• proposed monitoring

Who can bid?

Bids are welcomed from not-for-profit organisations including academia, NGOs, inter-governmental organisations and not-for-profit arms of commercial entities.

Many capacity building projects cannot be fully delivered by a single implementer as the capability and skills required may only be found in a consortium. We therefore welcome bids from consortia, with a clear non-for-profit prime or lead implementer. Commercial organisations are permitted to join consortia as part of a bidding team. However, the commercial element of the proposal, which would be sub-contracted by the not-for-profit, must be proportionate.

Guidelines for submitting a proposal

See also:

Successful project proposal for funding will be announced by 22 September 2021. The British Embassy aims to sign grant agreements with the successful project implementer by 28 September 2021.

We will not consider proposals that are delivered after the submission deadline. All bid submissions must be in English. The Budget must be presented in pound sterling (GBP). Management and administrative costs shall not be more than 10% of the overall budget.

The impact of COVID-19 restrictions, including restrictions on local/international travel and in-person meetings/events should be factored in.

Bidders should not craft proposals in such a way to reach the budget ceiling. Bids should be constructed to specifically meet the objectives in pursuit of demonstrable impact and value for money. Bidders must submit a separate proposal and summarise it in the Project Proposal Form Part A. The Grant Agreement template is for review and information purpose only.

Criteria for assessing bids

Bids will be assessed against the following criteria:

• value for money – criteria for economy, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, and cost- effectiveness
• alignment with the requirements
• understanding of and familiarity with the local context
• project viability, including capacity and capability of implementing organisation(s)
• project design, including clear, achievable objectives/outputs/outcomes/impact
• good risk, issue and stakeholder management
• implementer experience, past performance
• sustainability

Background

As explained in the recently published Integrated Review, the UK’s vision is to be a leading, responsible cyber power, working with partners to shape cyberspace according to our values. Our aim is to create a cyberspace that is free, open, peaceful and secure, and which benefits all countries and all people.

This programme will also align with HMGs country plan for Indonesia, particularly the KPIs around facilitating skills development in the health sector. It will directly contribute to delivering the KPI of improving Indonesia’s National Cyber Security Plan which takes into account UK concerns and enhances protection of Indonesia’s Critical national Infrastructure – of which health is one key sector. Indonesia is about to issue a National Cyber Security Strategy and Parliament is considering a Data Protection Law.

The health sector is vulnerable globally. In Indonesia, the threat to healthcare has been similarly singled out for attention; the Directorate of National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection within BSSN has produced an extensive Whitepaper on the state of cyber and information security in the Healthcare sector, stating that almost 69% of health institutions (based on their sampling) have weak cyber security levels and securing health data and systems is a key priority for the Ministry of Health . The development of digital health services is recognized as critical for increasing the quality of service and access to healthcare across this huge archipelago. Private systems have seen a huge increase in demand during the COVID restrictions but security concerns contribute to a lack of public trust in the services.

Previous work has made key recommendations for the development of cyber security capacity in the health system in Indonesia.

Thousands of people will be helped onto the housing ladder as funding worth £8.6 billion is allocated across the country today (31 August 2021).

Part of the largest single investment in affordable housing in a decade, the Affordable Homes Programme funding will deliver around 119,000 homes, including 57,000 for ownership, 29,600 for social rent and 6,250 affordable rural homes.

Today’s cash injection could support up to 370,000 jobs across the country for homebuilders, SME developers, and wider businesses supporting the house building industry such as electricians and plumbers. This is expected to generate up to £26 billion of other private and public investment. 

Around half of the new homes from this £8.6 billion funding will be available for affordable home ownership, helping even more young people and families to get a foot on the housing ladder. This follows other government schemes to help first-time buyers into homeownership including First Homes, offering new homes at a 30% discount on the open market value, and the 95% mortgage guarantee scheme, which helps first-time buyers secure a mortgage with just a 5% deposit.

The funding will also deliver nearly 30,000 homes for Social Rent, which are typically 50 to 60% of market prices, providing secure, affordable housing to people who need it most. It will also deliver new supported housing for some of the most vulnerable, providing much needed homes for older or disabled people with support needs.

Today’s funding allocations marks an important step towards the government’s mission to deliver up to 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.   Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP said:  

Creating more opportunities for home ownership is central to this government. This £9 billion funding is a landmark moment for our Affordable Homes Programme and will ensure good quality housing for all as we build back better after the pandemic.

This huge funding package will make the ambition of owning a home a reality for families by making it realistic and affordable.

We are also ensuring tens of thousands of new homes for rent are built in the years ahead, including social rent, so those on the lowest incomes can enjoy good quality, secure rented homes, built and managed by reputable providers.

Today’s funding allocations are taken from the £11.5 billion Affordable Housing Programme which will deliver up to 180,000 new affordable homes should economic conditions allow.   Nearly £5.2 billion of the package announced today will be delivered outside London by Homes England, the government body responsible for housing delivery. The Greater London Authority (GLA) will deliver homes within London.

Nearly 90 new partnerships – made up of councils, housing associations and private providers – successfully bid for their share of programme funding.  

CEO of Homes England Peter Denton said:  

Not only does today’s announcement give our new Strategic Partners the funding, flexibility, and confidence they need to build much needed affordable homes across the country, it also establishes a large network of organisations looking to share their skills and capabilities to expand the affordable housing sector and transform communities.

By forming Strategic Partnerships with a wide range of public and private organisations, we are creating the conditions needed for institutional investment to catalyse affordable housing supply and in future give local authorities more of the tools they need to plan and act strategically, shaping their communities and building new homes.

Executive Director of Public Impact at National Housing Federation, Rhys Moore said:

We welcome the announcement of the new strategic partners and are looking forward to supporting our housing association members, Homes England and the GLA to deliver the much needed affordable homes the country needs, including thousands of new homes for social rent for people on the lowest incomes.

Importantly, this long-term certainty over funding will unlock additional opportunities which will enable housing associations to deliver even more homes.

• Since 2010, the government has delivered over 542,400 new affordable homes.

• The new Affordable Homes Programme will deliver more than double the social rent than the current programme, with around 32,000 social rent homes due to be delivered. 

• Approximately half of the homes delivered will be for affordable home ownership, supporting aspiring homeowners to take their first step on to the housing ladder.

• The government’s ‘Own Your Home’ campaign showcases the range of flexible home ownership options available.

• First-time buyers can find the right scheme for them via the Own Your Home website which provides a single gateway for all routes to home ownership.