An overwhelming majority of eligible secondary schools in England have signed up to host a summer school over the holidays, offering a mixture of academic and extra-curricular activities to boost catch up for children.

New figures show 2,820 secondary schools have signed up to participate, which is equivalent to three quarters (74%) of those eligible, and the scheme has been backed by over £200 million investment from the Department for Education.

More than 500,000 students are expected to benefit from high quality, face-to-face learning over the summer holiday period, helping pupils catch up on pivotal education lost through the pandemic.

The summer school programme is helping schools deliver a range of academic and enrichment activities, providing pupils not only with vital maths and English lessons, but also skills to build confidence, friendships and improve wellbeing.

The summer schools programme is part of the government’s ambitious, and long-term education recovery plan which includes an investment to date of over £3 billion and a significant expansion of our tutoring programme, to support children and young people to make up for learning lost during the pandemic.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

It’s very good to see so many children will now have the opportunity to enjoy clubs and activities this summer, building friendships and supporting their mental and physical health, alongside their educational progress.

We have invested £3 billion so far in helping children catch up ahead of the next academic year and summer schools are an integral part of the overall effort to recover from the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Schools have the freedom to target their summer school programme at children most in need of catch up. This includes targeting children with special needs, those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those entitled to free school meals. Special schools and alternative provision schools have been funded at a higher rate to reflect the needs of children.

Wellbeing activities planned by schools include theatre trips, sports sessions, team games, sit down sessions with authors, cooking and more.

Incoming Year 7 students will predominantly be encouraged to get involved, to help them navigate the important transition between primary and secondary school.

Thousands more homes and businesses are to be better protected from flooding and coastal erosion, as part of plans published today by the Government outlining a record £5.2 billion of investment over the next six years. More than £860 million will be spent in 2021-22 boosting design and construction of more than 1,000 schemes across England as part of the Environment Agency’s annual capital programme.

It is all part of the Flood and Coastal Erosion Investment Plan, published today (Thursday, 29 July), which sets out how new flood and coastal schemes will better protect 336,000 properties by 2027, helping to avoid £32 billion in wider economic damages and reducing the national flood risk by up to 11 per cent. This follows the Environment Agency’s successful delivery of the government’s previous £2.6 billion investment between 2015 and 2021, better protecting more than 314,000 homes.

The funding will be accompanied by a consultation in the autumn, where the Government will look at how to better protect frequently flooded communities, following a call for evidence earlier this year. It will consider how to strengthen the assessment of local circumstances, such as where areas have flooded on multiple occasions, when allocating funding during the six-year plan.

The Government will bring in tighter guidance for planning authorities as part of a package of actions to better protect and prepare communities for flooding. Householders will benefit from changes to the Flood Re Scheme that will allow insurers to pay an additional amount for the installation of property flood resilience measures after a flood – like air brick covers, flood doors and flood resistant plasterboard. Measures to tackle the risks from surface water flooding are also included in the plans.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said:

The tragic recent events in Germany and Belgium serve as a sobering reminder of how devastating flooding can be.

We are standing by communities and will bolster defences against flooding across England with many thousands more properties better protected by 2027.

It’s important we take action right across the system. Our comprehensive plan will achieve this by tightening planning procedures, helping more people access insurance and making homes more resilient to the effects of flooding.

This year will see an extra £250 million spent on flood and coastal defences in 2021/22 compared with last year – the highest ever annual investment. It includes an extra £40 million compared with last year for schemes in Yorkshire and the Humber, a region that has suffered from repeated flooding in recent years, and an extra £53 million for the north west, the region which was hit hardest by Storm Christoph this winter.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said:

We have seen some devastating flooding around the world so far this summer. No one can prevent all flooding and climate change means the risk is increasing, but we can reduce the risks.

Having completed the government’s previous six year capital programme on time and on budget, better protecting more than 314,000 homes from flooding and coastal erosion, this year we began the government’s new £5.2 billion flood programme.

These schemes should provide reassurance to communities and businesses, but no one should have a false sense of security. I strongly urge people to sign up for flood warnings and regularly check flood risk on GOV.UK.

On planning, a recent review of decisions by Defra, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Environment Agency found over 97 per cent of planning decisions for residential properties were made in line with Environment Agency (EA) advice in the year 2019/20. However, 866 homes were granted planning permission contrary to EA advice.

New guidance for local planning authorities, designed to drive up compliance with planning rules, will reaffirm that they must refer planning decisions to Ministers when the Environment Agency is sustaining an objection on flood risk. Under the plans, the Government will also consider how planning decisions in areas at risk from surface water flooding could be subject to the equivalent rules in future.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick MP said:

Flooding has a devastating impact on people’s lives and that’s why we’re strengthening our guidance to ensure the measures are in place to protect our homes and businesses from the risk of flooding.

Our planning reforms will ensure that communities across the country know that future developments will be safe from floods.

This new guidance will help local communities become more flood resilient by providing local authorities with the right tools to consider how flood risk can be prevented when planning for new homes.

Today’s announcement includes a raft of improvements to Flood Re, the UK-wide scheme which helps homes at risk of flood secure insurance cover. This will allow insurers to help flooded households to make their homes more resilient to future flooding using products such as air brick covers, flood doors and flood resistant plasterboard – and benefit from discounted insurance premiums if they have these installed.

The Government has committed to publish a Property Flood Resilience Roadmap by the end of next year which will further accelerate take-up of property flood resilience measures by identifying action needed from industry and government. The changes follow a government consultation and an Independent Review of Flood Insurance, led by Amanda Blanc, the response to which the Government has also published today.

Andy Bord, Chief Executive Officer of Flood Re, said:

Flood Re is successfully delivering on its objective to provide access to affordable insurance for the hundreds of thousands of homes at high risk of flooding in the UK, with 94 per cent of people with prior flood claims now able to obtain quotes from five or more insurers – compared with zero just six years ago.

But there is still work to be done. Today’s announcement puts Flood Re and insurers in a position to accelerate the delivery of our Build Back Better proposals and benefit more households. Achieving flood resilience requires action from a wide set of stakeholders, so we also welcome the planned publication of the PFR roadmap to provide direction and clarity.

Other action taken includes the Environment Agency working with local authorities to provide better surface water flood risk mapping by summer 2022, which will offer crucial information to an additional 3.3 million people and 1.4 million properties at most risk.

The report published today updates on progress from the Surface Water Management Action Plan and the independent review of surface water responsibilities led by David Jenkins. Together these move us forward in tackling the most widespread form of flooding in England, including strengthening local flood plans and encouraging greater joint working between councils, water companies and other bodies.

The Prime Minister will call on world leaders today [Thursday] to invest in children’s education and avoid a ‘legacy of wasted talent’ due to the pandemic, as the UK and Kenya host the Global Education Summit in London.

The Summit will raise funds for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which is aiming to secure at least $5 billion over the next five years to get 175 million more children into learning around the world. The UK already pledged £430 million to GPE at the G7 Summit in June, the largest commitment of any government to date.

The pandemic has devastated children’s education around the world, with girls particularly at risk of never returning to school once they have left – even before this crisis 132 million girls were out of school globally.

The UK is leading international efforts to 40 million more girls into school, and 20 million more reading by age 10, over the next five years. We will spend £400 million in UK aid this year supporting girls education, in addition to our pledge to GPE, as one of our priority areas for international development funding.

Speaking ahead of the Summit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

We have a fight on our hands to ensure Covid-19 does not scupper the life chances of millions of children, leaving a lasting legacy of wasted talent.

Too many children around the world – girls in particular – were already out of school before the pandemic. Enabling them to learn and reach their full potential is the single greatest thing we can do to recover from this crisis and build better, greener and fairer societies.

Today I am urging governments, businesses and philanthropists to invest in the future by fully funding the transformative work of the Global Partnership for Education.

In addition to raising funds for GPE, the Summit will ask leaders to sign up to a landmark political declaration on education financing led by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, with governments committing to spend at least 20 percent of their national budgets on education.

The Global Education Summit will be opened on Thursday by the Foreign Secretary, alongside Raychelle Omamo, Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Alice Albright, CEO of GPE. World leaders, businesses, UN agencies, charities and youth leaders will join virtually and in person to pledge funds and commit to actions to support girls’ education – a full programme can be found here.

It will be closed by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Julia Gillard, Chair of GPE.

Today, some 40 skippers and crew members from fishing ports across South-West and Southern England have successfully completed their specialist training to catch, tag and release Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.

The skippers are taking part in CHART, a Defra-funded pilot programme. This aims to provide important scientific data on the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna while benefiting coastal communities and offering an exciting opportunity for recreational anglers to legally encounter these ocean giants.

The completion of training means they are on track to be granted scientific licences to fish for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, from August to November this year. This unique collaboration brings together for the first time in England a breadth of fishing, science and conservation interests in support of this innovative approach to tuna scientific research.

The 15 skippers were selected by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and will join forces with a team of observers and scientists, as well as other organisations, such as the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Bluefin Tuna UK and Natural England, with the aim of collecting data to improve the science understanding and management of bluefin tuna

The Environment Secretary, George Eustice said:

While Atlantic Bluefin Tuna are increasingly present in UK waters, we know little about their movements and time spent here.

Our catch, tag and release pilot programme will provide an economic boost for local coastal communities, particularly here in the South-West, and contribute to international efforts to manage this fish stock effectively for the benefit of future generations.

Steven Murphy, Bluefin Tuna UK said:

After an exhaustive 7 months’ consultation process, we have here a world class example of collaboration and the value that the Recreational Sea Angling sector can bring to important scientific research. Combining the scientific expertise of CEFAS, with the great experience of seasoned UK Charter skippers and anglers with notable experience of large pelagic species, we have a program which will deliver important scientific data, real economic benefits to coastal communities, and an opportunity for anglers to engage with this iconic sportfish in a professional, managed environment.

Sophy Phillips, Cefas Senior Fisheries Scientist said:

Scientific research and citizen science projects have provided evidence that Atlantic Bluefin Tuna are returning to UK waters in increasing numbers during the summer months. But we still don’t understand enough about these amazing predators; CHART offers the potential to fill gaps in our knowledge of their distribution, movements, behaviour, numbers and demographics. Training the skippers to carefully tag the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, as well as how to collect data on their size, fishing effort and sightings will enable us to develop a clearer picture of ABT in English waters.

Lyle Stantiford of the Professional Boatman’s Association, who has led Charter Skipper representation in the consultation process said:

“CHART is a great illustration of the value the Charter fishing fleet can bring to important research such as this. The recovery in Atlantic Bluefin over the last 10 years and their repeated presence in our waters since around 2015 presents a great opportunity for scientists, anglers and our charter fleet to work together to better understand this change and ensure a sustainable future for them in our waters.”

CHART skippers must be certified as trained and competent before being licensed to take out paying customers to catch Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ABT), to then be tagged and released by trained skippers or crew. Bespoke workshops led by Cefas scientists and sector experts, have been held in Weymouth and Falmouth this month, with 40 participants attending from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, East Sussex and Hampshire.

The mandatory training in fishing, tagging, fish handling and welfare, along with data collection techniques is designed to ensure compliance with strict operating standards aiming to safeguard animal welfare and support the conservation objectives at the heart of this valuable citizen science initiative.

In recent years, the number of reported sightings of ABT in UK waters has been increasing. This has led to a growing interest in the species from the science community, recreational fishing groups, and the commercial fishing sector. Representatives from the recreational fishing sector suggested that a CHART programme could contribute to international ABT research, as well as the potential socio-economic benefits it could bring to coastal communities. A CHART programme in Ireland has been in place since 2019.

The data collected will contribute not only to improving understanding of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in English waters, but will also be supplied to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), who supply the tags for CHART and coordinate international tagging of ABT.

Background

Atlantic bluefin tuna are known for being amongst the biggest, fastest and most valuable fish in the sea. They were once a common sight in UK waters, ranging throughout the Celtic and North Sea, and were a popular sport fish in the North Sea in the 1930s to the 1950s. However, they largely disappeared from British waters in the 1960s, likely, as a result of population decline and changes in the availability of their preferred prey.

In recent years, they have been observed more frequently in our coastal waters, particularly during the late summer, autumn and winter as they move into coastal areas to feed on energy rich pelagic fish, such as sprats and herring, in waters around the UK. There are multiple and complex reasons why their numbers may have increased, such as conservation measures and climate change impacts, including abundance of prey and changes to the marine environment.

Atlantic bluefin tuna can migrate over thousands of kilometres in a single year and occupy the coastal waters of Europe and the deep offshore environments of the North Atlantic. However, despite historic evidence of captures around the UK, we know relatively little detail of their day-to-day movements and behaviour, for example how long they stay in British waters and where they go, once they leave our coastal environment.