Dstl specialises in almost every aspect of science and technology, from artificial intelligence and autonomous robots to test and evaluation of operational systems; from Space to Cyber; and from dealing with the world’s most dangerous pathogens to complex weapons systems and platforms.

Meet Omar, one of Dstl’s newest recruits who works in the electro-optic countermeasures area.

Dstl is a fantastic place to work, from the frontline support of the armed forces to the cutting edge technological research there is something for everyone.

Once you find your niche everyone will help and encourage you to become the best version of yourself that you can possibly be.

Omar’s journey to Dstl started almost immediately after his graduation from King’s College London. He now works in the Electromagnetic Protection Group in Dstl where his work helps to protect UK military platforms, including Royal Navy ships, aircraft and land vehicles.

My day-to-day role involves running engagement simulations and working on defensive capabilities for platforms now and in the future.

These simulations often need validation and verification which involves heading out on trials and working with operators in the field to ensure that the countermeasure concepts devised are effective in providing protection to platforms.

A large part of the work involves working with other nations to develop interoperable capabilities either with NATO or through bilateral agreements with specific nations. This provides exciting opportunities for those who work at Dstl to interact and collaborate with experts from all over the world.

One of the most rewarding parts of my role at Dstl is the variety of the work. You are given the opportunity to work on everything from the smallest electronic hardware all the way up to equipment built for installation on naval destroyers.

My line manager encourages me to pursue new knowledge and to continue to train and become an expert in my field.

The amazing part is that you don’t have to limit yourself to one field, you are able to pivot from one role to the next to see what you enjoy the most.

Omar is currently working on a project to test ‘in service’ equipment for the Royal Navy which involves trials to observe the equipment in action and to ensure that it is operating effectively. As part of this, he was able to talk directly to the customer and advise on a more efficient route to running certain aspects of the trial.

I’ve always wanted to work in Defence, it struck me as being quite daring and exciting, which is why I became a British Army cadet – reaching the rank of Sergeant.

Working here at Dstl means I can mix doing really cool scientific stuff with the adrenaline of working with the armed forces.

Large sections of both the northbound and southbound carriageways along the 13-mile section of the motorway between junction 32 and junction 33 are being resurfaced in the 14-week, £3.25 million project starting on Monday (28 June).

But Highways England has ensured all the routine, if important, repairs will take place overnight – and with only a handful of carriageway closures.

Highways England project manager Frank Jamieson said:

We’re very conscious we are heading into a ‘staycation summer’ so we’ll only be working overnight, keeping lanes open and carriageway closures to a minimum.

By combining different types of work along different sections of the motorway into one single project we’ll also save around £200,000 on the cost of the scheme. That’s money we can put into other repairs or improvements.

The resurfacing will be done with new lower-noise materials. Other work such as repairing or replacing bridge expansion joints, installing new road studs and ironing out more persistent carriageway ‘bumps’ will also be delivered.

Working along different sections of the route and combining different types of work will mean savings from sharing traffic management activities and equipment, reduced overall shift hours, less mobilisation and demobilisation costs and shared compound costs.

The scheme will be delivered in two phases – along the northbound carriageway up to Sunday 18 July and the southbound carriageway between Monday 19 July and Wednesday 22 September. No work will be taking place over the late summer bank holiday at the end of August.

All the repairs will be delivered between 8pm and 7am at night when traffic is at its lightest. Only four overnight carriageway closures will be required during the whole of the project.

The overnight closures, along the southbound carriageway, are currently scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday 27 and 28 July and Friday and Saturday 10 and 11 September with the long-standing A6 diversion in place. Access to and out of the southbound Lancashire (Forton) services will also be closed for one night only on Monday 13 September. A 50mph speed limit will be in place along sections where work is taking place.

More information, including a project leaflet, is available on our North West maintenance schemes web page.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

• Families struggling with food and utility costs will get further support through Government scheme
• Boost worth £160 million to families in England
• Scheme will now run until end of September, in line with the end of other COVID-related support

The government’s COVID Local Support Grant, first introduced in December 2020, has been extended through to September bringing it in line with the end date for furlough and other COVID-related support. This is beyond the planned ending of restrictions, to help families get back on their feet as the economy recovers and the vaccine rollout continues.

Across the country, families have been benefiting from the scheme in a number of ways, with support designed by local councils to make sure the needs of the community are met. Since beginning of the scheme, support has included food vouchers and help with heating costs over the winter months.

With a new round of funding, councils will be able to continue this support and adapt their offer to suit the needs of families. Those who are in need of support should contact their council to find out how they can access it and what support will be available over the coming months.

The grant was introduced in December 2020 to create new programmes of support tailored to people’s needs in their area. The funding is ring-fenced so that 80% is used to support families with bills for food, key utilities and other essentials.

Minister for Welfare Delivery Will Quince said:

This grant is ensuring that thousands of families get help with food and essential utility bills as we move back towards normality.

The new funding extends this lifeline to those most in need in the coming months as we continue to help families back on their feet, including supporting people back into work through our multi-billion pound Plan for Jobs.

Across England, the total new funding is £160million, bringing the overall value of the support since December 2020 to £429.1 million. Devolved administrations have received appropriate equivalent funding.

Between December 2020 and mid-April, almost 6.3 million payments went to vulnerable households in England. Across England 92% of funding has been provided to families with children, and 94% of funding has been used to support households with food or utility bills.

The COVID Local Support Grant is in addition to the £220 million Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, which has been scaled up to cover the whole of England across the major school holidays in 2021 – including this summer. The HAF will provide disadvantaged children across the country with healthy meals and enriching activities.

More information

• The Holiday Activities and Food programme is funded by the Department for Education, and operated through local authorities throughout England. For examples of activities search #HAF2021 on Twitter or visit the guidance page

Local Authority Allocations of Funding

Below is a table containing the full amounts that each council in England have received, as well as how much they will receive from this extension.

Local Authority

Summer Allocation

Total Allocation

Barking and Dagenham

£818,896

£2,196,176.20

Barnet

£928,904

£2,491,204.18

Barnsley

£890,458

£2,388,096.57

Bath and North East Somerset

£363,954

£976,078.37

Bedford

£453,935

£1,217,396.60

Bexley

£583,269

£1,564,253.79

Birmingham

£4,883,704

£13,097,483.11

Blackburn with Darwen

£607,967

£1,630,491.76

Blackpool

£663,257

£1,778,772.62

Bolton

£1,045,536

£2,803,997.03

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

£1,005,485

£2,696,584.72

Bracknell Forest

£208,202

£558,371.18

Bradford

£2,146,233

£5,755,928.64

Brent

£1,075,216

£2,883,594.09

Brighton and Hove

£814,510

£2,184,413.75

Bristol City of

£1,543,964

£4,140,717.90

Bromley

£709,517

£1,902,835.20

Buckinghamshire

£910,592

£2,442,093.64

Bury

£582,982

£1,563,485.18

Calderdale

£690,834

£1,852,729.95

Cambridgeshire

£1,373,638

£3,683,925.23

Camden

£737,170

£1,976,998.53

Central Bedfordshire

£552,521

£1,481,792.95

Cheshire East

£828,679

£2,222,414.26

Cheshire West and Chester

£871,009

£2,335,937.12

City of London

£18,980

£50,901.64

Cornwall

£1,723,828

£4,623,091.30

Coventry

£1,216,576

£3,262,704.98

Croydon

£1,135,817

£3,046,118.64

Cumbria

£1,408,393

£3,777,134.34

Darlington

£343,357

£920,841.17

Derby

£846,578

£2,270,417.16

Derbyshire

£2,052,729

£5,505,161.93

Devon

£1,922,592

£5,156,151.50

Doncaster

£1,132,714

£3,037,798.06

Dorset

£867,909

£2,327,624.22

Dudley

£995,863

£2,670,780.21

Durham

£1,762,365

£4,726,442.71

Ealing

£1,006,101

£2,698,236.77

East Riding of Yorkshire

£776,561

£2,082,639.97

East Sussex

£1,501,111

£4,025,792.73

Enfield

£1,081,923

£2,901,581.73

Essex

£3,612,283

£9,687,690.83

Gateshead

£696,799

£1,868,727.70

Gloucestershire

£1,418,988

£3,805,548.28

Greenwich

£910,757

£2,442,535.65

Hackney

£1,084,238

£2,907,790.05

Halton

£489,377

£1,312,448.37

Hammersmith and Fulham

£550,707

£1,476,927.21

Hampshire

£2,728,190

£7,316,664.31

Haringey

£928,310

£2,489,612.10

Harrow

£554,311

£1,486,593.48

Hartlepool

£373,599

£1,001,945.27

Havering

£625,616

£1,677,823.42

Herefordshire

£506,335

£1,357,926.56

Hertfordshire

£2,346,853

£6,293,965.58

Hillingdon

£782,415

£2,098,338.99

Hounslow

£774,943

£2,078,300.91

Isle of Wight

£429,972

£1,153,131.30

Isles Of Scilly

£3,904

£10,469.52

Islington

£825,666

£2,214,333.15

Kensington and Chelsea

£444,108

£1,191,041.87

Kent

£4,239,152

£11,368,874.99

Kingston upon Hull City of

£1,156,816

£3,102,435.58

Kingston upon Thames

£323,369

£867,234.85

Kirklees

£1,400,255

£3,755,308.60

Knowsley

£697,159

£1,869,693.47

Lambeth

£1,052,654

£2,823,086.23

Lancashire

£3,690,173

£9,896,582.81

Leeds

£2,670,642

£7,162,327.45

Leicester

£1,319,280

£3,538,144.48

Leicestershire

£1,376,153

£3,690,670.12

Lewisham

£1,018,831

£2,732,377.38

Lincolnshire

£2,092,659

£5,612,250.24

Liverpool

£2,295,321

£6,155,764.07

Luton

£689,612

£1,849,453.50

Manchester

£2,429,569

£6,515,800.82

Medway

£855,149

£2,293,403.29

Merton

£448,182

£1,201,967.90

Middlesbrough

£620,832

£1,664,994.47

Milton Keynes

£679,710

£1,822,896.50

Newcastle upon Tyne

£1,080,064

£2,896,595.88

Newham

£1,274,510

£3,418,076.53

Norfolk

£2,579,381

£6,917,577.48

North East Lincolnshire

£591,495

£1,586,314.87

North Lincolnshire

£501,239

£1,344,261.12

North Somerset

£497,328

£1,333,770.94

North Tyneside

£607,048

£1,628,026.24

North Yorkshire

£1,350,966

£3,623,121.11

Northamptonshire North & West

£1,958,320

£5,251,970.00

Northumberland

£934,132

£2,505,225.38

Nottingham

£1,331,082

£3,569,795.89

Nottinghamshire

£2,179,772

£5,845,876.71

Oldham

£917,354

£2,460,229.32

Oxfordshire

£1,287,441

£3,452,756.35

Peterborough

£699,917

£1,877,089.50

Plymouth

£871,568

£2,337,435.72

Portsmouth

£720,598

£1,932,553.90

Reading

£437,174

£1,172,446.50

Redbridge

£742,495

£1,991,278.48

Redcar and Cleveland

£492,027

£1,319,554.93

Richmond upon Thames

£317,042

£850,267.50

Rochdale

£881,803

£2,364,885.99

Rotherham

£948,137

£2,542,784.28

Rutland

£59,315

£159,075.12

Salford

£1,025,274

£2,749,656.92

Sandwell

£1,321,983

£3,545,392.37

Sefton

£922,797

£2,474,825.42

Sheffield

£1,967,363

£5,276,221.70

Shropshire

£792,126

£2,124,383.22

Slough

£447,177

£1,199,272.50

Solihull

£532,554

£1,428,242.55

Somerset

£1,454,294

£3,900,234.51

South Gloucestershire

£535,681

£1,436,629.40

South Tyneside

£561,865

£1,506,852.06

Southampton

£847,874

£2,273,892.27

Southend-on-Sea

£539,943

£1,448,060.37

Southwark

£1,046,266

£2,805,954.91

St. Helens

£674,186

£1,808,082.40

Staffordshire

£2,090,751

£5,607,132.68

Stockport

£816,713

£2,190,323.01

Stockton-on-Tees

£639,521

£1,715,115.92

Stoke-on-Trent

£1,019,838

£2,735,077.32

Suffolk

£1,955,696

£5,244,932.67

Sunderland

£1,008,813

£2,705,510.30

Surrey

£2,001,310

£5,367,262.66

Sutton

£434,820

£1,166,132.87

Swindon

£578,763

£1,552,169.66

Tameside

£841,990

£2,258,112.29

Telford and Wrekin

£573,515

£1,538,095.16

Thurrock

£492,239

£1,320,123.41

Torbay

£471,025

£1,263,229.80

Tower Hamlets

£1,132,264

£3,036,590.40

Trafford

£553,642

£1,484,798.63

Wakefield

£1,185,102

£3,178,294.91

Walsall

£1,067,996

£2,864,231.50

Waltham Forest

£889,927

£2,386,672.31

Wandsworth

£787,019

£2,110,685.97

Warrington

£547,428

£1,468,134.18

Warwickshire

£1,321,986

£3,545,401.80

West Berkshire

£262,483

£703,946.96

West Sussex

£1,872,557

£5,021,963.78

Westminster

£721,301

£1,934,439.38

Wigan

£1,058,388

£2,838,465.06

Wiltshire

£1,042,760

£2,796,552.73

Windsor and Maidenhead

£222,452

£596,589.25

Wirral

£1,152,581

£3,091,077.56

Wokingham

£196,426

£526,790.57

Wolverhampton

£999,457

£2,680,418.04

Worcestershire

£1,512,716

£4,056,915.41

York

£392,216

£1,051,874.54

Total

£160,000,000.00

£429,100,000.00

Media enquiries for this press release – 0115 965 8781

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