More pupils from the most deprived areas of England will be able to start The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award thanks to a funding boost of £3.4 million from Government, helping more young people to access volunteering and extra-curricular learning.

In the week that would have marked the late Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday, the Department for Education has today (Sunday 13 June) announced it will work with the Award he set up to expand opportunities to up to 291 more schools not currently delivering it, enabling access to young people who may previously have faced barriers to taking part.

The investment is part of the Government’s levelling up agenda to ensure all pupils have fair and equal access to high-quality enrichment activities, alongside a £14.4 billion increase in school funding over three years.

The funding will cover the next three academic years to reach many thousands more young people aged 14 to 24, adding to the work in train to extend The Duke’s legacy after his death in April.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has become synonymous with service and personal achievement. This expansion into more schools is a fitting tribute to Prince Philip who did so much to give young people opportunities to develop skills and abilities while making a difference to society.

We know from those who have achieved The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award that it helps to build the resilience, perseverance and discipline needed to overcome life’s obstacles.

I’m pleased to be working with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award to help make it more accessible to schools and pupils in some of the most disadvantaged areas of England, levelling up their opportunities to get involved in these life-changing activities.

Ruth Marvel, CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), said:

I am so pleased to be working with the Department for Education to give more young people access to the life-changing opportunities The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award offers. This investment will make a huge impact on our ability to partner with new schools and reach thousands more young people with the DofE, particularly those living in areas of greatest deprivation. As we mark what would have been The Duke of Edinburgh’s centenary this week, expanding access to the Award that he founded is a truly fitting tribute to his legacy.

As young people face up to today’s myriad challenges, the DofE has never been more needed. It’s a powerful way for any young person to build life-long belief in themselves, whatever their interest, background or ability. It can help them to do better in education, improve their mental health, help get the job they want, and make a positive difference in their community.

Minister for Civil Society and Youth Baroness Barran said:

I’m delighted that this additional £3.4 million of funding will be going to The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award which will see even more young people challenging themselves to achieve more than they thought possible, providing a service to their community and learning new skills.

It honours The Duke’s legacy to see it reaching out to even more deprived communities across the country, helping young people develop their resilience, teamwork and problem-solving skills that will then serve them throughout their lives.

The funding for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award builds on the Government’s support for children’s wellbeing as they make the transition back to the classroom, through its £3 billion investment in programmes targeted at young people who may benefit from additional help with academic, social or emotional skills, as well as through additional investment in mental health support in schools and colleges.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is offered in nearly three-quarters of English state schools, as well as through youth and uniform groups, sports clubs, hospitals, charities, young offender institutions, Pupil Referral Units and alternative provision. Its own research last year found evidence of the positive benefits on participants’ mental health and wellbeing, with 62% saying they agreed that taking part in The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award made them more confident with overcoming difficult situations. The charity aims to build on this so that more young people, regardless of their circumstances, can access The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

There is also evidence to support the impact of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award on young people’s resilience, self-belief and sense of agency, their social and employment related skills such as teamwork, responsibility and problem-solving, and the knock-on benefits to their academic attainment and employability.

Working closely with the Department for Education, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award will focus on recruiting schools not currently delivering it in areas where deprivation is highest, according to the English Indices of Deprivation Data.

The funding announcement follows the launch of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award’s Youth Manifesto on Monday 7 June, which showcases the views and experiences of more than 2,000 young people in the UK and sets out their vision for a strong recovery in this country with a focus on the issues they care most strongly about including education, mental health and the environment.

Children and Families Minister Vicky Ford met with Young Ambassadors from The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award to mark the manifesto launch, setting out the details of the Government’s investment in recovery, including via mental health and wellbeing support in schools, colleges and universities, as well as the aims of our expanded Holiday Activities and Food programme which will offer enriching activities and healthy food to thousands more young people in every part of England this summer.

G7 leaders are expected to agree plans today (Sunday) to transform the financing of infrastructure projects in developing countries, part of a raft of measures at the Summit to address the climate crisis and protect nature.

The ‘Build Back Better for the World’ plan will bring together G7 countries under the UK’s presidency to develop an offer for high quality financing for vital infrastructure, from railways in Africa to wind farms in Asia.

The new approach is intended to give developing countries access to more, better and faster finance, while accelerating the global shift to renewable energy and sustainable technology. The Government will build on this with other countries ahead of the COP26 Summit in November.

The Prime Minister has also launched the UK’s Blue Planet Fund from the G7 Summit’s ocean-side setting in Cornwall. The £500 million fund will support countries including Ghana, Indonesia and Pacific island states to tackle unsustainable fishing, protect and restore coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs, and reduce marine pollution.

The G7 will endorse a Nature Compact at this afternoon’s meeting to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 – including supporting the global target to conserve or protect at least 30 percent of land and 30 percent of ocean globally by the end of the decade.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

Protecting our planet is the most important thing we as leaders can do for our people. There is a direct relationship between reducing emissions, restoring nature, creating jobs and ensuring long-term economic growth.

As democratic nations we have a responsibility to help developing countries reap the benefits of clean growth through a fair and transparent system. The G7 has an unprecedented opportunity to drive a global Green Industrial Revolution, with the potential to transform the way we live.

The G7 are also expected to commit to almost halve their emissions by 2030 relative to 2010. The UK is already going even further, pledging to cut emissions by at least 68% by 2030 on 1990 levels (58% reduction on 2010 levels).

Leaders will set out the action they will take to slash carbon emissions, including measures like ending all unabated coal as soon as possible, ending almost all direct government support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas and phasing out petrol and diesel cars.

Sir David Attenborough, renowned British environmentalist and the UK’s COP26 People’s Champion, will address the leaders of the G7 countries plus guests Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa at a session on Climate and Nature later today and urge them to take action as the world’s leading economies to secure the future of our planet.

Sir David Attenborough, Environmentalist and COP26 People’s Champion, said:

The natural world today is greatly diminished. That is undeniable. Our climate is warming fast. That is beyond doubt. Our societies and nations are unequal and that is sadly is plain to see

But the question science forces us to address specifically in 2021 is whether as a result of these intertwined facts we are on the verge of destabilising the entire planet?

If that is so, then the decisions we make this decade – in particular the decisions made by the most economically advanced nations – are the most important in human history.

In addition to taking action at home, G7 leaders will commit to increase their contributions to international climate finance to meet the target of mobilising $100bn a year, which will help developing countries deal with the impacts of climate change and support sustainable, green growth.

This is the first-ever net-zero G7, with all countries having committed to reach net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest with ambitious reductions targets in the 2020s. The Leaders’ Summit is an important stepping-stone on the road to COP26, which the UK will host in Glasgow in November.

The Royal Navy has delivered 75 tonnes of crucial aid to Commonwealth citizens whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by a volcano.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship RFA Wave Knight offloaded 139 pallets of emergency assistance in St Vincent – the Caribbean island badly affected by the unexpected and violent eruptions of La Soufrière in April.

The intense volcanic activity has forced the evacuation of the northern half of St Vincent – the main island of the Commonwealth nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines – displacing around 14,000 islanders.

The mission to deliver aid to St Vincent has added poignancy for the Royal Navy – more than 500 people from St Vincent serve under the White Ensign and have been deeply affected by what has happened in their homeland, prompting various fundraising and relief efforts on ships and in naval bases in the UK.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said:

Recent events on St Vincent were a tragedy, but disasters like this are precisely why we have Royal Navy assets deployed to the Caribbean – to provide vital relief and assistance to people there when needed in times of crisis.

Our servicemen and women were able to act quickly and decisively when this request came in, delivering these essential supplies to where they needed to be within hours.

The eruptions – the first major volcanic activity on the island in 40 years – dumped a thick layer of ash over homes and public buildings. Islanders were forced to seek shelter away from the danger zone in temporary camps, where basic supplies are now in short supply.

Tanker Wave Knight – which carries a Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter, disaster relief supplies and thousands of tonnes of fuel – collected an assortment of aid from the people of Barbados and the World Health Organisation during a lightning stop in Bridgetown this week.

Sailors and Royal Marines loaded toiletries, sanitary items, cleaning products, tinned food, bottled water and other essential goods before making the 100-mile journey west to St Vincent. Just hours later, despite it being well into the night, the aid was offloaded in Kingstown, the St Vincent capital.

The UK government has already provided £800,000 of funding to meet the essential needs of the people of St Vincent and provide technical expertise to coordinate the relief effort since the volcano erupted.

Captain Simon Herbert, RFA Wave Knight’s Commanding Officer, added:

My ship’s company are keen to demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the security and stability of the region and to alleviate the humanitarian threat caused by the volcano crisis on St Vincent.

Among the UK service personnel affected by the disaster was the family of Able Seaman Rickal Grant, a Royal Navy logistics expert serving with Wave Knight.

Able Seaman Grant said:

I have children that have been displaced by the eruption.

The people displaced, including my family, will benefit from this humanitarian aid given by the people of Barbados. I am happy to be a part of the ship’s company delivering this aid.

Wave Knight left Scotland a fortnight ago to join the Royal Navy’s permanent presence in the Caribbean and North Atlantic, patrol ship HMS Medway.

Individually and together, the pair provide support and reassurance to Britain’s Overseas Territories in the region, as well as Commonwealth states. They are on hand to deliver aid in the event of natural disasters – the Atlantic hurricane season has just begun – and work with local authorities and allies to prevent drug trafficking between South and North America.