• £31 million UK Government funding for world-class, safe carbon storage in rock deep below the North Sea
• Project could cut emissions and support a greener economy across North East Scotland, creating tens of thousands of new jobs
• Funding part of a wider package of UK Government measures to put the UK at the forefront of the global green industrial revolution.

An ambitious new project to provide world-class, safe carbon storage capacity in the North Sea, off Aberdeenshire, will benefit from £31 million of UK Government funding and could create tens of thousands of new, green jobs, the UK Business and Energy Secretary announced today (Wednesday 17 March).

The scheme is one of nine green tech projects across the UK benefiting from a pot of £171 million UK Government funding to cut emissions from industry and part of a wider package of measures including an ambitious blueprint to deliver the world’s first low-carbon industrial sector.

More than £31 million will support the development of Scotland’s Net Zero Infrastructure project, based in Peterhead, to deliver important offshore and onshore engineering studies connecting industrial sites across Aberdeenshire and down to Falkirk, with access to world-class, safe carbon storage resources in rock deep below the North Sea.

This programme of new work and reusing infrastructure will provide a significant boost to the Aberdeenshire’s fast-growing low carbon credentials, paving the way for onshore and offshore developments totalling in excess of £3 billion, helping Scotland transition away from oil and gas and creating and securing tens of thousands of jobs by 2050.

UK Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said:

Scotland is moving towards a future with renewable energy at its heart. This important project that will mean the North Sea has a world-class facility capable of making a real reduction in carbon emissions.

Our £31 million investment will not only help in the creation of a greener economy in Scotland, but it will also lead to the creation of potentially tens of thousands of sustainable jobs and new opportunities for people in Aberdeenshire.

UK Government Minister for Scotland David Duguid said:

This crucial funding for onshore and offshore developments in Scotland will boost our NetZero Infrastructure and help build a better, brighter and more environmentally sound future.

A green recovery plan is vital as we navigate our way out of the pandemic. This plan, part of the North Sea Transition Deal, will not only make Scotland greener and cleaner, it will support the energy transition, creating and securing tens of thousands of jobs by 2050.

Building on the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, published last year, the new Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy sets out the UK Government’s vision for building a competitive, greener future for the manufacturing and construction sector. Part of the UK Government’s path to net zero by 2050, today’s measures will create and support 80,000 UK jobs over the next 30 years whilst cutting emissions by two-thirds in just 15 years.

The new strategy will be underpinned by supporting existing industry to decarbonise and encouraging the growth of new, low carbon industries in the UK to protect and create skilled jobs and businesses in the UK as well as give businesses long-term certainty to invest in home-grown decarbonisation technology, such as that which can capture and store carbon emissions from industrial plants – rather than outsourcing industrial activity to high-emission countries around the world.

The blueprint also includes measures to build on the UK’s leading efforts in moving towards greener energy sources, with an expectation of 20 Terawatt hours of the UK industry’s energy supply switching from fossil fuel sources to low carbon alternatives by 2030 – helping industry to increase its use of low carbon energy sources to around 40% of industry’s total energy consumption.

However, only 5.6% were from natural infection, which shows that older adults are able to mount a very robust immune response to a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

PHE routinely tests samples from blood donors across the country, provided by NHS Blood and Transplant, to estimate the proportion of the population with antibodies to COVID-19. This study uses 2 different tests to measure 2 different antibodies: antibodies that are naturally produced after infection with the virus and antibodies that develop in response to infection or the vaccine. This allows us to determine what proportion of the population have developed antibodies after vaccination.

As age is the single greatest risk factor for severe disease and death from COVID-19, older people were among the first to be prioritised for vaccination. The high proportion with vaccine antibodies in this age group is therefore very reassuring.

The study found that the proportion of over-70s with vaccine antibodies started to increase from early January. This is in line with expectations as it takes 2 to 3 weeks to produce an antibody response after vaccination.

Conversely, the proportion with antibodies resulting from natural infection started to plateau at the same time, suggesting that the vaccine is preventing older people from getting COVID-19.

In the population as a whole, 37.7% of people had antibodies either from infection or vaccination.

Sixteen to 29 year olds remain the group with the highest proportion of antibodies after natural infection, indicating ongoing infection and transmission in younger people.

Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, Consultant Epidemiologist at PHE, said:

Vaccines are the way out of this pandemic and provide the best protection from COVID-19, especially in those with the highest risk.

These data show that the COVID-19 immunisation programme is having a big impact on the number of older people that have antibodies after vaccination.

This suggests that a single dose of vaccine is producing a good immune response in those most at-risk and there is good indication that it is also reducing infection rates.

The latest vaccine effectiveness data from PHE show that in those aged over 70, both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines reduce the risk of getting symptomatic disease by around 60% after a single dose. This protection lasts for several weeks.

In those aged over 80, protection against hospitalisation is around 80% and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 85% effective at stopping people aged over 80 from dying from COVID-19.

Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at PHE, said:

We published our first data on how well these vaccines are working in the real world around a month ago. Many millions more people have since been vaccinated and we now have even more confidence in the vaccines.

The latest data continue to show that both vaccines in use in the UK are still providing really good levels of protection against COVID-19. As well as reducing cases, if vaccinated people catch COVID-19, they are less likely to get serious illness and die.

The prosecution is part of an ongoing investigation into the use of fraudulent SIA licences.

On 08 March 2021, two former company directors, Damien Burrell and Omar Nelson, were sentenced at Thames Magistrates’ Court. In a previous hearing, on 17 July 2020, both pleaded guilty to failing to provide information to the SIA. This is an infringement of the Private Security Industry Act 2001.

Burrell, the director of Pro-Active Event Staffing Ltd, was fined £233 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,323.50 plus a victim surcharge of £32 within 28 days.

Nelson, the director of No. 1 Security Ltd, was sentenced in his absence. He was also fined £233 and required to pay prosecution costs of £1,323.50 plus a victim surcharge of £32 within 28 days.

The third security director, Shahbaz Ahmed of HAR Services Ltd, also pleaded guilty to the same charge at Thames Magistrates’ Court on 22 October 2020. SIA investigators made repeated requests for information to Ahmed, but he failed to engage with them. He was fined £80 and was required to pay court costs of £100.

SIA investigators found that these three security companies were sub-contracted to supply a security guard who attempted to use a fraudulent licence. These included Burrell’s company Pro-Active Event Staffing Ltd, Nelson’s company No. 1 Security Ltd, and Ahmed’s business HAR Services Ltd.

SIA investigators pursued the directors, following a query from the client of an SIA approved contractor. After initially ignoring the SIA’s requests for information eventually Burrell and Nelson reluctantly provided information to SIA investigators.

On 23 March 2019 an HAR employee arrived at a student accommodation centre in London to start his shift. He presented an altered SIA Security Guard licence. During routine induction checks an employee noticed that the licence had been tampered with. The man fled the premises and this was reported to the SIA.

Nathan Salmon, SIA Criminal Investigations Manager, said:

Nelson, Burrell and Ahmed did not carry out adequate due diligence of licensed security and as a result betrayed the trust of their client to whom they were contracted for the protection of London students. They have been prosecuted for failing to engage with the SIA. They thought that ignoring us would mean they would face no consequences. The reality is that it is against the law to ignore a legal request for information and these three now have criminal records and will not be able to work in the industry in the future. The use of fraudulent SIA licences is completely unacceptable. I would encourage anyone who has concerns to report them to the SIA to enable us to investigate.

The SIA’s investigations into the use of fraudulent licences continues.

Notes to Editors:

1. Please report suspected criminality to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 / SIA website
2. By law, security operatives working under contract must hold and display a valid SIA licence. Information about SIA enforcement and penalties can be found on the website.
3. The offences relating to the Private Security Industry Act (2001) that are mentioned above are as follows: Section 19: failing to provide information as part of an SIA investigation. The Private Security Industry Act 2001 is available online via: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2001/12/contents
4. The Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) is a voluntary scheme and exists to raise performance standards. To be an Approved Contractor a business needs to meet a sector-specific approval based on a relevant set of qualifying criteria that is independently assessed.

Further information:

• The Security Industry Authority is the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the United Kingdom, reporting to the Home Secretary under the terms of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Our main duties are: the compulsory licensing of individuals undertaking designated activities; and managing the voluntary Approved Contractor Scheme.
• For further information about the Security Industry Authority visit www.gov.uk/sia. The SIA is also on Facebook (Security Industry Authority) and Twitter (SIAuk).
• Media enquiries only please contact: 0300 123 9869, media.enquiries@sia.gov.uk