Nearly £50 million in government funding is being made available today (23 September 2022) to support the future of British industry.

£49.4 million will be awarded to pioneering projects across the country, helping drive economic growth through the development of fuel switching technology which will see a wide range of industries, including steel, ceramics, pharmaceuticals and food production, reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and slash energy costs.

Business and Energy Minister Lord Callanan said:

We’re investing nearly £50 million to back British industry, making sure they’re fit for the future and helping end their dependency on expensive fossil fuels.

Developing fuel switching technology will make this possible, accelerating the transition to cleaner fuels across our economy, and driving down costs for businesses.

Industrial fuel switching shifts industrial energy use from high carbon to low carbon fuels, with the aim of decarbonising industry in line with the UK’s target of reaching Net Zero by 2050 while boosting economic growth, jobs and prosperity.

Fossil fuels (including coal, gas and oil) made up around 55% of industrial energy consumption in 2019. As set out in the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, to decarbonise industry in line with net zero, it is expected that industrial emissions need to fall by around 2 thirds by 2035 and at least 90% by 2050.

Investing in this technology will make it easier and more cost-effective for industry to be powered by cleaner fuels like hydrogen and renewable electricity, instead of fossil fuels. The funding announced today, available through Phase 2 of the £55 million Industrial Fuel Switching competition, will support the development of new fuel switching technology in the UK, helping to attract private investment into the country and supporting new green jobs.

Supporting British industry to end their dependency on fossil fuels is a vital part of the government’s plans to boost domestic energy resilience, alongside accelerating renewables and scaling up nuclear.

Under Phase 2 of the Industrial Fuel Switching competition, fuel switching projects can apply for a share of £49.4 million government funding. This follows Phase 1 of the competition, which saw £5.6 million awarded in May 2022 to 21 projects for early-stage feasibility studies into their project designs.

Previous winners under Phase 1 included:

• projects helping the ceramics, food production and steel sectors become powered by hydrogen instead of natural gas
• technology to develop heat pumps for food and pharmaceutical businesses
• studies exploring switching glass making facilities from natural gas to gasified waste and biomass

• The Industrial Fuel Switching competition is funded through the BEIS £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio
• the competition supports innovation in the development of pre-commercial fuel switch and fuel switch enabling technology for the industrial sector, to help industry switch from high to lower carbon fuels
• funding will be awarded through Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) contracts, providing 100% funding for projects developing pre-commercial solutions

There are 2 phases to the competition:

• Phase 1 – Feasibility: funding for feasibility studies into fuel switch and fuel switch enabling solutions, with £50,000 to £300,000 available per application
• Phase 2 – Demonstration: funding for projects to demonstrate fuel switch and fuel switch enabling solutions, with £1 million to £6 million available per project
• funding is divided into 3 Lots:
  • fuel switch and fuel switch enabling technologies for hydrogen
  • fuel switch and fuel switch enabling technologies for electrification
  • fuel switch and fuel switch enabling technologies for biomass, wastes, and other net zero compatible fuels
• Phase 2 (Demonstration Projects) is open to all applicants, whether or not they took part in Phase 1

In February 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns about some practices by fertility clinics, such as providing unclear price information and advertising misleading success rates. It also identified a general lack of awareness that consumer law applies in the sector. To help combat this, the CMA published guidance in June 2021 to make clear clinics’ legal obligations to treat patients fairly, and a video and guide to help IVF patients understand their consumer rights.

Following publication of guidance, the CMA committed to review compliance, and the findings of this review – which looked at clinics providing around 40% of self-funded IVF cycles in the UK – have been published today.

The report sets out that:

• compliance issues were found with the majority of clinics reviewed, albeit in some cases the concerns were relatively minor
• the provision of accurate, clear and transparent information upfront is critical for patients, particularly regarding prices and success rates
• the way in which patients fund their treatment varies widely, from using their savings, gifts from parents, loans from siblings, personal loans, credit cards, inheritance, or redundancy pay-outs to re-mortgaging their house – or often a combination of these
• most patients buying fertility treatment for the first time carry out a shortlisting process, primarily online using clinic websites, and mainly factoring in clinics’ location, prices and success rates
• significant differences exist between what clinics include in their package for a single cycle of IVF making it very difficult for patients to compare prices when shortlisting clinics

The CMA has written to certain clinics to highlight specific issues such as failing to provide key price information, advertising misleading success rate claims (including making unsubstantiated superiority claims) and failing to provide important information about treatment add-ons.

All clinics contacted by the CMA following the review have now made changes to their practices to benefit patients. The CMA welcomes their constructive response and calls on all clinics to review their practices and ensure they comply with the law.

As part of its next steps, the CMA plans to hold roundtable discussions with clinics and the sector – including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) – to explore the feasibility of developing a standard approach for what is included in the headline package price for a single cycle of IVF so patients can meaningfully compare clinics.

In addition, the CMA and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have published a joint open letter to ensure clinics comply with consumer law. If they fail to comply the CMA could take enforcement action.

Louise Strong, Director, Consumer Protection at the CMA, said:

Buying fertility treatment can be stressful and is very expensive, with each cycle costing several thousand pounds. It’s crucial that people have all the information they need upfront when they are comparing options so they can make decisions that are right for them, so it’s encouraging to see positive changes from clinics as a result of our work.

But clinics cannot be complacent. All clinics must get up to speed now to ensure they are on the right side of the law or risk action from the CMA.

Further information on the CMA’s IVF work is available on the Self-funded IVF consumer law guidance case page, including the findings report with recommendations.

1. Media queries should be directed to: press@cma.gov.uk or 020 3738 6460.
2. The Advertising Standards Authority’s enforcement notice issued in June 2021 relates to the way information is displayed on clinics’ own websites. The enforcement notice instructs clinics to review their advertising to ensure compliance with the Advertising Code or face enforcement action.

Madame President, Mr Secretary General, Mr Khan, Thank you.

77 years ago, UN members agreed solemn principles in the UN Charter, vital for international peace and security.

They undertook to refrain from the threat or the use of force against the territorial integrity, or political independence, of any state.

Yet seven months ago, President Putin invaded Ukraine illegally and without justification he ignored the resounding pleas for peace that I heard in this Council on the 17th February.

Since then, Ukrainians’ spirit of defiance, in defence of the protection of their country, continues to inspire free peoples and nations.

Every day, the devastating consequences of Russia’s invasion become more clear.

UN agencies have confirmed more than 14,000 civilian casualties so far – and the actual total likely to be much higher more than 17 million Ukrainians in humanitarian need; 7 million displaced within Ukraine and more than 7 million Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

We see the mounting evidence of Russian atrocities against civilians.

Including indiscriminate shelling and targeted attacks on over 200 medical facilities, and 40 educational institutions and horrific acts of sexual violence.

We see from the reports of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that in parts of Ukraine currently under Russian control civilians are subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, and forced deportation to Russia.

And we have seen more grisly discoveries in Izyum.

It is not just Ukrainians who are the victims.

President Putin’s war has spread hardship and food insecurity across the globe plunging millions of the world’s most vulnerable into hunger and famine.

And once again, as we’ve seen here today, Russia has sought to deny responsibility.

It has tried to lay the blame on those who have rightly imposed sanctions on President Putin’s regime in response to his illegal actions.

To be clear we are not sanctioning food. It is Russia’s actions that are preventing food and fertiliser getting to developing countries.

It is Russia’s tactics and bombs that are to blame for destroying Ukraine’s farms, infrastructure, and delaying its exports.

I sat here in February, listening to the Russian representative assuring this Council that Russia had no intention of invading its neighbour. We now know that was a lie.

And today I have listened to further instalments of Russia’s catalogues of distortions, dishonesty, and disinformation. He has left the Chamber. I am not surprised, I don’t think Mr Lavrov wants to hear the collective condemnation of this Council but we saw through him then and we saw through him today.

We have information which means that we know that Russia is about to hold sham referenda on sovereign Ukrainian territory with no basis in law, under the threat of violence, after mass displacements of people in areas that voted overwhelmingly for Ukrainian independence. We know what Vladimir Putin is doing. He is planning to fabricate the outcome of those referenda. He is planning to use that to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory. And he is planning to use it as a further pretext to escalate his aggression. That is what he plans to do.

And we call on all countries to reject this charade and refuse to recognise any results.  We are used to seeing Russia’s lies and distortions.

But let us listen to the testimony of Ukrainians who tell us about the reality of President Putin’s war.

Dr Olena Yuzvak, her husband Oleh and their 22-year-old son Dmytro, were abducted by Russian forces from their home in Gostomel, near Bucha, in March.

The soldiers shot Oleh twice in the legs, before they were all blindfolded and bundled into an armoured personnel carrier.

I want you to hear Olena’s story in her own words:

“First, they took us to a bombed-out house. The Russian soldiers kept saying they were going to kill us. My husband was left for hours lying on the floor in a pool of blood. I don’t know why. We’d done nothing wrong. Then they took my son away from us. I don’t know where. I don’t know if we’ll ever see him again. I just want my boy back.”

Olena’s story, and those of many others, tell us the truth, the real truth.

This is a war of annexation. A war of conquest.

To which President Putin now wants to send even more of Russia’s young men and women, making peace even less likely.

Mr Putin must understand the world the world is watching and we will not give up.

As members of the Security Council, we must unequivocally reject Russia’s attempts to annex Ukraine’s territory. We must make clear to President Putin that his attack on the Ukrainian people must stop, that there can be no impunity for those perpetrating atrocities and that he must withdraw from Ukraine and restore regional and global stability.

If he chose to, he could stop this war, a war which has done untold damage to the Ukrainian and the Russian peoples.

His war is an assault on Ukraine, an assault on the UN Charter, and an assault on the international norms that protect us all.

So we stand with our Ukrainian friends for as long as it takes.

Because Ukraine’s fight for freedom, is the world’s fight for freedom. It is our fight for freedom.

And if Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory are not respected, then no country is truly secure.

These are the reasons why Ukraine can, and must win.

Thank you.