This letter sets out the actions the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Ofgem are taking to increase the level of coordination in offshore transmission infrastructure, and calls for views to support the Offshore transmission network review which launched in July 2020.

We would particularly welcome views from those who are already pursuing some level of coordination or have identified an opportunity to do so, at a local, national or international level. This could include considering anticipatory investment in one project to enable a future project, or combining offshore wind and interconnector assets.

Ofgem and BEIS will use this information to:

• capitalise on early opportunities that will deliver benefits for consumers and the wider energy system
• inform future policy development relating to an enduring regime for connections post 2030

The Attorney General, the Rt. Hon. Suella Braverman QC MP, has today announced that Andrew T. Cayley CMG QC is the government’s preferred candidate for the role of Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Mr Cayley has been selected following a fair and open assessment process conducted in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

As part of the next stage in the recruitment process, Mr Cayley will be subject to a pre-appointment hearing with the Justice Select Committee, which is set to take place on Thursday 14 January.

Role of HM Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service, the head of HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI), is appointed by the Attorney General. This is a public appointment for a fixed term. The Chief Inspector acts independently of the Attorney General and of government.

HMCPSI has a statutory duty to inspect the operation of the CPS and SFO and report to the Attorney General, who superintends both those organisations. Its reports play an important role in effective superintendence.

The operational relationship between the Attorney General and the Chief Inspector is set out in a protocol agreed between the Law Officers (the Attorney General and Solicitor General) and the Chief Inspector.

Andrew T. Cayley CMG QC Biography

Andrew T. Cayley was the Director of Service Prosecutions from 2013 to 2020. He led the Service Prosecuting Authority through major reforms and the Service Justice Review. From 2009 to 2013 he was the United Nations Chief International Co-Prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Here he was responsible for prosecuting the leadership of the Khmer Rouge for the genocide, extermination, and murder of up to two million of their citizens between 1975 and 1979. From 1995 to 2007, he was Prosecuting Counsel and Senior Prosecuting Counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). At the ICTY he was co-counsel in a case that secured the court’s first conviction for genocide regarding events at Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina in July 1995; he also led for the prosecution in several other high-profile cases involving various aspects of the Yugoslav conflict. At the ICC, he led the investigation and pre-trial proceedings regarding allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed since 1st July 2002, in Darfur in the Republic of Sudan.

From 2007 to 2009, he defended Charles Taylor before the Special Court for Sierra Leone and Ivan Cermak before the ICTY. He first qualified as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts in 1989, transferring to the English and Welsh Bar in 2007. He is a Governing Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. He was appointed Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George for services to human rights and international criminal law in 2014 and appointed Queens Counsel in 2012.

The survey showed 8 in 10 adults aged over 18 have decided to modify their lifestyle in 2021, with 7 in 10 adults saying that they are motivated to make healthier lifestyle changes due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Compared to last year, almost half of the population (43%) feel more motivated to make changes to their life in January. Around 6 million adults aged 40 to 60 plan to:

Evidence shows that being obese significantly increases your chance of being admitted to intensive care with COVID-19 compared to those with a healthy body mass index (BMI).

In addition, 4 in 10 (43%) regular smokers plan to make a quit attempt in 2021 and nearly half of those who increased their alcohol intake during the second lockdown (45%) intend to reduce their alcohol intake this year.

To support the public in making these changes, Public Health England (PHE) has launched its latest ‘Better Health new year’ campaign to encourage the nation to work towards a healthier lifestyle – whether it’s losing weight, getting more active, looking after mental wellbeing, or quitting smoking. The campaign offers support through a variety of tools and apps, including the updated NHS 12 Week Weight Loss app. This comes as currently 28% of adults in England are living with obesity and 36% are overweight.

The survey revealed that 2020 and the impact of the pandemic saw people’s behaviours change, including:

Dr Alison Tedstone, Chief Nutritionist at PHE said:

The past year has been immensely challenging and being stuck at home much more this year, understandably, has seen some unhealthy habits creeping up on us all. But our survey shows the vast majority of us want to do something positive this year to improve our health and now is a good time for a reset, whether it be eating more healthily, being a healthier weight, getting more active, stopping smoking or doing more to look after our mental health.

All these are changes that will help us feel better about ourselves – just search ‘NHS Better Health’ for our free tools and advice.

Public Health Minister Jo Churchill, said:

There is no doubt 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted particularly the impact obesity can have on some people’s health and health outcomes.

We know many people want to make changes for a healthier lifestyle and we want to help them. So the Better Health campaign provides a range of tools, like Couch to 5K, to support people in their choices. This, together with the government’s world-leading obesity strategy, will help motivate and support everyone to take up healthier routines in 2021.

Dr Dawn Harper, who is supporting the campaign, said:

The impact that COVID-19 has had on our physical health and mental wellbeing is huge. We saw households across England revert to unhealthy eating habits and reducing the amount of exercise they undertook. However, 2020 has also caused us to feel more motivated to make lasting changes in the new year.

2021 is a time to start afresh. Kickstarting a health plan can be daunting but you don’t have to do it alone. Resources like the Better Health website and apps can be a huge help, no matter what changes you are looking to make or what stage you are at.

The Better Health campaign provides a wide range of free NHS tools and advice to support healthier habits, including suggestions on how to increase physical activity, make healthier food choices, lose weight, improve mental health and quit smoking.

The campaign includes new wide scale national TV, radio and social advertising. This year, Better Health is also working in partnership with a number of weight management and physical activity partners, who are providing both free and exclusive discounted offers. Alongside the advertising campaign, PHE has released a new film featuring households from across the country discussing their health journey in 2020 and their motivations for the new year.

The campaign targets all adults over 18, with a focus on those aged 40 to 60. There will be a particular emphasis on those groups most affected, including those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and those with long-term health conditions.

Search ‘Better Health’ or visit nhs.uk/better-health for free tools and support to help you make healthy changes.

Over 5,000 Armed Forces personnel are currently deployed to support the response to the coronavirus across the UK, working on 70 different tasks ranging from schools testing to the rollout of vaccines. This is more than at any previous point in the pandemic and the biggest homeland resilience operation the UK has ever seen in peacetime. Thousands more are supporting efforts through their day jobs in military planning, Defence Medical Services, Defence Science and Technology Laboratories and elsewhere.

More military personnel are being deployed to support community testing in:

• Manchester – 800 personnel providing community testing support to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority
• Swadlincote, Derbyshire – 130 personnel to establish and operate four lateral flow testing sites
• Kent – 390 personnel will support community testing
• Kirklees, Yorkshire – 75 personnel to establish and operate four lateral flow testing sites
• Lancashire – 420 personnel to support asymptomatic testing

In Manchester today (4 January) another large scale task starts, with 800 personnel deploying from nine regiments across the British Army at the request of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), through the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). These personnel will prepare to work across all ten local authority areas of Greater Manchester to carry out targeted asymptomatic testing of specific populations that may be at a higher risk of infection including social care staff, key workers, public facing occupations such as bus drivers, and those in high risk environments such care homes and shared accommodation for the homeless. The task builds on lessons from previous asymptomatic community testing in Liverpool, Lancashire, Merthyr Tydfil, Medway, and Kirklees.

In addition to community testing, military personnel remain on-task testing hauliers in Dover and helping to establish ten new testing sites to improve the flow of traffic across the Channel. As of today, 515 personnel are on task in Kent and elsewhere providing testing to hauliers.

Fifteen hundred Armed Forces personnel have also been provided to support schools testing, with local response teams providing virtual support and phone advice to institutions. Personnel also on standby to deploy at short notice to provide in-person support. Testing will continue as planned with two rapid Lateral Flow Tests available to all secondary school and college students and staff at the start of term to identify asymptomatic cases, break chains of transmission and beat the virus.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

The new year will see new levels of Armed Forces support to overcoming this pandemic. Thousands of service personnel are working throughout the United Kingdom, wherever they are needed to assist the civil authorities.

Manchester is the latest of those tasks and will be an important contribution to protecting the highest risk groups as the city seeks to recover. As a North West MP I am acutely aware of the considerable time many of us have been labouring under some form of lockdown and I hope our soldiers will help us get to the day when these restrictions will start to lift.

Lt Gen Sir Tyrone Urch KBE, Commander Standing Joint Commander UK said:

I am incredibly proud of all the servicemen and women who have worked tirelessly for most of this year on Operation RESCRIPT, the military effort in support of the government’s campaign to tackle COVID-19.

In recent weeks, our amazing staff have deployed at short notice to set up and staff community testing centres across the country in support of the NHS, DHSC, Devolved Nations and local communities. They have conducted a successful testing pilot in schools and contributed to vaccine rollout planning. Both Regular and Reservist personnel stepped up on Christmas Eve to help clear the backlog of vehicles in Kent, setting up testing facilities overnight when they would otherwise have been spending the festive period with their families.

I am humbled by the sacrifice and dedication of all our people from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force as we continue to contribute to our nation’s fight against the coronavirus.

The MoD has deployed 10 military planners to assist the Vaccine Task Force, with over 150 personnel deployed across the UK to support organisational and logistical components of the Deployment Programme. Two separate military planners are seconded to support the Vaccine Task Force Director.

Additionally, 20 personnel are assisting with regional vaccine planning, end-to-end logistics and delivery.

From 11 January a Vaccine Quick Reaction Force is being established, with their training for the role beginning today. This will initially be 21 teams of 6 personnel assigned to the 7 NHS England regions, able to provide surge support to the vaccine roll-out if required by local health authorities.

In Wales, 90 service personnel are deployed to support Health Boards in rapidly establishing and operating vaccination centres. For the first-time trained defence medics will also support the administering of the vaccine. Ninety-four military personnel, including medics and drivers, have embedded with the Welsh Ambulance NHS Trust to support them by driving Ambulances.

In Scotland, military planners are supporting the testing and vaccine programmes. Earlier during the pandemic Armed Forces personnel supported healthcare professionals to deliver testing at Glasgow Airport, and RAF Puma helicopters were deployed to Kinloss Barracks in Moray to provide emergency assistance to NHS boards and trusts across Scotland. In Northern Ireland the Defence Estate is being loaned to the Police Service of Northern Ireland for their use and the Armed Forces have placed medivac capabilities on standby for Covid-19 patients when needed.