The Agreement strengthens the trading relationship between the UK and Moldova, worth £395m in 2019, by securing continued preferential access and paving the way for increased trade in future. The trading relationship grew by 77% between 2015 and 2019.

The preferential terms secured by this Agreement will enable British businesses to trade as they do today after the UK’s Transition Period with the European Union and provide certainty to consumers in both countries. Top UK imports from Moldova in 2019 include items like clothes, beverages and fruit and vegetables.

The Agreement also sets out the UK and Moldova’s ambitions for our future relationship including the strengthening of our political, economic, security and cultural ties. As part of the Agreement, the UK recognises and supports Moldova’s commitment to an ambitious programme of reforms and its political, economic and legal accomplishments.

FCDO Minister for the European Neighbourhood and the Americas Wendy Morton said:

I welcome the signing of the UK-Moldova Strategic Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which underlines our close ties and our shared ambitions for a deeper trade, political and security relationship. This Agreement will support cooperation in protecting the environment, promoting economic and governance reforms, tackling climate change and standing up for human rights.

DIT Minister Ranil Jayawardena said:

Today’s agreement provides stability to the trade between Britain and Moldova and allows businesses to continue with confidence. It creates a firm foundation for even more trade and investment in the future too. We look forward to a continued relationship with Moldova.

Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Moldova Steven Fisher signed the agreement today (24 December) with Moldovan Foreign Minister Aureliu Ciocoi in Chisinau.

Her Majesty’s Ambassador Steven Fisher said:

I am honoured to sign this important agreement on behalf of the United Kingdom. It lays the foundation for building deeper, broader and stronger relations between our two countries in the years ahead.

The Agreement will promote innovative partnerships between the UK and Moldova, following the example of British company Terravesta and Aberystwyth University who are working with a Moldovan partner to develop a biomass solution for heating homes in Chisinau.

UK companies already established in Moldova include Jaguar Land Rover and GlaxoSmithKline. The British Embassy has supported a number of projects to promote development of the Moldovan private sector, one of which has led to British company Barbour manufacturing luxury products in Moldova. The Agreement is signed at a time when both governments are expanding their trade presence in each other’s countries.

Notes to Editors

• The United Kingdom-Republic of Moldova Strategic Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement replicates the effects of the existing EU-Moldova Association Agreement (AA) and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) provisions as far as possible.
• This Agreement is designed to take effect when the EU-Moldova AA and DCFTA cease to apply to the United Kingdom, following the end of the Transition Period on 31 December. The agreement will be subject to the domestic parliamentary procedures in both the United Kingdom and Moldova before it is brought into force.
• In under two years, the UK government has secured trade agreements with 61 countries. Total UK trade with these countries was worth £199 billion in 2019.
• This accounts for 97% of the value of trade with non-EU countries that we set out to secure agreements with at the start of the trade continuity programme.
• Since the Transition Period began, we have expanded the ambition of our programme above and beyond this original scope, securing agreements with Japan, Vietnam and Singapore, which together accounted for £53bn of UK trade in 2019.
• We will continue to progress in securing further deals before the end of the Transition Period.
• Source: ONS UK Trade: All countries, non-seasonally adjusted, April to June 2020

• 58% increase in the number of positive coronavirus cases detected by NHS Test and Trace compared to the previous week

• 92.6% of contacts of positive cases reached last week, and the proportion of contacts reached within 24 hours increased to 97.5%

• NHS Test and Trace service to remain open every day over Christmas and the New Year

NHS Test and Trace is continuing to improve tracing performance, with a rising number of cases and contacts entering the system. In total, during the week 10 December to 16 December, 389,328 cases and contacts have been reached.

Changes such as improving the contact tracing website, reducing repeat calls to households, and increasing numbers of call handlers have led to increases over past weeks in the proportion of contacts being reached and reached faster. The improvements were made following feedback from the public, our colleagues and our local tracing partners, and have been positively received.

Due to growing demand over the holiday period and the recent emergence of a new and more transmissible strain of coronavirus, the service has prioritised making more tests available so that anyone who needs a test can get a test. This increased demand and supply has resulted in a temporary dip in turnaround times, but tests are available for anyone who needs one.

NHS Test and Trace will be open every day over Christmas and the New Year, providing and processing tests for those who need them and tracing contacts of positive cases. All test sites will remain open, only reducing opening hours and booking slots available on the bank holidays, when demand is expected to be lower.

NHS Test and Trace contact tracers will also continue to work throughout the festive period to ensure there are no delays in contacting close contacts of positive cases and breaking chains of transmissions.

NHS Test and Trace’s vastly expanded test site network now has more than 700 test sites, including 400 local test sites, in operation. The median distance travelled for a test just 2.3 miles, compared to 5.1 miles as recently as September. More than 4.9 million tests have been processed in the UK in total since testing began, more than any other comparable European country.

Health Minister Lord Bethell said:

These figures mark another week of strong performance from our contact tracing service despite increased demands on NHS Test and Trace. Around 1 in 3 people infected with coronavirus may show no symptoms. Thanks to NHS Test and Trace, more than 3.9 million people have been reached who could have otherwise unknowingly spread this dreadful virus.

The service will continue to work night and day to ensure testing is accessible across the country and this crucial work will not stop over the Christmas period. We have built increased testing capacity ahead of the winter and this will continue in the months ahead.

Interim Executive Chair of the National Institute for Health Protection Baroness Dido Harding said:

As we enter the holiday period, I would urge the public to heed our advice on ‘Hands. Face. Space’, and not to hesitate to book a test if they have coronavirus symptoms. NHS Test and Trace continues to test record numbers of people and people can have confidence that if they have symptoms and need a test, they can get one.

NHS Test and Trace has developed into one of the largest contact tracing and testing systems anywhere in the world and the COVID-19 contract tracing app we launched in September has now been downloaded more than 20.7 million times.

Thank you to everyone who is working over the holiday period across the country to keep NHS Test and Trace running on Christmas Day and throughout the holiday period. So much effort has been put into developing the service throughout the year and I am hugely grateful to all of those who will be sacrificing time with their loved ones to make sure it is there for those who need it over Christmas and the New Year.

Testing

During the week of 10 December to 16 December, 2,293,012 tests were conducted for Pillars 1 and 2 in the UK.

More than 4.9 million tests have been processed in the UK in total since testing began, more than any other comparable European country.

For this reporting period, 61.0% of in-person test results were received the next day after the test was taken, compared with 91.8% reported in the previous week. 93.9% of pillar 1 test results were made available within 24 hours, compared with 91.9% the previous week.

The NHS Test and Trace laboratory network will also be processing samples as normal with the same level of capacity, including on bank holidays, to ensure continuity of service.

Testing capacity for those with COVID-19 symptoms has increased 6-fold in 7 months, from 100,000 a day at the end of April to more than 650,000 a day.  In this reporting week we can see that, as the demand for tests has increased, particularly in the south east, turnaround times have also increased slightly.

Tracing

139,332 positive cases were transferred to contact tracers between 10 December and 16 December, 88.1% of whom were reached and told to self-isolate, compared with 87.5% the previous week.

Between 10 December and 16 December, 287,756 people were identified as recent close contacts, with 96.5% who had provided communication details reached and told to self-isolate. Since Test and Trace launched 83.2% of close contacts for whom contact details were provided have been reached.

Over the past few months our teams have been working incredibly hard to make the contact tracing service as effective as possible and NHS Test and Trace has now reached more than 3.9 million people.

Background information

The statistics from week 29 of NHS Test and Trace show in the most recent week of operations (10 December to 16 December):

• a total of 2,293,012 tests were conducted for pillars 1 and 2, compared with 2,157,895 the previous week
• the proportion of contacts reached by tracing service remains consistent at 92.6%
• 88.1% of people who tested positive and were transferred to the contact-tracing system were reached and asked to provide information about their contacts, compared with 87.5% the previous week
• 96.5% of contacts where communication details were given were reached and told to self-isolate, compared with 96.6% the previous week
• 61.0% of in-person test results were received the next day after the test was taken, compared with 91.8% of tests the previous week (England only)
• 93.9% of pillar 1 test results were made available within 24 hours, compared with 91.9% the previous week
• 34.1% (247,767) of in-person test results were received within 24 hours after the test was taken, compared with 59.8% (294,842) the previous week
• 91.1% (518,561) of satellite (care home) tests were received within 3 days, compared with 93.4% (506,793) the previous week
• since NHS Test and Trace launched, over 3.7 million contacts have been identified, and 83.2% of all contacts where communication details were given have been reached and told to self-isolate
• NHS COVID-19 app users in England, who have been instructed to isolate via the app, will be able to claim the £500 Test and Trace Support Payment, providing they meet the eligibility criteria. This comes as Apple revealed that the NHS COVID-19 app was the second most downloaded free iPhone app on its App Store in the UK this year and has been downloaded more than 20.7 million times

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Waste carriers, like other licensed trades, are required to register and operate in line with a set of rules that protect the environment and their customers. These rules require them to dispose of waste in the right place, store it safely and keep accurate records of its transfer and disposal.

There has been recent concerns about the number of ‘man and van’ adverts and self-promotion on Facebook and other social media platforms offering to take away people’s rubbish.

If these traders don’t have a waste carriers’ licence, there is no guarantee rubbish will be disposed of safely and responsibly at an authorised site. Instead, it could end up dumped on the side of the road or burned in a field. What’s more, because the person who created the rubbish is legally responsible for it, it is they who could face criminal charges.

David Edwardson the Environment Agency’s Enforcement Leader for the North East, said:

“Rogue traders using social media to exploit people into parting with their waste cheaply are regarded as the new door steppers. People are then discovering their waste has been fly-tipped in a country lane or beside the road. These illegal waste carriers undermine legitimate businesses, undercut their prices and blight the environment. They will step up their activities over the festive season as they know people will be looking to dispose of unwanted items after Christmas.

“We want people to take three steps to check whether the collector has a waste carriers’ licence from the Environment Agency: ask where the rubbish will end up, don’t pay cash and insist on a receipt, then record the details of the vehicle used to take the rubbish away.

“If people suspect criminal activity, they should report it on our national incident hotline 0800 807060 or anonymously through CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111 and give as much detail as possible. Let’s work together to stamp out waste crime and protect our urban spaces and beautiful countryside.”

Everyone has a duty of care to ensure their waste is disposed of legally. Failing to meet that requirement means people could be held responsible if their waste is fly-tipped or otherwise illegally disposed of. In the event of a court prosecution individuals could receive an unlimited fine and/or a £400 Fixed Penalty Notices.

People should check the festive opening times for their local Waste Recycling Centre if they decide to discard any items of the Christmas and New Year period.

Before hiring someone to remove waste, check their credentials online at https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers