FCDO Minister for Asia, Nigel Adams, has announced the UK will contribute a total of £1 million to help victims of Typhoon Goni in the Philippines, and those impacted by the recent devastating flooding in Vietnam.

The powerful Category 5 typhoon struck the Philippines on Sunday and has resulted in loss of life, many people reported missing and has affected over 2 million people across 12 regions.

Vietnam has also recently been hit by four typhoons, resulting in significant flooding, landslides and damage to infrastructure. In central Vietnam over 1.3 million people have been severely affected, with nearly 300,000 houses submerged. Neighbouring countries Cambodia, Laos and Thailand have also been impacted, and we continue to monitor the situation there.

The £1 million of UK aid will go to the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), through the British Red Cross Society, to local Red Cross partners and help to provide shelter, clean water, food and support livelihoods for around 160,000 people in Vietnam and 80,000 in the Philippines.

FCDO Minister for Asia Nigel Adams said:

The typhoons that have hit the Philippines and Vietnam have had a devastating impact on lives and livelihoods across the region.

Today’s £1 million UK aid package will help to deliver life-saving food, clean water and safe shelter to those who need it most and help both the Philippines and Vietnam recover from such destructive natural disasters.

The IFRC have launched separate Emergency Appeals for both countries to scale up the Red Cross response. In Vietnam they are hoping to target 44,000 people with shelter assistance, 17,200 with livelihoods support, 50,000 with health and 84,000 with water, sanitation and hygiene assistance. In the Philippines, the IFRC, along with the government and other partners, are currently assessing the damage caused by Typhoon Goni and which locations are in most urgent need of assistance.

• Health Secretary gives new NHS hospital in Sutton the green light following independent advice
• Patients and the public will now be engaged in shaping the new services

South-west London and Surrey residents will benefit from a new, state-of-the-art NHS hospital after the Health Secretary gave plans the green light, following independent advice.

As part of the government’s health infrastructure plan to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, the brand-new hospital will be built in Sutton with district health services remaining in modernised buildings at Epsom and St Helier.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

This new hospital will be transformational for patients and staff at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust and the wider community.

I look forward to seeing the hospital take shape over the coming months and years, and hope that the public will be as involved as possible in shaping the new services.

This new hospital is one of 40 we are building up and down the country by 2030, as part of our £3.7 billion hospital building programme.

Daniel Elkeles, Chief Executive, Epsom and St Helier University Hospital Trust, said:

We welcome the advice from the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, and are delighted that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has agreed that we should proceed with investing £500 million in a new hospital at Sutton, and in Epsom and St Helier hospitals.

We are now proceeding at full speed to design the new hospitals and will soon be engaging with our local communities on the new hospital facilities. All being well we aim to have builders on site in Sutton in Spring 2022, with a new Specialist Emergency Care Hospital opening in 2025.

Following public consultation in the spring, the decision to build the new hospital in Sutton was referred to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel by the Health Secretary last month.

The panel considered that the proposals are in the interest of local health services and will improve health outcomes locally. They did not find any reason to disagree with the choice of Sutton as the site for the new hospital, and concluded that that the proposals should proceed.

The panel also advised that patients and the public should be engaged in shaping the new services in order to gain maximum benefit from them.

It is one of the 40 hospitals the government is building by 2030 as part of the biggest hospital building programme in a generation worth £3.7 billion. Eight further new schemes have been invited to bid, delivering on the government’s manifesto commitment.

The Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) is the independent expert on NHS service change and advises the Secretary of State on contested proposals for health service changes in England.

The Secretary of State referred the decision to build a new hospital in Sutton to the IRP who considered the proposals and did not find any reason to disagree with the choice of Sutton as the site for the new hospital and concluded that that the proposals should proceed.

The Secretary of State considered and then agreed with the IRP advice.

Decision letter and Inspector’s Report for a called-in decision and recovered appeal for planning permission for demolition of all existing on-site buildings and structures and construction of a National Distribution Centre building (Use Class B8) with ancillary office accommodation (Class B1(a)), vehicle maintenance unit, vehicle washing area, internal roads, gatehouse, parking areas, perimeter fencing, waste management area, sustainable urban drainage system, landscaping, highways improvements and other associated works, in accordance with application.

• first-of-its-kind competition to find new ways to improve transport accessibility is launched

• funding of up to £500,000 could remove physical barriers, make it easier to access information, or better support travellers

• new funding comes as companies are recognised for their dedication to providing better service

Innovative ideas to improve travel for disabled passengers could be made a reality thanks to government funding announced today (3 November 2020).

The Department for Transport (DfT) is marking Purple Tuesday by launching the first-of-its-kind Accessible Technology Research and Innovation Grant (A-TRIG), which will invest up to £500,000 in projects that can improve access to services or inspire more confidence to travel.

These projects could provide a range of practical solutions that remove physical barriers, make it easier to access information, automate processes or see better support for travellers. They could include:

• ways for visually-impaired passengers to identify the bus they want to catch
• smartphone apps to report inaccessibility and track progress
• a Wayfinder-style system to plan bus journeys

Previously, the department has funded a mobile phone app to help people with dementia use public transport to get to hospital.

The department’s Access for All programme has now provided 200 stations with better access across Great Britain, with around 100 more to be completed by 2024 – a quarter of these in Scotland and Wales. The continued success of the Access for All programme, and accessibility improvements delivered as part of other station enhancement projects, means that more than 75% of rail journeys are now through stations with step-free access, compared with around 50% in 2005.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

Everybody’s way of travelling has been affected by COVID-19, but none more so than those who are disabled. While essential in tackling the virus I know the widespread use of masks, social distancing and changed timetables has been disconcerting for people with accessibility issues.

I want to harness the power of technology to improve accessibility for disabled people through COVID and beyond. Today’s funding will play a key role by finding new and innovative ideas and projects to break down barriers and could make a massive difference to people’s lives.

The competition comes as the department publishes its 2-year update on its Inclusive Transport Strategy, highlighting the work delivered – including expanding Blue Badges to non-visible disabilities, launching the It’s everyone’s journey public awareness campaign, and funding 59 Changing Places toilets in motorway services, 7 of which have now opened, with more to do so next year.

As part of this, the department has also launched the Inclusive Transport Leaders Scheme and is today announcing the first companies to receive accreditation under the scheme. Brighton and Hove Buses and Hovertravel have achieved the highest status as ‘Leaders’, with Network Rail and Arriva Kent and Surrey receiving ‘Committed’ status. The ‘Leaders’ demonstrate best practice and can share their experience with others, while ‘Committed’ members have demonstrated a good foundation on which to build better services for disabled passengers. More transport operators will be invited to join shortly

Transport companies are also being urged to use free disability training resources, being published shortly, to train their staff so disabled people have a consistent and positive experience regardless of transport mode, helping overcome one of the biggest barriers to confident travel along with infrastructure enhancements. The training has been designed with the involvement of disabled people and will help change the way staff interact with and support all passengers.