The letter explains that you should only book a test if your child has any of these 3 coronavirus symptoms:

• a high temperature: any new high temperature where your child feels hot to touch on their chest or back (you do not need to measure the temperature)
• a new continuous cough: coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
• a loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste: a noticeable loss of smell or taste or things smell and taste different to normal

Your child does not need a test if they have a runny nose, are sneezing or feeling unwell but do not have a temperature, cough or loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste. This is because these are not normally symptoms of coronavirus.

Ten thousand UK volunteers will from today (Friday 25 September) be invited to join a leading phase 3 coronavirus vaccine trial, as the number of people who have signed up to take part in research hits 250,000.

The Phase 3 study will test the safety and effectiveness of a promising new vaccine, developed by US biotechnology company Novavax, across a broad spectrum of people, including those from a variety age groups and backgrounds. Phase 3 studies involve many thousands of people, giving researchers insights into the effects of a vaccine on a much larger population than phase 1 and 2 studies.

Calling on some of the thousands of volunteers who have joined the fight against coronavirus through the NHS Vaccine Registry, the phase 3 trials, which started yesterday (24 September), are the second to commence in the UK and will be undertaken at a number of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) regional sites across the UK, including Lancashire, the Midlands, Greater Manchester, London, Glasgow and Belfast.

The Registry was launched in July to help create a database of people who consent to be contacted by the NHS to take part in clinical studies, to help speed up the development of a safe and effective vaccine.

With several more trials for potential vaccine candidates expected to start before the end of the year, UK researchers are calling for additional volunteers to sign up to take part in clinical studies. To better understand the effectiveness of vaccine candidates and help find a vaccine that works for as many people as soon as possible, researchers are particularly seeking more volunteers from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds as well as those with underlying health conditions and the over 65s.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said:

I am incredibly proud of the 250,000 volunteers who have signed up to play their part in the global fight against coronavirus.

Our scientists and researchers are working day and night to find a vaccine that meets the UK’s rigorous safety standards, but we need even more people from all backgrounds and ages to sign-up for studies to speed up this life-saving research.

The more people that sign up, the quicker we can find a safe and effective vaccine, defeat this virus and protect millions of lives.

The UK government has secured 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, which will be manufactured using FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ facilities in Stockton-on-Tees, north east England. This will ensure that, once approved by regulators, the vaccine can be supplied as quickly as possible.

Professor Paul Heath, Novavax Phase 3 trial Chief Investigator and Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:

This is only the second Phase 3 vaccine trial to be initiated in the UK, and the first Phase 3 trial with the Novavax vaccine anywhere in the world, which shows the importance that has been placed on rapidly finding a solution for this urgent public health need. The vaccine has successfully gone through its early safety trials and we’re extremely encouraged by its performance so far.

The NHS Vaccines Registry has been key in helping us quickly identify participants who fulfil the inclusion criteria for this study – particularly those from among groups most likely to benefit from a vaccine, such as the elderly.

Chair of the government’s Vaccines Taskforce Kate Bingham said:

Finding a safe and effective vaccine that works for the majority of the UK population is the best way to tackle this devastating disease. Whilst social distancing, testing and other measures can help reduce the impact of coronavirus, the only long-term solution to beating it will be finding a vaccine. One of the ways people can help with that is by signing up to the NHS Vaccines Registry, so they can be rapidly called.

Gregory M. Glenn, M.D., President of Research & Development at Novavax said:

Today marks an important and exciting advance in addressing the global COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and around the world. We are confident in the safety of this vaccine and based on the successful phase 3 clinical trial of our influenza vaccine built using the same platform, we are optimistic that NVX-CoV2373 will prove to be effective at preventing infection and reducing the transmission of the disease.

If any of the vaccines are successful in clinical trials, they could start to be delivered to the UK in 2021. It is expected that these vaccines would first be given to priority groups such as frontline health and social care workers, ethnic minorities, adults with underlying health conditions, and the elderly based on Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice.

The UK public can support the national effort to speed up vaccine research and receive more information about volunteering for clinical studies by visiting www.nhs.uk/researchcontact.

Notes to editors

The Novovax vaccine comprises a recombinant nanoparticle technology containing an engineered coronavirus spike protein and the saponin-based adjuvant Matrix-M designed to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralising antibodies. Half the study participants will receive the trial coronavirus vaccine, delivered in 2 doses, and half will receive a saline placebo, also delivered in 2 doses – a so called ‘blinded trial’ in which none of the participants are aware if they are receiving the vaccine or a placebo. Study participants can expect to make around 6 visits to their local trial centre over 13 months.

The UK has secured access to a total of 6 different candidates, across 4 different vaccine types, reflecting the government’s strategy to ensure the UK has a supply of vaccines should any of these prove safe and effective through clinical trial research. This is in addition to the University of Oxford’s vaccine being developed with AstraZeneca, and includes agreements with the BioNTech/Pfizer alliance, Valneva and GSK/Sanofi Pasteur.

The 4 different vaccine classes that the government has secured to date for the UK are:

• adenoviral vaccines (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Janssen)
• mRNA vaccines (BioNTech/Pfizer, Imperial)
• inactivated whole virus vaccines (Valneva)
• protein adjuvant vaccines (GSK/Sanofi, Novavax)

In addition the UK has secured rights to AstraZeneca’s antibody treatment to neutralise the virus which can be used both as a short term prophylactic for those people who cannot receive vaccines (such as cancer and immunosuppressed patients) and front line workers exposed to the virus, as well as a treatment for infected patients in hospitals.

The UK is actively working with the vaccine alliance GAVI, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the World Health Organisation and a group of other countries to help buy vaccines as well as to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines to low-income countries.

Volunteering for COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials

A new NHS service was launched in July 2020 to enable people across the UK to sign up for information on COVID-19 vaccine trials.

The NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry, developed in partnership with NHS Digital, will help facilitate the rapid recruitment of large numbers of people into trials over the coming months – potentially meaning an effective vaccine for coronavirus can be found as soon as possible.

The service was commissioned as part of the UK government’s Vaccine Taskforce in conjunction with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Northern Ireland, Scottish and Welsh Governments

Anyone living in the UK can sign up online to take part in the trials through the NHS, giving permission for researchers to contact you if they think you’re a good fit. Once you sign up, you can withdraw at any time and request that your details be removed from the COVID-19 vaccine research registry. The process takes about 5 minutes to complete.

More information can be found: www.nhs.uk/researchcontact

About the Vaccine Taskforce

The Vaccine Taskforce (VTF) was set up under the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in May 2020, to ensure that the UK population has access to clinically effective and safe vaccines as soon as possible, while working with partners to support international access to successful vaccines. This is to place the UK at the forefront of global vaccine research, development, manufacture and distribution.

The Vaccine Taskforce comprises a dedicated team of private sector industry professionals and officials from across government who are working at speed to build a portfolio of promising vaccine candidates that can end the global pandemic. It is chaired by biotech and life sciences expert Kate Bingham, who was appointed by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Vaccine Taskforce’s approach to securing access to vaccines is through:

• procuring the rights to a diverse range of promising vaccine candidates to spread risk and optimise chances for success;
• providing funding for clinical studies, diagnostic monitoring and regulatory support to rapidly evaluate vaccines for safety and efficacy; and
• providing funding and support for manufacturing scale-up and fill and finish at risk so that the UK has vaccines produced at scale and ready for administration should any of these prove successful.

Today, we focus on the serious situation in China.

In Hong Kong, Beijing’s imposition of the National Security Law is a serious breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration. It violates Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and directly threatens rights and freedoms.

The National Security Law is being implemented with the apparent intention to eliminate dissent. It allows prosecution of certain cases in mainland China, a jurisdiction where defendants are often held for long periods without charge or access to legal counsel, and where we have concerns about judicial independence, due process, and reports of torture.

Also of grave concern, in Xinjiang, there is compelling evidence – including from the Chinese authorities’ own documents – of systematic human rights violations.

Culture and religion are severely restricted, and we have seen credible reports of forced labour and forced birth control. Staggeringly, up to 1.8 million people have been detained without trial.

Across the country, we also remain seriously concerned about the pressure on media freedom.

Madam President, we call on China to uphold the rights and freedoms in the Joint Declaration, to respect the independence of the Hong Kong judiciary, allow unfettered access to Xinjiang and to release all those who are arbitrarily detained.

Thank you.

St Andrews Motorhomes Limited was incorporated in June 1993 to buy and sell motorhomes in Central Scotland. Christine Helen Galloway (65), from Cupar, Fife, was a director of the company since its incorporation.

The company, however, began to struggle and ceased trading in July 2018, before entering into compulsory liquidation. St Andrews Motorhomes’ insolvency brought the company to the attention of the Insolvency Service, who conducted further enquiries into the company’s activities.

Between May 2017 and July 2018 St Andrews Motorhomes entered into 32 brokerage agreements, buying customers’ motorhomes and caravans, and offering an agreed return when the vehicles were sold to a third party.

Investigators established, however, that in at least 18 of the 32 agreements, Christine Galloway sold the vehicles to a third party for less than the agreed return price in the brokerage agreement.

21 of the agreements were entered into between January 2018 and May 2018. In this period Christine Galloway knew or ought to have known that the company was insolvent and was unable to pay the agreed return to customers.

Further enquiries established that Christine Galloway entered into new brokerage agreements from May 2017 onwards but used customers’ funds to settle historic liabilities resulting from previous agreements. Following a similar pattern, these historic liabilities accrued from Christine Galloway being unable to meet the agreed return price when the vehicles were sold to a third party.

During the liquidation, customers have claimed losses of just over £660,000 in connection with the 32 agreements. The affected customers also no longer own the vehicles as a result of Christine Galloway’s activities.

In her disqualification undertaking, Christine Galloway did not dispute that she failed to act in the best interests of customers by continuing to enter into brokerage agreements with customers guaranteeing a return price for their vehicles which could not be met.

Rob Clarke, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Christine Galloway showed a lack of regard for her customers. Not only did she cause hundreds of thousands of pounds of losses, she knowingly put her customers at risk by using funds from new agreements to settle agreements with long-standing customers.

Eight years is a significant disqualification and Christine Galloway’s ban should serve as a warning to other directors that they risk being removed from the corporate arena if they do not safeguard their customers.

On 17 August 2020 the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Christine Helen Galloway. Her ban is effective from 7 September 2020 after which she is banned from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Christine Helen Galloway is of Cupar, Fife, and her date of birth is November 1954.

St Andrews Motorhomes Ltd Company Registration Number SC144924

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings. Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of restrictions.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct.

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen of the Prague 5G Security Conference, thank you for the honour to deliver these opening remarks to you today on behalf of the UK Government.

The Prague Security Conference is a prime and unique platform for the world of telecommunications and security, a complicated and sensitive world.

Digital connectivity is an increasingly vital part of our lives – it underpins our economy, our jobs and helps to keep us in touch with one another.

I think everyone in ‘this’ virtual room can agree that this period of global crisis has brought home the crucial importance of a reliable connection, around the world.

But the world needs to look to the future, to be at the forefront of the technology revolution. That means accelerating the development of world-class, next generation digital technology through 5G and full fibre.

5G will transform the way we communicate and the way we live.

But in order to maximise the benefits of these technologies we need to have confidence in the security and resilience of the networks on which they are built, the supply chains on which they depend, and the equipment and services that support them.

Ensuring the security of our networks, for example through vendor risk assessments and by increasing security standards is vital.

I know much of the event yesterday touched on these matters and it is right that we continue to focus on them.

In the UK we will be taking forward our own approaches.

We will shortly introduce the Telecoms Security Bill. This crucial piece of legislation will in time allow us to implement one of the toughest regimes in the world for telecommunications security.

It will give the government and Ofcom new powers to drive up security standards and control the presence of high-risk equipment vendors in our networks and enshrine in law one of the strongest regimes for telecoms security in the world.

The Bill will introduce a new strengthened telecoms security framework, including new telecoms security duties and requirements on operators. These tough new duties and requirements will raise the security bar, and help to ensure operators protect networks against the greatest threats to telecoms security.

And a new national security direction power will require operators to comply with specific controls in relation to individual high risk vendors.

We need to ensure that we increase security standards across the industry as a whole – that means both telecommunications operators and equipment suppliers – whilst also ensuring that we as a government have the powers necessary to manage the national security risks to the networks.

But this isn’t just about security.

And security frameworks alone will not address the real issue at hand – the current lack of effective choice and competition in the telecommunications access market.

The rapidly changing technological base for telecoms provides a unique opportunity for a collective effort to open up the market to greater competition.

With that opportunity in mind, our focus is now on resolving the wider global issue of diversifying the market, working closely and urgently with our allies.

Market failure has brought us to the position we are now in, a market that has consolidated to a handful of scale suppliers.

In the future it is essential that we are never again in the position of having to rely on just a few individual suppliers.

And It is therefore vital that we take collective action to grow the market, and make it more competitive and diverse.

Not only will a more diverse supply chain reduce our respective national dependencies on any individual suppliers – it is also central to driving more competition, innovation and higher security standards in the telecoms supply market.

But we must do this in a way that balances our short term resilience with our longer term vision.

This is why the UK Government is urgently pursuing an ambitious, multifaceted diversification strategy.

The strategy, to be published shortly, will outline our long-term vision for the UK and global telecoms supply market. One with greater diversity and competition amongst suppliers – and with security and resilience an essential requirement.

To do this we need to open up the supply chain – splitting out the lock-in between hardware and software components. We want to see interoperability become the industry default and common global standards set the technical requirements.

We will achieve this by focusing our work on three core elements:

First – securing the supply chains of our critical incumbent suppliers by putting in place measures and mitigations that will protect supply chains and ensure there is no disruption to our networks.

Second – bringing new scale vendors into the UK market by removing barriers to entry, providing commercial incentives and creating large scale opportunities for new vendors to enter the UK market.

And third – addressing the existing structure of the supply market by investing in research and development and building partnerships between operators and vendors that will mean interoperable solutions become the standard across the industry.

And I am encouraged by the progress that industry is making to bring forward the development of technologies such as OpenRAN.

Recently Vodafone announced its first OpenRAN site in the UK, at the Royal Welsh Showground in Powys in rural Wales. This new approach has the ability to make us less dependent on larger incumbent suppliers and find ways to reduce the cost of rolling out mobile coverage, while also increasing resilience.

We are looking at a range of policy levers across each of these strands of work including incentives for operators and vendors to accelerate diversification, investments in research and development and the removal of regulatory barriers where they exist.

And of course we want to make the most of the UK’s vibrant and innovative telecommunications sector and want to work with industry to test, develop and deploy new and emerging technical solutions.

That is why my department is establishing a telecoms diversification taskforce, comprised of industry leaders and technical and academic experts. This taskforce will guide our thinking on how we develop solutions that will drive innovative and sustainable changes across the market.

But achieving our long-term vision for diversification is not something that the UK can achieve alone. This is a global issue.

We believe we all have a shared responsibility to address the current failure in the telecommunications supply market.

It will require a collaborative, coordinated and concerted effort from a range of like-minded international partners – working in lock-step with industry – to overcome the current barriers to diversification.

To that end I would like to state my thanks to those partners who we have already engaged on this important issue. I ask for those conversations to continue, and invite those partners who share our long-term vision to reach out too.

Because we are now at a crunch point. We believe there is a real opportunity to deliver real change to the betterment of the market, but we must act now.

The UK Government is committed to driving this conversation forward and engaging with this global community – our allies – on these pressing issues.

So in closing, I would again like to thank and express my gratitude to all those who are here and for the opportunity to address the conference today.

The matters being discussed here are all shared issues. Similarly, I know that we also share the same objectives – to drive forward digital connectivity, whilst safeguarding our national security interests. And only by working together will we deliver lasting and sustainable solutions.

We shouldn’t underestimate the opportunity we have here today, in Prague, to learn from each other, sharing successes and failures.

It is vitally important that conversations like these, on crucial issues such as these, continue to take place.

I wish you success in the remainder of this conference and look I forward to engaging further on these issues in the near future.