The Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs) awards celebrate the close partnership between the UK and Japan in the run-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the enduring educational, cultural and business links between the two countries.

Norihiko Fukuda MBE

As Mayor of Kawasaki City, Norihiko Fukuda successfully bid for Kawasaki City to be one of the Host Cities for UK athletes during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games. With the Mayor of Yokohama and President of Keio University he developed the GO GB partnership which not only ensured access for athletes to top class facilities but also promoted deeper ties with the UK through a series of activities and events.

As a champion of rights for people with disabilities, Mayor Fukuda also used the Games to raise awareness of diversity and inclusion through partnerships with the British Council and UK arts organisations. This included giving local students with Special Educational Needs the opportunity to work with professional musicians to create a piece of original music, which premiered in Kawasaki on the eve of the Paralympics to a packed concert hall and considerable critical acclaim.

Akira Haseyama MBE

Akira Haseyama is a renowned Japanese legal expert and academic leader. During his four years as President of Keio University he was instrumental in fostering a close and collaborative relationship between the university and the UK. Under his leadership, Keio went to extraordinary lengths to ensure GB Olympics and Paralympics teams had the best preparation camps available to them ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021. Seeing an opportunity to create a lasting legacy for inclusion, the President also put forward university funding to overhaul the accessibility of the university’s facilities to create a barrier-free environment.

Beyond support to the GB sports teams, President Haseyama’s vision of closer collaboration with the UK led to the signing of a three-way MOU in 2018 with Royal Holloway University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to focus on the protection of Critical National Infrastructure.

Fumiko Hayashi MBE

Mayor Fumiko represented Japan’s second city for over two decades from 2009 to 2021. During this time, she championed collaboration with and promotion of the UK, culminating in the city of Yokohama becoming a crucial base for the British Olympic and Paralympic Associations to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Games. The Mayor used the Games as a hook to promote greater awareness of and collaboration with the UK, and used the GO GB Partnership as an umbrella for a series of public-facing activities and events. These included British museums being invited to perform at the Two- and One-Year to go city celebrations and seminars on the UK’s inclusive society. Mayor Hayashi’s support of the UK has extended beyond the sporting world.

In 2018, she signed a declaration of collaboration with Fiona Hyslop to link Yokohama and Scotland. Through the agreement, Scotland and Yokohama have developed an increasingly strong relationship in education, culture, tourism, marine industries and sports.

Yasuhisa Shiozaki MBE

Mr Shiozaki has a long career in banking and Japanese politics, including serving as Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Government of Japan. As a committed participant from 1997 and then Co-Chair (2002-2011 and 2012-2021) of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group, he has worked tirelessly to promote UK-Japan relations for almost a quarter of a century. Established in 1984 at the joint recommendation of the British and Japanese Prime Ministers, Margaret Thatcher and Yasuhiro Nakasone, the 21st Century Group brings together private sector, public sector and civil society leaders to promote dialogue and cooperation between the two countries.

Takashi Tsukamoto MBE

Takashi Tsukamoto has made a significant contribution to UK-Japan cultural relations as Chair (since 2016) of the Japan British Society. In addition to leading the Society’s tireless efforts to promote bilateral ties, he played a leading part in the goodwill drive by the Japanese community in the UK launched in 2017 to plant thousands of Japanese cherry blossoms all around Britain. Modelled on the famous cherry blossom planting along the Potomac River in Washington DC, the blossoms will form a long term and very visible symbol of the strength of the friendship between the two countries. Previously as CEO of Mizuho Bank’s London HQ, and later as the bank’s global President, he also strongly promoted UK-Japan financial and business links.

Hundreds of thousands of students will collect exam results today (18 August) after sitting exams for the first time since 2019.

Marking a significant milestone in returning to normality post pandemic, today’s results day includes students who sat A and AS levels, level 3 vocational and technical qualifications, and for the first time ever – T Levels – paving the way for pupils’ next steps to university, further training or the world of work.

As part of a transition period put in place by Ofqual to return to pre-pandemic grading, students will receive higher grades this year than in 2019. This recognises the disruption that students have faced over their exam years due to the pandemic. Students were given an unprecedented level of support to mitigate the impact of covid, including a range of adaptations to exams and assessments. Those adaptations included advance information on exam content for the vast majority of A levels, and longer assessment windows for vocational and technical qualifications.

Today’s grades will be lower than 2021 when exams didn’t take place as schools remained closed to most pupils until March, and covid cases and isolation rates remained high in schools. Students’ grades were determined by their teachers after being assessed internally.

UCAS expect that the majority of students will gain a place at their firm choice university today. As with every year, there will be competition for places at selective institutions, but record numbers of students, including high numbers of disadvantaged students, are still expected to start university in September.

Around 1,000 students will receive T Level results for the first time – the exciting new technical qualification to help young people progress onto skilled employment, university or apprenticeships.

T Levels combine study with a substantial industry placement so that students gain the skills and valuable workplace experience they need to progress into a job, further study or an apprenticeship. From this September there will be 16 T Levels available in a range of in demand subjects including digital, construction, health, science, accounting and engineering, with over 175 schools and further education providers across England offering them. More courses will be rolled out in 2023 and 2024 including legal, media and agriculture, with plans to introduce a T Level for marketing in 2025 also in train.

Education Secretary, James Cleverly said:

Every single student collecting their results today should be proud of their achievements. Not only have they studied throughout the pandemic, but they are the first group in three years to sit exams. For that, I want to congratulate them and say a huge thank you to those who helped them get to this point.

Today is also a really exciting time for our pioneering T Level students, as the first ever group to take this qualification will pick up their results. I have no doubt they will be the first of many and embark on successful careers.

Despite the nerves that people will feel, I want to reassure anyone collecting their results that whatever your grades, there has never been a better range of opportunities available. Whether going on to one of our world-leading universities, a high-quality apprenticeship, or the world of work, students have exciting options as they prepare to take their next steps.

Universities, as well as UCAS, have excellent support systems in place for young people to guide them through the application process and will be on hand throughout this time, just as they have been in every other year. Universities will be flexible in their decision-making and ensure offers made are reflective of the grades students receive.

There are a huge range of exciting options available to young people including opportunities to earn while you learn via an apprenticeship, taking a higher technical qualification, attending university or landing your first job. Students can explore their options through our Get The Jump website or through Clearing.

For students taking exams in the future, the department is driving forward a stream of recovery activity by investing almost £5 billion to help children and young people recover from the impact of the pandemic, including £1.5 billion for a national tutoring revolution in schools and colleges.

Over two million courses have now started through the National Tutoring Programme, including 1.8 million so far this academic year across an estimated 80% of schools – helping children to catch up with learning loss.

The Local Supported Employment (LSE) initiative is providing grant funding to 24 local authorities in England and Wales, representing an investment of £7.6 million over the next three years.

Each local authority area will support between 60 and 140 adults with learning disabilities, autism or both to move into competitive employment and provide the help they need to maintain that employment.

An average of 91 participants in each local authority are set to benefit from the grant funding and support, which will include assigning job coaches who can carry out vocation profiling, engage employers and provide in-work support to help develop more careers.

This follows the government hitting its target to see one million more disabled people in work by 2027 five years early, as ministers consider a new target to help bring down the disability employment gap further in the forthcoming Health & Disability White Paper, due in the autumn.

Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Chloe Smith MP said:

Disabled people deserve the same opportunities to start, stay and succeed in employment as everyone else.

We know that those with autism and learning disabilities can face particular barriers to employment, which is why we’re spending £7.6m through the Local Supported Employment initiative.

We hope to break down those barriers and use local networks to help more disabled people reach their full potential.

A total of 22 local authorities in England and two in Wales will benefit from the funding worth £7.6m over the Spending Review period.

The DWP along with nine local authorities ran an LSE proof of concept pilot in November 2017 for 18 months. Following a consultation process with those involved, the DWP has incorporated feedback and lessons learned into the design of the latest initiative.

Evidence from other supported employment programmes suggests that at least 30% of participants should start some form of work following involvement in the initiative.

The longer-term ambition is to provide further evidence to local authorities of the value of supported employment to help drive further investment and secure effective employment for more people with learning disabilities, autism or both.

The government made a public commitment to delivering LSE in the Adult Social Care Reform White Paper)

and the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper (England) to ensure that everyone should get the support they need whatever their disability or health condition.

Additional information

Local Supported Employment (LSE)

• DWP is providing grant funding for 24 County Councils and Unitary Authorities (including Metropolitan Councils and London Boroughs) in England and Wales, to take part in the LSE Initiative.
• These are:
  • Cheshire East Council
  • Gloucestershire County Council
  • Barking and Dagenham
  • Lincolnshire County Council
  • Surrey County Council
  • City of Cardiff Council
  • The Council of the City of Wakefield
  • Oxfordshire County Council
  • Norfolk County Council (NCC)
  • Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Leicester Council
  • Cheshire West and Chester Council
  • Tower Hamlets
  • Salford Council
  • Lancashire County Council
  • Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Durham County Council (DCC)
  • Southampton Council
  • Hertfordshire County Council (HCC)
  • Pembrokeshire County Council
  • Bradford Metropolitan District Council
  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Barnsley MBC
  • Kent County Council
• Supported Employment has been successfully used for decades as a model for supporting people with significant disabilities to secure and retain paid employment. Supported Employment does not adhere to a work readiness model, rather a Place, Train and Maintain approach is implemented.

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