Chancellor sees government support for families in action at school holiday club

  • The Chancellor sees positive impacts of healthy food and activities on children during the summer, at a visit to a government-funded Holiday Activities and Food club.
  • Visit comes alongside a further series of cost of living deals announced to provide extra support to families as kids return to school.
  • Following the release of July’s inflation statistics, Nadhim Zahawi also reaffirms his commitment to get inflation under control through strong, independent monetary policy, responsible tax and spending decisions, and reforms to boost productivity and growth.

Nadhim Zahawi met a number of young people on Wednesday 17 August taking part in sports and dance activities and discussed how the scheme at Sydenham School, funded through the Government’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) club, was improving wellbeing, behaviour and social skills.

In response to the latest ONS statistics, which show inflation reached 10.1% in the 12 months to July, up from 9.4% in June, the Chancellor reaffirmed that working alongside the independent Bank of England to get inflation under control was his “top priority”.

The visit comes as a further series of cost of living deals have been secured by Cost of Living Business Tsar David Buttress, to provide extra support to families as kids return to school, as part of the Government’s Help for Households campaign.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi said:

It’s fantastic to be here at Sydenham School to meet young people who are benefiting from our Holiday Activities and Food programme. Holiday clubs like this not only provide a nutritious meal but also the chance to take part in activities they may not otherwise have exposure to, such as music lessons, cookery classes or the arts.

I know times are tough and people are concerned about rising prices. That’s why we have continually taken action to help households including £1,200 of extra support for eight million of the most vulnerable households and £400 off energy bills for everyone over the winter.

We are doing all we can to support families and I am delighted that more retailers have got on board with our Help for Households campaign, offering some brilliant discounts on back to school essentials.

The back to school offers include a bespoke new deal with the publishing firm Scholastic, who are offering 20% off children’s books and a curated set of Back to School deals from Amazon, including up to 30% off Clarks School Shoes and deals on stationary. Amazon Fresh is also offering savings, from lunchbox essentials to laundry detergent.

A number of other Help for Households partners, including Marks & Spencer, Primark, Shoezone, ZSL and Go-ahead have also agreed to promote their existing support schemes under the Help for Households campaign to raise awareness.

Anyone can visit the Help for Households website to access the full range deals.

The Government is also supporting working parents as their children go back to school this autumn with up to £2,000 a year towards their child’s wraparound care.

In June 2022, approximately 391,000 working families benefitted from Tax-Free Childcare, receiving a share of £41.6 million in government top-up payments – but thousands more could be missing out.

Families can find out what childcare support is best for them via Childcare Choices.

Further information

  • The HAF scheme is backed by over £200 million each year and runs in the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays. It was extended to become a national programme in 2021, to provide free activities and meals for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with flexibility for councils about how they can best serve the needs of children and families in their area.


New UK trade scheme paves the way for an increase in Pakistani exports

World news story

On Tuesday, the UK’s International Trade Secretary, The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, launched the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), providing tariff reductions and simpler terms of trade to 65 countries, including Pakistan, which will be implemented early next year.

New UK trade scheme paves the way for an increase in Pakistani exports

The scheme will help these countries grow and prosper, and in turn tackle poverty by harnessing the power of trade. The DCTS replaces the UK’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), a preferential trading system that provides tariff removals and reductions on various products.

Under the DCTS, Pakistan will continue to benefit from duty-free exports to the UK. In addition, the DCTS will remove tariffs on over 156 additional products. It will also simplify some seasonal tariffs, meaning additional and simpler access for Pakistan’s exports to the UK.

Total trade (goods and services) between the UK and Pakistan each year currently stands £2.9bn. In total, 94% of goods exported from Pakistan will be eligible for duty-free access to the UK. Pakistan will save £120m in tariffs on exports to the UK under the scheme.

Pakistan, and other DCTS countries, will also be supported to participate in the international trading system through the UK’s Trade Centre of Excellence, which will provide specialist support so that they can fully participate in the global trading system. This will include support on meeting trade standards, and participating in multilateral trade fora.

UK’s Trade Director for Pakistan and British Deputy High Commissioner, Karachi, Sarah Mooney, said:

A prosperous UK-Pakistan relationship matters. As we celebrate 75 years of our bilateral relations, we want to further cement our strong ties and double bilateral trade by 2025. The newly announced DCTS Scheme will be pivotal in achieving this.

Notes to editors:

  1. DCTS is a major milestone in growing free and fair trade with 65 developing nations that are home to more than 3.3 billion people. It is one of the most generous trade preferences schemes in the world, providing preferential trade access to 65 developing countries which collectively export over £21bn in goods to the UK.

  2. The DCTS retains and strengthens the government’s powers to suspend countries from the scheme if they systematically violate human rights and labour rights. It grounds all suspension decisions in the principles and obligations of international conventions and extends these to include climate change and environment related obligations. This signals UK’s commitment to tackling climate change and reducing trade that is harmful to the environment.
  3. Some of the specific goods which benefit most from the DCTS in Pakistan include over £250m of average annual exports to the UK of bedlinen and almost £100 million of jeans which will each receive a 12 percent reduction in import duty.

For updates on the British High Commission, please follow our social media channels:

Contact:
British High Commission
Islamabad
Tel: 0300 500 5306

Published 17 August 2022



Clearing launches for 2022

Thursday 18th August – a day etched in the minds of students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. After what feels like the longest wait, they will finally receive their A-Level results.

Once the results are in and the initial excitement (or disappointment) has settled, decisions need to be made, which for some will mean finding a course through Clearing. The window for Clearing is expected to be particularly busy this year and we understand it is an anxious time for students and their parents, as they are eager to secure a spot on a course and cement their plans for the year ahead.

Our Operations team deals with around 1.5m applications every year and despite the significance of the day for many students, it’s actually business as usual for us. Our teams have been through many Clearing periods before and are well versed on their responsibilities and the importance of the job at hand.

We have been inviting students to apply before our deadlines (20 May for new students and 24 June for returning students) so that we can guarantee that funding is in place at the start of the academic term. If students are accepting a place at university or college through Clearing, they need to sign-in to their student finance account and let us know. Students need to change the university or college on the application as well as the course and tell us the correct tuition fee being charged for the new course.

It can take six to eight weeks to process an application, so eligible students who have applied after the deadlines, and who are applying for higher rates of maintenance loans or for additional grants, may not receive their full funding entitlement at the start of term. However, in these circumstances, SLC will award the Tuition Fee Loan and the minimum amount of Maintenance Loan before the start of the course, while we confirm household income and any other relevant details. Students will get the remainder of their maintenance and any other funding entitlement as a top up payment as soon as possible once those details are confirmed.

We are in a strong position, with more customers processed and ready to pay than ever before, and our focus now is to process the applications received as a result of Clearing as quickly as we can, ensuring that all our checks are carried out efficiently and effectively.

There is plenty of information online to answer any questions students have and we also have the online application tracker, which will keep people up to date with where we are with their application. It’s also worth mentioning that any student going through Clearing, who applied before the deadlines, should log in to their online account asap and update their course details.

On behalf of everyone at SLC, I would like to wish students all the best for A-Level results day. We hope it goes well.



Why would I like to meet my neighbours in the Falkland Islands? (Regional Student Competition 2022)

World news story

The Falkland Islands Government and the British Embassies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay invite university students to participate.

This regional competition offers winners the chance to visit the Falklands for a week with all the costs covered. To participate, contestants should send a one minute video answering the question: “Why would I like to meet my neighbours from the Falkland Islands?” in English.

Winners will be staying with a local family, to experience first-hand the life in the Falkland Islands. The ideal winner should be active in social media and willing to share his/her experience about the Falkland Islands through these channels.

The contest is meant to promote the cultural exchange between the Falklands and the region, and to spread the knowledge about the Falkland Island and its people.

Find out more about the competition here: Regional Student Competition regulations

Published 17 August 2022



Updated guidance on destruction and disposal of veterinary medicines containing controlled drugs (CDs)

News story

Revised guidance on veterinary medicines containing controlled drugs (CDs) including who can witness their destruction.

Witness signature strip and pen

We have reviewed and updated our guidance; Controlled drugs: recording, using, storing and disposal including the interpretation of ‘independent veterinary surgeon’ that can witness the destruction of CDs.

We recognise that destruction and disposal of CDs can be complicated especially when faced with a shortage of Police Controlled Drug Liaison Officers, reduced availability of VMD inspectors when inspections are being carried out remotely, or a lack of independent vets within close proximity.

The updated guidance is a result of a survey that indicated that a vet’s preferred option is to use an independent vet to witness the destruction of CDs.

The changes introduced will increase the pool of vets able to witness destruction of CDs, and as such will help:

  • reduce the stockpiling of large quantities of CDs awaiting destruction and disposal
  • improve safety
  • reduce the risk of diversion of CDs

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) are currently reviewing their ‘guidance to help vets comply with the Controlled Drugs legislation’, which is available via our guidance on Controlled drugs: Veterinary medicines. The RCVS guidance will be updated to reflect the changes in due course.

Published 17 August 2022