Coronavirus (COVID-19): ministerial direction for the support fund for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses
Do not meet others, even friends or family.
You can spread the virus even if you don’t have symptoms.
Sellafield Ltd donates £10,000 to provide food to the vulnerable
Do not meet others, even friends or family.
You can spread the virus even if you don’t have symptoms.
Further support for children affected by domestic abuse
Organisations supporting children affected by domestic abuse have been given a £3 million funding boost.
Today (Tuesday 28 April) the Home Office has announced £3.1 million will go to specialist services for children who have both been directly and indirectly affected by domestic abuse. This can include one-to-one and group counselling sessions to improve the mental health of children affected and early intervention schemes.
It comes as the ground-breaking Domestic Abuse Bill will be debated by MPs at the Bill’s second reading today.
The new funding will be split between local authorities, children’s charities and Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales.
Minister for Safeguarding Victoria Atkins said:
It is unacceptable that some children have to witness appalling abuse carried out in their home by those they should trust the most.
This funding will go towards supporting these children, healing their emotional scars, and ensuring they can move forwards and have a positive future.
Recipients of the funding include Barnardo’s, Cambridgeshire County Council and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria.
Sarah Crawley, Director of Barnardo’s Cymru, said:
We are delighted that funding for our Opening Closed Doors service will continue for another year. Domestic abuse is an epidemic with devastating effects on children and their families. It leaves families in a state of trauma, with significant impact on their emotional and mental health.
Sadly the pandemic has seen incidents of domestic violence escalate still further and has highlighted the importance of support for families.
The Domestic Abuse Bill will introduce a wide range of measures to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse as well as ensure perpetrators are punished. Some of the measures included in the Bill include:
- create a statutory definition of domestic abuse, emphasising it can be more than just physical violence
- establish the role of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner in law
- provide police with new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and Domestic Abuse Protection Notices
- place a statutory duty on local authorities to provide support to victims of domestic abuse
- prohibit perpetrators from cross examining witnesses in family courts in England and Wales
- ensure victims of domestic abuse receive special measures in criminal courts, such as allowing them to provide evidence by video link
In addition to the funding and measures in the Bill, the government has provided additional support to help those at risk of domestic abuse during the coronavirus outbreak.
Earlier this month, the Home Secretary launched the #YouAreNotAlone domestic abuse public awareness campaign which has reached more than 120 million people online, and pledged a further £2 million to bolster domestic abuse charities online support services.
Further measures include:
Sellafield lab creates hand sanitiser for site and communities
News story
Hand sanitiser created in our Sellafield on-site laboratories is being delivered to our communities to help combat the Coronavirus.
You need hands, from left to right: Mark Hayter, Stephen Kirvan, Doug Cragg with the first batch of their hand sanitiser.
We all know that keeping our hands clean is a vital way to avoid contracting the virus.
With worries that there might not be enough hand sanitiser to cope with demand on-site, the strategy and technical team within Analytical Services developed their own. They worked with colleagues from the Analytical Services process and shift teams to help with sourcing of materials, and design capability in Risley for health and safety assessments.
The team normally carries out studies and supporting decision making in the labs and for the analytical services programme – including looking at new instrumentation for the current lab and the replacement analytical programme, one of the first 3 projects to be delivered under the programme and project partners agreement.
Head of strategy and technical in analytical services, Dawn Watson, said:
The test batch of 10 litres was a success. It is made using the World Health Organisation method, and is over 62 % alcohol which is required to kill the virus.
Making it is like baking, mixing the chemicals together and stirring to create a liquid. We’re limited by the supply of chemicals but are aiming to supply up to 25 litres a week, which would support the site requirement.
With Sellafield’s supplies currently okay we have transferred it to the local Multi Agency Support team for distribution and use in West Cumbria.
We are now sourcing ingredients to continue with this production for either the site or the community for as long as the need is there.
Published 28 April 2020
Bridging payments give cash injection for stewardship customers
News story
Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship claimants will be offered bridging payments for the 2019 claim year.
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has confirmed today that farmers and land managers will be offered bridging payments for unpaid claims on their stewardship agreements.
The interest-free loans will cover Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship 2019 payments to ensure farmers and land managers are paid for the important work they do to protect the environment.
Eligible claimants will receive a payment in May for 75% of the current estimated value of their claims to help with farm business cash flow while the remaining processing is completed on their claims.
This builds on the announcement made yesterday to extend the claim window for 2020 as part of a suite of measures the RPA is undertaking to help rural businesses affected by coronavirus.
RPA Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said:
We are committed to driving up performance on the Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship schemes, but these bridging payments will help to tide farmers and land managers over in May before their claims are paid.
We know this is a difficult time for farmers and rural businesses, and our focus remains on processing the remaining claims so they can be paid as quickly as possible.
A bridging payment is an interest-free loan to customers ahead of their full payment, providing them with 75% of the current estimated value of their claim. Once the full payment has been processed and made, the amount already issued through a bridging payment will be held back.
As the vast majority (99%) of Basic Payment Scheme claims have already been paid in full to customers, the RPA will not be making bridging payments to BPS customers this year. The RPA is working quickly to resolve the few outstanding applications where payment is due.
The RPA will be writing directly to farmers and land managers to provide an update on bridging payments and on how these payments will be calculated.
Published 28 April 2020