At 6.15pm on 5 March 2020, a statutory instrument was made into law that adds COVID-19 to the list of notifiable diseases and SARS-COV-2 to the list of notifiable causative agents.
This change was made by adding them to the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010.
This change in law requires GPs to report all cases of COVID-19 to Public Health England.
The Prime Minister met President Vella of Malta at Downing Street today.
He underlined the UK’s commitment to a strong relationship with Malta and to continuing to work together to strengthen our economic and political ties.
The leaders discussed regional security issues, including the situation in Libya and the need for all parties to support peace talks to end the violence.
They also looked ahead to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda and agreed it would be an important opportunity for countries to address shared priorities such as climate change and free trade.
I am very sorry to report a patient in England who tested positive for COVID-19 has sadly died. I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their request for privacy is respected.
The patient, who was being treated at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, was an older patient who had underlying health conditions. We believe they contracted the virus in the UK and contact tracing is already underway.
At an event at the U.S. Department of Justice, the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse were formally launched. They are a set of 11 actions tech firms should take to ensure children are not sexually exploited on their platforms.
These range from pledges to stop existing and new child sexual abuse material appearing on platforms, taking steps to stop the livestreaming of abuse, identify and stop grooming and predatory behaviour, and ensuring they are ahead of the evolving threat.
In July the Five Country Ministerial – made up of the governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA – agreed to draft the principles, given the global nature of child sexual abuse. They were written in consultation with technology industry representatives.
Among the companies to endorse the principles were Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Snap and Roblox. At a roundtable discussion in Washington, attendees from the Five Countries, including Security Minister James Brokenshire and industry, discussed the voluntary principles and the best way to ensure tech companies action them.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, said:
It is truly horrific that thousands of sick paedophiles are preying on vulnerable children from across the world. This scandal requires our global partners to work together, and these principles provide a blueprint for delivering just that.
I want this landmark collaboration across borders and sectors to define a stronger, new, united approach.
The launch of the principles comes against the backdrop of more criminals from across the world using evolving tactics to target children online.
Last year, the tech industry reported 69 million child sexual abuse images and videos – up by over 50% in just 12 months. According to the National Strategic Assessment more than 3.5 million accounts are now registered to the world’s most depraved dark web sites. In coordinated operational activity against online child sexual exploitation and abuse, the National Crime Agency and UK police arrest around 500 child sex offenders a month and safeguard about 700 children a month.
As part of the launch, the security minister also met the Phoenix 11 – a group of Canadian survivors of child sexual abuse.
In collaboration with industry and other stakeholders, the 11 principles are split into six different categories:
The WePROTECT Global Alliance, which currently comprises of 97 governments, 25 technology companies and 30 civil society organisations, will promote the principles across industry and encourage support for the initiative. This wide support will help ensure the principles are taken forward by the technology industry.
Security Minister James Brokenshire said:
We cannot allow children to fall victim to predators who lurk in the shadows of the web.
Through global collaboration and with enhanced action from the Five Countries, law enforcement agencies and tech companies, we will ensure that children are protected online.
The voluntary principles are just one way the UK government is taking world-leading action to tackle online child sexual abuse.
Soon, the government will launch a first-of-its-kind Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, which will set out an ambitious range of cross-government activity to bear down on offenders, safeguard children and support victims. Recently, the government also announced £30m extra funding for law enforcement to help them tackle online CSEA.
Further measures have included:
As part of his visit to Washington, the security minister also attended the Transatlantic Aviation Industry Roundtable, to discuss further collaboration on aviation security solutions.
The Prime Minister has today, Thursday 5th March, announced the appointment of Baroness Liz Sugg as the Special Envoy for Girls’ Education, a new role which will help accelerate progress towards getting more girls in the world’s poorest countries into schools and benefitting from quality learning.
Empowering girls and women is a priority for the Prime Minister, who used his first speech on the steps of Downing Street to underline the pledge he made as Foreign Secretary, that every girl should receive 12 years of quality education no matter where she is born. As part of her role, Baroness Sugg will be working closely with international partners to encourage greater global ambition, coordination, and investment on girls’ education.
The new role will also place her at the head of delivering the Prime Minister’s ambition for what will be achieved internationally on girls’ education over the next five years. Over the last four years, the Government has supported 14.3 million children in developing countries to gain a decent education with UK aid, of which at least 5.8 million were girls.
Ahead of the official International Women’s Day on Sunday, the Prime Minister welcomed leading female figures from business, science, and sport, among other sectors, to a special reception in Downing Street where he spoke about the women who inspired him and the government’s commitment to action on the gender pay gap and girls education.
As part of the event, the Prime Minister took part in a panel discussion with founder of STEMettes Anne-Marie Imafidon, Grazia editor Hattie Brett, and Olympic medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, where they discussed career aspirations and the challenges facing women in the workplace today. The event was attended by fifty girls in Year 9 who are due to make their GCSE choices.
The panel spoke about a range of issues including the importance of inspiring the next generation of women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) fields as well as the gender pay gap. The Prime Minister reiterated that the Government had made it obligatory for companies to show the discrepancies in pay so there was absolute transparency and said there should be equal pay for equal work irrespective of gender.
Among those celebrating International Women’s day at the reception were a number of leading female business leaders including CEO of RBS Alison Rose and Manchester United COO Collette Roche. A third of all board positions in the UK’s FTSE 100 companies are now held by women, a key target of the government-backed Hampton-Alexander Review, which has been met almost one year early.
Guests enjoyed salmon cream cheese tarts, teriyaki skewers and baked vanilla cheesecakes provided by female students from the Westminster Kingsway Catering School.
Speaking at the reception Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
I am immensely proud to be celebrating International Women’s Day with inspiring women who are showing pupils attending our panel here today that there are no limits to what can be achieved. There is one single thing that we can all do to end injustice and change the prospects of the world for the better and that is to campaign, every one of us, for girls to receive 12 years of quality education. This is the best way to help economies grow, tackle poverty, prevent early marriage and empower women.
It is the great Swiss army knife to some of our biggest challenges and that is why I am delighted to announce the appointment of Liz Sugg as the new Special Envoy for Girls’ Education. Let’s make sure that every girl in the world gets the same investment, same care, same love, same attention in her education as every boy in the world. It is the single most important utensil at the disposal of humanity to change all our lives for the better.
Special Envoy for Girls’ Education Baroness Liz Sugg said:
I’m honoured to take on the role of the UK’s Special Envoy for Girls’ Education. I truly believe girls’ education is the key to solving so many of the world’s problems. Today around 130 million girls worldwide are being denied the right to an education, particularly in the world’s poorest countries. Girls are kept out of school due to poverty, the threat of violence and because often, girls are simply not valued as much as boys. This tragic waste of potential must end.
Giving girls the chance to learn is not only the right thing to do, it’s one of the smartest investments we can make with UK aid and I will stand up for the right of every girl in the world to benefit from 12 years of quality education.
The UK’s flagship Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) is the world’s largest global programme dedicated to girls’ education. The current phase is helping to get up to 1.5 million vulnerable girls in school and learning in 17 of the world’s poorest countries by 2025.
As a global leader on supporting gender equality and women’s rights in development, the UK is also tackling the barriers that keep girls out of school.