Committed to enhancing our services – the first in a series of customer help videos launched

News story

Guidance video which provides helpful information you might need if claiming for compensation under either the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pension Scheme.

Earlier this year, we began our campaign to demonstrate how we are committed to enhancing our services and continuously improving after listening to feedback from our end users. The first helpful tool we published was the Customer Journey Maps, and as a continuation of this we have produced a bite-size video, the first of a series, which provides advice on what you need to know before making a claim for compensation. The aim is to help simplify and guide you through the claims process and by giving answers to common queries.

If this is your first claim we would recommend watching this video and then taking a look at our Customer Journey Maps, so that you know what to expect from the claims process.

We are in the process of developing more targeted bite-size videos, which will provide more detail and guidance on the AFCS, WPS and Appeals process.

Make sure you bookmark the Veterans UK GOV.UK landing page to keep up to date as the videos will be published later in the year as part of this series.

Claiming for Compensation: Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and War Pension Scheme

We are also modernising our services and looking forward to providing more digitally enabled ways for individuals and their representatives to make a claim, monitor its progress, and stay in touch with us. We will keep you informed of these improvements as they develop, via this and other channels.

You can also follow us on Facebook @modveteransuk and Twitter @VeteransUK_MOD.

Published 26 July 2022

The Chancellor visits Darlington Economic Campus for the first time

Today the Chancellor unveiled the Brunswick Street site in Darlington as the new permanent home of the Darlington Economic Campus.
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi told colleagues in Darlington he was ‘eager to see more roles’ in the town during his first working day at the campus.
There are over 130 Treasury staff currently working in Darlington, which will increase up to 300 by 2025.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi today announced the permanent location for the new Darlington Economic Campus and pledged to ensure more Treasury roles were moved to the town.

During a visit to Darlington, which has housed Treasury staff since 2021, the Chancellor undertook meetings with Treasury ministers, was given a tour of the temporary Feethams House site, met with Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, gave a welcome address to, and took questions from, Treasury colleagues.

There are now more than 130 Treasury staff in Darlington, following a rigorous recruitment campaign, a key part of the government’s drive to tap into talent across the UK, level-up across the country and diversify policy making by moving roles out of London.

While working at the site, the Chancellor announced that subject to contract and lease agreement, the site at Brunswick Street at the heart of the town will be the permanent base for the campus, replacing the car park currently located on the site.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, said:

“It was great to work from the Darlington Economic Campus today and announce the Treasury’s new permanent office at the heart of the town.

“We are levelling up across the UK, tapping into the extraordinary talent in towns across the country and I am eager to see more Treasury roles in Darlington.

“People in all parts of this great country have a right to be at the heart of government decision-making and we are delivering on that promise by moving up to 300 Treasury roles to Darlington by 2025.”

Teams have now begun moving from the interim office at Bishopsgate House into a longer-term temporary office in Feethams House, which will be completed in September, ahead of the permanent site being ready in a few years’ time.

There are over 130 HMT staff now in post in Darlington, the department aims to have up to 300 Treasury roles based in the town by 2025. The majority of staff have been recruited directly to the campus and the remainder have chosen to relocate from London.

Alongside the Treasury, the Campus will house teams from the Department for International Trade, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Office for National Statistics and the Competition and Markets Authority. They will be working alongside the Department for Education who already have a base in Darlington.

More than 6,000 Civil Service jobs have already been moved out of London to support the government’s levelling up agenda.

Whilst in the region, the Chancellor also visited the Greggs factory in Newcastle, which recently announced 125 new local jobs. He was given a tour of the factory and met staff who were making the retailer’s famous doughnuts and sweet treats.

Contact Information

HMT Press Office

020 7270 5238

pressoffice@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Notes to editors

Pictures will be available on the Treasury’s Flickr account.
The Darlington Economic Campus supports the wider Places for Growth programme which aims to move 22,000 civil service positions out of London and the South East by 2030.
As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, more departments have made fresh commitments to move roles out of London including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), who have confirmed they will move hundreds of roles out of London to locations across the UK. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have also announced they will be moving 550 roles out of the capital by 2025 and 1,100 by 2030.
The Department for International Trade will be moving 774 roles out of London by 2030, with 500+ being located in Darlington.

CMA shines a light on music streaming

Press release

The CMA today published analysis which shines a light on the inner workings of music streaming.

Smartphone with music streaming service on display

In an update paper on its music and streaming market study, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has initially found that:

Streaming has transformed the music industry. Recorded music revenues reached £1.1 billion in 2021, with 80% of recorded music now listened to via streaming services. Last year there were over 138 billion music streams in the UK.
Listeners have access to a huge choice of music for a fixed monthly subscription fee. These fees have fallen in real terms.
Access to a wide range of music – old and new – means older songs can more easily get a new lease of life and find new audiences. 86% of streams in 2021 were for music over a year old.
Digitisation has made it easier than ever for many more artists to record and share music and find an audience. The number of artists streaming music has doubled between 2014 and 2020 – from around 200,000 to 400,000.
While more artists are releasing music, and they have more choice than ever before as to how they release their work, the market remains challenging for many creators. The industry’s income is broadly stable, but more artists are offering more music. As has always been the case, while a small number of high-profile artists enjoy huge financial success, the large majority do not make substantial earnings.
Against the backdrop of 138 billion overall streams in 2021, CMA analysis has found that one million streams per month could earn an artist around £12,000 a year.
The 3 major record labels play a key role in the recorded music sector. The evidence the CMA has seen does not show that this concentrated market is currently causing consumers harm or that it is driving the concerns raised by artists. Neither labels nor streaming services appear to be making sustained excess profits.

On balance, the CMA’s initial analysis indicates that the market is delivering good outcomes for consumers. However, the CMA would be concerned if the market changed in ways that could harm consumer interests. For example, it would be concerned if innovation in the sector decreased, or if the balance of power changed and labels and streaming services began to make sustained and substantial excess profits.

The CMA will also continue to support the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) work with industry to improve information transparency.

Sarah Cardell, Interim Chief Executive of the CMA, said:

Streaming has transformed music. Technology is opening the door to many new artists to find an audience and music lovers can access a vast array of music, old and new, for prices that have fallen in real terms.

But for many artists it is just as tough as it has always been, and many feel that they are not getting a fair deal. Our initial analysis shows that the outcomes for artists are not driven by issues to do with competition, such as sustained excessive profits.

We are now keen to hear views on our initial findings which will help guide our thinking and inform our final report.

The CMA’s market study is ongoing. In light of its initial findings, the CMA is consulting on its proposal to not make a market investigation reference and welcomes further evidence or feedback on this by 19 August.

The CMA will share its analysis with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the IPO and the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) to help inform their work examining whether artists’ rights can be strengthened for music streaming.

For more information, visit the music streaming market study webpage.

For media enquiries, contact the CMA press office on 020 3738 6460 or press@cma.gov.uk.
The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law.
Market studies examine why particular markets may not be working well for consumers. They may lead to a range of outcomes, including: a) making recommendations to the government to change regulations or public policy; b) encouraging businesses in the market to self-regulate; c) taking consumer or competition law enforcement action against firms; d) making a reference for a more in-depth (phase 2) market investigation; e) “clean bill of health”.
More information on the CMA’s approach to market studies can be found on the Market studies and investigations – guidance on the CMA’s approach: CMA3 guidance page.
The CMA’s statutory deadline for publishing its market study report is 26 January 2023.
Sarah Cardell took up her new position as Interim CEO of the CMA on 26 July 2022.

Published 26 July 2022

OneWeb merger with Eutelsat

News story

Government statement on the planned merger of OneWeb and Eutelsat.

OneWeb, a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation of which the UK Government is a minority shareholder, has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Eutelsat Communications to merge the two companies, with the objective of creating a single, powerful global player in connectivity.

Eutelsat will add its 36-strong fleet of Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites to OneWeb’s LEO constellation, with 428 satellites already in orbit, to generate combined revenues of €1.2bn and address an even wider range of customer requirements.

The merger is positive news for UK taxpayers: having made a $500m investment in OneWeb 2 years ago, the UK Government will now have a significant stake in what will become a single, powerful, global space company, working on the sound financial footing needed to make the most of the technological advantages it has to compete in the highly-competitive global satellite industry, against companies around the world.

The UK Government will retain the special share and its exclusive rights over OneWeb – securing the company’s future at the centre of the combined group’s global LEO business, national security controls over the network, and first-preference rights over domestic industrial opportunities.

They include:

A range of national security rights, including over security standards of the OneWeb network and use of the OneWeb network for national security purposes;
The UK secured as the preferred location for future OneWeb launch capabilities; and
A guarantee of OneWeb preferring procurement for manufacturing from businesses in the UK

Trading under its existing name, OneWeb will continue to operate the LEO business of the combined group and OneWeb’s headquarters will remain in the UK.

Eutelsat will continue to be listed on Euronext Paris and will apply for admission to listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The deal will be subject to UK and international regulatory approvals – including through the National Security and Investments Act – and the approval of Eutelsat’s shareholders. The merger is expected to complete in the first half of 2023.

Published 26 July 2022

Repeatedly flooded communities to receive dedicated funding

Communities suffering repeated flooding will benefit from a new ring-fenced £100 million allowance designed to better protect their properties, the Government has announced today.

The £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance will improve access to public funding for these communities, which are often smaller areas requiring more complex flood schemes, meaning that community-wide defences are not always viable.

The funding will be targeted at eligible communities where 10 or more properties have flooded twice or more in the last 10 years, helping to both accelerate existing projects and deliver new ones. It is anticipated around 80 schemes will receive support over the next four years.

This allowance will be part of the Government’s current programme of investment in flood and coastal defences. The Government announced in 2020 that the amount invested in flood and coastal erosion schemes would be doubled in England to £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027, providing around 2,000 flood defences. This year, £700 million is being invested from that pot and will better protect 35,000 properties, bringing the cumulative total for the first two years of the six-year programme to more than 65,000.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said:

Flooding is a miserable experience, especially for people who suffer its impacts time and again, and I feel we have a moral imperative to help.

Our new Frequently Flooded Allowance will boost schemes in areas which are hit repeatedly and reduce the risk of flooding in the future.

This new allowance will provide extra support for these areas and forms part of our major £5.2 billion effort to build around 2,000 flood schemes by 2027 and level-up defences across the country.

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said:

The impacts of climate change are becoming all too familiar both at home and around the world.

While we cannot prevent all flooding, this allowance will help better protect homes and businesses at risk from repeated incidents.

The Environment Agency has a successful track record in delivering flood and coastal defence schemes across the country, having better protected more than 314,000 homes from flooding since 2015.

Communities will be selected through the Environment Agency’s annual refresh of the £5.2 billion capital programme – which sets out the latest information on each project in the programme and the amount of grant-in-aid allocated to that project in that year.

The latest investment builds on the Environment Agency’s successful delivery of the government’s previous £2.6 billion investment between 2015 and 2021, better protecting more than 314,000 homes, exceeding its original target.

Thanks to a £2.6 billion investment, more than 850 new flood and coastal erosion defence projects were completed during this period. Over 580,000 acres of agricultural land, as well as thousands of businesses, communities and major infrastructure – including more than 8,000 kilometres of roads – also benefited from improvement schemes.

Our flood defences recently protected around 50,000 properties from flooding during Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, and schemes delivered in the last year are already helping to provide better protection for thousands of properties across England.

Today’s announcement is another step to delivering on the ambitions of the government’s flood and coastal erosion risk management policy statement and the Environment Agency’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, which set out a vision and set of comprehensive actions to ensure that our country is more resilient to flooding and coastal erosion and climate change in the long term.

Further information

The Frequently Flooded Allowance will be part of our record £5.2 billion investment between 2021 and 2027 which, as announced in July 2020, plans to provide around 2,000 flood defences to better protect 336,000 properties.
Further information on the funding of flood and coastal erosion projects can be found from the Investment and partnership funding community of practice or from your local Environment Agency Partnership and Strategic Overview (PSO) officer (Partnership funding for FCERM projects – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk))