On 19 January 2020, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for Human Rights, represented the United Kingdom at an International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) meeting, to renew the UK’s commitment to the founding principles of the Stockholm Declaration.

The Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust (the “Stockholm Declaration”), adopted in 2000, is the founding document of IHRA. The Declaration continues to serve as an ongoing affirmation of each IHRA member state’s commitment to holocaust remembrance and commemoration.

To mark the twentieth anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration, and to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration and extermination camps, representatives from all IHRA member states gathered to adopt a renewed commitment to the Stockholm Declaration.

Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon said:

In this important anniversary year for holocaust commemoration and remembrance, the United Kingdom reaffirms our unwavering commitment to eliminating all forms of hate and bigotry, including antisemitism, both at home and abroad.

We will continue to honour the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered, and all other victims of Nazi persecution.

It is important that we reaffirm our collective commitment to combatting prejudice and intolerance, and pledge to the victims and survivors of the holocaust that they will never be forgotten.

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New research marking the start of Big Energy Saving Week 2020 (20-26 January) has revealed a significant gap in consumer understanding about managing their household energy use and the simple steps people can take to reduce their carbon footprint.

The survey, conducted by Citizens Advice and Energy Saving Trust, shows that over a third (36%) of British households have not made changes to their energy usage at home in recent years. That’s 9.7 million households that experts say need more help and encouragement with ways to save money and reduce their household emissions.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of people are surprised to hear the extent British homes contribute to global warming. British homes are responsible for around 25% of carbon emissions, making them one of the biggest contributors to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Head of Consumer Advice at Energy Saving Trust, Laura McGadie, said:

Our research shows that while great strides have been made by some households, more can be done, and by more people. If every household in Britain made just a handful of energy saving changes, the combined impact could make a big difference to our finances and the environment. We are committed to inspiring everyone to make small changes to their energy saving habits this Big Energy Saving Week 2020 – particularly those who will benefit most from the money they could save.

The vast majority of households (87%) think small changes will make little or no difference to their finances. A third of respondents (31%) don’t consider managing their energy use as a priority or think it would cost them something to control it (19%).

However, new analysis by the Energy Saving Trust has found that 4 simple changes alone have the potential to save households around £100 a year – and help towards the UK reaching net zero emissions by 2050:

1. Turning your thermostat down by 1 degree would save households £800 million and cut 3.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year

2. Changing your all your lightbulbs to LEDs would save households £230 million and 430 thousand tonnes of carbon emissions every year

3. Turning appliances off rather than keeping them on standby would save households £690 million and curb the release of 1.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions

4. Only using the right amount of water in your kettle would save households £1.1 billion and stop 2 million tonnes of carbon emissions being released annually

The total carbon savings if households took these 4 simple steps would be the equivalent of taking around 3 million cars off the road.

Business and Energy Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, said:

You’d be surprised at what small steps can make a big difference – both to energy bills and to your contribution to climate change. During Big Energy Saving Week, I’d urge everyone to contact the Simple Energy Advice Service to see what they can do – whether it’s changing lightbulbs, switching provider or turning down the thermostat when away from home – to cut their emissions, and their bills.

Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, Gillian Guy, said:

This year Big Energy Saving Week is all about how we can make small changes to our everyday lives that help save money and have a positive impact on the environment.

Our homes are responsible for nearly a quarter of British carbon emissions, so this is a great opportunity to really make a difference. Reducing the amount of energy we use cuts our household bills, so going greener can help you keep out of the red.

A quarter of British households say being given hints and tips would motivate them to make energy saving changes. To help, Citizens Advice, Energy Saving Trust and BEIS are launching an expert-approved list of 20 ways to save (2.10MB) as part of Big Energy Saving Week 2020, urging people to take their first step or do more on their energy saving journey. Consumers are also encouraged to contact the Simple Energy Advice Service for information and support.

More than 460 events will also be taking place across the country at various locations, including Citizens Advice centres, aimed at helping people get advice, save money and reduce their carbon footprint.

Big Energy Saving Week 2020 (20-26 January) is brought to you by Citizens Advice, Energy Saving Trust and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and is aimed at empowering people to save energy and money and reduce their carbon footprint by offering easy everyday actions the British public can take.

The new and expert endorsed 20 ways to save (2.10MB) list aims to inspire positive changes throughout the week.

Consumer research is based on 2,001 British adults between 17-18 December 2019 by Censuswide on behalf of Energy Saving Trust, Citizens Advice and BEIS. The 9.7 million figure is 36% of 27,056,107 British households.

Financial and carbon dioxide savings are based on weighted average savings for Great Britain which takes into account the housing stock mix and heating fuel mix where applicable. (Correct as of January 2020).

Well thank you for that kind introduction, if you don’t mind, I will stand up because I just always find it’s easier to speak while standing. It’s a great pleasure to be able to join you and can I start by thanking Flora [Ms Flor Mutahi, founder and CEP of Melvin Marsh International and Chair of the Anti-Counterfeit Authority for the Government of Kenya] for her words, which I think were very salient.

As was said in the introduction, before joining the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development, I was a business minister, and before entering our parliament I ran my own business in Manchester. So, I really do get the importance of the private sector and not just in the United Kingdom, but globally as a force for good in the world. And you know, I’ve always been one of those people who believes in government, but particularly I have always been somebody who’s believed that the better route out of poverty is work.

And when we look at the young, growing population we have right across the continent of Africa, the best thing we can do in order to help people, is to help them by economic prosperity, put them into work and help create the jobs, that millions of young Africans entering the Labour market will require to get on in life. So there is a lot of work for us to do. Very proud to now be a member of our Department of International Development and the Foreign Office. It is a joint ministerial role and it hopefully brings together different aspects of the British Government, of our commitment to spend 0.7% of our Gross National Income on development work which leads to spending fourteen and a half billion pounds in global efforts.

There has been a shift in our work. Three years ago we really shifted the focus onto economic empowerment, and working obviously the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] are at the absolute centre of everything we do, but we recognise that we have to harness the power of the private sector. And we have to work with economies around the world, in order to create that wealth and create those jobs. So there has been a shift in what we do; in the Department for International Development; that sort of thing that chimes very much with what we are discussing tonight, that is something I very much want to expand on as my role as a minister.

So of course, we are meeting here tonight ahead of the Africa Investment summit on Monday. Which will be a key moment for the United Kingdom to bring government, delegations from 21 different countries, bring those delegates and British businesses and international businesses and international organisation, bring everybody together. Over 2000 delegates will be meeting on Monday. And hopefully that will provide a huge forum, a huge platform, for us to showcase some of the investment opportunities in Africa and to make people look again at Africa as a place to really invest. I think this Summit could not be coming at a more pivotal time, we have entered the decade of delivery to meet the Global Goals and the only way that we can do that, it is not just down to government, it is down to working with the private sector and harnessing the power of the private sector.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which was mentioned, provides an opportunity to catalyse trade and foreign direct investment flows into Africa. And this will help fill gab, financing gap, for achieving Global Goals on the Continent, which of course is estimated at being up to $1.2 trillion.

The UK is committed to working with business and investors to increase their impact on the Global Goals. We have been supporting the UN Global Compact since 2014. As the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, we recognise that the UNGC is a key engine for driving change in business behaviour. And I am proud of the work the UNGC does and has already achieved. To have more than 10,000 member companies in over 160 countries representing nearly every sector and size is a truly fantastic achievement. An achievement that I am proud to say DFID, the Department for International Development, is playing our part in – as all DFID suppliers are required to be members of the UNGC.

As we enter the UN Global Compact’s 20th Anniversary year, the revamped UN Global Compact Africa Strategy aims to expand the organisation’s work in Africa and mobilise a greater movement of responsible businesses to help advance the continent’s sustainability agenda and national development goals. We are pleased to be part of this journey and look forward to seeing the UN Global Compact expanding in Africa.

Our partnership with the UNGC is part of my Department’s broader Economic Development Strategy. Launched three years ago, the strategy commits the UK government to support the creation of decent jobs, providing more economic opportunities particularly for women, and ensuring nobody is left behind. The Summit on Monday is key to delivering this strategy, bringing together government delegations, investors and businesses to create new lasting partnerships that will deliver more investment, more jobs and more growth, which will benefit people and businesses across Africa and here in the United Kingdom.

You will hear more about our efforts to meet Africa’s potential and partnerships from Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday when he is at the Summit.

We all know that Africa has great economic potential. The IMF estimates that Africa is home to eight of the world’s 15 fastest growing economies. As we leave the European Union and we honour that pledge that we made to the British people, we want a closer partnership with African nations, and we are helping UK businesses to seize new and exciting opportunities for investment across the continent. By 2050, over 2 billion people will live in Africa and 1 in 4 global consumers will be African. Currently, African countries receive less than 4% of foreign direct investment and around 20 million jobs a year must be created to keep pace with that population growth. That is why I want to create mutually beneficial partnerships for the future and help Africa move beyond aid, to trade.

We can, all of us around this table, we can all play our part in tackling the Global challenges and eliminating extreme poverty around the world. We can create new opportunities for ourselves and the generations to come. We can, and we must.

The following products were seized by a VMD inspector during a routine inspection of a veterinary practice:

• 2 x 50ml Bottle of Amikavet 125mg/ml
• 2 Boxes of 10 doses of Tildren 5mg/ml
• 1 Box of 10 doses of Tildren 5mg/ml (6 doses remaining)

These products are non-UK veterinary products. They can only be administered under Schedule 4 (Administration of a veterinary medicinal product outside the terms of a marketing authorisation) of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 (VMR) by vets who hold a valid Special Import Certificate (SIC). No such certificates were held by this practice.

The administration of these products is an offence under Regulation 8 (Administration of the product).

The possession of these products is an offence under regulation 26 (Possession of an unauthorised veterinary medicinal product) of the VMR.

Published 22 January 2020

The UK hosted the Africa Investment Summit. This brought together 21 countries from across Africa, many represented at Head of State level, as well as multilateral bodies, UK and African business leaders and influential voices. His Excellency President Kagame attended alongside a strong Rwandan delegation of senior ministers, officials, and companies spanning a wide range of sectors.

Africa is a continent alive with opportunity; its economic potential is substantial and its success matters to the UK. We want the UK to be the partner of choice for Africa and the investor with the biggest impact in terms of quality jobs, growth and sustainability. The summit has proven an important moment to realise this, helping to secure new investment deals, create new jobs, forge new partnerships and showcase the UK’s unique offer to Africa.

The Africa Investment Summit provided a platform for Rwanda to highlight the opportunities here for investors. With an economy that is one of the fastest growing in the world at 8.5% and ranked second on the continent for ease of doing business, Rwanda has a good story to tell which appeals to UK companies seeking new opportunities on the continent.

Last week, UK Development Secretary Alok Sharma announced an additional £6 million for financial sector development work in Rwanda, which will boost the availability of finance for local business. The first Rwandan Franc bond was listed at the London Stock Exchange last night. This will allow Rwanda to access international markets to drive investment and develop Rwanda’s capital market without increasing exposure to potentially damaging exchange rate fluctuations.

UK Aid, through the UK Department for International Development (DFID) continues to invest heavily in Rwanda’s long-term growth and transformation. As well as a significant investment supporting the Government of Rwanda’s efforts to improve learning outcomes in basic education (critical to building human capital), over half of the UK’s £54 million bilateral aid programme this year is focused on supporting economic growth, including trade facilitation, financial sector development and agriculture. UK support also enabled a significant investment by Unilever in the tea sector – a great example of the partnerships the UK-Africa Investment Summit was promoting.

Attracting investment into the manufacturing sector is a key priority for the Government of Rwanda. Following the UK-Africa Investment Summit, the UK Aid funded Manufacturing Africa programme will be supporting the Rwanda Development Board to follow up with investors in order to maximise the impact of their attendance in London.

The Africa Investment Summit is the first engagement of an important year for UK-Rwanda relations. It will be followed by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali in June and the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 hosted by the UK in November. All three events put Rwanda firmly in the international spotlight, and the UK will continue to partner with Rwanda through 2020 and beyond.