Stephen Hawker is a former senior member of the United Kingdom intelligence and security community. After leaving government service in 2006 he worked as an independent consultant providing insight to government and the commercial sector in the UK and overseas on national security issues. He has undertaken a number of significant Board level assignments including benchmarking reviews of overseas security and intelligence services, and other capacity building in Africa and the Middle East. He was a specialist adviser to the House of Lords sub-Committee reviewing the EU’s Internal Security Strategy and one of the ‘Critical Friends’ advising the Home Office on security arrangements for the 2012 London Olympics. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, and a non-executive director in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He currently serves on the Security Vetting Appeals Panel (SVAP) and is an independent member of the Audit Committee of Manchester Metropolitan University. He is a distinguished fellow of the University of Reading and a Fellow of the Institutes of Engineering and Technology (FIET) and Civil Protection and Emergency Management (FICPEM).

Martin Howard is a recently retired UK senior security official. His last two postings in government were as Director for Cyber Policy and International Relations at GCHQ, focusing on strategic development and communication of cyber-security policies, and on cyber and intelligence co-operation with international partners; and Chief of the Assessments Staff in the Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Organisation, analysing conventional and novel threats to national security and critical infrastructure. He previously served as Assistant Secretary General for Operations in NATO, dealing with the alliance’s missions in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Libya, Iraq and on counter-piracy; as Director General Operational Policy in the Ministry of Defence; and as Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence. Most of Martin’s earlier service was in the Ministry of Defence, working primarily on security policy, operations, intelligence and corporate communications. He also worked in the Northern Ireland Office acting as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State and as part of the UK team that helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement. Martin was appointed Companion of the Bath (CB) in 2007. He is married to Caroline Delves and they have no children. His hobbies include classical and contemporary guitar, swimming, sailing, music and reading.

Phillip Johnson is the Professor of Commercial Law at Cardiff University. He researches legal history, intellectual property, and public law with particular interest in the history of policy development and the legislative process. He remains a practising barrister and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He worked as a government lawyer between 2002 and 2007 and for most of that time he advised the Patent Office. In 2007 he returned to private practice before becoming a full title academic in 2012. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the European Law Institute. He has published numerous books and articles on law and legal political history.

Leon Litvack is Professor of Victorian Studies at the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he has worked since 1991. He is a world authority on the manuscripts, letters and photographic portraits of Charles Dickens, and serves on the Board of the Charles Dickens Museum, London. He is Principal Editor of the Charles Dickens Letters Project (Dickensletters.com), and has authored many books and articles on the Victorian author; his latest publication is Reading Dickens Differently (Wiley-Blackwell, 2020). He has held Visiting Professorships at Columbia University (New York), the University of New Brunswick (Canada), and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). He is a freelance broadcaster for the BBC, and contributes to radio and television programmes on literature, arts and culture, and on religion and ethics. Professor Litvack serves on the Board of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and chairs its Finance and Capital Committee. He is also a Board member of National Museums Northern Ireland, and has served as the organisation’s Vice-Chairman; he is currently Chairman of NMNI’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.

Helene Pantelli has worked at the Financial Ombudsman Service since 2013 as an ombudsman, a statutory decision maker responsible for resolving disputes between consumers and financial services providers. She is currently an Ombudsman Leader and the Head of Practice for Investments and Pensions disputes, leading a division of ombudsman managers making legally binding decisions on complex and high value complaints. Helene has responsibility for technical matters and policy development for those complaints. She represents the Financial Ombudsman Service externally, speaking at events, liaising regularly with regulatory authorities, businesses and other key industry and consumer groups. Helene represented the Financial Ombudsman Service on the government advisory group on social impact investing in the UK, the report for which – “Growing a culture of social impact investing in the UK” – was published at the end of 2017. Helene is a qualified solicitor. She spent several years practising law with City law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (in London and Paris) and Travers Smith LLP, including a secondment to the legal team of a global financial institution. Helene’s experience focussed on all elements of commercial law, particularly private and listed investment funds, assisting clients with corporate transactions, corporate governance and regulatory matters.

David Rossington was a civil servant from 1982 until earlier this year. He held acting Director General roles in both DCMS and MHCLG, and was Finance Director in both departments for some years. This included responsibility for document management and Freedom of Information issues in both departments. Other roles included being interim Director of the Office for Civil Society in DCMS, and the senior official responsible for a major cultural project to enable better storage and better public access for 2.5 million objects belonging to three national museums. During his career, David worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, the Foreign Office, DEFRA, an office of the Treasury, MHCLG and DCMS. He is a qualified accountant (CIMA). Currently David is a trustee of a housing charity for veterans (Stoll), Treasurer of an Oxfordshire environmental charity (Earth Trust), and trustee at the Oxfordshire Community Foundation and at an Oxford arts charity, Arts at the Old Fire Station. He provides advice to the Gambling Commission on preparations for the next National Lottery competition. He is also a keen walker, allotment tenant and participant in activities in his Oxfordshire village. He has two adult children.

Martin Uden served as Ambassador in Seoul from 2008-2011, having had two previous postings in the Embassy there. He was previously Consul-General in San Francisco, and had postings to Bonn, Ottawa and Lagos. While on leave from the Foreign Office, he worked for the UN in New York as Coordinator of the Panel of Experts on sanctions against the DPRK from 2012-14. After leaving the Foreign Office, he worked for HSBC in Hong Kong from 2015-17, and now works for his alma mater, Queen Mary University of London, and is on the Advisory Board of QMUL’s Global Policy Institute. In addition, he is a trustee of a Christian mission charity, Governor of his local school, Chairman of the British Korean Society and President of the British Korean War Veterans’ Society. He is the author of “Times Past in Korea,” 2003, an anthology of foreign writings on Korea, based on his collection of antiquarian books, and of a historical introduction to “Korea: Caught in time,” 1997.

These roles are remunerated at £386 per day for up to twenty-four days a year. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Stephen Hawker, Martin Howard, Professor Phillip Johnson, Dr Leon Litvack, Helene Pantelli, David Rossington and Martin Uden have not declared any activity.

The Education Secretary has made a rallying call today for British education to be the envy of the world, marking the start of a ‘post-Brexit education revolution’ (Monday 20 January).

Gavin Williamson delivered a speech at the Education World Forum in London, which welcomes more than 100 education ministers from around the world, stressing the importance of nurturing international relationships as the UK prepares to leave the EU, to help Britain be the best place for education in the world.

Mr Williamson announced a one-year extension to a £2.5 million school exchange programme which allows children from disadvantaged backgrounds to experience other countries, cultures and improve language skills.

Mr Williamson also discussed ambitions for the Government’s International Education Strategy, which aims to increase international student numbers and strengthen the UK’s collaboration on education with overseas partners.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

“The UK has always been an outward-looking and global nation, with a proud history and record when it comes to education and innovation.

“Just over a week from now, the UK will leave the EU. This is the perfect opportunity to march forward and be the global leader in educating children, young people and adults. Make no mistake, I want the UK to be the best place in the world to educate your child and make the most of people’s talents.

“As we step out into the world, our doors are open and our ambitions are bold. We will continue to learn from those countries excelling in areas like maths and will share with others the lessons we have learned. We will place a bigger focus on further and technical education and will continue to welcome hundreds of thousands of the best and brightest international students to our world-class universities.

“Achieving this comes by working in partnership with the rest of the world and that will not change. With world leading universities and one of the best school systems in the world, we are and will continue to be a global leader in education.”

The Education Secretary highlighted how education has long been one of the UK’s greatest assets, and through an ongoing education revolution, reforms have driven up school standards, improved our curriculum and boosted literacy.

Mr Williamson also made clear that the UK’s doors are open to international students who want to benefit from its leading education. That goal was underlined in September 2019 by the creation of a new graduate visa route, giving international students up to two years to find employment after successfully completing their studies. This new route will be launched in summer 2021.

Statistics published on 16 January showed that UK higher education institutions hosted almost 486,000 students from outside the UK in 2018/19, an increase of 27,000 on the previous year. The figure moves towards the Government’s ambition for 600,000 international students choosing to study in the UK by 2030.

Good morning. Heads of state, heads of government. Business leaders. Friends. Good morning to you all and a very warm welcome to London, to the UK, and to a new start in our business partnership between my country and your countries and indeed the whole continent of Africa. I am reliably informed that this is the very first time that the UK and quite so many African nations have come together for an event of this kind. And when we celebrate all sorts of exciting new beginnings, the start of a new year, a new decade, a new government here in Britain, it is an event whose time has come. And indeed an event that is long overdue.

An event that I regard as the climax of considerable personal exertion because during my two years as foreign secretary I visited more African nations than any other senior British politician in living memory Ghana, the Gambia, Libya, Liberia, Uganda, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia – where in a fit of brilliance our excellent ambassador decided that I should challenge Haile Gebrselaissie to a running race in Addis Abba at an altitude of 2355 m, and in fierce sunshine, over a distance of about a mile. And I had to pretend to have a heart attack in order to get him to slow down and what everybody said was that it was a very convincing impersonation of a man having a heart attack. And wherever I was I am proud to say I found a lot of interest and lot of affection for the UK and even a lot of love. But I also realised that we in the UK have a vital job in continuing to convince people across the continent that we’re not just a great friend and ally, a reliable ally, but also the people you should be doing business with.

We have no divine right to that business. This is a competitive world. You have many suitors. Some of you may be off shortly to sample the delights of Davos. But look today at what we have to offer, look around the world today and you will swiftly see that the UK is not only the obvious partner of choice. We also are very much the partner of today, of tomorrow and decades to come. Because the truth is, in 2020 the UK is the ultimate one-stop shop for the ambitious, growing international economy. If you want investment in a new project or enterprise just hop on the tube and one stop from here you’ll be in the heart of Canary Wharf, where, along with its older sibling in the City of London, trillions of pounds of capital are being raised for every venture you can think of from French construction to African telecoms to American cancer curing drugs.

In every currency you have heard of and some that have only been recently invented and it may give you some idea of the scale of the financial services in London when I say that Canary Wharf alone is a bigger banking centre than the whole of Frankfurt. We have the tech. We have ed tech, med tech, fin tech, bio tech, green tech, nano tech. Tech of all kinds. And we have by far the biggest tech sector anywhere in this hemisphere, two or three times bigger than our rivals, and that works in synergy of course with our amazing higher education sector.

We have more of the world’s top universities than any other country outside the US. Every year, thanks to our Chevening and Commonwealth Scholarships, their doors are opened to the best and brightest students from every part of Africa. And I am proud to say today that one in seven of the world’s Kings, Queens, Presidents, Prime Ministers were educated in this country including the Japanese emperor. We have a total global monopoly on the higher education of emperors. Thank you – it’s true.

And if you want to come here to study in those universities, if you want to play a part in the hi-tech revolution, if you want to work with the titans of our financial world, then you’ll be pleased to hear, my friends, that one thing is changing. Our immigration system. I know it’s an issue that people have raised with me in the past but change is coming. And our system is becoming fairer and more equal as between all our global friends and partners. Treating people the same regardless, wherever they come from and by putting people before passports, we will be able to attract the best talent from around the world, wherever they may be.

Because I appreciate, as I say, that there is no shortage of governments out there touting for your business. China, I must mention the competition, I better I mean why not, China, Russia, Germany. I’m told there will be a conference in France fairly soon. But in the words of an old Akan proverb that I picked up while I was in Ghana, “All fingers are not the same.” There is wisdom in these Akan proverbs. All fingers are not the same and all countries are not the same, and the UK boasts a breadth and depth of expertise that simply cannot be matched by any other nation.

And that’s why we are already one of the biggest partners for countries across Africa. Look at the billions of pounds worth of deals that are being finalised just here today and that we are announcing. The monorail trains. The monorail trains that will shortly be conveying citizens through the streets of Cairo, that great and growing city, will be made here. The monorail trains will be made here in the UK in Derby. In Nigeria’s Oyo state every street light is being installed with low carbon high efficiency low emission diodes from Dorset. I had no idea they made these things in Dorset. There you go.

Families across Angola will shortly be tucking into delicious wholesome chicken from Northern Ireland. Thousands of tonnes, millions of birds, for millions of years the birds of this country have flown south to Africa for the winter. But it is thanks to the miracle of free trade that today our birds go plucked, frozen, oven ready. And at the same time of course, and I think Uhuru Kenyatta asked me this question, the BA planes coming the other way are sometimes quite chilly. A point that the President of Kenya raised with me and I made representations on his behalf. And one of the reasons may be is that the holds of those planes are full each of them with 13 tonnes of sliced and refrigerated fruit coming to the supermarkets of the UK.

And of course we want to build a new future as a global free trading nation, that’s what we are doing now and that’s what we will be embarking on, on the 31st January this month. But I want to intensify and expand that trade in ways that go far beyond what we sell you or you sell us. We want to go far beyond though I have just told President Museveni of Uganda that his beef cattle will have an honoured place on the tables of post Brexit Britain. Yes, he’s very proud of them and quite rightly. But I want to go beyond that. Because what I am really talking about is building a partnership that benefits all of us.

And it’s about synergies and partnerships and it means things like Diageo spending $167 million to make its east African breweries as clean, efficient and sustainable as possible through biomass, solar power, water recovery and purification. And it means encouraging people like Lolade Oresanwo. Born in Nigeria, Lolade came to the UK to study at one of our many world-leading higher education institutions. So armed with an MBA she headed back to Lagos and, in 2014, helped set up what is now the region’s biggest waste-processing operation, West Africa ENRG. Every day, every day, yes let’s hear it for Lolade, everyday her team scoop up 2,000 tonnes of rubbish destined for landfill.

They sift out the stuff that can be recycled and then – very soon – they’re going to start using the rest to generate clean electricity for schools and hospitals. And the whole thing is run using mostly British-made equipment, because, even if I say it myself, it’s the best in the world, and it’s backed by UK investors, with ongoing research and development support from Lolade’s alma mater, Cranfield University. So Lolade and her team make the local streets cleaner and the global environment greener. They have created 3,000 jobs in Nigeria, the vast majority of them for women. They help keep the order books full for British manufacturers. And the whole operation provides a tidy return for investors both in Nigeria and in the UK. It is a great example of what the modern UK/Africa partnership looks like.

An exchange of ideas, equipment and finance to solve common problems. A relationship that benefits us all and makes a lasting, difference. And the same is true of the UK government’s $53 million investment at the Port in Mombasa. A serious, commercially minded development like many other overseas investments in Africa. But rather than being arranged on extraordinarily one-sided terms and delivered by a vast imported workforce, without wishing to cast aspersions on any other potential partner, it was a sustainable deal that created jobs for ordinary Kenyans now and in the future.

And it was made all the easier for British businesses to work with and trade with their Kenyan counterparts and vice-versa. I’m told that probably partly as a result of what is going on in Mombasa half of all the tea drunk in the UK comes to us from Kenya. Think of that. Britain without a nice cup of tea is barely worth thinking about, and that means Britain without Kenya is barely worth thinking about. Literally sustained, kept sane and rational throughout the day by infusions of Kenyan supply tea. Even if it doesn’t originate in Kenya it comes through Kenya, you’ve got to be careful about that.

And it is the sustainable, forward-thinking nature of that investment in Mombasa that marks us out, I would say, as different from the global crowd. And that kind of sustainable thinking applies to our shared environment every bit as much as it does to our common business interests. Climate change and loss of biodiversity are issues that affect us all. I know that many of your countries are already on the front line in the fight against both and I look forward to seeing many of you again when the UK hosts COP26 in Glasgow later this year.

And of course one of the many reasons we were chosen to host COP26 was the incredible speed with which we have cleaned up our domestic energy industry. A decade ago we were the most carbon heavy nation in Europe – one of the most carbon-heavy nations in Europe. Today, we are a world-leader in offshore wind. We regularly generate more of our electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels, regularly. And we have almost entirely weaned ourselves off coal. But there’s no point in the UK reducing the amount of coal we burn if we then trundle over to Africa and line our pockets by encouraging African states to use more of it. Is there?

We all breathe the same air, we live beneath the same sky, and we all suffer when carbon emissions rise and the planet warms. So from today, the British government will no longer provide any new direct official development assistance, investment, export credit or trade promotion for thermal coal mining or coal power plants overseas. To put it simply, not another penny of UK taxpayers’ money will be directly invested in digging up coal or burning it for electricity. Instead, we’re going to focus on supporting the transition to lower- and zero-carbon alternatives.

First, by helping you to extract and use oil and gas in the cleanest, greenest way possible. We are world-leaders in that and have much to share. But also by turbocharging, if turbo-charging is a word I can use in the context of low-carbon energy technology, our support for solar, and wind and hydro and all the other carbon-free sources of energy that surround us, and are just waiting to be harnessed. If I can’t say turbo charging, what can I say, we’re going to deliver an electro convulsive lightning bolt through our renewables industry. That process is already underway, because a whole host of British companies are already working with national governments across Africa and around the world to increase renewable capacity.

There’s a huge myth about this, people say that you have to choose between reducing emissions and raising economic growth. Look at what happened here in the UK. Actually we have cut CO2 by 42 per cent since 1990 and yet GDP has gone up 67 per cent. And we stand ready to help you do the same. Tackling the causes of climate change, while also delivering the power needed to unlock the potential of all our people. And what an incredible potential that is.

Africa is a continent of amazing, independent and diverse nations. But they – you – have some things in common clearly. Some of you are members of the Commonwealth – 19 members of the Commonwealth – look forward to the summit in Kigali. But one thing that unites African countries is ambition, and optimism and, by comparison with much of the rest of the world, quite staggering levels of growth. More than half the world’s fastest, 15 fastest growing economies are in Africa. Two-thirds of African economies are expanding faster than the global average. Africa is the future and the UK has a huge and active role to play in that future. And I hope you agree. Because we are, and we will be, a partner, your partner through thick and thin.

Our universities are helping to educate the next generation of African entrepreneurs. By helping to provide securities, I’ve seen myself, in Somalia, South Sudan, the Sahel and beyond. Our businesses, our investors, our entrepreneurs, our mind-bogglingly innovative financial services sector are helping Africans from Casablanca to Cape Town to face the future with confidence. Today, here in London, here in this fantastic hotel, which I think I gave planning permission for. In the days when I was – a lot of the stuff you see around I helped to build I am proud to say. This fantastic city. We are bringing together leaders of nations and businesses, and I hope that this meeting will serve as a great cyclotron of talent in which ideas and people will come together and spark some flash of creativity.

And, at the start of this new decade, we, the UK and your nations, are taking the first steps on the road to a new partnership between all our people. And like, whatever the apparent differences in our skill sets and our abilities and the complementarity, like me and Haile Gebreselaissie thundering round Addis Ababa, we want to be with you, side by side, every step of the way.

So let’s seize the opportunities that are before us here today. Let’s build the partnerships for the future. And, together, let us begin to write the next chapter for my country, for your country, and above all for all the peoples of our countries. Thank you all for very much for coming and welcome to London.

Tranquillity (BF7) is a Scottish based 22.3 metre stern trawler owned and operated by Tranquillity BF7 LLP.

The court heard how the vessel left the port of Newlyn on 30 May 2019 with Brian Johnstone as master on board. The vessel was targeting nephrops using two trawls with a single codend on each trawl in an area of the Celtic Sea known as Jones Bank. The area forms part of the Biologically Sensitive Area the Hake Recovery Zone, where additional technical measures have been put in place to protect juvenile fish.

On 3 June 2019 officers from Fishery Protection Vessel Ocean Osprey boarded Tranquillity to conduct an inspection. A wheelhouse inspection and fish room check found that the tolerance between the recorded catch in the Elog for hake was under-recorded by 36%, in excess of the 10% tolerance.

A gear inspection then found the starboard side net consisted of a synthetic double twine diamond mesh codend with a lifting strop, bottom side chafers, a square mesh panel and type B top side chafer. The average mesh size of the top side chafer was not twice that of the codend and the twine thickness was greater than 4mm, in breach of regulations. The chafer was also attached to the codend in such a way that the meshes of the chafer did not align with the meshes of the codend.

Both defendants in the case entered guilty pleas. Tranquillity BF7 LLP was fined a total of £12,000, ordered to pay £1,050 in costs and a £170 victim surcharge. Mr Johnstone was fined £6,800, ordered to pay £1,050 in costs and a £170 victim surcharge.

An MMO spokesperson said:

The technical measures put in place in these areas are essential to the protection of juvenile fish. They are afforded extra layers of protection as scientific evidence shows these areas are at greater risk of overfishing. It is also important that Elogs are completed accurately to ensure that quotas can be properly managed.

When this is not the case the MMO will always take the appropriate action, including prosecution, to ensure offenders do not benefit from such illegal activity and to protect fish stocks for the wider fishing industry and future generations. In this case, the court has clearly identified these offences as potentially serious infringements, and the level of penalties imposed reflects this.

Rhodri Williams was Ofcom’s Director in Wales from 2004 to 2018 leading the communications regulator’s work in Wales and its engagement with the Welsh Government, elected representatives and stakeholders. Prior to joining Ofcom he served as Chair of the Welsh Language Board from 1999 to 2004 where he led the Board’s vision and strategy and developed the first strategic national Welsh language action plan. He began his career as a journalist with ITV in Wales in 1982, working on S4C’s flagship current affairs series Y Byd ar Bedwar.

In 1989 he co-founded independent production company Agenda Television (now Tinopolis) which soon became Wales’ largest production company. He was the founding editor of S4C’s nightly magazine programme Heno, which remains at the heart of S4C’s output. Rhodri Williams joined the S4C Authority in July 2018 and is currently the Chair of its Content Committee. Since November 2019 he has been a member of the board of the Consumer Council for Water and the Chair of its Wales Committee. He lives in Carmarthenshire with his wife Elinor and two children.

S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru, meaning “Channel 4 Wales”) is a British Welsh-language free-to-air television channel. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience. S4C is the fourth-oldest television channel in the United Kingdom, after BBC One, ITV and BBC Two.

A joint meeting of the Committee for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport and Welsh Affairs Select Committees will hold a pre-appointment hearing with Rhodri Williams as soon as Committees are formed. The Committee’s conclusions will be considered carefully before deciding whether or not to proceed with the appointment.

Notes to Editors

• The appointment of the S4C Chair will be made on merit, and following a fair, open, and transparent competition, regulated by the Commissioner for Public appointments.
• The appointment will be made in accordance with the Cabinet Office Governance Code for Public Appointments.
• Under the Broadcasting Act 1990, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport makes the appointment of the S4C Chair.
• The previous S4C Chair, Huw Jones, left the organisation on 30 September 2019. Hugh Hesketh Evansm, S4C Board Member, is Interim Chair until 31 March 2020.
• Remuneration for this role is £40,000 for up to two days per week.
• In accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Rhodri has not declared any activity.