PM meeting with President Putin: 19 January 2020

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The Prime Minister met President Putin in the margins of the Berlin Conference on Libya.

He was clear there had been no change in the UK’s position on Salisbury, which was a reckless use of chemical weapons and a brazen attempt to murder innocent people on UK soil. He said that such an attack must not be repeated.

The Prime Minister said that they both had a responsibility to address issues of international security including Libya, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

The Prime Minister said there will be no normalisation of our bilateral relationship until Russia ends the destabilising activity that threatens the UK and our allies and undermines the safety of our citizens and our collective security.

Published 19 January 2020



PM meeting with President Macron: 19 January 2020

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A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The Prime Minister met President Macron in the margins of the Berlin Conference on Libya.

The Prime Minister and President discussed the ongoing conflict in Libya. The Prime Minister stressed the need to bring an end to the fighting and for all parties to support peace talks to determine a way forward for the Libyan people.

On Iran, the leaders reiterated their commitment to the JCPoA and also acknowledged the need to define a long-term framework to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. They agreed on the importance of de-escalation and of working with international partners to find a diplomatic way through the current tensions.

Published 19 January 2020



Paramedic students will get £5,000 support payment each year

Two paramedics chatting and laughing in the front of an ambulance

This is the first time paramedic students will benefit from additional NHS funding while at university.

The funding will be provided on top of existing support, including student loans.

The full list of new and continuing students set to benefit from the funding is as follows:

  • dietetics
  • dental hygiene or dental therapy (level 5 and 6 courses)
  • occupational therapy
  • operating department practitioner (level 5 and 6 courses)
  • orthoptics
  • orthotics and prosthetics
  • physiotherapy
  • podiatry or chiropody
  • radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
  • speech and language therapy
  • paramedicine
  • midwifery
  • nursing (adult, child, mental health, learning disability, joint nursing/social work)

The government first announced the new funding in December. It said that all new and continuing nursing, midwifery students and many allied health students on pre-registration courses at English universities will receive a £5,000 maintenance grant each year. They will not need to pay it back.

Extra payments worth up to £3,000 per academic year will be available for eligible students. Each year they could receive:

  • £1,000 towards childcare costs
  • £1,000 if studying in a region that is struggling to recruit
  • £1,000 if they’re a new student studying a shortage specialism important to delivering the NHS Long Term Plan

The shortage specialisms have been confirmed as:

  • mental health nursing
  • learning disability nursing
  • radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)
  • prosthetics and orthotics
  • orthoptics and podiatry

The government expects the £5,000 maintenance grants to benefit around 100,000 pre-registration nursing, midwifery and allied health degree students every year.

It comes as part of the government’s manifesto commitment to increase nurse numbers by 50,000 by 2025.

Minister for Public Health Jo Churchill said:

From paramedics to physiotherapists, radiographers to speech and language therapists, our talented allied health professionals are the third largest workforce in the NHS and support people to live better lives.

As demand grows, we need more of the best and brightest to join our NHS. I want those who would relish the job of saving people’s lives as a paramedic or diagnosing cancer as a radiographer to come forward to train, taking advantage of this fantastic new £5,000 support package.

Minister for Care Caroline Dinenage said:

We want to support people with learning disabilities to live full, healthy and happy lives. The expertise of learning disability nurses is essential as they provide tailored care that can help people become more independent.

In the years to come we’re going to need more learning disability nurses to provide high-quality care, so I’m delighted that from September all new students will receive at least £6,000 a year to help with their cost of living.

I want to see more people considering a career in learning disability nursing, helping to achieve our NHS Long Term Plan ambition to improve care for people with learning disabilities.

Published 19 January 2020
Last updated 11 February 2020 + show all updates

  1. Added level 6 dental hygiene and dental therapy to the list of eligible courses.

  2. Added level 6 operating department practitioner to the list of eligible courses.

  3. First published.



Government gives police new powers to protect victims of stalking

New Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) will allow courts in England and Wales to move quicker to ban stalkers from contacting victims or visiting their home, place of work or study. This will grant victims more time to recover from their ordeal.

In addition to banning perpetrators from approaching or contacting their victims, SPOs can also force stalkers to seek professional help.

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, almost one in five women over the age of 16 have experienced stalking, as well as almost one in ten men.

The Orders will usually last for a minimum of 2 years, with a breach counting as a criminal offence that can result in up to 5 years in prison.

Minister for Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins said:

Every year, thousands of people live with the terrifying experience of being stalked, which can lead to victims feeling isolated, abused or even losing their lives.

I am determined that we do everything we can to better protect victims and new Stalking Protection Orders will help the police to intervene and take action against perpetrators at the earliest opportunity.

In addition to the SPOs, courts will also be able to impose an interim SPO to provide immediate protection for victims while a decision is being made.

SPOs will come into effect on Monday 20 January and have the support of anti-stalking campaigners and law enforcement.

Suky Bhaker Acting Chief Executive of The Suzy Lamplugh Trust said:

Today is an important step forward in the way stalking is handled in England and Wales and an acknowledgement of the suffering victims of stalking can face.

We welcome the introduction of Stalking Protection Orders and hope to see the new order complement the existing legislation to ensure that victims receive a proactive response when they come forward and report stalking.

Professor Clive Ruggles of the Alice Ruggles Trust said:

The Alice Ruggles Trust is working hard to make stalking victims more aware of the dangers they face and to come to the police earlier than many do at present.

Stalking Protection Orders represent a powerful new tool to help the police respond in the right way when they do. It is critical, though, that there is no delay in arresting perpetrators who breach them: any other response may well escalate the risk to the victim.

We believe that the existence of SPOs could have made a critical difference in Alice’s case, and will help improve the outcome for many others in the future.

Head of the Association of the Police and Crime Commissioners, Katy Bourne, said:

Stalking is an insidious crime that takes over and destroys lives. It is vital that those affected can feel confident in reporting, knowing that early action will be taken and that the law is on their side.

These Stalking Protection Orders will allow police to apply for restrictions on the behaviour of perpetrators, excluding them from entering a particular area or from making contact with their victim in any way.

It will be a criminal offence to break the terms of an order which, I hope, will become a substantial deterrent and a way to enforce the law without adding unnecessary strain upon the victim.

Alongside the introduction of Stalking Protection Orders, the Home Office also helps fund the National Stalking Helpline, run by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. The Home Office has provided £4.1 million over the last 3 years to the Metropolitan, Hampshire and Cheshire police forces as part of the Multi Agency Stalking Intervention Programme, which provides interventions with stalking perpetrators.



Women entrepreneurs pitch innovation for Africa to UK investors

Secretary of State for International Trade, Elizabeth Truss, and Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, Emma Wade-Smith OBE, spoke about investment opportunities in women-led businesses in Africa at a business event in London on 16 January.

11 women entrepreneurs pitched their businesses to UK investors at Start-up Night Africa, ahead of the UK-Africa Investment Summit next week. Founders, CEOs and entrepreneurs from a range of sectors, including new technology and sustainable fashion, were represented at the event.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for International Development (DfID) hosted the women’s event in partnership with Lionesses of Africa (the fastest growing network of women entrepreneurs in Africa) with the support of the Secretary of State for International Trade, Elizabeth Truss MP, and Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, Emma Wade-Smith OBE.

Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, Emma Wade-Smith OBE said:

The key to making a positive, lasting difference and creating more jobs on the African continent through investment is addressing the current gender imbalance for men and women business leaders seeking investment.

Events such as ‘Start-Up Night Africa’ demonstrate the impact we can have by connecting Africa’s entrepreneurs with the UK’s business community; creating spaces and places where businesspeople can connect and find new partners, buyers or investors.

The entrepreneurs showcased here today demonstrate just a fraction of the scale and range of opportunities that exist in Africa for UK investors and exporters.

The entrepreneurs taking part came from a range of sectors including technology, manufacturing, food and drink. Common to all the businesses is a strong focus on sustainability. The event connected the women-owned businesses to new markets, funding and partnerships in the UK.

Lionesses of Africa is a social enterprise supporting Africa’s women entrepreneurs by building and delivering development programmes, business tools and a range of other resources to help them share, connect, and ultimately grow their businesses.

At the event Lionesses of Africa Founder and CEO, Melanie Hawken announced that they have met their initial target of 1 million women entrepreneurs in their community. Big initiatives to be launched in the first quarter of 2020 will be the Lionesses of Africa Foundation, which will have its new global headquarters in London.

Speaking about the decision to make London the home of the new foundation, Melanie Hawken said:

At Lionesses of Africa, we understand the power of partnerships to make big things happen for women entrepreneurs. The UK is already a strong strategic partner for our organisation, and this is an important marketplace for Africa’s high growth potential women entrepreneurs to access. Making the UK the home for our Foundation was a simple decision for us to make.

A panel of entrepreneurs discussed the challenges of brand building, opportunities for Africa’s women entrepreneurs to break into global marketplaces, the current interest from global markets in women-owned brands with a strong backstory, and the investment climate for Africa’s women-owned businesses looking to grow.

The three panellists were women entrepreneurs that had built successful and growing African businesses and brands. They were Monica Musonda, Founder of Zambian-based food processing company, Java Foods; Adenike Ogunlesi, founder of Ruff N Tumble; and Suzie Wokabi, founder of Suzie Beauty.

Secretary of State for International Trade, Elizabeth Truss MP said:

We want to partner with more women to enable them to innovate, grow their businesses and reach their potential.

It’s exciting to see such a range of sectors represented and such innovative ideas being presented and brought to life.

This event was not only an incredible opportunity for women entrepreneurs, but also a chance to harness the benefits of growing these hubs in Africa.

I look forward to seeing how their businesses grow as they take advantage of opportunities in the UK.

Many of the entrepreneurs showcased at this event are building successful businesses in traditionally male-dominated sectors such engineering, power generation, and water processing and drilling. In the process they are breaking gender stereotypes and perceptions that exist around the types of businesses women entrepreneurs are building and at the event included founders such as Pumza Ndlotyeni, co-founder of Gebane Engineering Services, Carmen Williams, founder of Trecento, and Christelle Kwizera, Founder of Water Access Rwanda.

Fashion, beauty and wellness, and sustainability were other sectors showcased at the event, and are big employers on the African continent. High growth women entrepreneurs presenting their businesses from these sectors include Mariam Hazem, Co-founder of Reform Studio, who has identified the UK as a new and important market, and Nicola Luther, CEO & Creative director of Lunar an established and growing sustainable fashion brand who announced her new collection at the event.

The event builds on the successful Gender-Lens Investing breakfast event hosted by Emma Wade-Smith in Johannesburg on 13 November last year, in the margins of the African Development Bank’s Africa Investment Forum and the Royal visit to Johannesburg on 2 October when Emma Wade-Smith hosted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Lionesses of Africa.

Following the event there will also be a roadshow in the UK focusing on women entrepreneurs from the African diaspora in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester.

The entrepreneurs include:

NOTES TO EDITORS

  • For details on the UK-Africa Investment summit click here.
  • This event came ahead of the UK-Africa Investment Summit next Monday (20th January), which will create new lasting partnerships to deliver more investment, jobs and growth, benefiting both Africa and the UK. Photos available on request