The 78 trusts that will benefit from funding for new cancer testing and detection technology have been announced.

The new machines will improve screening and early diagnosis of cancer, and are part of the government’s commitment to ensure 55,000 more people survive cancer each year.

Last month the Prime Minister announced the extra £200 million in funding for new cancer screening equipment. 78 trusts will receive funding over the next 2 years to replace, refurbish and upgrade:

• CT and MRI scanners – bringing in alternatives with lower radiation levels
• breast screening imaging and assessment equipment

Replacing and upgrading machines will improve efficiency by:

• making them easier to use
• being quicker to scan and construct images
• reducing the need to re-scan

This new equipment also brings new capability, with many machines enabled for artificial intelligence (AI) so the NHS is ready for the challenges of the future.

Each trust has been allocated funding for new machines based on an assessment of local infrastructure and local population need. They will all contribute to the NHS Long Term Plan’s goal of catching three-quarters of all cancers earlier when they are easier to treat.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

This new state-of-the-art equipment for 78 trusts across England will ensure doctors and clinicians can help even more people survive a cancer diagnosis and stop the disease as early as possible.

It’s mission critical that the technology our NHS uses to prevent and diagnose cancer is brought into the 21st century. We have backed the roll-out of these new machines with £200 million in funding, as part of our Long Term Plan, backed by an extra £33.9 billion a year.

Cally Palmer, National Cancer Director at NHS England, said:

Cancer survival is at a record high thanks to better prevention, earlier diagnosis and world-leading treatments in the NHS.

This major investment in the best modern scanning technology will benefit patients in every part of England, helping us to achieve the NHS Long Term Plan’s ambitions of catching tens of thousands more cancers earlier when they are easier to treat, saving 55,000 more lives every year.

East of England

Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bedford Hospital NHS Trust

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust

London

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

Whittington Health NHS Trust

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

Barts Health NHS Trust

Midlands

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

North East and Yorkshire

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

North West

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust

Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

South East

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust

Isle of Wight NHS Trust

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

Medway NHS Foundation Trust

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

South West

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

North Bristol NHS Trust

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Mr. President,

I have the honour to read this statement on Xinjiang on behalf of a group 23 countries including:

Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, United States of America and of course the United Kingdom.

We share the concerns raised by the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in their August 2018 Concluding Observations on China regarding credible reports of mass detention; efforts to restrict cultural and religious practices; mass surveillance disproportionately targeting ethnic Uighurs; and other human rights violations and abuses in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

We call on the Chinese government to uphold its national laws and international obligations and commitments to respect human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, in Xinjiang and across China. The Chinese government should urgently implement CERD’s eight recommendations related to Xinjiang, including by refraining from the arbitrary detention of Uighurs and members of other Muslim communities. In view of these concerns, we call on all countries to respect the principle of non-refoulement.

Furthermore, we call on the Chinese government to allow the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Special Procedures immediate unfettered, meaningful access to Xinjiang.

Mr. Chair, I’ll close with a question: What measures should the Chinese government undertake to address the concerns raised in CERD’s Concluding Observations regarding restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief and the right to freely participate in cultural life?

Well, thank you very much indeed, Madam President, and thank you for coming here today. And thank you, particularly along with the German Minister, for creating an environment where over two thirds of the people sitting around this table are women. So that is fantastic, a taste of things to come, and I hope you will visit us often.

I also wanted to congratulate you for the fantastic record of South Africa with that 30 percent figure that you gave us and your military colleagues sitting in the chamber. That’s incredibly impressive. Thank you for your commitment to carry on producing women for these peace support, peacekeeping operations. The United Kingdom joins you in that commitment. Sadly, we’re only at 17 percent so you have a march on us, Madam President, but I think nevertheless, there is all more that all of us can do in that regard.

As other speakers have said, this is a timely debate a year ahead of the 20th anniversary of Resolution 1325. It’s a good opportunity for us to reflect on the achievements and challenges in fully implementing that resolution. But as we’ve heard from all the fantastic briefers today and as the Executive Director of UN Women eloquently made clear, we must raise our ambition. We must commit to even more radical change and we need to ask ourselves, 20 years and 10 resolutions later, why is there still such a stark implementation gap when all the evidence suggests that incorporating gender perspective helps achieve sustainable peace and security? So I think, again, as the Executive Director of UN Women said, that’s a question we need to ask ourselves all the time as we design any peace process or any international mechanism, project, programme; how can we make sure that we’re living up to the full implementation of 1325? And this obviously means putting a particular focus on designing inclusive processes from the outset. Arms and territory shouldn’t be the only reason that negotiators get a seat at the table. That’s not right morally, it’s not sensible economically, and it’s not sensible and feasible if you want a just and a lasting peace settlement.

Madam Chairman, this year the UK funded the Gender Action for Peace and Security to deliver consultations with civil society in our nine National Action Plan focus countries and we did this because we wanted to better understand how we can identify and therefore, overcome those gaps. So we are taking concrete steps to promote and protect women peace builders and human rights defenders. We are providing sustainable multi-year funding and we’re ensuring that we practice what we preach in terms of representation and policy.

As I look ahead to 2020, I hope we can have an effort right the way across the United Nations, not just in New York, but right across the whole UN system in the field and in the other headquarters buildings to focus efforts on full implementation of 1325. For our part, we will be particularly working on increasing women’s meaningful participation in peace processes, notably in Afghanistan, South Sudan and Yemen and the German Minister explained very eloquently what was happening in Afghanistan so I won’t repeat that. In Yemen, the United Kingdom is funding a Gender Advisor and other senior inclusion positions within the US Special Envoy’s Office so that we can build on his work to take forward women’s participation in the peace process. In South Sudan, ahead of November’s deadline for a transitional government, we are continuing to work with local women’s groups to advocate for an inclusive process. And of course, with my very good friend and colleague, the Afghanistan PR, we have set up a women’s group in New York, of which the US Ambassador is also part of, to take forward the participation of women in that very important peace process.

If I can turn to the UN, and again a number of our speakers mentioned the UN, the UN obviously has a huge role to play in implementing 1325. On the 19th anniversary, so with a year to go to do something about it, the United Kingdom would like to invite the UN to make progress in three particular areas. Firstly, to establish a strong formal working relationship with the Global Alliance of Women Mediators. This will ensure women mediators have access to key peace actors and are systematically considered for deployment as negotiators, mediators and advisors. Secondly, UN processes need to set the gold standard for inclusion and UN Special Envoy should be held to account on their commitments to implement 1325. And finally, ensuring UN-led peace processes are closely supported by gender experts to guarantee gender perspectives and this needs to be integrated throughout the mission. This is not a desirable, it’s not a nice to have, it’s an intrinsic part of any successful peace process.

In conclusion, Madam President, 2020 is not just about 1325. Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing platform, the 70th anniversary of the UN, the fifth anniversary of youth peace and security, and ten years until the deadline to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. We cannot let this moment slip through our fingers. Now is the time to make progress on WPS in gender equality and the UN and the member states have a responsibility to deliver all of this next year.

Thank you.

This morning, the team of wounded, injured and sick (WIS) serving personnel and veterans were officially unveiled at the Honourable Artillery Company, London. They were joined by His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, who posed with the competitors for the first official team photograph and wished them luck for the Games in May 2020.

The competitors, 89% of whom are new to Invictus, were also joined by the Minister for Defence People and Veterans, Johnny Mercer, service personnel from the Honourable Artillery Company and former Team UK captain, Mark ‘Dot’ Perkins.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

I wish the best of luck to the team selected to represent the UK at the Invictus Games next year and look forward to following their journey from training camps to The Hague. The Invictus Games are a powerful reminder of the ability of sport to inspire and support the recovery of wounded, injured and sick serving personnel and veterans.

In July 2019, WIS personnel and veterans competed in nine sports over five days at the Invictus UK Trials hosted by Sheffield. Over 350 individuals applied for one of 65 places available on Team UK to represent their nation at the Invictus Games 2020.

The rigorous selection process for Team UK was based on the benefit the Invictus Games will give an individual as part of their recovery, combined with performance and commitment to training.

Hannah Lawton, Chef de Mission for Team UK, said:

The 65 men and women selected to represent Team UK will not only gain a personal recovery benefit from taking part in the Games but they will hopefully inspire others suffering with life-changing injuries or illnesses that anything is possible.

Our competitors are proudly serving their country again and showing that they will not let their injury or illness define them. As a team, we are especially proud of the fact that 89% of Team UK have never competed in the Invictus Games before.

We are very proud to be working alongside these 65 athletes and wish them the best of luck as they embark on their Invictus Games journeys.

This morning, Team UK also unveiled its first female captain, RAF veteran Rachel Williamson.

While playing for a RAF team, Rachel received a rugby injury, which developed into a functional neurological disorder, and she ultimately lost the ability to use her arm completely. She almost gave up on fitness forever. This year she will compete in Athletics, Indoor Rowing and Swimming. She said:

So far, my recovery journey has taken me from rock bottom to laying down a new foundation, this year I aim to build the new me and take the final step to where I want to be. I’ve accepted my injury; learnt I can let my emotions go and not be embarrassed or afraid about asking for help.

Now it’s time I raise the bar by trying new sports, being positive and happier with less excuses. The Invictus Games offers an amazing opportunity through sport to regain that sense of pride which can be lost following the onset of mental or physical disabilities.

Sport empowers us to refocus our attention on what we can do, rather than what we can’t. To be selected as Team UK Captain is truly an honour and I feel immensely proud to be given this opportunity.

The team will compete in nine sports: Athletics, Archery, Cycling, Indoor Rowing, Powerlifting, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby. They will continue to train from now until May 2020 as part of Help for Heroes’ extensive Sports Recovery programme and role to train and develop the team.

The Royal British Legion will be supporting the friends and family, including carers, of Team UK as part of its work to recognise the vital and valuable contribution that they make to the recovery of WIS service personnel and veterans.

The UK delegation to the Invictus Games The Hague is being delivered by a partnership comprising the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Help for Heroes, and The Royal British Legion.

Employers could be stopped from withholding references to any employee under new proposals announced by Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom today (Tuesday 29 October). This would mean that employers could, for the first time, be required to provide at least a basic reference for any former employee.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said:

I am determined to make the UK the best place to work and grow a business – including levelling the playing field between employees and employers. The overwhelming majority of businesses comply with the law, treating their employees with respect and fairness.

But we cannot tolerate the small minority that use nasty tactics like non-disclosure agreements and withholding references to pressure employees into silence, often in cases of serious wrongdoing. These proposals ensure individuals are protected, striking a fair balance between the interests of employers and workers.

These proposals form part of the government’s response to an inquiry on non-disclosure agreements conducted by the Women and Equalities Select Committee (WESC).

Many of the recommendations made by the Committee were addressed in a raft of proposals announced in July to crack down on misuse of non-disclosure agreements, including legislation ensuring that confidentiality clauses cannot prevent individuals disclosing to the police, regulated health and care professionals or legal professionals.

Other recently proposed legislation includes:

• ensuring employers make clear the limitations of a confidentiality clause, in plain English, within a settlement agreement and in a written statement for an employee, so individuals signing them fully understand what they are signing and their rights
• extending current legislation so that individuals signing NDAs will get independent legal advice on the limitations of a confidentiality clause – including making clear that information can still be disclosed to police, regulated health and care professionals, or legal professionals regardless of an NDA
• introducing new enforcement measures to deal with confidentiality clauses that do not comply with legal requirements – for example, an NDA in a settlement agreement that does not follow new legislative requirements will be legally void

These plans reinforce the government’s commitment to balance the needs of workers and businesses, delivering a UK labour market fit for the modern world of work.

Additional information

Government announced an initial crackdown on NDAs on 21 July 2019 – including proposals to:

• legislate so that no provision in a non-disclosure agreement can prevent disclosures to the police, regulated health and care professionals and legal professionals
• legislate so that limitations in non-disclosure agreements are clearly set out in employment contracts and settlement agreements
• produce guidance for solicitors and legal professionals responsible for drafting settlement agreements
• legislate to enhance the independent legal advice received by individuals signing non-disclosure agreements
• introduce enforcement measures for non-disclosure agreements that do not comply with legal requirements in written statements of employment particulars and settlement agreements