• The Better Care Fund Framework 2022-23 aims to enable those who need it to get the right care in the right place at the right time.
• Over £7 billion committed in 2022-23 to enable people to stay well, safe and independent at home for longer.
• It will introduce capacity and demand planning for intermediate care services to help the health and social care system prepare for winter.

Government has today published the Better Care Fund framework (BCF) 2022-23 ensuring greater join up of health, social care and housing services to help older people and those with complex needs and disabilities to live at home for longer. A minimum of £7.2 billion has already been committed to the BCF this year to enable people to stay well, safe and independent at home and get the care they need, when they need it by funding things like adaptations to homes for disabled people and rehabilitating people back into their communities after a spell in hospital.

Over 90% of local areas have consistently agreed that delivery of the BCF in other years has improved joint working between health and social care, helping to provide joined up NHS and social care services to patients, supporting hospitals across the country with discharge pressures and ensuring a better transition for those needing support after a hospital stay.

The 2022-23 BCF framework will continue to build on initiatives developed during the pandemic, strengthening the integration of commissioning and delivery of services and providing person-centred care, as well as continuing to support system recovery from the pandemic. It will also strengthen focus on person-centred outcomes by asking areas to meet two overarching objectives reflecting the priorities for health and social care integration:

• Enable people to stay well, safe and independent at home for longer
• Provide the right care in the right place at the right time

As part of this, local authorities will be asked to develop capacity and demand plans for intermediate care covering both admissions avoidance and hospital discharge across health and social care to help the system prepare for winter.

The Better Care Fund was launched in 2015 to join up the NHS, social care and housing services so that older people, and those with complex needs, can manage their own health and wellbeing and live independently in their communities for as long as possible.

The BCF requires local authorities to pool budgets, including £4.5 billion of NHS funding, £2.1 billion from the improved Better Care Fund (iBCF) grant to local authorities and £573 million from the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG).

The NHS contribution to the BCF is increasing by 5.66% in line with the NHS Long Term Plan settlement. Since 2015, the BCF has included a condition that a minimum amount of the NHS contribution is used to fund social care services that have a health benefit. In 2022, this minimum is almost £2 billion, and will protect vital social care services that help people to remain independent or recover following a spell in hospital.

The improved Better Care Fund (iBCF), which is part of the overall BCF funding package, has increased by £63m this year, to £2.14bn. The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) will be maintained in 2022-23 at £573 million.

• The BCF Policy Framework sets the parameters of the fund for 2022-23 [[Better Care Fund policy framework: 2022 to 2023 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Further details on the Better Care Fund are available on the NHS website

Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change (African Development Bank Group, COP 25, December 2019) despite having relatively low contributions to global emissions. It faces huge collateral damage posing substantial risks to its economies, food systems, and livelihoods. Important challenges that African countries face from climate change include:

• the impact on food security and livelihoods from reduced agricultural production and productivity
• the limited access to capital, technology and skills for economic adaptation and transition
• limited governance and institutional capacity to deal with conflict over scarce resources and displacements arising from extreme climate events

While these challenges are severe, African countries have an opportunity to be an important part of the solution to the climate change challenge and contribute towards global Net Zero. This can be through unlocking the potential of renewable energy, climate smart agriculture and smart manufacturing, for instance. The UK, as a leading provider of green products and services, is in a strong position to help Africa seize the opportunity to build sustainable, green, inclusive and resilient businesses to drive the transition, which has become increasingly important in the context of climate change.

Green businesses do not contribute any negative impact on the environment, economy, or community. They use environmentally sustainable resources and uphold socially responsible policies (Harvard Business School, what does “sustainability” mean in business? October 2018).

Supporting the growth of such businesses has the potential to drive the creation of climate-smart jobs, boost economic growth and achieve sustainable development.

This short Growth Gateway project considered 8 topic areas and more than 30 sub-sectors within the broader green business space. Three dimensions were used to select focus sub-sectors:

• Africa structural advantage: is commercial potential on the continent already proven, or are the right conditions in place?
• UK comparative advantage: do UK firms have a strong right-to-play and right-to-win?
• impact potential: what is the potential environmental, social and economic impact?

Green trade and investment opportunities

From this overall landscape of over 50 opportunities, the project identified 8 high potential areas that have the clearest potential for UK-Africa trade and investment. These are mainly in clean energy, agriculture, and green financing spaces. Opportunities exist most notably in 6 countries – Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa.

These opportunities tend to be less technologically advanced (eg waste reduction vs carbon emissions reduction), are at different levels of maturity and mostly in areas where Africa possesses a strong natural resource advantage. The environmental impact potential within the opportunity pipeline spans a wide range of outcomes from carbon emissions reduction, to strengthened adaptation and resilience, to waste reduction.

The highest opportunity areas include:

Clean energy

Agriculture

Green financing

Green hydrogen production

This is expected to reach approximately 25% of global energy sources by 2050, with Africa having potential to take a significant share – especially in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Namibia. UK businesses are well placed to participate across the continent by providing capital to plants, as well as advisory services.

On-shore wind farm development

Wind energy is set to grow from 2 Gigawatts in 2013 to 80 Gigawatts in 2030, with opportunities in South Africa and Egypt in particular. The UK is a global leader in the sector and there is strong opportunity for UK businesses to further increase investment in Africa for setting up / scaling up wind farms.

Distributed solar energy solutions

Solar energy is poised to play an integral part in Africa’s electrification journey. The UK is well-positioned to invest in residential and Commercial & Industrial (C&I) solutions, especially in markets such as Nigeria and Kenya.

Utility solar project development

There is opportunity for UK firms to leverage their strong solar expertise to lead involvement in utility solar projects in countries such as South Africa and Egypt. UK investors can provide capital to set up and scale up utility solar projects to capitalise on the growing importance of solar in Africa’s total power mix and help to drive universal electrification.

Sustainable animal feed production

UK demand for sustainable feed (eg insect-based) is set to grow substantially in the next 30 years and Africa presents a good opportunity for investors. For instance, black soldier fly larvae, fed on agricultural waste, provide important feed for the aquaculture sector. This presents a good opportunity for UK investors to provide growth capital to local producers in countries such as Kenya.

Tech-enabled micro-storage

Urbanisation and population growth is driving demand for tech-enabled micro storage in markets such as Nigeria and Kenya, and rising demand for cold storage from the aquaculture sector in Egypt. UK investors can provide growth capital to businesses in these markets.

Carbon-credit generating projects

Projects in Africa can be much more cost efficient than in the UK, where the cost per tonne of carbon credit generation is 24 times higher than the global average. UK investors can finance such projects (eg forestry, fuel switching) in markets like Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia and Tanzania.

Green bond issuance

The Green bond market could reach £10 to £15 billion by 2030 as demand for sustainable financing increases. Positive development in South Africa and Egypt can serve as a proof-of-concept. The UK leads the green bond market globally, and UK banks and advisories can support issuances in Africa.

Recommended solutions to boosting green business participation in Africa

• help UK investors to connect with high-potential African projects and businesses, accelerate trade schemes, and raise awareness of opportunities and success stories
• governments and firms could co-create project aggregation mechanisms and joint funding rounds to improve scale and risk mitigation, to address the small size nature of opportunities and markets in Africa
• multilateral organisations and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) can explore low-cost local currency loans and affordable foreign exchange hedging products
• support knowledge exchange programmes and scalable pilot projects and offer technical assistance to African governments to help with policy and regulatory framework development
• UK businesses, incentivised by government, could invest in catalytic infrastructure (eg pipelines and grid infrastructure), to improve opportunity viability and unlock them at scale

Activating this opportunity pipeline has the potential to unlock sustainable gains in development impact across Africa, while also advancing the commercial interests of both African and UK businesses. Importantly, it would also play an important role in substantiating the UK’s ambitions to be a global leader in climate action.

To activate the pipeline, information sharing and targeted matchmaking for businesses, policy advocacy, technical assistance and catalytic investments (from firms, and potentially also by UK government) is needed to unlock opportunities.

This will help to increase trade and investment in the green sector. Initial successes will prove the value to more UK and African players of opportunities which generate positive environmental and social outcomes, and spur further deals organically. Growth Gateway will facilitate this through targeted information dissemination and business networking events engagement with other UK Government organisations providing export advice and finance, and through ongoing advisory support.

To find out more about Growth Gateway and learn how your business can get involved in these green UK Africa trade and investment opportunities, contact growthgateway@fcdo.gov.uk or visit our website at growthgateway.campaign.gov.uk.

See visualisation tool of the UK-Africa green trade and investment opportunities identified by the project.

A collaborative international aviation network with global aviation leaders has been launched to tackle the sector’s biggest challenges.

The National Aviation Authorities (NAA) network’s mission is to foster cooperation between world-leading aviation regulators on emerging challenges in aviation and aerospace, improving innovation and safety.

These challenges include making the most of new technology, such as safely integrating new forms of transport like air taxis into some of the busiest airspace systems in the world, as well as supporting the sector’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions and promote guilt-free flying.

The NAA network currently includes the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. The network will exist to ensure that the aviation sector is the safest and most innovative and environmentally conscious it can be.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

The aviation industry has shown immense resilience these past 2 years, with governments and authorities around the world working together with the sector on new challenges like slashing carbon emissions and making new technology as safe as it can be.

The NAA network is a huge step forward in supporting this work – helping the sector safely meet the challenges of tomorrow and improve lives for the better.

Sir Stephen Hillier, chair of both the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the National Aviation Authority Network Governance group said:

This is both an exciting and a challenging time for the global aviation sector, and regulators must move quickly to build greater resilience, keep pace with rapid innovation, and work together to reduce carbon emissions.

The NAA Network helps us strengthen collaborative approaches to common challenges and to share best practice and regulatory approaches.

We’re already doing timely and important work together within the network and I very much look forward to continuing to work closely with my colleagues in Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand to help advance global aviation.

Acting US Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Billy Nolen said:

We can only achieve the next era of aviation by working collaboratively with our international partners.

This network will help us with new aviation challenges, like bringing air taxis safely into operation and building a sustainable aviation system, and the FAA looks forward to working together.

The UK and its international partners will use the NAA network to respond quickly and flexibly to new issues and influence new regulation, finding ways to align approaches to address common challenges.

This group complements the various coordination mechanisms under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and remains committed to working within ICAO to support the global aviation system.

For example, NAA network regulators have already been sharing best practice on safety to help plan for future external shocks, meaning the sector will be better prepared to sustain operations in the event of a future shock on the scale of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

A collaborative international aviation network with global aviation leaders has been launched to tackle the sector’s biggest challenges.

The National Aviation Authorities (NAA) network’s mission is to foster cooperation between world-leading aviation regulators on emerging challenges in aviation and aerospace, improving innovation and safety.

These challenges include making the most of new technology, such as safely integrating new forms of transport like air taxis into some of the busiest airspace systems in the world, as well as supporting the sector’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions and promote guilt-free flying.

The NAA network currently includes the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. The network will exist to ensure that the aviation sector is the safest and most innovative and environmentally conscious it can be.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

The aviation industry has shown immense resilience these past 2 years, with governments and authorities around the world working together with the sector on new challenges like slashing carbon emissions and making new technology as safe as it can be.

The NAA network is a huge step forward in supporting this work – helping the sector safely meet the challenges of tomorrow and improve lives for the better.

Sir Stephen Hillier, chair of both the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the National Aviation Authority Network Governance group said:

This is both an exciting and a challenging time for the global aviation sector, and regulators must move quickly to build greater resilience, keep pace with rapid innovation, and work together to reduce carbon emissions.

The NAA Network helps us strengthen collaborative approaches to common challenges and to share best practice and regulatory approaches.

We’re already doing timely and important work together within the network and I very much look forward to continuing to work closely with my colleagues in Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand to help advance global aviation.

Acting US Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Billy Nolen said:

We can only achieve the next era of aviation by working collaboratively with our international partners.

This network will help us with new aviation challenges, like bringing air taxis safely into operation and building a sustainable aviation system, and the FAA looks forward to working together.

The UK and its international partners will use the NAA network to respond quickly and flexibly to new issues and influence new regulation, finding ways to align approaches to address common challenges.

This group complements the various coordination mechanisms under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and remains committed to working within ICAO to support the global aviation system.

For example, NAA network regulators have already been sharing best practice on safety to help plan for future external shocks, meaning the sector will be better prepared to sustain operations in the event of a future shock on the scale of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The government has bold spaceflight ambitions that we outlined in the National Space Strategy that we published last September.

The UK has a thriving satellite manufacturing industry and we excel at providing satellite-based communications and high-end navigation services. The space sector directly employs 45,000 people in the UK and satellites support at least £360 billion of UK GDP.

However, the UK is currently reliant on other launch countries to put UK built and UK operated satellites into space – including those critical for our defence and security.

Through the Space Industry Act 2018 (the 2018 Act) and the Space Industry Regulations 2021 (the 2021 Regulations), we have established the regulatory framework and appointed the Civil Aviation Authority as the spaceflight regulator, to enable the licensing of spaceflight activities from UK spaceports.

Space based technologies provide fundamental services to the daily lives of everyone in this country – from supporting defence and security, enabling faster and more efficient travel, enabling our smart phones, the provision television services and receiving better weather forecasts.

Having a UK launch capability will generate and support many additional high skilled jobs up and down the country – and give UK greater control and increased options for getting our satellites into space that can provide benefits for all.

I have therefore today (19 July 2022) laid a departmental minute describing a new contingent liability that the Department for Transport plans to undertake in respect of future launch operator licences granted under the 2018 act.

The liability arises from a combination of the UK being a party to the United Nations Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects 1972, powers and obligations under the 2018 act to indemnify operators and those who sustain injury or damage in the United Kingdom as a result of spaceflight activities and limits placed on a launch operator’s liability by or under the 2018 act and the 2021 regulations.

The circumstances giving rise to the contingent liability are fully explained in the departmental minute.

A potential contingent liability will be created each time a launch activity is conducted under the 2018 act. The liability is unquantifiable – but we anticipate that the likelihood of any liability arising above an operator’s liability limit to be very low.

The Department for Transport will keep Parliament informed of the specific indemnities entered into under this notification by reporting on them in our annual report and accounts which are laid before Parliament.

HM Treasury has approved the contingent liability in principle.

If, during the period of 14 parliamentary sitting days beginning on the date on which this minute was laid before Parliament, a member signifies an objection by giving notice of a parliamentary question or by otherwise raising the matter in Parliament, final approval to proceed with incurring the liability will be withheld pending an examination of the objection.

The action I have taken today is another step towards achieving the first small satellite launch from Europe this year. It reaffirms this government’s bold commitment to establishing the UK as one of the most attractive and innovative space economies in the world and the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe.