On 18 October, British Ambassador to Ethiopia Susanna Moorehead visits CURE Hospital and Alemachen recovery centre.

Ambassador Moorehead was able to see children with disabilities who have travelled from across Ethiopia to get Orthopaedic surgery at the CURE hospital. She handed over a small donation from the British Embassy to Alemachen that will help improve the well being of the children.

The Ambassador visited children’s recovery home and physiotherapy rooms at Alemachen. She also met three British Doctors working at the CURE hospital operating on children with significant disabilities.

The hospital provides treatment for issues predominantly related to the consequences of untreated rickets, club feet and poorly healed fractures.

Alemachen provides recovery support services to the children who have undergone operations at the CURE hospital. Supported by volunteers and members of staff, the centre provides support to up to 40 children at a time.

Speaking after the visit, Ambassador Moorehead said:

I’m pleased to see CURE Hospital and Alemachen support each other to give hope to children with disabilities from the poorest parts of society. I have seen how the children’s lives can be improved by relatively simple interventions. British doctors making life changing operations for Ethiopian children is testament to the strong links between our two countries

Media Enquiries:

Mail to:saba.ermyas@fco.gov.uk

Drivers on a 5-mile stretch of the M62 near Rochdale can now benefit from wider lanes, helping to improve the flow of traffic on one of the busiest motorways in the region.

Temporary narrow lanes have been removed between junctions 18 and 20, marking the start of a phased opening of the North West’s first smart motorway scheme to tackle congestion and improve journey times.

The Highways England project will use new technology to provide better information to drivers and variable speed limits to keep traffic moving at a steady speed. Extra lanes will also be opened on the M62 before the Christmas getaway, increasing capacity on the stretch of motorway between Greater Manchester and Yorkshire by a third.

Jon Stokes, Senior Project Manager at Highways England, said:

I’m pleased we’ve been able to remove the temporary narrow lanes on the M62 – benefiting the 180,000 drivers who use the route every day. Nearly 600 people are currently working to complete the smart motorway and we will open each section along the route as soon as possible.

When the smart motorway is complete, drivers will be able to travel in an extra lane on the M62 and variable speed limits will help to keep traffic flowing – tackling the stop/start conditions and tailbacks caused by sudden braking.

Overnight closures will continue to take place between junctions 18 and 20 on the M62 to carry out resurfacing work and to commission the new smart motorway technology.

The closures will be in place between 10pm and 6am, Sunday to Thursday, and between 9pm and 10am on Friday and Saturday nights. Overnight closures will also continue on sections of the M60 for major construction work on the smart motorway.

The scheme is Highways England’s most complex smart motorway project, affecting the second busiest motorway in the country and covering 13 junctions – an average of one junction every 1.4 miles.

The full scheme stretches between junction 8 of the M60 near Sale and junction 20 of the M62 near Rochdale. The next stage of the phased opening will see the removal of the temporary narrow lanes between junctions 8 and 10 on the M60 later in the autumn.

The new technology will be tested to ensure the 100 traffic sensors which have been installed along the 17-mile route are working effectively, before the new electronic variable speed limit signs are switched on from junctions 8 to 10 on the M60 and junctions 18 to 20 on the M62 by the end of the year.

The temporary narrow lanes are due to be removed between junctions 15 and 18 on the M60 in early 2018, and from the final section of roadworks – on a 5 mile stretch of the M60 between junctions 10 and 15 – in spring 2018. The new variable speed limit signs are due to be switched on between junctions 10 and 18 by summer 2018.

When the smart motorway is complete, traffic sensors will automatically monitor the flow of traffic and adjust the speed limit accordingly. A total of 50 CCTV cameras will also provide 100% coverage of the route, and allow Highways England’s traffic officers and the emergency services to respond quickly to incidents.

More details are available on the scheme website.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

Measures to ensure consumers continue to get the most out of their smart meters have been introduced to parliament in the Smart Meters Bill today (Wednesday 18 October).

Every home and small business in Great Britain will be offered a smart meter by the end of 2020, saving consumers billions of pounds over the course of this vital national infrastructure upgrade.

The Bill, first announced in the Queen’s Speech, will enable the Government to continue to regulate the roll-out of smart meters up to completion at the end of 2020.

It will also help the Government to act on the results of any findings made after 2020 that could improve the experience for consumers and small businesses.

The legislation will also ensure consumers are protected in the unlikely event that the company running the national smart meters communications infrastructure, currently the Smart Data and Communications Company, were to become insolvent.

This will bring the programme in line with other utilities such as water and energy network companies.

Energy Minister Richard Harrington said:

The roll-out of smart meters continues at pace with almost 7.7 million already operating in Great Britain and nearly 350,000 being installed every month, bringing an end to estimated bills and helping people to save energy and money.

Every home and small business will be offered a smart meter by the end of 2020. The Bill published today will ensure consumers continue to get the most from their smart meters once installed, during and beyond the roll-out.

The UK is leading the way in tackling the scourge of modern slavery on behalf of some of the most victimised, brutalised, and exploited people in the world. I recently met young female victims of trafficking at a safe house in Nigeria and heart-breaking testimonies like theirs vividly demonstrate that this evil crime needs to be eradicated.

Anti-Slavery Day provides a wake-up call to anyone who thought slavery had been consigned to the history books. We have doubled our spending on trying to wipe out modern slavery. We want to clamp down on this barbaric trade which destroys the lives of more than 46 million innocent victims worldwide, and too often reaches our shores.

It is absolutely right that in both the UK and beyond, we are stepping up our efforts. We will not accept a world where human beings are bought and sold.

London VAPC assists ex-servicemen to claim pensions.