International Trade Minister Mark Garnier visits 2 fast-growing Asian markets in a bid to boost trade and investment opportunities post-Brexit on his first trip to Malaysia and South Korea this week (6 to 11 August).

He will start his trip in Malaysia, where he will meet key figures from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to strengthen bilateral relations and discuss burgeoning trade in the technology and education sectors. Technology is one of top 5 UK exports to the country and represents an opportunity to promote British goods and services.

He will also promote UK education expertise and position the country as the overseas investment destination of choice for Malaysian companies and investors.

He will end his trip in South Korea, where trade relations with the country have traditionally been strong, with trade worth in excess of £10 billion and a trade surplus in place since 2010. He is expected to focus on increasing collaboration in the automotive sector as the number of cars exported to South Korea has increased 5-fold, making it the UK’s eighth largest export market outside of Europe.

He will also meet officials at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Senior Economic Secretary to the President to discuss future trade and investment opportunities, and the benefits of free trade.

Ahead of the visit, International Trade Minister, Mark Garnier said:

As we look towards our future outside the EU, it’s important to strengthen existing trading links with thriving economies like Malaysia and South Korea and build new and mutually beneficial partnerships.

We know there is a wealth of opportunities out there and as an international economic department we are determined to help UK businesses seize these and make clear that the country is open for business.

Recent trade wins in Malaysia and South Korea

In December 2016, DIT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, a move that has led to significant interest from the UK technology and research sector in the huge opportunities available here.

Last year, UK mobile banking company, Monese, secured a major investment from the largest Korean venture capitalist company, Korea Investment Partners. Monese launched the first 100% mobile current account in the UK in September 2015 and is one of the leading Fintech players in the market.

UK-Malaysia and UK-South Korea trade relations

Key facts are:

• Malaysia is one of the world’s top locations for offshore manufacturing and service based operations
• multinational corporations from more than 40 countries have invested in over 5,000 Malaysian companies
• the top 5 UK exports to Malaysia are infrastructure, defence, education and technology
• overall bilateral trade totalled £4.4 billion in 2015, as it is our second largest export market in ASEAN
• foreign direct investment into Malaysia from the UK rose 6% from 2011 to over £3.4 billion in 2016
• UK-South Korea trade is worth in excess of £10 billion and since 2010, the UK has run a trade surplus with South Korea
• the top 5 UK exports to South Korea are crude oil, mechanical appliances, road vehicles and parts, aircraft and spacecraft and ,optical, photographic, cinematographic, medical equipment instruments

Further information

Contact the DIT Media and Digital Team on 0207 215 2000.

Follow us: @tradegovuk or on gov.uk/dit.

Robin Walker,Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, has completed a three day tour of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man this week, to discuss the implications of Brexit for the Crown Dependencies.

During the visits, the first official tour of the Crown Dependencies by a DExEU Minister, Robin Walker heard directly from people and stakeholders in each Crown Dependency to better understand their specific priorities.This included meetings with a range of ministers from various departments and law offices.

Mr Walker updated the Crown Dependencies on the UK Government’s progress on EU exit, and provided reassurance that the UK will continue to engage with the Crown Dependencies through negotiations with the EU and beyond.

Minister Walker arrived in the Isle of Man on Thursday (3 August), where he held talks with Chief Minister Howard Quayle about the specific interests of the island. He also met representatives from the financial services sector, toured Isle of Man Creamery, which exports Manx cheese across the world, and visited high-tech manufacturer Swageloc, where he discussed international trade and market access.

On Monday (7 August) the Minister travelled to Jersey, where he had discussions with Chief Minister Ian Gorst and met with representatives from some of the island’s key sectors, including financial services. He also took a tour of Jersey Dairy, which supplies luxury dairy products both to the local market and overseas.

The Minister arrived in Guernsey on Tuesday (8 August) to discuss the Bailiwick’s priorities for Brexit with Chief Minister Gavin St Pier and leaders from the fisheries, maritime and financial services sectors. He also met representatives from Sark’s Chief Pleas and the States of Alderney.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, Robin Walker, said:

The UK’s relationship with Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man is a valued, historical and special one.

On my first visit to the Crown Dependencies since becoming a Minister at the Department for Exiting the EU, I was able to visit a number of businesses to hear the priorities and interests of each island. This builds upon a well established process of quarterly meetings with the chief ministers of the Crown Dependencies and I am grateful to them and their officials for the excellent communication we have established and built upon throughout this process.

Understanding the key issues of the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man is a crucial part of our work. As we continue our negotiations with the EU we will make sure the interests of the Crown Dependencies are understood and taken into account.

To support you using the Client and Cost Management System (CCMS) there are now almost 100 quick guides available on the CCMS training website, broken down between those relevant to advocates and providers, and covering:

• navigation in CCMS
• making an initial application
• managing live cases
• closing cases and submitting bills
• technical tips for using CCMS

Around 3,500 users each month access the website, and over the last year there have been at least 50,000 page views and around 20,000 downloads of quick guides and interactive training modules.

One provider told us:

(I) used the (quick)guides all the time when we first used CCMS until I was confident… without the guides. I found them to be invaluable (and) easy to follow. Overall I found them clear and precise and still use them as a good reference guide should the need arise.

New guides are added in response to feedback we receive – through phone calls and other contact with us – on areas where you have asked for help in using the system. The following guides have been uploaded in the last 2 months:

• Navigation in CCMS – remittance advice
• Making an initial application – linking cases
• Making an initial application – Special Children’s Act
• Managing live cases – amendments
• Managing live cases – high cost case registration/query
• Managing live cases – means review
• Managing live cases – legal appeal review
• Managing live cases – submit a case enquiry
• Closing cases and submitting bills – resubmitting a rejected bill
• Closing cases and submitting bills – appeal bill
• Closing cases and submitting bills – court assessed bills
• Closing cases and submitting bills – high cost billing
• Closing cases and submitting bills – submitting outcomes and discharge

Moving forward, we will update the ‘What’s New’ section of the CCMS training website when guides are added or updated so you can see at a glance when changes have been made.

We welcome feedback on any new guides providers would find valuable, so please let us know.

Further information

CCMS training – Quick Guides – to see the quick guides available

Introduction

The River Thames between Datchet and Teddington has the largest area of undefended, developed floodplain in England. Over 15,000 homes and businesses within the area are at risk from flooding.

The River Thames Scheme will reduce the risk of flooding to homes, businesses and critical infrastructure (roads, sewerage network and power supplies).

We need a range of solutions to manage the risk of flooding in the River Thames Scheme area and so the scheme consists of:

• construction of 17 kilometres of new flood channel built in 3 sections
• capacity improvements to the weirs at Sunbury, Molesey and Teddington
• community resilience measures
• major incident planning
• habitat creation.

Environmental impact assessment

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) establishes how things are now (the environmental baseline) and assesses the impacts that the scheme is likely to have on this.

It will consider all the likely significant impacts that could result from the scheme and will look at ways to avoid or minimise these impacts, as well as ways to improve the local environment.

The EIA will be documented in an Environmental Statement, which will be submitted with the planning application to inform the planning decision.

We will capture all the ways to avoid or minimise impacts in an Environmental Action Plan, which will be implemented throughout the construction phase of the project.

Environmental Statement

The first stage of producing an Environmental Statement is to develop an Environmental Scoping Report which will be presented to external consultees for comment in the summer.

The Scoping Report provides a summary of the existing environment, considers how the environment could be effected by the Scheme and whether these effects are likely to be significant. Such considerations include landscape, cultural heritage, ecology, noise, water environment and human beings.

Scoping opinion

The scoping report is submitted to the Local Authorities as part of the planning process, who will be asked to provide a scoping opinion under the Town and County Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations. They will consider if we have included all the likely significant impacts that could result from the scheme, which will set the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment.

They are likely to consult with other organisations and government departments in order to form this opinion. This is not a formal public consultation at this stage and comments are not requested from members of the public. Comments from the public will be captured during the planning application process in 2018.

Environmental and Ecological Surveys

As part of our work to manage our environmental impact we are carrying out further ecological and environmental surveys this year. A range of species will be targeted in these surveys, including bats (and their roosts), water voles, breeding birds, otter, great crested newts and species of reptiles.

Archaeological surveys are planned to commence in summer 2017, and will involve metal detecting, radar surveys and borehole sampling. The results of these surveys will help us identify targeted locations for trial trenches, in late 2017, to evaluate archaeology.

If you would like more information about the surveys we are conducting please visit our website

Environment Agency June 2017

Introduction

The River Thames between Datchet and Teddington has the largest area of undefended floodplain in England. Over 15,000 homes and businesses within the area are at risk from flooding.

The River Thames Scheme will reduce the risk of flooding to homes, businesses and critical infrastructure (roads, sewerage network, and power supplies).

We need a range of solutions to manage the risk of flooding in the River Thames Scheme area and so the scheme consists of:

• construction of 17 kilometres of new flood channel built in 3 sections
• capacity improvements to weirs at Sunbury, Molesey and Teddington
• community resilience measures
• major incident planning
• habitat creation

We are progressing initial assessments for Community Resilience Measures across the scheme area. This involves analysing data from flood modelling and surveys to look for areas that could benefit from more localised permanent, temporary or property level solutions.

Types of CRM may include permanent flood defences in the form of flood walls or embankments, temporary flood defences that can be deployed in advance of a flood or property level flood intervention consisting of flood doors and barriers.

Initial assessments

The first stage is to group properties together based on the modelling and survey data into areas that could benefit from CRM. The next stage is to identify what type of measure could be used. This is done by engineers based on the location of the properties, the physical and environmental constraints in the area, the flood modelling, past experience and by looking at the costs and benefits for each option.

Appraisal

Once we have completed initial assessments we will identify areas that can be taken forward for more detailed appraisal and consultation with communities to select a preferred solution.

CRM will not be suitable for all communities and properties. Our assessments will identify those measures that can be taken forward based on how much they cost and the benefit they provide along with engineering decisions.

Those CRMs taken forward for implementation will qualify for partial central government funding. The remaining funding is expected to be provided from partnership contributions as part of the wider River Thames Scheme.

Property level programme

You may also be aware of our Property Level Programme (PLP) which has installed flood protection measures to hundreds of properties within the Lower Thames Area. The PLP programme is now closed with works to the last few remaining properties soon to be completed.

Next Steps

Most of the data we need is collected from an office however you may see RTS representatives visiting areas to understand the location better. We will also be using local knowledge of previous flooding to better understand how we can help.

We understand you will want to know how you will be affected and we would like to talk to communities later in the year once we have reviewed the data from our initial assessments.

In the meantime we will keep you updated on the progress of our assessments and let you know how and when you can get involved via our River Thames Scheme newsletter