If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, there may be changes that affect your fisheries business.

With hundreds of female engineers helping to deliver our mission both at Sellafield and in the supply chain, we are proud to support #INWED19.

Ahead of #INWED19 our female engineers were photographed proudly holding a ‘selfie card’ to show solidarity for equality, diversity and inclusion within the engineering profession.

And this year is a special one for our female engineers as 2019 marks 100 years since the Women in Engineering Society (WES) began celebrating women making a difference in engineering roles. WES are running the WES100 campaign throughout 2019.

This year’s theme is #TransformTheFuture and we’re holding an event later this week to help celebrate the centenary year and recognise some of our current and future female engineers. The event will feature guest speakers from a range of our female engineers, those with years of experience and those right at the beginning of their careers.

Chartered senior project manager Eleanor Billson, who started her career in engineering, has organised the event. She is keen to not only inspire more young women to become engineers but also to influence gender balance in senior positions and executive roles.

She said:

During my career I’ve witnessed more women taking up roles in engineering, with some progressing into more senior roles, but more needs to be done to encourage further diversity and inclusion in this field.

As well as celebrating the centenary, those attending will have the chance to expand their networks with others in different stages of their careers.

And it isn’t just for women, as men have an important role to play in transforming Sellafield Ltd and the wider nuclear industry, and the event will address some of the pressing issues and challenges faced by our female engineering community.

Mr President,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of Argentina and the United Kingdom, in our capacity as joint co-chairs of the Equal Rights Coalition, a grouping of 42 like-minded countries working together to achieve LGBTI equality. The full list of ERC sponsors can be found in the online version.

We thank the Independent Expert for his report, and for setting out the impact that the global shortage of credible or inclusive data has for LGBT and gender diverse people. Your report will become an important international resource, as well as a means of increasing awareness, and driving global action.

We agree with the Independent Expert that criminalization, stigmatization and negation all constitute factors that increase the risk of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

We have an unshakable belief that human rights are universal. They must apply equally to all people, in all places, and at all times. We congratulate those countries that have made important progress towards LGBT and gender diverse equality, in particular in ending the criminalization of people for their sexual orientation and gender identity.

We are fully committed to the renewal of your mandate. You, and your predecessor have done what this Council asked of you. You have promoted awareness of the many, terrible aspects of discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. You have identified and promoted good practices, and maintained a dignified and sincere dialogue with all stakeholders.

We ask all members of the Human Rights Council to recognise the simple truth that violence and discrimination can never be justified on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, and to support the renewal of this important mandate.

Thank you, Mr President.

  ERC Co-signatories:

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay

Context

The relationship between the UK and France goes back over one thousand years and the deep history between our two countries is reflected in the ties that join us. Today, our partnership spans across the full spectrum of issues, from trade and defence to science and culture.

What makes this all possible are the strong links between the people from across both our countries. People with shared aims and objectives who, helped by geographical proximity, work successfully together for the shared benefit of our nations and communities. Some of this happens in our capitals but it is important to remember that a lot of it does not. The relationship between the UK and France goes beyond London and Paris – our regional relationships hold just as much importance.

That is why, during the UK-France Summit in 2018, the President of the French Republic and the British Prime Minister, announced the first ever UK-France Mayors’ Summit, which was organised in London in March 2019.

This Summit gathered over a hundred regional leaders from across France and the UK to reinforce existing cooperation between our towns and cities and develop new partnerships, such as between Manchester and Montpellier, Newham and Saint Denis and Kent and the Pas de Calais region.

We now want to build on the momentum of the Summit and support local towns, cities and communities in the UK and France to continue to pursue and generate innovative and relevant projects together.

Objectives

Building on the success of the UK-France Mayors’ Summit, we want to facilitate practical and innovative local initiatives between the UK and France, which support local objectives and benefit local communities. We are therefore making available a pot of money to do this, which is now open to local bids from across France and the UK. Bids could be anything from business forums with the aim of exchanging best practice to youth sport competitions.

Three main themes emerged from the Mayors Summit as being practical and impactful areas of collaboration.

We are particularly looking for bids that fall under these categories:

• environment and tackling climate change
• promoting innovation and digital and increase territory attractiveness
• promoting culture, heritage and sports at local level

We are looking for concrete and innovative project bids from a British and/or French local authority or communities. Bidders should at least already have secured the agreement from a partner in the other country to proceed with the project, even if the details are not yet clear. We regret that the British Embassy will not be able to support bids that have not yet secured a partner.

Selection criteria

Who can apply?

The British Embassy in Paris will review all applications from:

• British local authorities or communities who have already secured the agreement from a French partner to implement the project following a successful bid
• French local authorities or communities who have already secured the agreement from a British partner to implement the project [following a successful bid]. Whilst the Embassy can offer some light touch support, delivery of the project will be led by the bidder and any/or any local organisation they choose to work with

Criteria

Project(s) selected must satisfy the following criteria:

Funds must be spent by 28 February 2020

Funding

A total sum of £15,000 is now open to local bids. The fund will be attributed to one single project or to several projects, depending on the nature of the bids received.

Schedule

Applications must be submitted online by 2 September 2019 to clementine.martin@fco.gov.uk

The jury will be composed of members of the British Embassy and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Local authorities will be notified of their selection or not by 30 September 2019.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator 2019 Annual Conference took place on 24 June 2019, at Church House, Westminster. Over 300 people registered to attend and hear from the Adjudicator and guest speakers about progress over the past 12 months, Code related issues in the groceries sector and plans for the future.

The theme of the conference was “Driving effective compliance risk management”.

• Christine Tacon: Driving effective compliance risk management – Annual Review 2018/19 (MS Powerpoint Presentation, 6.1MB)

Driving effective compliance risk mangement

• Gavin Ellison (YouGov): GCA Annual Survey 2019 (MS Powerpoint Presentation, 6.57MB)

2019 GCA Annual Survey Results

• Christine Tacon: Driving effective compliance risk management (MS Powerpoint Presentation, 4.59MB)

Forward Look – 2019

• Michael Hutchings: The Supply Chain Initiative – Tackling unfair trading practices in the EU (MS Powerpoint Presentation, 836KB)

Tackling unfair trading practices in the EU