New laws banning older tyres on large vehicles to improve road safety could be introduced later this year. Tyres aged 10 years and older would be banned from use on buses, coaches, lorries and minibuses in new proposals being consulted on from today (23 June 2019). If supported, the new rules could be in force by early 2020.

The consultation follows a passionate campaign by Frances Molloy, whose son Michael died in a coach crash caused by a 19-year-old tyre in 2012. Her work with the ‘Tyred’ campaign led to the consultation being launched today.

Road Safety Minister Michael Ellis said:

Our priority is keeping people safe on our roads, and we are taking action to reduce the number of people killed or injured.

There is increasing evidence that age affects the safety of tyres, which is why I think older tyres should not be used on large vehicles.

I would like to thank Frances Molloy and the Tyred campaign for their work raising this important issue – the changes we are consulting on could save lives.

The consultation, which runs for 10 weeks, asks whether older tyres should be banned on buses, coaches, lorries and minibuses as well as whether this ban should be extended to taxis and private hire vehicles. It follows other measures the government has put into place since 2012.

Bus operators have been advised not to use older tyres at the front of their vehicles. Inspections of 130,000 buses by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency since 2017 showed only 0.06 per cent were in breach of the guidance.

The DVSA also updated its guidance on maintaining roadworthiness to say tyres aged 10 years and older should not be used on the front axles of heavy goods vehicles, as well as buses and coaches.

A growing body of evidence includes research, commissioned by the Department for Transport and published last week, which shows ageing tyres suffer corrosion which could cause them to fail.

The evidence also includes reports from two fatal crashes – one involving a coach on the A3 in 2012, and another on the M5 in 2017, involving a heavy goods vehicle.

The consultation follows continued work to establish the impact of age on tyre performance. Today’s consultation comes ahead of a refreshed Road Safety Statement and two-year action plan, which will be published shortly.

She will be the first female to hold the role and joins the Department as a distinguished academic with a commitment to science-driven policy. The MOD’s Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) oversees the Department’s core research programme, leads technology strategy, and works closely with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to develop battle-winning capabilities.

Recent CSA-funded successes include the launch of pioneering space technology, improved body armour for our personnel, and a life-saving test for sepsis.

Professor McLean is currently a Senior Research Fellow in Theoretical Life Science at All Souls College in Oxford University and has previously held a number of other academic appointments, including as a Research Fellow at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.

The announcement comes on the International Day of Women in Engineering, on which military personnel are undertaking engagement activities to increase female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. This weekend the Army are holding an event in Northern Ireland with over 200 female cadets, while the Royal Navy and RAF will be promoting success stories to increase awareness of STEM career opportunities in the military.

Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

The Chief Scientific Adviser plays a key role in ensuring that our armed forces stay at the cutting edge of technology and innovation.

It’s poignant that we appoint Professor McLean as our first female Chief Scientific Adviser on International Women in Engineering Day, where we look to increase female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

As a highly respected scientist, Professor McLean is a role model to all those wanting to pursue a career in this area, and will bring extensive knowledge and expertise to the role.

The Chief Scientific Adviser advises on all science and technology matters in Defence, oversees Defence Science and Technology (DST); and works closely with our international allies to build partnerships and tackle shared challenges.

The Chief Scientific Adviser directs Defence’s core research programme (set at 1.2% of the Defence budget) to develop and sustain cutting-edge capabilities for the armed forces, drive innovation, and reduce costs. This forms part of Defence’s £1.6bn annual investment in research and development under our NATO commitment to invest 20% of the Defence budget on equipment.

Professor Angela McLean said:

This is an exciting time to be joining the Ministry of Defence, with so much important research going on to keep our armed forces at the forefront of innovation and technology.

Britain’s military has a distinguished record in developing and using science and I plan to make sure that we continue to build on that tradition.

I hope to use my skills and experience from the range of issues I’ve worked on to continue our world-leading reputation in science and technology.

Sir Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser said:

Congratulations to Professor Dame Angela McLean on her appointment as Chief Scientific Adviser to the MOD.

She has had a distinguished scientific career to date and will be a significant asset to the department, bringing deep expertise and broad experience across science.

I would like to extend a warm welcome from me and the network of Chief Scientific Advisers across government, and I look forward to working with her.

The government has today (23 June 2019) called on women of all ages to consider a career in engineering, making clear the transport industry must diversify to meet growing skills demands.

With women currently representing only 12% of the engineering workforce and 18% of the transport sector workforce, hiring more women is essential for the delivery of major transport infrastructure projects like HS2 and Heathrow expansion.

It is estimated that by 2033, there will be a combined shortfall of around 341,000 jobs in the sector.

The call follows the convening of a roundtable on women in transport this week by the Department for Transport’s Permanent Secretary Bernadette Kelly, attended by senior female leaders in the sector. Representatives from the Royal Academy of Engineering, Ford, Heathrow Airport, Network Rail, the Women in Maritime Taskforce, and Virgin Atlantic were present.

Key points of discussion included unconscious bias, challenging perceptions, and parent policies.

To coincide with International Women in Engineering Day today, the government is also celebrating the success of the Year of Engineering campaign in increasing the awareness of opportunities in engineering. The campaign delivered an estimated 5.1 million experiences of engineering for young people in 2018 – far exceeding the one million target.

Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, Bernadette Kelly, said:

We want to challenge traditional perceptions of engineering to ensure our transport industry has the skills it needs for the future.

This isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s necessary for engineering and transport to thrive. We simply need more engineers and people in the industry as investment grows. Currently, we’re not making use of a huge section of society and that can’t continue.

Building on progress and productive conversations with industry, I hope to help women across the country and of all ages see there are amazing careers in transport – from building site to boardroom.

HS2 minister Nusrat Ghani said:

In this country, we build roads, rail track, we expand airports, and we need engineers from all corners of the country to help us deliver our ambitions. Engineers are also at the heart of developing greener and more accessible transport, using innovation to design a better world that works for everyone.

The engineering and transport worlds have been too male for too long. A more diverse workforce will not only mean more opportunities for women, but will help the industry reach its potential.

Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said:

It was a pleasure to take part in this roundtable. I’m delighted to see the Department for Transport working to support and encourage people from all backgrounds to pursue careers in engineering, particularly women and people from BAME backgrounds.

From creativity to innovation, motivation, talent retention, health and safety and competitiveness, the evidence base is clear and growing regarding the benefits of diverse teams. The Royal Academy of Engineering is working closely with partners across the profession to ensure that the future engineering workforce truly reflects the society it serves.

Danielle Flynn, Standards and Controls Engineering Apprentice at Jaguar Land Rover, said:

I was one of the young girls in school who thought an Engineer was a mechanic – a man fixing a car. How little did I know? Engineering opens so many pathways from software development to project management on fast movement projects. It is exciting and not one day is the same. I am into my fourth year of working at Jaguar Land Rover and I am learning more day by day.

To all the younger women thinking of a career in transport industries, do not be put off! I cannot tell you how glad I am that I decided on this route and I would recommend it to everyone. Together we can work together for a better future for women!

The roundtable also discussed progress and successes being made in this area in the transport industry, from Network Rail collecting gender data, to the work groups such as HS2 Ltd providing women with opportunities to get work experience in the industry.

This success is further bolstered by forthcoming research carried out by EngineeringUK, which will show that the desirability of engineering as a career among the core audience of 7 to 11 year-olds has been boosted by 35% among those aware of the government’s Year of Engineering campaign.

The government is continuing to give young people from different backgrounds inspiring experiences of engineering through the legacy campaign ‘Engineering: Take a Closer Look’.

Public Health Minister Seema Kennedy has confirmed the government will be retaining the world-leading expertise of outgoing Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies, as UK special envoy on AMR. Dame Sally will be working across all sectors to deliver a ‘One Health’ response to AMR, which includes health, agriculture and the environment.

Professor Dame Sally played a critical role in putting AMR on the global agenda, driving forward the UK’s world-leading strategy and advising the UN in her role as Co-Convenor for the Interagency Coordination Group on AMR.

Last year the government committed £32 million funding to accelerate the UK’s work in the global fight against AMR. Ten leading research centres across the country will now use the funding to explore new ways to inform prescribing and identify patterns of resistance.

The awarded funding will support the development of a state-of-the-art, virtual ‘open access’ centre that will link health outcomes and prescribing data. This technology, led by Public Health England (PHE), will gather real-time patient data on resistant infections, helping clinicians to make more targeted choices about when to use antibiotics and cutting unnecessary prescriptions.

PHE will use £5 million in funding to develop a fully functional model ward, the first of its kind in the UK, to better understand how hospital facilities can be designed to improve infection control and reduce the transmission of antibiotic-resistant infections.

Other successful funds include £4.4 million to Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust to test ‘individualised’ approaches to antibiotic prescribing by bringing together patient care and clinical research, and £3.5 million to the University of Liverpool to apply innovative genome sequencing to enable more personalised antibiotic prescribing.

Today’s announcement follows the government’s 20-year vision and 5-year national action plan published earlier this year, setting out how the UK will contribute to containing and controlling AMR by 2040.

List of programmes funded (PDF, 64.6KB, 2 pages)

Public Health Minister Seema Kennedy said:

Antibiotic resistance poses an enormous risk to our NHS – we are already seeing the harmful effect resistant bugs can have on patient safety in our hospitals. It is vital that we retain the irreplaceable expertise of Professor Dame Sally Davies – an international expert in AMR – and continue to invest in research.

This funding to prop up the facilities for novel ideas and technologies, supported by the continued leadership of Dame Sally, will play a vital role in helping us to tackle this threat.

Dr Susan Hopkins, Public Health England, said:

Innovation is critical to tackle the growing challenge of antibiotic resistance. With this investment we will be able to create the most sophisticated AMR data set globally, enhancing our ability to monitor AMR and design effective interventions to halt its rise. By increasing our laboratory capacity to study novel agents and the healthcare environment, we’ll be able to take bold steps to preserve antibiotics for when we really need them and improve care and outcomes for patients.

Professor Dame Sally Davies said:

AMR is a complex challenge which needs local, national and global action. The UK should be proud of its world-leading work on AMR. We have made tangible progress but it is essential we maintain momentum. I am honoured to have been asked to continue this vital work on behalf of the UK government.

• £13 billion transport investment and 287,000 more jobs in the North since launch of Northern Powerhouse
• Government is determined to do even more to help communities in the North thrive

Five years on from the launch of the Northern Powerhouse, people across the North have benefitted from economic growth worth billions of pounds, tens of thousands of new jobs and powers and money being transferred away from Westminster.

The Government is now looking ahead to the next five years with an ambitious strategy which will build on the progress made so far and provide more opportunities for people to achieve their ambitions no matter where in the North they live.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

We launched the Northern Powerhouse to support a thriving Northern economy and ensure this country works for everyone.

Five years on, our pledge is stronger than ever.

From kickstarting the biggest transfer of power to local leaders since the Second World War, to driving up exports and spending billions on vital transport links, we’re working to ensure our great Northern cities and communities have the power and resources they need to succeed.

But there is much more to do, which is why it must remain a top priority for government to do all it can to unlock the North’s vast potential, so that both at home and on the international stage the Northern Powerhouse continues to thrive.

Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry MP has today reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to supporting people across the North to reach their full potential.

Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry MP said:

The Northern Powerhouse was created five years ago because communities across the North had been overlooked for too long.

I’m proud that communities across the Northern Powerhouse are so vocal and ambitious for their future. The Government shares their vision and no one is ignoring them anymore.

The Northern Powerhouse is more than a plan for the future, it’s a story of success. From record investment in transport to more than £5 billion in devolution and growth deals across the North we are making progress towards rebalancing our economy but we are determined to do even more to make sure the whole of the North can reach its full potential.

Since its launch in June 2014, government has worked in partnership with businesses and communities to drive productivity and increase opportunities for people all across the North:

• The economy of the North is now worth more than £339 billion – a £10 billion increase in real terms – and supports an additional 287,000 people in employment.
• The Government is spending a record £13 billion investment in transport which includes an upcoming £3 billion investment into the Trans-Pennine route and support for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
• Almost half of people in the North are now represented by elected metro mayors with control over local spending plans and who provide their region with an influential voice on the national and world stage.
• There has been a renewed focus on education and skills with the £70 million Northern Powerhouse school strategy to raise standards while investment in vocational qualifications means that a third of the country’s apprentices are in the North. In addition to this there has been support for schools in the North East with £24 million of funding through the Opportunity North East programme, a bespoke programme of support for schools and communities.  
• The Northern Powerhouse is firmly on the international stage – since 2010 the Government has roughly doubled the number of foreign direct investments to more than 1,000, creating more than 39,400 jobs.
• Businesses in the Northern Powerhouse have been supported through £20 million of new funding for a ‘Made Smarter’ pilot in the North West to support 3000 SME’s to adopt new digital technologies to improve competitiveness and productivity, Growth Hubs have also supported over 44k businesses helping over 8000 people start and grow their own businesses
• The Government has also supported major cultural projects in the North with the £15 million Northern Cultural Investment Fund. In 2018, following a competition, three areas were awarded money: £4 million for the restoration of the Odeon Cinema in Bradford as a 4000 capacity live music venue, £4 million to create a museum in Blackpool that will celebrate the town’s history as the UK’s first mass seaside holiday resort and £3.3 million to enhance the visitor experience at cultural attractions across the Lake District, the UK’s newest World Heritage Site   

In addition, it was announced earlier this month that the Northern Powerhouse Minister is now a joint position shared between the Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government and Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy which will see the Northern Powerhouse Minister’s oversight and coordination of local economic growth boosted to improve its impact for people and communities across the country.

It will also ensure key policies like the £1.6 billion Stronger Towns Fund and the Northern Powerhouse are at the heart of delivering the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy.

The Northern Powerhouse’s first ambitious Local Industrial Strategy was recently launched for Greater Manchester – where government, business and local leaders have worked closely together as equal partners. The strategy focuses on the region’s strength in advanced manufacturing, digital and healthcare innovation. It demonstrates the power of local people and the government working together to create good jobs, boost productivity and increase people’s earning power.