Greg Clark last week visited British Steel sites in Scunthorpe and Skinningrove, and on Teesside, to meet staff, trade unions, suppliers and customers.

The Business Secretary made clear his continued commitment to leaving no stone unturned to securing British Steel’s future, and repeated his pledge to work alongside the Official Receiver, special managers and a support group of unions, managers, suppliers, customers and the local community in doing so.

In Scunthorpe, Mr Clark met with British Steel management and trade unions, representatives from the supply chain and local council leaders. He also visited the rod mill and took questions from workers on the site as part of a tour of the plant.

He was joined on the visit by Business Minister Andrew Stephenson, the Official Receiver and Sarah Albon, Chief Executive at the Insolvency Service.

He then visited British Steel’s sites at Skinningrove and Teeside, meeting those managing and working at the sites and meeting customers and representatives of Unite the Union and the Community Union

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

Having worked intensively with British Steel over the last 2 months, I was determined to meet with management as well as staff, and answer their questions as soon as possible.

This is clearly a worrying time for everyone there, but whether in Scunthorpe, Skinningrove or on Teesside the highly-skilled and talented workers are united in their passion and commitment to keeping steel-making excellence going at British Steel.

We will leave no stone unturned, and I remain committed to continuing to work intensively with those involved directly with the company, those in its supply chain and the wider communities to secure the future of these important sites.

Sewage leaked from a manhole at South Sands Beach in 2012 and again during Easter Bank Holiday in 2017.

More should have been done by South West Water to prevent history repeating itself when raw sewage spilled onto a popular beach, a court ruled.

Ordering the water firm to pay more than £60,000, a district judge said South West Water did not heed the Environment Agency’s warnings and guidance after a similar incident in 2012.

Sewage spilled from a manhole on South Sands Beach on 13 April 2017 – Easter Bank Holiday. A sand dam had been built around the manhole by children playing nearby.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said:

Water companies must carry out regular inspections and maintenance of their sewerage infrastructure and respond urgently to leaks, especially at beaches.

On this occasion raw sewage leaked directly onto one of Devon’s most popular beaches over a busy Bank Holiday. There was a very real risk of sewage harming children nearby and contaminating the bathing water.

The Environment Agency tests water quality at every official bathing water to ensure it is maintained and improved and we are committed to working with water companies, councils and local communities to keep our beaches clean, reduce pollution and protect the environment.

The court heard the manhole and sewer pipes at South Sands are covered at high tide. This makes access and maintenance difficult. The blockage was blamed on sand entering the sewer network from homes, possibly from washing down wetsuits and beachwear. Sand was also the cause of an 8-day blockage in August 2012.

Lacking the correct equipment, a South West Water technician called in a specialist firm to flush out the blockage. However, when the specialist arrived high tide was imminent and the work was delayed until the next morning. The manhole seeped a liquid which contained ‘extremely high’ levels of e-coli bacteria for about 32 hours.

South Hams District Council decided warning signs were not needed. But District Judge Jo Matson said that South West Water could have done more to deter people from the area than just putting up cones and tape.

The water company took samples of seawater at South Sands on 13 April and claimed there was no environmental impact to the beach or bathing water. However, the samples were taken when the tide was out, nowhere near the manhole, and so not conclusive.

South West Water has since replaced seals and covers on a number of manholes in the area. But the manhole where sewage seeped onto the beach was not sealed until a year later in April 2018. The court questioned why the manhole had not been sealed after the first incident in 2012.

Appearing before Exeter magistrates, South West Water was fined £44,000 and ordered to pay £18,883.06 costs and £170 victim surcharge after pleading guilty, at an earlier hearing, to causing a water discharge activity, namely the discharge of poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, namely untreated sewage to coastal waters contrary to Regulations 12 (1), 38 (1) (a) and 39 (1) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) invites all those with an interest in regenerative medicine, particularly for the treatment of traumatic injury, to a demonstration and discussion event on 6 June 2019.

Suppliers funded at Phase 1 of the Regenerative Medicine at the Front Line competition will be showcasing their projects.

There will also be an opportunity to hear plans for a Phase 2 competition, as well as receive an update on the wider regenerative medicine strategy, to see how to get involved.

The demonstrations will be led by our funded suppliers: Universities of Nottingham, Bristol and Birmingham, and Plasticell Ltd. Three projects will be showcased in the area of bioengineered blood components and two in technologies to potentiate soft tissue regeneration early after wounding.

We are particularly interested in your attendance at this event if you have an interest in supporting the exploitation of such technologies, or have complementary programmes of work.

Dr. Matthias Pumberger from the regenerative medicine programme at Charité, Berlin, will deliver the keynote speech. Charité is one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe and the regenerative medicine programme brings together experts from the fields of medicine, biology and engineering to deliver novel therapies including in the area of musculoskeletal injury.

Representatives from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) will be present at the event and welcome discussion on their wider regenerative medicine project, including synergies with other programmes. Members of the DASA team will be on hand too for further discussion.

To participate in this demonstration event, please register by 10:00 on 4 June 2019 on the Eventbrite page. Please note that places for this event are limited.

Find out more about the Regenerative Medicine at the Front Line competition and strategy.

The Prime Minister hosted the first meeting of the Consumer, Retail and Life Sciences Business Council at Downing Street today. Business Secretary Greg Clark and Health Minister Stephen Hammond also joined the meeting.

The Council brings together well-known companies and innovators in the Life Sciences and retail industries, co-chaired by Dave Lewis, CEO of Tesco, and Emma Walmsley, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.

It is one of five councils set up to provide senior advice to the Government and make practical policy recommendations that will improve UK productivity and competitiveness of businesses across various sectors, both in the short and long-term. This insight from businesses will also be fed into the relevant government departments to use in their policy development.

The Prime Minister welcomed the members of the Council and invited them to set out the priorities and ideas they have been developing since the beginning of the year. They discussed ways to attract and retain both talent and investment in the UK, including apprenticeships, as well as how to boost research and development to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of global competition.

The Council looked ahead to developing and progressing their ideas further before their next meeting later in the year. These discussions will inform work across Whitehall and future engagement with these sectors over the next few months.

Members:

• Dave Lewis, CEO, Tesco (Co-Chair)
• Emma Walmsley, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline (Co-Chair)
• Adam Marshall, Director General, BCC
• Pascal Soirot, CEO, Astra Zeneca
• Gordon Sanghera, CEO, Oxford Nanopore Technologies
• Namal Nawama, CEO, Smith & Nephew
• Sebastian James, SVP, Walgreen Boots Alliance
• Ivan Menezes, CEO, Diageo
• Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon
• Steve Murrells, CEO, Co-op
• Alison Brittain, CEO, Whitbread