The UK Government and the Swiss Federal Council have approved the transition of a trade agreement, allowing businesses to continue trading freely after the UK leaves the European Union.

This the first and one of the most significant existing trade agreements to the UK to have been agreed as part of the government’s preparations to ensure continuity for businesses and consumers as we leave the EU.

There are around 40 existing EU trade agreements that the UK government is seeking to provide continuity for and a number of other agreements are at an advanced stage.

The agreement replicates the existing EU-Switzerland arrangements as far as possible and will come into effect as soon as the implementation period ends in January 2021, or on 29 March 2019 if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. It has now been initialled by both countries.

Britain has a major trade surplus with Switzerland, with exports worth £19.04 billion last year. British exports have grown by 41.1% in the last 5 years.

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox said:

This is one of the most significant existing trade agreements, with British companies exporting £19 billion worth of goods and services last year, and it will provide the certainty that businesses need to continue trading freely.

This is the first of around 40 trade agreements that we will provide continuity for and many other agreements are also close to being agreed. It is a vital part of our no deal planning and it means that businesses and consumers can continue to benefit from our close trading relationships with the world beyond the European Union.

Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General, said:

It’s good news that a transition to a trade agreement with Switzerland has been agreed.

A great deal with the EU needs to be delivered alongside continuity of the trade agreements the UK already enjoys through single market membership. The opportunity now is to reach agreement on the remaining deals.

British jewellery, precious stones and metal are the largest goods exports to Switzerland, worth £10.7 billion in 2017. Pharmaceutical products also continue to be one of the UKs biggest exports to Switzerland, worth over £500m in 2017.

Once the agreement is signed, both the UK and Switzerland will seek parliamentary approval for the agreement.

Background

The principal aim of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) is to develop principles and guidelines for food import and export inspection and certification systems with a view to harmonise methods and procedures which protect the health of consumers, ensure fair trading practices and facilitate international trade in foodstuffs. There has been growing interest within Codex to address food authenticity and/or food fraud which is why a side event on Food Integrity and Food Authenticity was scheduled.

At the invitation of the Food Standards Agency, Selvarani Elahi , the Deputy Government Chemist, attended the 24th meeting of CCFICS in Brisbane, Australia, as part of the UK delegation and gave a presentation on the Food Authenticity Network at a side event on Food Integrity and Food Authenticity.

Selvarani’s presentation covered the following information about the Food Authenticity Network:

• It is a UK government initiative to help bring together those involved in food authenticity testing.

• The Network raises awareness of the tools available to check for mislabelling and food fraud and to ensure that the UK has access to a resilient network of laboratories providing fit for purpose testing to check for food authenticity.

• The Network now also includes a section on Food Fraud Mitigation, in which the major global services, guidance and reports aimed at preventing food fraud have been collated.

• The Network has grown substantially and now has over 930 members from 45 different countries/territories and over 1300 followers on Twitter.

• The Network will transition to a public-private partnership model from January 2019.

• The plan is for the Network’s website to be used as the architecture to cost effectively develop bespoke pages for other countries thereby building a truly global system that can be used fight food fraud in a coordinated and cohesive manner across the world.

The meeting was attended by forty-one Member countries, one Member and four observer organisations. The presentation on the Food Authenticity Network was well received and there was interest in the model constructed for the UK and EU. Follow-on discussions are now in progress with the countries who expressed an interest, to potentially develop bespoke pages for their countries. The presentation has been placed on the CCFICs meeting page of the Codex website.

For more information about the work the Government Chemist does, or advice in food testing matters contact:

We have now issued illustrative ESFA adult education budget (AEB) allocations for the 2019 to 2020 funding year to providers. We have issued these to assist providers with their planning. We will confirm allocation values before the end of March 2019.

We will also publish provisional 2017 to 2018 delivery data, showing in which of the devolved areas the delivery took place and segmented by the different elements of AEB. In ensuring ESFA AEB allocations are distributed fairly, and in line with the budget set, we are using 2017 to 2018 delivery and residence data as part of our allocation calculation.

These allocations are in line with the move to combined authority commissioning and with the approach already thoroughly communicated to the sector.

The illustrative allocations and the provisional data are not final and may be subject to change.

For more information on adult allocations, please see our 19+ funding allocations page on GOV.UK. For more general information on devolution please see the guide on GOV.UK.

Published 14 December 2018

The Government Chemist has a long standing interest in food allergy stemming from acknowledged difficulties in allergen analysis. Our interest focuses in three areas:

1. Metrologically traceable food allergen analysis (the science of ensuring allergen measurements correspond from one lab to another across the globe)

2. Resolution of analytical disputes about allergen measurement (referee cases)

3. Food allergen management – better to understand industry best practice so as to interpret allergen measurement results in the right context and offer advice to businesses, regulators, enforcement authorities and consumers on request.

We continue to contribute to knowledge transfer in these areas. Some examples of our recent work include speaking engagements to key audiences.

Food hypersensitivity post graduate module at Imperial College School of Medicine

On 12 November 2018 Michael Walker gave an invited lecture on ‘Food Allergy: Public Health Issues’ to an audience of paediatricians, GPs and health care professionals. This was part of a post graduate module on Food Hypersensitivity delivered by Imperial College School of Medicine, St Mary’s Hospital, London. The lecture covered:

• Food Allergen Regulation, Enforcement and Food Law

• Food labelling – allergen labelling

• Analysis of food for allergens

• Case Study – Almond or Mahaleb?

Michael quoted Audry DunnGalvin and co-authors:

Targeting uncertainty should be a major goal for health professionals working with children, teens and families with a food allergy

Michael’s aim in this lecture was better to equip medical professionals to advise their patients what to expect from food labelling and the information they should be provided with to help manage their allergies.

“Food allergy – human clinical and forensic implications” at the Institute of Global Food Security (IGFS)

On 3rd December 2018 Michael took part in a seminar ‘Food Allergy – human, clinical, analytical and forensic implications’ at the Institute of Global Food Security (IGFS), Queen’s University, Belfast. Organised by Dr Katrina Campbell of IGFS, this seminar mainly for MSc students in food safety brought together a spectrum of speakers.

Dr Hazel Gowland spoke on ‘Food Allergy: human impact and forensic implications’, Professor Clare Mills, University of Manchester described ‘Food Allergen Analysis in a Risk Assessment Context’ and Pauline Titchener, Neogen Europe Ltd, described ‘Commercial allergen diagnostics’. Michael’s talk: ‘Complementary analysis for food allergens – the almond/mahaleb story’ described the resolution of several complex food recalls involving compromise of allergen test results by cross reactivity within the Prunus genus .

During the seminar for the first time all five authors of the influential paper on potentially flawed allergen analysis were in the same room.

Food labelling seminar at Campden BRI

On 4 December 2018 Michael gave a talk: ‘Allergen labelling and regulation: Implications of UK Exit (and other things)’ at a Food Labelling Update Seminar at Campden BRI.

The ‘other things’ included remarks on the recent inquest on the death of a teenager after eating a baguette that was ‘prepacked for direct sale’, a form of labelling that legally permits food allergen information to be available orally on request rather than printed on the food label. The seminar, attended by over 70 food company representatives, was an opportunity to describe the Government Chemist approach to food allergy and engage in dialogue.

Improving metrological traceability

Improvement in food allergen analysis in Official Control laboratories across the EU is being fostered by a cooperative analytical exercise called a ‘ring trial’ where labs analyse a matrix spiked with allergen and return their results for evaluation along with information on the methods they have used. Organised by the Joint Research Centre, JRC, the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, this ring trial will enable JRC to disseminate best practice advice to official labs. The Government Chemist is representing the UK in this exercise with analysis spearheaded by Malvinder Singh.

The information contained within this Alert is based on reports made to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud reporting centre, and follows previous advice from the Commission about the threat from CEO fraud.

What Is CEO Fraud and how are gift cards used to perpetrate this?

CEO fraud involves the fraudulent impersonation of a senior figure within a charity (often the Chief Executive Officer – CEO) with subsequent requests for the fraudulent transfers of funds by the charity to the fraudster’s bank account (see the Charity Commission’s regulatory alert dated 26/03/2018).

Action Fraud are reporting a new variation on this type of fraud whereby charities are targeted by fraudsters purporting to be the CEO (or a similar senior position within the charity) requesting that gift card vouchers be purchased for staff as a form of Christmas gift.

Once the vouchers have been purchased, the fraudster requests copies of the cards and their codes, allowing the fraudster to spend up to the value of the card.

Contact is typically made by email, usually from a spoofed or similar email address as the one the CEO or director of the charity would use.

What you need to do

• ensure that you have robust processes in place to verify and corroborate all requests requiring a payment or transaction
• get in touch with the purported originator directly, using contact details you know to be correct, to confirm that the request you have received is legitimate
• all employees should be aware of these procedures and encouraged to challenge requests they think may be suspicious
• sensitive information you post publicly, or dispose of incorrectly, can be used by fraudsters to perpetrate fraud against you. The more information they have about you, the more convincingly they can purport to be one of your legitimate employees – always shred confidential documents before throwing them away

Reporting Fraud

If your charity has fallen victim to insider fraud, or any other type of fraud, you should report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or by visiting Action Fraud.

Charities affected by fraud should also report it to the Charity Commission as a serious incident, using the dedicated email address: rsi@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk

Serious incident reporting helps the Commission to assess the volume and impact of incidents within charities, and to understand the risks facing the sector as a whole. Where appropriate, the Charity Commission can also provide timely advice and guidance.

Notes

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, is issuing this alert to charities as regulatory advice under section 15(2) of the Charities Act 2011.