The government, the Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) have today (10 December 2018) confirmed a financing package to deliver the final stages of the Crossrail project and open the Elizabeth line to passengers.

Crossrail Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of TfL, announced in August 2018 that the opening of the Elizabeth line through central London would be delayed. Work is ongoing to identify the remaining works required to complete the infrastructure and then commence the extensive testing necessary to ensure the railway opens safely and reliably. Crossrail is a nationally significant infrastructure project which will add up to £42 billion to the UK economy and will transform travel in, to, and across London.

The government remains committed to the rapid completion of the project, in a way that is fair to UK taxpayers, and that enables London – as the primary beneficiary of Crossrail – to bear the additional costs. Independent reviews into Crossrail Ltd’s assessment of ongoing funding requirements and governance arrangements are being undertaken by KPMG to ensure the right scrutiny and oversight are in place as the project enters its final phase.

The emerging findings of the KPMG reviews into Crossrail Ltd’s finances indicate the likely range of additional capital cost due to the delayed opening of the central section could be in the region of between £1.6 billion and £2 billion. That includes the £300 million already contributed by the Department for Transport and TfL in July 2018, leaving between £1.3 billion and £1.7 billion to cover the predicted additional costs of the project.

The government, the Mayor of London and TfL have agreed a financial package to cover this. The Department for Transport will provide a loan of up to £1.3 billion to the Greater London Authority (GLA). The GLA intend to repay this loan via London’s Business Rate Supplement (BRS) and from the Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy (MCIL). The GLA will also provide a £100 million cash contribution, taking its total contribution for this package to £1.4 billion.

As the final costs of the Crossrail project are yet to be confirmed, a contingency arrangement has also been agreed between TfL and the Department for Transport. The Department for Transport will loan TfL up to £750 million in the event that further finance is required for the project.

This combined financing deal will replace the need for the £350 million interim financing package announced by the Department for Transport in October 2018.

The combined total of the financing arrangements outlined above, means that the overall funding envelope for the project is now £17.6 billion.

Crossrail Ltd appointed Mark Wild as CEO on 19 November 2018. Mark is now conducting an extensive review of the remainder of the programme and will provide clarity in the new year on the opening date of future phases. Crossrail Ltd are working to establish a robust and deliverable schedule to open a safe and reliable railway. This will also provide greater clarity on the level of additional funding required.

Furthermore, both the Department for Transport and TfL have recommended to the Crossrail Ltd board that they appoint Tony Meggs as Chair. Tony Meggs was previously Chief Executive of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and Head of government’s Project Delivery Function, following a 30 year career in the private sector leading major projects at global, regional and local levels.

To further strengthen the Crossrail Ltd Board, the Department for Transport have accepted TfL’s nomination of Nick Raynsford as Deputy Chair. Nick is a former MP and served as Minister for London on two occasions between 1997 and 2003.

Disabled people will be able to work with a dedicated key worker to get and stay in employment, the new Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has announced today.

The support comes from a new £40 million fund and is expected to benefit 10,000 people.

The Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme will provide highly personalised packages of employment support for people who are at least a year away from moving into work.

People will get coaching to help build their independence, confidence and motivation, as well as work experience to help boost their career prospects.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd said:

Everyone, no matter what their background is, should have the opportunity to thrive in the workplace, and having the right support in place for disabled people is one of my greatest priorities.

To truly help people transform their lives, there can be no one-size-fits-all approach.

That’s why this new programme is designed to offer people, who may think they will never move into work, tailored support to help them overcome any personal barriers they may have in the first instance, and then to focus on boosting their skills.

There are also huge economic benefits to improving disability employment rates. More than half of disabled people are in work, but in order to realise the full potential of disabled people in Britain we want to go further and see one million more disabled people in work by 2027.

People on the scheme will get a dedicated key worker who will work with them to overcome complex barriers which may be preventing them from entering work, ensuring they have a personal support network in place.

The voluntary scheme will be rolled out across England and Wales in 2019, and applicants will receive support for up to 21 months, including 6 months of in-work support for those who get a job.

Neil Heslop, Chief Executive of Leonard Cheshire, said:

Many disabled people with complex needs face significant barriers in accessing the workplace. It’s crucial that specialised employment support is available and the government responds to the challenges people often encounter.

A more tailored approach can help reach those who are not currently receiving any employment support or skills development. The experiences of disabled people must be central for this support to meaningfully build confidence in an ongoing way, reflecting their individual circumstances and aspirations.

The Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme will support people living with a disability who are unlikely to move into work within the next year or longer and may need additional support.

Other government support to help disabled people get into and thrive in work includes the Disability Confident scheme, the Work and Health programme, the Access to Work grant and Jobcentre Plus services.

The Secretary of State also announced measures to reduce the most severely disabled benefit claimants having their awards unnecessarily reviewed.

Personal Independence Payment covers some of the extra costs caused by long term disability or ill-health.

New guidance will ensure that people who are awarded the highest level of support under Personal Independence Payment will receive an ongoing award, with a ‘light touch’ review every 10 years so they no longer have to have their conditions re-examined.

Previously this was going to only be applicable for new claims, but the Secretary of State has now taken steps to ensure this also applies to existing claims.

This is to ensure that for disabled people who need extra support, the system is designed to be as seamless as possible while minimising any unnecessary stress or bureaucracy.

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Scottish Secretary David Mundell visited Peterhead fish market this morning (Monday 10 December) and announced that the UK Government will table an amendment to legislation which will enshrine its commitment to secure a fairer share of fishing opportunities for UK fishermen.

Mr Mundell also announced £37.2m of extra funding to boost the UK fishing industry during the Implementation Period. Scotland’s share of this funding would be £16.4 million.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said:

It is absolutely essential Brexit delivers for Scottish fishermen and for those in the rest of the UK. It is clear they want to leave the Common Fisheries Policy and do not want any future deal with the EU to link access to our fishing grounds to our access to European markets.

This change to the Fisheries Bill creates a watertight commitment to getting the best possible deal for Scotland’s fishermen and their communities and should give them a great deal of confidence about the future.

The extra funding announced today will also help support our fishermen over the implementation period. These announcements are great news for Scotland and will help the sector as it gets ready to take full advantage of the many benefits leaving the EU will have for our fishermen.

The move strengthens the Fisheries Bill to ensure the whole of the UK’s fishing industry prospers as we become an independent coastal state.

The amendment would place a legal obligation on Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to pursue a fairer share of fishing opportunities than the UK currently receives under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

This is in addition to the existing European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) funding, which at €243m over seven years is broadly equivalent to £32m a year. The Government and Devolved Administrations have already committed to match the EMFF funding with around £60m, so the extra funding will support more projects and the sector will benefit by a total of £320m.

Mr Gove has also committed that the Government will put in place new, domestic, long-term arrangements to support the UK’s fishing industry from 2021, through the creation of four new schemes comparable to EMFF to deliver funding for each nation. The Devolved Administrations will lead on their own schemes.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove:

We are taking back control of our waters and will secure a fairer share of fishing opportunities for the whole of the UK fishing industry as we leave the EU. The amendment to the Fisheries Bill will give legal weight to this commitment.

New funding will boost the industry as we become an independent coastal state, preparing it to receive a greater share of future fishing opportunities.

The new schemes will be introduced after EMFF has closed in 2020. Details of these will be set at the 2019 Spending Review.

It is the MAA’s vision to be a ‘world class military air safety regulatory and assurance organization…’. The achievement of this vision is through 5 strategic outcomes; strategic outcome 4 specifically identifies that the MAA aims to be “…acknowledged by all [UK Defence Air Environment (DAE) and aviation regulators worldwide] as being at the forefront of air safety thinking and sustained in that position through sharing good practice”.

The MAA has developed a number of key conditions which are aimed at achieving the strategic outcomes, and the key condition to satisfy strategic outcome 4 requires the MAA to have recognition from and of others, cooperation across the entire DAE and a strong reputation.

Director General Defence Safety Authority has highlighted recognition as a main activity within the organisation, citing the cost benefits and influence it can deliver, as well as the requirement to expand activity further in this area. For the MAA, success in this area will only be realised if the recognition activity is adequately prioritised and resourced at an appropriate level with the authority to exert that influence.

Currently, the recognition activity is led through the MAA Regulation Division primarily as a secondary duty and in support of International Engagement. With the rising prominence of Recognition activity and to deliver maximum benefit against this Strategic Outcome, it has been decided that international engagement and recognition (IE&R) activity should be resourced and conducted at the appropriate level and be devolved from conflicting Regulation Division priorities and responsibilities.

Recognising the benefits of IE&R activity, in 2008 the MAA committed to the European Defence Agency (EDA) to participate in the Military Airworthiness Authorities (MAWA) Forum and associated Task Forces (TF), which have been latterly transformed into Advisory Groups (AG), to develop common regulatory, certification and oversight processes. Early engagement was ad-hoc in nature, with activity not fully co-ordinated. Since this time, MAA IE&R influence has continued to grow amongst our international colleagues.

With the outcome of the UK/EU Referendum, the MAA participation within the European framework is under scrutiny across the MAWA community and wider afield. For the MAA to retain any credibility and influence within the various Forums, it is important for the MAA to be seen as a committed force to be reckoned with. This 1 star (1*) led forum requires representation at the appropriate level, with consistency to ensure continued participation. A number of options were considered in terms of how the IE&R activity could be resourced and the agreed way forward from the MAA Executive Board, was for IE&R to be split from Regulations and be established as a pillar in its own right. MAA IE&R will be headed-up by a Civil Service B1 and supported by 2 full time personnel. MAA–IE&R-DepHd will report to MAA-Reg-Cert Hd as shown as follows:

Since the MAA first embarked on recognition of other national Military Aviation Authorities in 2011, which commenced with the French Authority Direction de la Sécurité Aéronautique d’État (DSAE), the MAA has subsequently conducted recognition of the German Authority Luftfahrtamt der Bundeswehr (LufABw), the Italian Authority Direzione Armamenti Aeronautica e per L’Aeronavigabilitià (DAAA) and the Spanish Authority Direccion Genreal de Armamento y Material (DGAM). The MAA has also been recognised by the Portuguese Authority Autorisade Aeronautica Nacional (AAN).

Further afield, the MAA has recognised the Australian Authority Defence Aviation Safety Authority (DASA) and has recently renewed the recognition of the 3 Services Regulators in the USA: United States Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center – Aviation Engineering Directorate (AMRDEC-AED), United States Navy Airworthiness Directorate (NAVAIR 4.0) and United States Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Engineering Directorate (AFLCMC EN-EZ).

The Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) Delivery Teams responsible for: A400M, Apache, Chinook, Lightning II, Poseidon MRA Mk 1, Typhoon and Voyager will be able to take benefit from the Recognition activity conducted by the MAA.

IE&R activity is an important deliverable in support of the MAA’s vision to be a world class military Air Safety regulatory and assurance organization that is proactive, innovative, modern, efficient and effective. IE&R activity enables the:

• sharing of best practice, to influence the development of our own and other National MAA’s regulation
• UK MAA to lead on the development of International Joint regulation, standards and practices within external agencies and bodies particularly with NATO
• re-use of Certification Artefacts and Organizational Approvals from other nations, saving the UK defence industry resource in terms of manpower, time and budget
• MAA to horizon scan and hence pro-actively react to emerging technology and broader programme influences