Highways England experts, working alongside archaeologists from MOLA Headland Infrastructure, have discovered the partial remains of a woolly mammoth and woolly rhino, both at least 100,000 years old, during excavations for construction materials near Fenstanton in what was once an ancient river.

They are the latest in a series of fantastic finds from the team building the new road, due to open in December 2020, with other remarkable discoveries including Prehistoric henges, Iron Age settlements, Roman pottery kilns, three Anglo-Saxon villages, and a deserted medieval village.

Highways England Cultural Heritage Team Leader for the A14, Dr Steve Sherlock said:

These discoveries are just the latest in a line of amazing finds that the team has unearthed since this work begun at the end of 2016. All of these finds are testament to the rich history of the region, and in particular this local area around the A14 in Cambridgeshire.

It’s crucial that we record this evidence for the past so that it can be seen and understood by future generations. Seeing the remains of these extinct animals really brings to life what was happening over a hundred thousand years ago.

We’ve been working hard in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council and our archaeological team to unearth the historical secrets of this area and understand some of the incredible things that have happened in the county. Although our excavations as part of this work will soon be finished, Highways England will continue to respect our country’s environmental and cultural heritage across all of our improvement schemes, and we’ll be ensuring that the finds from our work on the A14 are well preserved and accessible to residents.

Dr Bill Boismier, consultant Palaeolithic archaeologist for MOLA Headland, said:

The bones together with other environmental evidence surviving from the Ice Age such as plant remains, insects, and microscopic pollen grains from plants should help us to create a picture of the floodplain environment at the time when these remains were deposited.

Kasia Gdaniec, Senior Archaeologist at Cambridgeshire County Council, said:

Quarries afford unique opportunities to understand deep time periods of land formation and transformation and enable us to understand how humans and animals adapted to the changing climatic and environmental conditions. Gravel quarries, such as the one at Fenstanton, provide valuable evidence of ice ages and warm periods, or interstadials, and require specialist investigation to interpret the evolution of the landscapes represented by the mineral and sedimentary series within them

This is hugely important to our understanding of some of the most distant times in the human past and Cambridgeshire County Council extend their gratitude to the A14Team and Highways England for continuing their support of the nationally significant archaeology programme.

Both the woolly mammoth and woolly rhino were alive during the last Ice Age, the Pleistocene Epoch, which began about 2.6 million years ago and ended around 9,700 BC. This period was a time where the climate oscillated between cold glacial conditions with vast glaciers and warm temperate interglacial environments with animals such as hippopotamus foraging along the banks of the River Thames.

Mammoths and woolly rhinos adapted to life on the cold grasslands lying south of the glaciers. They were covered by thick fur and layers of body fat to protect them from the bitter cold of the glacial winter. Both animals fed mainly on low lying grasses and other herbs.

The woolly mammoth is closely related to today’s Asian Elephant, though has a thick coat of brown fur in addition to its distinctive curved tusks. The herbivores were roughly the size of modern African Elephants, with the larger males measuring around four metres tall and weighing in at up to six tonnes. Initially surviving the end of the Ice Age, the last of them are believed to have lived on in the Arctic until around 1,560 BC – around a thousand years after the Pyramids of Giza were built.

The woolly rhino grew to around four metres long and weighed-in at just under a tonne with a height of around two metres at the shoulders, and had two distinctive horns on its head. They went extinct in Britain around 15,000 years ago, and have no living relatives.

The latest discoveries will now be treated by conservators in London and then studied by Ice Age specialists.

As the £1.5bn A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon project will mark the second year since construction started in a month, the team is continuing to excel, with latest proposals to open the upgraded 21-mile stretch of road as a motorway when work finishes in December 2020.

For the latest information about the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, including job and training opportunities, visit our scheme website follow @A14C2H on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

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Sir Jeremy Heywood today announced in a personal statement that he is standing down as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service to concentrate on his recovery from ill health. He has served as Cabinet Secretary since 2012 and Head of the Civil Service since 2014.

The Prime Minister has appointed Sir Mark Sedwill, the acting Cabinet Secretary, permanently to the role with immediate effect. He will continue to serve as the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser.

Paying tribute to Sir Jeremy, the Prime Minister said:

Jeremy has given exemplary service to the public in his civil service career. He has worked constantly to improve our country’s future and to deliver for the public, serving Prime Ministers and Ministers of all parties with distinction in the finest traditions of the Civil Service. I am personally grateful to him for the support he has given me as Prime Minister. He has made an enormous contribution to public life in our country and will be sorely missed.

Sir Mark Sedwill added:

The whole public service will want to thank Jeremy for his tireless and outstanding service to our nation, and for the values he exemplifies. He has had a profound, positive and lasting impact and will be greatly missed.

Sir Jeremy joined the Civil Service in 1983 and has worked across government as well as in the private sector. In recognition of his distinguished service to public life, the Prime Minister has nominated Sir Jeremy Heywood for a life peerage.

35 years ago I joined the Civil Service as an enthusiastic young economist in the Health and Safety Executive, full of ideas and keen to make change happen. Today, I still have all that desire to serve my country and to make a positive difference. It is with great sadness therefore that, on medical advice, I must now retire.

Since joining the Civil Service, I have had the privilege of supporting, at close quarters, four Prime Ministers, two Conservative and two Labour, and the first Coalition government for decades, with its first full-time Deputy Prime Minister.

Throughout my career, I have seen it as my responsibility to look for fresh angles, to challenge lazy thinking and to work with colleagues to find solutions rather than simply identifying problems and obstacles that everyone can admire. Some of the toughest issues we have faced as a country in recent decades have required genuinely new or lateral thinking – the product of Ministers and civil servants working closely together to deliver shared goals – including putting in place the UK’s new monetary framework after the 1992 ERM crisis; responding to the financial crisis of 2008/2009, not least through the highly successful London G20 Summit, while trying to prevent Britain’s falling into another Great Depression; and subsequently tackling the twin challenges of low productivity and weak public finances.

After becoming Cabinet Secretary in 2012, and Head of the Civil Service in 2014, I continued to serve the Prime Minister of the day on a wide range of policy issues, including Brexit, where I am particularly proud of the work Whitehall has done in seeking to bring clarity, shape and practical options to the table for Ministers to discuss.

During my time in charge, I have encouraged the Civil Service to be more open, more diverse, more inclusive in its culture and more professional in all that it does. And, despite a number of recent “noises off” from anonymous commentators, I believe that the service is in robust health, well-equipped to provide the support the country needs over the coming months and years.

I would like to pay tribute to Mark Sedwill for holding the fort so admirably over the summer months as Acting Cabinet Secretary, and to congratulate him today on his well-deserved promotion. I would also like to thank all my brilliant permanent secretaries who have shown what a great team they are. I know they will give Mark the support he needs to do this job.

On a personal level I have very much appreciated the support of the Prime Minister over the last few months and all the messages of goodwill received from so many current and former colleagues, friends and acquaintances.

Above all, I would like to thank all the hard-working civil servants across the UK who keep this country moving forward. Thank you for allowing me to be your leader for the last six and a half years. It has been the greatest privilege of my career.

Mr Brian Olley has been appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania in succession to Ms Claire Lawrence who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Mr Olley will take up his appointment in August 2019.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full name: John Brian Olley

Married to: Pascale Olley

Children: Three

2017 to present	Lloyds Commercial Bank, London, Director Government and Group
2013 to 2017	Yaoundé, British High Commissioner
2008 to 2013	Nicosia, Deputy High Commissioner
2005 to 2008	Helsinki, Head of Chancery
2004 to 2005	Helsinki, First Secretary (Political) and Head of Media
2004	Full Time Language Training (Finnish)
2002 to 2004	FCO, Head of Security Policy Section, Afghanistan Unit
2002	Joined FCO
1980 to 2002	Her Majesty’s Armed Forces

Further information

Published 24 October 2018

Taxpayers can complete their Self Assessment for the previous tax year from as early as 6 April, but many choose to wait until after Christmas to fill it in.

Last year, more than 11 million customers completed a 2016 to 2017 Self Assessment tax return, with 10.7 million completing on time. There were 4,852,744 customers who filed in January 2018 (44.8% of the total), and 758,707 on 31 January, the deadline day.

With 100 days to go before the 2017 to 2018 Self Assessment deadline on 31 January 2019, taxpayers can complete their tax return in advance, find out how much tax they need to pay, and pay the money owed by the deadline – taking away the stress from around the holiday period.

Mel Stride, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“Last year, more than 11 million taxpayers completed their Self Assessment tax returns, collectively bringing in a record £32.7 billion in revenue. Revenue that has gone on to fund our vital public services.

“Self-employed workers and small businesses make up a significant proportion of our Self Assessment tax returns and the government is committed to supporting them and reducing the administrative burden they may face. The Personal Tax Account, for example, allows you to file your return and manage your tax affairs online, quickly and simply, whenever you want.”

Angela MacDonald, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said:

“The deadline for completing Self Assessment tax returns may be 100 days away, yet many of us wait until January to start the process. Time flies once the festive period is underway, yet the ‘niggle’ to file your tax return remains.

“We want to help people get their tax returns right – starting the process early and giving yourself time to gather all the information you need will help avoid the last minute, stressful rush to complete it on time. Let’s beat that niggle.”

Tax is automatically deducted from the majority of UK taxpayers’ wages, pensions or savings. For people or businesses where tax is not automatically deducted, or when they may have earned additional untaxed income, they are required to complete a Self Assessment tax return each year.

Last year, a record 93% of customers did their return online and HMRC provides lots of support for people who need to do their tax return. There are films and webinars which show each stage of the process, with special guidance for different types of people.

Help is also available on the Self Assessment section on GOV.UK or from the Self Assessment helpline on 0300 200 3310.

The deadline for paper tax returns is 31 October 2018, and the deadline for online tax returns and paying any tax owed is 31 January 2019. If customers miss the deadline, they can face a minimum £100 penalty for late submissions.