Honourable Minister of Education,

Chief Director of Ministry of Education,

Director General of Ghana Education Service,

Mr Chair,

Team Leader of CBE,

Distinguished representatives of Government,

Country Directors and other representatives of CSOs/NGOs,

Members of the Press Corps, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon everyone.

As Country Director for the UK’s Department for International Development in Ghana, it is a pleasure to join you today to celebrate the long history of achievements of the Complimentary Basic Education (CBE) programme.

Education has the power to change lives and to open the door to better employment, more active citizenship and well-informed health decisions that can benefit future generations.

A good education can transform the prospects of poor and marginalised children and CBE is a programme where we have seen this happening.

With children unable to go to school due to poverty, distance to schools or family demands, this programme has enabled almost 250,000 children to have a second chance at an education and given them the opportunity to transform their lives through DFID and USAID funding.

The evidence base that you have heard about today demonstrates the impact of the programme:

• In improving learning outcomes – in the last cycle 55% of learners had reached proficiency in numeracy from a baseline of just 4%;
• In forming a bridge to education that enables children to progress and stay in school – 90% of learners from the first cycle (2013/14) have remained in school.
• And, in contributing to creating a positive learning experience for children and changing the perceptions of parents and communities about education.

As we reach the end of this phase of support from DFID/USAID for CBE, it is evident that the capacity-building approach of districts, Implementing Partners and the Ghana Education Service working together and supported by Crown Agents, has paid dividends in order to enable CBE to be sustained in future years by the Government of Ghana.

But whilst we celebrate CBE’s achievements today, the scale of the challenge remains. Approximately 450,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 remain out of school in Ghana.

These children represent a lost opportunity for Ghana’s development. We must continue to ensure the sustainability of CBE’s approach, which has proven to be effective and successful, as Ghana moves beyond aid and aims to deliver on its commitment to achieving SDG 4.

Honourable Minister, the UK commends the Government of Ghana for its admirable vision of Ghana ‘beyond aid’.

His Excellency the President’s vision for a self-reliant Ghana is inspiring and is applauded by the UK and all development partners. In the long term, economic development with investment and, critically, jobs is the sustainable pathway to self-reliance.

However, “Ghana Beyond Aid” must also address the issue of why, despite record economic growth, inequality in Ghana is rising. New data from the GLSS shows that that the gap between regions and between rural and urban areas remains wide, and in some cases is worsening.

We need clarity on how the “Beyond Aid” will be implemented. It has so far focused only on investment, infrastructure and trade and there is a risk that Government, and development partners, shift their gaze from the immediate task of improving the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in Ghana.

Ghana Beyond Aid can’t just be about Ghana’s “self-reliance” through industrialization. It has to be address the “self-reliance” of the poorest and most marginalized Ghanaians – including the 450,000 children who remain out-of-school in Ghana.

And that is what is particularly exciting about the CBE programme. What we have here is a programme that has been truly transformational for many of the poorest, rural children and communities – giving them access to an education, supporting them to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills, and ensuring that they continue to learn and progress through the formal school system.

What is also exciting is the partnership with the Ministry of Education and its agencies on this programme, their commitment to directly implement and put in place the policy environment to oversee their own implementation but also that of others, effectively engaging other partners to invest in Ghana’s children.

CBE is a programme that demonstrates the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda in practical and tangible terms – and a Ghana Beyond aid that looks to a day when Ghana’s education sector is financed to enable every young child, boy and girl, to have access to education.

As the UK, we are proud to have supported and worked with the Government on the CBE programme. DFID will continue to support the Ministry of Education to reach and transform the lives of some of the most marginalized children in Ghana.

As the Government takes on the leadership and funding of this programme, DFID will support that transition with technical assistance and some continued transitional funding.

We are grateful to all stakeholders for CBE’s achievements and I want to acknowledge and thank our partners on CBE:

• The Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service and the National Service Secretariat for their enthusiasm and commitment to the CBE programme;
• Our Implementing Partners (Afrikids, Action Aid, ProNet, LCD, GILLBT, Care, PLAN, IBIS/OXFAM, School for Life, and World Education);
• I want to acknowledge and thank Crown Agents, Associates for Change and UNICEF, as well as our research partners IMC Worldwide, the University of Sussex, the University of Cambridge, RTI, PAB consulting and JEAVCO Associates;
• I want to particularly thank Janice Dolan, DFID’s Education Adviser, who leaves Ghana this month after 3 successful years.

Finally I want to pay tribute to the communities and the community based facilitators who have made the programme the success that it is.

We have all been on a journey together for the past five years, one which has transformed the lives of almost 250,000 Ghanaian children.

We thank you for joining with the United Kingdom and the USA in this venture and we hope that CBE will continue to provide disadvantaged children across Ghana with a second chance at an education.

Thank you.

Ask us about the consultation about the Intended Pleasure Vessels Code and RYA SafeTrx, the Coastguard’s new official voluntary reporting scheme

IPV Code and Pleasure Vessel Exemptions

We’d like you to ‘have your say’ on the Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s new Code of Practice for Intended Pleasure Vessels (IPV Code) and its supporting Guidance Notices as well as some new Exemptions. The public consultation runs until 26 September 2018 and our IPV team will be on our stand throughout the show to advise and take your feedback. Part 2 of the IPV Code, which is part of the consultation, is applicable to race support boats used outside of the Pleasure Vessel definition at sea on a temporary basis where they are supporting any type of racing. We’d like to highlight that the racing activity may be of any type, not just powerboat and yacht racing. This could be triathlons, kayak racing, jetski racing, etc.

The IPV Code and its supporting Guidance Notices – which will be introduced on 1 January 2019 – addresses temporary commercial use either for business purposes or as a race support boat. We’d like the boating community to read through the proposals on how we plan to make the water a safer place for everyone while giving the opportunity to legitimately operate commercially on a temporary basis for certain activities.

We’re also replacing Marine Guidance Notice 538 on Pleasure Vessels which introduces Exemptions that mark a significant positive step for the Pleasure Vessel manufacturing sector in the UK, and phases out the use of ORC liferafts.

Come and chat to us on our stand or come to the Q&A hosted by British Marine in the British Marine Members Lounge from 5.30 -7.00 on Friday 14th. See here for registration information

RYA SafeTrx The Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) have joined forces to provide RYA SafeTrx as HM Coastguard’s new official voluntary safety identification scheme. The world-leading RYA SafeTrx app is designed to improve safety at sea and potentially cut vital minutes off the time taken to pinpoint a casualty’s location. It monitors your boat journeys and alerts designated emergency contacts should you fail to arrive on time. Using iPhone and Android smartphone technology, this free tracking and alerting system is easily accessible and ideal for everyone who enjoys being on the water – from kitesurfers and kayakers to dinghy sailors and powerboat users. Come and discuss it with us at the Boat Show.

Passengers on Northern will be eligible for enhanced compensation for train delays from this December (2018), rail minister Jo Johnson announced today (13 September 2018).

Attending the Transport for the North board in Sheffield, Mr Johnson unveiled plans by the operator to extend the existing ‘Delay Repay’ compensation scheme to include delays of 15 minutes – known as DR15 — and longer.

Currently, passengers can claim compensation if their train is at least 30 minutes late. But from the end of this year, the extended scheme will allow claims for delays of half that, meaning passengers delayed by between 15 and 29 minutes will be able to claim back compensation worth 25% of the single fare.

Department for Transport and Transport for the North, together under the rail north partnership, are working with Northern to finalise commercial terms before implementation.

Mr Johnson said:

Passengers deserve a reliable train service, and when things do go wrong it is vital that they are compensated fairly.

Extending ‘Delay Repay’ to cover 15 minute delays is a major boost for Northern passengers and we are committed to working with train companies across the network to make it as easy as possible for passengers to claim their rightful compensation.

We are investing in the biggest rail modernisation programme since Victorian times to deliver the improvements that passengers want – more space, and faster, more frequent services. Improving compensation for delays is a key part of this.

Mark Powles, Commercial Director, Northern said:

We welcome the introduction of ‘Delay Repay 15’ later this year. We are putting in place the right measures to make it as easy as possible for our customers to claim compensation for delays to their services.

David Hoggarth, Strategic Rail Director for Transport for the North, said:

This will be a welcome step forward for passengers who are inconvenienced by delays and is in addition to the previously announced special industry compensation package for those most disrupted by the May timetable changes. Our focus remains on ensuring the train operators and Network Rail continue to improve performance for passengers.

‘Delay Repay’ already exists on most train franchises, including Northern, for delays of 30 minutes, 60 minutes and 2 hours or more.

DR15 was first introduced on GTR in 2016 and is being rolled out across all other DfT franchises as contracts come up for renewal.

DfT is working with other train operators to implement DR15 at the earliest opportunity. The extension to DR15 comes on top of the compensation package announced for Northern and TransPennine Express passengers who experienced unacceptable disruption following the timetable changes earlier in the summer.

The FSA has launched a campaign, easytoask, designed to empower young people to ask food businesses about allergens when eating out, so that they can make safe choices. The campaign follows several allergy-related deaths among young people – data shows that children and young adults are disproportionately more prone to die from an allergic reaction than adults.

The Government Chemist works to support allergen management through measurement, as in the cumin and paprika cases and through knowledge transfer by publishing papers and organising dissemination events.

Michael Walker, Referee Analyst, will be giving a talk at the Anaphylaxis Campaign Corporate Conference in September on “Regulation of food allergens – before, during and after the UK’s exit from the European Union”. To know more about this event visit the Anaphylaxis Campaign website.

For more information about the work the Government Chemist does contact:

Published 13 September 2018