News story: Civil news: 2018 contracts tender timetable

We are opening tenders for new 2018 civil legal aid contracts across all categories in mid-September 2017.

This follows publication of the government’s policy consultation response to contract procurement proposals for the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS).

Face to face and CLA timetable

The tender process to procure new face to face and Civil Legal Advice (CLA) contracts will open in mid-September 2017.

The tender will be open for 8 weeks, closing in November.

We expect to notify bidders of the outcome of sucessful:

  • face to face tenders in March 2018
  • CLA tenders in May 2018

HPCDS timetable

The tender process for HPCDS contracts will follow on from a number of market engagement events which will run in August and September. Dates and locations will be confirmed shortly.

During August we will also engage the consultative bodies in a consultation on the proposed 2018 HPCDS contract.

The tender for HPCDS contracts will then open in October. It will run for 6 weeks before closing in November.

The LAA expects to notify bidders of the outcome of their tenders in June 2018.

Contract extensions

It will be necessary to extend current contracts beyond 31 March 2018 as follows:

  • Some face to face and CLA telephone advice contracts – 5 month extension with new contracts starting 1 September 2018
  • HPCDS schedules – 6 month extension with new contracts starting 1 October 2018

We will be writing to notify providers of the contract extensions in due course.

Further information

HPCDS Policy consultation process – government response

Legal aid civil tender 2018 – information for organisations interested in delivering face to face civil, and/or specialist legal advice by telephone from 2018.



Notice: GL2 8HR, Mr Jon Smith, Mrs Josephine Smith, Mr Thomas Smith (t/a GM Smith and Son): environmental permit draft decision advertisement

The Environment Agency consults the public on certain applications for waste operations, mining waste operations, installations, water discharge and groundwater activities. In some cases they also consult on draft decisions for environmental permits. The arrangements are explained in its Public Participation Statement
These notices explain:

  • the Environment Agency’s proposed decision and the reasons and considerations on which they’ve based this
  • additional relevant information available since the application was advertised
  • any information or guidance provided by the Secretary of State relevant to the application


Notice: Closure at Folly Bridge, Oxford 2017: river closure notice

River Thames restriction information for Monday 21 August 2017 to mid-October 2017.



Notice: Reading festival bridge 2017: river closure notice

Intermittent river closure for the installation and removal of a temporary bridge for Reading Festival, Thursday 17 August and Monday 4 September 2017 from 7pm to midnight.



News story: Tackling drug resistance: UK-China funding competition announced

A new competition for 2018 will make up to £10 million available to UK organisations to work with Chinese partners.

Next year will see a collaborative competition launched between the UK and China to develop solutions that address the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Innovate UK is to invest up to £10 million in UK businesses, on behalf of the Department of Health. The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) will invest up to 60 million RMB to fund the Chinese partners.

The aim is to support novel projects that neither country would be able to conduct within the same timeframe without the other’s expertise. These should develop new products or services against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Where appropriate, they should include clinical evaluation.

Addressing the threat of drug resistance

It has been estimated that failure to tackle drug-resistant infections will lead to at least 10 million extra deaths a year by 2050. This would cost the global economy up to $100 trillion USD.

A substantial research and innovation effort is needed to address the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance, and to speed up the development of new antimicrobials and supporting technologies.

What is in scope

When the call opens we will be looking for projects that:

  • explore opportunities from traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment or prevention of infectious diseases in humans or animals
  • advance the discovery of new agents to prevent or treat drug-resistant bacterial infection in humans or livestock. New agents could include small molecule drugs, vaccines, antibodies or other biological products
  • identify new agents that will increase the feed energy conversion in livestock. This should be done without use of antibiotics or hormones
  • maximise the clinical utility of current antibiotics. The aim is to improve the prognosis of patients with extensively drug-resistant infections
  • improve capabilities for the diagnosis, treatment selection and surveillance of bacterial infections and antibacterial resistance

All projects must comply with Official Development Assistance (ODA) criteria.

Competition information

  • this competition will open in early 2018
  • to lead a project you need to be a UK-based business of any size. There must be at least one partner from the UK and one for China in a project team
  • projects should last no more than 3 years
  • up to £750,000 is on offer for projects on the UK side. On the Chinese side, funding of up to 5 million RMB will be made available
  • you could get up to 70% of your project costs
  • there will be a series of events to help you meet partners and find out more

Contact Gabriela Juarez Martinez, Knowledge Transfer Network, for information on events and to get notified when the competition opens by emailing gabriela.juarezmartinez@ktn-uk.org.