May102017

Contact centre Carpeo Estate Planning to create 300 jobs in Newport over the next five years with Welsh Government support

Welsh Government
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The new business will be based at  a new contact centre in Newport where it plans to create 300 jobs with Welsh Government support.

The  FCA-regulated organisation, currently employs 250 people in Swindon, and is opening the new branch at Cleppa Park, Duffryn.  A location in Teeside was under consideration for this project but funding support from the Welsh Government secured the investment for Wales.

The centre opens in June and the business is actively recruiting 24 employees at all levels for its launch date, rising to 60 by end of the year and 300 by 2022.

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: 

“This is Carpeo’s first investment in Wales and I am delighted the company is joining a growing and vibrant sector that employs more than 30,000 people in over 200 centres in Wales. 

“Carpeo has ambitious growth plans with the potential for further future investment in Wales and I welcome their plan to open this new business in Newport that will create a range of jobs and training opportunities for local people.”

Carpeo Estate Planning’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Minahan said: 

“Having sat on the board of the Welsh Contact Centre Forum for the past 15 years, I know that Wales has a range of competitive advantages to offer contact centre businesses.  The quality of people available and their experience of working in a regulated services market is a huge pull.  On the softer side, the Welsh accent is sympathetic and consoling, particularly important in our market.

“We’re hugely proud to be bringing these well-paid roles and good employment opportunities to Newport.”

For a small monthly fee, members of the new subscription-based Carpeo Estate Planning service have access to affordable wills and funeral planning products.  Members can also access a discount portal enabling them to save thousands a year on key household purchases, including at supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda. 

Innovative software that has been tried and tested will be utilised to identify those people whom these products and services are particularly relevant and who would have had recent experience of the difficulties of executing an intestate estate.  A potential market of 3 million people has been identified.

Sandra Busby, Managing Director, Welsh Contact Centre Forum, said: 

“This announcement is further evidence of the attraction of Wales as a home for some of the most Innovative contact centre businesses around.  Over the past two decades our role has been to build up 

Wales as the destination of choice for organisations that want to run a successful contact centre.”

Carpeo’s turnover grew to £9.4M this financial year with plans to rapidly increase to £20M over the next four years, by expanding into Wales and potentially other areas of the UK. 

Carpeo Estate Planning has partnered with Hugh James, the UK’s largest provider of will writing Services; Golden Leaves, the market leader in the provision of funeral plans, and professional advisory firm Broomfield & Alexander.

May102017

Looked after children must have same educational opportunities as their peers – Kirsty Williams

Welsh Government
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The Cabinet Secretary has reported on progress to better support the education of children who are looked after and outlined her plans for action to continue to raise their educational attainment and make sure they have the same opportunities as their peers.

An annual report on the three year plan for looked after children highlights the progress being made, including an improvement in GSCE results. In 2016 23 per cent of children who are looked after achieved the equivalent of five GCSEs at grade A*–C in English or Welsh first language and mathematics, a 6 percentage points increase on 2015.

The Welsh Government has also worked with Cardiff University – CASCADE to create a new online hub to share information and resources focusing on children in care to help improve their educational outcomes.

The Education Secretary has committed to:

  • Looking at the training available to schools and further education colleges with a responsibility for children who are looked after.
  • Getting local authorities to review the roles of key workers with a responsibility for children who are looked after.
  • Working with the third sector to consider better ways of supporting children who are often difficult to engage in education.
  • Making better use of the data available to help looked after children.

The Education Secretary recently announced that the Pupil Development Grant will be extended to provide support to three year old looked after children during their early years in schools. This is part of more than £90m this year to help disadvantaged pupils.

Kirsty Williams said:

“Central to our national mission of education reform is for all children to do well and reach their potential, whatever their background. Looked after children must have the same opportunities as their peers. We have seen an excellent improvement in the GCSE results of those in care and we have committed more funding to build on this, but I want to go further.

“Children often enter care come from a background of family crisis or breakdown. While we can not change their personal experiences, we will continue to support them through their education and prepare them for adulthood.

“Research shows that all too often that simply by being ‘in care’ the expectations placed on these young people reduce. We are taking action to face this issue head on and will continue to do so.”

May92017

EU an ‘indispensable’ UN partner, working to build cooperative, rules-based world order, Security Council told

United Nations
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9 May 2017 – The European Union (EU) has become over the past 60 years of its existence, a “superpower for peace” focused not only on regional stability and security but also on sustainable development for all, which “explains why all our actions, all our initiatives are always taken in full coordination and partnership with the United Nations,” the EU’s senior most diplomat told the Security Council today.

“The European way is also the United Nations’ way. And we believe in the UN because we believe in the same principles, in the same values, and our communities are built upon the same fundamental ideals,” Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told the Council today in her annual briefing on EU-UN cooperation.

Recalling that the European Union is marking its sixtieth anniversary “of choosing cooperation over confrontation,” she said the bloc has become not only the most successful peace project in the world, but also an indispensable partner to move beyond the current disorder, and to try to build together a more cooperative world order.

In recent months, some had thought that this anniversary would mark the decline of the European Union. “Our British friends have decided to leave us – which is very sad for all of us – but life goes on and so does the European Union,” Ms. Mogherini said, adding that since the UK Referendum last year, Europeans had recommitted to being “the strong and united power that our citizens and our partners need and deserve.”

The European Union is and will continue to be the reliable partner, she continued, stressing that “beyond our continent, we are the indispensable partner of a more cooperative, multilateral and peaceful world […] we are becoming a more reliable partner for our neighbours and friends, starting with the UN and NATO.” She offered a series of examples to illustrate the EU’s commitment, especially in the Balkans and in Africa.

EU member States contribute nearly 40 per cent of the UN budget for peacekeeping operations. Through its voluntary contributions, the EU also covers half the budget of UN funds and agencies, such as the World Food Program (WFP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

So we will always return to this centre of gravity, this pivot of a rules-based international system. The European vision is the United Nations’ vision

“So let me be very clear, and speak directly to our American friends. It is essential for us that we all keep investing in these UN agencies. They are as important to global peace and security as defence spending – and sometimes even more. And we, Europeans, consider this support to the UN system as a crucial investment in our own security,” Ms. Mogherini stated.

She went on to praise the merits of a world order based on rules agreed upon and respected by all. It is for this reason that the European Union refuses to recognize the “illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. It is for this reason also that the perpetrators of the chemical gas attack in Syria will be held accountable,” she said.

Ms. Mogherini said the greatest divide in today’s world “is between those who believe that international politics are a zero-sum game, and those who work to build win-win solutions and common ground.” She noted that the “European way” is in a constant search for win-win solutions to all international issues from climate change to peace and security, adding that the UN “represents a space where compromise can always prevail over confrontation.”

“So we will always return to this centre of gravity, this pivot of a rules-based international system. The European vision is the United Nations’ vision,” said Ms. Mogherini, adding that whoever wants to invest in this system, will find in the European Union a partner and a friend, a reliable, constructive, cooperative partner.

May92017

Labour will transform education for the many not the few

Labour
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Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will today outline
Labour’s transformational plan to invest in a National Education Service to
ensure no one is held back and create a more skilled workforce and productive
economy.

Labour’s plan to increase schools funding and introduce free,
lifelong education in colleges is at the heart of its commitment to create a
society run for the many not the few.

Jeremy will be joined by Angela Rayner, Shadow Education
Secretary, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy Secretary, at a college in Leeds on Wednesday to announce the details
of the plan.

Labour’s key pledges are:

  • Stop the cuts to school budgets with a real terms increase in funding
  • Reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six and seven year olds
  • Free school meals for all primary school children
  • Restore education maintenance allowance for college students
  • Restore student grants for university students
  • Scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to re-train or upskill

The plans will be funded from the £19.4 billion that will be
raised by reversing the Conservative Party’s cuts to corporation tax. Labour
has previously announced extending free school meals to all primary age
children will be funded by levying VAT on private school fees.

Jeremy Corbyn said:

“People of all ages are being held back by a lack of funding for education,
and this in turn is holding back the economy by depriving industry of the
untapped talent of thousands of people.

“The Conservatives have spent seven years starving schools of
funding, meaning headteachers are having to send begging letters to parents to
ask for money. They have also cut support for students and forced colleges to
increase fees. It’s created a downward spiral that is bad for the people being
held back and bad for the economy.  

“Labour will do things differently. Our new National Education
Service will transform our schools and education system to ensure a future for
the many not the few. We will reverse the Conservatives’ tax giveaways to big
business and put money back where it belongs, in our schools, our colleges and
our communities.”

Angela Rayner said:

“Our plans for a new National Education Service show there is a
clear choice at this election. Between the Tories who have broken their
promises to parents and children, or a Labour party with a real plan for
education for the many not the few.

“We will invest in schools and in our young people, ensuring no
primary pupils go hungry during the day, reducing class sizes so children can
learn and teachers can teach, and restoring the maintenance allowance and
grants for students in both further and higher education.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

  • Stop the cuts to school budgets with a real terms increase in funding
  • Labour will ensure all schools have the funding they need, including £4.8 billion per year for English schools by 2021-22, as part of £5.66 billion additional annual funding across the UK by the end of the parliament.
  • We estimate that preventing any losses under the proposed national funding formula in every year after the first will cost around £335 million.
  • Reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six and seven year olds
  • £8.4 billion capital investment to ensure schools have the number of places they need and £13.8 billion to ensure that school buildings are up to standard.
  • Free school meals for all primary school children
  • House of Commons Library research says extending free school meals for all primary children would cost £700-£900 million, paid for by VAT on private schools.
  • Restore education maintenance allowance for college students
  • Assuming the same proportion of 16-18 year olds qualify for EMA as previously the cost would be £582 million a year.
  • Restore student grants for university students
  • Total spend on maintenance grants in 2015/16 was £1.57 billion. If this is uprated in line with CPI inflation then the cost next year is £1.63 billion, rising to £1.73 billion by the end of the parliament.
  • Scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to re-train or upskill
  • Increase the adult skills budget by £1.5 billion by the end of the parliament in order to abolish upfront fees and increase course funding by an average of 10 per cent year on year.

Corporation tax

  • From next tax year, the headline rate of corporation tax will rise from its current 19 per cent to 21 per cent in 2018-19, 24 per cent in 2019-20 and 26 per cent in 2020-21. This will still leave it at the lowest rate in the G7. The small profits rate, payable by firms with profits below £300,000, will rise less sharply to 20 per cent in 2018-19 and 21 per cent in 2020-21
  • According to Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility figures, the Tories’ tax giveaways are costing the exchequer £65.2 billion over the four years from 2018-19 to 2021-22, including £19.4 billion in the last year of the parliament. This contrasts with £46.8 billion based on the forecasts when the cuts were introduced.

May92017

Press release: PM call with President Erdogan of Turkey: 9 May 2017

HM Government
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This evening the Prime Minister spoke to President Erdogan of Turkey to reiterate the UK’s continuing commitment to the bilateral relationship between our 2 countries and express her wish to deepen co-operation on a range of issues. The Prime Minister particularly underlined the importance of our strong security partnership.

The Prime Minister and President Erdogan discussed the ongoing Cyprus settlement talks and the Prime Minister reiterated that while there remains an opportunity for an historic agreement to be reached, all parties need to be prepared to take bold steps. She added that the UK stands ready to play a role in seeking a solution.

On Syria, the Prime Minister welcomed the progress made at the Astana talks and praised Turkey’s constructive role in helping to establish de-escalation zones. She underlined the importance of the talks being linked to a broader political process, culminating in a transition of power away from Assad.

The Prime Minister and President Erdogan welcomed the strength of the UK-Turkey trade relationship and reaffirmed their desire to explore the opportunities presented by Brexit. They noted the progress made towards the signature of a deal between Turkish Aerospace Industries and BAE Systems for the preliminary design phase of the Turkish Fighter, and agreed this was a sign of the deepening defence industry relationship between Turkey and the UK.

The 2 leaders looked forward to the upcoming Somalia conference and the Prime Minister welcomed the substantial contribution Turkey has made, as well as their strong leadership in improving security in Somalia.

The Prime Minister and President Erdogan concluded by looking forward to meeting at the NATO summit in Brussels later this month.