Working with the WISE Campaign’s People Like Me initiative, the Agency has helped produce a resource pack for schools to boost the recruitment of girls into STEM subjects post-16, particularly those that girls typically do not choose, such as physics and engineering.

The initiative aims to help girls understand the breadth of careers open to them in the space sector by introducing them to role models who are working in the field. The women featured in the campaign come from different backgrounds and work in different areas across the space sector.

People Like Me: space sector careers pack

Alice Bunn, International Director at the UK Space Agency, said:

Like every other high-tech sector, space needs talented scientists and engineers, but with fewer women in science, we are missing out on half of the talented people on the planet.

The UK Space Agency is delighted to support the WISE Campaign’s People Like Me – Careers in the Space Sector, and to highlight the range of great opportunities there are for girls and young women to use and develop their skills in creative and innovative ways within the space sector.

We want to spread the word that the space sector is a brilliant place for your students to apply the subjects they enjoy and develop skills that will enable them to follow their dreams.

Girls remain under-represented across core science, technology, engineering and maths subjects. Recent research by the University of Roehampton has revealed that 30,000 fewer girls are studying key stage four level computing subjects compared to when the computing curriculum was introduced in the UK in 2014.

People Like Me is unique in its twin aspirations as a strategy for both schools and industry engagement. It encourages employers to raise aspiration by delivering careers advice to girls, in schools or on their premises, by professionals in STEM occupations who can challenge gendered stereotypes about these careers.

Since its launch in 2015, People Like Me’s resource has been delivered to over 6,500 girls around the UK by a range of partners. The new training platform, launched in July, will make it easier for businesses to subscribe to the programme and start delivering sessions to girls and helping to inspire them.

Mark Field, Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, arrives in Sri Lanka today (5 October) for a visit that will include meetings with government and opposition figures, civil society and trade organisations.

The Minister will hold discussions with government representatives including President Maithripala Sirisena and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tilak Marapana.

He will also meet Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan and Joint Opposition Parliamentary Group Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, with members of civil society and the Commissioners of the Office on Missing Persons, and visit the London Stock Exchange Group.

The Minister will discuss the UK’s continued support for Sri Lanka in delivering meaningful and lasting reconciliation, as well as celebrating people-to-people links with the England Cricket Team.

Minister of State Mark Field said:

I am looking forward to visiting Sri Lanka for talks with the government across the full range of our bilateral issues.

I will offer the UK’s continued support to help Sri Lanka make progress on its human rights and reconciliation agenda ahead of Geneva next March, and highlight our cooperation on areas such as bilateral trade and wildlife protection.

My visit coincides with that of the England Cricket Team – and offers the opportunity to celebrate our two countries’ shared love for the sport and the qualities it represents, such as fair play and respect.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Mark Field @MarkFieldUK

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

We have, with the operations exposed today, further shone a light on the unacceptable cyber activities of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. It has targeted institutions across the world, including the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.

This attempt, to access the secure systems of an international organisation working to rid the world of chemical weapons, demonstrates the GRU’s disregard for the global values and rules that keep us all safe.

The GRU’s reckless operations stretch from destructive cyber activity to the use of illegal nerve agents, as we saw in Salisbury. That attack left four people fighting for their lives and one woman dead.

Our action today reinforces the clear message from the international community: We will uphold the rules-based international system, and defend international institutions from those that seek to do them harm.

We have today published our new Statement of Strategic Intent, which sets out our core purpose and our priorities for the five years to 2023.

That new purpose, to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society, will inform everything we do.

Our new purpose and Statement of Strategic Intent do not replace our statutory objectives, which we will continue to fulfil. But we are clear that regulation is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

We must do all we can to ensure charities can show that they are being true to their purposes, demonstrate the difference they’re making, and meet the high expectations the public have of charities.

These expectations include that a charity must be more than an organisation with worthy aims. It must be a living example of charitable purpose, charitable attitudes, and charitable behaviour.

Our strategy makes clear that charities and the Commission share a collective responsibility for ensuring the concept of charity survives and thrives into the future and charities reach their potential for good in our society.

Baroness Stowell, Chair of the Charity Commission, says:

From now on, the Commission is a purpose-driven regulator. We are clear not just on what we do, but about why we do it. Our purpose is deliberately positive: charity is a vital force for good in our society, and we as regulator share a responsibility with charities to help maximise the positive impact charity has, to help charity reach its potential.

Our great challenge is that charities are not always living up to the public’s expectation that being a charity is about how we behave, not just what we set out to achieve. The public, quite reasonably, expect a charity to have charitable aims, and to be a living, breathing expression of charitable behaviour and attitude. By working on this together, charities and the Commission will help ensure that charities thrive, so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.

Our Statement of Strategic Intent sets out and explains 5 new strategic objectives. They are:

• holding charities to account
• dealing with wrongdoing and harm
• informing public choice
• giving charities the understanding and tools they need to succeed
• keeping charity relevant for today’s world

You can read more about each objective, and about how our work will be changing to meet them, in the Statement of Strategic Intent.

We’re now working on a more detailed road map that will translate the Statement of Strategic Intent into a plan for action. We envisage that, as we work to deliver against our purpose, we will engage in conversation, and in some cases in consultation with charities and others on specific proposals or changes to the way we regulate.

The statement replaces our previous strategic plan, which ran to 2018.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has welcomed the news of the election of the new Iraqi president and prime minister, and of the successful elections in the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The Foreign Secretary said:

I congratulate President Barham Saleh on his election by the Iraqi Parliament, and his nomination of Adel Abdul Mahdi to form the next government as Prime Minister. On behalf of the British Government, I must also express my gratitude to Prime Minister Abadi and President Masum both for their service to Iraq and for the crucial and successful collaboration with the UK in our joint determination to defeat Daesh.

I would also like to congratulate the people of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on a successful parliamentary election. The formation of an effective Kurdistan Regional Government that delivers for all the people in the region will be a welcome step.

I look forward to working with the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to deliver stability, security and prosperity for all Iraqis.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @Jeremy_Hunt

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn