• new research shows UK life sciences sector is soaring with record turnover of over £70 billion and SMEs accounting for 82% of businesses and 24% of all UK life sciences employment
• in 2017, the UK received the highest level of life science foreign direct investment projects in Europe – the highest in 7 years
• the new Council follows on from the transformative Life Sciences Sector Deal, part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, which drew substantial investment from 25 global companies

The inaugural meeting of the new UK Life Sciences Council takes place today (16 May 2018). Business Secretary Greg Clark and Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt will chair the Council, which will also be attended by a range of industry experts, including Pascal Soriot from AstraZenca who will co-chair, J&J, MSD and ABPI. The main objective of the Council is to ensure the UK continues to be a global leader in life sciences.

This comes as new research published today shows the UK continues to have one of the most productive health and life sciences sectors in the world. Health and life sciences are worth over £70 billion to the economy and provide jobs for almost 241,000 people across the country. The group will focus on progress in delivering the modern Industrial Strategy’s Life Sciences Sector Deal, launched in 2017, which will support the sector to develop and launch the next generation of medicines, technologies and diagnostics and provide better care and treatments for millions of patients.

The fourth annual Life Science Competitiveness Indicators report also shows that the UK continues to attract significant private equity investment, with over £660 million invested in 67 UK projects in 2016. The UK also accounts for 12% of total life sciences academic citations and 18% of the most-cited publications, the 2nd highest share above China, Germany and Canada.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

I welcome the first meeting of the new Life Sciences Council today, which will drive research, development and innovation in this thriving sector far into the future. Further advancing the UK’s global leadership in life sciences is a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy – our plan for high-quality jobs and growth across the whole country.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

From Edward Jenner developing the first successful small pox vaccine to Rosalind Franklin providing breakthrough research on the structure of DNA, UK life sciences have changed the world for the better.

We are extraordinarily well placed to play a leading role in this revolution in the life sciences. Our universities and research institutes rank among the best in the world, nurturing and attracting some of the most inventive people on earth.

Record turnover and foreign direct investment is a vote of confidence in the UK which we will build on as we work towards making Britain the best place in the world to develop and launch innovative medicines, technologies and diagnostics to help people live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Pascal Soriot, industry co-chair of the Council, said:

I am pleased to co-chair the new Life Sciences Council at an exciting but challenging time for the UK industry. With all the uncertainties of Brexit and patient access to medical innovations, the successful implementation of an ambitious industrial strategy is critical to ensure Britain remains a pioneer in life sciences and the sector continues to drive economic growth.

With 2 Secretaries of State and industry leaders representing medical devices, biotech as well as pharmaceuticals, the new Life Sciences Council brings together expertise across UK life sciences to provide the strategic direction needed to thrive in the competitive global environment.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, said:

The UK continues to be a highly attractive destination for inward investment and global talent. With more than 5,000 life sciences companies and a strong culture of scientific innovation, our offer to the world as a global partner for investment and trade is clear.

As the UK’s international economic department, the Department for International Trade promotes investment and export opportunities. We invite healthcare and life sciences innovators to work with us, driving growth in every part of the country.

Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy said:

The UK has always been at the forefront of scientific innovation and research, developing ground-breaking treatments that can transform patients’ lives.

The world-leading 100,000 Genomes Project, and the NHS Genomic Medicine Service that launches this autumn, are fantastic examples of our ambition to pioneer the most advanced approaches to healthcare in this country.

As part of the Life Sciences Sector Deal, which brought together significant commitments and investments into the UK by 25 global organisations from across the sector, the government has worked closely with industry to deliver its strategic vision and in the last 6 months has launched major projects, including:

• allocating £30 million from a £100 million study to sequence the UK Biobank, providing a unique resource to identify new drug therapies and redefine the gold standard for genome sequencing
• announcing the world’s first study to establish centres of excellence in digital pathology and medical imaging in the NHS, which when set up will, using the digital images generated, help develop artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for more accurate diagnosis of diseases, potentially improving NHS efficiencies
• in the process of creating up to 5 Digital Innovation Hubs across the UK, which will support the development of algorithms and machine learning for real-world studies and clinical trials. Being delivered by Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK (HDRUK), the Hubs will enhance the UK’s global competitiveness in clinical trials and creating a unique business environment
• investing £65 million through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to establish three advanced therapy treatment centres across the country, which will support medicine manufacturing and provide industry with access to cutting-edge technology to commercialise and develop innovations at scale

The modern Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. It sets out how we are building a Britain fit for the future – how we will help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the UK with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure.

The Industrial Strategy committed to increased government investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 and 3% over the longer term – delivering an estimated increase of £80 billion over the next 10 years. The Life Sciences Sector Deal set out plans for the Health Research Authority to speed up approvals for clinical trials.

Additional quotes:

ABPI CEO, Mike Thompson said:

Global pharmaceutical companies are excited about UK science, our world leading Universities and unique research centres like the Crick Institute.

The Life Sciences Council signals our joint commitment to implementing the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy to ensure the UK becomes a home for even more global companies to research, develop, manufacture and launch the next generation of medicines and vaccines.

Michelle Brennan, EMEA Company Group Chair, Johnson & Johnson Medical Device Companies said:

I am delighted to be joining the Life Sciences Council, supporting the implementation of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy in collaboration with our government partners. The Strategy is key to the UK remaining an attractive place for the Life Sciences industry to invest and to ensure that patients continue to benefit from the latest medical innovations. The NHS has an important role to play in the success of the strategy, with the potential to become an early adopter of new technologies and an engine for innovation and research. Johnson & Johnson is committed to working in partnership with both the NHS and government to make their ambition a reality.

Phil Thomson, President, Global Affairs, GSK said:

Bringing government, the NHS and industry together through the Council is an important step in ensuring the UK remains globally competitive in life sciences. We must all continue to work together through the Brexit negotiations to ensure the supply of medicines, regulatory alignment and the needs of patients remain priorities.

Notes to editors

Full list of Council attendees

Government

• Greg Clark, Business Secretary
• Jeremy Hunt, Health and Social Care Secretary
• Liam Fox, International Trade Secretary
• Lord O’Shaughnessy, Parliament Under Secretary of State for Health
• Simon Stevens, NHS England
• Kristen Mcleod, Office for Life Sciences
• Steve Oldfield, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• Sir Mark Walport, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
• Matthew Speers, Department for International Trade (DIT)
• Gareth Davies, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
• Professor Chris Whitty, Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC)

Industry

• Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca
• Jean-Christophe Tellier, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of UCB
• Mike Thompson, Chief Executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)
• Philip Thomson, President of GSK
• Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI)
• Dr Roger Perlmutter, Executive Vice President of Merck & Co
• Michelle Brennan, President of Johnson & Johnson Group
• John Young, Group President of Pfizer Innovative Health
• Steve Bates, CEO of the UK BioIndustry Association
• Jackie Hunter, CEO of Benevolent AI
• Professor Sir John Bell, Life Sciences Champion
• Professor Jeremy Farrar, Director of The Wellcome Trust
• Haruo Naito, Director, Representative Corporate Officer and CEO of Eisai Co

Schools in the North of England will benefit from a £6 million investment to improve maths teaching across the region and help increase pupils’ confidence in mathematics, School Standards Minister Nick Gibb has confirmed today (16 May).

To mark the first National Numeracy Day, Mr Gibb has confirmed that £1.75 million of funding will be used to create two new ‘Hubs’ in Central Lancashire and Cheshire to help spread best teaching practice and improve local pupils’ knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of mathematics.

The remaining funding will support the expansion of a south Asian ‘mastery’ approach to teaching maths in the region. Some of the leading performers in maths in the world, including Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong use this teaching style.

The announcement today is part of the government’s plans to raise academic standards across the country, helping more people to secure a good job, an apprenticeship or go on to further study or training.

There are already almost 387,000 more children in good or outstanding schools in the North of England than in 2010 and 87 per cent of schools in this region were rated as good or outstanding at their last inspection.

Minister for School Standards Nick Gibb said:

Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers, standards are rising in our schools and the proportion of primary school pupils reaching the expected standards in reading, writing and maths went up 8 percentage points last year. We have also introduced a more rigorous maths curriculum and now have record numbers studying maths at A level.

But poor numeracy still costs the UK a staggering £20 billion every year and we want more pupils to feel confident using numbers as it can open up a wide range of options for future study, training and work.

Thanks to a £74 million investment there are already over 2,500 schools across the country involved in the Teaching for Mastery approach, and today’s announcement will help ensure more children in the north have access to a world-class maths education.

Maths is one of the most in-demand skills in the labour market and it is already the most popular subject at A level, with almost 25% of students choosing to study it. The government is determined, through its modern Industrial Strategy, to increase the number of people understanding and studying maths, helping them to secure good jobs and boosting the UK economy.

The ‘Maths Hubs’ in Central Lancashire and Cheshire will initially be led by three schools in each region and will help to ensure more teachers in the area have the knowledge and skills to provide high quality maths teaching. School recruitment for involvement is now open and the programme aims to start running this Autumn.
Today’s announcement is supported by a £70 million investment to boost school performance in the north as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy. It also builds on a number of other measures to improve numeracy across the country, including:

• An increased emphasis on Teaching for Mastery, to ensure pupils master the basics of mathematics from an early age. Thanks to a £74 million investment there are already over 2,500 schools across the country involved in the Teaching for Mastery approach, and the additional funding announced in Autumn 2017 will expand the Teaching for Mastery programme to reach 11,000 primary and secondary schools in total by 2023;
• Introducing a new multiplication tables check for Year 4 to help ensure every child knows their times tables by heart, a fundamental skill for more complex mathematics;
• Allowing universities in England to apply to open specialist 16-19 Maths Schools to help more young people learn from the best mathematicians in the country. This is backed by £350,000 of funding each year to support outreach work with local schools and colleges, sharing their specialist skills;
• Fully funding maths up to GCSE level, so that adults of every age and background can take a course to get the skills they need for everyday life;
• Updating Functional Skills maths qualifications to improve their quality as well as their recognition amongst employers; and
• Embedding English and maths across all major strands of technical education, including traineeships, apprenticeships and future T levels.

National Numeracy Day is set to be an annual celebration of the importance of numbers in everyday life and will help to reframe attitudes to numeracy. The day aims to bring together individuals, employers, educators and supporters from across the UK to help improve numeracy levels.

The government will also create Assistant Maths Hub Leads in 17 regions across the Northern Powerhouse regions, which will see Maths Hubs recruit respected school leaders in low engagement areas for one year – tasked with developing better partnerships between local schools and their Maths Hub.

The educational attainment for children in areas that have faced long-term challenges is also being improved through the Department for Education’s 12 Opportunity Areas – five of which are in the north.

Find out more about the Maths Hubs here

Children are being urged to ‘stop, look, listen, think’ in a new road safety campaign launched by children’s presenter Sam Homewood and THINK! today (16 May 2018).

The CiTV star visited Holy Family school in Walthamstow to encourage children to think carefully about crossing roads as new materials for teachers, parents and road safety experts were released by THINK!.

A new Safer Journeys Anthem, featuring the ‘stop, look, listen, think’ message, has also been launched, alongside other games, films and lesson plans, ahead of the half term and summer school holidays when children are likely to be spending more time outdoors.

Road Safety Minister, Jesse Norman, said:

Britain has some of the safest roads in the world but we are always looking at new ways to make them safer.

As more children take advantage of the better weather by walking to school or playing outside, it is important they know how to cross roads safely.

THINK!’s new resources will make it fun and easier than ever for schools and parents to help children learn good habits that can last a lifetime.

The government’s THINK! campaigns have helped reduce child road deaths by 90% since records began in 1979. However, 6 children die and 170 more are seriously injured every month on the UK’s roads.

Children’s presenter and CiTV star Sam Homewood, who also features in one of the films, said:

I’m delighted to be a part of this THINK! campaign to help spread the word about road safety among young people.

Working with children every day, I see the huge impact that simple precautions can have on their lives. I hope this campaign will help keep children safe on our roads and encourage them to look out for each other.

The resources include mobile games and educational films with photographs and illustrations created by students from Farnborough Sixth Form College. A new THINK! Map can help children to pinpoint risky areas near them and consider the best way to travel safely.

THINK! has been running campaigns for more than 50 years and has successfully challenged a number of behaviours and attitudes to improve road safety, including drink driving, drug driving and using handheld phones while driving. THINK! campaigns have helped reduce the number of deaths from 22 a day in 1960 to 5 a day in 2016.

The new campaign follows a long and a proud tradition of hugely successful child road safety campaigns, spanning several generations and featuring much-loved icons such as the family of Hedgehogs, Kevin Keegan, James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) and David Prouse as the Green Cross Code Man.

How far we’ve come video

The campaign will feature across Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

The free resources can be found at www.think.gov.uk/education.

The minister has signed the order which relaxes licensing hours for licenced premises in relation to a ‘celebration period’.

Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability Victoria Atkins said:

The government’s decision to extend the licensing hours to mark the Royal Wedding has received overwhelming support.

I know that people across the country will be celebrating this memorable occasion and this extension will help us to raise a toast to the happy couple.

Parliamentarians approved the government’s plans to extend licensing hours on the nights of Friday 18 and Saturday 19 May until 1am the following mornings, after debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords, to allow the country to celebrate the wedding of HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Since the Licensing Act was introduced in 2003, licensing hours have been extended for a number of significant occasions including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations in 2016.

Speaking to media, the Foreign Secretary said:

We’re here for the UK to obviously stand with our European friends and partners, France and Germany to show our commitment to the deal, to the Iran nuclear deal JCPOA. We think it has value even if America has decided to walk away, so we’ll be looking at a package of measures that we may be able to devise as Europeans, to encourage the Iranians to stay in the deal.

I want to stress, we are under no illusions about the stuff Iran gets up to in the region, in the Middle East. We have no illusions about Iran’s disruptive behaviour, but we think we can tackle those in other ways outside the JCPOA. So we can deal with the ICBMs question, with the ballistic missiles question; we think we can deal with the way Iran behaves in the region. That’s what we’ll be looking at in addition to the JCPOA. Today we are focussed on the JCPOA. And I will also want to stress, that I will be raising some of the difficult consular cases that the UK has right now with Iran.

One of the key things we will be talking about as the E3 – that’s France, Germany, and the UK – and with Federica Mogherini, and the EU Commission, is that we will be looking at all the ways we can come up with to protect legitimate UK and European businesses, who may want to trade with Iran, who do want to trade with Iran, and who have great plans to do that.

But we have to accept, we have to be realistic about the electrified rail, the live wire of American extra-territoriality, and how that can serve as a deterrent to businesses. And we have to be realistic about that as well. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things we can do. Thank you very much.