The Prime Minister has appointed Dame Shirley Pearce as a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life following an open competition.

Shirley has held senior executive and non-executive roles in higher education, health and policing. She is currently Chair of Governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science, a member of the Higher Education Quality Assurance Panel for the Ministry of Education in Singapore and a Trustee for the Royal Anniversary Trust.

In 2013 Shirley was appointed by the Home Secretary as the inaugural Chair of the College of Policing (the first professional body for policing) where she oversaw the introduction of the first Code of Ethics for policing based on the Nolan Principles. She was also a Board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Healthcare Commission and Health Education England.

She was Vice Chancellor of Loughborough University from 2006 – 2012, where she delivered a new strategy for the university which saw a significant increase in turnover, closer working with industry partners and research success in the Research Excellence Framework alongside a top rated student experience.

Earlier in her academic career she held appointments at University College London (UCL) and the University of East Anglia (UEA) where she established a new medical school with an innovative curriculum and a focus on primary care and inter-professional learning.

In 2005, Shirley was awarded a CBE for services to education in the National Health Service and in 2014 was appointed DBE for services to Higher Education.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life advises the Prime Minister on ethical standards across the whole of public life in the UK. It monitors and reports on issues relating to the standards of conduct of all public office holders.

Shirley takes up the post effective immediately for a five-year term. Her appointment was made after open competition in line with the Cabinet Office Governance Code regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

The Committee is currently conducting a short review of MPs’ outside interests and an inquiry into ethical standards in local government.

Notes to editors

1. Interview requests and media enquiries should go to Maggie O’Boyle on 07880 740627.
2. Dame Shirley Pearce replaces Sheila Drew Smith OBE, whose term ended on 16 February 2018.
3. The other members of the Committee are: Lord (Paul) Bew, Chairman, Rt Hon Dame Margaret Beckett DBE MP, Simon Hart MP, Dr Jane Martin CBE, Jane Ramsey, Monisha Shah, and Rt Hon Lord (Andrew) Stunell OBE.

Aircraft Accident Report 2/2018 was published on 22 March 2018.

It concerns the accident to Sikorsky S-92A (G-WNSR) that experienced loss of yaw control on landing at West Franklin Platform, North Sea.

Almost £300 million government investment in Greater Manchester, the West of England and Oxfordshire is set to help deliver thousands of much-needed new homes for local communities, Housing Secretary Sajid Javid announced today (21 March 2018).

Greater Manchester is set to receive £68 million funding to support the Mayor’s ambitious target of delivering 227,200 homes by 2035 and boost economic growth across the Northern Powerhouse.

Government support for the West of England will help to nearly double the number of new homes being delivered historically, increasing from around 4,000 homes to 7,500 homes a year. This will deliver much-needed homes and support the local economy.

Ministers have also approved a housing deal with Oxfordshire worth £215 million that will help deliver a further 100,000 new homes for local people. This follows a similar deal agreed with the West Midlands last week to support the Mayor’s ambitious plan to deliver 215,000 homes across the region.

This latest announcement comes as the government has also announced that Housing Infrastructure Fund bids, from a further 44 areas for projects to help unlock more homes across country, have been shortlisted to the next stage of the competitive process.

A potential £4.1 billion funding will be available for vital infrastructure like roads, bridges, new schools and medical centres, which are needed for new communities.

Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said:

This government is determined to build the homes this country needs. That’s why we’re working with ambitious areas across England and backing them with investment and support.

This new housing investment in Greater Manchester, the West of England and Oxfordshire will help build much-needed homes, giving more people the opportunity to get on the property ladder.

We’re also investing in local infrastructure like schools, roads and hospitals, so that we can help unlock even more new homes in the areas where they’re needed most and build a Britain fit for the future.

Greater Manchester housing package

This funding will support a focus on developing brownfield land for housing and getting more homes built on small sites.

The government package includes:

• £50 million for a Land Fund to help councils in the region to prepare brownfield land for housing development
• taking 4 Housing Infrastructure Fund projects through to the next stage of assessment for funding
• up to £8 million for capacity funding to boost support for housing delivery across the region
• £10.25 million funding to help regenerate the Collyhurst Estate in north Manchester
• new flexibilities on the existing £300 million Housing Investment Fund to allow more homes to be delivered through loans to developers

Mayor of Greater Manchester Combined Authority Andy Burnham said:

I welcome this Housing Deal from government and the £50 million Greater Manchester’s Leaders have secured that will allow us to build on more of Greater Manchester’s brownfield sites.

It brings us closer to our ambitions and is a clear statement of intent as we move towards publishing the rewritten Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

As we look to build the homes Greater Manchester needs, we must do everything we can to make sure as much brownfield land as possible is made available for development. This is the best way to ensure we minimise the impact on our green spaces.

But this isn’t just about numbers of homes and land for development. I’ve been clear that I want to see more truly affordable homes built and more homes available for social rent across Greater Manchester.

I also want the rewritten Greater Manchester Spatial Framework to specify a date by which all new homes built across Greater Manchester should be net zero carbon. This is all part of my ambition.

West of England housing package

The West of England – covering Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset – is a high housing demand area. Across the region, the average house prices are more than 8 times average incomes, with Bath more than 10 times the average income.

The government’s interim package supports the Mayor’s with ambitious plans to deliver more homes and tackle affordability challenges. It includes:

• £3 million of funding for specialist support to help the region deliver large housing development
• taking 2 Housing Infrastructure Fund projects through to the next stage of assessment for funding
• exploring the potential for a deal with housing associations in the region to deliver more affordable homes

West of England Mayor, Tim Bowles said:

We have worked closely with government to secure this announcement, which will see millions of pounds invested in delivering new homes in the West of England. We know that we need more homes, to buy and rent – homes where they are needed at prices people can afford.

This deal will support us to work with our constituent councils, and North Somerset council, to build homes and communities that are well-connected.

Oxfordshire housing deal

The first completed government housing deal has been confirmed with Oxfordshire’s 6 local authorities – Cherwell, Oxford City, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, West Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire County Council – and the Local Enterprise Partnership, OxLEP.

The deal, which is worth £215 million, will:

• deliver 100,000 homes by 2031 – which is significantly above the Local Housing Need figure in the draft National Planning Policy Framework – playing a key role in the emerging Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford corridor where the government recognises the need to build up to 1 million new homes in the area by 2050 to maximise its economic potential
• provide £150 million of the funding to build much needed bridges, roundabouts and roads
• deliver more than 1300 affordable homes by dedicating over a quarter of the new funding, £60 million, to support these new homes

Oxfordshire is also home to 3 garden towns and villages – at Bicester, Didcot and Oxfordshire Cotswold – where government has invested almost £4 million to deliver an additional 30,000 homes.

Cllr Bob Price, Chair of the Oxfordshire Growth Board said:

I’m pleased that so many councillors of all parties and from all parts of the county have backed the deal. It represents a comprehensive and integrated approach to addressing Oxfordshire’s severe housing shortage and infrastructure challenges.

It demonstrates the government’s commitment to working with Oxfordshire and recognises the critical role the county will play in driving forward the UK economy post-Brexit, attracting global investment.

The government has said the deal represents a ‘downpayment’ on a pipeline of infrastructure investment for Oxfordshire – and we in the county will work with them to ensure that happens.

Housing Infrastructure Fund

With the government committed to building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s, the £5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund is part of a comprehensive programme to fix the broken housing market.

Last month, ministers confirmed 133 council-led infrastructure projects that received a total of £866 million funding to support local work that will make housing developments viable and get much-needed homes built quicker.

The latest bids from 44 areas across England are for high-impact infrastructure like key roads, rail links and schools with the potential to deliver over 400,000 homes.

They will now move to the co-development stage, where government officials will work with these areas to further develop their bid and assess the projects. However, not all projects will receive funding after this stage or funding amounts could change to the amount originally bid for.

Without this financial support these projects would struggle to go ahead or take years for work to begin, delaying the homes these communities need.

Together with the government’s Industrial Strategy, this funding will provide high-quality infrastructure to support economic growth.

Successful bids will be announced from autumn 2018 onwards and local authorities would then begin building the necessary infrastructure to help speed up new homes being built.

Further details

See further details on the housing packages.

The Housing Infrastructure Fund is a government capital grant programme to help unlock new homes in areas with the greatest housing demand. Funding is awarded to local authorities on a highly competitive basis.

The £5 billion fund is divided into 2 streams:

• a Marginal Viability Fund – available to all single and lower tier local authorities in England – to provide a piece of infrastructure funding to get additional sites allocated or existing sites unblocked quickly. Bids have a soft cap of £10 million
• a Forward Fund – available to the uppermost tier of local authorities in England – for a small number of strategic and high-impact infrastructure projects. Bids have a soft cap of £250 million

The government will be progressing Forward Funding projects to go through to co-development in the coming weeks, with final funding announced from autumn 2018 onwards. Find more information on the areas being taken forward to co-development.

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has launched a public consultation on the eligibility of guarantees as unfunded credit protection.

The proposed changes seek to clarify what contracts are eligible to be treated as guarantees for credit risk mitigation under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). Some of the suggestions proposals made in the consultation document could impact the capital treatment of UKEF guaranteed loans.

UKEF is in touch with the PRA and is working closely with them to answer their questions on export credit guarantees and the international obligations that influence the terms of our guarantee.

Find out more and download the consultation paper.

The consultation closes on Wednesday 16 May.

UKEF contact

Victoria D’Sylva, Policy Development Manager
victoria.dsylva@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Some people may say that Britain will struggle to trade with the rest of the world after we leave the European Union. Such a gloomy outlook fails to recognise the continued strength of the UK economy, with record inward investment, an 11% increase in exports and employment at a historic high.

In reality, the UK has cutting-edge capabilities. We lead the world in art and culture, food and drink, finance and education.

Last year we had 58,000 tech start-ups in the UK, a new tech business every hour. Digital technology has helped reduce many of the old barriers to trade and made the world more connected. You don’t have to leave Basingstoke to sell your digital app to someone in Beijing. UK businesses have a huge amount to gain from this trend.

The IMF predicts 90% of global growth will be generated beyond the borders of Europe in the coming years.

Much of this will come from Asian economies, where new markets are growing to match their new wealth. Trade between the UK and China is already at record levels, worth more than £59 billion, while UK exports to China increased by over 25% last year.

China’s middle class is expected to number 600 million by 2020 – greater than the current population of the EU. This offers big opportunities for UK businesses in a market that wants UK goods and services, and this government is putting the UK in a position to benefit.

This week I will take a delegation of nearly 300 UK businesses to the GREAT Festival of Innovation in Hong Kong, which has been organised by the Department for International Trade. Entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes will come together to showcase the best of British creativity and innovation.

The festival will explore how the world will work, live, play and learn in the future, and it’s a golden opportunity for British companies to create new business relationships not only with Hong Kong, China and the wider Asian region, but across the world.

There are already brilliant partnerships between UK and Asian companies of every kind, from large corporates to new start-ups.

From cutting-edge UK robotics making construction safer in Hong Kong, to Chinese automotive technology cleaning the air we breathe in UK cities.

Today I’m launching 3 campaigns to showcase the best of British fashion, beauty, food and consumer goods on some of Asia’s top commerce platforms and mobile shopping apps.

More than 160 UK brands will benefit – from Waitrose and Neal’s Yard Remedies, to Boohoo, Cath Kidston, Victoria Beckham and Burberry. This type of e-commerce will be the new frontier of global trade. It favours smaller companies, and ensures more women can be involved in international trade.

That’s why, as the digital economy continues to develop, the UK will use our new independent trade policy to make sure global rules benefit British businesses.

We are an innovation nation ready for the hi-tech opportunities around the world that Brexit will open up.
Demand for UK goods and services is growing, and the new relationships we forge at the GREAT festival will maintain this momentum, so we can deliver a brighter, more prosperous future for every part of the UK.

Britain is not struggling, it is blossoming.