Minister Duncan arrives in Santiago de Chile today (9th March) to attend the inauguration of the new President of Chile, Mr Sebastian Piñera and discuss the future of UK-Chile bilateral relations with the incoming administration.

As well as meetings with Interior Minister Andres Chadwick and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, Sir Alan will meet Chilean business leaders to discuss future commercial opportunities under the Global Britain agenda, host an event for Chilean alumni of the UK’s Chevening Scholarship and International Leaders programmes, and deliver a foreign policy lecture to students at the prestigious Universidad del Desarrollo.

Sir Alan Duncan said:

My first official visit to Chile comes at an important time, as our two countries continue to work closely on regional and international issues such as human rights, security and peace keeping, climate change and protection of the oceans.

The UK and Chile have strong historical links that go back over 200 years. Our relationship will continue to go from strength to strength in the 21st century, as we further our collaboration in fields as diverse as trade and investment, science and innovation, and green sector growth.  

The taskforce will progress the recommendations in the ‘Growing a Culture of Social Impact Investing in the UK’ report, published by an advisory group chaired by Elizabeth Corley.

The Prime Minister has asked the taskforce to provide a progress report to Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Culture and John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury by the summer. The government is also expected to announce its policy response in the summer.

The Prime Minister said:

The UK is a pioneer in impact investing. Our financial institutions have long-recognised the importance of using their investments to generate a positive social impact as well as a financial return.

The challenge now is for industry to unlock the capital to boost impact investment even further, finding solutions to some of the burning injustices we face as a society, and helping make sure the country works for everyone.

Social impact investing gives people the opportunity to put their money to work for social good, as well as financial return.

The taskforce will work on generating a faster rate of innovation in the financial services industry to provide products that give savers and investors the opportunity to make a social impact.

Elizabeth Corley, Vice-Chair of Allianz Global Investors said:

Government has a vital role to play in accelerating the development of UK social impact investing, so it is very encouraging to hear the Prime Minister voice her support for creating a culture of social impact investing in the UK and the work of the taskforce going forward.

With research showing that more than half of people in the UK are interested in purchasing social impact investment products but that only 9% have done so, this is a market with enormous potential, waiting to be unlocked by the type of focus and commitment announced today.

Today’s announcement follows a meeting the PM held last week with senior executives from some of the UK’s largest financial firms and impact investing pioneers, where she threw her weight behind social impact investment.

And the PM has asked Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Housing to consider what measures government could take to unlock and boost social impact investment, particularly in tackling issues like left-behind parts of the country, homelessness and housing for vulnerable people.

Today, the Home Secretary was in Salisbury to meet the first responders and emergency services following the incident in Salisbury.

She also met Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who is being treated at Salisbury District Hospital, as well as the medical staff there who are looking after the victims.

The Home Secretary heard from business owners and residents on how the local community had responded and not letting the attack affect them going about their daily lives.

During her visit, the Home Secretary praised the emergency services and saying:

They reacted with the sort of professionalism and indeed compassion that we would hope our emergency services do and I’m in awe of their sympathetic approach and their professionalism as they engage with these people.

They have all said to me they wouldn’t have done anything differently.

We are really lucky with our emergency services.

While in Salisbury, the Home Secretary also praised the resilience of the local community, saying she was impressed at how people had not let the terrible events affect them going about their daily lives.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published a report on Digital Culture. The report, Culture is Digital, follows a Digital Culture project launched in April 2017 by the Secretary of State for DCMS, Matt Hancock with the #CultureisDigital online consultation.

That project focused on three areas:

• driving audience engagement
• unleashing the creative potential of technology in the cultural sector
• boosting the capability of cultural organisations

The capability area identified that there are intellectual property (IP) skills gaps in the cultural sector when creating digital content such as digital art installations in galleries or dance performances streamed online.

This lack of expertise limits the content makers’ ability to create and exploit digital content. To help address these gaps, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) have included two commitments in the new report:

• the IPO will work with the British Library’s Business and Intellectual Property Centres (BIPCs) and representatives from the cultural sector to develop guidance and training. This will help cultural organisations better understand the IP framework and its relevance to them.

• the space helps artists and organisations make great art and reach new audiences digitally. It will lead work with cultural organisations, cultural rights holders and seek guidance from the IPO to develop a Cultural Digital Rights Code of Practice

This work should improve access to cultural content by maintaining a balance of intellectual property protection and digital innovation.

A range of innovative projects to tackle litter louts in local communities have been awarded funding by the government, Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey has announced today (9 March 2018).

The first round of funding sees a number of councils, charities, businesses, and public projects awarded almost £125,000 to take innovative steps to tackle littering in their communities.

The successful projects include developing bins to prevent seagulls from scattering litter on beaches and working with river users to reduce plastic getting into rivers, helping to tackle the issue of litter getting into our marine environment.

The funding builds on the Government’s wider Litter Strategy for England, as well as the recent launch of the 25 Year Environment Plan setting out how Government will protect and enhance our natural environment.

Welcoming the new projects, Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said:

We want to be the first generation to leave our environment in a better state than we found it and these innovative new projects will help reduce the amount of litter which so often plagues our streets, parks, countryside, rivers and marine environment.

We have all seen the damaging effects that litter can have on wildlife and the environment, and I encourage people to do their bit, take responsibility for their litter and recycle more.

Communities Minister Rishi Sunak said:

The Litter Innovation Fund is part of our wider strategy to deliver a substantial reduction in litter and littering while leaving a cleaner, greener and tidier environment for the next generation.

I am looking forward to seeing these projects supporting that strategy while helping communities make a real difference in their area.

Government has recently announced a range of new measures to tackle waste including proposals to extend the 5p plastic bag charge to small retailers and introducing a ban on plastic microbeads.

Keeping the country’s streets clean cost local Government almost £700 million last year. Much of this is avoidable litter, and money that could be better spent in the community. Despite this, a worrying 1 in 5 people admit to dropping litter.

A second round of applications will be launched shortly.

• The Litter Innovation Fund was set up as part of the Government’s Litter Strategy for England which was launched in April 2017 as is administered by the sustainability not-for-profit charity WRAP. A total of £450,000 is available for funding to local projects.

• Applications are assessed consistently and against published criteria.

• The funding is evenly provided by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government and funding awarded is limited to a maximum of £10,000 per project. Projects much also secure match finding.

• The cost of £682m in 2016/17 for street cleaning is from Official local Government returns to DCLG.

• Research on one in five admitting to having dropped litter in the past is from Keep Britain Tidy – Litter Droppers Segmentation research (2010).