• Investment of £6.1 million will help educate athletes, share intelligence and conduct testing in the fight against drug cheats to keep sport clean

• Sports Minister Tracey Crouch also publishes second annual update on government’s sport strategy that shows progress on governance,

UK Anti-Doping is to receive an additional £6 million of funding from the government to further strengthen its armoury in the fight against doping, Sports Minister Tracey Crouch announced today.

The move comes after the first full-scale review of the organisation since it was set up in 2009 that has resulted in a number of recommendations to help make further progress in anti-doping.

These include:

• UKAD to consider submitting a framework to government and sports to allow doping control officers to have unfettered access to conduct random testing at competitions
• UKAD to encourage greater collaboration from law enforcement agencies and to ensure whistleblowers have confidence to come forward
• Sports in receipt of public funding to report annually on their anti-doping education programmes to UKAD and publish this information on their websites
• Health harms associated with the abuses of Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs (IPEDs) should be integrated into drug information and education supported by Public Health England, Public Health Wales, Health Scotland, Public Health (Northern Ireland) and the Home Office Drugs Strategy
• Government should revise the National Anti-Doping Policy by September 2018 in consultation with UKAD and the Home Country Sport Councils
• UKAD to ensure that all publicly funded athletes and support personnel participate in annual anti-doping education programmes
• UKAD to establish an Innovations Committee later this year to signpost new trends in doping
• A new international strategy to be drawn up by UKAD to help drive a global approach to innovation in anti-doping

The move means that over the next two years UKAD’s budget will be increased by around 50 per cent to help it implement the recommendations in the tailored review.

Sports Minister Tracey Crouch said:

We must do all we can to make sure sport is free from doping and that players and fans are confident that there is a level playing field. This £6 million additional funding for UKAD will help us take the fight even harder to those trying to cheat through doping. It will also help educate people at all levels of sport about the dangers of image and performance enhancing drugs and maintain UKAD’s standing as one of the leading anti-doping agencies in the world.

UKAD will now work with the DCMS on the specifics of what the additional £6.1 million will be spent on.

UK Anti-Doping Chair Trevor Pearce said:

We are delighted at the news from DCMS today, to significantly increase the funding available to UKAD for the next two years. This clear commitment to clean sport from government will allow us to increase the effectiveness of our current investigation, testing and education programmes, and also importantly to expand our investment into new approaches in the fight against doping. We look forward to working with DCMS on the implementation of recommendations for UKAD and we share their ambition for the UK to lead the world in Anti-Doping.

Today Tracey Crouch has also published the second annual report to Parliament on the government’s sport strategy ‘Sporting Future.’ Progress made on the implementation of the strategy over includes:

• Code for Sports governance being adhered to by national governing bodies to ensure greater transparency, accountability and diversity across the sector

• Continued investment in the sector in line with the change in approach to encouraging participation in sport and physical activity that Sporting Future signalled. Sport England has invested over £530 million of exchequer and lottery money in over 2,500 projects over the past 20 months and is working with a broader range of organisations to get people active.

• Sports Business Council set up, co-chaired by Tracey Crouch and Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore

• Review of criminalisation of doping completed with recommendations made to strengthen approach to anti-doping

• Held roundtables on the issue of mental health in physical activity and sport with work ongoing to make progress in this area

• Duty of Care report published by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson to help the sector focus on what more can be done to ensure safeguarding of participants at every level

• Successfully hosted major global sporting events including the 2017 World Athletics Championships

• Won the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham

Tracey Crouch added:

We are making good progress on a number of fronts. We are ensuring our governing bodies have world leading standards of governance as well as targeting funding to encourage new participants in sport and physical activity. There is still more work to do. This year I will particularly focus on mental health in sport and encouraging the sector to continue to step up on safeguarding all participants – from the grassroots to the elite.

Notes to Editors: For more information please contact DCMS Press Office – 020 7211 2210

The outcome of a closed government consultation on a proposed homelessness code of guidance for local authorities, is keenly awaited by London Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee (VAPC).

The VAPC, had previously commissioned an independent review from the University of Kent, on how London’s councils implement housing policy affecting veterans, contributed to the consultation.

It welcomed that guidance on dealing with veterans now forms a separate section within the proposed code.

But London VAPC chairman Lynn Verity suggested there were several areas where further clarification was vital:

Chief among these are that the code as currently written does not define either ‘veteran’ or ‘vulnerable’. We have pointed this out and, therefore, hope our concerns are acted upon.

Prof Rob Wilson (r.) explaining the veteran landscape, VAPC/KITE Armed Forces Community Hub Workshop, KITE, Newcastle University, 09/01/2018. Photograph by Michael Potts. All rights reserved.

The government-funded network, which is made up of 10 independent What Works Centres, was created to improve the use and generation of robust evidence in policy areas such as health, education and policing.

The progress report, released today to mark the network’s fifth anniversary, highlights how public funds and resources have been allocated more effectively, thanks to evidence provided by independent researchers in the government-backed What Works Centres.

For example, research from the Early Intervention Foundation showed the impact of parent conflict on children’s long-term outcomes. This research informed the decision of the Department for Work and Pensions to invest £30 million in interventions designed to resolve parent conflict in families with the most disadvantaged children.

By translating complex evidence into practical and useable tools, the What Works Centres help public sector decision-makers deliver the best possible outcomes for the public.

David Lidington, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Elizabeth Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury said:

This government is committed to delivering public services that work for the ordinary citizen. Services delivered by schools, hospitals, GP practices, residential care homes, and police forces have all been enhanced by the findings of the What Works network.

The UK is now seen as a world-leader in the application of evidence in policy and practice and that is largely due to the increasing profile of the What Works Centres.

Dr David Halpern, What Works National Adviser said:

At the request of the Cabinet Secretary and Prime Minister, it has been a great honour to champion this agenda these last five years. Answering the question ‘What works?’ is hard work, but often a game changer. We’ve been asking this question in medicine for 50 years, and it’s saved countless lives. Now we’re asking it in schools, policing and economic growth polices, and its impact is proving equally large.

Megan Dixon, Director of Literacy, Aspire Educational Trust said:

The research that the EEF [Education Endowment Foundation] does helps us make really effective decisions about what to focus on in schools. It is great to have independent, robust research to consider when you are thinking about adopting a new approach.

Sir Jeremy Heywood, Head of the Civil Service said:

What Works’ is a quietly radical agenda that is materially increasing the supply of evidence available to decision-makers. I am delighted to see that the public sector is embracing it.

The Home Office has outlined plans to introduce different passport fees for online and postal applications as part of its push to increase the use of online services and its ambition to create a self-sustainable immigration and borders system.

The proposals, which remain subject to Parliamentary approval, would mean the money collected through fees will contribute to the cost of processing British passport holders as they travel in and out of the country, shifting the burden for paying for these services away from the taxpayer – millions of whom do not currently hold passports. These reforms are part of plans by the Home Office to invest £100 million on border security and infrastructure next year.

This forms part of the ongoing work to modernise and further strengthen the security of the border. British passport holders already receive a world-class customer experience at the UK Border with 76% of eligible passengers now using ePassport gates which had a record 46.2 million passenger crossings in 2017. And in total 250 million people travel across the UK Border each year and this number is increasing, helping to grow our economy.

In addition, as is currently the case, the fee will pay for the costs associated with issuing UK passports and for consular support provided to British nationals abroad.

As well as ensuring that the process of getting a passport is funded by those who use them, the proposals reflect the differing amounts it costs to process online and postal applications. Her Majesty’s Passport Office is continually developing its online application services, with everyone over the age of 16 now able to renew their passport using the latest online system where applicants can upload their passport photograph digitally.

Under the plans, online applications, which are available to all UK-based applicants, will increase in line with inflation, taking the total from £72.50 to £75.50 for adults and £49 for children. Postal applications will increase by £12.50 to £85 for adults and £58.50 for children, reflecting the increased costs of processing postal applications compared to online applications. Adults choosing to apply online would still be paying less than they would have in 2009, with passport fees having decreased in 2012.

Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said:

The passport is an invaluable document that allows millions of British people to travel around the world for business and pleasure.

Our priority is to ensure that UK travellers have a secure, effective, and efficient service from the point of application to the time they pass through the UK border and it is only right that we should look at this whole process when setting our fees.

These proposals will ensure that those people who don’t travel abroad are not footing the bill for those who do.

The changes are fully supported by the fee-setting powers that were brought in by the Immigration Act 2016 and if they are approved by Parliament, they will come into force on 27 March 2018.

The proposals are unrelated to the announcement that the colour of the UK passport will be changing in 2019, which will be delivered at no additional cost.