Tag Archives: HM Government

Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic disaster, International Development Secretary Priti Patel warned today, as she urged the international community to follow the UK’s push to stem the country’s cholera outbreak – the worst ever recorded in a single year.

The number of suspected cases of cholera is nearing half a million and the UK is working with organisations including UNICEF and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to tackle the disease which has so far claimed thousands of lives.

The UK’s support will provide medical supplies, such as chlorine tablets and hygiene kits, for half a million people and rehabilitate medical facilities to help 250,000 people.

The UK’s efforts will prevent and treat cholera across three of the most affected areas of Yemen: 300,000 people will benefit from access to safe, chlorinated water, helping to prevent the further spread of the disease; while seven health centres and 35 oral rehydration points will treat more than 27,300 cases.

British support will also include the secondment of an international health specialist from IOM to the Emergency Operations Centre in Sana’a to strengthen the response to contain cholera.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel said:

Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic disaster if the world continues to close its eyes to the urgent help three quarters of people across the country desperately need.

The response by the international community is the only hope Yemeni people have to survive. UK aid is providing lifesaving food for 1.7 million people, as well as clean water, emergency healthcare and sanitation to contain the cholera outbreak and prevent it from spreading further.

The international community must follow Britain’s lead and join our efforts and step up support to avert famine and cholera engulfing the country.

UK aid is already saving lives – our support to UNICEF has provided cholera treatment kits for 60,000 people and oral rehydration salts to treat over a million people, as well as rehabilitating the rural water supply systems in Hajjah and Sa’ada so that 74,000 people can access clean water.

Other partners, including the Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund, are also tackling cholera through re-prioritisation of their work within the UK’s existing support. This includes providing medical treatment for vulnerable women and children, training health workers, and establishing oral rehydration centres.

Cholera is a bacterial disease, usually spread through contaminated water, which causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. The risk of cholera is highest when poverty, war or natural disasters force people to live in crowded conditions without adequate sanitation. Cholera can be fatal in a matter of hours if left untreated, but with medical support can be easily remedied.

Prevention is equally important and the UK is supporting chlorination campaigns in more than half the country’s governorates, as well as public awareness sessions on how the disease is spread. UK support is also tackling the underlying causes of cholera by helping to provide emergency nutrition, health, water and sanitation to over a million Yemenis.

Notes to Editors

• The UK is playing a leading role in the humanitarian response as the 3rd largest humanitarian donor to Yemen and the 2nd largest donor to the UN appeal. We have increased our funding for Yemen to £139 million for 2017/18 and are pressing the international community to step up its efforts. Other international and regional partners including the US, EU and Saudi Arabia are also playing a critical role in response.

• In April we increased UK aid to Yemen to £139m for 2017/18 and are prioritising life-saving aid, including helping to provide food and nutrition support for 1.7 million people and clean water and sanitation for an expected 1.2 million people.

• The UK is prioritising £8m from the Yemen budget this year for cholera. This includes £6 million for UNICEF and £2 million towards IOM’s cholera response.

• Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that causes acute watery diarrhoea and can lead to rapid dehydration and death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera (faecal-oral transmission). Treatment requires oral rehydration, and in the most severe cases intravenous infusion and antibiotics. Chlorination of water supply and improved waste disposal and hygiene behaviour help control the disease.

• Last year, UK aid contributed to providing more than 462,000 people with food or food vouchers, provided food and nutrition support for 1.1 million women and children, and provided 123,000 people with emergency or sustainable clean water.

• The International Development Secretary, Priti Patel, hosted a high-level international event at the UN General Assembly in September 2016 to shine a spotlight on Yemen’s ‘forgotten crisis’. Over $100 million in new funding was pledged by the international community and UN agencies to strengthen the humanitarian response.

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Professor Wingham has been appointed Executive Chair Designate of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) following nearly six years as Chief Executive of the council, Science Minister Jo Johnson announced today.

Professor Wingham’s current term heading up NERC has been extended from 31 December 2017 through to 31 December 2020. He will continue as Chief Executive until the end of March 2018 and, upon the creation of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on 1 April, will become NERC’s Executive Chair.

Executive Chairs will be crucial to the ambition for UKRI to be a world-leading research and innovation organisation. They will lead each of the 9 councils that will be part of UKRI, and the role will combine the responsibilities of the current Chair and Chief Executive of each council.

Announcing the appointment, Science Minister Jo Johnson said:

Professor Wingham’s wealth of knowledge and experience in academia and science, and his pivotal role in setting up the NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, makes him well-placed to take on the role of Executive Chair and continue being a key part of our global leadership in the environmental sciences.

Working in close coordination with research communities across the UK, the UKRI Executive Chairs, along with the Government’s additional £4.7bn for research and development, will ensure that we continue to punch above our weight in global science.

Sir Mark Walport, UKRI Chief Executive Designate said:

I am very pleased that Duncan will continue to provide excellent leadership of NERC as its first Executive Chair. As part of UK Research and Innovation’s Executive Committee, Duncan will play a critical role in championing and increasing the impact of Environmental Science research through UK Research and Innovation, thus helping to ensure that UK Research and Innovation is the world’s leading research and innovation public funding agency.

I look forward to continuing to work with Duncan to make sure that the UK maintains its world-leading position in the Environmental Sciences and maximising the contribution it makes to the UK’s research and innovation landscape.

Professor Duncan Wingham, Chief Executive and Executive Chair Designate of NERC said:

I am delighted to be appointed as the first Executive Chair to lead NERC in its new position within UKRI. Environmental science is central to achieving prosperity in harmony with the environment, both here in the UK and globally across the world. NERC has a proud tradition of contributing to that aim.

UKRI provides us with new opportunities to thread environmental science into solutions to the greatest societal and business challenges we face. I look forward to working with all our colleagues within UKRI and across the research community to achieve that.

1. NERC is the UK’s main agency for funding and managing research, training and knowledge exchange in the environmental sciences. It coordinates some of the world’s most exciting research projects, tackling major issues such as climate change, environmental influences on human health, the genetic make-up of life on earth, and much more. NERC is a non-departmental public body, which receives funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Working internationally, NERC has bases in the most hostile parts of the planet. They run a fleet of research ships and aircraft and invest in satellite technology to monitor gradual environmental change on a global scale. NERC provides knowledge, forewarning and solutions to the key global environmental challenges facing society.

2. Operating across the whole of the UK and with a combined budget of more than £6 billion, UK Research and Innovation will bring together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and a new organisation, Research England. UK Research and Innovation will ensure that the UK maintains its world leadership in research and innovation, by creating a system that “best environment for research and innovation to flourish. It will come into existence on 1 April 2018.

3. Professor Wingham received a BSc from the University of Leeds in 1979, and a PhD from the University of Bath in 1984, both in physics. He joined University College London in 1986, where he held lecturing posts at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory and the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He was appointed as a Chair in the Department of Space and Climate Physics in 1996, and was Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at UCL from 2005 to 2010. He was founder and Director of the NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) from 2000 to 2005, which among other things discovered the widespread mass loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its origin in accelerated ocean melting. He was instigator and Project Scientist of the Esa CryoSat-1 and CryoSat-2 satellite missions. He was first appointed as NERC Chief Executive in 2012.

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Environment Agency engineers from across England will descend on two Somerset pumping stations next week (14 to 18 August) for Exercise Ash.

Huish Episcopi Pumping Station and Westover Pumping Station, near Langport, will see pump specialists and incident operatives sharpen their major incident skills in preparation for any serious flood.

High volume pumps – which can fill two average sized bathtubs every second – will be deployed at the stations, increasing water pumping capacity.

Westover Pumping Station removes water through three permanent, electric, submersible pumps at a combined rate of 1,800 litres per second. Huish Episcopi Pumping Station also has three permanent pumps and removes water at combined rate of 5,610 litres per second.

Organiser John Rowlands said:

Somerset has experienced a number of flooding incidents in recent years, most notably in 2013/14 when communities were impacted by flood water. That winter was the wettest for 250 years in parts of the country with only one completely dry day in nearly two months in Somerset.

This unprecedented event led the Environment Agency to consider what else we could do to reduce the impact of a similar flood in the future.

In the summer of 2014, we developed a series of trigger points. When certain criteria is met – more than 100mm of rainfall forecast in 5 days, water levels on the moors rise more than 50mm per hour and a geographical feature (normally a road) is inundated – additional pumping capacity will be deployed at certain locations.

These trigger points were rolled out at a series of community meetings over the autumn and winter of 2014 and Exercise Ash will test this commitment next week.

Severe flooding can also have a detrimental impact on the ecology and agriculture and depending on the time of the flood can take years for the landscape to recover.

As part of the Somerset Levels and Moors 20 Year Flood Action Plan, regular testing of our resilience via training exercises on an annual basis will provide reassurance for communities at flood risk.

The pumps will be loaded onto a lorry at an Environment Agency depot in Bawdrip village a few miles north of the pumping stations on Monday, 14 August. They will reach the pumping stations the same day. It will then take a whole day to unload and deploy them before they are switched on. Different exercise teams will practice attaching the pipes over the course of a week.

John Rowlands said:

Deploying and attaching these pumps takes a significant amount of planning and because these pumps can be used anywhere in the country. We’ve invited engineers from across the Environment Agency to come and put their incident skills into practice.

This, alongside the work of our partners, will make a huge difference in reducing the frequency, duration and severity of flooding in the future.

Partner organisations have been invited to attend Exercise Ash as observers, including Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum, Somerset County Council, Internal Drainage Board and the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.

It is important that everybody is aware of their own flood risk. People can find out how to get ready and check their flood risk at https://www.gov.uk/prepare-for-flooding or by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188.

Notes for Editors:

There are 21 permanent pumping sites in Somerset. Pumping stations are set to operate automatically according to water levels in the rhynes draining the moor or flood alleviation schemes. These pumps cannot operate if the receiving river is full, when spillways are operating or river banks are overflowing. This is why trigger points are in place, which alert the Environment Agency to start deploying mobile pumps. Triggers include specific roads starting to flood, the forecast of heavy rain, and moor water levels rising above 50mm/hour.

Huish Episcopi Pumping Station and Westover Pumping Station were built in the 1960 as part of a suite of works around Langport. Another two pumping stations were built at the same time – Long Load Pumping Station and Midelney Pumping Station. They are all located next to rivers – Huish Episcopi and Long Load on the River Yeo, Midelney on the River Isle and Westover on the River Parrett. They pump water from the adjacent moors (38 million cubic metres of water when the moors are full) which form part of the entire 160,000 acre Somerset Levels and Moors.

The 20 Year Flood Action Plan was jointly created by a broad range of local and national organisations and communities, and is overseen by the Somerset Rivers Authority.

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South West Water Ltd has been ordered to pay more than £142,000 in fines and costs for discharging poor quality effluent from two of its sewage treatment plants. The prosecutions were brought by the Environment Agency.

The offences were committed in Denbury, Devon and Praze an Beeble near Camborne, Cornwall where the company breached permit conditions by allowing inadequately treated effluent to enter nearby watercourses.

Strict limits are set on effluent discharged from sewage treatment works to ensure they don’t adversely affect receiving watercourses. It is the responsibility of the site operator to ensure a treatment works operates in accordance with its permit. They must carry out regular maintenance and repairs.

At Denbury, treated effluent is discharged into the Halwell Stream. Between September 2015 and June 2016, four samples tested for ammonia, suspended solids and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) exceeded the quality standards laid down in the site’s permit. The treatment works is only permitted two exceedances in any 12 months so the additional discharges made in March and June 2016 were offences.

The court was told the filter bed rotating arms at the site failed to operate effectively over a number of months. This coincided with a time when the site was not visited every day and alarms were not working reliably.

The sewage treatment works at Praze an Beeble requires a lot of maintenance and is permitted to discharge only a very limited amount of ammonia. Every month South West Water must take a sample of the discharge and notify the Environment Agency of the result.

In May and August 2016 the amount of ammonia discharged exceeded the amount allowed by the permit.

When further inquiries were made by the Environment Agency, it transpired that the site’s online ammonia monitor had recorded that too much ammonia had been discharged from the treatment works for some 15 days in April 2016 as well.

In May, part of the site was not being cleaned often enough and equipment needed repairing. In August, part of the site had been blocked by moss, blanket weed and sludge. South West Water said the monitoring equipment had not always worked accurately in April.

Mark Pilcher of the Environment Agency said:

Water companies must ensure effluent is treated to a sufficiently high standard to protect the environment. Regular maintenance of sewage treatment works helps with the early detection of faults and allows repairs to be made in good time before treatment deteriorates to the point where a site breaches its permit.

Appearing before a district judge at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court, South West Water Ltd was ordered to pay a total of £142,524. The company had earlier pleaded guilty to three charges (two for Denbury and one for Praze an Beeble) of breaching Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.

The fine for Denbury was £80,000 with £4,993 costs plus a £120 victim surcharge. The fine for Praze an Beeble was £53,334 with £3,957 costs plus a £120 victim surcharge. The case was heard on 3 August, 2017.

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Introduction

Good afternoon, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to come here to speak to you today at the 7th joint BIA / MHRA conference, and to allow me to set out the Government’s thinking on the opportunities and challenges facing the life sciences sector as we move towards Brexit.

I want to start by thanking Steve and the BIA for their support and challenge since I took up my role, as well as Ian and all of the officials at the MHRA for their continued high quality policy support to me.

I hope today to be able to detail some of the work that is going on to help shape our future relationship with the EU, and in particular define the principles which are informing our approach.

I also want be very clear, right at the start of this speech, that the Government recognises that we start from a historically unique position in these negotiations – close regulatory alignment, trust in one another’s institutions, and a spirit of cooperation stretching back decades.

Our top priority in negotiations in this area is to secure ongoing close collaboration between the UK and the EU, with the needs and rights of patients always our paramount concern.

As everyone in this room will know, the UK has much to offer. We are a scientific, regulatory and industrial centre of excellence. I had the opportunity to see this during a visit yesterday to the Clinical Research Facility at UCLH, where NHS patients were the first in the world to receive innovative new medicines as part of globally leading, cutting edge trials.

I am incredibly proud of the superb work done by the whole of the life sciences ecosystem: UK companies, research institutions, universities, hospitals and charities.

We have a proud history of being a forward looking, innovative and risk taking nation, able to work at the cutting edge of science to advance the cause of medicine.

From Edward Jenner’s work on developing the world’s first vaccine through to our ambitious plan to sequence 100,000 genomes, the UK has played a major role in global medicine.

It’s remarkable that currently 25% of the world’s top 100 prescription medicines were discovered in the UK, and the UK undertook almost 20% of all research work carried out within EU health programmes between 2007-2016 was undertaken on these shores.

The UK life science sector is globally leading, with the strongest clinical development pipeline in Europe, and more than a third of all the biotech venture capital in Europe, which is more than any other European country.

Our success is built on a world class science base that is the most productive of any in the G7, supported by over £4 billion of funding per year from Government and Philanthropy. We are, and always have been, a medical innovation powerhouse.

Brexit is, in this Government’s view, a once in a lifetime opportunity to build on our existing strengths – and we should look upon the challenge with optimism and hope. There is a collective determination and will to make a success of Brexit.

However, it would be Panglossian not to recognise that challenges will confront us in the years to come, nor to underestimate the complexity of the task.

Today, I will set out in practical terms the Government’s position on medicines regulation, trade and support for the life sciences sector in the UK.

We are absolutely clear that three key principles must underpin any future relationship with the EU:

• First: patients must not be put at a disadvantage;

• Second: the UK will continue to play a leading role promoting and ensuring public health – both in Europe and around the world; and

• Third: industry must be able to get their products into the UK market as quickly and simply as possible, with the UK and Europe at the forefront of medical innovation.

Medicine regulation

Let me turn first to medicines regulation. To reiterate the principles above, our top priority for life sciences during the negotiations is to protect the safety of patients and ensure the integrity of pan-European public health systems.

I want to give this promise: no matter what the outcome of the negotiations – on basic patient safety and public health issues – the UK will be, as it always has been, a willing and reliable partner for Europe.

The people of Europe would expect nothing less, and it is incumbent upon those on both sides of the negotiating table to ensure this continues.

Building on this base of public health collaboration, you will have seen the letter from Jeremy Hunt and Greg Clark in the Financial Times last week.

My colleagues gave a crystal clear, public statement of our desire for deep and close working relationship with the EU on medicines regulation after Brexit. That approach is supported across Government.

Patients across the EU27, including those in the UK, have been well served by our close cooperation for many years.

The cooperation has seen major improvements in expediting patients’ access to new medicines. We have also pioneered adaptive approaches to clinical trials and conditional approval to meet medical need.

The MHRA pioneered the adoption of the ‘Early Access to Medicines’ scheme, which enables people with serious life threatening conditions to get new medication before all approvals are finalised, where there is a clear medical need.

This has made a huge difference to patients, and has led the way for the EMA to adopt similar principles.

It is also right to acknowledge that the UK’s existing relationship with the EU is mutually beneficial. The MHRA play a big role in this, but it is right too that we should acknowledge the benefits we have gained from the pan-EU burden sharing approach to medicines regulation. This arrangement has allowed the UK and NHS patients to benefit from outstanding scientific expertise from across Europe.

Sharing this expertise across the EU has led to significant public health and safety improvements. Knowledge and innovation is not and cannot be exclusive to one country.

Patients across the EU27 and the UK will be better served if together we continue the strong, effective technical collaboration that accelerates scientific advancement and ultimately benefits patient wellbeing.

It is worth remembering that in many cases rules are based on global requirements. For example, the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme leads the international development of voluntary Good Manufacturing Practices for medicinal products. As part of our vision for an outward facing UK we will continue to play a leading role in such international forums. This is what we mean by a new, deep and close partnership with the EU.

And I know it is what industry wants too, which is why I am asking for your continued support in helping to achieve it. The recent letter from Trade Associations across Europe to Michel Barnier and David Davies on this topic was an important first step.

We need you to lobby for your views on what success looks like to both the UK and the EU27. I passionately invite you to make your voice heard throughout this debate so that your views can be taken into account.

I also briefly want to address the alternative scenario.

As everyone in the room will know, not all negotiations succeed.

In the event that it is not possible to reach a deal that secures ongoing, close collaboration between the UK and Europe, we will set up a regulatory system in the UK that protects the best interests of patients, and supports industry to grow and flourish.

We will ensure that our system is robust, efficacious and does not impose any additional bureaucratic burdens. Our successful past should give us confidence in achieving a prosperous future, whatever form it takes.

I want to be clear, this is not a threat to the EU27. But I must be honest and transparent, that if it is not possible to secure close collaboration, we will of course look to put in place an effective system and work with international partners in a way that best protects patients and supports industry and innovation.

To summarise, like all of you, I am enormously excited at the range of medical innovations we will see over the coming decades. I sincerely hope it will be possible for the UK and the EU to work together to ensure patients have safe access to them, whether they are in London or Ljubljana, Manchester or Malmo.

Trade

However, regulation isn’t our only consideration as we leave the EU.

The UK wants to see zero tariffs on trade in medicines and medtech and to minimise the regulatory and market access barriers for medicines, med tech and medical research services.

We want to have a new customs agreement with the EU that supports these objectives, and we have an open mind about the form of that agreement. This is central to our principle of ensuring that UK companies have the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within European markets – and to let European businesses do the same in the UK.

The UK Government wants such an arrangement to help make sure that medicines and devices reach patients when and where they need them and that product integrity is ensured.

The UK and EU have a shared objective in the negotiations: to protect the health of patients, and to ensure safe and timely access to medicines and devices. Simply put, far more unites our interests in this area than divides us.

This international outlook is a reminder of the manner in which the UK life sciences industry has proven itself able to adopt a truly international approach to providing high quality products, in demand across the world.

We will also be ambitious in pursuing new trading relationships globally, to ensure that pharmaceutical products developed and manufactured in the UK can be exported to all corners of the planet.

Equally vital to global trade is the global movement of people. I greatly value the contribution of those from the EU and around the world who work in our NHS and in our life sciences industry.

We recognise that medical research and development is a mobile, global business – and we want the best and the brightest, wherever they are from – to be able to study, work and innovate in the UK.

We know that for every Ronald Ross, there will be a Louis Pasteur, and indeed for every Ian Hudson, there will be a Guido Rasi. Whatever nationality – we want Britain to attract the best and the brightest.

I want to assure you that as the Brexit process progresses, we will continue to work closely with industry and trade bodies, including the BIA, to plan our policy for a prosperous future as a great, global trading nation.

The future of life sciences

Finally, I want to outline my vision and plans for the future of the life sciences industry in Britain. I am delighted that Sir John Bell has been leading the sector in developing a Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.

This will set out an ambitious vision for the life sciences industry to be a global hub and reaffirm the UK’s position as a centre of clinical research and medical innovation.

The Government looks forward to continuing to build on this, working together with industry to agree an ambitious, long term Sector Deal.

This is being developed in the context of the Cross Government Industrial Strategy, which was published in January.

In that document, we prioritised life sciences as a sector with the potential for an early Sector Deal. This offers industry and government the opportunity to agree an ambitious set of measures that will allow the UK to strengthen its position as a world leading centre for the life sciences.

It will also complement the Government’s upcoming response to the Accelerated Access Review. I know some of you will feel that the response to Sir Hugh Taylor’s review has hardly been accelerated itself, but that was because I want it to be the ambitious and transformative plan it should be, rather than another incremental change.

I recognise how challenging it can be to get innovations from the bench to the bedside in the NHS. The time it takes can be a cause of great frustration to innovators who feel they can make a real difference and see the NHS as an opportunity to develop and test their products – which are often much needed by patients and clinicians.

Therefore we need to do better. Much better.

We want the best innovations to come through quickly and improve the lives of patients, support the NHS and help create more jobs for the UK economy.

To underline our commitment, I am pleased to announce today that the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Department of Health will be providing up to £86 million to support innovators in getting life saving products to patients faster and more efficiently. I would like to thank Lord Prior and his team for their contribution to this agenda.

The funding is split into four, targeted packages that together address barriers to product development, real world testing and uptake in the NHS:

• First, we shall establish a £35 million Digital Health Technology Catalyst which will match fund the development of modern day digital solutions for the NHS.

• Second, we are committing up to £6 million over the next three years to support SMEs with innovative medicines and devices in gathering real world evidence of their cost-effectiveness in a clinical setting. This will help to inform their final development and the healthcare system’s purchasing decisions.

• Third, the government will support innovators and the NHS to take up innovations at the local level. We are making £39 million of funding available to the Academic Health Science Networks, enabling them to support local assessment and promote diffusion

• Finally, we will support the NHS to adopt and integrate these new technologies into everyday practice through a £6 million Pathway Transformation Fund.

This significant financial commitment underlines our on-going determination to making sure we continue to fund innovation to keep the UK at the forefront of the life sciences sector internationally. I am determined that our full response to the Review, as well as our Sector Deal, will set out a very ambitious way forward.

Conclusion

I hope that by setting out our clear principles for Brexit, and underlining our significant support for the Life Science sector – as demonstrated by our commitment of up to £86 million in funding to support innovation and change – you are left with a clear understanding of where this Government’s priorities lie.

We have challenging but exciting times ahead of us, and we have a superb opportunity to reinforce the UK’s position as a global centre of excellence for Life Sciences – collaborating and working closely with our partners in the EU and internationally.

I am proud that the Government is able to work so closely with industry, and am pleased with the very positive level of engagement and debate that has occurred so far between us.

I am confident that the Life Science industry will be able to make the most of the opportunities offered by Brexit, and help reaffirm the UK’s position as a global leader in this sector.

Thank you very much.

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