Road users, business and local people are being encouraged to have their say on the proposals in an eight week public consultation, which runs until 12 September.

The proposals for Worthing and Lancing form part of the Government’s investment along the A27 to increase capacity, reduce congestion and fully renew some of the busiest sections of the vital south coast road, which also includes schemes for Arundel and East of Lewes.

An overview of the A27 Worthing and Lancing improvements scheme

Highways England project manager Tom Beasley said:

The plans we’re announcing today aim to increase capacity at key junctions in Worthing and Lancing to help reduce journey times and improve safety. We want to make sure the improvements we take forward are the right ones, delivering the most overall benefit and value for drivers, and people living and working in the area.

I urge anyone interested in the proposals to come along to one of the eight public information events that we’re holding and to have their say on the proposals by completing the consultation survey online or by post, by Tuesday 12 September.

Highways England has considered a number of options for improving the A27 through Worthing and Lancing from junction improvements to dual carriageway schemes with flyovers. The improvements being consulted on are the ones which best meet the scheme objectives while offering value for money within the scheme’s budget. The improvement being proposed by Highways England would upgrade six key junctions along the route in Worthing and Lancing.

The junctions are:

1. Durrington Hill/Salvington Hill:

The existing priority junctions will be converted to a traffic signalled cross road junction.

2. Offington Corner Junction roundabout:

The existing roundabout will be converted to a traffic signalled cross road junction. All approaches and some exits to be widened to accommodate extra slip roads and lanes.

3. Grove Lodge junction:

The approaches would be widened to accommodate two lanes of traffic through the junction.

4. Lyons Farm Retail Park junctions:

The existing junctions would be widened to accommodate more lanes, and creation of new turning arrangements at both junctions.

5. Busticle Lane/Halewick Lane junction:

Provide a new junction to the west of the existing junction with access to and from Halewick Lane.

6. Grinstead Lane/Manor Road junction:

Widen the existing junction approaches and convert the existing roundabout to a new traffic signal controlled junction for traffic turning from Manor Road onto the A27.

Together, these junction upgrades would provide significant extra capacity and reduce delays. Each junction would also have protected pedestrian and cycle crossing facilities, helping to link communities wither side of the road.

Highways England will be holding eight information exhibitions at venues in Worthing and Lancing so that the public can examine the proposals and speak to the project team to find out more and give their feedback.

All responses will be carefully considered before an announcement is made on a preferred route later this year. Subject to a successful outcome to the consultation, people will have another opportunity to have their say once the final plans have been announced, and construction could start as early as 2020 and take around two years to complete.

Details on the proposals and feedback forms will be available online from today until 19 July to 11:45pm on 12 September 2017 at www.highways.gov.uk/a27Worthing-and-Lancing as well as at public information events as follows:

Public information events dates and locations:

• Wednesday 19 July

  Worthing Assembly Hall, Worthing

  4pm to 8pm

• Tuesday 25 July

  Harriet Johnson Centre, Sompting

  1pm to 8pm

• Saturday 29 July

  Impulse Leisure, Lancing

  10am to 2pm

• Saturday 12 August

  Impulse Leisure, Lancing

  10am to 2pm

• Tuesday 15 August

  Worthing Assembly Hall, Worthing

  1pm to 8pm

• Wednesday 16 August

  Harriet Johnson Centre, Sompting

  1pm to 8pm

• Saturday 2 September

  Worthing Assembly Hall, Worthing

  10am to 2pm

• Wednesday 6 September

  Manor House, The Boulevard, Worthing

  2pm to 8pm

You can also find copies of the brochure and the questionnaire at the following locations throughout the consultation period (19 July to 12 September 2017), during their normal hours of opening:

• Broadwater Library, Dominion Road, Broadwater, Worthing, BN14 8JL
• Broadwater Parish Rooms 117 Broadwater Road, Worthing, BN14 8HT
• Durrington Library Salvington Road, Worthing, BN13 2JD
• Ferring Library The Street, Ferring, BN12 5HL
• Findon Valley Library Lime Tree Avenue, Findon Valley, Worthing, BN14 0DH
• Fishersgate Community Centre West Road, Portslade, BN41 1QH
• Goring Library Mulberry Lane, Goring-by-Sea, Worthing, BN12 4JL
• Harriet Johnson Centre Old School House, Loose Lane, Sompting, BN15 0BG
• Lancing Library Penstone Park, Lancing, BN15 9DL
• Shoreham Library St Mary’s Road, Shoreham, BN43 5ZA
• Southwick Community Association 24 Southwick Street, Southwick, BN42 4TE
• The Shoreham Centre 2 Pond Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, BN43 5WU
• Worthing Library Richmond Road, Worthing, BN11 1HD

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

Parents with a child under five years old can now apply for a 30 hours free childcare place for September 2017.

The new 30 hours free childcare offer for working parents of three and four-year-olds in England doubles the current 15 hours of free childcare currently available to all parents, offering a total saving for eligible working families of up to £5,000 a year.

For parents across the UK, Tax-Free Childcare will cut childcare costs by up to £2,000 per year for each child under 12 years old, or £4,000 per year for disabled children under 17 years old. Parents with a child born on or after 1 April 2013 can now apply for Tax-Free Childcare. All eligible parents will be able to apply for Tax-Free Childcare by the end of 2017.

The government’s total childcare offer is backed by a record investment of more than £6 billion per year by 2020, supporting working families and those on low incomes.

Eligible parents can apply for both 30 hours free childcare and Tax-Free Childcare via the government’s online childcare service. They can apply for all of their children once their youngest child qualifies, avoiding the need to provide the same information twice and saving them valuable time.

The service initially opened to parents with children under the age of four, and disabled children under 17, in April 2017 and more than 140,000 parents have already successfully applied through the service.

Parents can access the Childcare Choices website, www.childcarechoices.gov.uk, to see what childcare offers they could be eligible for. The Childcare Choices website includes a Childcare Calculator for parents to compare all the government’s childcare offers and check what works best for their families.

The site also enables parents to pre-register for email alerts that will notify them when they can apply, as well as providing details of existing government childcare offers.

Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign Office Minister for the Commonwealth and the United Nations travelled to Ghana for the first time in his new role to reaffirm the importance of Ghanaian-UK relations, and reenergise the Commonwealth, ahead of the Commonwealth Summit meeting in April. This follows the Foreign Secretary’s visit to the country in March.

While there, Lord Ahmad met President Akufo-Addo to discuss Ghana’s place as a beacon of democracy and stability in the region and its role in strengthening Commonwealth values such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Lord Ahmad discussed boosting Commonwealth trade links with the Minister of Trade. Trade between Commonwealth states is estimated to currently be over $680 billion and is forecast to grow to $1 trillion by 2020.

These figures show the scale of what is happening within the Commonwealth today in terms of trade, investment and the jobs.

The Minister also met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of National Security, and the Minister of Gender.

Young people’s hearts and minds are vital to the future of the Commonwealth. Of the nearly 2.4 billion people that live in Commonwealth countries, 60 per cent are under 30. Lord Ahmad reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that all Commonwealth citizens have a voice in shaping the future and direction of the institution by meeting Chevening Scholars and recipients of the Queens Leadership and International Leaders award.

Lord Ahmad also paid a visit to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, where he set out the UK’s vision for the future of peacekeeping and UN reform. The Minister also met with victims of child trafficking and heard from NGOs that are tackling this abhorrent practice.

After the visit, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon said:

I was delighted to meet President Akufo-Addo, some of his key Ministers and Ghanaians from all walks of life to discuss how we can strengthen the Commonwealth’s focus on promoting democratic values, development, security and prosperity.

Ghana is our historic ally, being the first African member-state to join the Commonwealth family in 1957 after its independence. And most importantly, we see Ghana as one of our closest partners who can help us renew the Commonwealth for this and for future generations.

The Commonwealth Summit next year presents a unique opportunity to re-energise and re-shape the Commonwealth to ensure that it remains more relevant than ever in the 21st century.

Background

The Commonwealth is home to a third of the world’s population, many of its fastest growing economies, and half of the globe’s top 20 emerging cities; intra-Commonwealth trade is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2020; and it provides us with a unique network of common language and laws.

The Commonwealth Summit will be hosted the week of 16th April 2018, immediately following the closing of the Commonwealth Games in Queensland, with venues including: St James’s Palace, Lancaster House, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

Further information

On Wednesday (19 July) ministers set out an ambition for 90% of year 10 pupils to start to study the full suite of EBacc GCSEs by 2025, and 75% of year 10 pupils starting to study this combination of subjects by 2022.

The EBacc subjects – which are made up of English, Maths, a foreign language, history or geography and sciences – are those which, at A level, open more doors to more degrees, according to the Russell Group.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

Pupils, whatever their background, have the right to study a core academic curriculum that provides them with the knowledge and skills for a variety of careers beyond the age of 16.

As we look increasingly outwards as a country, this is more important than ever, and the EBacc ambition will ensure our pupils are able to compete with educational high performers in a global economy.

Alongside the EBacc, the arts are a crucial part of a broad and balanced curriculum and it is great to see that the best schools ensure young people have the option to study both academic and creative subjects.

The Department for Education reconfirmed the ambition in its response to the public consultation on the implementation of the EBacc.

The government has also published further analysis on trends in arts subjects in schools where EBacc entry has increased. The analysis shows the proportion of pupils entering at least one arts subject has slightly increased since the EBacc was introduced, but at school-level there was a small positive correlation, suggesting schools where EBacc entry has increased tend to have also seen an increasing arts uptake.

Responses to the consultation also raised some concern about the teachers required to meet the EBacc ambition. The government recognises the challenge some schools face in recruiting high-quality modern foreign languages (MFL) teachers and has various schemes in place to support schools.

Mark Lehain, Parents and Teachers for Excellence and Principal at Bedford Free School said:

This announcement has been well trailed so will not come as a surprise to anyone in secondary education, nor should it be opposed.

Every child deserves a broad, rich curriculum throughout their school years, and the vast majority of schools already ensure they get this. While some may wish to debate exactly what subjects should count within the suite, we already know from looking at great schools that there is plenty of time available in a student’s timetable to cover EBacc combinations and leave time to study other subjects, including the arts and technology.

Head teachers and the wider system as a whole have got plenty of time to work up to the target, and ensure that there are sufficient subject specialists, funding, and provision to deliver it.

At PTE we welcome this focus on providing a rigorous academic, knowledge-rich curriculum for as many students as possible.

Hywel Jones, Head Teacher at West London Free School said:

It is vital that pupils of all abilities have access and an entitlement to traditional subjects that build a wider knowledge of the sciences, arts and the humanities.

Dr Jo Saxton, CEO of Turner Schools said:

The EBacc is an enabling foundation upon which a future of choices, be they vocational, technical or academic, is built. It is a really powerful driver of social justice.

Libby Nicholas, CEO of Astrea Academy Trust said:

We welcome today’s announcement and the rigour and high expectations that EBacc brings, whilst recognising the importance of music, drama and the arts for every child.

• significant new role for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to support government’s fire reform programme
• HMIC to become single inspectorate for policing and fire, with recommendation to Her Majesty the Queen that Sir Thomas Winsor be appointed as chief fire and rescue inspector for England
• inspectorate will support the continuous improvement of fire and rescue authorities

Today (Wednesday, 19 July) the Home Office has agreed that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) undergoes a major expansion to take on the role of inspectorate of fire and rescue authorities in England.

The inspectorate will help support the continuous improvement of this critical public service and support fire and rescue authorities to become even more effective. It will also support continuing collaboration between policing and fire and rescue services, offering the opportunity for future inspections of joint areas of work or where support functions have been combined.

HMIC will be renamed Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

Nick Hurd, Minister for Policing and the Fire Service said:

The response to the recent Grenfell Tower tragedy has highlighted the professionalism, dedication and skill of our firefighters.

Creating an inspectorate for fire and rescue authorities in England will support the continuous improvement of this critical public service to make sure that services are as professional, effective and as efficient as possible. It will also ensure where problems are identified, actions can be taken by the fire and rescue authorities to overcome them.

HMIC has been inspecting police forces for more than 160 years and has a strong track record in holding policing to the highest standards. I am confident that they too will hold fire and rescue services to the highest standards possible.

The inspectorate will consider how efficient and effective fire and rescue authorities are; will highlight good practice and identify areas where they need to improve, so that action can be taken to overcome them. This will include how services prevent and respond to incidents; whether the service provides value for money as well as reviewing the service’s leadership, training, diversity, values and culture. It replaces the current system of peer review where fire and rescue services inspect one another.

The Home Secretary has recommended to Her Majesty the Queen that she appoints Sir Thomas Winsor, currently Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, as Chief Fire and Rescue Inspector for England, and HMIC’s existing inspectors be appointed Inspectors of Fire and Rescue Authorities. These appointments will be in addition to their existing police inspection responsibilities.

Sir Thomas Winsor, said:

HMICFRS will approach the inspection of fire and rescue services – establishing and reporting on their efficiency and effectiveness – with the same degree of thoroughness as it inspects the police.

My fellow HM Inspectors and I look forward to engaging with fire and rescue authorities, and others with a stake in their performance, to build a sound and productive relationship which serves the public well.

The first inspection is expected to take place next spring with every authority in England inspected by the end of 2019. HMIC will shortly begin work developing an inspection framework and programme to be published for consultation in the autumn.

The introduction of an independent inspectorate is just part of the government’s fire reform programme which aims to make fire and rescue services more effective, efficient and professional than ever before. Other key elements include:

• the formation of a professional standards body for fire and rescue which will build a comprehensive professional framework of standards
• strengthening local fire and rescue governance by enabling police and crime commissioners to take on the responsibility for local fire and rescue services where a local case is made to maximize the benefits of collaboration
• reform of the workforce so that it is highly skilled, modern, flexible and diverse
• creating a new national website which will hold a range of information to increase transparency of fire and rescue services by allowing the public to access the performance of their local service as well as information about chief officer pay, expenditure, accounts and efficiency plans
• the publication of incident level data from the Incident Recording System so that the public can have access to the raw data of fire incidents across England
• driving efficiencies across services including supporting them in their commercial transformation.