Pioneering technology and projects that prioritise safer, greener travel are among the winners of government funding announced today (11 February 2021).

Now in its seventh year, the transport-technology research and innovation grant (T-TRIG) programme, in partnership with Connected Places Catapult, enables the country’s brightest entrepreneurs and researchers to develop cutting-edge tech to make UK transport systems safer, more sustainable and accessible.

A number of this year’s winners focus on ways that we can respond to and recover from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including a project that looks at how a purifying system can remove airborne COVID-19 particles from trains, creating safer and cleaner carriages.

Another involves the development of a bracelet that allows people with visual impairments to be alerted when they are not social distancing, allowing them to travel with more confidence as we emerge from the pandemic.

Another winner will use the weight data of passengers to supply real-time carriage information on how busy a train is, allowing passengers to choose whether to travel and where to board.

Transport Minister Rachel Maclean said:

I’m delighted to see government investment bringing together talented start-ups and policy-makers at the earliest stages of innovation, and giving a boost to the technology, which could make travelling safer on our road to a green transport recovery.

This funding will make the UK one of the most attractive places for SMEs and university thinkers to do what they do best, as we look to build back better, while also solving the complex challenge of decarbonising transport.

Among the green tech ideas is a project that would see local communities signing up to an app where those making deliveries would upload their journey plans for the day. This would then be matched to local people who are expecting deliveries, helping reduce CO₂ emissions on our roads by cutting lengthy detours.

This year, T-TRIG is investing £30,000 in each of the 23 successful projects focused on COVID-19 recovery and decarbonisation to help budding innovators and academics propel their ideas to market more quickly.

To date, 199 innovation projects have received a share of £6 million in funding – more than 60% of these grants have been awarded to small businesses, with 30% going to universities.

Connected Places Catapult’s CEO Nicola Yates OBE said:

We are immensely proud of what Connected Places Catapult and the Department for Transport (DfT) have achieved together through the T-TRIG scheme. Transport innovation is a critical tool for creating and driving the transport systems of the future, and the core of that is the talented SMEs and researchers that make up the UK’s transport innovation community.

We look forward to continuing work with DfT and the UK’s brilliant SME community in making sure that the best of British innovation successfully makes it to the market, both here and abroad.

Support from this fund has often been a precursor to funding from private investors. Since the scheme began, successful T-TRIG projects have secured more than £25 million in additional investment, largely from the private sector.

Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick has confirmed today (10 February 2021) that councils across England will have access to £51.3 billion next year.

This represents a £2.3 billion increase on this year – including access to an extra £1 billion for social care to help support vulnerable adults and children.

This funding package gives councils the resources they need to continue to deliver services and support their communities during the pandemic while protecting council taxpayers from excessive increases.

It will also enable councils to play a crucial role in our nation’s recovery in helping schools and local businesses to reopen safely and support the most vulnerable.

Final allocations for the £670 million fund to enable councils to continue reducing council tax bills for those least able to pay, have also been confirmed today, helping households impacted financially by the pandemic. This is over and above the usual council tax support available for councils each year.

In addition, Mr Jenrick has extended the scheme that compensates councils for income lost during the pandemic from services including car parks, leisure facilities and museums, until June 2021.

This follows £1.55 billion of unringfenced funding which was announced in November to help councils continue to support their communities during the pandemic.

This means a further £3 billion of additional support for councils to deal with the pandemic in 2021-22 has been confirmed, taking the total overall amount of pandemic support to over £11 billion.

Local Government Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

Councils have played a key role during the pandemic by delivering vital services and supporting the most vulnerable backed with over £8 billion of emergency support from government to date.

Today I am pleased to confirm a £51 billion funding package for next year that increases funding for social care and other vital services by £2.3 billion. We are also giving councils an additional £3 billion boost to the level of COVID support available.

This is a fair and generous settlement that gives councils the resources they to continue to deliver important services and support their communities while protecting council tax payers from excessive increases.

In addition to the funding confirmed for councils, we have announced the following:

Rewards for welcoming new homes

The government has confirmed allocations for English local authorities totalling £622 million to continue the New Homes Bonus scheme in 2021-22; rewarding councils for the number of additional new homes built in their area, incentivising housing growth and creating homes for their residents.

We have also published a consultation alongside the Local Government Finance Settlement on reforming the scheme from 2022-23, to ensure it is focussed where homes are needed most.

Giving residents a voice on council tax rises

Residents will have the power to veto excessive council tax rises, with a referendum being required if councils propose raising the tax by 2% or more, with extra flexibility for some authority types. Before setting rates, councils should take into account the financial circumstances of their residents.

Councils with responsibility for adult social care will be able to set a further 3% increase, ring-fenced exclusively for adult social care. Anything above this level will need to be voted on by local people. This strikes the right balance between addressing pressure on services and giving residents the final say on excessive increases.

In order to enable councils to continue supporting those least able to pay their council tax, including households financially hard-hit by the pandemic, there will be £670 million of new grant funding available outside of the core settlement for local council tax support.

Support for rural areas

The government is committed to ensuring the unique needs of rural areas are met, and so will boost the Rural Services Delivery Grant by £4 million to £85 million next year, making it the highest rural grant paid to date.

In addition, we have also announced:

Additional support to help a small number of councils

Today we are confirming details of additional support to a small number of councils who are unable to balance their budgets for 2020-21 or 2021-22. This support is being provided on an exceptional basis and the decision to grant these requests follows a robust and challenging process to confirm that councils have taken all reasonable steps to manage pressures locally.

These councils will now need to undertake an independent assurance review focused on the council’s current financial position, sustainability and their ability to meet any of the identified budget gaps for 2021-22 without additional recourse to government.

Extension of the flexibility to use capital receipts to fund transformation projects

We are also announcing a 3-year extension from 2022-23 onwards of the existing flexibility for councils to use capital receipts to fund transformation projects that produce long-term savings or reduce the costs of service delivery. We will provide further details on the extension in due course.

Confirmation of £160.6 million for the Former Independent Living Fund Recipient Grant

This grant is paid to councils to ensure they can continue funding pre-existing Independent Living Fund arrangements, enabling those with disabilities to live within the community and not residential care.

£50,000 for the Isle of Wight

This fund will be used to review the challenges face by the council, residents and businesses on the island who are separated from the mainland. This could include access to vital services, supplies and employment.

This relates to England only.

See full details of the local government finance settlement.

On 25 November 2020, the government set out the outcome of the 2020 Spending Review, providing access to a rise in Core Spending Power from £49.0 billion to £51.3 billion in 2021-22, an increase of £2.3 billion or an estimated 4.6% cash-terms increase and a rise on real terms. This is alongside over £3 billion of additional COVID-19 support and an extra £254 million of funding to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

The additional £1 billion for social care comes from a £300 million social care grant and a 3% Adult Social Care council tax precept.

• UK stresses Daesh’s continued threat on Syria and Iraq and urges that perpetrators face justice.

Remarks by Ambassador Jonathan Allen at Security Council briefing, 10 February 2021

I join others in condemning this morning’s attack on 26 UN peacekeepers from Togo serving in the MINUSMA mission in Mali. We wish all those injured a swift and complete recovery.

As the Secretary-General’s report underscores, Daesh continues to pose a global threat. Despite territorial losses, the group remains able to inflict deadly harm in Syria and Iraq. We are concerned particularly by the IDP camps highlighted by the Secretary-General’s report. The United Kingdom facilitates the return of unaccompanied or orphaned children on a case-by-case basis and subject to national security concerns. But those who have fought for or supported Daesh should face justice for their crimes in the most appropriate jurisdiction – often where those crimes were committed.

Further afield, we’re concerned about Daesh’s presence worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Its online recruitment and incitement must also be tackled. The United Kingdom remains an active member of the Global Coalition against Daesh. We co-lead coalition efforts to tackle the propaganda threat.

At the United Nations level, the United Kingdom will continue to advocate for increasing focus on preventing terrorists’ misuse of the internet and aviation security, as well as emerging threats beyond Daesh like right-wing terrorism. We will also emphasise the need to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law while countering terrorism, and will prioritise prevention and whole-of-society approaches.

I want to conclude by associating myself with the comments of the representative of France in defence of the White Helmets. We’re used to hearing these slurs in our Syria debates and have responded in those meetings. It’s rather sad to hear it raised in a serious debate on counter-terrorism.

Every school in the country will have greater access to expert teacher training and development, under plans announced by the Department for Education today.

The teaching workforce will get best-practice and expert advice on how best to engage with pupils, lesson planning, and classroom management, as part of new teaching school hubs being rolled out across the country.

81 Hubs will be added in all corners of England to provide high-quality professional development to teachers and leaders at all stages of their career, and play a key role in helping to build up trainee teachers as they enter the workforce. This will further level up the quality of teaching, allowing every child to receive a world-class start in life no matter where they are born.

Each hub, all of which will be operational and helping schools from this September, will have its own defined geographical patch and will be expected to be accessible to all schools within that area, serving on average around 250 schools each.

The programme is being rolled out as teachers continue to deliver high quality remote education for pupils, with the current attendance restrictions in schools and colleges remaining in place until 8 March at the earliest.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

We know teachers are already providing the best education possible for pupils, and this is especially true while schools are closed to most pupils. These new Teaching School Hubs will further support the profession by providing the best possible training and development opportunities.

It is important that teachers and school leaders feel supported in their career. The Hubs will make this substantially easier, with expert practitioners able to give experienced advice to those schools able to benefit from it.

There will be 87 hubs for teacher training and development, built around some of the best schools and Multi Academy Trusts in England. This comes from £65m of new funding, with the Hubs set to run for an initial three years.

The 81 new hubs will be rolled out in addition to the six existing test & learn TSH which were appointed in January 2020. This means there will be nationwide coverage for the first time, and every school in England will now have access to a local centre of excellence for teacher training.

The Hubs will also help in delivering the Early Career Framework reforms when this is available nationally from September 2021, as well as in delivering a reformed suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) including new specialist NPQs. They will also deliver Initial Teaching Training and additional high-quality evidence based professional development.

Richard Gill, Teaching School Council Chair, said:

The Teaching Schools Council congratulates all 81 schools and/or trusts which have been designated as a teaching school hub. They will now join the existing 6 ‘test and learn’ hubs that were announced in January 2020 to form a national network of excellence in teacher training and development.

The work of the TSC has been instrumental in supporting this programme to date and we are proud to be the sector body that will continue to be a key partner in these reforms.

The Department has committed to improving support and professional development for teachers at all stages of their career, particularly for those in their vital first few years of teaching, through the Early Career Framework reforms.

A reformed suite of NPQs, previously announced in 2019 as part of the Teacher Recruitment & Retention Strategy, will also be launched from September 2021. This will ensure these qualifications continue to offer the best possible support to teachers and leaders wanting to expand their knowledge and skills.