The University of Oxford is a large, internationally-renowned academic institution recognised as the oldest in the English-speaking world. From an initial six cameras in 1990 to almost 200 cameras today, the university has sought to use its CCTV system to prevent and detect crime and support a safe environment for staff, students and visitors.

The importance of Certification

Earlier this year University of Oxford was awarded the Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s certification mark after being audited against the 12 guiding principles of the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice. The code aims to balance the need for cameras in public places with individual’s right to privacy. The certification audit was conducted by the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB).

Lesley Nesbitt, Crime Prevention Design Advisor said:

Oxford University aspires to the highest standards of CCTV surveillance and the Commissioner’s certification provides confidence to the University staff, students and visitors that the deployment of our CCTV system is proportionate, effective, compliant with relevant legal obligations and importantly deployed to protect and support them.

University of Oxford is one of the largest employers in Oxfordshire and certification enables it to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and accountability to nearly 24,000 students and more than 13,000 employees. The University employs its own security team to provide 24/7 staffing for the security control room and undertake patrols of the academic and residential campus.

Ethos

The university encourages visitors to enjoy the architectural splendor of its buildings, parks, gardens and green spaces including its many colleges, museums, and galleries, in a city that is small enough to explore on foot.

The University of Oxford Security Services team carries out an annual review of their CCTV cameras to ensure that each camera’s deployment is justified with a pressing need and legitimate reason, identifying cameras that can be removed and areas where new cameras should be deployed.

Tony Porter, Surveillance Camera Commissioner said:

Oxford University is one of the most prestigious Universities in the world. It’s great that they are demonstrating to staff, students and the public their commitment to using surveillance cameras to the highest standards by achieving my certification mark.

With permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a statement on funding for local authorities in England next year. Every day, these councils and the many hard-working, dedicated people who work for them do their communities proud; delivering the essential services on which we all depend and making a difference to every life they touch. It’s a privilege to be working with and representing these communities.

In doing so, I’m determined to ensure that they get the resources and support to rise to new opportunities and challenges, to grow their economies and to ensure there is opportunity for all, here no one is left behind.

The draft local government finance settlement being published today – is an important step towards this. Provisional local authority funding allocations will be subject to further review before final settlement in line with my department’s usual processes.

This provisional settlement confirms that Core Spending Power is forecast to increase from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.4 billion in 2019-20, a cash-increase of 2.8% and a real-terms increase in resources available to local authorities.

It has been challenging.

I am in no doubt about how challenging it has been for councils to drive efficiencies as they contributed to helping rebuild our economy and tackling the deficit [political content removed].

Which is why I’m delighted that the Budget committed around £1 billion of extra funding for local services, with a strong focus on supporting some of our most vulnerable groups.

This includes £650 million for adults and children’s social care in 2019-20.

Of this, £240 million will go towards easing winter pressures, with the flexibility to use the remainder – £410 million for either adult or children’s services and, where necessary, to relieve demands on the NHS.

This is on top of the £240 million announced in October to address winter pressures this year.

In addition, the Budget pledged an extra £84 million over the next five years to expand our Children’s Social Care programmes to support more councils with high or rising numbers of children in care. This builds on the good work my department is already doing through the Troubled Families programme to improve all services for families with complex problems.

The Budget also provided a boost for our high streets via a £1.5 billion package of support; including a business rates discount worth almost £900 million and a £675 million Future High Streets Fund to help them adapt and thrive in changing times. In addition, there is a further £420 million to repair and improve our roads this year.

Mr Speaker, I recognise some of the pressures within social care.

I’ve been working with the Health and Social Care Secretary to take this forward and the government will soon be publishing a green paper on the future of Social Care.

This is a complex issue and we’re working with local authorities – to ensure we get this right.

And we’ve taken this approach across the board – listening carefully to what councils of all shapes and sizes, across the country, are telling us and responding.

My thanks to my ministers – especially the Minister for Local Government, my Honourable Friend, the Member for Richmond – for all their work on this.

As a result, I can confirm that I will increase the Rural Services Delivery Grant by £16 million in 2019-20 to maintain this at last year’s level. This recognises extra costs of providing services in those communities.

In addition, I am committing up to £20 million to maintain the New Homes Bonus baseline at 0.4% in 2019-20 – to ensure we continue to reward councils for delivering the homes we need.

There will also be no change to the Council Tax Referendum limits set for local authorities in 2018-19, aside from further flexibility offered on the police precept level.

Authorities will have the flexibility to increase their core Council Tax requirement by up to 3% and can draw, as needed, on the Adult Social Care precept to meet demand for services. But local residents will continue to be protected and be able to approve or veto any excessive rises in a referendum.

Measures that I have agreed with the Home Secretary – to allow Police and Crime Commissioners to increase the police precept to £24 – will also help Police and Crime Commissioners tackle the changing demands they face. Now, I’m also conscious that so-called “negative RSG” remains an issue in certain areas.

Having consulted on options for addressing this, I am pleased to announce that we intend to directly eliminate the £152.9 million “negative RSG” in 2019-20 using foregone business rates.

This will prevent any local authority from being subject to a downward adjustment to their business rates tariffs and top-ups that could act as a disincentive for growth.

So, Mr Speaker, we have been listening and acting on what we hear.

And nowhere is this more than true than when it comes to answering calls from councils, over many years, for more control over the money they raise.

Our plans to increase business rates retention to 75% from 2020 does that and more – giving local authorities powerful incentives to grow their local economies.

Under the current scheme, councils estimate that they will receive around £2.4 billion in business rates growth in 2018-19.

A significant revenue stream on top of the core settlement funding that I’m unveiling today.

It’s therefore no wonder that councils are queuing up to get involved in the pilots we’ve been running to test the new approach.

And I’m delighted to announce that, in 2019-20, 15 new pilots will get underway in:

• Berkshire
• Buckinghamshire
• East Sussex
• Hertfordshire
• Lancashire
• Leicestershire
• Norfolk
• Northamptonshire
• North and West Yorkshire
• North of Tyne
• Solent Authorities
• Somerset
• Staffordshire and Stoke
• West Sussex and
• Worcestershire

We will also be piloting 75% rates retention in London and continuing the existing pilots in devolution deal areas.

I’m also pleased to announce that every authority in England stands to reap the rewards of increased growth in business rates income, which has generated a surplus in the business rates levy account in 2018-19, and we are proposing to distribute £180 million of levy surplus to all councils based on need.

I am aware of a few authorities though who are continuing to undertake significant amount of borrowing for commercial purposes. I share the concerns of CIPFA and others about the risks that these local authorities are exposing themselves and local taxpayers to. We are considering with HM Treasury what further interventions may be required.

We’re also launching two further consultations today on reforms to the business rates retention system and the new approach to distributing funding through the Review of Relative Needs and Resources.

There is little doubt that the current funding formula needs fixing – and replacing with a robust, straightforward approach where the link between local circumstances and resources allocated is clear.

And with these consultations, we’re making important progress towards this – and a stronger, more sustainable system of local government.

Mr Speaker, 2019 is shaping up to be a big moment for local government, drawing together our plans for a new approach to distributing funding and increased business rates retention, as well as the upcoming Spending Review.

No one knows their local areas like the councils that are at the heart of their communities.

And we’re supporting them to harness that vast local knowledge and those networks to, yes, make the best of available resources and increase efficiency – but to also innovate and improve the way that we deliver services.

We’re working with local authorities to promote efficiency and using this, we will develop a package of support to help councils become more efficient and get better service outcomes.

We will launch a continuous improvement tool in Spring 2019.

And we’re championing authorities who are putting communities at the heart of service delivery.

The smarter use of technology is clearly pivotal to this and has the potential to be genuinely transformative. Which is why the Digital Declaration – launched by my Honourable Friend, the Minister for Local Government– to share and spread best practice in this area is so important.

This is backed by a £7.5 million Local Digital Innovation Fund and I’m delighted to say that the first successful bids were announced last week to kickstart projects, led by councils, to promote service transformation.

Mr Speaker, there is so much excellent, inspiring work that is underway in our local communities and it is right that we get behind it and have faith in the authorities who, day in, day out, always deliver.

This settlement and the extra funding announced in the Budget reaffirm that faith.

Delivering a cash-terms increase of 2.8% and a real-terms increase in spending for local authorities in 2019-20. Delivering extra support for the vulnerable, for quality public services, for our high streets and for local economic growth.

And paving the way for a fairer, more self-sufficient, more resilient future for local government – and a brighter future for the people and places they serve.

And I commend this settlement to the House.

Fighting between Anglophone separatists and Cameroon security forces has displaced almost half a million people since tensions flared more than a year ago in the North-West and South-West regions of the country. The humanitarian situation on the ground is deteriorating, food supplies are critical and thousands of children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition.

The much-needed new UK aid funding, delivered through UNICEF, will:

• treat 1,300 children who are most at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition
• provide essential drugs to treat 5,700 children for deadly diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, and acute respiratory infections
• deliver water and sanitation kits, non-food items and dignity kits to 10,000 people
• provide 2,000 mosquito-nets to prevent malaria
• vaccinate 3,500 children against measles
• identify and support many unaccompanied children.

Minister of State for Africa, Harriett Baldwin said:

Hundreds of thousands of people are living in desperate conditions in Cameroon. We call on all parties to provide full humanitarian access to ensure more lives are not put at risk.

It is the most vulnerable, particularly young children, who find themselves on the front line of this humanitarian crisis.

UK aid will make sure the most vulnerable can get the medical treatment, food, water and support they so desperately need.

The new funding will go towards a $15 million (£11.9m) emergency appeal launched earlier this year by the UN.

• UK aid will be providing a £2.5m contribution to the UN’s response to the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, with £2m to be disbursed immediately through UNICEF. The remainder will be allocated in 2019 to support the coordination of the international response through the Conflict Humanitarian and Security Department (CHASE).
• The total number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) has now reached 437,000. 30,000 refugees have been registered by UNHCR in Nigeria and an unknown number of people have been forced to migrate to other regions of Cameroon. More than 10% of the population of the Anglophone regions has been uprooted.

Published 13 December 2018

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I am delighted to welcome you to London and to the opening of this Business and Investment Forum.

Last month I had the honour of speaking at Lebanon’s National Day, where among other things we celebrated your 75th anniversary of independence. Prime Minister, the UK was among the first to recognise your country’s independence three quarters of a century ago, and we remain a staunch supporter of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The relationship between our two countries has never been stronger – UK support to Lebanon is now worth around $200 million per year. We are proud of the work we have undertaken together, which, along with the continued efforts of the Lebanese people, and the support of your many friends in the international community, has helped Lebanon to remain a comparative beacon of calm in a troubled region.

Our growing security partnership has played its part. This includes our support for the Lebanese Armed Forces, which has helped to secure Lebanon’s border with Syria for the first time in Lebanon’s history.

Thanks in part to our security cooperation, Lebanon is still the only country – and the LAF the only army – to have successfully repelled an invasion by Daesh.

We remain committed to an enduring security partnership with Lebanon, in the interests of its long term stability and security.

There is no question that the security situation in Lebanon has improved in the last few years. And as security has improved, so too have the opportunities for tourism – as our official Foreign Office travel advice shows.

This week we have lifted our advice against travel to some parts of the country, which means that British tourists are now free to visit such sites as the magnificent Roman ruins of Baalbeck, which I myself was fortunate to see earlier this year. I hope that our revised travel advice will enable many more British visitors to experience the warmth of Lebanese hospitality as I have done a number of times.

The improved security situation also has clear implications for enhancing our mutual prosperity through boosting British tourism in Lebanon, as well as greater business investment, and we have already started to focus more closely on this area. My colleague George Hollingbery, who has just met with HE the Prime Minister, has spoken recently about the impressive cooperation going on right now between British and Lebanese businesses and entrepreneurs, so allow me to focus on the future opportunities.

First, we have just appointed Her Majesty’s first Trade Commissioner for the Middle East, Simon Penney, who made his first successful visit to Lebanon last month. Simon shares my view that there is significant scope and appetite for greater investment in Lebanon.

It’s a view reinforced by the $300 million trade deal being signed between Rolls Royce and Middle East Airlines today.

Lebanon represents a new frontier for investors in search of yield. Last April the Lebanese Government published its Capital Investment Programme, which received great support from the international community at the CEDRE Conference in Paris. Power-generation, Public Transport, Water supply and other projects from the $22bn Programme all offer hefty potential returns for investors.

I very much hope to see UK firms bidding for and winning contracts under this plan in the years ahead.

Lebanon needs to do important things before these investment promises can be fully realised. It has to fulfil its commitments to economic reform, and for that to happen it needs to have a government in place quickly, and one which will be able to swiftly enact crucial confidence-building measures on transparency, fiscal discipline and the ease of doing business. We very much welcome Prime Minister designate Hariri’s efforts in this regard.

I hope that the new administration will be one that is committed to strengthening Lebanese sovereignty and stability, in addition to implementing those important reforms to help boost Lebanon’s economy.

Lebanon’s economy has shown remarkable resilience through external crises, supported by the Central Bank and sophisticated banking sector as a pillar of stability throughout.

And whenever I visit Lebanon, I am impressed by the wealth of talented entrepreneurs whom I meet. Not to mention the mighty successful Lebanese diaspora. I don’t need to tell this audience here that Lebanon’s entrepreneurs have a reputation for being some of the most dynamic and determined in the world. Lebanon’s private sector has always been a resilient engine for growth in Lebanon through thick and thin.

Lebanon has unique features unlike any other. It benefits from a large and resilient remittance base, a large and profitable banking sector and a dynamic private sector that excels in Tourism, Architecture and Construction as well as Wholesale and Retail Trade, and increasingly in pharmacology and technology. Meanwhile the art, design and fashion scene is making an ever more impressive mark; putting Lebanon on the map for all the right reasons.

Now, to capitalise on these strong foundations, in order to address the external and internal economic challenges, the new government must set a roadmap and embark on implementation of the reform commitments set out at the CEDRE conference.

I’m pleased to announce today a new £30million programme to deliver on the UK’s CEDRE pledge. Our programme will provide technical assistance to support the government’s reform vision and will prepare infrastructure projects for the future. Sufficient momentum on these reforms will unlock grant funding for infrastructure, helping to further client investment. Together with the $11 billion pledged by the international community at CEDRE, it will unlock the investment potential in Lebanon’s economy.

As we look to strengthen our trade and investment ties with Lebanon, we are also determined to ensure the continuity of existing trade after the UK leaves the European Union. This means replicating the existing EU-Lebanon Association Agreement, as well as ensuring a smooth transition to new bilateral trading agreements.

This will mean that Lebanese companies can continue to import and export from the UK without disruption, and UK companies can continue to invest in Lebanon. We are working closely and productively with the Lebanese Government to achieve this goal.

Lebanon is a byword for tolerance, resilience and democracy, and the UK is very proud to be her partner. We want Lebanon to flourish long into the future and will remain by her side, supporting her every step of the way.

With an ever-improving security situation and with economic reforms being undertaken under a new government, there will be increasing opportunities for investment in Lebanon. A number of British firms are already seizing those opportunities.

For those of you in the audience who have yet to do so, I would invite you to give Lebanon your very close consideration – and as a personal tip: the wine is very good!

The 12th annual National Apprenticeship Week, which will run from 4 to 8 March 2019, is a great opportunity to highlight the fantastic opportunities that an apprenticeship brings to employers, individuals and the economy.

The ‘Blaze a Trail’ theme will feature throughout the week to highlight the benefits of apprenticeships to employers, individuals, local communities and the economy.

As in previous years NAW2019 will see a range of activities and events being hosted across the country. We want to change the perceptions people have on what an apprenticeship is and who takes them up to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to take up an apprenticeship.

The week will also show the number of high quality of apprenticeships opportunities available at all levels around the country in a huge variety of sectors such as aviation engineering, finance and policing.

Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Anne Milton said:

Blazing a trail is what being an apprentice is all about and will be our theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2019. Because that’s what’s happening up and down the country – apprentices and employers blazing a trail.

I want everyone to recognise the change that apprenticeships can bring – for employers blazing a trail to new markets, apprentices to new career opportunities and for colleges and training providers raising the skills levels for everyone.

Keith Smith, director, Education and Skills Funding Agency said:

I want the 12th annual National Apprenticeship Week to be the biggest and most successful, yet.

The theme for this year: Blaze a Trail is at the heart of what apprenticeships are all about. I really hope our partners feel as excited about it as we do and, like previous years, they will can get fully behind the Week.

We want everyone to consider hosting an event or activity so more people get to see and hear about the huge benefits apprenticeships can bring to employers, individuals and local communities.

National Apprenticeship Week 2018 was record-breaking, with 780 events taking place across England. The ambition of delivering a 10,000 talks movement – #10kTalks – to inspire the next generation of apprentices was exceeded, reaching over 33,500 people in over 300 schools across the country.

A further 130 schools hosted teacher-to-teacher talks, reaching an additional 2,300 adults, to support them to talk to their students about apprenticeships. The Big Assembly reached 20,000 young people with a live video stream, showcasing apprentices and employers sharing their apprenticeships stories.

Events also took place to celebrate International Women’s Day, apprenticeships diversity and a launch event with the BBC and Sutton Trust included the announcement of a new ground-breaking apprenticeship programme.

Richard Hamer, Education & Skills Director, BAE Systems added:

We have always supported National Apprenticeship Week. It’s a great, focussed way to showcase the many benefits of apprenticeships. For National Apprenticeship Week 2019 we will be celebrating our apprentices’ achievements through our own internal apprenticeship awards.

We’ve been a ‘trailblazer’ in developing new standards across the engineering sector and were delighted to hear that the theme for this year is ‘Blaze a Trail’. We have 2000 apprentices in learning and for 2019 will be recruiting more advanced, higher and degree apprenticeships across a wide variety of apprenticeship standards.

More information on National Apprenticeship Week 2019 will be available before Christmas. Follow @Apprenticeships on Twitter and National Apprenticeship Service on LinkedIn to keep up to date.