• Government also announces moves to ensure stronger protections around online gambling and a new industry-led responsible gambling advertising campaign

The maximum stakes on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) will be reduced, Gambling Minister Tracey Crouch announced today as the government published its gambling review.

The government has launched a consultation on a range of options on cutting maximum stakes of B2 gaming machines, otherwise known as FOBTs, from £100 to between £50 and £2. We have also asked the Gambling Commission for more information about how better tracking and monitoring of play on FOBTs can help with interventions to protect players and also if spin speed on games such as roulette should be looked at.

This is to reduce the potential for large losses on the machines and the risk of harm to both the player and wider communities in which these machines are located, such as the increased health costs associated with problem gambling.

In addition to the launch of a 12 week consultation on FOBTs, there will be a package of measures taking effect to strengthen protections around online gambling and gambling advertising to further minimise the risk to vulnerable people and children.

Gambling Minister Tracey Crouch said:

It is vital that we strike the right balance between socially responsible growth and protecting the most vulnerable, including children, from gambling-related harm.

Given the strong evidence and public concerns about the risks of high stakes gaming machines on the high street, we are convinced of the need for action. That is why today we have set out a package of proposals to ensure all consumers and wider communities are protected.

We have seen online gambling grow rapidly and we need to protect players in this space, while also making sure those experiencing harm relating to gambling receive the help they need.

The package of measures taking effect include:

• Raising standards of player protection for online gambling – The Gambling Commission will consult on changes to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice next year, with the aim of raising standards on player protection online and will set out expectations to the industry around customer interaction online.

• Responsible gambling campaign – GambleAware, Advertising Association, broadcasters and gambling industry groups will come together to draw up a major two year responsible gambling advertising campaign. The campaign will have a budget of £5 to £7 million per year and will include TV adverts, including around live sport, as well as radio, cinema, online and print. The campaign will be funded by gambling operators, including online-only betting firms, with airspace and digital media provided by broadcasters.

• New advertising guidelines – This will be drawn up by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) to help protect those at risk of problem gambling and children and young people by ensuring that the content of gambling adverts does not encourage impulsive or socially irresponsible gambling.

• Strengthening the code on responsible gambling advertising – The Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) are strengthening the code on responsible gambling advertising to require operators to ensure gambling content and channels cannot be accessed by under-18s via social media

• Responsible gambling initiatives – Gambling operators should step up on funding for research, education and treatment. If not, government will consider other options, including introducing a mandatory levy on gambling operators.

Regarding the stakes and prizes of other gaming machines, the government is recommending maintaining current stakes, apart from on prize bingo gaming where the government is content with industry proposals to increase takes from £1 to £2 and prizes from £70 to £100.

This follows the Government’s call for evidence launched in October 2016, that looked at the gambling landscape, including the number and location of gaming machines in licensed premises and the social responsibility measures in place to protect players and communities from gambling-related harm.

For further information contact: DCMS Press Office on: 020 7211 2210

The consultation will close on 23 January 2018, following which government will consider its final proposals.

Understanding the bizarre behaviour of quantum particles is challenging but offers many marvellous and mysterious uses that could benefit us all. At the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), physicists are focusing on quantum technology for navigation and sensing.

Working with experts from UK industry and academia, Dstl is developing deployable devices that will be used to see through walls, around corners and underground. For example, the gravity imager uses cold atom technology to detect minute changes in density caused by spaces such as tunnels or rooms, and create a ghostly picture of the hidden world. For the military, this can detect and map hidden areas, but it could also be used more widely to find, for example, sink holes and buried pipes.

Chris, a physicist in Dstl’s Future Sensing Technology team, said:

Quantum-enhanced sensors can detect gravity changes at a very fine scale. We’re working with industry and academia to shrink the size, weight and power of systems, moving from lab-based prototypes to deployable devices. Crucially, these devices retain the ability to perform measurements to a remarkable level of precision.

We’re also developing mathematical tools to make use of the information that these sensors gather. In the case of the gravity imager, we can go from a collection of individual gravity observations to a three-dimensional image of what the subterranean world looks like.

Dstl has already helped Thales create a system that can see, image and identity multiple moving targets at range around corners using quantum photonic technology. The exquisite precision of the technology means it could, in theory, be used to diagnose medical disorders and detect density anomalies without any invasive procedures.

Quantum can also protect us against otherworldly phenomena. Space weather events can interfere with the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) – which includes GPS ¬– and potentially wreak havoc on our daily lives. A recent government report estimates that five days without GNSS would cost the UK economy £5.2 billion. Quantum-based systems for position, navigation and timing would not be affected. Such systems would also be safe from intentional jamming and spoofing.

Chris added:

As well as the gravity imager, we’re working on quantum clocks and accelerometers for ultra-precise timing and navigation. GNSS relies on a strong signal between satellites and receiver; whenever this connection is lost or degraded, for example if you’re inside a building or tunnel, the uncertainty in your position grows. Quantum sensors bypass this issue by taking local measurements of motion. The potential applications extend beyond military use; for example first responders could have a navigation system to help in a collapsed building.

At Dstl, we do a lot of our work with the National Physical Laboratory, Birmingham University and Imperial College ensuring UK defence and security benefits from this cutting-edge technology. Glasgow, Strathclyde, Oxford and many other universities are also working with us on future novel quantum sensing technologies.

Dstl has run three successful summer schools for PhD students researching quantum technology. The courses have given students an awareness of military applications and systems engineering, as well as commercial and business skills, to help them think about real-world uses of their research and empower them to contribute to the future UK quantum landscape after they have concluded their current research.

Watch the video to find out more about quantum physics.

What is quantum physics?

James Brokenshire provides an update on the political situation in Northern Ireland.

Thank you Mr. President for convening today’s debate. Your country deserves great credit for your leadership, and your steadfast support for the countries of the Sahel.

I would also like to thank the Secretary-General and their excellencies: Foreign Minister Diope, Chairperson Faki Mahamat, and the EU Special Representative to the Sahel, Angel Losada Fernández. We welcome the Secretary-General’s report and today’s briefing on the activities of the G5 Sahel Joint Force.

During the recent Security Council visit, all Council members saw the serious challenges facing the countries of the Sahel. Those challenges represent a serious danger to the people of the region, and to partners and allies who are working to support them. I want to begin by offering my condolences to all of those so tragically killed, including most recently three UN peacekeepers from Chad in northern Mali on Thursday.

In the last twelve months we’ve witnessed a continuing stream of deadly terrorist attacks resulting in the tragic loss of innocent lives; an increase in attacks against MINUSMA forces; the ongoing corrosive influence of organised criminals trafficking weapons, drugs and people across the region; and the desperate journey of migrants, so often intercepted by people traffickers seeking to exploit them.

We all have a role to play in addressing these challenges. The United Kingdom has supported projects across the Sahel and wider region, particularly in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin.

The British Army trained 22,000 Nigerian troops in counter terrorism tactics last year alone. We have invested over $6 million in tackling modern slavery, and $2.5 million in a Joint Border task force with the Nigerian Army. We also provide training for Nigerian anti trafficking officers.

Across the Sahel the United Kingdom spent over $225 million on humanitarian and development projects last year, and we are providing human rights training to Malian troops through the EU Training Mission in Mali. Our National Crime Agency recently dismantled two people-smuggling rings in Mali. And we stand ready to do more to support the G5 countries, and their allies, to improve the security situation.

The creation of the G5 Sahel Joint Force is a step forward in countering terrorism and illegal migration. We were pleased that this Council offered its political support to the mission earlier this year. For our part the United Kingdom is currently undertaking a scoping mission to see what more we can do in the Sahel, including potential bilateral support to the G5 Sahel Joint Force.

Funding is an important factor in determining a mission’s success, which is why we were pleased to support the EU commitment to provide €50 million to the Joint Force. We welcome the work undertaken to establish the G5 Joint Force. I was encouraged by reports from my ambassador following his visit to the region.

We recognise the challenges faced by the force and the value of tackling terrorists and traffickers with a holistic approach right across the region, in particular ensuring there is a clear plan to deliver services alongside security. If security gains are to take root, work must also continue to develop robust frameworks for compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law. We welcome the Secretary-General’s report and his proposals for potential UN support. We are studying these in detail and considering the complementary roles that bilateral and multilateral support can play in the Sahel region. We must ensure that MINUSMA is able to deliver its current mandate effectively and efficiently.

Mr President,

Over 140 brave MINUSMA peacekeepers have given their lives for the people of Mali. They and G5 forces operate in one of the most dangerous places in the world and I pay tribute to them. And I call upon the Government of Mali and other parties to the peace process to show the same courage, commitment, and resolve to bring unity to the country. A successful peace process is at the heart of any strategy to defeat terrorism and traffickers in the Sahel. We in this Council expect a redoubling of efforts for peace and to see the political will to overcome the remaining obstacles.

To conclude, the United Kingdom remains committed to peace and security across the Sahel. To that end, I reiterate our strong support for the G5 Sahel Joint Force which I sincerely believe can make an important contribution towards achieving this goal.

Thank you Mr President, thank you to all of our briefers, and to our visiting ministers, for their remarks. I’m particularly grateful that we had the opportunity to hear a civil society voice in this Chamber today. That’s even more vital at a time when so many such voices are being ignored, threatened or silenced around the world. So that’s great and it’s also great that we have so many people attending this debate with us today.

But in the spirit of trying to improve still further how we do things here, let me make a few points frankly. We meet in this format once a year and we repeat what we already know: that we need more women at the negotiating table, that peace deals stand a greater chance of succeeding with women taking part, that we need to turn our words into action.

And yet, year after year, session after session, SG report after SG report, the actual implementation of this agenda still falls way too short. We’ve had resolution after resolution – eight of them since resolution 1325 – and yet the promise of that first historic text still remains unfulfilled.

So I encourage everyone intervening later today to be specific. Specific about what our country is doing since we last met in this format to make the Women, Peace and Security agenda a reality, and then, ideally, to commit to do even more.

This year, the UK has worked to increase women’s participation in conflict resolution in some of the most fragile countries in the world: in Somalia, in Syria, in Yemen, in Afghanistan. We’ve helped women in parliament, in civil society, in the military and in business, to increase their voice, their influence, their participation, and we will keep doing so next year.

But we also know that women, peace and security is about more than work in individual countries. So many of the dangers that women face in conflict are shared dangers, found in every conflict. Dangers like sexual violence. Like stigma against survivors of these horrific crimes. And since these are shared challenges, we must all share in the response if we are to affect international change.

And that’s why the UK has been a champion of preventing sexual violence in conflict. It’s why we launched the global principles on stigma at UNGA this year. It’s why we’re running 23 projects in conflict and post-conflict countries to support survivors, end stigma, and deliver justice. And it’s why we’ve contributed $2 million to the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund, and I urge others to contribute, too.

Turning to the peacekeeping, this year UK troops on large-scale overseas missions – whether for the UN or anyone else – now receive pre-deployment training on preventing sexual violence, and on the Women, Peace and Security agenda more broadly. And we’ll be launching, alongside our Bangladeshi and Canadian partners, a new global network of military gender champions at the peacekeeping ministerial conference in Vancouver next month.

We strongly support the Secretary-General’s commitment to gender parity and his efforts to increase the number of women in peacekeeping. However, the Women, Peace and Security agenda is far more than numbers, and we’re concerned, frankly, that the UN Secretariat are de-prioritising gender advisors in UN missions, and we urge the UN to reinstate accountability through its compacts with UN leaders.

Mr President, in the UK this year, Baroness Hale became the first woman ever to head our supreme court, which makes it the first time in our history that we’ve had women as our head of state, our head of government, and head of the most senior court in the land. We also this year appointed our first ever Special Envoy for Gender Equality, putting gender equality at the heart of our foreign policy.

But despite these historic steps, we have more to do. So that’s why, next year, we’ll be launching the UK’s fourth National Action Plan, building on progress made, lessons learned, and our discussions with civil society and focus countries.

And my final point, Mr President, is that there is more that we can all do, each of us around this table, both internally in the missions or ministries that we lead, and externally in the Security Council and around the United Nations. Internally, I commend to you the UK Mission’s Gender Compact that I launched this year. I encourage you to read it, to steal its good ideas, and apply them in your own missions. And outside our missions, we must practise what we preach in this Security Council every day.

It’s easy to talk about women, peace and security when that is the subject on our agenda, like it is today, but the challenge is to talk about women and peace and security when our agenda is Syria, or Somalia, or South Sudan. We could all do better on that, and I encourage everyone to come together to do so.

Thank you.