• Exhibition will cover history of the estuary and LORP project
• Lord Clinton to open the exhibition
• It will be on for 2 years

Funded by the Environment Agency, the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Communities Project Fund and Lord Clinton’s Charitable Trust, the exhibition will be opened by Lord Clinton at 7pm on Thursday 14 April.

The exhibition features a specially commissioned video which will play out on a large screen, plus information boards on the project covering the history, flooding, wildlife and archaeology of the estuary, the aims of the project, its funding, climate change and looks at objections to the scheme.

Chair of the Fairlynch Museum, Trevor Waddington OBE, said:

Without doubt the Lower Otter Restoration Project is the most significant event in the River Otter estuary for over 200 years.

The work is planned to complete in 2023 and Budleigh Salterton’s Fairlynch Museum exhibition for the next 2 years will present the many aspects of the project in an imaginative way.  Education is a primary purpose of the museum and we are delighted that a programme of visits by children from local schools has already been planned.

Mike Williams of the Environment Agency, who has been working on the project for a number of years, said:

Everyone working on the project is very proud of the fact that it is to be highlighted in the town’s museum in this way. It will provide a record of the work for future generations.

Manager of the East Devon AONB Partnership, Chris Woodruff, added:

Landscapes never stand still. They are constantly evolving and from time to time, mankind occasionally accelerates that process.

The landscape changes happening as a result of the mitigation works in the Lower Otter Restoration Project are significant and far reaching and have not been without their challenges.

This exhibition will help to explain the history of landscape change through the ages in the lower Otter and the modern-day influences which are driving the current changes. It has brought together a wide range of audio-visual and archive materials to help to explain global warming, rising sea levels and how these impact on people in east Devon, reaching out to new audiences.

We are pleased to be able to support this exhibition with our Communities Project Fund.

The Fairlynch Museum, a thatched, early 19th Century marine cottage orné in Fore Street, Budleigh Salterton, opens from Tuesdays to Sundays, plus Bank Holiday Mondays, from Easter until the end of October.

• Vicky Ford has launched a major new education initiative that will improve the quality and access to education for over 4 million children in Tanzania.
• The £89 million programme – Shule Bora – will improve learning outcomes for all children, with special emphasis to be given to girls, children living with disabilities, and those living in deprived areas.
• In her first visit to the country, the Minister has also met President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The UK Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Vicky Ford, has launched a major new education initiative that will improve the quality and access to education for over 4 million children in Tanzania.

The education programme Shule Bora (meaning ‘quality education’) will improve learning outcomes for all children. Special emphasis will be given to girls, children living with disabilities, and those living in deprived areas.

Thanks to UK funding, 15.6 million children across the world have been supported to gain an education between 2015-20, including 8.1 million girls.

Minister Vicky Ford MP, said:

The UK is a global leader in Education and we strongly believe that education is crucial to levelling up across the globe. We remain committed to improving access to high-quality education across Africa. That’s why we are launching the Shule Bora programme here in Tanzania, to give the most vulnerable children a chance to learn.

That includes prioritising girls’ education, who are all too often denied their right to learn. Sadly, it is often girls that are left behind and that is why our top priority is educating girls, which makes the world a safer, more prosperous place for us all.

I was pleased to meet again with President Samia Suluhu Hassan. I welcomed the President’s commitment to strengthen education across the country and thanked her for her support in the launch of our major education initiative, which will be truly transformative for millions of schoolchildren here.

The Shule Bora programme is directly funded by UK Official Development Assistance. It will improve learning outcomes for all children, particularly girls, children living with disabilities, and those living in deprived areas. The programme will strengthen Tanzania’s teaching workforce, and support the Government of Tanzania in strengthening the value for money of education provision at school.

In her first visit to Tanzania, the Minister held high-level talks with President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula, where they were also able to discuss mutual priorities including the Ukraine crisis, the business environment and climate change.

British High Commissioner to Tanzania, David Concar said:

The visit of Minister Ford to Tanzania to launch our flagship education programme and meet with the President are important indications of the rich and ever-expanding relationship between the UK and Tanzania.

The Minister also saw first-hand how UK expertise and assistance are helping Tanzanian authorities in the fields of security and justice. In a meeting with the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Trade later today, Minister Ford will discuss recent developments in the improvement of Tanzania’s business environment, and explore the potential for increased UK business access to Tanzania.

More than 142,000 customers have used HMRC’s online Time to Pay facility to spread the cost of their Self Assessment tax bill since April 2021, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has revealed.

The Self Assessment deadline for 2020 to 2021 tax returns was 31 January but, this year, HMRC gave customers until 1 April to pay any tax owed and not face penalties.

Customers who were unable to pay in full but had a tax bill under £30,000 could use the online Time to Pay service to spread the cost into manageable monthly instalments. Those who owed more than £30,000 or needed longer to pay could still use Time to Pay but they had to contact HMRC to arrange it.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said:

“I’d like to thank the millions of customers and agents who have sent us their tax returns and paid their tax bills.”

Any Self Assessment customers who did not pay their outstanding tax by 1 April will now face a 5% late payment penalty on any outstanding tax.

Customers wishing to file their 2021/22 tax return can do so from 6 April 2022. Last year, more than 63,500 customers filed their 2020 to 2021 tax return on the first day of the tax year.

Find out more about Self Assessment.

From 1 February 2022, all outstanding amounts were subject to interest.

Latest self-serve Time to Pay figures are for arrangements set up in the 2021 to 2022 tax year and are up to to 3 April 2022.

A 5% late payment penalty was set to be charged if tax remained outstanding, and a payment plan had not been set up, by midnight on 1 April 2022. Further late payment penalties will be charged at the usual 6 and 12 month points (August 2022 and February 2023 respectively) on tax outstanding where a payment plan has not been set up.

11.3 million customers filed their 2020 to 2021 tax return by 28 February 2022.

Since December 2021, HMS Spey has travelled from the UK via Hawaii, conducting a number of engagements along the way. In January the ship delivered water and medical supplies as part of the international response to the Hunga-Tonga volcanic eruption and in February deployed a medical team to deliver COVID booster vaccinations and dental treatments to the people of Pitcairn Island.

British High Commissioner Tom Coward said:

I am delighted to welcome HMS Spey to Solomon Islands. During its time here I hope that HMS Spey is of huge value to Solomon Islands supporting maritime surveillance and fisheries protection. I most of all hope this visit will mark the establishment of a close relationship between HMS Spey and Solomon Islands and further strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two countries.

One of the greenest ships in the fleet, Spey has also worked with regional partners to carry out environmental and hydrographic surveys as well as water sampling to aid studies on climate change. Her recent work in support of the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) has seen the ship contribute to the fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported fisheries activity.

HMS Spey Commanding Officer, Commander Mike Proudman, said:

It is a privilege to be able to support Solomon Islands through EEZ patrols and visible presence. As part of our mission in the Indo-Asia Pacific, we are building understanding of some of the challenges facing the area, and this is an important task that will help to safeguard their natural resource as well as contribute to maritime security.

HMS Spey is on a five-year mission to the Indo-Pacific region alongside her sister HMS Tamar. The mission so far has seen the ship visit Hawaii, Tahiti, Pitcairn, the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu.

While transiting Solomon Island waters, HMS Spey will work closely with Solomon Islands RSIPF Maritime Wing and the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), including on matters of maritime and fisheries surveillance.

This visit will observe all COVID protocols in force in Solomon Islands and involve no direct personal contact between those onboard and onshore staff.

This week, nine technical officers from Fiji’s Maritime Affairs Coordinating Committee received specialised software training to map and define the extent of Fiji’s maritime zones, including extended continental shelf areas.

The training, funded by the United Kingdom and delivered in partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC) under the Pacific Extended Continental Shelf Project, is the first of several across the region that will strengthen national ocean governance through improved local knowledge and technical skills.

Permanent Secretary of Defence, Policing, and National Security Mr. Manasa Lesuma, said at the training opening on Monday 28th March:

Maritime zones are the foundation of good ocean governance and Fiji is committed to delimiting and declaring all its boundaries and zones with the United Nations.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, countries are entitled to an exclusive economic zone extending 200 nautical miles (M) from the coastline. In some cases, a country’s continental shelf may extend beyond 200 M. The portion of the continental shelf beyond 200 M is called the “extended continental shelf” or simply ECS.

A country has exclusive, sovereign rights to conserve, manage, or explore seabed resources such as oil and gas, bottom-dwelling creatures such as clams, crabs, and corals, and deep sea minerals within their ECS.

The British High Commissioner to Fiji, Dr. Brian Jones, said:

Establishing rights over these ECS areas is crucial for the stability and development of Pacific island countries. Until these gaps in the world map are closed, Pacific island countries may not be able to fully protect their interests and achieve their blue economy aspirations.

Mapping and declaring these ECS areas, however, is not an easy task. To complete a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) requires specialised geoscience expertise and deep sea data which is not always readily available in the Pacific. In addition, submissions may wait years in the queue before they are reviewed by the CLCS.

SPC Deputy Director General Science and Capability, Dr. Paula Vivili, said:

One of the challenges we’ve seen across the region has been the loss of institutional knowledge at the national level. The people who drove much of this work when it began in 2005 have moved on or started to retire.

In this respect, this week’s training filled a critical gap for Fiji by training up the next generation of maritime zone experts to take up the baton. Most trainees were early career professionals with expertise in geospatial analysis, hydrography, and geoscience who gained familiarity with the software for the first time.

The training recipients were awarded certificates at a ceremony hosted at the British High Commission Residence in Suva on Friday 1st April.

Subsequent trainings under the Pacific ECS Project will be hosted in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands later this year. Launched in July 2021 under the UK’s Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund, the £363,000 project is supporting Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu to build local capacity, procure specialised software and hardware, acquire data, and, where required, engage experts in geophysics and legal drafting to help progress ECS submissions.