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A proposed vertical launch spaceport in Sutherland has been awarded £2.5m in funding by the UK Space Agency to develop a ground breaking launch site.

UK Space Agency selected the Sutherland site because Scotland is the best place in the UK to reach highly sought-after satellite orbits with vertically launched rockets.

UK Government Business Secretary Greg Clark said last week:  “As a nation of innovators and entrepreneurs, we want Britain to be the first place in mainland Europe to launch satellites as part of our modern Industrial Strategy. The UK’s thriving space industry, research community and aerospace supply chain put the UK in a leading position to develop both vertical and horizontal launch sites.

This will build on our global reputation for manufacturing small satellites and help the whole country capitalise on the huge potential of the commercial space age.  The UK Government is also making available a new £2m fund to boost further horizontal launch spaceport sites across Britain – such as Glasgow Prestwick”

Welcoming the announcement Scottish Secretary David Mundell said:  “The commercial space sector is estimated to be worth a potential £3.8bn to the UK economy over the next decade and will support Britain’s modern Industrial Strategy by creating high-skilled jobs and boosting local economies”.

In a related press release, the International Trade Secretary said last week:  “It is a remarkable if little known fact that 40% of all small satellites in orbit are manufactured in the UK, providing everyone from academic institutions to nation states with ready-made space capability.

techUK is forming a working group focussing on increasing AI uptake and adoption in the UK - get involved!

In October 2017, the independent review on how the Artificial Intelligence industry can be grown in the UK, carried out by Professor Dame Wendy Hall & Jérôme Pesenti, was published.  A key recommendation made in the review regarding the uptake of AI was for techUK to work with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Digital Catapult, and key players in industry sectors to develop practical guidance on the opportunities and challenges of successful adoption of AI across the UK economy. 

A joint project is now underway to develop a guide for business leaders on the key steps that organisations need to consider to become an AI enabled and driven organisation.  Key areas that are likely to be raised in the guide will be the importance of cloud adoption, cyber security, data protection and taking an ethical approach to business thinking around AI.   This work was cited in the AI Sector Deal in April 2018.

This project is now beginning to take shape. But they need your help.   techUK are looking for members willing to join a small techUK editorial working group that will provide direct input to the development of this business guide and review output that will be developed by a project delivery team made up of representatives from techUK, Digital Catapult and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

The CE of the NHS Confederation has responded to the publication of NHS Resolution’s Annual Report & Accounts 2017-2018, which show the cost of clinical negligence claims increasing by 50%.

"We cannot go on like this with the NHS spending more and more on litigation.   The number of new negligence claims has not risen in England but the amount paid in damages has rocketed by 50% in one year to £1.63bn in 2017/18. That is a staggering total.

“Part of this is down to a foolish change in the way compensation is calculated, which will hopefully be addressed by Parliament, but this still paints a hugely troubling picture.

"It is right and fair that there must be reasonable compensation for patients harmed through clinical negligence and we need to do everything we can to eliminate these mistakes.

"But the justifiable case for compensation has to be balanced against society’s ability to pay and the fact that we have a free at the point of use health care system.

Wednesday 18 July 2018 the powerful docu-drama ‘Killed By My Debt’ aired on BBC One.

As part of the Taking Control coalition, and alongside Jerome Rogers’ family, Citizens Advice is campaigning for bailiffs to be properly regulated.

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Jerome Rogers' experience of heavy-handed bailiffs is a tragic example of a widespread problem.  Aggressive enforcement practices can cause greater financial distress for those already in trouble and can lead to serious mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

“The piecemeal reforms of 2014 have failed.  Since then, Citizens Advice has seen a 25% rise in bailiff problems - helping 42,000 people with 98,000 issues last year.  We frequently see blatant violations of the rules, such as bailiffs refusing offers of payment and even entering people’s homes unlawfully.

Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson has announced the Modernising Defence Programme (MDP’s) headline conclusions in a written ministerial statement.

On 19 July, the Defence Secretary made the first significant announcement on the MDP since the conclusion of the public consultation in April 2018.   techUK has summarised the three headline conclusions, which the MOD intends to consider in further detail over the summer as part of the second stage of the MDP.

1. Our armed forces need to be ready & able to match the pace at which our adversaries now move:

2. A fighting force fit for the challenges of the 21st century

Brexit means it is time to radically change the way the nations of the UK are funded, WAG Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford has said.

He has called on the UK government to ‘make good the promise made during the referendum that Wales will not lose out on funding’ as he launches the WAG’s latest Brexit policy paper setting out proposals to design a new funding system to guarantee fair & continuing investment for Wales and the rest of the UK.

The proposals include:

• Replacing the Barnett formula with a new, rules-based system which makes sure the allocation of resources within the UK is based on relative need.
• Wales must not lose a penny of funding due to Brexit, with the UK Government replacing EU funding without any top slicing or conditions attached.
• Wales must have continued access to important European partnerships and networks such as Horizon 2020, ERASMUS+, the Creative Europe Programme, the European Investment Bank and others.
• A new way of the 4 nations of the UK working together to agree fiscal issues to replace the current EU framework.
• New bodies independent of government to oversee the new system & resolve disputes.

Lord Barnet never intended his formula to last for decades and he once told the BBC Radio 4's World Tonight programme it was "grossly unfair" and repeated his call for it to be scrapped.  He also told the Daily Telegraph introducing it was a "terrible mistake" which had become a national and personal "embarrassment". (Devolution: What's the Barnett formula? - BBC News ~ The Barnett formula: a quick guide – House of Commons Library ~ How the Barnett formula is 'flawed' in favour of Scotland and NI  ~ IFS:  laws in the Barnett Formula make it unsuitable for allocating funding ... )

However, replacing it is easier said than done, mainly due to the difficulty in getting a consensus on how it should change.  It would be easy to get Scotland & Wales to agree that their payments should be raised to the same per head as Northern Ireland, but that would mean English taxpayers having to find even more money to pay for it.

Statistically England only gets a couple of hundred £s less per head than the others when one averages the total for the whole UK, BUT in actuality England receives around £2,000 less per head than Northern Ireland, with Scotland and then Wales getting lesser amounts than NI.

So with around 84% of the UK population living in England the ‘elephant in the room’ is ‘why should (for example) Scotland & Wales be able to afford ‘subsidised / free’ university education and free hospital car parking while England cannot’? (Some would say the Barnett Formula settlement for Wales must be too generous if they can afford this! )

England has as many remote / rural / deprived areas as other parts of the UK, plus it has to deal with such challenges as shortages / high cost of housing and an influx of immigrants every year which raises the demand for public services.  It could be legitimately argued that there is no valid reason for them to get more per head than England, if it is going to be spent on ‘extra’ benefits, which England is ‘not given funding for’.

Designing ‘a new way of the 4 nations of the UK working together to agree fiscal issues to replace the current EU framework’ and creating ‘new bodies independent of government to oversee the new system & resolve disputes’ could well make the complexities of negotiating Brexit seem simple by comparison, which is probably why the Barnett formula is still in operation today.