WIREDGOV

The Minister for Crime Safeguarding & Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins, will reaffirm this government’s determination to end the sexual exploitation of children around the world by ratifying the Lanzarote Convention.

The UK’s compliance with the Lanzarote Convention and this ratification will ensure that the UK Home Office is taking robust action with 43 countries to help rid the globe of the scourge of sexual violence and child abuse through greater information sharing and international cooperation.

A new study has found that the HPV vaccination has led to major reductions in the number of young women who have the infection, which can cause cervical cancer.

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) 16 and 18 infections, which cause the majority of cervical cancer cases, decreased by 86% in women aged 16 to 21 who were eligible for the vaccination as adolescents between 2010 and 2016.

The results suggest that the HPV vaccination programme will bring about large reductions in cervical cancer in the future.  Cervical cancer is currently the most common cancer in women under 35, killing around 850 women a year.

Young people are encouraged to make sure they have had both doses of the MMR vaccine before going on holiday to Europe where there are large outbreaks of measles.

Cases of measles also continue to rise across England in unvaccinated people of this age. The vaccine is available free to anyone who has not received both doses as a child. It protects against measles, mumps and rubella, all of which can be very serious diseases and are highly infectious.

While vaccine uptake levels in the UK in young children are currently very high, coverage levels dipped to a low of 80% in 2003. This means that there are significant numbers of unprotected teenagers and young adults who could catch measles both in England, particularly in environments of close mixing such as summer festivals and when they travel abroad for the summer holidays.

The ban on the sale of products containing microbeads has come into force as part of the Government’s efforts to prevent these harmful pieces of plastic entering the marine environment.

As of last week, retailers across England & Scotland will no longer be able to sell rinse-off cosmetics & personal care products that contain microbeads – the tiny pieces of plastic often added to products such as face scrubs, soaps, toothpaste and shower gels.

Just one shower alone is thought to send 100,000 microbeads down the drain and into the ocean, causing serious harm to marine life. The Government’s ban – praised by campaigners as one of the toughest in the world – will now prevent billions of microbeads ending up in the ocean every year.

With the microbeads ban now in place, the Government is exploring how other microplastic sources enter our marine environment. Last month £200,000 was pledged by the Government for scientists at the University of Plymouth to explore how tiny plastic particles from tyres, synthetic materials like polyester, and fishing gear – such as nets, ropes and lines – enter our waterways & oceans.

Refugees and migrants face unacceptable risks from trafficking, forced prostitution and forced labour according to a new study by the Legatum Institute.

The report, published to mark UN World Refugee Day, examines the evolving nature of the so-called ‘irregular’ journeys of refugees & migrants, the factors motivating them, and the risks they face in transit.  

It finds that governments around the world are lacking the data with which to assess the scale & severity of the challenge, preventing them from formulating an effective policy response.  It suggests that our current approaches to accommodating displaced people are outdated and need to change in order to reflect the plethora of evolving factors that shape migration.

The media has been full of dubious ‘expert’ commentary regarding Brexit – especially over the last weeks with regards to a ‘Meaningful vote’ (MV).

From a Brexiteer’s point of view, the most important ‘MV’ was the Referendum in 2016, which came about after a MV in Parliament to give the electorate a chance to decide whether our future lay within or outside the EU in a referendum.

The referendum was followed by a Parliamentary MV on Article 50 being triggered and acceptance that THE GOVERNMENT / EXECUTIVE should negotiate the terms of the withdrawal deal.

Despite all these prior MVs, Remainers are still trying to influence/sabotage the process (depending on your point of view) by insisting that ultimately MPs rather than the elected government might end up dictating how the Government acts if no agreement is reached.