Latest news with #Vallance
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Accounting for Asean's future
Bridging borders: (Second row from left) Vallance and Gonzales posing for a photo with ICAEW UK and Malaysia administration employees. AS Asean economies continue to integrate, the accountancy profession plays a foundational role in supporting this transition. Chartered accountants ensure consistency in financial reporting and robust governance frameworks, building trust that enables cross-border trade and investment. With Malaysia as this year's Asean Chair, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Malaysia recently launched Asean Connect 2025 – a first-of-its-kind forum uniting ICAEW members from across Asean with their United Kingdom counterparts at London's historic Chartered Accountants' Hall. The event, held on April 11, served as a platform to strengthen cross-border professional collaboration and position the region as a cohesive economic bloc. During the forum, officiated by Malaysian High Commissioner to the UK Datuk Zakri Jaafar, participants – including representatives from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, and Asean professionals based in the UK – discussed how accountancy and finance professionals can work together to promote sustainable economic growth and workforce mobility within Asean. The evening also featured an ICAEW World Prizegiving Ceremony, honouring outstanding chartered accountancy students from Malaysia. ICAEW Malaysia head Shenola Gonzales said Asean Connect 2025 is the realisation of a vision to consolidate two worlds: Asean's dynamic regional economies and ICAEW's global professional heritage. 'As Malaysia leads Asean this year, we are proud to showcase how the strength of our profession can drive regional collaboration and enhance economic resilience,' she said in a press release dated May 8. Earlier this year, as part of its engagement under Malaysia's Asean chairmanship, ICAEW chief executive Alan Vallance addressed the Asean Capital Markets Forum. In addition, ICAEW convened the region's first workshop on Scope 3 emissions reporting, bringing together Asean regulators, policymakers and business leaders to strengthen transparency and consistency in environmental, social and governance disclosures. Noting the urgency of this shift, Vallance said sustainability and financial resilience go hand in hand. 'Investors and financial markets demand greater transparency, and Asean must work towards a unified approach that supports both regulatory alignment and business competitiveness,' he said.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Johnson wanted tighter Covid rules, inquiry hears
Boris Johnson pushed for a more "ruthless, authoritarian approach" towards people who refused to self-isolate during the pandemic, the Uk's former scientific adviser has told the Covid inquiry. The instinct of policy makers was to favour "punitive measures" over financial support, according to Lord Patrick Vallance who spoke to the PM throughout the crisis and appeared alongside him on TV briefings. Diary entries written by Lord Vallance during that time revealed officials "always want[ed] to go for stick, not carrot". Lord Vallance has said his diary entries were informal personal reflections and "late night musings", never intended for publication. He was giving evidence to the sixth part of the Covid inquiry, which is investigating test, trace and quarantine policies. During 90 minutes of questioning, he was shown a series of entries from his evening diaries from the first year of the pandemic. On 12 August 2020, he wrote about a meeting with the prime minister and his senior aides, including then chief adviser Dominic Cummings and cabinet secretary Simon Case. "Instinct of this crew is to go for more enforcement and punitive measures," he wrote. "We suggested more carrot and incentives [were] required to make people take a test, self-isolate etc, but they always want to go for stick not carrot." Asked who he was referring to in that entry, Lord Vallance said it would have been the "decision-makers for policy". In another entry, on 25 September 2020, as Covid cases were rising once again, he quoted Boris Johnson as saying: "We need a lot more punishments and a lot more closing down". And in a further entry on 7 January 2021, just after the start of the third nationwide lockdown, he wrote: "PM says: 'We haven't been ruthless enough. We need to force more isolation. I favour a more authoritarian approach.'" However, he also added: "Rather late in the day, the PM is understanding that incentives (or removal of disincentives) need to be in place to help people." On 28 September 2020, ministers introduced a legal duty for those who had tested positive for Covid or were contacted by the test-and-trace service to self-isolate in England. It was announced that fines of between £1,000 and £10,000 would be imposed on repeat offenders. Test-and-trace support payments of £500 were also offered for those on lower incomes. Sir Patrick said it was "important to remember" the purpose of mass testing was to identify potentially infectious individuals who could self-isolate and "if isolation isn't happening, then testing isn't really doing what it's supposed to be doing". When the new rules were introduced, Boris Johnson said the public needed to do "all it could to control the spread of the virus" and prevent the most vulnerable from becoming infected. Earlier, Matt Hancock told the inquiry it was "crucial" the UK should retain its ability to rapidly scale-up mass testing for a new disease in any future pandemic. The former health secretary said he was concerned the testing system set up in 2020 was now being dismantled, making it much harder to respond. "The critical thing is that we absolutely must, as a nation, be ready to radically expand capacity once a test is developed," he said. "We were not last time." Mr Hancock was asked about a letter he was sent, on 14 April 2020, by two Nobel prize winning scientists, Sir Paul Nurse and Sir Peter Ratcliffe, urging that all healthcare workers be offered regular tests for the virus. In evidence last week, Prof Nurse said his letter had been "ignored" by the secretary of state for three months, before he received an "anodyne response" from another civil servant. Regular testing of care home workers didn't start until the summer of 2020 in England, while NHS staff and other social care workers were not offered weekly tests until November of that year. Mr Hancock said he had not seen the letter personally and by that point, the government was already putting in place policies to tackle the transmission of the virus by people without clear Covid symptoms. "The argument that is implied is that, somehow, somebody eminent who won a Nobel Prize knew something and we ignored it. It's just not true. It's not what happened," he said.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Johnson wanted tighter Covid rules, inquiry hears
Boris Johnson pushed for a more "ruthless, authoritarian approach" towards people who refused to self-isolate during the pandemic, the Uk's former scientific adviser has told the Covid inquiry. The instinct of policy makers was to favour "punitive measures" over financial support, according to Lord Patrick Vallance who spoke to the PM throughout the crisis and appeared alongside him on TV briefings. Diary entries written by Lord Vallance during that time revealed officials "always want[ed] to go for stick, not carrot". Lord Vallance has said his diary entries were informal personal reflections and "late night musings", never intended for publication. He was giving evidence to the sixth part of the Covid inquiry, which is investigating test, trace and quarantine policies. During 90 minutes of questioning, he was shown a series of entries from his evening diaries from the first year of the pandemic. On 12 August 2020, he wrote about a meeting with the prime minister and his senior aides, including then chief adviser Dominic Cummings and cabinet secretary Simon Case. "Instinct of this crew is to go for more enforcement and punitive measures," he wrote. "We suggested more carrot and incentives [were] required to make people take a test, self-isolate etc, but they always want to go for stick not carrot." Asked who he was referring to in that entry, Lord Vallance said it would have been the "decision-makers for policy". In another entry, on 25 September 2020, as Covid cases were rising once again, he quoted Boris Johnson as saying: "We need a lot more punishments and a lot more closing down". And in a further entry on 7 January 2021, just after the start of the third nationwide lockdown, he wrote: "PM says: 'We haven't been ruthless enough. We need to force more isolation. I favour a more authoritarian approach.'" However, he also added: "Rather late in the day, the PM is understanding that incentives (or removal of disincentives) need to be in place to help people." On 28 September 2020, ministers introduced a legal duty for those who had tested positive for Covid or were contacted by the test-and-trace service to self-isolate in England. It was announced that fines of between £1,000 and £10,000 would be imposed on repeat offenders. Test-and-trace support payments of £500 were also offered for those on lower incomes. Sir Patrick said it was "important to remember" the purpose of mass testing was to identify potentially infectious individuals who could self-isolate and "if isolation isn't happening, then testing isn't really doing what it's supposed to be doing". When the new rules were introduced, Boris Johnson said the public needed to do "all it could to control the spread of the virus" and prevent the most vulnerable from becoming infected. Earlier, Matt Hancock told the inquiry it was "crucial" the UK should retain its ability to rapidly scale-up mass testing for a new disease in any future pandemic. The former health secretary said he was concerned the testing system set up in 2020 was now being dismantled, making it much harder to respond. "The critical thing is that we absolutely must, as a nation, be ready to radically expand capacity once a test is developed," he said. "We were not last time." Mr Hancock was asked about a letter he was sent, on 14 April 2020, by two Nobel prize winning scientists, Sir Paul Nurse and Sir Peter Ratcliffe, urging that all healthcare workers be offered regular tests for the virus. In evidence last week, Prof Nurse said his letter had been "ignored" by the secretary of state for three months, before he received an "anodyne response" from another civil servant. Regular testing of care home workers didn't start until the summer of 2020 in England, while NHS staff and other social care workers were not offered weekly tests until November of that year. Mr Hancock said he had not seen the letter personally and by that point, the government was already putting in place policies to tackle the transmission of the virus by people without clear Covid symptoms. "The argument that is implied is that, somehow, somebody eminent who won a Nobel Prize knew something and we ignored it. It's just not true. It's not what happened," he said.
Times
22-04-2025
- Science
- Times
The race is on for supremacy in quantum computing
As a start-up, Oxford Ionics may be relatively small but it sees itself as a big player in a global computing revolution. Its quantum computing technology, which has the power to solve problems that classic computers cannot, has already won over some advocates in government. Last month Lord Vallance of Balham, the science minister, travelled to Oxford to see the firm's Quartet computer, one of 12 machines commissioned for use in the £140 million National Quantum Computing Centre. Eight have been developed by private tech companies like Oxford Ionics which was founded in 2019 by Dr Chris Ballance and Dr Tom Harty, two former Oxford University students. Speaking at the event in Oxford, Vallance said: 'Supporting things like [Oxford Ionics] sends a clear signal to
The Guardian
19-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘We need to get back to British': concern over immigration in Doncaster before local elections
'You can't fix the system with the same hands that broke it,' Richie Vallance shouted through a megaphone from his mobility scooter. 'Let's make Doncaster Doncaster again,' he yelled at passersby in the city centre, who mostly politely ignored him. Vallance is standing as an independent candidate for mayor in the local elections on 1 May, when all 55 seats on the city's council will also be up for grabs. The small South Yorkshire city is a key battleground that will be a test of Labour's resilience in the face of rising public support for Reform UK. Nigel Farage's party is surging ahead in the polls and in Doncaster there is a good chance it will wrestle control from Labour, which has been in power for nearly 50 years. Last month, a poll conducted by Electoral Calculus for the Telegraph found Reform was expected to win 32 of the council's 55 seats. 'It's a beautiful town, with so much potential,' said Vallance, who has some sympathies with Reform and previously explored standing for the party. 'I was all about Brexit,' he said, 'and we need to deal with the immigration problem in Doncaster.' Immigration was on the minds of lots of people in the city centre on Wednesday, with some saying they felt it had had a negative impact on the city, particularly when it came to asylum seekers, of whom there are 688 housed in Doncaster, according to Home Office figures. 'I know they've got to be put somewhere but Doncaster has changed and it's not for the better,' one man said. This sentiment is exactly what Reform is hoping to harness, and why Farage paid a visit to the city at the start of April in support of Alexander Jones, the party's mayoral candidate. While there was also disgust among some Doncaster residents at the idea of voting for Reform, Labour was not popular either. Most people, in one way or another, pointed to what they felt was decline in the city, blaming the cash-strapped council. It is something the current mayor, Labour's Ros Jones, who has been in the directly elected post since 2013, is all too aware of, having battled under the weight of enormous budget cuts from central government. She said: 'I have made incredibly difficult decisions in terms of council services over the years of austerity, protecting frontline services and keeping council tax low, with Doncaster having the lowest council tax in Yorkshire.' Though Jones had some supporters on the streets of Doncaster – one couple said they were 'not unhappy' with the council and called Farage a liar and a 'mini-Trump' – she is also contending with the council's reputation. Near the start of her tenure, she pulled the local authority out of special measures after the tabloids called Doncaster the 'worst council in Britain', and the label seems to have stuck. Labour could face a bigger brand-recognition problem in Doncaster as some of those out and about only vaguely recognised Keir Starmer's name. This might be cheering news for Reform except Farage's name did not necessarily ring bells either. 'Never heard of him,' said Shelly, who was out in the Frenchgate shopping centre with her friends Siobhan and Jade. 'Was he in the Celebrity jungle?' Jade asked. 'He seemed all right but I wouldn't know about his politics.' Though they did not know Reform, the trio did broadly agree with the party's policies on immigration. 'We need to get back to British, not everybody else,' Siobhan said. 'We shouldn't be fetching migrants when we can't even look after our own.' Shelly said: 'I daren't say owt because it sounds racist.' They felt people coming to the UK were getting better treatment than those born here, particularly because they were put up in hotels and given homes without having to work. The UK has a legal duty to house asylum seekers, and paid work is forbidden under asylum rules. The women said they were not against this, they just wanted to see British people better looked after. 'It's a bleak future for the next generation,' Siobhan said. The issue for all parties is likely to be getting voters to the polls. Most people the Guardian spoke to in Doncaster on Wednesday lunchtime said they did not vote and had not known there was a local election happening at all. 'I don't do politics,' one man said. 'Whoever's the prime minister, good luck to them.' Naomi Nache, from Romania, and Michael Yip, from Scunthorpe, moved to Doncaster when they started working in an Amazon warehouse. They have plans to leave for a bigger city, citing a lack of things to do in Doncaster, particularly on the 'artistic side'. Safety was a big issue for Nache, who said she felt afraid to go out in the city on her own. 'It can be a bit scary. It doesn't feel safe. I wouldn't come to the town centre by myself,' she said. Vallance has campaigned on public safety and tackling antisocial behaviour, knowing something about the subject himself having received a criminal conviction in 2016 for dressing up as the 'Donny Klown' in an effort to attract attention to societal problems. 'I scared a lot of people and I'm really sorry about what I did. I went about it the wrong way,' Vallance said. 'I took the mask off many years ago. Now I want to show who the real clowns are.'
