The Faraday Institution programme: A UK perspective on innovation in the battery sector

The micromobility mindset: Socio-technical drivers of bike share scheme adoption in the UK

The UK food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) are a key public health tool that provides evidence-based recommendations for a healthy diet. However, adherence is low, with less than 0.1% of the UK population meeting all nine recommendations set out in the Eatwell Guide. A population-level shift towards a diet aligned with the FBDG would lower rates of obesity and non-communicable diseases (1). Health professionals, who play a central role in translating dietary guidance into practice, have highlighted limitations in both the FBDG and its communication. This review highlights the views of health professionals in calling for a substantial "shake up" of the Eatwell Guide. It sets out considerations of updating the UK dietary recommendations to include the integration of sustainability alongside nutrition modelling, and a review of supporting tools, resources and communication strategies. Investment from the UK government together with engagement from health professionals and other unbiased stakeholders is needed to develop a government-created and funded central hub of practical and adaptable resources which pulls together efforts from individual health professionals and other organisations to provide practical advice that can be tailored and personalised for individuals and diverse communities. This review summarises the current views of health professionals on the Eatwell Guide, advocating for a comprehensive "shake-up" of the UK FBDG and its communication to improve population's adherence to dietary patterns that support both human and environmental health.

Who is James Murray? UK government announces new health secretary.

To address high rates of diet-related disease, the UK Government has a series of voluntary targets for retailers, manufacturers, and the out-of-home sector (e.g., restaurants), to reduce the sugar, salt, and calorie content of food products. The sugar targets were intended to be met in 2020, the salt targets in 2024, and the calorie targets in 2025 (extended from 2024 due to Covid-19). There is limited evidence for how the out-of-home sector is performing against these targets, and individual company responses have not been evaluated. This study aimed to assess adherence to UK Government's sugar, salt, and calorie reduction targets for menu items offered by the 21 highest-grossing restaurant chains in 2024. Nutritional information was collected from restaurants' online menus. Mean/median sugar, salt, and calorie content, per 100 g and per serving, was calculated for each restaurant and food subcategory. Sugar, salt, and calorie content for each menu item was compared against the UK Government's targets, and the proportion of menu items meeting (i) each and (ii) every applicable target, was calculated for each restaurant and food subcategory. Three thousand ninety-nine menu items were included. Across all restaurants, 61% of menu items met their calorie targets, 58% met their salt targets, 36% met their sugar targets, and 43% met all of their applicable targets. Six of the 12 food subcategories, and nine of the 21 restaurants, had over 50% of menu items meeting all of their applicable targets. Menu items from Papa John's were the lowest adhering for the calorie (35%) and salt (8%) targets, and menu items from Burger King, KFC, Nando's, and Vintage Inns were the lowest adhering for the sugar targets (0%). Menu items from pizza restaurants had the lowest adherence to all applicable targets (32% overall) out of all the restaurant types, but items offered by restaurants with similar menu foci were also found to vary in their adherence. We were unable to account for heterogeneity in item-level sales due to the lack of accessible sales data from the out-of-home food sector, and therefore we could only assess performance against the targets for available items as opposed to purchased items. Our findings suggest that while menu items from certain restaurant types appear to perform worse than others against the sugar, salt, and calorie targets, items from restaurants with similar menu portfolios also vary in their adherence, highlighting the potential for restaurants to improve the nutritional quality of their products without changing their menu focus. Our study demonstrates that there is low adherence to voluntary schemes across the out-of-home sector, and therefore mandatory regulations may be a more effective approach to improving the nutritional quality of out-of-home food.

Feasibility, accuracy, and effect of a rapid point-of-care serological test (SeroSelectTB) to identify presumptive pulmonary TB patients for confirmatory testing in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Tanzania: a multicenter, open-label, parallel-group, randomized, controlled trial.

What is the frequency of ovulatory recovery (OvR) after different degrees of total weight loss (TWL) in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and obesity, and can an excessive degree of TWL be identified that is harmful to the chance of OvR? Any degree of TWL was associated with a higher likelihood of OvR, and no upper threshold of TWL associated with reduced OvR was identified. Modest weight loss (5-10%) improves reproductive function in women with PCOS. However, the relationship between greater degrees of TWL and OvR remains uncertain. Secondary post hoc analysis of a multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial (BAMBINI) conducted in the UK between February 2020 and April 2023. Eighty women were randomised (1:1) to standard medical care or vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Seventy-five were included in this analysis and followed up for 52 weeks. Participants had PCOS, a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or higher, and oligomenorrhea/amenorrhoea. OvR was defined as two consecutive biochemically confirmed ovulatory events (serum progesterone 16.0 nmol/l or higher), occurring 3-5 weeks apart within the 52 week follow up period. Associations between TWL, reproductive hormones, and OvR were analysed using logistic regression. Analyses were exploratory and not prespecified. At 52 weeks, 50.8% (38/75) achieved OvR. OvR occurred in 19% of participants without weight loss and in >50% of those who lost weight. Each 1% reduction in body weight was associated with a 5.6% increase in the odds of OvR (OR 0.944, 95% CI 0.900-0.990). Higher baseline serum anti-Müllerian hormone (OR 0.963, 95% CI [0.938-0.988]; P = 0.004) and higher plasma total testosterone (OR 0.324, 95% CI [0.142-0.742]; P = 0.008) were associated with lower odds of OvR. Greater TWL following bariatric surgery was associated with increased sex hormone-binding globulin and reduced free androgen index. This was an exploratory post hoc analysis not designed to define optimal or upper TWL thresholds. The study was not powered to detect potential adverse reproductive effects at higher degrees of TWL. These findings suggest that OvR in women with PCOS and obesity improves progressively with increasing TWL, supporting weight loss strategies including bariatric surgery in appropriately selected women not seeking imminent pregnancy. The Jon Moulton Charity Trust funded the BAMBINI trial. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Imperial Clinical Research Facility, and the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre. The Section of Endocrinology and Investigative Medicine was funded by grants from the Medical Research Council (MRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the NIHR, and was supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Funding Scheme. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the MRC, the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health. S.N.S.S. was supported by an Imperial post-doctoral post-CCT Fellowship. A.A. was supported by an NIHR Clinician Scientist Award CS-2018-18-ST2-002. All authors acknowledge infrastructure support for this research from the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).A.D.M. has received research funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Jon Moulton Charitable Foundation, PEACEPLUS programme (EU and UK government), Anabio, Fractyl, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Gila, Randox, and Novo Nordisk. A.D.M. has received honoraria for lectures and presentations from Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Currax Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Screen Health, GI Dynamics, Algorithm, Eli Lilly, Ethicon, and Medtronic. A.D.M. is a shareholder in the Beyond BMI clinic, which provides clinical obesity care. H.R. is on the advisory board for Novo Nordisk and is the national lead for the REDEFINE 3 trial. N/A.

This study presents an exploratory, critical-cognitive analysis of selected UK governmental texts on live facial recognition technology. It aims to fill a gap in the literature regarding the types of cognitive strategies used in the government’s surveillance discourse to legitimise the mentioned technology and manipulate the public. To achieve its purpose, the study analyses three articles produced by official UK government institutions. It adopts van Dijk’s Ideological Square (1998) for the macroanalysis and Lakoff’s Idealised Cognitive Models (1987) for the microanalysis. It follows a qualitative analysis, with a limited quantitative analysis of the cognitive strategy frequency counts. The study finds that image schemas, metaphors, and metonymies are the most widely used cognitive strategies in the UK government’s discourse in the selected corpus. The findings highlight the importance of reinforcing the critical awareness of how language is used to legitimise surveillance, enabling the public, the media, and decision-makers to deal more consciously with government discourse in this context.

• A dual-tank setup enables efficient wastewater heat recovery • Heat pump COP improved by 8.66% at 25°C wastewater temperature. • Power usage dropped by 9.71% with a 5 °C rise in wastewater temp. • Biological treatment stays undisturbed during heat extraction. • Tested refrigerants: R134a, R410a, and R407C for performance. This study addresses the growing need for sustainable and decentralized heating solutions in rural areas by investigating a novel wastewater heat recovery strategy. In many remote communities, septic tanks are widely used but often poorly managed, leading to both environmental emissions and wasted thermal energy. Here, we explore a system that enhances heat pump efficiency by recovering heat from household wastewater stored in a secondary tank. The proposed dual-tank configuration separates biological treatment (in the first tank) from heat extraction (in the second tank), ensuring the biological processes remain undisturbed while enabling heat recovery. The baseline scenario considers a 75 m 2 dwelling occupied by two individuals, generating approximately 300 L of wastewater daily at a temperature of 25 °C. The recovered heat from this secondary tank is used to preheat the evaporator inlet of a heat pump. The system operates continuously throughout the day to meet a total daily space heating demand of 25.5 kWh. This heating demand was calculated using the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), the UK government’s approved methodology for evaluating the energy performance of residential buildings. The system was tested using three refrigerants, including R134a, R410a, and R407C. By incorporating thermal energy from the secondary tank, the results show an 8.66% COP improvement and a 7.97% power reduction at a wastewater temperature of 25 °C under the investigated operating conditions. Additionally, a 5 °C increase in wastewater temperature led to a COP improvement of 10.75% and a power reduction of 9.71%.

Healthcare contributes considerably to global greenhouse gas emissions, with operating theatres amongst the most energy-intensive hospital environments. While carbon footprints have been quantified for several surgical procedures, the environmental impact of hand surgery, characterised by high case volumes and short procedures, remains poorly studied. This study aims to quantify carbon emissions of hand surgery procedures. This single-centre observational pilot study quantified the carbon emissions associated with hand surgery procedures performed during two half-day theatre lists at a UK NHS hospital. Data was collected under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scopes and emissions calculated using UK Government greenhouse gas conversion factors. Data collected included theatre electricity and heating, anaesthetic use, staff and patient transport, waste incineration, supply-chain emissions, and instrument sterilisation. Five trauma hand surgery cases were analysed. Case-level emissions ranged from 8.32 to 22.56kg CO2. When combined at a list level, total emissions were substantial, reaching 311.36kg CO2 and 285.30kg CO2 per half-day list. Purchased electricity (Scope 2) was the largest contributor, followed by heating and anaesthetic gases (Scope 1). Scope 3 emissions were largely attributed to staff travel and single-use consumable supply-chain emissions, while waste disposal and reusable instrument sterilisation contributed comparatively little. Individual hand surgery procedures have a relatively low carbon footprint, but the cumulative emissions at list-level are large. Theatre energy use, heating and staff transport represent key targets for emission reduction. Interventions focusing on energy-efficient infrastructure, renewable energy, greener staff travel, and reduced reliance on single-use consumables may result in meaningful environmental benefits. Larger multicentre studies with improved energy metering are needed to refine estimates and guide sustainable surgical practice. Quantifying the carbon emissions associated with common hand surgery procedures may help hand surgery teams and healthcare organisations identify opportunities to reduce emissions.

ABSTRACT The UK government has set out a vision of more integrated planning enabled by the adoption of systems approaches. Drawing on an initial collaboration with the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN), Mott MacDonald has developed a stepped method for applying Participatory System Mapping (PSM). The method reflects the importance of the participant experience and co-learning as well as clear analytical outcomes. Innovation includes filtering the maps to improve legibility and stakeholder engagement. The five steps are: 1. Scoping; 2. Subsystem mapping in focus groups; 3. Integration workshop; 4. Analysis; 5. Validation and communication. This method allows participants to develop confidence in the process by engaging on topics they are familiar with before exploring more complex system-wide perspectives in the later stages. We review four case studies relating to water and environment and discuss wider stakeholder communication.

TikTok, Meta, and Roblox deny their products are addictive for children as UK government announces school smartphone ban.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government introduced the 2021 Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) report as a flagship race policy. Using Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), this study critically examines the CRED report to uncover how structural racial inequality is obscured through policy discourse. The analysis reveals three key findings: (a) the report's reliance on data-driven and technocratic language depoliticises racism, framing disparities as cultural or behavioural rather than systemic; (b) key racial concepts are redefined, raising thresholds for recognising institutional racism and shifting accountability away from state structures; (c) by selectively highlighting minority ‘success stories’ and national progress, the policy constructs an optimistic narrative that reinforces state legitimacy. This research contributes to the literature by exposing how UK race policy functions as a tool of ideological containment, managing public dissent while preserving the racial order embedded within capitalist governance.

ABSTRACT Devolution to Scotland and Wales was a central plank of the New Labour government’s constitutional reform agenda. Yet despite Welsh devolution only being narrowly won at the 1997 referendum by the small margin of just 6,721 votes, almost immediately there would be calls to rethink and revise the devolution dispensation given to Wales and after only a year of the Assembly’s existence a Labour-Liberal Democrat ‘partnership agreement’ coalition would commit to establishing an independent commission to examine the Assembly’s powers and electoral system. Drawing on an extensive range of primary and secondary source material, this article explores why after only a few years of devolution being in existence, such a Commission was created and why the UK Government and the Labour Party’s leadership in Wales responded to the Commission in the way that they did. It will also explore why what ultimately emerged from the Labour party’s internal processes, and from the UK and Welsh government’s deliberations, the Government of Wales Act 2006 would bear only a passing resemblance to the Commission’s proposals. In doing so, this paper deepens our understanding of the story of constitution making in Wales and the story of Welsh devolution since 1997.

Abstract Introduction With rising demand for mental health support, pharmacist prescribing services have been introduced to improve access to care.[1] Yet, little is known about how patients and carers view these services. Understanding their experiences is important as pharmacists’ roles in mental health expand, supported by national policies such as the UK Government’s 10-Year Health Plan for England.[2] Aim This study had two phases: first, to explore the experiences of people with mental illness and their carers with pharmacist prescribing services in the community; and second, to identify and prioritise ways to improve these services. Methods Phase 1 involved remote semi-structured interviews with patients with mental illness and their carers who had received care from pharmacist prescribers (April–September 2025). Phase 2 consisted of three remote consensus building workshops (involving patients/carers and pharmacist prescribers) to identify and rank priority areas for improvement. Phase 1 findings informed idea generation in Phase 2. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling via national networks. Phase 1 data were thematically analysed with independent coding checks; Phase 2 used Nominal Group Technique (consensus methodology). Results Thirteen participants took part in Phase 1. Of these, 10 interacted with pharmacist prescribers in General Practice (GPs), one in both GPs and Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs), one in Integrated Care Services (ICSs), and one in CMHTs only. Main themes identified were consultation quality, accessibility of services, and awareness of pharmacist prescribers. Within consultation, subthemes included consultation length, holistic approach, medication expertise, collaboration, and communication style. Most participants valued the longer consultations (30–60 minutes compared with 10–15 minutes with GPs), which enabled more thorough and holistic discussions. Patients and carers also perceived pharmacist prescribers as having greater expertise in medications than doctors. However, not all experiences were positive, as some reported limited personal benefit and felt excluded from their own care. From the patient workshop five priority areas were identified: improving mental health training, building ongoing relationships, strengthening collaborative care, developing consultation guidance, and raising awareness of pharmacist roles (ranked highest to lowest). Staff workshops prioritised partnerships with other healthcare professionals, enhancing training, involving patients in decisions, and developing clearer resources and guidelines. Conclusion This is one of the first studies to explore experiences of patients with mental illness and their carers with pharmacist prescribing in community settings, alongside generating priorities for service optimisation. Overall, pharmacist prescribing was well received, with participants valuing longer consultations and a more holistic approach, reflecting the potential of pharmacists to enhance mental health care. Some challenges were identified, including limited involvement in decision-making. Patients and staff highlighted the need to strengthen mental health training, continuity of care, and inter-disciplinary collaboration. A strength of this study is its national reach. A limitation is that most patient/carer participants received care in general practice; future studies should explore other settings to broaden the evidence base.

Disabled people face a significantly higher risk of experiencing sexual violence compared to non-disabled people. Yet, historically, the attention paid to disability as a demographic risk factor in evaluations of official statistics has been sketchy at best. A recent development is that the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) now includes disability in releases reporting victim characteristics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). This paper synthesises key findings about sexual violence, including that risk is nearly twice as high for disabled people. Nevertheless, some of the most at-risk disabled individuals, such as those in institutional settings, are excluded from these official statistics, which means these are likely underestimates. Still, it is hoped that mainstreaming awareness of the disproportionate risks experienced by disabled people will help to inform policy making and service design in the context of the UK government’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy.

Epilepsy is recognized to be a significant cause of premature mortality, socio-economic distress and poor quality of life in economically developed countries. Despite clear clinical guidelines, epilepsy care is marked by delayed diagnosis, fragmented management, high emergency admission rates, and pronounced health inequalities affecting rural populations, ethnic minority groups, and people with intellectual disabilities. Diagnostic pathways remain inefficient, with prolonged waits for electroencephalography (EEG), low sensitivity of routine investigations, and repeated inconclusive testing. Long-term management continues to depend on infrequent hospital visits and unreliable patient recall, contributing to suboptimal seizure control, avoidable morbidity, and preventable mortality. In the United Kingdom, epilepsy affects over 630 000 people, accounts for approximately £2 billion in annual healthcare costs and exemplifies these systemic failures. Current hospital-centric care models are failing to meet their complex, often lifelong, needs. In its recent 2025 "Fit for the Future" 10-year plan, the UK government mandates three fundamental shifts in healthcare: from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. Epilepsy diagnosis and care exemplify the potential for this comprehensive triumvirate transformation, with emerging technologies including point-of-care EEG systems, AI-powered diagnostics, wearable devices, and digital therapeutics offering unprecedented opportunities to deliver specialist-level care in community settings and reduce illness burden. However, successful implementation requires addressing digital exclusion risks for vulnerable populations. We propose that technology-enabled community epilepsy care can serve as a blueprint for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) transformation while delivering immediate benefits for patients, families, and healthcare systems. The convergence of clinical need, technological capability, and policy imperative creates a unique opportunity to move beyond incremental improvements to fundamental system redesign that ensures equitable access to high-quality epilepsy care across all communities. Such a model, if delivered, could be an exemplar for other chronic conditions both in the United Kingdom and globally. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Current epilepsy care in the United Kingdom often involves long waits and relies on infrequent hospital visits, which is not ideal for a lifelong condition. New technologies, such as wearable devices and AI-powered tools, offer a chance to change this. By moving care from hospitals into the community, we can provide faster diagnosis, continuous monitoring, and more personalised support. This will help improve the lives of the 630 000 people with epilepsy in the UK, ensuring they receive better, more accessible, and more equitable care.

In 2024, the UK Government introduced a statutory ‘Growth Duty’ on the energy industry regulator Ofgem. One implication is that industry actors must explain how proposed investments might enable sustainable economic growth processes when submitting their business plans as part of the regulated energy price control system. The first instance of this requirement affected the three GB electricity transmission owners (TOs) when submitting business plans in late 2024 for the RIIO-T3 period, which will run from April 2026 through to March 2031. This paper reports results and insights from independent research drawing on the investment plans of one of the three TOs in a set of economy-wide scenario simulations using a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the UK economy. A central finding is that our results indicate that undertaking early, planned investment at pace in anticipation of projected rising electricity demand, in response to the UK Government's electrification policies, is likely to deliver substantially stronger GDP and employment outcomes than a reactionary investment approach. This outcome is due to both an increased scale of earlier investment and the early creation of some excess capacity, which introduces downward marginal pressure on electricity bills. Moreover, where the latter is sufficient to offset the user bill impacts of investment cost recovery, the net outcome for UK households becomes progressive. The commonly expected outcome of cost recovery through energy bills being regressive does, however, manifest if electricity prices do not adjust in a competitive manner. • Electricity network investment is likely to support sustainable economic expansion. • Early anticipatory network investment supports stronger, wider economy expansion. • There is potential for progressive rather than regressive outcomes for households. • Achieving such results requires electricity prices to adjust with network capacity.

Current methods of health expenditure reporting make spending on palliative care services difficult to quantify. This paper (1) examines trends in the components of government (public) spending on health-related long-term care reported in the UK Health Accounts for the period of 2013-2022 to establish the wider context of palliative care expenditure, and (2) relates these trends to existing knowledge of expenditure on specialist palliative care services in the UK. We conducted a descriptive secondary analysis of annually reported government expenditure on health-related long-term care between 2013 and 2022 from the UK Health Accounts data set. We contrasted this with UK governmental and non-governmental spending on specialist palliative care services using annual expenditure figures reported by Hospice UK. Real-terms UK government spending on health-related long-term care grew by £6.4 billion (22.9%) between 2013 and 2022, from £27.9 to £34.3 billion. Real-terms spending on specialist palliative care grew by £110 million (10.7%) over the same period, from £1027 to £1137 million.In 2022, spending on inpatient care comprised the majority of government health-related long-term care expenditure (£22.6 billion; 65.9%). Home-based care comprised one-third (£11.8 billion; 33.4%). Outpatient care accounted for 0.7% (£260.2 million). Equivalent data were not available for analysis of specialist palliative care expenditure. Low granularity of UK national health expenditure accounts data limits national and international comparisons of spending on palliative care. However, it is clear that UK expenditure on specialist palliative care services has not kept pace with growth in expenditure on health-related long-term care.

Affordability of alcohol is a key driver of consumption. The cost-of-living crisis in Great Britain has been putting pressure on household budgets since late 2021. In addition, the UK Government implemented substantial reforms to the alcohol duty system and increased alcohol taxes in 2023. This study aimed to estimate changes in the monthly prevalence of cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempts among risky drinkers over this period. Data were drawn from the Alcohol Toolkit Study, a nationally representative monthly cross-sectional household survey. Great Britain. 26 212 risky drinkers [alcohol use disorders identification test - consumption (AUDIT-C) score ≥5] aged ≥18y surveyed between January 2021 and December 2024 [mean (SD) age = 45.9 (17.1); 61.4% men]. The primary outcome was having tried to reduce alcohol consumption in the past year due to a decision that drinking was too expensive ('cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempt'). This included participants who also reported other motives (e.g. health concerns) for trying to reduce their consumption. Overall, 1355 participants reported making a cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempt. The monthly weighted prevalence of cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempts among risky drinkers increased from 4.6% in January 2021 to 7.0% in December 2024 [prevalence ratio (PR) =1.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34-1.74]; equating to ~1.1 million people attempting to reduce their drinking among risky drinkers in 2024. This was primarily driven by a rise in the proportion of all alcohol reduction attempts that were motivated by cost, from 12.4% to 19.7% (PR =1.58, 95% CI = 1.39-1.77), rather than an overall increase in the prevalence of alcohol reduction attempts (which remained relatively stable across the period at an average of 36.0%). The pattern of results was similar when the outcome was restricted to alcohol reduction attempts only motivated by cost [17.3% (95% CI = 15.0-19.7%) of all cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempts]. During a period of increasing financial pressures in Great Britain, alcohol reduction attempts were increasingly motivated by cost but the overall prevalence of reduction attempts did not increase.