The UK's National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) was established in 1946. it is held to be a vital part of UNESCO’s unique global network of 190+ national cooperating bodies known as National Commissions.

The National Commission is a constitutional part of the UK’s membership of UNESCO. They are an independent, not-for-profit organisation, supported by grant funding from the UK government.

Their work is embedded in UNESCO’s global goal of building lasting peace through the ‘intellectual and moral solidarity of humankind’, relying on the common goods of education, science, culture, and communication & information, free from discrimination. This is enshrined within UNESCO's founding Constitution of 1945.

According to their website, the UK's National Commission for UNESCO is governed by a Board of Non-Executive Directors, led by their Chair. Each Non-Executive Director is formally appointed by the FCDO and is a specialist in one of UNESCO’s core programme areas. The day-to-day operations of the Commission are undertaken by a Secretariat, led by our Chief Executive and Secretary-General.

The National Commission works in collaboration with the UK Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, including the UK Ambassador.

UK AMBASSADOR - LAURA DAVIES - PERMANENT DELEGATE TO UNESCO 2022 - 2023

Laura Davies - 2022 to 2023 Ambassador & Permanent Delegate to UNESCO

It has been said that during the Covid restrictions, that many government departments all but ceased to operate in the stay at and work from home era, a virtual holiday period in the United Kingdom, as exemplified by the infamous denials of Boris Johnson in Parliament, and his ultimate demise from the so-called PartyGate scandal. Studies and media reports claim the "Work at Home" ethic allegedly so favoured by civil servants and local authority officers, and a matter of international concern as to reduced national productivity, has made the UK so much less competitive due to the perceived scaling down of public services in real terms, with no reduction in salaries. And this includes dentists, doctors and other NHS services in Britain. It's money for the boys, and less in returns for the hard pressed taxpayer. Hardly surprising then that Vladimir Putin seized the opportunity to invade Ukraine. While Europe was snoozing. They handed Russia that window on a plate. Except that Volodymyr Zelensky was having none of it.

For sure, and the real evidence for all to see, is response times. When people worked from offices, emails were replied to. Letters were acknowledged. Things got done. Now, the lights are on, but nobody is home. Even today, nobody is replying to letters. Even when sent Special Delivery. Weeks go by without any reply. Meaning sending another letter, and maybe another. There is an almost complete lack of transparency in UK government at the moment. People working from home should have their spending patterns monitored, to be sure they are actually working and not surfing or playing golf.

AMBASSADOR TO FINLAND

Laura Davies took up her position as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Finland in November 2024.

The Ambassador represents His Majesty King Charles III and the UK government in the country to which they are appointed. They are responsible for the direction and work of the Embassy and its Consulates, including political work, trade and investment, press and cultural relations, and visa and consular services.

Laura was previously the UK Permanent Delegate to the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) 2022 to 2023.

Laura joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1998. She has most recently served as Head of Politics, Engagement and Public Affairs at the British Embassy in Paris and Deputy British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Previous postings include Deputy Director for Migration and Deputy Head of Counter Proliferation Department in the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Other postings include Islamabad, Addis Ababa, Brasilia and Brussels.

Laura has a degree in Classics and English from the University of Oxford.

PREVIOUS ROLES IN GOVERNMENT

- Head of Politics, Engagement and Public Affairs, British Embassy in France (2019 to 2022)
- British Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives (2014 to 2017)
- Deputy Director Migration, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2012 to 2014)
- Deputy Head of Counter Proliferation Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2009 to 2012)

THE LIVING COAST 17 AUGUST 2022 - UNESCO AMBASSADOR VISITS THE LIVING COAST

On Tuesday 9 August The Living Coast was honoured with a visit from the UK's Permanent Ambassador to UNESCO, Laura Davies.
The Living Coast Biosphere Partnership came together to do a brilliant job showcasing our local UNESCO Biosphere designation to Laura, a team from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office (who are responsible for the UK’s ongoing relationship with UNESCO on behalf of the UK Government) and the UNESCO UK team, who manage everything to do with UNESCO sites and programmes in the UK.

The delegation spent a whole day in the Biosphere, experiencing the projects and meeting key partners from across our 3 environments of Downs, Towns and Coast.

The tour of the Biosphere started with a visit to Brighton & Hove Buses local depot. This was an opportunity to see first hand how the company have been working to improve the sustainability of public transport across the Brighton & Hove region. The party learned about the company’s electric buses that are already in use in the city – helping to improve air quality on some of the busiest streets – how buses from London are refurbished and repurposed for use locally supporting circular economy principles, and how the company is at the forefront nationally when considering accessibility in public transport. The group also got to experience the technology of the future with a tour of the ground breaking hydrogen powered bus – where the only emission from the tailpipe is water!

Brighton & Hove Buses also very generously provided coach transport for the party around the Biosphere for the day.

After the depot tour the party travelled to Stanmer Park to explore Plumpton College’s newly refurbished OneGarden walled garden and have lunch in the cafe. During lunch the group were able to learn about the Stanmer Park restoration project, the BioCultural Heritage Tourism Project and other sustainable tourism initiatives undertaken by VisitBrighton.

From there the group were met by Lisa-Marie Davies of The Physic Garden at Stanmer Organics to tour some of the 15 projects providing opportunities for health & wellbeing, education, sustainable lifestyles, community horticulture, arts, crafts and ecotherapy at this certified organic site. The group were then treated to a herbal tea and infusion tasting, made on site from plants grown at The Physic Garden, and learned more about organic medicine before taking the opportunity to explore the garden itself.

Next the group met with Sally from the Brighton & Hove City Council Rangers team and volunteers from Brighton & Beyond Wildflower Conservation Society to learn more about the important work the group are doing in propagating local provenance downland wildflowers. These heritage skills are being preserved by the group and shared across the local and regional community through their voluntary work. The flowers the group grow are used in projects across the region to provide habitat and food for our local pollinators as well as stunning displays of native flowers.

The party then had the chance to meet Jess who is Education Ranger for Wilding Waterhall and Greening the Cities, both part of the Changing Chalk project. Greening the Cities will be working with the Wildflower Conservation Society to create new areas of downland wildflower planting across the urban environments of The Living Coast.

After learning so much about our local chalk downland wildflowers, the group then got to see them in their native habitat walking though Stanmer Park. Stanmer Estate Ranger Will and Estate Manager Rob were able to bring to life the year round programme of management for the chalk downland and wider estate, in particularly how they sustainably maintain the downland through grazing with local sheep, as well as caring for some of the oldest trees in the city – alongside thousands of visitors each year!

Finally the group travelled to the ONCA Barge at Brighton Marina to hear about The Living Coast Artist Residency programme from Fabrica and ONCA galleries, as well as meet one of this year’s artists Andrés Saenz de Sicilia and learn about his plans for the residency. The tour of the Biosphere concluded with tea, cake and speeches from Dr Sean Ashworth, Vice-Chair of The Living Coast Biosphere Partnership, Councillor Phélim MacCafferty, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council and lead partners of The Living Coast Biosphere Partnership, as well as the Ambassador herself. Laura summed up the fantastic day and thanked all Biosphere Partners for their generous contributions, saying:

“Biosphere reserves are about people coming together to reimagine and reinvigorate people’s relationship with their natural environment. From upcycled buses and the renovation of Stanmer Park to the Biosphere’s artist in residence project, it was wonderful to see the commitment and expertise with which The Living Coast partnerships are contributing to make the Brighton and the Lewes Downs region a more sustainable place to live, work and visit.” 

Thank you to everyone who took part in showcasing The Living Coast as well as the UNESCO and UK Government teams for coming to visit our Biosphere.

To learn more about the work that UNESCO UK do in supporting all UNESCO sites and programmes in the UK, visit the UNESCO UK website. You can find out more about the role of the Foreign, Commonwealth & development office on their website.

BBC 20 JANUARY 2025

Working from home is creating a generation who are "not doing proper work", the former boss of Marks and Spencer and Asda has warned.

Lord Rose told BBC Panorama that home working was part of the UK economy's "general decline" and employees' productivity was suffering.

His comments come as some companies are calling time on remote working. Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan are just some of the businesses who now require their head office staff to be in every day.

However, work-from-home expert Prof Nicholas Bloom said that while fully remote work can be "quite damaging" to some workers' productivity, spending three days out of five in the office was as productive as fully office-based work overall.

Lord Rose, who was chief executive of M&S and recently stepped down as the chairman of Asda, said: "We have regressed in this country in terms of working practices, productivity and in terms of the country's wellbeing, I think, by 20 years in the last four."

In a November 2024 GB snapshot survey by the Office for National Statistics, 26% of people said they had been hybrid-working in the prior seven days, with some days in the workplace and some days at home - while 14% had been fully remote and 41% had commuted to their workplace every day (the remainder were not working in the week surveyed).

The shift to working from home has transformed local economies. Industry estimates indicate that vacant office space has nearly doubled since the pandemic, a quarter of dry-cleaning businesses have shut down, and the number of golf games played during the working week has risen 350% - suggesting some people are mixing work and pleasure.

UK PERMANENT DELEGATION TO UNESCO

Anna Nsubuga - UK Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO
Maxim Polya-Vitry - Deputy Permanent Delegate to UNESCO

Laura Davies - 2022 to 2023 Ambassador & Permanent Delegate to UNESCO

UK NATIONAL COMMISSION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Professor Anne Anderson - Chair, Non-Executive Director for Education

Professor David Drewery - Vice Chair, Non Executive Director for Natural Sciences

Dr Dan O'Connor - Vice-Chair, Non-Executive Director for Science
Dr Charlotte joy - Non-Executive director for Culture
Dr Joseph Nhan-O'Reilly - Non-Executive Director for Education
Professor Mike Robinson - Non-Executive Director for Culture

UK NATIONAL COMMISSION SECRETARIAT

James Bridge - Chief Executive and Secretary General
Matthew Rabagliati - Head of Policy, Research and Communications
Andrea Blick - Head of Finance and Accreditation
Charlie Kennedy - Accreditation and Operations Manager
Liam Smyth - Programme Lead, Local to Global
Nushin Hussain - Project Coordinator, Local to Global
Alison Smedley - Policy Coordinator
Dave Chapman - Project Lead, Climate Change & UNESCO Heritage Project
Aisling Parrish - Project Administrator, Climate Change & UNECO Heritage Project
John Carmichael - Communications and Marketing Manager
Andrew Mailing - IT Manager