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Category: Speeches

  • Maria Caulfield – 2022 Statement on the Introduction of Additional Blood Donor Testing

    Maria Caulfield – 2022 Statement on the Introduction of Additional Blood Donor Testing

    The statement made by Maria Caulfield, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 23 May 2022.

    I would like to inform the House that the Government have accepted the advice of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) and will be introducing additional testing to detect hepatitis B in donated blood from 31 May 2022. The Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive have also accepted the advice of SaBTO.

    The safety of people donating and people receiving blood and blood products is the Government’s priority. We have robust safeguards in place that protect both donors and those receiving this potentially lifesaving intervention, which includes testing all donations for possible infections prior to use in transfusion.

    In 2019, SaBTO established the occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) working group to consider options for further improving pre-donation testing for hepatitis B. The group considered different testing options to identify those donors who have undetectable levels of the surface antibody to hepatitis B, but do have hepatitis B DNA and a core antibody to hepatitis B. These donors are known as occult donors and have been shown to be able to transmit hepatitis B to blood donor recipients. The OBI working group recommended the introduction of core antibody testing, alongside the current testing, for all current donors once, and then all new and returning donors. SaBTO reviewed the findings of the working group and agreed with the recommendations.

    The Government have reviewed the evidence compiled by the OBI working group together with SaBTO’s advice and has accepted the recommendation. The introduction of this new form of testing further improves the rigorous processes we have in place to ensure the health and wellbeing of donors and the safe and consistent supply of blood for patients.

    The Department of Health and Social Care is working with NHS Blood and Transplant to implement this change and the overall impact of the changes will be reviewed in 12 months by SaBTO and the Government.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2022 Statement on Reducing Bureaucracy in Higher Education

    Michelle Donelan – 2022 Statement on Reducing Bureaucracy in Higher Education

    The statement made by Michelle Donelan, the Minister for Higher and Further Education, in the House of Commons on 23 May 2022.

    Today I am providing an update on my commitment in September 2020 to reduce regulatory burden in higher education.

    Bureaucracy has a direct impact on how well providers can do their jobs: every pound spent on unnecessary bureaucracy is a pound that is not being spent on teaching and research.

    I am therefore pleased to confirm that the Office for Students has already:

    reduced its enhanced monitoring by over 75%, removing 376 individual information or reporting requirements;

    removed its requirement for detailed monitoring returns on Access and Participation Plans in 2022

    streamlined its communications with HE providers and provided a direct contact for every registered provider.

    In addition, I recently set up the HE data reduction taskforce, to bring together attendees from providers, arm’s-length bodies and other data experts across the HE sector to identify where we are putting overlapping data requirements on providers and where they could be reduced. The taskforce provides a real opportunity for all parties involved in data in the HE sector to discuss challenges and opportunities and, most importantly, to agree tangible actions.

    Institutional bureaucracy

    There is, however, more that providers themselves could do to remove internal bureaucracy which is not needed to comply with regulatory requirements.

    I therefore want to use this statement to encourage HE providers strongly to look at ways that they could reduce this gold-plating. This should include:

    Reviewing their own schemes of delegation to ensure that they are fit for purpose, and that regulatory decisions and activity are clearly delegated to the right level in the provider. Not every decision needs to go to the Board of Governors, or through multiple layers of governance.

    Ensuring that they remain focused on the content of the decisions they are making and the reasons for the decision, rather than ensuring that it goes to multiple committees.

    Carefully considering which processes, committees, activities and external subscriptions genuinely add value for students and which could be dispensed with, to free up academic time for teaching and research.

    Unnecessary bureaucracy can take up time that could be spent focusing on the academic experience or quality of teaching which a student receives. This Government and the OfS will continue to focus on this, but providers also need to look internally to do the same.

  • Will Quince – 2022 Statement on the Family Hubs Transformation Fund

    Will Quince – 2022 Statement on the Family Hubs Transformation Fund

    The statement made by Will Quince, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 23 May 2022.

    Today, I am providing an update on the first wave of successful local authorities to be awarded funding through the £12 million Family Hubs Transformation Fund.

    The Government are committed to delivering on the Best Start for Life: A Vision for the First 1001 Critical Days Report, and on our manifesto pledge to champion family hubs. Family hubs are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, the connections between families, professionals, services, and providers, and put relationships at the heart of family support. They bring together services for children of all ages, with a great Start for Life offer at their core.

    Family Hubs Transformation Fund

    The Family Hubs Local Transformation Fund is a key part of this commitment and is funded through HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund, which aims to test innovative ways of working across the public sector to address complex policy challenges.

    We launched the £12 million Family Hubs Transformation Fund last November to support at least 12 local authorities in England to open family hubs. The fund will enable us to learn more about the process of local transformation, to build our evidence base, and to create valuable resources and learning for those local authorities moving to a family hub model in the future.

    The Family Hubs Transformation Fund will support LAs with the costs of moving to a family hubs model. It is different and separate from the Start for Life and Family Hubs Programme that was announced at autumn Budget, the eligibility for which was announced in April as part of a £1billion Government commitment to families. The Start for Life and Family Hubs Programme includes additional funding for services, which is not available to LAs as part of the Family Hubs Transformation Fund.

    The application window closed in December 2021, and we received 84 bids from upper-tier local authorities. The volume of applications shows a real appetite for change, and the high quality of bids reflects the passion and dedication to delivering for children and families.

    The first wave of successful local authorities are:

    Brighton and Hove

    Wirral

    Stockport

    Dorset

    Solihull

    York

    Cheshire East

    We expect to announce an additional five local authorities to receive funding through the Family Hubs Transformation Fund in the coming months.

  • Michael Ellis – 2022 Statement on the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition

    Michael Ellis – 2022 Statement on the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition

    The statement made by Michael Ellis, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Paymaster General, in the House of Commons on 23 May 2022.

    I am pleased to announce that Her Majesty the Queen has commanded that city status has been granted to Bangor, Colchester, Doncaster, Douglas, Dunfermline, Milton Keynes, Stanley and Wrexham and a Lord Mayoralty to Southampton to mark Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee.

    Her Majesty’s Government have been delighted over the number of places across the United Kingdom, Crown dependencies and overseas territories which entered the competition. Irrespective of the final outcome, this is a celebration of not only the rich and diverse communities which make up the United Kingdom, but of communities all across the undivided realm which the UK, Crown dependencies and overseas territories constitute.

    City status, Lord Mayoralties, and Lord Provostships are civic honours granted by Her Majesty acting on the advice of Her Ministers under the Royal Prerogative. The granting of these honours is rare and they continue to be highly sought after.

    The competition received an extremely high standard of applications, and those unsuccessful applicants should not be disappointed. All valid entries received individual consideration on their merits and, for the first time, applications were also assessed by an expert panel, before Ministers made final recommendations to Her Majesty the Queen.

    I offer my congratulations to Bangor, Colchester, Doncaster, Douglas, Dunfermline, Milton Keynes, Stanley, Wrexham and Southampton which have been granted these prestigious honours from an exceptional and vast field of applicants.

  • Greg Hands – 2022 Comments on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme

    Greg Hands – 2022 Comments on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme

    The comments made by Greg Hands, the Energy Minister, on 23 May 2022.

    The Energy Security Strategy showed our strong commitment to powering Britain with homegrown renewable and nuclear energy.

    Thanks to the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme, heat pumps using this clean, cheaper electricity will be the cheaper, obvious choice for households choosing to replace their fossil fuel boiler.

    It will also kick-start a British manufacturing industry that will help bring down prices even further whilst creating huge investment and job opportunities.

  • Grant Shapps – 2022 Statement on the Opening of Crossrail

    Grant Shapps – 2022 Statement on the Opening of Crossrail

    The statement made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 24 May 2022.

    As iconic as its namesake, the Elizabeth line is a beacon of British success, not just for this marvel of engineering but for the enormous benefits it brings to the entire nation with £42 billion for the UK economy and 55,000 jobs just 2 of many.

    London’s transport network is its lifeblood and the £9 billion we’ve contributed to make the Elizabeth line a reality is once again testament to our unwavering support for this marvellous city, its inspiring people and the millions of visitors it attracts every year.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments on Public Transport Plans

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments on Public Transport Plans

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 24 May 2022.

    As the Elizabeth Line opens to the public, we know it’s not just Londoners that will reap the rewards, but the whole country – because better transport grows the economy, levels up opportunity and creates jobs.

    Just last week, official figures showed that under this Government unemployment has fallen to the lowest level in nearly half a century, just 3.7 per cent – which shows our drive to get people into jobs is working.

    And we’re going further and faster to ensure that by investing in infrastructure right across the UK, our massive transport projects will get the nation firing on all pistons again as we recover from the pandemic.

  • Liz Truss – 2022 Statement on China’s Human Rights Violations in Xinjiang

    Liz Truss – 2022 Statement on China’s Human Rights Violations in Xinjiang

    The statement made by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, on 24 May 2022.

    Today, further shocking details of China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang have emerged, which add to the already extensive body of evidence from Chinese government documents, first-hand testimony, satellite imagery and visits by our own diplomats to the region.

    New evidence shows the extraordinary scale of China’s targeting of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities, including forced labour, severe restrictions on freedom of religion, the separation of parents from their children, forced birth control, and mass incarceration.

    The UK stands with our international partners in calling out China’s appalling persecution of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities. We remain committed to holding China to account.

    We reiterate our longstanding expectation that China grants the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights full and unfettered access to the region so that she can conduct a thorough assessment of the facts on the ground, and we are following her visit this week closely.

    If such access is not forthcoming, the visit will only serve to highlight China’s attempts to hide the truth of its actions in Xinjiang.

  • Andy Street – 2022 Comments on 50th Anniversary of Spaghetti Junction

    Andy Street – 2022 Comments on 50th Anniversary of Spaghetti Junction

    The comments made by Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, on 24 May 2022.

    Spaghetti Junction has become an iconic Brummie landmark so it’s only right that we celebrate its 50th anniversary.

    At the time of its inception, it was actually considered a real engineering feat. So much so that my grandfather used to take me to visit whilst it was being built.

    Over the years, it has played an important role in enabling goods, people and business to flow in and out of the region and will no doubt continue to do so for many years to come – not least in the year we play host to the Commonwealth Games.

  • Roger Gale – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson Misleading Parliament

    Roger Gale – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson Misleading Parliament

    The comments made by Roger Gale, the Conservative MP for North Thanet, on Twitter on 24 May 2022.

    I believe that the PM has misled the House of Commons from the despatch box. That is a resignation issue. I have made my own position clear. It is now a matter for my Conservative parliamentary colleagues to decide whether or not to instigate a vote of no confidence.