Category: Speeches

  • Maria Miller – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    Maria Miller – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    The speech made by Maria Miller, the Conservative MP for Basingstoke, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    I beg to move,

    That this House has considered International Women’s Day.

    There is a dreadful poignancy in opening this debate today. The bombing of a Ukrainian women and children’s hospital yesterday has left pregnant women on stretchers, covered in blood from shrapnel wounds, and I would hope that the message that we send from this place to every woman in Ukraine during this week of events to mark International Women’s Day is that we stand with those women against those who wage war on their country. We stand alongside those women in their battle for a free and independent Ukraine. We stand with the people of Belarus and Russia who do not want war. I was delighted to meet the Belarusian opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, in Parliament today to reinforce that message.

    In Ukraine, International Women’s Day is usually a public holiday—an opportunity to mark the unique role that women play in the culture of their nation—but this year has been very different indeed, because it is the women of Ukraine who make up the vast majority of refugees. The Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Trudy Harrison), will share my horror at seeing those women fleeing their homeland. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is right to be redoubling the Government’s efforts to cut unnecessary bureaucracy, so that we can offer women who seek sanctuary in our country swift passage.

    Acts of war and aggression disproportionately affect women. In Afghanistan, just 12 months ago on International Women’s Day, that nation celebrated the remarkable contribution made by Afghan women against the challenges of the covid pandemic. Now, the hard-won progress made on women’s rights over the past two decades has been all but reversed, with a new Taliban Government having no place for the 67 women elected to the Afghan Parliament. We know that the best way we can fight dictatorships and autocracies around the world is through support for democratic capacity for effective democratic institutions.

    The truth is that every democracy is fragile; it has to be nurtured. As we mark International Women’s Day as parliamentarians, we should focus every fibre of our body on how we can strengthen democracies around the world, because democracy is under threat like never before. Strong parliamentarians are representative of their people. Women playing their proper role in Parliament is not an optional extra; it is essential for our legitimacy. This year’s theme of “Break the Bias” could not be more appropriate, because there are few democracies around the world where women have an equal role in policy making and policy scrutiny—not even our own. Some 27 years on from the 1995 UN Beijing platform for action, which demanded worldwide equal participation for women in political decision making, we have seen slow progress, with just one in four elected representatives around the world being a woman.

    For International Women’s Day 2022, let us call for a renewed commitment to women’s equal role in policy making and policy scrutiny to ensure progress on securing women’s roles in democratic institutions. Internationally, both our Parliament and our Government actively support the rights of women and girls. The Government, through their work on education for girls and their support for organisations such as the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, work hard to help build women’s political participation. Here in Parliament, many of us are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, and we work with legislative bodies around the world to share our expertise and knowledge. Gender-sensitive Parliament audits are a practical support that the CPA has put in place for jurisdictions to address their institutionalised gender inequality. Over the past year, the CPA has trained women parliamentarians around the world to deal with online abuse, helping to find a way forward on one of the issues that holds so many women back from wanting to seek election in the first place.

    We want strong democracies around the world, but it has never been more important for our own Parliament to be an exemplar. In Westminster, there are still twice as many men as women elected to this place, demonstrating the challenges even embedded democracies have. I stand here as a Conservative Member of Parliament to say that there are three men for every one woman in my party, which is the Government party. That has to change.

    Each party takes this problem extremely seriously. I know that the Conservative party does, and we are acting. It is right that we press Government and political parties to do more, but Parliament itself has to act, too, as the custodian of one of the most important parts of our democracy is our legislature. As Sue Maguire high- lighted in her report to Government in 2018, while quotas for women to come into Parliament have a place—the Labour party has made good use of them—they do not

    “address the cultural and working practices in Parliament and local Government that remain significant barriers”.

    We can and must challenge the Government to do more, and parties to act, but if we simply say it is the fault of political parties, we are not listening to the mountain of evidence to the contrary.

    I applaud Mr Speaker for creating real momentum for change here, even before he became Speaker, by addressing for the first time issues such as the personal security of Members. We also now have a behaviour code and grievance procedures, thanks to my right hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Dame Andrea Leadsom).We have proxy voting for new parents and effective procedures to deal with bullying, as we saw earlier this week, but where is the progress on the other measures that have been put forward?

    Effecting change in this place can feel almost impossible. Although we have Select Committees to hold the Government to account, where is the mechanism to hold ourselves to account? There is no structure in Parliament for Members to identify a programme of co-ordinated change—coherent, transparent and accountable change—that would make this place somewhere that more women want to come to and stay in.

    As the Women and Equalities Committee’s report that was published last week by my right hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) said, five years on from the Childs “The Good Parliament” report and 10 more reports like it, many of the recommendations that have been put forward remain unanswered. Some of the actions can be delivered by Parliament and some need Parliament to work with the Government, but above all we need a co-ordinated plan of action for the House of Commons to get our House in order and to get equal representation of women as a top priority.

    I will give a couple of examples. We need to ensure that the Government implement section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, which is already in place, to require parties to publish data on the diversity of their candidates and appointments to the House of Lords, a recommendation made more than five years ago. We need to focus our House service public engagement on women’s participation in democracy and reach out to women across the United Kingdom to encourage them to consider standing for election, as we did at the all-party parliamentary group on women in Parliament’s event on Tuesday evening, which was attended by more than 100 women. Those events should not be held by Members; they should be held by the House of Commons to encourage more women to stand for election.

    We need to focus the House communications team on talking about the positive changes that we have already made to our culture here as a result of the new behaviour code and the grievance process. We need to work with the Government to ensure that there is legislation and enforcement against online threats, which disproportionately affect women Members. We need to embed a programme of training for Members who are using social media. We know that those actions need to happen, but we need to have a plan and there needs to be accountability for swift progress.

    We are the custodians of our legislative body. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for securing the time for this debate and the APPG officers and members for their support in it. A representative and inclusive House of Commons is essential for the fully effective functioning of a parliamentary democracy. The House itself has a unique responsibility to take steps to ensure that we are representative of the population. Recruiting good people is a matter for political parties, but parties cannot change what people think of Parliament or how they feel about working in the House of Commons. I want today’s debate marking International Women’s Day to be a call to action for our own Parliament. As Members, we need to ensure that the House of Commons is a place that everyone aspires to be part of, including women.

  • Chloe Smith – 2022 Statement on Support for Those Near End of Life

    Chloe Smith – 2022 Statement on Support for Those Near End of Life

    The statement made by Chloe Smith, the Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    The Government are committed to improving the level of support provided to people who are nearing the end of their lives. The special rules process allows simple and fast access to financial support through the benefits system. Last July, the Government announced their intention to expand eligibility for the special rules, which is currently aimed at those with six months or less to live, with a new 12-month end of life approach. Today, the Department for Work and Pensions is introducing an amendment to the Universal Credit (UC) Regulations 2013, the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Regulations 2008 and 2013 and the Decisions and Appeals Regulations 2013.

    The regulations will apply in Great Britain and will come into force on 4 April 2022. They will mean that people who are thought to be in their final year of life will be able to receive vital support through the special rules six months earlier than they are able to at present, thereby increasing the number of people who are eligible and the length of time that they are able to receive this support for. This means that more people will be able to make a claim under the special rules, and as a result, they will not be subject to face-to-face assessments, waiting periods and, in the majority of cases, they will receive the highest rate of benefit. The 12-month approach supports clinicians by providing a realistic and straight-forward definition, consistent with the current end of life definition used across the NHS.

    The Government have amended UC and ESA, where the definition is in secondary legislation, and when parliamentary time allows they will also amend the special rules for personal independence payment, disability living allowance and attendance allowance, where the definition is contained in primary legislation.

    Having a life limiting illness can cause unimaginable suffering for the patient and for their loved ones and we are committed to ensuring the benefits system supports people nearing the end of their lives. To support the implementation of the changes to the special rules criteria we are making today, we will provide clear and helpful communications for claimants, clinicians, and organisations that support people nearing the end of their lives so that they are clear about what they should do in light of these changes.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Covid-19 Inquiry

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Covid-19 Inquiry

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    On 15 December I announced the appointment of the right hon. Baroness Heather Hallett DBE as chair of the forthcoming public inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic. In doing so, I made a commitment to consult Baroness Hallett and Ministers in the devolved Administrations on the terms of reference for the inquiry before publishing them in draft. This process is now complete, and I have today placed a copy of the draft terms of reference in the Library of the House and published them on gov.uk.

    The terms of reference cover: preparedness; the public health response; the response in the health and care sector; and our economic response. Rightly, the terms of reference allow for an inquiry which is genuinely UK-wide, but which respects and does not duplicate any inquiry established on a devolved basis. Finally, the draft reflects the importance of the inquiry working to understand the experiences of those most affected by the pandemic—including bereaved families—as well as looking at any disparities evident in the impact of the pandemic and our response.

    The inquiry will play a key role in learning the lessons from this terrible pandemic and in informing our preparations for the future. It is therefore vital that we get its terms of reference right and that people can have their say. To deliver this, Baroness Hallett will now lead a period of public engagement and consultation, which will last for four weeks. This process will inform further refinements to the terms of reference before they are finalised and the inquiry begins its important work.

     

  • Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Inquiry into the Death of Dawn Sturgess

    Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Inquiry into the Death of Dawn Sturgess

    The statement made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    I announced on 18 November 2021 the Government decision to establish an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, to investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess in Amesbury on 8 July 2018, after she was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.

    The inquiry will now be chaired by the Lord Hughes of Ombersley.

    Lord Hughes is a retired judge who was a former judge of the Supreme Court, as well as a Lord Justice of Appeal and vice-president of the criminal division. Lord Hughes is also a judicial commissioner to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO).

    In accordance with section 3(1) of the Act, this inquiry will be undertaken by Lord Hughes alone as chair.

    The Government are establishing this inquiry after careful consideration of advice from Baroness Hallett, who led the inquest, that this is necessary to permit all relevant evidence to be heard.

    This is an important step in ensuring that the family of Dawn Sturgess get the answers they need.

    The current inquest will be suspended after the establishment of the inquiry. The inquiry will formally start on 17 March.

    I will today place a copy of the terms of reference, which remain unchanged, for the inquiry in the Libraries of both Houses.

    The inquiry’s investigations will be a matter for the chair. As the sponsoring Department, the Home Office will provide support and ensure that the inquiry has the resources that it needs.

  • Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Digital Identity and Attributes

    Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Digital Identity and Attributes

    The statement made by Julia Lopez, the Minister for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    I wish to inform the House that the Government have today published their response to the digital identity and attributes consultation.

    In our increasingly digital world, and as technology devices become ever more integral to everyday life, being able to prove identities digitally is a tool which will give people more convenience, choice and security in how they access products and services. From making purchases, starting a new job, or moving house, it is important now more than ever that people and organisations can trust who they are dealing with as easily when transacting online as they do when dealing with others in the physical world.

    Published in July 2021, the digital identity and attributes consultation sought views on three main proposals that could achieve a safe and secure digital identity system for the whole UK. Extensive engagement informed these proposals and the contents of the consultation response. We are determined to put the needs of individuals first with a strong focus on privacy, security and inclusion.

    Based on the views received from respondents to the consultation, our response details the Government’s intent to legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to enable the development of a secure and trusted marketplace for digital identities and attributes across the UK economy.

    First, the Government will seek to introduce legislation that will establish a digital identity and attributes governance function. This will help to build a trusted ecosystem in which digital identities and attributes can be used safely and securely across the economy. The governance function will have oversight of the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework and will be responsible for the issuance of a trust mark to organisations certified against it. This will give confidence to individual users of digital identities and attributes that they can trust certified organisations to offer safe and secure digital products because they have a trust mark to show they are adhering to the standards of the UK trust framework.

    The Government will also seek to introduce legislation to enable public bodies to allow secure digital checks by trust-marked organisations against personal data they hold for the purposes of identity and eligibility verification. This will allow people and businesses to have confidence that digital identities in the UK can be built on trusted datasets in a way which upholds UK standards of privacy and data minimisation.

    Finally, the Government will seek to introduce legislation which will establish that data held by public bodies which are then shared digitally through the legal gateway, are equivalent to the same data shared through traditionally accepted forms of identification, such as physical passports. This will provide all parties that rely on these data with the clarity and confidence that digital identities and attributes can be trusted.

    Further details can be found in the consultation response, available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/digital-identity-and-attributes-consultation/outcome/government-response-to-the-digital-identity-and-attributes-consultation.

    A copy of the consultation response will also be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Speech to the Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Speech to the Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    The speech made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Education, on 11 March 2022.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I am really pleased and honoured to be here for my first ASCL conference.

    I have been looking forward to being with you.

    As we gather today, the Ukrainian flag flies over the Department for Education. It does so because we stand shoulder to shoulder with all Ukrainians against the barbaric, criminal invasion of their sovereign, democratic country.

    For us in our country, it is almost impossible to imagine the horror they are going through, because we know that more unites us than separates us, and we are lucky to live in a safe, secure country where we resolve our differences through debate, discussion and of course through and the ballot box.

    We will continue to support Ukrainians in any way we can. I know schools and colleges are doing what they can to support their students make sense of what they are seeing on television.

    And we have a team that’s already making plans for a capacity of 100,000 Ukrainian children that will come in and take their places in our schools.

    To support schools’ efforts, I asked Oak National Academy to roll out an auto-translate function across all 10,000 of its online lessons. And I can share with you today that they have delivered on this, meaning Ukrainian children arriving in the UK can access education in their native language as they transition into life and safety here.

    In that same spirit of unity and support, after the two years we’ve just been through, I’d like to thank you on such a well-chosen and positive theme.

    I think all leaders should aim to be ambitious but there has never been a more critical time for leaders to make ambition really count.

    Actually, ambition is what gets me racing to the office in the morning …

    And before you say it, well there’s a surprise… he’s another politician…

    My ambition isn’t for me, but for every child, every teenager, every adult learner to get the absolute best chance to succeed in life.

    Which I know is exactly what you want for every child.

    So, with that in mind, as I speak to you, I want us to ask ourselves, why are we here today?

    Before I go any further, I just want to say thank you for the magnificent way you have responded to Covid – I know the past two years have been absolutely bruising.

    Now, typically when you hear from an Education Secretary, you might expect to hear about accomplishments in the sector – and certainly, in this room, there are enough accomplishments to fill the entirety of my speech.

    I will in a moment talk about what we have achieved together.

    But before I do that, I want to tell you why this is so important to me personally.

    I came here aged 11, unable to string a sentence of English together. I hid at the back of the class.

    Even the thought of going to school was a scary one.

    If my parents hadn’t had the wherewithal to push me to take advantage of the education this great country provides, I don’t know where I would have ended up.

    And if my teacher Bob Hiller hadn’t reminded me to funnel my – how should I put it – creative, disruptive energy into something good, I certainly wouldn’t be here today. Bob, wherever you are, thank you.

    Skills, schools, families. These are my priorities, and these are informed in many ways by my own life story.

    They are what made the difference to me and what I think can make a real difference in the lives of children across our country.

    Because there are children in our country, right now, who need the support that I needed.

    And those children will achieve incredible things if given that chance.

    Colleagues, we are going on a journey – I hope together – to do exactly that.

    The next chapter of this journey is the Schools White Paper.

    Since 2010 we have been on a mission to give every single child a great education, and I think we’ve made huge progress, but we have not yet achieved every goal that we need to.

    Too many children still do not get the start in life that will enable them to go on and fulfil their potential.

    Even before the Covid pandemic, about one in three primary school students did not reach expected standards in reading, writing and maths.

    And we all know that children who are on free-school meals or who have special educational needs are less likely to achieve the standards we want for them, and that gap widens as children get older, making it harder and harder for them to catch up…

    I know you’ll agree with me that this has to change. This is going to change.

    I want us to really come together… work together… so that we can work out how we are going to achieve this.

    The biggest asset we have in changing the lives of children for generations to come is the energy and expertise of our teachers, and of course the school and college leaders in this room and around the country.

    You can’t have a great education if you don’t have a great teacher.

    You will already know that I have set an ambitious target that 90% of children leaving primary school should meet the expected standards in literacy and numeracy, up from 65% today.

    Every child must be able to read, write and do basic maths fluently.

    They’re important in their own right, but also act as a door to other wonderful and joyful subjects that can inspire young minds as they make their way through school, college and beyond.

    Let me be clear: these are ambitions for the whole system. They are about making sure that we are ambitious for every child across our country.

    The White Paper sets out a plan to deliver on this strategy, and it is an achievable vision only because I know that in this room, we have the excellence and leadership to make it a reality.

    I know that investing in teachers and leaders – in you and your staff – is the single most important way to improve pupil outcomes.

    I am determined to make our system of training and support for teachers and school and college leaders world-class.

    We will deliver our promised 500,000 teacher training opportunities to make sure that every teacher, in every corner of our country, benefits from evidence-based professional development at every stage of their career.

    I am proud to be able to confirm today that more than 25,000 teachers and almost 23,000 mentors have taken part in our flagship Early Career Framework programmes this year.

    This is beyond even my most optimistic estimate, and, I think, testament to the support you as leaders are providing.

    But I also know that embedding this programme has been a huge undertaking for you and your colleagues, particularly mentors. We are listening to your feedback and we will be making improvements in areas that you have told us are causing real difficulties.

    And I want to keep working with you now and in the future to make sure we take forward this shared priority and to ensure that we achieve our shared goal of giving every early career teacher their entitlement to a high-quality, structured induction to the teaching profession.

    Building on this success, our golden thread of high-quality teacher development programmes includes a new Leading Literacy National Professional Qualification, available from this autumn.

    This will mean every school can have a trained literacy expert, driving higher standards of literacy teaching, kick-starting our 90% literacy mission.

    With this, as with the rest of the reformed suite of National Professional Qualifications, these will be freely available to all teachers and leaders in state-funded schools and colleges.

    What I ask, for those here or watching this speech, is that every leader here today walk away from this with a commitment to enrol their staff on a National Professional Qualification from the autumn.

    Alongside world-class training, we will also continue to invest in top graduates with generous bursaries and scholarships for those who choose to train to teach.

    And we will deliver on our manifesto commitment to the £30,000 starting salary.

    As an engineering graduate, I know the wonders of science and I want more children to be exposed to and inspired by science – not least to help save the planet.

    I want them to be taught by well-trained science teachers, equipped to give future generations of scientists the knowledge they need to tackle climate change, develop new vaccines and maintain our place as a scientific superpower.

    Through our Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for maths, physics, chemistry and computing teachers, we will retain more teachers in some of the most important subjects and of course in places where they are needed most.

    And because teaching is an increasingly global profession, I want to attract the very best teachers from across the world.

    That is why we will also introduce a new relocation premium to help with visas and other expenses for teachers and trainees moving here from abroad.

    But even this is not enough: I want our country to be known around the world as the place to train and practise teaching, rivalling the likes of Shanghai, Canada and of course Finland.

    But of course, great teachers need support.

    I want to empower teachers to focus on delivering the best possible lessons, and support schools by giving them access to resources and approaches that have proved their effectiveness.

    Oak National Academy has certainly been one of our great achievements.

    It was created by teachers, for teachers, and showed brilliantly what the profession was capable of in the hour of need.

    Over 500 teachers from over 50 schools, trusts and partners worked together, delivering over 140 million lessons during the pandemic.

    Building on this success, we will now establish Oak as a new arms-length curriculum body, working independently of government and collaboratively with the sector.

    Why is this important?

    The data backs up what you all know anecdotally: a recent survey showed 46% of primary teachers plan lessons from scratch. This is a drain on teachers’ time and I want to help fix that.

    Curriculum design is complex, and we want to share the very best practice so teachers can draw inspiration from examples of evidence based, carefully sequenced curriculum design.

    Instead of each teacher reinventing the wheel, they will be able to access content, for free, that continuously evolves and gets better and better on the back of feedback from teachers across the country – saving time and of course improving lessons immeasurably.

    Under the framework already provided by our excellent national curriculum, the curriculum body will lead the creation of curriculum maps and thousands of downloadable lessons and resources… and all freely available to all teachers, parents and children.

    These will help schools in a variety of ways depending on their needs. They will be also entirely optional and of course these materials will not be mandated by Ofsted.

    Teachers, who know their pupils best, can then adapt these, and the curriculum body will work closely with teachers to ensure it is meeting their needs, including those supporting children with additional needs.

    And the body will continue work with the Education Endowment Foundation – the EEF – to ensure its work is informed by the best available evidence and aligns with best practice.

    At the heart of this body will be collaboration and partnership, I am committed to building on the “by teachers, for teachers” approach that has been a key success factor for Oak National Academy.

    And with the same motivation to use evidence wherever we can, we will permanently put evidence at the heart of the teaching profession by re-endowing the EEF.

    As independent evidence guardians in the system, they will continue to generate and spread world-leading education evidence. The EEF will lead an ongoing cycle of reviews of the underpinning frameworks for teacher development at all levels to make sure they’re always based on “what works” to improve pupil outcomes.

    They will keep these frameworks updated in line with the best available evidence from this country and of course from abroad, giving an independent badge of assurance to our teacher development programmes… and all the while making sure teachers in England get the cutting-edge training they need to drive up standards.

    And we will continue to work with the EEF to scale up and spread effective teaching practice in literacy and numeracy to ensure pupils have the best chance of catching up following the pandemic.

    Colleagues, we must be sky-high in our ambitions for every pupil. If we don’t aim for excellence, we’re not going to achieve it by chance.

    I’ve listened to you, acted on your insight, and looked at the evidence across the whole educational landscape. And evidence shows that a family of schools that are tightly managed and well supported achieve the right outcomes for their students and deliver those important opportunities for staff.

    How? There are three things I want to highlight.

    A resilient profession… because high performing families of schools support leaders and give great opportunities to teachers for training and career progression.

    Collaboration… because schools can benefit from working together, creating opportunities to share resources and reduce workload, while reinvesting back into frontline teaching.

    And Freedom… because leaders spend less time worrying about managing facilities and more time making sure children learn and teachers teach.

    I’ve been clear before that I see this future as involving all schools being part of a strong trust – and I will say more about this in my White Paper.

    But I will say now that I underline the word strong because, and we mustn’t sugar coat this, some trusts are not high performing. The White Paper will set out how I plan to deal with that challenge as well.

    You are the future my friends, and you are going to produce other leaders of the future. We need you – I need you – on this journey.

    I know that everyone in this room will have an opinion on this – I’d expect nothing less, but I ask you to consider the data, the evidence, with an as open mind as possible.

    What I will pledge to you is that I will be guided by the data and the evidence.

    I want evidence to be our watchword, just as it was mine as vaccines Minister and continues to be now as Secretary of State for Education.

    In fact, following what the data tells me has shaped the new Schools White Paper.

    But that doesn’t mean I expect everyone to agree with me all the time. I am not afraid to disagree with you, and I know you – certainly Geoff – are not afraid to challenge me.

    What is important is that we follow what the evidence says. If we have a divergence of views on the evidence, then we will have a healthy debate and I will make my case as I am sure you will make yours.

    But no matter what, the priority must be working together.

    Because we can’t level up, we can’t deliver for children, if we don’t work together.

    Everything we are doing as a government comes back to one core mission and that is that we make life fairer for every child, in every school in our country.

    One of the most effective tools we have at our disposal to meet our ambition is targeted support.

    A huge part of that is tutoring, which I know will be going on in all of your schools right now.

    It’s important to step back and look at what we’ve achieved with the National Tutoring Programme.

    Tutoring used to be something only richer parents could afford.

    Thanks to the NTP, today it’s benefitting all children who need it, from Bristol to Blackpool and Newquay to Newcastle, helping them realise their potential.

    I am proud to be able to say that more than one million tutoring courses have been delivered since we rolled out this programme last year. ASCL, this is incredible.

    But there are still children who need this targeted tuition, and I know that many of you have had challenges with the programme. I have listened and I have heard you, and we are making improvements as I speak to you today.

    This includes the immediate transfer of up to £65 million into School Led Tutoring from the other two routes. It’s become clear to me that by far the most popular route is the one run by you – the school.

    I hope you will agree with me that what we are doing together on tutoring is an invaluable addition to our education system, and I am continuing to look at how we can make sure it is having as big an impact as we can make it.

    In addition to this, one of my priorities in the White Paper will be the schools and areas of the country most in need of support.

    Areas including County Durham, Cornwall and Hartlepool will get extra investment, to build strong trusts, enabling them to retain and recruit the best teachers and tackle those problems that have stopped them achieving what they should be achieving.

    I want to get this right, and I want you to have your say, so I will be announcing a consultation shortly on tackling school underperformance.

    Ahead of that, we must build on what we have already accomplished.

    We must make the most of the £7 billion increase in core spending 2024-25 – with an increase in real terms per pupil funding of 4% next year alone – really count.

    And, we cannot say we care about children’s education if we ignore those most in need. So, we must protect the pupil premium to support schools in improving outcomes for disadvantaged students.

    Because I have the same high ambitions for children with special educational needs and disabilities as I do for every child. And I know that they benefit from excellent teaching that allows them to fulfil their potential.

    I also know that headteachers are doing an incredible job at supporting children with SEND, and worked tirelessly to support them throughout the pandemic.

    So, before I come to a close, I want to say that the plans I am setting out today – for teacher development, for evidence-based practice, and for high quality curriculum – will all help to support children with SEND. But there is further to go.

    The forthcoming SEND Review will set our ambitious proposals for how we will deliver a system that ensures every child and young person gets the right support in the right place and at the right time.

    Geoff, I began by asking everyone why we are here today.

    I am here today to deliver on the promise in this room.

    I am here to embark on a journey together – one that means every single child and learner gets the start in life to be the best version of themselves….

    I couldn’t hope to deliver this vision if it wasn’t for you…

    Thank you.

     

  • Sadiq Khan – 2022 Comments on a Rent Freeze in London

    Sadiq Khan – 2022 Comments on a Rent Freeze in London

    The comments made by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, on 9 March 2022.

    Private renters make up nearly a third of everyone living in the capital and they are set to be hit by a devastating combination of price and bill rises. Too often the needs of private renters are ignored by both landlords and the Government.

    Rising fuel and energy costs – which will hit renters in energy inefficient homes the hardest – are already causing anxiety and stress, with a big rise in the energy price cap due next month. That’s why today I’m calling on ministers to give me the powers to stop rents rising in the capital, and help me to give people a chance to get back on their feet after the pandemic.

  • Ben Wallace – 2022 Comments on Shipbuilding

    Ben Wallace – 2022 Comments on Shipbuilding

    The comments made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, on 10 March 2022.

    As Shipbuilding Tsar, I am proud to be announcing our new strategy, this is an exciting time to be involved in the sector.

    With significant government investment, we will be levelling-up across our shipbuilding, workforce, from shipyard to supplier, from procurement to designer, creating tens of thousands of new employment opportunities, boosting living standards and pay.

    Our refreshed strategy will see the sector galvanised at a crucial time for our economy and see a vital part of British industry expand and flourish.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2022 Statement on Chelsea Football Club

    Nadine Dorries – 2022 Statement on Chelsea Football Club

    The statement made by Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 10 March 2022.

    Putin’s attack on Ukraine continues and we are witnessing new levels of evil by the hour. We are now turning the screw on influential oligarchs enabling his regime.

    The important measures announced today will clearly have a direct impact on Chelsea FC and its fans but we are working hard to make sure the club and the national game are not unnecessarily harmed.

    We have granted the club a licence so it can fulfil its fixtures, pay its staff and existing ticket holders can attend matches. We know football clubs are cultural assets and we are committed to protecting them.

  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy – 2022 Statement on the Situation in Ukraine (09/03/2022)

    Volodymyr Zelenskyy – 2022 Statement on the Situation in Ukraine (09/03/2022)

    The statement made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 9 March 2022.

    Europeans! Ukrainians! Mariupol residents!

    Today is the day that defines everything. Defines who is on whose side. Russian bombs fell on a hospital and maternity hospital in Mariupol. Children’s hospital. Maternity hospital that is functioning! Buildings are destroyed. As of now, there are 17 wounded. Disassembly of the debris is still ongoing. People began to hide from the air threat in time.

    From 500 kg aviation bombs dropped by the invaders on Ukrainian cities. Many times already.

    Children’s hospital. Maternity hospital. What did they threaten the Russian Federation with? What kind of country is this – the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them? Were there little Banderivtsi? Or were pregnant women going to fire at Rostov? Did someone in the maternity hospital abuse Russian-speakers? What was that? Was it the denazification of the hospital?

    It is beyond atrocities already. Everything that the invaders are doing to Mariupol is beyond atrocities already. Europeans! Ukrainians! Mariupol residents! Today, we must be united in condemning this war crime of Russia, which reflects all the evil that the invaders brought to our land.

    All destroyed cities. What they did to Volnovakha, Kharkiv, Izyum, Okhtyrka, Chernihiv, Borodyanka, Hostomel, Zhytomyr and dozens of other Ukrainian cities, which never posed any threat to the Russian Federation.

    Destroyed hospitals. Destroyed schools, churches, houses. And all the people killed. All the children killed.

    The air bomb on the maternity hospital is the final proof. Proof that the genocide of Ukrainians is taking place.

    Europeans! You won’t be able to say that you didn’t see what happened to Ukrainians, what happened to Mariupol residents. You saw. You know.

    Therefore, you must increase sanctions against Russia so that it no longer has any opportunity to continue this genocide.

    You must put pressure on Russia to force it to sit down at the negotiating table and end this brutal war.

    Moscow knows very well that Mariupol is also the Donetsk region. We have heard so much from Russia about the inhabitants of the Donetsk region. So many accusations, so many demands… And now we see how Russia actually treats the residents of the Donetsk region. Treats ordinary people who live in the houses of Mariupol, work at the enterprises of the city of Mariupol, are treated in hospitals of Mariupol and give birth to children, imagine, people like you give birth to children in the maternity hospitals of Mariupol.

    We have not done and never would have done anything similar to this war crime to any of the cities of the Donetsk, Luhansk or any other region. To any of the cities on earth. Because we are people. And you?

    I spoke today with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. We also worked and spoke with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson. Thank you for your support, Boris.

    The partners are fully informed about what is happening in our Mariupol. And about the situation in all other regions of Ukraine, where hostilities continue. We are working to make Russia feel the consequences of its actions. We are doing everything to finally secure our sky. I am grateful to the vast majority of Ukrainians who support this position. Those who collect signatures, who convince their acquaintances in the West, write on social networks, organize rallies.

    Together we must return courage to some Western leaders. So that they finally do what they had to do on the first day of the invasion. Either close the Ukrainian sky from Russian missiles and bombs, or give us fighter jets so that we can do everything ourselves. A pause without a decision has become simply deadly.

    Today we managed to organize the work of three humanitarian corridors. From the city of Sumy, from the cities and towns of the Kyiv region and from Enerhodar.

    In total, about 35,000 people were rescued. We will continue tomorrow. We are preparing six corridors. We pray that people will be taken out of Mariupol, Izyum, Volnovakha, etc. Taken to safe cities of our free Ukraine.

    And I am sure that every Ukrainian whose help these people need will do everything possible to make them feel our care. Until they can return home.

    And finally. Every year on March 9, the winners of the Shevchenko Prize are announced. Our national award for the most significant contribution to the preservation and development of the Ukrainian spirit, our national culture.

    I believe that our traditions must be observed during martial law and the fierce battles for our freedom. We must not betray them so that we preserve all ours, Ukrainian, completely while we are heading to victory. While we are heading to peace.

    The decree was signed. Now I look forward to meeting the winners. But after the victory. After the victory of Ukraine.

    Glory to Ukraine!