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Therese Coffey – 2022 Statement on Health and Social Care

The statement made by Therese Coffey, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 22 September 2022.

I am pleased today to set out to Parliament our plan for patients. As the Prime Minister said on the doorstep of Downing Street, she had three clear priorities: growing the economy; tackling energy security and support for households and businesses; and the NHS, with patients being able to get a GP appointment.

Patients are my top priority and I will be their champion, focusing on the issues that most affect them or their loved ones. Most of the time, patients have a great experience, but we must not paper over the problems that we face. We expect backlogs to rise before they fall as more patients come forward for diagnosis and treatment after the pandemic, and the data shows, sadly, that there is too much variation in the access and care that people receive across the country.

The scale of the challenge necessitates a national endeavour. As we work together to tackle these immense challenges, I will be proactive, not prescriptive, in our approach as we apply a relentless focus on measures that affect most people’s experience of the NHS and social care.

Today, we are taking the first step in this important journey by publishing “Our Plan for Patients”, which I will lay in the Libraries of both Houses. It sets out a range of measures to help the NHS and social care perform at their best for patients. The plan will inform patients and empower them to live healthier lives; place an intensive focus on primary care, the gateway to the NHS for most people; use prevention to strengthen resilience and the health of the nation; and improve performance and productivity.

To succeed, we will need a true national endeavour, supported by our making it easier for clinical professionals to return to help the NHS, as well as drawing on the energy and enthusiasm of the million people who volunteered to help during the pandemic by opening up opportunities for them to help in different ways. That could be by becoming a community first responder, or by, for example, strengthening good neighbour schemes across the country. We will also explore the creation of an ambulance auxiliary service.

The plan sets out our work on the ABCD of priorities that affect most people’s experience of the NHS and social care. First, on ambulances, I want to reduce waiting times for patients and apply a laser-like focus on handover delays, so that ambulances get back on the road and to patients, where they are needed most.

Our analysis shows that 45% of the delays are occurring in just 15 hospital trusts. That is why the local NHS will be doing intensive work with those trusts to create more capacity in hospitals—the equivalent of 7,000 more beds—by this winter through a combination of freeing up beds, with a focus on discharge, and people staying at home and being monitored remotely through the sort of technology that played such an important role during the pandemic. In addition, when patients call 999, the speed of answering is critical, so we will increase the number of call handlers for both 999 and 111 calls.

Next is the backlog, where the waiting list for planned care currently stands at about 7 million, exacerbated by the pandemic. This summer, we announced that we have virtually eliminated waits of over two years, and we remain on track to reach the next milestones in our plan. To boost capacity, we are accelerating our plans to roll out community diagnostic centres as well as new hospitals, and we will maximise the use of the independent sector to provide even more treatment for patients.

As well as capacity, we are also getting more people on the frontline, making it easier for people to work in and help the NHS. We know that people are leaving the workforce for a variety of reasons. We have listened, and we are responding and addressing a number of those reasons. For instance, pension rules can currently be a disincentive for clinicians who want to stay in the profession or to return from retirement and help our national endeavour. We will correct pension rules relating to inflation; we will expect NHS trusts to offer pension recycling; and we will extend until 2024 measures that will allow people to stay or return to the NHS.

I can announce today that we will extend the operation of the emergency registers for health professionals for two more years. That is, of course, on top of commitments to boost the health and care workforce, such as our manifesto pledge to recruit 50,000 more nurses by 2024. That will sit alongside the design and delivery of our forthcoming workforce plan.

C is for social care. At the moment, one of the key challenges is discharging patients from hospital into more appropriate care settings to free up beds and help improve ambulance response times. To tackle that, I can announce today that we are launching a £500 million adult social care discharge fund for this winter. The local NHS will be working with councils with targeted plans on specific care packages to support people being either in their own home or in the wider community. That £500 million acts as the down-payment in the rebalancing of funding across health and social care as we develop our longer-term plans.

I know that there is a shortage of carers across the country. We will continue to work with the Department for Work and Pensions on a national recruitment campaign. In addition, since last winter, we have opened up international recruitment routes for carers. We will support the sector with £15 million this year to help to employ more care workers from abroad. We are also accelerating the roll-out of technologies such as digitised social care records, which can save care workers about 20 minutes a shift, freeing up time for carers to care.

Finally, D is for doctors and dentists. I am determined to address one of the most frustrating problems faced by many patients: getting an appointment to see their doctor, or getting to see a dentist at all.

Starting with doctors, we are taking five steps to help make that happen: first, setting the expectation that everyone who needs a GP appointment can get one within two weeks; secondly, opening up time for more than 1 million extra appointments, so that patients with urgent needs can be seen on the same day; thirdly, making it easier to book an appointment; fourthly, publishing performance by practice to help to inform patients; and fifthly, requiring the local NHS to hold practices to account, providing support to those practices with the most acute access challenges to improve performance.

Clearly, clinicians are best placed to prioritise according to the clinical need of their patients. In July, 44% of appointments were same-day appointments, but too few practices were consistently offering appointments within a fortnight.

To help free up appointments, we will ease pressures on GP practices by expanding the role of community pharmacies. I am pleased to announce that we have agreed a deal for an expanded offer over the next 18 months. Pharmacists will be able to prescribe certain medications rather than requiring a GP prescription. As well as other measures involving community pharmacists, we estimate that that will free up 2 million appointments. We are also changing funding rules to give freedoms to GPs to boost the number of staff to support their practice. We estimate that that measure could free up 1 million GP appointments.

For patients, we will make it easier for them to contact their practice, both on the phone—we are making an extra 31,000 phone lines available this winter, followed by further deployment of cloud-based telephony—and online, particularly through the NHS app. As I set out, we will also correct pension rules so that our most experienced GPs can stay in practice. By extending the emergency register, we are creating opportunities for people other than GPs to undertake tasks such as vaccinations.

On dentists, there are too many dental deserts. That is why we are setting out an ambition that everyone seeking NHS dental care can receive it when they need it. We have already started changing the dental contract to incentivise dentists to do more NHS work and take on more difficult cases. I pay tribute to my predecessors in this role for their success in beginning to tackle this long-standing issue.

We will also streamline routes into NHS dentistry for those trained overseas so that they can start treating patients more quickly. We will make it a contractual requirement for dentists to publish online whether they are taking on new NHS patients.

These measures, across a number of important areas, are the start, not the end, of our ambitions for health and care. They will help us to manage the pressure that health and care will face this winter and next, and they will improve these vital services for the long term. My priorities are patients’ priorities, and I will endeavour, through a powerful partnership with the NHS and local authorities, to level up care and match the expectations that the public rightly have. Whether you live in a city or a town, in the countryside or on the coast, this Government will be on your side when you need care the most. I commend this statement to the House.

22/09/2022
Jacob Rees-Mogg – 2022 Statement on Shale Gas Extraction

The statement made by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the House of Commons on 22 September 2022.

What a pleasure it is to be continuing on this theme—

Dame Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)

Get the right page!

Mr Rees-Mogg

Indeed, the hon. Lady is right to be saying that I need to find the right page because I am having some difficulty in finding the right page immediately, but do not worry. [Interruption.]

Mr Speaker

Order. Is there another copy we can give the Secretary of State? [Interruption.] He has got it.

Mr Rees-Mogg

I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for asking his urgent question. I am glad to be able to announce that the moratorium on the extraction of shale gas is being lifted, and a statement about that has been laid before the House.

As I set out in the previous urgent question, it is important that we use all available sources of fuel within this country. It is more environmentally friendly to use our own sources of fuel than to extract them in other countries and transport them here at great cost, both financially and in terms of carbon. It is therefore something we need to revisit, and we need to revisit the seismic limits to ensure that shale gas extraction can be done in an effective and efficient way.

Edward Miliband

This is obviously a case of “the dog ate my homework”, and it is hardly surprising. Let us start by taking the Secretary of State’s excuse for lifting the fracking ban—that it will make a difference to the energy bills crisis. It will not, because gas is sold on the international market. The current Chancellor said so in February of this year:

“No amount of shale gas…would be enough to lower the European price”

of gas. In an article published yesterday, even the founder of Cuadrilla said that the Secretary of State is wrong. First, why does he not admit the truth that anyone who knows anything about this subject says his claim that fracking will cut bills is nonsense?

Next, let us come to safety. The 2019 manifesto, on which the Secretary of State and every Conservative Member stood, said:

“We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.”

They are lifting the ban, but they cannot supply the evidence, and the British Geological Survey report published today certainly does not do it. So in the absence of the evidence, his approach is to change the safety limits. He says in his written statement laid before this House that

“tolerating a higher degree of risk and disturbance appears to us to be in the national interest”.

I look forward to him and his colleagues explaining his charter for earthquakes to the people of Lancashire, Yorkshire, the midlands, Sussex, Dorset and, indeed, Somerset who will be part of his dangerous experiment. Let me tell the Conservatives that we will hang this broken promise round their necks in every part of the country between now and the next general election.

The Conservative manifesto also said:

“Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system.”

Does the Secretary of State stand by that promise, and how will he abide by the Prime Minister’s commitment to local consent? The truth is that he does not understand that we cannot escape a fossil fuels crisis by doubling down on fossil fuels. Renewables are today nine times cheaper than gas. The only way to cut energy bills and have energy security is with zero-carbon home-grown power, including onshore wind and solar, which his wing of the Conservative party hates and he continues to block. For communities in every part of our country, today shows that they can never trust a word this Government say again, and he has shown he is willing to break his promises to support dangerous fringe ideas that put the interests of fossil fuel companies above those of the British people.

Mr Rees-Mogg

There was plenty of energy in that, Mr Speaker, but it was, I am afraid, more sound and fury that signifies nothing. We know that shale gas is safe. It is safe in the United States, where it has been one of the biggest contributors to the decline in carbon emissions of any activity that has gone on in that country. We know, even if Labour Members wish to ignore it, that seismic activity of 2.5 and below on the Richter scale takes place millions of times a year across the world. Our standards for ground-level movements for construction work are double those that have ever been achieved by any shale gas exploration in this country. There is a huge margin over what we allow for building work against what has actually happened in terms of shale gas. The right hon. Gentleman seeks to deny the ordinary rules of supply and demand. He ought to be aware that when we increase supply and demand remains steady, that has an effect on pricing, and pricing is always set at the margin. The price of any commodity is set by the final user who demands that commodity. If supply exceeds demand prices fall, and any increase in supply helps to reduce costs.

But there is another point. We have—all of us— constituents with gas boilers, and we are going to have them for many years to come. Do we really want them to be dependent on strange dictatorships that wage war in this world, or do we want to have our own security, and our own supplies? Do we want to maximise what we receive from the North sea and from underneath our feet? This seems to me to be just good common sense. It is safe, it is shown to be safe, and the scare stories have been disproved time and again. The hysteria about seismic activity fails to understand that the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale. It seems to think it is a straight arithmetic scale, which of course it is not. Bringing on the supply will bring us cheaper energy, which we need, and that will help our constituents. It secures our supply, which will ensure that our businesses can continue to operate whatever the weather. This is of such importance, and it is sheer Ludditery that opposes it.

22/09/2022
Jonathan Reynolds – 2022 Speech on Supporting Business

The speech made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the House of Commons on 22 September 2022.

I welcome the new ministerial team to their posts.

The energy crisis poses a severe challenge to businesses of every size, many of which have been desperate for clarity and reassurance. While the Conservative party spent much of the summer distracted by its own internal drama, the Opposition spent that time arguing that the crisis demands a response commensurate with the scale of the challenge, paid for by a windfall tax on the excess profits that have accrued because of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

While I welcome the Government’s damascene conversion to freezing energy prices, we must all acknowledge that for too many companies the news will have come too late to save them. Businesses cannot plan on speculation and briefings. It is regrettable that a Minister who respects the role of Parliament chose to avoid parliamentary scrutiny, instead opting for a sparse press release and a short media interview. That is why the Opposition have tabled this urgent question: to get the much-needed clarity on these plans that businesses desperately need.

May I ask the Secretary of State what, specifically, the review after three months will be looking at and what the criteria will be for determining whether to extend the support? Secondly, how will the taxpayer be protected from energy traders inflating prices, knowing that the Government will be picking up a substantial slice of the costs come what may? Thirdly, what support will the Secretary of State be offering to businesses in the long term to protect themselves from rising energy costs through efficiency measures and the transition to renewable energy?

I also ask the Secretary of State to address the elephant in the room: who is paying for this? The Government say that they cannot cost this package, but it is clearly expensive. This Government say that they can cut taxes, increase spending, increase borrowing and magically pay for it through the higher growth that, after 12 years in office, has completely eluded them. This is fantasy economics. It is a threat to British businesses and to the financial stability of the country. What can the Secretary of State say to reassure the country that these plans are robust, responsible and fair, as well as being sufficient to get us through the crisis and better protect businesses in the long term?

22/09/2022
Jacob Rees-Mogg – 2022 Statement on Supporting Business

The statement made by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the House of Commons on 22 September 2022.

That is why I am saying that I am very grateful, Mr Speaker. I always think it is important that this House gets to know, and your generosity in setting a precedent where statements can be made on the days set aside for taking the Oath is, I think, a good one.

It is vital that businesses have the support that they need to pay their energy bills this winter. His Majesty’s Government are determined to grow the economy. We cannot do that if business becomes insolvent thanks to what is tantamount to blackmail by a malevolent state actor. His Majesty’s Government announced yesterday that they will provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers, whose current gas and electricity prices have been significantly inflated by global energy prices. That includes all UK businesses and covers the voluntary sector, such as charities, and the public sector, such as schools and hospitals. The scheme will apply to fixed contracts that have been agreed on or after 1 April 2022, as well as to deemed variable and flexible tariffs and contracts. It will be applied to energy usage for six months from 1 October until 31 March next year.

As with the energy price guarantee for domestic customers, in order to benefit from the scheme, customers do not need to take action. The discount will automatically be applied to their energy bills from 1 October. In terms of real-world savings, non-domestic users will start to see the benefits of the scheme in their October energy bills, which are typically received in November. The level of price reduction for each business will vary depending on its contract type, the tariff and the volume used.

We will publish a review of the operation of the scheme in three months to inform decisions on future support after March 2023. The review will focus in particular on identifying the most vulnerable non-domestic customers and on how the Government will continue assisting them with energy costs beyond the initial six-month period.

A parallel scheme—based on the same criteria and offering comparable support, but recognising the different market fundamentals—will be established in Northern Ireland. For those who are not connected to the gas or electricity grid, equivalent support will be provided for non-domestic consumers who use heating oil or alternative fuels instead of gas. Further detail on this will be announced shortly.

22/09/2022
Lindsay Hoyle – 2022 Statement on the Personal Conduct of Jacob Rees-Mogg

The statement made by Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, on 22 September 2022.

Before I call the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to answer the urgent question, I have to say how disappointed I am that the subject of an urgent question was extensively set out in the media yesterday before being presented to the House. I hope that, as a former Leader of the House who was very supportive of me in criticising Secretaries of State for not coming to the House, the right hon. Member will be especially aware—as I know he is—of Ministers’ duties to explain that important policies are first to be heard in this House.

I understand the importance of the matter and the need for our constituents to have the information as soon as possible and, for that reason, I would have been willing to allow a statement yesterday, if I had been asked. I am deeply concerned that I have to make another statement like this only a few sitting days into this new Administration’s existence. I ask the right hon. Member and all his colleagues to do their utmost to ensure that this is the last time I have to do so. I am not angry; I am so disappointed, and I hope that we will treat the House with the respect that it is due.

22/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Deadline extended on A47/A11 Thickthorn junction development consent order [September 2022]

The press release issued by the Department for Transport on 22 September 2022.

This statement confirms that it has been necessary to extend the deadline for a decision on the A47/A11 Thickthorn junction development consent order (DCO) made under the Planning Act due to the National Mourning period.

The DCO would authorise works for the improvement to Thickthorn junction and related works linking the A47 to the A11. The proposed development is situated within the administrative boundaries of Norfolk County Council and South Norfolk District Council.

The Secretary of State for Transport received the examining authority’s report on 20 June 2022 and the current deadline for a decision is 20 September 2022. The deadline is now extended to 14 October 2022.

Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State must make her decision within 3 months of receipt of the examining authority’s report, unless exercising the power under section 107(3) to extend the deadline and make a statement to the House of Parliament announcing the new deadline.

The decision to set new deadlines is without prejudice to the decisions on whether to give development consent for the above applications.

22/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Domestic tree seed production to be ramped up with new grant [September 2022]

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 22 September 2022.

Domestic tree seed production is to be ramped up with new Government funding announced today. The £1.2m Seed Sourcing Grant will boost domestic tree seed production, create green jobs, help meet the increased demand for trees and achieve our ambitious net zero targets.

The grant is designed to enhance the quantity, quality and diversity of tree seed sources in England. Most tree seed planted in the UK is of British origin, but evidence suggests that British seed sources may struggle to meet future demand across all species and there are known to be global shortages of tree seed. The grant will boost domestic tree seed production and support green jobs, helping meet the increased demand for trees and achieve our ambitious tree planting targets.

The Government has re-committed to its net zero targets, and new woodland and tree planting will contribute to those. The Seed Sourcing Grant will help to ensure the availability of planting stock to meet domestic tree planting needs.

The grant also aims to improve the diversity of England’s seed supply, for example by increasing the range of species and provenances available. This will be crucial for creating diverse and resilient woodlands, which are better able to adapt to future climate conditions as well as emerging pests and diseases.

Richard Stanford, Forestry Commission Chief Executive, said:
Seed sourcing is an essential part of tree production and one that can sometimes be overlooked. As planting rates increase, so too will the demand for tree seed.

This funding will give a vital boost to domestic tree seed production, helping to create diverse and thus resilient woodlands across our country. This will both help meet our ambitious tree planting targets and ensure the resilience of woodlands so they can thrive in the uncertain future.

The Seed Sourcing Grant will also reduce the need to buy seed from the international market, lowering the risk of importing harmful pests and pathogens.

Today’s announcement comes as the world’s leading authorities on plant health and biosecurity come together for the world’s first ever International Plant Health Conference to address current and future plant health challenges – including facilitating safe trade and new pest and disease pathways, such as e-commerce.

Nicola Spence, UK Chief Plant Health Officer, said:
Plant health and biosecurity are fundamental to life on Earth and ensuring their continued health and vitality will be critical to a thriving natural environment for future generations.

By increasing and diversifying England’s seed supply, this grant is crucial to help lower the risk of importing harmful pest and diseases by reducing the need to buy seed internationally and will create diverse and resilient woodlands which will be better adapted to future threats.

Eligible activities for the grant include:

Management of existing seed stands – the groups of trees in the landscape from which seed is collected – to ensure they are productive for seed collectors.
Desk studies and field studies to identify and bring additional seed stands onto the National Register of Basic material.
Planning and planting of new seed stands.
Planning and planting of new seed orchards – which are planted using seed or clonal material from known parents outside of the natural landscape in an area convenient for seed collectors.

Some activities will take time to implement, and so multi-year funding will be available up until March 2025.
The grant aims to attract a broad range of applicants, including both organisations already involved in these activities and those who have not previously considered seed sourcing.

22/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Planned elections in Ukraine are a sham and invasion is failing – UK statement to the OSCE [September 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 September 2022.

UK Ambassador Bush calls planned elections in Ukraine a charade, and part mobilisation admission that the invasion is failing.

Over these past months, we have seen the courage of the Ukrainian people; the adeptness of their military; and their unyielding commitment to their values under the most testing of circumstances. The United Kingdom is proud to call itself a partner – and a friend – of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive marks a new phase. But it is as solemn as it is welcome. To the international community, the Ukrainian flag symbolises bravery, freedom and democracy. To those in Izium, Balakliya, Kupyansk and the Kharkiv region, their national flag is not just a symbol – it is a lifeline. Because as the Ukrainian Armed Forces reclaim their territory, evidence emerges: reports of bodies showing signs of torture; reports of torture chambers; civilians, including children, amongst the dead. Beneath each wooden cross in Izium lies a human being, one who can no longer tell us what has happened to them. For the Ukrainian men, women and children whose stories will be told through post mortem, we promise justice.

Time and time again, Ukrainians have demonstrated the resilience needed to secure victory in their fight for peace. And yet President Putin falsely maintains that the Russian offensive in the Donbas remains on track. The world can see that he is lying. The Russian army, and the Russian leadership, is in panic mode. We see appalling acts of desperation: increased shelling of civilians and civilian infrastructure, including the dam at Karachunivske Reservoir and the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant at Mykolaiv. On 17 September, four medical workers were killed by shelling while attempting to evacuate their patients from a hospital in Strilecha, in Kharkivska Oblast. With Russian military actions in Bucha and Mariupol, we saw the very worst of humanity. By contrast, people like these Ukrainian medical workers, killed while saving lives, show us the best of it. We offer our deepest condolences to their families.

Meanwhile, President Putin’s proxies in the temporarily Russian controlled territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts scramble to organise sham referenda – a pitiful charade. Let us be clear: we will never recognise any Russian attempts to purportedly annex part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. These illegitimate referenda will not alter our approach. We will continue to support Ukraine’s right to defend its territory.

Putin’s sabre-rattling, and decision to mobilise parts of the Russian population is an admission that his invasion is failing. He continues to send tens of thousands of his own citizens to their deaths, ill equipped and badly led. We have seen reports overnight of over a thousand people arrested – another vicious assault on fundamental freedoms in Russia. And in Ukraine we have seen Russia’s deplorable attempts to replenish its ranks with convicts – qualified for little more than continuing the so-called “Special Military Operation” in the style in which it has been conducted thus far: with ineptitude and brutality. Ukraine must win; and we must ensure there is accountability and justice.

We join our partners in condemning the sentencing of Maxim Petrov and Dymtro Shabanov by an unrecognised and illegitimate court in the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic. As the OSCE Chair-in-Office and Secretary-General have repeatedly made clear, SMM national mission members were detained for simply performing their official duties – duties mandated by all 57 participating States. Russia is solely responsible for these actions, and we call for the immediate and unconditional release of our OSCE colleagues.

Indeed, the UK holds the Russian Federation responsible for the safety and welfare of all Prisoners of War and detained civilians in the non-Government controlled areas of Ukraine. 5 British Nationals and 5 other foreign nationals held by Russia-backed proxies are being safely returned. Russia must end the ruthless exploitation of prisoners of war and civilian detainees for political ends.

I join my Ukraine, US and EU colleagues in condemning the sentencing yesterday of the Deputy Leader of the Crimean Majlis Nariman Celâl, as well as Asan Akhmetov and Aziz Akhmetov. Mr Chair, we stand with Ukraine for the long haul, which is why my Prime Minister has vowed to match the UK’s 2022 military support to Ukraine in 2023. Russia must withdraw all of its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders.

22/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Mobile roaming cap to benefit Brits abroad in Norway and Iceland [September 2022]
The press release issued by the Department for International Trade on 22 September 2022.

The UK has marked the first meeting of the UK-EEA EFTA Joint Committee, by signing a decision to cap charges for using data and making calls and texts in Norway and Iceland.

The cap is a world-first in an FTA, keeping costs low for holidaymakers and business travellers to Norway and Iceland.

International Trade Minister Conor Burns MP said:

This news builds on the landmark trade agreement between the UK and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and is the first of its kind world-wide showing how the innovative trade deals we negotiate are bringing real benefits to British travellers.

I look forward to working with businesses across the UK to take advantage of deals that banish barriers, boost jobs and save money.

Our trade deal with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein signed last year aims to boost critical sectors like digital, financial, and professional business services, slash tariffs on top-quality British exports and support jobs in every corner of the UK.

The new FTA allows UK mobile operators to offer their customers surcharge-free mobile roaming in Norway and Iceland by creating a mechanism to cap the rates operators charges each other.

Background:
- Once this decision is in place, the UK will then implement secondary legislation which will be in place early next year. We will work with Mobile Operators to ensure that the savings secured from this cap are filtered down to consumers.
- Liechtenstein is not party to mobile roaming provisions due to their capacity. However, there is an option for this to be extended to them at a future date.
22/09/2022
PRESS RELEASE : HRC 51 – UK Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar [September 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 September 2022.

UK Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Simon Manley, delivered a statement on the deteriorating situation in Myanmar.

Thank you, Mr President.

Thank you Special Rapporteur for your update yesterday afternoon.

We share your deep concern at the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar. I strongly condemn the junta’s human rights violations across the country. You, like others, have highlighted the truly horrific tactics, including mass killings, village burnings and indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians. The military’s recent attack on a school in Sagaing is utterly indefensible. There can be no justification for the killing of children and innocent civilians.

The regime’s executions of pro-democracy and opposition leaders in July were shameful acts that further demonstrate its casual disregard for human rights.

And we – like others – are concerned about the increased fighting in Rakhine State. Rohingya communities confined to camps and villages in Northern Rakhine risk being caught in the middle of the fighting.

Mr President, we stand with the brave people of Myanmar, and reiterate our call on the junta to end the violence now. Human rights violations and abuses must stop now. Civilians, including humanitarian workers, must be protected from violence by all parties. And we need unobstructed humanitarian access to reach Myanmar’s most vulnerable.

Special Rapporteur,

How can the international community better protect civilians in Myanmar?

22/09/2022