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  • Elizabeth Truss – 2014 Speech on Childcare Reform

    Liz Truss
    Liz Truss

    Below is the text of the speech made by Elizabeth Truss, the Education Minister, at the Resolution Foundation in London on 13th February 2014.

    We live in a time of big changes: unprecedented globalisation, new technologies, and a shifting balance of global economic power.

    As the research of the Resolution Foundation shows, these powerful forces are changing how we work – and what we do.

    It’s making the link between education and earnings much stronger – because a tech-led, outward-facing economy rewards the highly-skilled.

    The OECD, for example, says that the association between education scores and GDP growth increased by a third from 1960 to 1980 and 1980 to 2000.

    And the pay and prospects of families are changing, too.

    Across the developed world, it has become the norm for both parents to work. In 60% of 2-parent families in the OECD, both parents work. And the concept of work itself is changing – becoming more flexible. People change jobs more often – and mums and dads use different combinations of work – sometimes holding down 2 or more jobs.

    Day in day out, they’re taking decisions about how they structure work – while also raising happy, successful children.

    For anyone that’s ever rushed home from a meeting to the school gates, or sat down to work out how to balance family time and family bills – they’ll know that this often feels like a challenge.

    But I think these conditions present an opportunity.

    Because a changing economy means that parents need affordable, available childcare more than ever.

    A changing world means that children need a rigorous, rounded education more than ever.

    The opportunity is to join those 2 things together – so that we achieve both.

    The opportunity

    Get it right, and we help parents – and give children a good start in life.

    That is the potential of an education and childcare system that works.

    And that’s why we’re reforming education, and reforming childcare.

    Longer school day

    Because at the moment, some children are falling behind.

    Since 2010, the number of children in failing schools has dropped – by a quarter of a million. But we still have a long tail of poor academic performance.

    And it’s not just academic performance. Whether it’s simple things like not having space to do homework – or big things like not being encouraged into core academic subjects – we have a long-term issue with low social capital – of pupils who lack the cultural knowledge or network to succeed.

    And for parents, we know things are often frustrating.

    Listen to the blogger Rebecca Allen, a researcher at the Institute of Education, talking about what happens when schools close in mid-afternoon:

    I am resigned to spending many afternoons each week standing at the school gate, driving my children to extra-curricular clubs, sitting reading my Twitter feed while the club is running, driving them home and preparing their tea while they watch TV. Yes, it is great for families to spend quality time together, but this doesn’t feel like good quality time to me.

    Some children left behind – some parents feel unsupported.

    This is why Michael Gove announced last week that a future Conservative government would help state schools – just like independent schools – to offer a school day 9 or 10 hours long.

    That extra time would help children who might otherwise slip. It would provide a safe, supervised place to do homework – and in particular, ensure everyone masters the core academic subjects – maths, English, sciences, languages, history and geography subjects that wealthier families have always encouraged their children into – and that our competitors like Germany and Poland now mandate for all children to at least 16.

    And at the same time, it would help all children build character, confidence and resilience. It would provide time for debating, cadets, orchestras, drama, volunteering, getting employers in to develop technical skills and get ready for the world of work – things that nurture rounded young people – activities that wealthier families often take for granted.

    And for parents who want to work, an extended school day makes balancing work and care much easier.

    Of course, some schools do it already.

    Like Great Yarmouth Primary School. Their school day runs from 9 to 5 for years 3 and 4, and to 6pm for years 5 to 6 – using that time to provide team sports, drama, extra maths, and supervised homework clubs.

    Or Bourne Abbey Church of England in Lincolnshire. They’re a converter academy, offering provision, from 7:30am to 6pm. They’re rated outstanding.

    They show you can expand children’s horizons, and support working parents.

    It’s good to see teaching leaders like Russell Hobby recognise this. As he said, the current schedule of intense periods and long breaks doesn’t necessarily work for teachers, either. He welcomed a debate over an extended school day – because it’s not about teachers being on their feet long into the evening.

    It’s about the fact that we have school buildings across the country, sitting empty for hours of each day. The fact that children need a broad, rounded education – which too many are currently denied. The fact that parents struggle to do the school to care run.

    It’s about seeing results for children and support for parents as part of the same question.

    So we’re making it easier for schools

    So today, I am delighted to announce sweeping reform of the regulations around the school day and childcare.

    We publish our response to a consultation, outlining plans for a simplification and improvement of the rules.

    And that will make it easier for schools to offer a longer school day.

    At the moment, if they want to bring in an external provider to run on-site care, they have to do new registrations. If they want to offer extensions of the school day, they have to struggle through a different set of staffing rules, different qualification rules, local consultations, and local authority permissions.

    So we’re making the staffing requirements for out-of-hours the same – so that the school doesn’t need to worry about changing the numbers of staff, just because the clock’s struck 4.

    We’re improving the child development guidance, so they don’t need to worry about meeting unnecessary rules about pedagogy and instruction.

    And we’re removing unnecessary central rules around setting up after school clubs – so if they want to bring in an external childcare provider, they don’t have to worry about a pile of new paperwork.

    Childcare outside schools

    And we also want to makes it easier for the childcare around the school day, too.

    At the moment, for example, childminders can’t operate outside homes.

    So in future, they’ll be able to. If schools want to bring them in, they can just do it.

    And at the moment, parents aren’t allowed to pay a neighbour, or relative, if they want them to look after their children for more than 2 hours – unless they register with Ofsted.

    That’s just daft – especially when the gap between school finishing and work ending is more or less 2 hours exactly.

    So the plans released today make it easier, increasing the time they can rely on informal care from 2 to 3 hours.

    So a longer school day; making it easier for schools to offer childcare; more sensible regulations.

    All of these things help parents.

    Whatever combination of work and care is right for them – they should feel confident there’s an option.

    Quality in childcare

    We are also improving childcare for the under 5s – as well as raising the quality of provision.

    All the evidence suggests once an attainment gap opens up, it’s hard to close later in life. At the moment, by the time they start school, poorer children are a full 18 months behind their richer peers in vocabulary development. It would be better to think about preventing the gap in the first place.

    That requires high-quality staff and pedagogy suited to the age of the child.

    The psychologist Daniel Willingham notes that it’s not a simple choice between academic or fun activities. Often, they’re the same thing. As he says:

    Songs and rhyming games…help children hear that words are composed of individual sounds, making it easier to learn how to read letters.

    Kids gain knowledge about the world – important for reading comprehension in later elementary years – when they are read to.

    Jigsaw puzzles and globes help kids develop spatial skills, which later help with math.

    Household rules teach children to learn to control their impulses, part of learning self-discipline.

    And these activities need teachers to lead them.

    Already, we’ve seen a 25% increase in the number of early years teachers recruited, when you compare September 2012 to 2013. We’ve introduced English and maths requirements, so that staff are themselves confident and have reached a minimum standard.

    But we should also think about how providers structure their operation, too.

    If they’re ambitious and smart, they can spend less money on overheads, make better use of their buildings, drive up their occupancy rates.

    Meaning there’s more money to spend on high-quality staff.

    And we know that containing costs doesn’t have to mean low quality. We know that other countries, like France or Germany, have excellent systems, for comparable amounts of government spending – while also paying staff good salaries and keeping parents’ costs affordable.

    School nurseries

    And we’re seeing it happen in England, too.

    There are some great school nurseries out there. That are open 8 to 6. That offer affordable care. And that deliver outstanding quality.

    Take schools like St Bede Primary Academy or Parbold Douglas Academy, in the North West. They are rated outstanding by Ofsted. They use highly qualified staff.

    And because they’re smart about their sessions, their staffing and their costs – it only costs these schools about £6,000 a year to provide each place. Direct comparisons are difficult, but average for the North West as a whole is something like £9,000.

    So not only do these schools help children: they help parents.

    We want more school nurseries to have similar ambitions.

    That’s why we are providing an £8 million fund to London local authorities – where costs are particularly acute – to extend their opening hours.

    We’re working with 49 different schools as they offer places for 2-year-olds – seeing what works for their pupils and parents, and how school premises can be used to offer nursery places

    And just imagine if all school nurseries opened longer. About two-fifths of all places provided in London are in school nurseries. Across the country, some 30% of all childcare is in school nurseries.

    If they all went from 9 to 3 to 8 to 6 – that’s over a 60% increase in childcare hours at school nurseries.

    Private nurseries and chains

    And it’s not just school nurseries we want to see expand.

    We’re backing high-quality private nurseries and chains, too.

    We’re ending planning restrictions – so they can convert buildings without extra bureaucracy.

    We’re simplifying funding – so that good or outstanding providers automatically get money.

    And in the reforms announced today, we’re removing unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape – allowing providers to register multiple premises in one go.

    All of that makes it easier for the best nurseries to grow – which in turn, makes it easier to provide quality care, and keep bills for parents low.

    Of course, private providers have some extra costs, like VAT.

    But it can be done.

    Like Cedar Road nursery, in Northamptonshire, that I visited last week. I saw children toasting marshmallows by a campfire – learning and having fun. The local MP Michael Ellis and I were shown around by the Director, Tom Shea – and we were served some play dough ice creams, children learning counting and gross motor skills. Their staff are well-trained, and well-paid. It’s rated outstanding.

    But what was really impressive was that they used their resources so well. They had 150 children on their books. They had reduced paperwork and recording to spend more time interacting with the children. And they had a capable manager – who could justify the progress children were making to Ofsted, without needing daily or weekly notes.

    Childminders

    If we look at childminders, we can see similar issues.

    Many are low-paid. Many struggle to fill their hours. Many have high costs for things like marketing or buying equipment – an average of £3,600 per year. We know that we have fewer younger childminders entering the profession – and it costs about £800 just to become a childminder.

    So we’re helping by first, simplifying funding – so that any good or outstanding childminder automatically gets access to funding to provide free early education.

    And second, we’re helping establish childminder agencies. So that the admin burden – marketing, accountancy, equipment, training, registration – is shared, so childminders spend less time on paperwork, and can concentrate on what they want to do – look after children.

    About 20 organisations are trialling the agency model. We have schools, private enterprises, local authorities and a children’s centre – working out how they can help childminders, and meet parent’s needs in their local area.

    Because we want more good childminders – both independent and agency.

    Whole market working together

    But crucially – whether it’s schools, private providers, nurseries or childminders – we want the system to work as a whole.

    In schools, one of the big lessons of academy trusts and school chains is that they can drive up standards faster – by sharing resources, and learning quickly from each other, and stronger schools lending help to weaker.

    By encouraging chains and expansion in nurseries and school nurseries, I hope we see the same pattern in early years.

    And we want all providers to work together. So our rules move us towards a system that is much clearer and more coherent.

    In registration – it makes no sense to have 3 separate, overlapping safeguarding requirements – so that childcare workers have to spend time working out which requirements apply to which registers.

    So we want to make it simpler – with 1 set of aligned requirements.

    In inspection, it makes little sense to have different requirements and rules for different providers.

    So we want to make it simpler – with a much more coherent, flexible inspection framework.

    Because we think of education as 1 system – and will work further with the National College of Teaching and Leadership and Ofsted towards a system where from 2 to 18, teachers have the same respect, the rules are equally clear, quality is equally valued, and parents are equally supported.

    Parents survey

    Things are moving in the right direction.

    Last month we published our annual survey of parents. Those parents told us that hourly costs for nurseries were about 6% lower in 2012 to 2013 than 2011 to 2012 – and childminders, about 11%. It showed that low-income parents were accessing more childcare by 16%. And it showed that maternal employment had gone up.

    And other surveys are encouraging, too – like the National Day Nurseries Association which showed more than half their members had frozen fees – or the recent study by Laing & Buisson finding that there has been no real growth in costs for the second year running.

    That’s good – but we are not complacent. And our reforms aim to secure and advance these positive numbers.

    Our vision

    Because as I said when I started – the world is changing.

    Families are feeling the impact of a growing, changing economy.

    We want the highest of expectations for early years education. We want schools that excel at academic performance and also give confidence and resilience. We want education and childcare providers that respond to the modern world, and the way families live.

    We want a system where not only can parents chose the life they want – get the balance of work and care that’s right for them – but can be confident their children are getting a rich, broad and effective education.

    Support for parents, and a good education for children. That’s the opportunity – and that’s what our reforms aim to achieve.

    Thank you.

  • Edward Timpson – 2014 Speech at Council for Disabled Children

    Ed Timpson
    Ed Timpson

    Below is the text of the speech made by Edward Timpson, the Children’s Minister, at an event hosted by the Council for Disabled Children on 24th February 2014.

    Thanks, Christine [Lenehan, Chair and Director, CDC]. It’s great to be with you today.

    And firstly, a huge thanks to you and the Council for Disabled Children and In Control for hosting this important event. The first in a series of 5 that are all over-subscribed – an indication that they are much-needed.

    And to NHS England too, for their continued support in bringing these events together and for their work with clinical commissioning groups and my department to help deliver these substantive reforms to special educational needs.

    I hope you’ve found it to be a productive day so far and are feeling more confident about what these changes – the biggest for 30 years – mean for the health service.

    Now I know that you’ve been through some significant changes of your own in the NHS. I don’t underestimate the challenge this brings. But as your attendance today testifies, I know that you also share our ambition to do much better by some our most vulnerable children – children for whom support has, sadly, too often fallen short.

    When I first took on the SEN brief 18 months ago, I kept hearing the same refrain from families; about how they faced an endless and excruciating fight with a system that’s supposed to help them. About how they found themselves falling through gaps in services that failed to work together. And how they had to repeat their stories over and over again to different agencies.

    I’m afraid to say that too many singled out health as especially hard to engage and get around the table. This is particularly worrying given the significant number of children needing health support under the current system, but perhaps in some ways it’s not entirely surprising.

    I think we would all acknowledge that the existing set-up hasn’t made it easy for you to do your best for these children and join up with education and social care in their interests – something that we know has caused frustration on all sides and that we know is absolutely key in securing better outcomes and a better transition to adulthood.

    New duty on health and drive for integration

    Which is precisely why we’re overhauling the SEN system, through the Children and Families Bill and the new 0 to 25 code of practice, to provide you with the framework and freedom to support much better integration, both for children with SEN as well as disabilities.

    And through the Care Bill, currently going through Parliament, extending the provision of services beyond 18 where this makes sense, rather than using the blunt instrument of a birthday to determine need.

    As you’ll already have heard from Christine, Andrew, Amanda and Martin, these changes promise to be truly transformative; requiring much closer co-operation between services and a bigger say for young people and their parents – whether through the local offer, setting out the support that’s available in an area, or through new education, health and care (EHC) plans.

    But perhaps the most vital change in all of this is the new duty on health to provide the health aspect of these new plans and to work with local authorities to jointly assess and meet children’s needs.

    This represents a real breakthrough; rebooting the relationship between health and social care firmly and decisively in favour of families. Dissolving the barriers in language, culture and approach that divide team from team, department from department, agency from agency. Spurring professionals to no longer just zero in on their piece of the jigsaw, but to see the whole picture from the perspective of the child and their needs.

    A truly integrated approach that we’re championing in a number of ways – such as the enhanced role for mediation; making the disputes process less adversarial and, with a single point of redress for health, education and social care, making it much easier for families to navigate.

    Now, I know that, with health having different structures for complaints procedures, there was concern about whether families would have to go down separate routes to challenge provision. So I’m pleased that we’ve been able to make improvements and provide greater reassurance in just this area.

    We’ve also listened to worries about schools failing to support children with disabilities or medical conditions, with reports of parents being forced to come into schools to administer medication and pupils even being excluded.

    That’s why we’ve introduced a new duty to make it easier to hold schools to account on managing medicines. This will be underpinned by statutory guidance – that’s currently out for consultation – based on existing good practice. So parents can have more confidence that their child’s needs, both health and educational, will be met in schools.

    But, in many ways, the real acid test will be joint commissioning; with the scope it offers, for instance, to create integrated care pathways with health services. If we can get this right, we’ll not only get a better match between need and the support provided, but also generate better results as well as save costs.

    All of which should make your job easier and also more satisfying – and I think it’s important to stress that this is central to our ambitions for a better SEN system. Professionals who are freed and supported to do the very best for their patients.

    NHS reforms

    Now, believe it or not, I don’t want to load you with unnecessary changes on top of the ones you’ve already gone through. Or demands that conflict with your broader work in the health service.

    On the contrary. This drive for more collaboration on behalf of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is very much in line with the NHS constitution and reforms to the wider NHS, which advocate greater integration wherever possible.

    And as you know, there’s an objective in the NHS mandate regarding children with SEND – that NHS England will be monitoring clinical commissioning groups against.

    So there’s a real opportunity here, on the back of acknowledged difficulties in the past and changes to the NHS, to do things differently and better for some of our most disadvantaged children – with health playing a pivotal role as equal partners alongside social care and education.

    It’s an agenda that involves us all. Quite simply, we can’t do it without you.

    Progress, pathfinders and personal budgets

    As has been said, the Children and Families Bill has completed its passage through Parliament and the legislation will shortly receive royal assent. But this is very much the beginning, not the end of the work that needs to be done.

    We all know that the real hard work, the effort that ultimately pays off, doesn’t happen in Parliament, but in classrooms, GP surgeries, nurseries and clinics, not to mention family homes. A change in law must go hand in hand with a change in culture if it’s to have the impact we all want to see.

    And I’m encouraged that we’re starting to see this important shift.

    As the bill’s progressed and the 20 pathfinders testing the SEN reforms across 31 local authorities have made inroads, there have been growing signs of a change in the approach, understanding and involvement of health providers.

    And as you’ve just heard, families and professionals are starting to feel the benefits.

    The pathfinder in Southampton, for example, has developed an integrated health and social care service that has cut right back on duplication of assessments through joint visits and by co-ordinating information provided in previous assessments.

    Hertfordshire, another pathfinder, has brought parents and health and education professionals together to better understand the family’s journey through the system and how this can be improved when developing new education, health and care plans.

    And there’s the app, developed by Early Support, our SEND delivery partner, which helps families receive, record and share information with all manner of health and education professionals and, in doing so, offers the prospect of useful discussion without endless repetition.

    I’ve seen also for myself, on visits to pathfinders in Surrey and Bromley, what a difference this level of engagement can make. How much more involved and empowered young people and their parents feel in drawing up their own package of support through the education, health and care plans.

    And also what a rewarding experience it is for the professionals involved. As one consultant paediatrician put it:

    I’ve found the new process really positive. The live documents we’ve generated with the parents capture a much better description of the child. Their personality really shines through.

    Not something, I think, many health professionals would necessarily have said before.

    Personal budgets are also having a similar effect; shifting the focus from the mechanics of provision to the potential of each young person, resulting in better conversations between families and professionals.

    And giving children and their parents more choice and control over the support they receive – support such as the dedicated one-to-one health worker who was employed to help a 3-year-old girl with complex health needs that were stopping her attending nursery.

    In her case, at the pathfinder in Oldham, education, health and social care joined forces to provide the funding needed to ensure that the child didn’t miss out on her education – which is surely what integration is all about.

    As one parent, who is using a personal budget, put it:

    It was really lovely to feel…heard on an equal footing…Now I feel part of a team…Now it feels as though there is someone on my side.

    Implementation

    All fantastic examples of what can be achieved when services really come together – and examples that I hope will inspire you as you gear up for the new system which, as you know, kicks in this September.

    And looking forward, we all want to ensure as smooth a transition as possible for vulnerable families and for them to be able to take full advantage of the new arrangements. So now is very much the time to step up your preparations.

    So I’m pleased to see that, in many places, these preparations are already underway, but we know there’s still a lot to do.

    Pathfinders tell us that it takes a least a year to get ready, not least for the cultural change to take hold. So it’s essential that everyone involved; the NHS, education, local authorities and others services, intensifies their efforts.

    And there’s no need to wait. Wolverhampton and Richmond aren’t pathfinders, but they’ve already begun involving families in developing education, health and care plans and a draft local offer.

    Doing more now saves time and energy later and can even lead to savings, so there’s every incentive to act with urgency and make the reforms a success.

    And we want to do everything we can to help you with this.

    Which is why we’re providing local authorities with a £70 million SEN reform grant that they can use, with no ring-fencing, to work with health and others to deliver these changes.

    It’s why we’ve made £30 million available to recruit and train – with the help of the Council for Disabled Children – over 1,800 independent supporters to help families navigate the new system.

    And it’s why I’m working closely with Dan Poulter, my ministerial colleague at Health, to provide advice on implementation to clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards as well as to chief executives and lead members in all local authorities.

    We’re also extending the pathfinder champion programme until March 2015, so that local areas can readily draw on lessons from those who have trodden the path, including in the vital area of health.

    Listening to young people

    But, in many ways, the best guide to how services should be flexed and fused comes from children and young people themselves; brought to home me most powerfully in my regular meetings with EPIC, a group of disabled young people assembled, again, with the help of the CDC. They’ve provided me with valuable advice on the SEN and disability reforms – and held my feet to the fire on a few occasions too! I’m thinking, in particular, of a highly articulate and astute young man called Cory, whose wisdom and practical insight I’ve benefited from hugely.

    They remind me, time and time again, that no-one else has a keener understanding of what will make their lives better. And that services could save themselves a lot of time, money and effort if they just took the trouble to sit down and listen to them.

    Conclusion

    After all, they’re the reason that we’re all here today – because we want children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to be able to aspire and achieve as other children do.

    Because we want them to do well at school, form strong relationships and find success and fulfilment in work and further study as independent adults. Nothing more, nothing less than we want for our own children.

    And all of you in the health service are absolutely critical to making this happen.

    So I very much hope that you will continue to work with us and work ever more closely with your colleagues in education and social care to make a difference to the prospects of some of our neediest children.

    Now I know that this may seem a lot to ask given all the changes that you’ve already been through – and I can’t thank you enough for the hard work and dedication you’ve put in so far.

    But with the new duties on health, which reinforce wider changes in the health service, there has never been a better opportunity for you to play a full and active role in transforming SEND provision – backed by the significant support that we’re providing.

    The fact we can see that this more ambitious approach is already working wonders in the pathfinder areas and beyond gives us real cause for optimism. Like you, I want families everywhere to be able to enjoy this kind of outstanding support.

    Support that fits in with their needs and not the other way around. That sees children’s potential and not their limits. Support that’s truly on their side.

    Thank you.

  • Edward Timpson – 2014 Speech on Young People and Sport

    Ed Timpson
    Ed Timpson

    Below is the text of the speech made by Edward Timpson, a junior Minister at the Department of Education, to the Youth Sport Trust Conference on 5th February 2014.

    Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be here.

    Before going any further, let me get a confession out of the way: I’m a big fan of the Youth Sport Trust. Not just because your work to give every child access to sport – and change their lives through sport – is essential – but because your passionate belief in the power of sport can be – and often is – an inspiration to others.

    Because any sports fan can remember those defining moments when we were inspired to go and compete.

    I remember mine.

    It was 1982, and I was excited. My dad was running the second ever London marathon, and I was standing with my family along the Mall, waiting for him to come cantering past. If anyone recalls Hugh Jones – one of our best runners back then – he dashed past in first place, the crowd erupting as this blur of red hair flew by, a human gazelle speeding towards British glory – and with unrivalled anticipation I waited for my dad to come through behind him.

    And waited. And waited.

    Two hours later, there he came, running around the corner.

    Well, I say running – staggering would be more accurate.

    So it maybe wasn’t first place – but I went wild as he plodded past. And over 30 years on, as I try and knuckle down to training for my ninth London marathon this year, it inspires me still.

    And that’s exactly what you do – inspire and encourage and train and support – and give young people access to sport. It’s great work, and it’s great to be here today.

    Collaboration in government

    And the theme you’ve got for your conference – excellence through collaboration – it made me think.

    It made me think about the culture that surrounds sport – its special nature – and what those 2 ideas really mean.

    And I came to the conclusion that we’re probably on the same page.

    For instance, collaboration is at the heart of our approach at a national level.

    We all know that school sport is important for so many different things.

    It’s important for health.

    I’m not sure if anyone saw the figures on child obesity released before Christmas. Obesity rates in children fell to 14% in 2012 – the lowest level since 1998.

    That’s encouraging, though it’s certainly not enough to be complacent. But we’re so used to bad news on child health – a creeping barrage of headlines about an inactive, inert generation. These numbers show it just isn’t inevitable.

    We all know that school sport – getting children active – is an essential weapon in the fight against obesity.

    And I’m sure I don’t need to convince you that sport and PE have a real and lasting positive effect on pupils’ wider attitude towards school.

    Sport offers children something quite distinctive. A chance to compete, to push yourself – but also lessons about teamwork and people. We even have a word – sportsmanship – for the particular respect and ethos that sport, at its best, creates.

    Whether it’s generosity in victory, discipline in training – or simple humility after an absolute thrashing at the hands of a better team – sport isn’t a bad way to learn about life.

    Put that way, it sounds like quite good training for politics, too.

    So sport is about health, and about competition, confidence and character. And if it’s something that affects so many aspects to growing up – often referred to as our physical literacy – then we need to get the health, education and culture departments all working together.

    That’s why we set up a cross-ministerial working group last year, so that different departments are all working together – really working together – for the first time. It’s collaboration, at the heart of government.

    We meet every month, bringing together colleagues from across government and real experts from the sector – including, of course, Sue and John from YST.

    Sport for all children

    And we don’t just want sport to be for the minority, either.

    Many of you I’m sure will know of Rachel Yankey. She plays for Arsenal and England.

    She’s the most-capped England player of all time – beating Peter Shilton by just 1 game – which is fine by me, because anyone who’s talked to me for more than 5 minutes will know my hero is the goalkeeper Joe Corrigan, and Peter Shilton kept Joe out of the England men’s team for most of the late 1970s.

    So, that 1 extra cap makes all the difference.

    Anyway – when she started to play football aged 7, Rachel and 2 male friends tried to join a local club.

    Except the club was boys-only.

    So she said her name was Ray – which was near enough the truth – and cut her hair short to fit in.

    And she got away with it for 2 years. I’m not sure her parents approved of the new hairdo.

    But she went on to become England’s first ever female full-time professional footballer.

    I think we can all agree that it’s just wrong if ambitious girls like Rachel have to fight against the system to get a chance to play. About two-fifths of all boys over 14 play sport each week. But for girls, it’s just a third. That’s such a waste of talent.

    But if we look over the Atlantic to the USA, we see the rewards for letting that talent blossom and grow into a national force. There are now 1.7 million women registered with US Soccer – not far behind the 2.5 million we have. It can be done.

    That’s why Maria Miller, the Sport, Culture and Media Secretary, set up a group to look specifically at how to encourage more girls into sport – bringing in high-profile businesswomen, athletes and sport experts.

    And that’s why Sport England’s Active Women campaign got £10 million from the lottery to work with low-income women. There’s a £2.3 million project in Bury, too, called ‘I will if you will’, seeing what sort of activities would bring more women and girls into sport. And we funded the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation to understand where future efforts should be directed.

    And the same goes for disabled sport. It’s wrong for special educational needs or disability to prevent access to sport, or physical activity.

    So 10,000 disabled children now have the chance to play meaningful, competitive sport . Fifty schools – like the Marjorie McClure School in Bromley that I’ve visited – run the Project Ability strand of the School Games, which aims to increase sporting opportunities for disabled young people. And for the first time, Change4Life clubs now offer the Paralympic sports, boccia and wheelchair basketball.

    Now, everyone remembers the Olympics opening ceremony, with Sir Tim Berners Lee sending a tweet that flashed around the stadium – saying ‘this is for everyone’.

    He was of course talking about the internet – but he may as well have been talking about sport.

    Because not everyone will win an Olympic medal. Only a few will ever score for Arsenal. Or win the London marathon.

    But everyone can get excited about sport if we encourage them – and if we give them the opportunity.

    That, to me, is what collaboration really means – working together, government departments and sport experts, so that the passion and excitement and sheer fun of sport is accessible to every child, at every level, from every background.

    So collaboration is a principle that runs through our work.

    Excellence in sport

    But what about the other theme of this year’s conference – excellence?

    Well, we’re backing excellence through competitive sport.

    With your help, with substantial support from the National Lottery and from Sainsbury’s, the School Games are growing year on year.

    Last year, around 16,000 schools took part – that’s almost two-thirds of all schools.

    I’ve met headteachers and children who took part in the finals in Sheffield, and the excitement and pride was obvious. The games really were the talk of the playground and staffroom alike.

    We want them to go on, growing each year – so that every child, in every school, has access to competitive sport – to have the chance to excel on a national stage, to have the chance to surpass their personal best.

    And as you know, PE remains very much part of the national curriculum – and compulsory for children at all 4 key stages.

    We think PE teaching is a specialist role too. So it deserves bespoke support.

    That’s why we’ve invested three-quarters of a million pounds in creating a new intake of specialist primary PE teachers. The first 120 trainees will be qualified to teach from this September – and it’s already attracted some high-calibre graduates who want to share their love of sport.

    But it’s not just about what we do in central government.

    We want to see these principles at a local level, too.

    Local lead for school sport

    Look at the primary sport premium, for example. We’ve committed over £450 million up to 2016. It’s the only money for schools that’s ring-fenced.

    But it’s up to schools to work out how to spend it. Whether it’s bringing in specialist sports experts to work alongside staff, or buying new equipment, investing in facilities, or using that money for continuous professional development or staff training – we’ve given real discretion over how it’s used.

    And across the country, with the help of the Youth Sport Trust and others, we’re seeing some schools taking some really imaginative approaches.

    Some are pooling their money, for example. They realised that they get better economies of scale for buying equipment, or benefitting from a PE specialist. That they can share facilities, or staff. So they’ve joined forces, and created their own local networks.

    And again, it’s not just about education. Health and wellbeing boards are getting involved too – because in health, like in education, local conditions vary – so local organisations should lead.

    And it’s not just primary schools benefitting.

    We’ve always been eager for schools of all ages to work together.

    Projects like Access to Schools in Birmingham are trying to find ways to get better use of secondary school facilities by the wider community, while Sport England aims to have 4,000 ‘satellite clubs’ at secondary schools by 2017.

    And we’re now seeing that the sport premium is bringing primary and secondary schools together.

    In Southwark, for example, Bacons College has taken the lead in setting up a network, the London PE and School Sport Network. They work with YST and 72 primary, 17 secondary, 5 special and 4 independent schools across the borough – working together to give the best PE teaching possible, and make the most of that premium money.

    So we might be keen on collaboration at a national level.

    But I’m even more delighted that schools have taken it on at a local level.

    There are no one-size fits-all policy solutions for school sport.

    And this sort of local energy and teamwork is exactly what we hoped the premium would foster.

    Tribute to the Youth Sport Trust

    And in that context, I want today to pay tribute to the work of the Youth Sport Trust.

    Because you’re at the forefront of grassroots work. Your help with using the premium wisely. Your sessions for cluster co-ordinators. Your essential work with the School Games. Your training for PE coordinators in schools, National School Sport Week, your sport camps and more – all these things drive up interest and participation in sport.

    And nowhere more so than with the Youth Ambassadors programme.

    It’s so important to make sure the memory of that amazing summer in 2012 doesn’t die. I’ve been fortunate to meet some of the hugely impressive ambassadors who, up and down the country, are keeping the spirit of 2012 alive.

    And today, I’m delighted to announce that we will be renewing the funding for the programme.

    We will extend funding for an additional 12 months – £250,000 for 2014 to 2015 – to help continue the Ambassador’s efforts – and get more and more children into sport.

    So at a national level, at a local level – collaboration and excellence – that’s what we want.

    I think we all agree on that.

    Conclusion

    Now arguably, in sport, collaboration can go too far.

    At the first ever London marathon – the year before my dad raced Hugh – the first 2 people to cross the line, American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen held hands in a public display of sportsmanship.

    Now I’ve run a marathon with my wife. We ran the London marathon together in 2012, the Olympic year. And I’m ashamed to say that, although we ran stride for stride the whole way, as we came to the finish line on the Mall – almost on the same spot I’d stood and cheered my dad on 30 years before – rather than grab my wife’s hand in a gesture of solidarity, mutual respect – and dare I say, love – I grunted a self-motivating ‘come on’ and did a Linford Christie style dip – in order to come 7,836th rather than 7,837th.

    My excuse? On the field, collaboration sometimes has to take second place to excellence.

    But when we’re talking about how all of us can inspire the next generation – about how we build up and maintain active, healthy kids who enjoy sport and get everything it has to offer – it’s a different story. Collaboration and excellence are 2 things we should insist on.

    And as we move forward with a sustained drive to push them both through the power of sport, I thank you for your help, and commitment, in making it happen.

  • Herman van Rompuy – 2014 Speech to Conference of Parliaments

    Below is the text of the speech made by the Herman van Rompuy, the President of the European Council, to the Conference of Parliaments on 20th January 2014.

    It is a pleasure to be able to join you today in this second meeting of the Conference of Parliaments provided for by Article 13 of the Stability Treaty. Inter-parliamentary meetings like today are important in helping the participating parliaments to better exercise their scrutiny role at home, as regards their respective executive’s involvement in European decision-making, and also of course to confront their own ideas directly with one another.

    Although each national parliament remains responsible for its country’s own economic policy and its own budget, these powers are now exercised in a context of enormous interdependence and in a framework that we are developing together to manage that interdependence.

    This interdependence is, of course, particularly acute for those who share a common currency, but, as the treaty spells out very clearly in Article121 relating to the whole Union, “Member States shall regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern and shall coordinate them within the Council”.

    Ladies and gentlemen, the economic crisis that hit us half a decade ago was the biggest economic downturn to face the western world since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It revealed shortcomings in national economic policies, in our single European market and in the structure of the eurozone.

    All EU-members paid a huge price for a lack of surveillance of banks and for their irresponsible risk-management. Public and private debt was another root cause of the crisis. And major mistakes were also made in the first ten years of the eurozone.

    Much of our work over the last few years has been to rectify these shortcomings at each of those levels. Huge efforts have been made at national level, and not only in those countries that have been in the headlines: all of us have had to address structural issues and long- term changes in our economic situation.

    Looking at the European Union as a whole, a manifest shortcoming was that, although we had a common financial market, we had little in the way of common regulation or common supervision of that market. We did it separately and ineffectively. We have since adopted a significant volume of legislation providing for common and strengthened rules and, for those wishing to join the banking union, a system of common supervision. We also found that our rules on debt and deficits were not applied and were anyway inadequate. This too, has been addressed. Finally, we have set up procedures, as part of the “European

    Semester”, to coordinate economic policy-making among countries across a broad range of areas and to detect and correct the emergence of economic imbalances.

    Last, but not least, at the level of the eurozone, where the Maastricht treaty made no provision for a crisis of this magnitude, we have set up the rescue mechanisms, culminating in the European Stability Mechanism, and brought in stronger coordination of economic policies as set out in the Stability Treaty. And we are continuing the work, with the creation of what is loosely called a “Banking Union”, with last month’s Ecofin and European Council being a key staging post.

    Allow me to dwell in more detail on the Banking Union, as it has been the focus of our most recent agreements, in particular around last month’s European Council. Heads of State and Government had previously promised this for December, and agreement was delivered in December. Banking frameworks generally come in three parts – supervision, resolution, and deposit guarantee – and so does ours:

    First, deposit guarantees: the new directive, which will provide a unified scheme, was agreed in talks between the Council and the European Parliament, two days ahead of that European Council meeting.

    Second, on supervision: the single supervision mechanism will be up-and-running at the latest in November, with Ms Danièle Nouy as its head. A health check for banks is currently underway, ahead of the European Central Bank taking on this new supervision role.

    Third, on resolution: the Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive, that will harmonise the rules on this, was also agreed between the Council and the Parliament, just before our December summit. But, most important of all, the finance ministers found a consensus on the single resolution mechanism. A good agreement must now be reached, of course, with the European Parliament on this. I hope this will happen swiftly to make sure we have the Banking Union framework agreed by the end of this electoral cycle. And I urge Council and Parliament to find a consensus.

    The magnitude and speed of these achievements should not be underestimated. For the eurozone, it is the biggest leap forward since the creation of the euro itself. We are putting the vicious link between failing banks and government finances behind us, and this will help to get economies going again. Beyond that, what the banking union reconfirms, is the full commitment of all leaders to a strong and stable eurozone. Our political will remains intact. The existential threat to the eurozone is behind us. Precisely thanks to this political will.

    By the end of the year, the main elements from my reports and the report of the four presidents, on getting to “a genuine Economic and Monetary Union” will largely be in place. And, while designed to address the Eurozone’s shortcomings, our new Eurozone architecture is open to non-euro-area Member States.

    We also made further progress in the December European Council on the “E” in EMU: our economic union, going beyond the European Semester, the 6-pack, the 2-pack, and the fiscal compact. We discussed how to complement all this with “Partnerships” for competitiveness, growth and jobs.

    The idea is to encourage key structural reforms, necessary for the sound working of EMU, through a balanced approach, to foster more national ownership through mutually agreed partnerships. With more responsibility – more engagement and investment in sound economic policies – and with more solidarity – more support and financial incentives. The aim is to reach final agreement on this piece of the “Economic Monetary Union puzzle” by October 2014.

    In the December European Council, we also came back to our on-going work on competitiveness, growth and jobs, assessing the progress on the Compact for Growth and Jobs. With President Werner Hoyer of the European Investment Bank, we followed up on the EIB stepping up its lending to the economy, in particular to small and medium-sized enterprises. The new EU funds for 2014-2020 are also now available, including for the Youth Employment Initiative and the SME initiative. The EIB delivered.

    In the past year we have mobilised all possible levers to spur the recovery forward and, thanks to this and, more importantly, all the national efforts, I am convinced 2014 will be a better year, with average employment levels beginning to grow again.

    Allow me now to return to the overall picture – of the cumulative work carried out over the last four years, step by step, to endow our Union with these new means that will, together, make a real difference to the management of our economic interdependence.

    Some of all this was done on the basis of the existing treaties, through European legislative procedures. Other aspects required the creation of new instruments that did not previously exist and which needed the approval and ratification of national parliaments. Some aspects relate to the Union as a whole and some to the eurozone. All have raised questions about ensuring democratic accountability.

    As a general rule, accountability for national decisions is of course via national parliaments, while accountability of European decisions is ensured jointly by the Council (whose ministers are accountable to national parliaments) and the European Parliament – a double safeguard, a dual legitimacy, but also a dual complexity.

    But when a decision involves both national and European competences, it can become even more complicated. And that is indeed what, in some cases, has emerged from our work. And even if, at the end of every line of accountability lies a parliament, it requires us to address the challenges of transparency and readability of our procedures.

    One key aspect is to ensure that national parliaments – whether they are scrutinising a national decision by their government, or their government’s participation in a European decision – are able to ensure accountability and have the tools to do so.

    The key tool – the ability to scrutinise their national minister – is for each Member State to organise in respect of its own constitution and parliamentary tradition. It does not require a European rule to do so. But the European level can facilitate this, as it has done, for instance, through the Lisbon Treaty provision that all legislative proposals are first sent to national parliaments to consider, before the Council or the European Parliament take a position. The establishment of inter-parliamentary dialogue, such as in this Conference, is also a useful tool.

    As for European-level decisions taken by new authorities to which specific tasks have been delegated (such as the Single Supervisory Mechanism for banks or the forthcoming Resolution Authority, which operate with a degree of independence), what is particularly key here is transparency and reporting mechanisms, enabling an ex-post control of their actions – actions which are in pursuit of objectives laid down for them in the decisions that established them. In addition, the European Parliament plays a role, where appropriate, in appointments to these bodies.

    No-doubt more can be done to enhance democratic legitimacy and accountability in the mechanisms we have established. But it is my firm belief that proposals in this regard should come, first and foremost, from parliaments themselves. I therefore look forward with interest to the ideas and suggestions that will emerge from this Conference and from individual parliaments on this, as well as to your on-going reflections on current economic policy.

  • Dan Rogerson – 2014 Speech at the Royal Bath and West Show

    Below is the text of the speech made by Dan Rogerson, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Water, Forestry, Rural Affairs and Resource Management, at the Royal Bath and West Show on 28th May 2014.

    Thank you for this opportunity to join you here this morning. One of the great pleasures of my role of Minister is the opportunity to attend events like this, and have an opportunity to meet a wide range of people.

    As many of you will know, my constituency, North Cornwall, is a beautiful area of the country, with some wonderful countryside. It’s vital that, as a constituency MP, I understand the rural agenda as well as the urban, and doubly so as a Defra Minister. So I do very much value events like this, and I welcome the opportunity to take your questions and listen to your opinions at the end of my speech.

    I thought I would set the scene a little first, and talk to you about Defra’s key priorities. I’ll then talk about some of the key issues currently facing us- the recent floods, TB, and the importance of food.

    General strategic direction

    My department, Defra, has four key priorities: growing the rural economy, improving the environment and safeguarding animal and plant health.

    However, running through all of these is economic growth as the Government’s top priority- and we all know how important the rural economy is for this.

    We’re supporting the rural economy by helping key business sectors to grow. We work for increased competitiveness in the food chain and the rural economy; improved rural skills; more investment in tourism, and protecting plant and animal health.

    For instance we have sought to allocate £350,000 of RDPE funds for the delivery of rural business skills training activity during 2014/15.

    We can also support a growing rural economy by investing in infrastructure- improving broadband and mobile phone access; investing in flood and coastal protection- and by reducing regulatory barriers and red tape.

    We know, for instance, that online small businesses, whether rural or urban, grow 4-8 times faster than offline counterparts.

    We also know that rural businesses are equally reliant on good mobile coverage. We are working closely with BDUK to optimise benefits of the £150m Mobile Infrastructure Project, providing coverage for premises in ‘complete notspots’.

    One of my first visits as a new Minster was to the launch of an EE mobile broadband project in rural Cumbria, where I had a chance to see first-hand the importance of broadband services for the rural economy.

    There are lots of other projects which Defra is doing to continue promoting and supporting the countryside, from Grown in Britain’s work on growing the British woodland sector, to promoting the importance of British rural tourism.

    However, we can’t have a growing rural economy without ensuring that we manage the big issues well.

    I will speak about a few of the things which I know are on all our minds- TB, flood recovery, and the key importance of the food industry.

    TB

    Firstly, I was asked to briefly touch on TB, a subject which is very important to many of you here today.

    The Government remains determined to tackle bovine TB by all available means which is why we have outlined a 25 year plan to eradicate this disease by addressing infection in both cattle and wildlife. The plan was debated and approved by Parliament last year.

    Following extensive consultation, Defra has launched a Strategy to achieve Official Bovine TB-Free (OTF) status across England by 2038. In the low risk areas, we hope to achieve OTF status by 2025.

    Taking into account the Independent Expert Panel’s recommendations and lessons learned during the pilots, badger culling will continue in Gloucestershire and Somerset as planned later this year.

    It is important to get this right, which is why we have decided to assess the success of the improvements we are making to the culls, in the light of the lessons learned, before taking a decision on how we extend to other areas.

    We fully accept the conclusions of the Independent Expert Panel’s report, and are currently looking at the best ways to implement the recommendations in time for the second year of culling in Gloucestershire and West Somerset.

    Farming and Food security

    The CLA organiser also asked me to talk a little about on food and food security. This is the one area of Ministerial remit I wish I had got. Food is one of my favourite things- so much that I set up an All Party Parliamentary Group on Cheese.

    Food and drink is the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, contributing £24.1 billion to Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2012. It’s vitally important for the UK in terms of economic growth and thriving businesses.

    We have a rich diversity of food businesses- including some remarkable cheese and cider industries, whose wares I hope to be able to enjoy later on today. We also have a high degree of food security in terms of access, availability, resilience and variety of food supply. This is due to our diverse sources of supply, and the strengths of our trade links.

    We know this because we did a UK Food Security Assessment, published in 2010, which analysed the different factors impacting on UK food supply. This told us that UK food security is built on a strong food production base in the UK and access to a wide variety of markets through the EU and an open, rules-based world trading system.

    All of this is supported by consumer prosperity and income, which is addressed through the Government’s focus on growth.

    We support domestic food production and want to see it increase. The Government is committed to championing a thriving, competitive British food and farming sector, driving sustainable growth in the wider rural economy in support of rural communities.

    We are doing this by increasing exports and improving domestic competitiveness. We are also enabling public procurement to support a competitive and sustainable food and farming sector.

    I also particularly appreciate the work that the Farming Sector is doing as part of its own resilience planning- work like the Somerset farming fund to help recovery from flooding. This leads me on to flooding, my last area.

    Flooding recovery and farming specific funding

    The floods from December 2013 until earlier this year have certainly been challenging, for people and communities, central and local government, and all of the agencies and companies involved in dealing with the winter floods.

    Unprecedented weather events caused the flooding we witnessed across the UK. We experienced an extraordinary period of very unsettled weather since before Christmas.

    It was the wettest January since 1766 for England and Wales. Central and south-east England received over 250% of average rainfall. Added to this, tidal surges caused by low pressure, strong winds and high tides led to record sea levels along many parts of the east coast. High spring tides brought coastal flooding to parts of the south and west coasts. River, surface water and groundwater flooding occurred in many areas.

    Latest estimates suggest that over 8,000 properties have been flooded in England since the beginning of December 2013. But our defences and the sterling work of responders helped to protect 1.4 million properties.

    Our Preparations and Response

    The local response was a magnificent effort. In the face of such unprecedented weather, countless people and organisations worked together around the clock to help those affected. The level of response, and spirit of it, was staggering.

    I appreciate how hard everyone worked and just how hard it is for those people whose homes and businesses have been affected.

    All levels of government and the emergency services were fully engaged in dealing with the floods and extreme weather. The Government’s response was led by the COBR emergencies committee.

    The Environment Agency was at the forefront of the local response. In Somerset, this included one of the biggest pumping operations the country has ever seen.

    Military personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, the Army and the Royal Air Force provided flood relief in affected parts of the UK. More than 5,000 personnel were committed to help with flood relief operations. Thousands more troops remained available if required.

    Somerset

    As you will well know, Somerset was particularly affected by the flooding. At the end of January Owen Paterson asked local leaders to produce a long term Action Plan for the sustainable future of the Somerset Levels and Moors. The plan was published on 6 March.

    The plan is wide ranging, and recommended priority actions including dredging 8km of the Tone and Parrett, working on infrastructure including roads and options for the Bridgewater Barrage, setting up a Somerset Rivers board, catchment sensitive farming, minimisation of urban runoff and working on community resilience to flooding.

    I was also particularly impressed to learn of the Somerset flood recovery fund. The Somerset fund is an excellent example of industry pulling together at a time of crisis, and is typical of the genuine community spirit I know from first-hand experience exists throughout English agriculture.

    Looking to the future, we want to see industry doing more to proactively enhance its resilience to all forms of external shock. That’s why my colleague the Secretary of State formed the Farming Resilience Group: A collection of key industry bodies, high street banks, Farm Charities, and others- including the Met Office—tasked with delivering real, practical action on enhancing farm business resilience.

    National Funding

    Protecting our communities and businesses against flooding, and helping them to recover is a high priority for this Government.

    Over this Parliament, the Government is spending more in cash terms, more in real terms, than ever before. Defra will be investing an extra £270 million to repair and maintain critical defences over the next 2 years. This new funding will help the Environment Agency ensure that the most important defences are returned to, and maintained at, target condition. With the extra funding, this Government will be now spending more than £3.2 billion over the course of this parliament on flood and erosion risk management (between 2010/11 to 2014/15).

    We are working with insurance firms and the ABI to ensure that flood insurance coverage is affordable and payments are made when they are needed.

    We’ve also announced funding for flood resilience for households and businesses affects by flooding through the Repair and Renew grant, which launched on the 1 April 2014. Households and businesses who were flooded in the period 1 December 2013 – 31 March 2014 will be able to apply to local authorities for a one off grant of up to £5000.

    Flood Recovery – Farming Recovery Fund

    My last point is also the most important. Our farming industry contributes billions of pounds to the UK economy every year and we want to see it get back to business as soon as possible. Through the Farming Recovery Fund we have made £10 million available to help farmers affected by flooding get their land back into production as quickly as possible.

    Farmers can apply for grants of up to £35,000 to cover 100% of costs of restoring their land. Following feedback, we’ve made it quicker and simpler to claim, with standard costs to negate the need for 3 quotes. The fund closes on the 27th of June, and I would encourage affected farmers to apply for the funds. The application can be found on Gov.uk

    Closing remarks

    I hope this whistle-stop tour of some of our key rural interests has helped to demonstrate that this Government has a strong interest in the countryside and that we are hugely grateful for the work that you and your members do. Working together, we can overcome the challenges of things like flooding and TB, and ensure a thriving countryside and growing rural economy. I very much look forward to hearing your questions and our discussions.

    Thank you.

  • Dan Rogerson – 2014 Speech at the National Flood Forum Conference

    Below is the text of the speech made by Dan Rogerson, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water, Forestry, Rural Affairs and Resources Management, on 13th March 2014.

    Thank you to the National Flood Forum and your new chairman John Pegg for your invitation to speak at the conference today. I look forward to continuing to work closely with you.

    Officially we’re still a week away from the start of spring; but in my mind this drier weather has been long overdue! We’ve had at least 12 major storms this winter and the wettest weather on record since 1766. Latest estimates suggest that over 7000 properties have been flooded in England since the beginning of December as well as large areas of farmland.

    Thank you to all of you therefore for taking time out today from what I realise for many of you has been a very busy few months dealing with the response and ongoing recovery from these floods. I know that many of you were working non-stop over Christmas and have given up tremendous amounts of your free time to assist. Since December more than 1.3 million properties have been protected from flooding by existing defences and improvements to the way in which we respond to incidents. That’s more than 140 homes protected for every one that flooded.

    To me this illustrates that we’re not helpless – there is much that communities, voluntary organisations Government at all levels, and individuals can do collectively and individually to manage flood risk and increase our resilience in the face of it. In every event there are lessons to be learned. I think one of the lessons to emerge will be the importance of valuing local knowledge.

    So this morning I’d like to talk about how we’ve already been doing this, give you my own thoughts about where I think we can do more, and set out one area in particular – building community resilience to flooding – where I think we need to do more, and need to do more together. I’m also here to listen to your reflections from your own local experiences of the recent floods.

    Firstly I want reassure you that we are listening to local communities affected by flooding – the challenges you face and your suggestions for how we can do things better. We’ve taken practical action to cut red tape, be more transparent about our priorities and make it easier for local communities to have their say.

    Funding system

    For example in 2011 we changed the funding approach to flood risk management projects to give communities greater choice and certainty about how their community is protected and what Government’s contribution to worthwhile projects will be. Twenty-five percent more schemes are already going ahead than would have been possible under the old approach, including rural projects like Badsy Brook in Worcestershire which would not have received any Defra funding under the previous system.

    River maintenance pilots

    Last year when farming communities said that red tape was getting in the way of taking practical action to maintain river environments and reduce flood risk, we set up river maintenance pilots in seven areas of England. These are testing out new approaches which put local communities at the centre of decisions around the future upkeep of rivers in their area.

    It is vital that we listen to local experts and learn from their experience in deciding how best to manage flood risk in each area. For example dredging of rivers can produce real benefits in some areas. But in others it could cause serious problems such as flooding of communities downstream or damage to the environment.

    So we need to engage communities in making informed choices about priorities, drawing on the best available evidence – both local and national.

    But the recent floods have shown there is still more Government can do to listen to communities whose local knowledge, skills and energy is vital for an effective response before, during and after a flood. This is why we’ve taken the following actions…

    Armed Forces deployment

    Last month when community leaders in the flood-affected Thames Valley called for more practical assistance on the ground, we deployed 1,600 servicemen and women to work alongside the local multi-agency command chains to protect people, property and vital infrastructure.

    Somerset

    When the people of Somerset called for something to be done about the flooding, we brought in extra resources to facilitate one of the biggest pumping operations this country has ever seen. We also aided the local authorities and Internal Drainage Boards to work together to produce an action plan for the long-term management of the Somerset levels and moors in just 6 weeks. It was important that this responded to the local knowledge and calls for action.

    Published just last week the plan sets out some immediate actions, such as our commitment to dredge 8 km of the Rivers Parrett and Tone and to give more responsibility for water management to local partners – key things local people asked for.

    The plan also recognises the importance of sustaining and enhancing business and community resilience.

    We also announced a £10milion Farming Recovery Fund to help farmers like those in Somerset to restore flooded agricultural land and bring it back into production or improve field drainage.

    The level of support from the public for those affected has also been truly impressive, and shows the strength of our communities.

    We’ve seen everything from direct personal support to those who have had to move from their homes, to gifts of blankets, food and household goods, with great generosity of farmers in donating feed to those whose fields have been flooded and face prolonged loss of grazing.

    We all owe those community organisations who have been at the forefront of organising this support a big vote of thanks.

    I’m sure there will be further lessons to learn, for example around the handling of transport and electricity supply disruptions, that will emerge as part of the review that the new Cabinet Committee on Floods is overseeing. I am interested in what those of you here today think worked well and where there is room for improvement.

    Our focus for the time being though must be on the few areas of the country, especially in southern England, where high groundwater levels mean flooding is likely to continue into the coming weeks.

    Our aim in all of this is to help people get their lives back to normal as quickly as possible.

    But ‘back to normal’ shouldn’t mean burying our heads in the sand and crossing our fingers that flooding won’t happen again – that would be foolish when climate scientists are telling us to expect more frequent and intense rainfall as is consistent with the climate change.

    ‘Back to normal’ should mean developing a ‘new normal’ where our resilience as a nation, as local communities and as individuals is improved, so that we’re all better prepared when flooding next happens.

    So secondly this morning I want to seek your help in embedding community resilience at the heart of our approach to flood risk management. I know that a number of you are already beavering away in your communities helping them develop their resilience.

    I think there will be particular opportunities to develop this even more when our new ‘Repair and Renew’ grant scheme goes live from 1st April.

    The scheme will provide flood resilience grants of up to £5000 for households and businesses that have been flooded because of the exceptional weather this winter.

    It will help people with the cost of repairs that improve a property’s ability to withstand future flooding, over and above like-for-like repairs funded by insurance payouts.

    To ensure the scheme works on the ground for those affected by the flooding we’re working closely with Local Authorities and insurers to develop the scheme.

    But resilient homes and businesses are only part of the story – we need resilient people to achieve resilient communities.

    Sir Michael Pitt noted in his review of the widespread flooding in 2007 “although resilience begins with the individual, greater dividends can be achieved if activities are organised at the community level”.

    Community Pathfinders

    The 13 flood resilience community pathfinders that we’ve funded are looking at trialling approaches to achieve that. I am grateful for the National Flood Forum for their work with many of them.

    For example, with support from our Pathfinder scheme the Cornwall Community Flood Forum, spearheaded by their chair Charles Richards, is developing the expertise of individuals in the community and in the council to retain a lasting resource to support others and share good practice beyond the life of the project.

    Similarly in Calderdale with support from the pathfinder scheme, the council is working with the local community to consider simple practical solutions like ensuring there is sufficient local storage for vital flood protection equipment so it’s close-at-hand and can be called on quickly by those that need it.

    They are also looking at ways to help less affluent households by offering low cost, professional advice on flood resilience and working with a credit union to provide affordable loans to fund the recommended measures.

    We’re also making sure people have the tools they need to develop their resilience. Back in November I launched the Property Protection Adviser tool which provides instant tailored advice to householders about what they can do to help protect their homes from flooding and how much it might cost. Kindly hosted by the National Flood Forum on their website, we’ve already generated tailored reports for 500 homes – I’d love your help in getting the message out there in your own communities about this great free tool.

    Lead Local Flood Authorities have a vital role to play in coordinating approaches locally. Whilst some of them have already published their local flood risk management strategies, many others are still developing or consulting on them.

    I would therefore encourage you to play an active part in the consultation process to help make the local strategies as effective as possible.

    Some authorities won’t had the added impetus that the recent flooding has brought to others; we need to ensure that managing flood risk doesn’t slip down their agenda until a rainy day!

    Flood Insurance

    Insurance is another important tool in developing households’ resilience in the face of flooding. The impact of a single inundation of floodwater lasting just a few hours typically causes £35,000 of damage to a home, according to the Association of British Insurers.

    The Water Bill currently before Parliament is seeking to put into effect the Government’s preferred approach to deal with the future availability and affordability of flood insurance.

    The approach, known as Flood Re, would effectively limit the amount that most UK households at flood risk should have to pay for flood insurance. Flood Re’s benefits will be targeted towards lower income households who are least able to pay.

    I recognise concerns raised by the National Flood Forum (and in Parliament) that Flood Re should not disincentive households in Flood Re from understanding their risk and taking appropriate action to manage it and plan for the withdrawal of the scheme over time. We are keen to ensure that Flood Re plays its part in preparing high-risk households for the transition to the free market.

    The Association of British Insurers has now come forward with proposals for ensuring that the correct incentives are in place to drive uptake of resilient repairs after a flood, particularly for those properties subject to repeat flooding.

    This is a complex issue. There is an important balance to be struck between support for high-risk households and the need to keep Flood Re simple, to ensure that it remains viable and attractive to insurers. We’ll be reporting back on our proposals on this important issue when the Bill is next back before Parliament.

    Concluding remarks

    The number of properties protected despite the exceptional nature of the weather and December’s tidal surge are testament to our improved levels of preparedness for flooding.

    Our short term focus needs to remain on helping those still at risk of flooding and those entering into recovery.

    But our attention then needs to turn to look at what lessons there are to learn from this winter and how we can increase our collective resilience to flooding so we bounce back better from such events in the future.

    That is going to require close cooperation within and between communities and we in Government need to ensure we’re facilitating that, not creating obstacles that prevent it. The National Flood Forum and your members are vital partners in this.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Speech in Dublin

    angusrobertson

    Below is the text of the speech made by Angus Robertson to the Institute for International and European Affairs in Dublin, Ireland, on 20th January 2014.

    Thank you very much for the opportunity to address the Institute for International and European Affairs on the subject of “Independent Scotland: A positive, proactive international partner”.

    2014 is a historic and exciting year for Scotland and the international community is watching.

    On 18th September 2014 voters will be able to freely and democratically answer the referendum question: “Should Scotland be an independent country”.

    The consequences of the vote are profound and will bring tremendous benefits to people in Scotland and will improve our relationships with neighbours, friends and allies in the international community.We shouldn’t lose sight of how we have got to this historic point and why the way in which it is happening is of global relevance.

    Scotland’s constitutional journey is a long one, which has accelerated in recent decades with the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, culminating in the independence referendum.

    Home rule efforts go back into the nineteenth century, following the First World War the Scottish Trades Union Congress pressed for Scottish representation at the Versailles Conference, just like the then British dominions: Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

    The formation of the Scottish National Party in 1934 marked the beginning of serious political efforts to re-establish direct democracy in Scotland and has had permanent parliamentary representation since 1967.

    At the historic 1967 Hamilton by-election Winnie Ewing declared: ‘Stop the world Scotland wants to get on’.

    At the heart of Scottish nationalism is an internationalism which has long pursued a desire to play a positive, proactive direct role in the international community of nations.

    Even with the limited powers of devolution since 1999 Scotland has sought to reach out to the world, in particular to neighbours on these islands, our European partners, nations with a strong diaspora connections such as the United States and countries with strong ties of history like Malawi.

    However, the powers of devolution are limited. They don’t offer the full advantages of bilateral and multilateral relations in a world where normality is independence and growing interdependence.

    In 1945, the United Nations had 51 member states. Now there are 193.

    Over the same period there has been a proliferation of international organisations which seek to improve national and international conditions, whose members are sovereign states.

    From the European Union and the biggest single-market in the world, the Council of Europe and its human rights safeguards, the World Trade Organisation supporting economic growth, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation with defence cooperation guarantees and the list goes on and on.

    In this age of cooperation it is states of all sizes that determine progress, and Scotland is not represented in its own right.

    This can and will change with a ‘Yes’ vote on the 18th September 2014.

    In unique international circumstance, the Scottish and United Kingdom governments have signed an agreement which charts the democratic referendum process. The Edinburgh Agreement, was signed in the Scottish capital by Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond following the election of a clear majority in the Scottish Parliament in favour of an independence referendum, and supported by parliamentarians from the Scottish National Party, Scottish Green Party and independents. In fact referendum legislation is also being supported by the Labour Party, Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.

    The Edinburgh Agreement crucially commits both the Scottish Government and the United Kingdom Government in Article 30: “to continue to work together constructively in the light of the outcome, whatever it is, in the best interests of the people of Scotland and of the rest of the United Kingdom”.

    Following a ‘Yes’ vote in September 2014 both governments would begin discussions and negotiations about transition to Scottish sovereignty. There is an eighteen month period for this co-operation while Scotland is still part of the United Kingdom. It is during this time that arrangements will be made for Scotland to take its place in the international community including multilateral organisations such as the European Union, NATO, United Nations, WTO and so on. While the anti-independence campaign seem to spend most of their time suggesting this will be extremely difficult, even the UK Government’s legal adviser, says the timescale is ‘reasonable’, and the ‘No’ campaign’s own constitutional adviser believes it would occur with an ‘accelerated’ procedure.

    How this will happen and details of the international priorities of the Scottish Government are laid out in unprecedented detail in ‘Scotland’s Future – The White Paper on Scottish Independence’

    There is no international precedent for such a detailed prospectus.

    In over 10 chapters, 650 pages and 170,000 words, it details the  proposal to move from devolution to sovereignty. It has an extensive Question and Answer section with clarification on hundreds of common queries.

    Within weeks of the White Paper launch last November:

    40,000 copies printed, following third reprint of 10,000.

    Around one million online page views.

    More than 90,000 hits on the PDF download page.

    It is free for all to download the White Paper at: www.scotreferendum.com where there is also extensive further documentation.

    At the heart of the independence prospectus is the proposition that decisions about Scotland will be taken by the people who care most about Scotland – that is the people who live and work in Scotland.

    Our national democratic life will be determined in an independent Scottish Parliament elected entirely by people in Scotland which will replace the current Westminster system. Under that current antiquated and inadequate  system, elected representatives from Scotland make up just 9 per cent of the 650 members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords is wholly unelected.

    Governments in an independent Scotland will always be formed by parties that win elections in Scotland. It will no longer be possible for key decisions to be made by governments that do not command the support of the Scottish electorate

    This will end the sorry unacceptable situation that we are regularly governed by parties we have not entrusted to make decisions on our behalf. For 34 of the 68 years since 1945, Scotland has been ruled by Westminster governments with no majority in Scotland. Policies are imposed on Scotland even when they have been opposed by our elected Westminster MPs, including foreign, defence and security policy.

    With a ‘Yes’ vote in the independence referendum we will put an end to governments, policies and priorities which do not have democratic support.

    With a ‘Yes’ vote Scotland will rejoin the international community as a sovereign state and enjoy the benefits and advantages of a normal country.

    In the White Paper, Chapter 6 deals with International Relations and Defence.

    It explains:

    Why we need a new approach,

    The opportunities open to Scotland, and The Scotland we can create, in an international, defence and security context.

    The main summary is as follows:

    Scotland’s national interests will be directly represented on the international stage

    Scotland’s foreign, security and defence policies will be grounded in a clear framework of participating in rules-based international co-operation to secure shared interests, protecting Scotland’s people and resources and promoting sustainable economic growth

    We will continue to be a member of the EU and will have a seat at the top table to represent Scotland’s interests more effectively; we will not be at risk of leaving the EU against the wishes of the Scottish people

    An overseas network of 70 to 90 international offices is planned, built on Scotland’s existing capacity and our share of the UK’s international assets

    Scotland will recognise and act on its responsibilities, as one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, to international development

    Our defence plans focus on a strong conventional defence footprint in and around Scotland and the removal of nuclear weapons, delivering a £500 million defence and security dividend in 2016/17

    Scotland’s security will be guaranteed as a non-nuclear member of NATO, with Scotland contributing excellent conventional capabilities to the alliance

    The foreign policy and international relations of the Scottish Government will take place within three overlapping and interacting spheres that will be the cornerstones of Scotland’s foreign policy:

    our partnership with the other nations of these islands

    our regional role as an active member of the EU with strong links to the Nordic countries and the Arctic

    the global context: our independent role in international and multilateral organisations, including the UN and NATO

    I would like to take these priorities in turn to underline why an independent Scotland will be a positive and proactive international partner.

    Island Neighbours – Closest Partners

    On these islands, we are bound by historic, economic and social ties of great value. This importance is not of itself, determined by where political decision-making lies but we have the opportunity to do so on the basis of equality.

    We now have a British-Irish Council which brings together governments from across Britain and Ireland. With a sovereign Scotland, there will be three independent governments in the Council together with Scotland, the Irish Republic and the rest of the United Kingdom working with the devolved and island authorities.  The secretariat of the Council is already headquartered in Edinburgh, and there is active cooperation between governments across the widest range of subjects from health to the environment.

    Scotland is a bigger trading partners with the rest of the United Kingdom, than China, India, Russia and Brazil combined. This is also true for Ireland.

    Our Common Travel Area, citizenship and voting rights and other cooperation arrangements, including the importance of our shared common market through the European Union are crucial.

    It is in all of our interest that these closest of relationships flourishes. It is in the interests of all of the peoples of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and our immediate island neighbours that our cooperation goes from strength to strength.

    European Union – Crucial Cooperation

    It is also crucial that we continue to safeguard and build on the advantages delivered through the European Union. Decades of peace, economic growth social rights, free movement of people, goods, services, capital and cooperation in an ever widening European Union are a massive achievement.

    28 member states make up the European Union, and more seek to join. We look forward to Scotland taking its seat at the EU top table shortly.

    While there is no doubt there is a need for democratic, political and economic reform to how the European Union works, we need to face up to the threats posed by strong Europhobic extremes, especially in UK politics outside Scotland.

    Even the UK government is planning an in-out EU referendum, and are being politically driven by anti-Europeans in UKIP and the Tory Party.

    This is dangerous to Scottish and Irish interests, and also incidentally to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

    This weekend prominent Scottish businesspeople wrote the following letter to the media:

    “It looks as though the UK may leave the EU following an in-out EU referendum promised by the Prime Minister David Cameron in 2017.

    “Access to the common market is vitally important to both Scottish and wider UK companies. We can see from the poor performance of UKIP in elections and successive opinion polls here that the people of Scotland are generally more outward looking and pro-European than the electorate in other parts of the UK.

    “Scottish businesspeople are worried that despite an overwhelming desire to stay connected with our European partners, voters beyond our borders will remove Scotland from the EU against the democratic expression of Scotland’s business community and wider public. This threat may persist no matter what the result of Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague’s ongoing negotiation on the terms of membership with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    “On this issue, as with many others, Westminster opinion does not represent the democratic will of all the constituent parts of the UK.  It seems likely that all major political parties with a chance of being in government after the 2015 Westminster election will commit to holding an EU referendum. This prospect of a dangerous, metropolitan media driven referendum on EU membership creates great uncertainty.

    “Scotland may no longer be part of the UK at the time of the EU poll and an independent Scotland’s approach to negotiating continued EU membership (which experts have said there will be an obligation to have after a Yes vote) will ensure continuity of membership and effect.  We note in particular the recent positive comments of No Campaign policy adviser Professor Jim Gallagher regarding an independent Scotland staying in Europe and its ability to successfully negotiate key opt outs.

    “Indeed, the Scottish people must now see that there is far more uncertainty over Scotland’s continued access to the common market if we vote to No in the independence referendum on September 18th this year.  A Yes vote is the only way to guarantee that Scottish based companies can continue to trade in a UK and European common market for the free movement of capital, goods, services, trade and people.”

    Scottish independence in a European Union context means that the Scottish Government, elected by the people will be present at all Council of Ministers meetings where the big decisions are taken. Scotland will have a nominated commissioner in the powerful European Commission, and there will be fairer Scottish representation in the European Parliament.

    Scotland will play a positive and proactive role in the EU.

    Key Regional Priorities – Northern Dimension

    A key regional regional priority is the northern dimension. Scotland is a northern European nation with significant priorities shared with our Nordic regional neighbours including: Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

    There are huge environmental challenges posed to the High North and Arctic as well as potential opportunities especially in the energy sector.

    Our neighbours are cooperating through a host of bilateral and multilateral organisations and initiatives.

    Scotland can and must take its responsibilities seriously and work with our regional neighbours.

    This will be a key Scottish priority.

    Scotland’s geo-strategic position with the Atlantic to our west, Iceland gap to the north and North Sea to our east also has an important security dimension. It is in the interests of all allies, neighbours and friends that there is stability.

    That is why the Scottish Government White Paper outlines in great details the plans for defence and security arrangements. Scotland will prioritise maritime capabilities, including maritime patrol aircraft (something that Ireland has but the UK does not).

    We will work with our NATO allies just like the overwhelming number of other members as a non-nuclear state to fulfil the objectives of mutual defence, appropriate capabilities, stability and peace.

    Global Context – Something to Offer

    In a global context an independent Scotland has something particular to offer.

    On international development a strong commitment has been made by the Scottish Government with an an aspiration to be a global leader, championing best practice and innovation.

    The White Paper explains that being a global leader in international development is not necessarily just about the size of aid given in absolute monetary terms, but the impact that can be made across government policy.

    Aid is however an extremely important dimension and an independent Scotland would enshrine a legislative commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance, and an aspiration to reach  1% of GNI in time.

    Success and global impact will be pursued by delivering a coherent approach to international development across all Scottish Government policies – crucially trade, environment, defence and finance.

    On peace and reconciliation there is a long standing commitment to make Scotland the ideal place to support international initiatives. Scotland has already hosted the St Andrews northern Ireland discussions, also meetings from the South Caucausus and there is significant Scottish NGO peace and reconciliation experience such as Beyond Borders Scotland. A sovereign Scottish government can do so much with our particular experience of civic, non-ethnic, democratic and peaceful constitutional change. Scotland is known and liked around the world. This is an ideal way of being able to contribute to a better world.

    On helping the vulnerable we look to a new model with of asylum services separate from immigration. The White Paper Contains proposals for a Scottish Asylum Agency to oversee asylum applications:

    ‘The process will be both robust and humane, and we will continue Scotland’s present approach of promoting the integration of refugees and asylum seekers from the day they arrive, not just once leave to remain has been granted (as is the case in the rest of the UK). In an independent Scotland, we will close UK  Home Office detention centre at Dungavel, end the practice of dawn raids and inhumane treatment of those who have exercised their legitimate right to seek asylum”

    While these initiatives will bring international benefits to those from outside Scotland, there will also be tangible advantages to Scotland in Scotland when pursuing its own international agenda.

    For all of those talented and committed people wanting to work in the diplomatic service, on international development and in defence and security, there will be a full Scottish headquartered career path. Home postings will be in Scotland and the relevant government departments will be based in Scotland. International partners will be directly represented in Scotland with embassies and diplomatic staff and international organisations will also seek enhanced representation in Scotland.

    For all of those involved in the voluntary, charitable and academic sectors in Scotland which deal with international affairs, it will be possible to work with  government departments, agencies and decision makers at all levels in Scotland.

    Conclusion

    Independence will mean Scotland taking its place in the international community and playing a positive proactive international role.

    We will be able to promote a bigger role for the British-Irish Council that brings together the home nations, work constructively within the European Union and join our Northern European neighbours to fully address the challenges and opportunity  of our region.

    Scotland will be a trusted security partner for our allies, play a full role in the Commonwealth, properly carry our burden towards international development and have an ambition to support peace and reconciliation efforts around the world.

    This contrasts with an ever growing parochial anti-European agenda at Westminster. Sadly politics at a UK level is massively influenced by the anti-immigration, Europhobic agenda of UKIP and large swathes of the Tory Party. Their priorities are leaving the EU, walking away from European Human Rights commitments and ignoring the opening gulf in political priorities with Scotland.

    The time has come for people in Scotland to embrace a better international future and grasp the huge exciting opportunity offered by the independence referendum with a ‘Yes’ vote.

  • Owen Paterson – 2014 Speech to the Scotch Whisky Association

    owenpaterson

    Below is the text of the speech made by Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in Scotland on 12th May 2014.

    Thank you for inviting me today to celebrate the Association’s Members’ Day. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to return to Scotland. I am delighted to take any opportunity to shout about Scotch whisky’s great success story.

    That success is down to the hard work of the 35,000 entrepreneurial people directly or indirectly employed by your industry. It is down to men and women like you that we have such an internationally trailblazing product.

    Indeed, this is a product of such quality and prestige that it enhances the reputation of all UK food and drink, which together supports 3.6 million jobs, adds nearly £100 billion to the economy and is our largest manufacturing sector.

    I am pleased that your success has been achieved working in strong partnership with government. My department has long worked very closely with the Association. I worked particularly closely with Gavin, who did great work for the industry and I wish him well for the future. I was pleased to meet David three weeks’ ago, and I’m looking forward to continuing our cooperation with him.

    Exports: recent successes

    In 2013 UK food and drink exports reached their highest level ever at £18.9 billion.

    Scotch whisky makes up nearly a quarter of this, with £4.4 billion of Scotch whisky exported last year. The government is hugely proud of this success, which has led to Scotch becoming a well-loved product all over the world.

    I would like to recognise the Association’s constant efforts, over many years, to support and grow UK exports by increasing the Scotch whisky market overseas. It is hard to believe that in the 1980s, growth had stalled in the industry, and distilleries were being mothballed.

    Three decades later, and the situation is transformed. Whisky is Scotland’s leading single product export and the UK’s largest consumer good export, making up nearly two-thirds of the value of all beverage exports. And do not underestimate Scotch’s role as a pathfinder, advertising the reliability and quality of UK food and drink across the globe.

    The government has supported UK companies to double international food and drink trade in the past decade. That’s not just because we produce the world’s best products. It’s because we have the trade networks, the embassies, and an exceptional diplomatic service – together, they are what win trade deals.

    The UK’s diplomatic networks are what gave us tariff-free deals with the USA on whisky, and Singapore on beef. The Foreign Office employs over 14,000 people in around 270 missions. That’s why last year alone we were able to open 112 additional markets for food and drink exports. That’s good for Scotland’s producers and good for tax revenues too.

    I have seen how well our embassies work. In January I enjoyed telling several hundred politicians, industrialists and opinion-formers at the British embassy in Berlin that the French drink more Scotch whisky in a month than cognac in a year.

    Exports: future prospects

    Future economic wins will rely on the activity of our substantial and long-experienced negotiating teams, who are very actively involved on behalf of the whole UK in forthcoming EU / Indian and South American trade talks.

    You don’t need me to tell you that the Indian market is important, standing at our 4th biggest by volume and 14th by value, up 12% from last year to £69 million. I will be making early contact with the new Indian government following today’s conclusion of the Indian elections and I am looking forward to resuming negotiations on the EU-India Free Trade Agreement. The question of tariffs will certainly be at the front of my mind.

    In South America, momentum is building towards an imminent exchange of offers on the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement negotiations. This will be an important step towards better access to the Brazilian market, where I know consumer demand for Scotch whisky is growing fast. We will report back to you with that outcome but meanwhile I hope that current difficulties with the registration of the Scotch Whisky Geographical Indication will be resolved.

    Seven negotiating rounds have taken place since the launch of EU-Vietnam negotiations in June 2012. Vietnam is keen to conclude the deal which is slated for October 2014.

    Finally, we are starting to see promising developments in negotiations on the EU-USA Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Scotch whisky already benefits from a zero tariff in the USA, so the immediate commercial benefits are likely to be modest. Exports to the USA grew 8% on 2012 to a record £819 million. This represents nearly £1 in every £5 of exports and is by far the largest market for Scotch by value. I discussed TTIP with my counterpart Tom Vilsack in Washington last year and look forward to seeing him again next month in Washington. The UK has real influence on this deal. Notwithstanding the zero tariff I feel our efforts to boost trade through TTIP could help increase exports even further. We are keen to create a more efficient transatlantic trading environment by reducing the non-tariff barriers that cause problems for UK exporters.

    Legal protection

    The UK’s deep diplomatic relationships also protect Scotch against illegal and dangerous copycats. On my first visit to China as Secretary of State in Autumn 2012, I had constructive discussions with the Chinese in Guangzhou on bearing down on counterfeit stills. I am pleased that the Chinese authorities take this issue so seriously and have closed down illegal stills.

    And when the Czech authorities reacted disproportionately to an incident involving illicit alcohol, Defra intervened to resolve the issue quickly and satisfactorily.

    I will actively support the industry in pursuing those who exploit Scotch whisky by name or product. For example, we have in the past seen fraudulent activities in Austria with the production, sale and export of counterfeit whisky and Scotch whisky. I discussed with David the unresolved legal issues that remain on this, and I have written to my Austrian counterpart requesting a meeting between their Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the SWA and Defra.

    Geographical Indicators

    I would like to acknowledge the work carried out by the Scotch Whisky Association in making the most of the EU protection afforded Scotch Whisky as a Geographical Indication.

    Currently, Scotch Whisky is recognized and registered as a Geographical Indication in 41 countries. The latest success in registering Scotch whisky as a certification trade mark in Australia in April this year was a clear example of collaborative working. My colleague William Hague recently met the Australian High Commissioner to get Scotch fast-tracked as a trademark there, protecting an £84 million market.

    It represents an important step in cracking down on fakes and imitations. It is the culmination of meticulous hard work from the Scotch Whisky Association, the UK government and the European Commission.

    The Scotch Whisky Geographical Indication has been further protected with the launch of HMRC’s Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme established this year. The scheme ensures that Scotch whisky is produced and marketed in ways that fully comply with its technical specification.

    I know we have worked closely to achieve solutions for the protection of bulk exports of Scotch whisky outside the EU. The verification system introduced by HMRC goes some way to alleviating the problems with poorly blended and bottled products overseas. Enforcement is also an important aspect to protecting this reputation.

    Budget

    Nearer home, I wanted to touch briefly on the recent Budget decision to end the alcohol duty escalator and freeze spirits duty. I know the SWA was a big part of the campaign for movement on that. This is a good example of how we can work as partners in close cooperation and deliver big decisions with very significant benefits for the industry.

    Wider benefits

    As well as recognising your success in growing your businesses, opening new markets and protecting your brands, I also wanted to recognise the wider benefits of this industry. Not only do you bring high-quality, long-term jobs to the heart of some very remote and rural communities, you are also making an important contribution to the environment.

    I know the SWA published its third Environmental Strategy last year and the industry has been increasingly looking at greener, more environmentally-friendly production with fewer emissions and a move away from fossil fuel sources of energy.

    I am a particular supporter of anaerobic digestion technology for producing electricity. I know Diageo have started using this for malt distilling, which I think is a first. That puts Diageo on the cutting edge of renewable energy innovation. And I welcome the news that the Association is close to achieving zero waste to landfill, with only 5% of waste being landfilled in 2012. These are major achievements which the industry can be very proud of, but I want to encourage you to continue challenging yourselves on this.

    Concluding remarks

    Looking to the future, what we all want to see is an industry that is increasingly developing new products, tapping into new markets, competing with the global players and meeting the demands of millions more discerning consumers. Scotch whisky is ideally positioned to gain from increasing disposable incomes as economies grow in markets such as India, South America and Africa. The Scotch Whisky Association is already well ahead of the game in capitalising on these markets.

    With £2 billion of investment committed over two years, and more than 20 new distilleries planned, the future looks really exciting. But I understand this level of investment can’t be taken for granted. It only happens when businesses can have some certainty and a favourable climate.

    Your ambitions are tremendous, and the UK government will continue do everything it can to provide the positive business environment to meet them. I look forward to working with you over the coming year.

    Thank you.

  • Owen Paterson – 2014 Speech to British Retail Consortium

    owenpaterson

    Below is the text of the speech made by Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on 29th January 2014.

    It’s a great pleasure to be speaking at today’s launch of the sixth edition of the British Retail Consortium’s ‘A Better Retailing Climate’, a voluntary initiative setting out the environmental ambitions of a group of committed businesses.

    Two of my key priorities are growing the rural economy, and improving the environment. These are intricately linked, and this initiative perfectly demonstrates how each enhances the other. Sustained economic growth needs a healthy natural environment, and we cannot invest in our environment without the resource generated by economic activity.

    Environmentally and economically sustainable growth requires a partnership approach between industry and government. This great initiative is just the sort of leadership we hope for and expect from the BRC.

    When the BRC first launched this initiative, they set five targets to reduce the direct environmental impact of the retail sector – buildings, refrigeration, transport, water and waste.

    Today’s report sets out the progress made and I am delighted to congratulate you for not only meeting the targets set, but massively exceeding them. This is a great performance and the case studies in your report highlight an impressive record of achievement.

    The sector has exceeded these targets against the backdrop of the tough trading climate in recent years, both in the retail sector and the wider economy. This shows that growth and sustainable practices can go hand in hand. Sustainable business practices are essential in a resource-constrained world, and only businesses that recognise this can be truly competitive.

    I am pleased to see this reflected in the report. There are a wealth of examples of how retailers have optimised their use of resources to improve our environment, while boosting business.

    You’ve just heard from Ian, who led the Ecosystem Markets Task Force. He is leading from the front on this. B&Q has reduced transport emissions by a third and has used two million litres less fuel, saving itself £1.9m.

    Asda is investing £10 to 15 million every year to improve energy use across its stores, depots and offices. This has resulted in savings of £41.9 million.

    McDonalds has developed a ‘What If?’ digital tool for the beef sector, which allows farmers to manipulate different scenarios to see which changes can improve the efficiency of their farms, and realise cost savings.

    Tesco has made significant progress in reducing its emissions from refrigeration, achieving an absolute reduction in refrigerant gas emissions of 16 per cent, against a backdrop of an 84per cent increase in store space.

    Over 100 of The Co-operative Food’s stores now have doors on their refrigerators, reducing their energy consumption by 38 per cent since 2006, and creating cost savings of £63m annually.

    Boots’ Botanics range is more sustainable than ever, with full traceability of natural ingredients used in products, and with more recycled material used in packaging.

    Morrisons are reducing water consumption across stores through raising awareness of water usage amongst employees.

    Sainsbury’s has launched a ‘Love Your Leftovers’ campaign to help customers reduce food waste through tips and recipe ideas.

    Marks and Spencer is helping customers keep their food ‘Fresher for Longer’ by providing storage advice for food, both in-store and online. These initiatives save businesses money and they can save customers money.

    The Government is creating the right climate for growth by cutting down on burdensome red tape to make it easier for businesses to flourish. The Prime Minister announced on Monday that through the Red Tape Challenge we will save businesses over £850 million by scrapping or improving over 3000 regulations.

    The UK has a long, proud and strong heritage of producing food with robust traceability, rigorous production standards and top quality produce. We’re working hard to make sure that food and drink businesses have a wide range of opportunities to expand, opening up new markets both in the UK and abroad. The public sector bought £2.1 billion worth of food and drink last year. I’m working to get Government purchasers to take advantage of our top quality products. I’m also working to open up new export markets in China, Russia and the USA.

    We’ve been helping business make the best use of natural resources so that they can grow, while reducing their environmental impact. You’ve made water management a key target. Measurement of water usage is complex, but it is a vital step towards managing water use. The sector has succeeded in measuring 83 per cent of water usage so far, and has carried out a range of water efficiency measures to make the most of this crucial resource.

    Defra, with WRAP, has been helping businesses to reduce their water use through initiatives such as the Rippleeffect – a free support package to help companies understand their water use, and identify ways to save water and money.

    The Water Bill, currently going through Parliament, will reform the water market by removing barriers to competition. We will have a more efficient and resilient water industry with lower environmental impacts. It will allow businesses to choose their water and sewerage supplier and enable multi-site operators to tender for one supplier. It is not just good for the environment; it is good for business.

    We want to move towards a ‘zero waste’ economy. This means that we reduce, reuse and recycle all we can, and throw things away only as a last resort. Recycling, reprocessing and remanufacture of materials offer potentially lucrative investment opportunities. At the same time we will save energy, water and use less virgin materials, keeping valuable resources from ending up in landfill.

    I am delighted to see that in 2013, the companies taking part in this initiative sent only 6 per cent of waste to landfill. This is a big step forward from the picture in 2005, when 47 per cent was sent to landfill. Retailers have played a key role in changing how waste is perceived and managed.

    For some years now, Defra and WRAP have been working through the Courtauld Commitment to reduce waste in the grocery sector. We’ve also been working with your members through the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, to help your customers reduce the amount of good food they waste at home.

    As well as celebrating the sector’s achievements to date, I’d also like to welcome the new extremely ambitious targets for 2020. You have set the bar high and I commend you for it. Commitments include promoting better carbon management, reducing the water footprint in the supply chain, and responsible sourcing.

    I am looking forward to the announcement of new targets for the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020 Commitment to reduce the energy, water and waste footprints of UK clothing consumption. And the launch of a consumer campaign to help deliver these targets. It is good to see that the sector is continuing to focus on product life-cycle analysis, building on the valuable work done in the Product Sustainability Forum, supported by WRAP, which mapped the environmental performance of grocery and home improvement products. I am also pleased to see that retailers are continuing to work with supply chain partners on reducing their environmental impact – for example, playing a leading role in the switch to the sourcing of certified sustainable palm oil.

    Palm oil is the world’s most used vegetable oil, and global consumption is increasing. Palm oil can be produced at higher volumes per unit area of land than other vegetable oils, but production is often linked to deforestation and peatland drainage, mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia. This has major impacts on biodiversity and also land rights for local people. Your commitment here is contributing to our wider policies to protect international biodiversity such as the ‘If They’re Gone’ campaign.

    The BRC are part of the stakeholder group which signed up to the UK Statement in October 2012, working towards the target of sourcing 100 per cent sustainable palm oil by 2015. This latest BRC report records the progress made by its members in sustainably sourcing palm oil. Indeed, it is good to see that BRC members are sustainably sourcing 92 per cent of palm oil used in own label products, almost 58 per cent of which is physically certified sustainable palm oil. This, along with the Defra Progress Report published in November 2013, shows that consumption of certified sustainable palm oil in the UK has risen from 24 per cent in 2009 to 52per cent in 2012. This is a vital step in mitigating the negative environmental effects of palm oil production.

    Many of the challenges we face today need new and innovative approaches. Retailers continue to be in the lead on developing many of these, not only in the products you sell, but in new ways of doing business. Today’s report demonstrates that you take that leadership role seriously and are setting ambitious goals that will continue to drive innovation. Thank you to the retailers who are here today, who have demonstrated their successes in making sustainable products, shared their insights into consumer behaviour, and showcased the innovative tools they’ve developed in creating a sustainable sector.

    I welcome your commitment to continue to work with government, and others, on developing sustainable business models.

    Today’s report has highlighted the sector’s successes, and its continued commitment to environmental sustainability. I congratulate you wholeheartedly on your success. I look forward to continuing to work with you towards your new targets to build a thriving, competitive and sustainable retail sector.

  • David Laws – 2014 Speech on Free Infant School Meals

    davidlaws

    Below is the text of the speech made by David Laws, the then Schools Minister, in Birmingham on 11 July 2014.

    Thank you for inviting me to speak at your conference today.

    I am delighted to be here and to be able to thank you in person for all your hard work which you do and also – crucially this year – for the massive and successful effort which many of you are putting in to deliver the government’s policy of universal free infant school meals from this September.

    I was reading recently about a research study into school food in the north of England.

    In the study, around 40 children from 2 schools were provided with state-funded breakfast and lunch. The study reported how the meals improved the pupils’ behaviour.

    What was the date of this study? It was not 2007, or even 1997. It was from 1907.

    History of free school meals

    In the mid-19th century, charities such as the Destitute Children’s Dinner Society raised money to provide meals for poor children.

    Manchester provided meals for its poor and badly nourished children in 1879.

    A similar scheme ran in Bradford, where the local school board argued that if the state were to take charge of educating pupils during the day it should take charge of feeding them as well.

    These pioneers were taking a huge risk.

    Incredibly, they were breaking the law in those days by providing these meals and could have been forced to stop.

    Yet they understood clearly that, without a healthy meal, children would be less able to concentrate and succeed in school.

    Pupils weren’t slow to realise their potential and take them up.

    One of the first dinner ladies, Miss Cuff, reported that while on day one 13 children declined her oatmeal porridge, the next day this dropped to just 2 and from the third onwards her cuisine was eaten and enjoyed by all.

    At first, the arguments that there should be national provision of free school meals fell on deaf ears.

    To the Westminster establishment the idea seemed too radical, too expensive, too difficult and questionable in ideological terms.

    Then, as now, there will always be people who find excuses to resist change.

    But, gradually, people began to listen.

    Recruitment of young men for the Boer War of 1899 to 1902 highlighted the under-nourishment of many of our children, and there was a new focus on the importance of healthy eating.

    In 1906, we saw the passing of the 1906 Education (Provision of Meals) Act.

    This gave local authorities the green light to spend public money on school food – and crucially – money from the treasury in order to do so.

    The trail-blazers of 1906 lit a torch that would be taken up by people like Jamie Oliver, the School Food Plan team and many in this room a hundred years later.

    Take up of free and paid for meals increased dramatically during the Second World War – from just 3% at its outset, to over 30% at its conclusion.

    Come 1946, the day of our now much loved ‘dinner lady’ dawned: popularity of school meals had grown so much that paid assistants were introduced to supervise children as they ate their lunch.

    And in June 1949, the number of school dinners reached nearly 3 million, over half of the total school population.

    Take up reached a high water mark in 1974, when 70% of pupils ate school meals.

    But one thing is clear: since that peak in the 1970s, the number of children receiving school meals has been in steady decline.

    In the 1980s, the then government cut back on free school meal entitlement, and removed some of the standards designed to ensure healthy meals.

    Take up of meals, and the quality of much food, went into steep decline – with a fall in the proportion of children taking school meals from roughly 7 in 10 to just 4 in 10.

    That has been bad for attainment in schools. It has been bad for children’s health and concentration. It has undermined the socialisation which comes from children sitting down together each day and eating together.

    And the removal of free meals has been an extra pressure on family budgets which has particularly hit low income families who take the initiative to get into work, but who then find that they lose their entitlement to free meals which can be worth almost £1,500 per year for a family with 3 children.

    Free school meals are sometimes regarded as an aspiration and idea from the political left.

    But I regard this as a common sense policy for the mainstream majority.

    I happen to have the old-fashioned view that given that these children are the responsibility of the school and the state for around 7 hours a day, the least we can do is ensure that they eat healthily.

    Many of our minds are now on this September, when infants will have a new entitlement to a healthy meal at school.

    This policy is the latest milestone in the long history of school meals.

    And it is one of the most important.

    It is the biggest expansion of free school meals in over 65 years.

    1.5 million additional pupils will become entitled to a free meal.

    Now every step forward in the last 100 years has had its critics.

    But remember that the work you do has a proud and long-standing heritage. You are part of a progressive movement that has always had one overriding priority: to improve school food.

    The School Food Plan

    It should come as no surprise that there is strong public feeling about school meals.

    Whether we enjoyed them or not, they are a nostalgic part of British life.

    Every parent wants their child to be able to eat healthily.

    The nutritional quality of school meals has rightly been at the centre of recent debate. Demand for healthier, more nutritious, school meals has come from parents, schools, school cooks, caterers, academics and celebrity chefs.

    Successive governments have responded by working with schools and their caterers to improve the standards of school meals, ensuring that they contain more healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables, and less unhealthy foods, such as fat, salt, and sugar.

    But it is the work that all of you do that turns these standards into a reality.

    The quality of school meals has continued to improve, thanks to the hard work of school cooks, caterers, teachers, parents and nutritionists, and we can now look back on turkey twizzlers as an unfortunate blip in the proud history of school meals.

    But it was clear to me, and I am sure to many of you, that more needed to done.

    That is why the coalition government commissioned John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby to undertake an independent review of school food, to look at how school food was being provided across the country.

    I am hugely grateful to John, Henry, Myles and all those who contributed to the review.

    The review confirmed that many schools now do a brilliant job of producing healthy, tasty, school meals and promoting the value of healthy eating.

    But the review also found that there is still work to be done. There is still too much food with little or no nutritional value, low take-up of school meals and too many children eating packed lunches.

    Many parents mistakenly imagine that a packed lunch is the healthiest option.

    In fact, the evidence is that fewer than 1% of packed lunches meet the school food standards.

    So, almost exactly 1 year ago to this day, the results of the School Food Plan were published and John Vincent came to this very stage to tell you what he and Henry had learnt, and what the government had committed to do next.

    The plan contained both actions for government and for the school food sector. Like John and Henry, once we knew what needed to be done, we wanted to get straight on with improving the quality and increasing the take-up of school food.

    Those of you here yesterday heard from Myles Bremner about the fantastic achievements in just 1 year. For example:

    • the new cooking and nutrition curriculum for all pupils up to the age of 14, which becomes statutory at the start of next term
    • new training materials, which focus on school food, in the headteacher training curriculum
    • work with Magic Breakfast to set up self-sufficient breakfast clubs in schools
    • significant work beginning to increase the take-up of good school food

    And importantly, we have developed clearer, easier to implement, school food standards, which we published on 17 June, alongside practical and down-to-earth guidance for schools and their caterers. These regulations will become statutory in January 2015.

    Universal free school meals

    The plan also recommended that the government should offer free school meals for all children in primary schools.

    This was a big and radical idea; but it wasn’t a new one.

    Durham and Newham and other parts of the country had already piloted universal free school meals.

    The results were clear.

    Good, healthy school food, combined with universal provision, had a positive effect on all pupils, but particularly on those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

    Universal provision increased take-up among the disadvantaged who are eligible for meals, but don’t always take them up.

    They removed the stigma of ‘being a free meals kid’.

    They meant that the 1 in 4 children from working families, but who nevertheless live in poverty, got a meal for the first time.

    When I visited a school recently in south London, I was moved when the headteacher told me about 1 parent who currently just misses out on free school meals, because she is in a low income job, being in tears after being told of the new entitlement, because of the positive impact it would have on her family’s budget.

    Some people in the media seem to think our country is made up of very poor people on benefits who are the only ones needing financial help, and then the so called ‘middle classes’, who they view as all earning £100,000 or more each year.

    But most people aren’t very poor or very rich. They are getting by. On £15,000, or £20,000, or £25,000. As a teacher in that London school said to me last week, ‘If you are a parent in London on £18,000 with 3 children, you don’t feel rich.’

    This policy will make a huge difference to family budgets in these hard times. And do not worry about whether we are wasting money on families who can afford the meals – we are not paying for free meals in Eton, Westminster or Rugby private schools.

    The pilots also showed that when universal free school meals were implemented, children were less likely to eat crisps and unhealthy packed lunches during the school day, and more likely to eat healthy food instead.

    And, most importantly, there was a positive impact on children’s levels of literacy and numeracy.

    Crucially, the pilots showed that to achieve the benefits of the policy it has to be a universal offer – to all children.

    The pilots in which entitlement was only extended modestly to low income working families did not see the attainment and other benefits which we want to secure.

    So this is a universal entitlement which we’re introducing not just because it’s popular with parents, though it most certainly is, but because the evidence shows that this is the right thing to do – the only way to secure the improved outcomes we want to see.

    There are some who are against this policy as a point of principle. They don’t think it is the job of government to make sure all children get a healthy lunch.

    Like those who blocked the first moves to provide healthy meals to school children 100 years ago, they argue it is too expensive; too radical; too difficult.

    Government does not share that position.

    We cannot allow some siren voices to undermine a policy that will save ordinary parents money and improve children’s education and health.

    Left to their own devices, those who want to undermine this policy would take us back in time, unwinding over 100 years of progress on school food.

    Government will not allow that to happen.

    And that is why it is so important that we work together to make this policy a stunning success in September.

    If we get this right, no one will be able to take it away – because it will be so popular with parents that no politician would dare.

    That is the prize we are all working for.

    Delivery

    I do not underestimate the challenges this poses to some schools – which will have been passed on to you and I’m especially grateful to LACA and the School Food Trust for the support they have given.

    But I am determined and confident that we can work together to overcome them in some schools.

    In the pilot areas, schools, catering providers and local authorities demonstrated that it is possible to deliver this policy of good quality hot meals in schools in the timescale we have allowed.

    For some schools, the transition will present few challenges.

    But I do understand that for others the challenge is much greater.

    Every infant and primary school should by now have a plan in place to deliver universal free school meals to all of their infant pupils from September.

    And the government is providing the necessary financial support. We have allocated over £1 billion of revenue funding to this policy over the next 2 years.

    We have allocated £150 million of capital this year, specifically to help schools improve their kitchen and dining facilities. And for small schools, which I know can face particular challenges, we are making an additional £22.5 million available this year.

    We will keep the availability of that small schools funding for future years under review to establish if we need continuation in the future.

    In addition, we are funding a support service run by school food experts – including, of course, LACA and their main partner organisation, the Children’s Food Trust. That support service is doing a brilliant job in supporting school and caterers to find local solutions to their own individual problems, and I am enormously grateful to everyone involved for their hard work. Thank you to the whole, fantastic, team.

    It is clear to me that schools are doing a truly brilliant job in preparing for this milestone.

    I simply do not share the pessimistic view of some that headteachers do not have the ability to deliver on bold, ambitious challenges, with the support of many of you in this room.

    Through local authorities and the support service I just mentioned, I have been tracking the progress schools towards meeting this important commitment.

    And I can announce today that based on evidence from local authorities, schools and the support service, over 99% of schools now have a plan in place to deliver universal free school meals in September.

    We are aware of fewer than 100 schools which still need further work to devise a delivery strategy, and the department and the support service are now working through, school by school, to offer support and ensure all schools are on track to deliver at the start of term.

    This is a tribute to the phenomenal efforts of everyone in this room and headteachers, school catering teams, local authorities and governors up and down the country.

    Of course, this does not mean everything will be perfect on day 1.

    As has been reported, some schools will provide a cold meal initially, until capital works are complete.

    In the medium term we expect all schools to be giving a hot food option – which is what is really necessary to meet the school food standards consistently.

    And of course many schools will be bringing in meals from outside caterers, rather than cooking them on site – as we all know they do now.

    Many of these meals are excellent, and some schools will want to continue this approach.

    But let me be clear that I know many schools are raising their sights and want to bring back the on-site kitchens which were lost in the 1980s and 1990s in many parts of the country.

    Some have already done this with our £150 million capital injection.

    Others will want to do so in the future, after they have seen the increase in take up.

    I commit today to looking very closely, after September, at what the government can do to support schools further in creating the right facilities and school environment to maximise the quality of food and the experience of eating it.

    It would be unrealistic to think that in just 1 year we could rebuild the entire school estate, and reverse decades of neglect in some areas.

    But we will commit to support this policy over time.

    And I was not willing to allow the search for perfection to get in the way of delivering a step change in healthy eating which is needed right now.

    And to the remaining very small number of schools who do not yet have a plan in place for September: my message is to work with your caterers and with the support service to ensure successful delivery.

    They can give you practical help, and show you how other schools have risen to the challenge.

    We will do everything in our power to help you deliver for your children.

    Take Cheam Fields School in Sutton for instance. Following the announcement of September’s roll-out, the school stated publicly that they would not be able to implement the policy.

    But after working closely with the support service, they now have a plan in place and are on track to deliver free meals to all their infant pupils from September.

    In fact, I visited them last week and not only do they have a new pod kitchen, but the children have also composed a free school meal song!

    I am excited that where many thought it impossible, there is a way of making this happen – and it is you in this room making it possible.

    Cheam Fields School proves that, by working together, we are not only capable of changing systems, but also cultures and mindsets.

    I realise that many of you are still on the journey Cheam Fields has made, and you are grappling with the challenge of delivering this policy.

    I have seen first hand that organising school catering is not unlike a small military operation.

    But I have also seen how much difference you – the unsung heroes of our children’s nutrition and education – can make.

    You are doing an outstanding job. And the numbers prove it.

    Of course there will be challenges along the way and the support service is continuing to provide support and guidance in the lead up to and over the summer holiday. In fact, the support service will continue to be available until the end of 2015, to help schools as they move forwards on that journey towards delivering a really excellent, sustainable school meals service.

    But thanks to you, we are on track to defeat the sceptics who said we’d never do this; who argued that this shouldn’t be a priority.

    I am enormously grateful to all of you in this room for all your hard work to make a reality of this exciting policy.

    And I am grateful too to headteachers and their teams up and down the country, who are working tirelessly to make a success of universal infant free school meals at the same time as introducing other important reforms, such as a new national curriculum and assessment arrangements.

    So it is a real privilege to be able today to speak to LACA members who are the cornerstone of this and to thank you for the work you have done and are continuing to do as we head to September.

    This policy is going to be a success, thanks to your work.

    It is going to be one of the landmark social achievements of this coalition government – good for attainment, good for health, great for British food, and good for hard working families.

    Ignore the critics who want to snipe from the sidelines.

    Together we are going to deliver something of which all of us will be very proud and which will make our country a better place for children to grow up in.