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  • David Laws – 2014 Speech on Grammar Schools

    davidlaws

    Below is the text of the speech made by David Laws, the then Schools Minister, at Broadway House, Toothill Street, London on 19 June 2014.

    It is a great pleasure to be here today and have the chance to say a few words on social mobility.

    I would like to set out how government and grammar schools can work together to help every child succeed, whatever their background.

    We may not see eye to eye on every point.

    But I do think, between the Department for Education and grammar schools, we share a common goal in wanting to raise expectations, standards and access, so that regardless of a child’s background we offer them the best possible chance to fulfil their potential, in yours and other good and outstanding schools.

    It is shameful that, in this country, the best way to predict a child’s exam results is to look at their family income and social background.

    Breaking this stubborn attainment gap between richer and poorer pupils is my party’s key objective in the Department for Education. It is what drives me as a minister – it is behind the pupil premium – and it is at the heart of this coalition government’s education policy.

    I know that it drives many of you too – and may well be what brought you into teaching in the first place.

    The grammar school sector has a long and distinguished history and has been part of the English education system since the Middle Ages. Many of you can trace your school’s history back to the 16th and 17th century, if not earlier.

    The political argument of the 1970s, as to whether selective schools should continue in the state sector, resulted in a significant decline in grammar schools. Today just 5% of schools are grammars, compared to a peak of 38% just after the Second World War.

    Since the 1980s the number of grammar schools has remained fairly constant at around 164.

    No political party now proposes to change this. The debate about grammar schools seems to have been put in the political deep freeze – with no plans either to increase or reduce the number of what are extremely popular schools in their localities.

    I am not here to revive arguments about the relative merits of grammar schools and comprehensive schools.

    I am here because I accept that grammar schools are a significant feature of the landscape in many local areas, and as Schools Minister I want us to be able to work together openly and constructively on social mobility and other areas

    Grammar schools are often excellent schools. I accept them as an established fact of our education system and want to consider what greater role they can play in breaking the cycles of disadvantage and closing the opportunity gap.

    I want to work with you, not preach at you, and help you to do what many of you are seeking to do already.

    In doing so, I want to challenge you to improve the social mix of your schools, while accepting that the government and the non-selective primary sector also has a big responsibility in this area too. You cannot do this alone.

    Original purpose of grammar schools

    Many grammar schools were originally established to be engines of social change. Grammar schools were often established by charitable trusts or individual benefactors whose ambitions were to provide for the education of all local children, not just the privileged who could pay for it.

    You will be aware of many schools established in the 16th and 17th centuries to help poorer children. Harvey’s Grammar School in Folkestone, for example, was established in 1674 for “20 poor boys of Folkestone”. The Blue Coat School in Liverpool was founded in 1708, and the founders described the school as “a school for teaching poor children to read, write and cast accounts”.

    Before we look forward today, I therefore ask you to pause and look back.

    How far do you meet those proud aspirations?

    Are you, as some would have it, “stuffed full of middle-class kids”?

    Or are you opening up opportunities to all bright children regardless of their background, or can you do more?

    Why is entry to grammar schools so often maligned?

    In my first month as Schools Minister, back in 2012, I was sitting at my desk in the DfE one day when a pile of answers to parliamentary questions was put before me to approve.

    One of them that caught my eye asked how many disadvantaged children attend each English grammar school.

    I knew the figures were bad. But as I read down the list of schools I was shocked, genuinely shocked, to see how few children from poor backgrounds are going to your schools.

    In some schools the number of pupil premium or free school meal eligible pupils is actually single digit numbers.

    You cannot be proud of that and you and us at the Department for Education should want to do something about this.

    Critics often point to a culture of intensive coaching that can put off those with the potential but not the means to pay, and this could be one reason for the low levels of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in grammar schools.

    Proportionately, grammar schools have the lowest levels of FSM admissions in England.

    Last year, 21 grammar schools had fewer than 1% of pupils eligible for free school meals.

    Ninety-eight grammar schools had fewer than 3% of pupils eligible for free school meals, and nearly all grammar schools (161) had fewer than 10% of pupils eligible for free school meals.

    That is compared to a national average of 16.3% across all secondary schools in England.

    Too often the proportion of disadvantaged children entering grammar schools is out of step with their catchment areas. For example, in Buckinghamshire in 2011, 14% of the year 7 cohort across the county were eligible for the pupil premium. But only 4% of those admitted by grammar schools were eligible for the pupil premium.

    In Lincolnshire, it was 21% across the county, compared to just 7% in grammar schools.

    I accept of course that this discrepancy is not just confined to the selective sector.

    Many top-performing, non-selective schools also fail to attract a fair proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals.

    Two-thirds have a percentage of FSM pupils that is 5 percentage points or more below the local area average.

    So in the same way I’m challenging you and working with you, I will also be looking at those schools to do what we can do to help pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

    What can government do?

    I recognise that these headline figures hide a more complex underlying picture.

    I asked analysts in my department to undertake a more substantial piece of work to dig deeper into the data, so we could really understand why so few bright but poor children end up in grammar schools.

    This work presented an interesting picture.

    It showed that a key barrier is the low level of free school meal pupils achieving level 5, typically a proxy for pupils you admit. So this is not just a challenge for grammar schools, but for the whole education system.

    In other words this is not just something that can be blamed on grammar schools. I totally accept that.

    But I simply cannot and will not accept a system that fails poorer children in this way.

    My promise to you, alongside my challenge to you, is that this government will do everything in its power to make sure that more children from poorer backgrounds achieve their full potential.

    We have introduced the pupil premium – £2.5 billion this year alone – targeted at those pupils who need extra help.

    This money is supporting primary schools, feeder schools in all your areas, to boost the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

    We have made it easier to identify high-achieving pupils from low income families by asking primary schools to monitor the academic progress of disadvantaged pupils in key stage 2 increasingly closely, with better data available through the RAISEonline system.

    We are introducing free school meals for all infants, which in pilots raised attainment in English and maths, particularly for disadvantaged children.

    And we have made the early years a top priority – extending free early education for all and giving 2-year-olds from lower income homes a free early years education for the first time ever.

    Next year we are extending the pupil premium to disadvantaged early years children, while raising the primary pupil premium, skewing the budget to the age range that makes the most difference.

    Finally, but crucially, we will not accept persistent weak performance and leadership in any school.

    Schools in poor catchment areas often underperformed in the past, often for many years.

    Now both the DfE and Ofsted will act swiftly to intervene in failing schools, so that they have the leadership and governance which they need.

    Taken together, and over time, I believe that these crucial policies will start to shift the dial for poorer children – so that more and more reach level 5. There are already signs that the attainment gap is narrowing, particularly at key stage 2.

    What can grammar schools do?

    But what about those disadvantaged children who are academically able and do already achieve level 5?

    In wholly selective areas fewer than half of pupils eligible for FSM achieving level 5 go into selective schools, compared with two-thirds of non-FSMpupils.

    This cannot be right.

    We calculated it would require a shift of just 200 level 5 FSM pupils to go into grammar schools in wholly selective areas to remove this particular bias – the failure to recruit pupils who should already be able to access your schools based on their attainment.

    I was surprised that the number was so small, and actually so achievable.

    Sadly, this speaks volumes of the work we need to do to secure better results in primary schools.

    Your first, incredibly modest, job is to get these children into your schools. Over a decade, that would still be 2,000 more able pupils accessing some of the best schools in the country.

    But, I think we would all acknowledge that aiming so modestly is not a satisfactory or inspiring ambition, and something neither you nor I are keen to do.

    I want us to aim much higher than that.

    My ambition is that all selective schools should aim for the same proportion of children on free school meals in their schools as in their local area.

    This would mean an additional 3,500 free school meal pupils in selective schools every year, or an additional 35,000 pupils over 10 years.

    There are likely to be many barriers in the way of this ambition and it is not something we can achieve overnight.

    The problems range from parents not applying; pupils not revealing their full potential in the tests; local primary schools not considering your school as an option.

    This presents a challenge to you and to us. I want us to be ambitious, I want to challenge the preconceptions about grammar schools and I want the sector to be able to show that it is responding to this challenge.

    So we’ve talked about setting a longer-term ambition, but what can we do in the short term? This is something I have thought about a lot and forms part of the programme of work we have been doing jointly with the GSHA.

    I am encouraged to see grammar schools leading the way in using the pupil premium as part of their admissions arrangements. This was a freedom set out in the 2012 Admissions Code and I am pleased to be able to say that 32 grammar schools have implemented an admissions priority for pupils eligible for free school meals this year.

    This is a remarkable step and reflects a laudable commitment to putting the rhetoric around social inclusion into practical action.

    In this area of pupil premium priority, your sector has been the leader.

    I would like to thank the GSHA for working with us to support this move and encourage you all to think about whether this is something you could consider at your school.

    We would like to see every grammar school adopt this approach.

    There has been controversy recently about whether introducing a pupil premium admissions priority means you will automatically face an objection from the Office of the Schools Adjudicator.

    Let me be clear. Anyone can object to the OSA, and you may face complaints.

    There are people who will always resist change.

    But as long as you have properly consulted on the changes and worked with the Education Funding Agency to make sure that the technical details in your funding agreement reflect this – then there is no case for schools to answer. The Admissions Code permits academies and free schools to give priority to pupils eligible for the pupil premium. And the recent determinations on this are clear on that point – these schools are lawfully permitted to prioritise pupil premium pupils.

    We in the Department for Education will fully support any school that chooses to change its admissions criteria in this way – in fact, I want to see all grammar schools give preference to pupil premium pupils over the next few years.

    But has the battle been lost before pupils even get to the point of admission? In some areas, a cottage industry has grown up offering coaching for entry to selective schools. Many children who have been “hot-housed” through coaching for grammar school entrance tests then struggle when they arrive because they have not acquired those independent learning skills that are crucial to further and higher education and the job market.

    We all recognise that parents are passionate about getting their child in to a school that they think will best suit their child.

    I don’t blame any individual parent or family for doing everything they can to help their individual child to get ahead. Doing your best for your child is a natural human instinct and one which we should commend and not criticise.

    But these kind of coaching schemes put another barrier in the way of those children whose parents are unable or unwilling to pay for the additional coaching.

    The GSHA is against coaching, not just because of access issues but because it can be a negative educational experience and the pressures this creates on children can outweigh any gains. So I really welcome the association’s work to encourage a move to entry tests that are less susceptible to coaching, and I am heartened to hear that at least 40% of grammar schools are now moving to the introduction of coaching resistant tests.

    Again, I hope that all grammar schools will soon do so, and it will be interesting to see the impact of this.

    The GSHA will be working with us, the Sutton Trust and the University of Durham to explore ways in which access to grammar schools by highly able deprived children might be improved by looking more closely at the testing process and what may be limiting the engagement of pupils with it.

    I welcome that commitment.

    Lastly, and probably most importantly, is the outreach work you do with your local primary schools and parents.

    We can do what we can to raise attainment, make entrance tests more accessible and to give some priority in admissions – but unless parents and pupils see your school as suitable for them, then our efforts are wasted.

    How many of you are partnered with your local primary schools, how many are engaging to identify those high-performing pupils who are not currently accessing your provision?

    Best practice/call to action

    Well, I know some schools are doing great work.

    Pates Grammar School in Gloucestershire has held awareness events in local schools for pupils, staff and parents, and many of the rest of you will be doing this.

    High-performing local pupils have been invited into the school, to knock down the local perception that this is a school for ‘rich kids’. The school is increasingly seen as an aspiration for local families.

    There is also great work taking place in the 5 Edward VI grammar schools in Birmingham.

    These schools are working towards obtaining an intake of 20% from disadvantaged families.

    They have introduced coaching resistant tests and are building close links with primaries to engage in a test familiarisation project. We at the Department for Education want to see more clusters of grammar schools engaging in projects like these and reaching out to the local community.

    I want all schools to build on the progress that is being made and seek to close the gap by increasing parental engagement, and stronger working with local primaries – with a focus on identifying potential.

    In conclusion

    In conclusion I want to place on record my gratitude to those grammar school headteachers that have already initiated real changes.

    I know that you are deeply committed to educational excellence and seeing disadvantaged children attend your schools, and flourish in them.

    And I want to thank the GSHA for their engagement and work.

    But we are starting from a very low base.

    And it is no surprise that grammar schools are today often struggling to make their case for a big role in English education when one of the biggest claims once made, about social mobility, looks so hollow on the basis of the figures we are all aware of and which I cited early on.

    We all recognise grammar schools need to return to their original mission and great aspiration of being engines of social mobility.

    If you can do this then instead of being treated as a small corner of the educational debate, you will be entitled to make your case with confidence and persuasiveness.

    For our part, government will leave no stone unturned in our mission to raise attainment, for all children, in primary schools.

    We do not expect you to change the world by yourselves.

    None of us in this room can be complacent in our goal.

    We have begun the journey, but there is a long way to go.

    Let us be ambitious about what we can achieve together, and continue with that joint commitment and determination to make the difference for all children.

  • Andrea Leadsom – 2014 Speech at Business Banking Insight Survey

    Below is the text of the speech made by Andrea Leadsom, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, made on 28th May 2014.

    Introduction

    Thank you.

    Well firstly, by way of introduction I am Andrea Leadsom, the new Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

    And – somewhat confusingly – while I’ve taken on the title of Economic Secretary left by Nicky Morgan, who became Financial Secretary. I’ve actually taken on the brief left by Sajid Javid – the former Financial Secretary – when he moved into the Cabinet.

    So I’m now the Minister responsible for issues relating to banking and the financial services.

    And I approach both this portfolio – and this issue before us today – as someone with a very keen interest.

    I’ve spent the last four years on the Treasury Select Committee – following the government’s work closely.

    And before that, I spent the previous twenty five years – prior to becoming an MP – working in the financial sector.

    And if I bring one big passion to this role, if I have one big goal in this role, it’s making sure that our financial system – and our banking system – works in the best possible way for its consumers.

    And I think this survey – which was first commissioned by the Chancellor – can play a key role in making that system work for SMEs.

    Before I go into detail about the survey though, I’d like to spend a little time first – reflecting on exactly why increasing competition is so important, and secondly – providing some context, by explaining how this survey fits into wider government action on the issue.

    Competition in Financial Services

    One of my favourite statistics – and it’s a statistic I’ve been quoting long before I got this job – is that people in the UK are more likely to get a divorce than they are to change bank.

    But the fact that we’re more wedded to our banks than we are to the people we’re wedded to isn’t because we’re all incredibly happy in our banking relationships.

    It’s because of a fundamental lack of competition in the banking system.

    And that lack of competition isn’t limited to individual current accounts, or savings accounts.

    At present, the largest four banks account for over 80% of UK SMEs’ main banking relationships.

    And we believe that such high concentration levels are bad for consumers and bad for businesses.

    So we are absolutely committed to fostering a stronger, more diverse and more competitive banking sector, because greater competition will mean better outcomes for consumers:

    – it will mean more inventive products, tailored to specific customer needs

    – it will mean more competitive products, on interest or charges

    – and it will mean more innovative, convenient forms of customer interaction, in areas such as mobile payments and cheque imaging

    Our action to improve competition

    So what are we doing about it? We’re taking action in a number of areas to make the sector more competitive:

    22 months ago, the Chancellor asked the FSA to conduct a review of barriers to entry and expansion in the banking sector, which resulted in major changes to the capital requirements for new banks, making it easier for them to enter the market and compete

    we introduced legislation in the Banking Reform Bill to create a new payment systems regulator, which will ensure that smaller banks and non-bank providers can get fair access to payments systems, driving innovation and choice for consumers

    and the 7 day switching service is making it much easier for consumers to move their bank accounts, and helping to put an end to banks assuming their account holders will stay with them because it’s too complicated to change

    On top of all that, we’ve made promoting effective competition in the interests of consumers one the FCA’s key objectives.

    And we’ll soon be introducing legislation for a number of new measures in this area, including improving access to SME credit data, which will enhance the ability of challenger banks and alternative finance providers to conduct accurate risk assessments, and make it easier SMEs to seek a loan from another lender.

    We also have proposals to help to match those SMEs that want to secure loans with those challenger banks and alternative finance providers who want to provide them.

    All of which are moves that will make the sector more competitive, and give consumers more choice.

    Transparency in the sector

    Key to improving competition is improving transparency.

    In SME banking, our key change has been the obligation to publish postcode lending data, which is promoting greater competition and enabling smaller lenders – both banks and non-banks – to see where there is unmet demand and pursue new business.

    In particular, it has highlighted the more deprived areas where larger banks are often not willing to lend, and that will enable:

    – challenger banks

    – smaller building societies

    – credit unions and

    – Community Development Finance Institutions

    …to move into these areas, and to offer finance to those customers who are crying out for support to help their business grow.

    Business Banking Insight survey

    So we have identified problems.

    And – more importantly – we are identifying solutions.

    And this new survey – and its findings – will play a key role in helping us to build on that action.

    It is – as many of you will know – the first survey of its kind to look at the performance of Britain’s banking sector, as perceived by Britain’s business people who own and run their companies.

    And it will help to provide an insight into, and a ranking of, the best banking institutions and products and services for Britain’s micro, small and medium sized businesses.

    So, for example, a tech start-up in Edinburgh looking to move to bigger premises will be able to see which bank offers the best loan facilities.

    Or a microbrewery in my constituency of Northamptonshire looking to sell its product in Europe will be able to see which bank offers the best Export Finance facilities.

    The hope is that with that improved knowledge, SMEs will have an improved incentive to switch providers to those banks that are best placed to provide the support and the services they need.

    And not only will it be a great tool for them. It will also allow Britain’s banks to see what their customers really think of their performance, and allow them to target areas for improvement.

    By allowing them to see areas in which their competitors are offering better, smarter, and more popular products. And also areas where their customers aren’t happy with the service they offer.

    And the upshot of all that should be better competition, better products, and – most importantly – a better environment for British businesses to go about their work.

    Conclusion

    So I’m very glad to be here this morning.

    I’m particularly delighted to be launching a survey – as commissioned by the Chancellor – that will genuinely help businesses to vote with their feet on which bank is best for them.

    And I’m very much looking forward to working with all of you to help drive improvement in this area over the next twelve months. And hearing any ideas you might have that could make it even more useful for British businesses.

    But before that, I’ll be very interested to hear about all the findings of the survey. Thank you.

  • Baroness Kramer – 2014 Speech on Passenger Focus Bus Survey Results

    Below is the text of the speech made by Baroness Kramer in London on 25th March 2014.

    Thank you for that introduction.

    It’s a pleasure to be here today.

    And I’d like to congratulate Passenger Focus for delivering this new bus passenger survey.

    As transport stories go, the survey is unlikely to knock high speed rail or airport expansion off the front pages.

    But frankly, the subject it deals with is no less important.

    Buses form the backbone of UK transport, accounting for almost two thirds of public transport journeys.

    They keep people linked with the workplace, and businesses linked with the marketplace.

    For many young, old and disabled people – and those who live in rural areas – their local bus service is the only option to get from A to B.

    So buses keep Britain moving.

    And that’s why it’s crucial that passengers feel they are getting a good service.

    Today’s survey shows that customer satisfaction has improved in most areas.

    Including value for money, punctuality, journey time, and reducing anti-social behaviour.

    Overall satisfaction is 88%, an increase from 84% last year.

    These are very positive results.

    We want local authorities and bus operators to work together to bring about improvements, so it’s encouraging to see partnerships like that between Centro and local operators delivering for passengers.

    I also congratulate Reading Buses for achieving the highest overall satisfaction rating at 94% – an improvement even on last year’s impressive performance.

    These results don’t merely show that most passengers are happy with their bus services.

    They also demonstrate the value of the bus passenger survey in helping operators and local authorities identify passenger concerns, and take action to address them.

    We’ve been through 5 extremely tough years.

    And we’ve all had to tighten our belts – and learn how to deliver more for less.

    But make no mistake, the government is still backing buses.

    We are working with the industry to invest £1 billion a year providing older and disabled people with free off-peak travel.

    We’ve channelled around £350 million into buses through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), and we’re protecting bus spending up to 2015 to 2016.

    We have provided £70 million through the Better Bus Area fund for improvements in 24 local authorities.

    £20 million has been invested to support community transport.

    And £87 million has been spent through the Green Bus Fund to boost environmental performance.

    Where the market can support it, we’re improving competition for bus passengers by implementing the Competition Commission’s recommendations.

    And £15 million of DfT funding is helping roll out smart ticketing technology across England’s bus fleets.

    All of these measures demonstrate our commitment to buses.

    They also illustrate the increasingly pivotal role of local government in delivering our bus strategy.

    As I’ve outlined, substantial funding has been made available.

    From the start of January, some BSOG funding has been paid directly to local authorities.

    This funding has been ringfenced until 2017 to encourage more partnership working between bus operators and local authorities

    Many authorities also received a share of the government’s £600 million Local Sustainable Transport Fund which included bus improvement schemes.

    And they’ve had more money to spend on road maintenance each year of this Parliament compared to the last.

    An important factor in bus punctuality.

    All these measures give communities more control over how money is spent.

    I do appreciate that with budgets under pressure, authorities have to make difficult choices about where they spend their money.

    But it’s absolutely paramount that they make the most of what’s available, to secure the best services and the best value for bus passengers.

    To help with this, we published guidance last October on procuring local bus services and other types of road passenger transport.

    While councils all over the country continue to innovate, I believe there is scope for further improvement.

    Particularly if authorities share best practice.

    We should always be seeking to improve what we do and learn from others.

    The Japanese have a word for it: “Kaizen” – or continuous improvement.

    That’s why the DfT is continuing to work on strategies to deliver better bus services cost effectively – including through community transport.

    And I urge local authorities to do the same.

    Making public transport accessible to everyone in the community is something that’s close to my heart.

    That’s why the concessionary fares scheme is so important.

    Feeling lonely and isolated can affect everyone.

    But the loss of friends and family, or losing mobility can make older and disabled people particularly vulnerable.

    For many, their local bus service is more than simply a mode of transport.

    It’s a lifeline.

    It connects them with essential services.

    But what’s just as important is that it gets them out of the house, and gives them confidence and a sense of independence.

    So I’m keen for the bus industry to invest in technologies which can help them.

    Many blind and partially sighted people find audio and visual announcements vital for travel.

    However, they don’t come cheap – particularly for smaller, local bus operators.

    The cost can rise to millions of pounds a year.

    So following an industry roundtable on transport accessibility, and discussions with Guide Dogs for the Blind and the RNIB, I am encouraging operators to work with manufacturers of audio/visual technology to gauge the potential for simpler and more affordable systems for buses.

    I want them to think creatively about what can be achieved.

    And I’m also looking into the possibility of research initiatives involving small businesses and academic institutions to encourage further innovation.

    But it’s not just about money and technology.

    What’s just as important is the attitude and awareness of staff – which has such a bearing on passengers’ confidence and willingness to travel.

    The DfT is currently reviewing the exemption of bus drivers from the mandatory EU disability awareness training requirement on passenger rights. This review will conclude at the end of this month.

    We want to establish if drivers are receiving adequate training under the current voluntary arrangement.

    I have also sought feedback from disability groups and charities.

    If the results show that progress is not being made on disability awareness training, we will examine options and propose a plan of action.

    So in summary, the evidence from the survey is encouraging.

    Bus companies are increasingly focused on the passenger experience.

    Many of them are working in partnership with local authorities.

    And passengers are responding positively.

    I’d like to thank everyone in the industry for their efforts.

    But make no mistake, the need for efficient, reliable, affordable, clean bus services is only going to rise.

    Britain’s population is growing, getting older, and travelling more.

    So absorbing the growth in demand while continuing to increase passenger satisfaction will therefore provide an enduring challenge to the industry.

    But it’s a challenge I’m sure it will meet.

    Particularly with the help of the bus passenger survey.

    Thanks to Passenger Focus, we know more today about bus passengers and their needs than we have ever known.

    And that means we’re well placed to attract more passengers back onto buses,

    Which in turn will give the bus industry a vital boost,

    While reducing road congestion,

    And cutting harmful traffic emissions.

    So I look forward to working with you over the next year, and to building on the achievements of 2013.

    Thank you.

  • Baroness Kramer – 2014 Speech on the British Transport Police

    Below is the text of the speech made by Baroness Kramer to the British Transport Police Federation annual conference on 5th March 2014.

    I’d like to begin by thanking George Lewis, Chairman, BTPF for his kind words this morning.

    The Federation plays an extremely important role. You are the independent voice of your members. And you represent their dedication, professionalism and expertise in everything you do.

    I would also like to echo your tribute to Chief Constable Andy Trotter. He has a fantastic track record as a leader in the British Transport Police. As Deputy Chief Constable he reassured the nation following the July 7th terror attacks and of course he played an absolutely vital role in ensuring the London 2012 Olympic Games went so well.

    I would like to take this opportunity to wish him all the very best for the future.

    Last night’s bravery awards demonstrated the courage and heroism of those who serve in the force and I would like to congratulate everyone who won an award.

    As a board member for Transport for London I saw first-hand how important the BTP are for keeping the capital safe and I was delighted to be invited to speak to you today because whether it is hunting cable thieves, tackling anti-social behaviour or preventing terrorism, each and every day of the year, the public know that when they need help most, you will be there.

    So I’d also like to take this opportunity to say something that perhaps isn’t said often enough: thank you for everything you do.

    Britain’s railways are a success story. They carry more passengers today than at any time since the Second World War and they are among the safest in Europe.

    But over the coming years we must meet two major challenges in order to be successful in the future.

    The first is that we all need to continue to deliver better value for money for the taxpayer and the farepayer.

    By 2010, the operating costs of our railways were amongst the most expensive in Europe. After housing and heating, the cost of travel is the next most significant bill most households face. And, if they are going to get to work on time, it is just not something people can easily cut back on.

    So we need to keep finding ways to improve services and save customers money.

    The second challenge is overcrowding.

    Passenger numbers have increased over recent years but infrastructure investment simply didn’t keep pace.

    Investment in the country’s infrastructure was lower than in 1998 in every year to 2011. That’s left more people standing up for their journey and crowding on to platforms.

    Looking ahead, passenger numbers are expected to grow by 14% more over the next five years. Rail freight is predicted to grow by 30% over a similar period.

    So unless we invest now, we risk grinding to a halt.

    That’s why between 2014 and 2019, Network Rail will spend over £38 billion running and expanding our railway. Just to take a couple of examples, that will see:

    – 24 trains an hour on Thameslink through central London

    – the return of non-stop services between Manchester and Liverpool.

    – and it will mean the closure of 500 more level crossings.

    We are also building the first new north – south railway for a hundred years.

    High Speed 2 will cut journey times between our major cities and it will unlock much needed capacity for much needed commuter and freight services.

    The first phase alone is expected to support about 40,000 jobs – including employing 9,000 directly on the railway. Overall, HS2 will return over £2 worth of benefit for every £1 invested.

    I hope the Federation can continue to be an influential voice welcoming HS2. As you point out Mr Chairman, we are making a substantial investment in HS2. And like any valuable investment we need to ensure it is protected appropriately.

    Construction of Phase One is due to start in 2017 so we have a little time yet to consider how best to do so. We expect lead contractors to be initially responsible for their own security and trespass risk at each site. We will also expect them to implement appropriate control measures involving all interested parties.

    I have said that Britain’s railways are a success story and what is absolutely clear is the British Transport Police are right at the heart of that achievement.

    Passenger numbers are up but overall crime levels have fallen for nine consecutive years. That’s why – day and night, young and old – today people are generally feeling safer on our railways and disruption to services as a result of police activity has also fallen over recent years.

    Those impressive achievements are underpinned by the unique foundations of the force and the specialist skills and knowledge of its officers.

    First, there is your unrivalled commitment to innovation.

    You embrace new technology that helps officers get to where they are needed more quickly and be even more visible for the public. For example, one of the problems people used to feel was being worried that if they saw anti-social behaviour in their carriage and rang the police they’d risk becoming a victim themselves.

    So you launched a text messaging service last year that has made it much easier for passenger to report anti-social behaviour without drawing attention to themselves on the train.

    Last month I visited Ebury Bridge where I saw for myself how you are using cutting edge technology to keep the railways safe, bring criminals to justice and save lives. I will continue to encourage Train Operating Companies to invest in high quality CCTV, ensuring that, working together, you are able to maximise the potential benefit for passengers and staff.

    Second, the BTP have specialist skills that are essential for keeping the railways moving.

    Skills that have cut the time it takes to clear non-suspicious and unexplained fatality incidents to an average of just 74 minutes. Saving passengers time, train operators money and supporting the country’s economy.

    The British Transport Police also has a critical counter terrorism role. In 2011 we took the sensible and pragmatic step to provide the BTP with an armed capability. That has enhanced the safety of the public and the security of the railways. Last year you raised the important point that we needed to ensure that armed BTP officers were on the same footing as those in other forces. I am very pleased to say that, subject to Parliamentary approval, I can confirm this will be in place by the summer.

    I would also like to honour the work you do preventing suicides on the network.

    Every life lost is a tragedy.

    I was in the cab with the driver returning from Crewe last week and we heard the news that someone had taken their life on the tracks just one train in front of us. In that moment, it was clearer than ever before for me what a traumatic experience it is for everyone involved. The work you do, through supporting initiatives like the ‘We’re in Your Corner’ campaign, is so very, very important. I want to do all that I can to help support any campaign that you and the industry want to take that will help prevent lives being lost.

    And, finally, your partnership with the industry means you have a unique commercial perspective. That strong relationship has enabled you to embrace change, reduce costs and improve value for money. The move to the new divisional structure is just the latest example of the BTP’s ability to continue to adapt and improve.

    A change that will see more officers and keep more eyes on the frontline, protecting the public, where they belong.

    Mr Chairman, your speech referred to the Scottish Government’s desire to incorporate the British Transport Police into a Scottish Police force.

    As you know there will be a referendum taking place in Scotland later this year. And the possible break-up of the BTP is one of the important and far reaching implications for the welfare of our citizens. We believe Scotland benefits from national networks that are unconstrained by international borders.

    A single united country preserves key national institutions that we all too easily take for granted. Institutions like the British Transport Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, who have served the people of our whole country well for many years.

    Put simply, we are better together.

    Britain’s railways are safer and more secure than they ever have been. The BTP play an essential role in keeping Britain on track.

    The Tour de France, Commonwealth Games, Ryder Cup and Rugby World Cup will mean the eyes of the world are once again on us over the coming years and millions of visitors will rely on our railways and on the BTP.

    Over the coming years we will be making a record investment in improving and expanding Britain’s railways and you will be vital to ensuring that investment is a success.

    I look forward to working with you to make that happen.

    Thank you.

  • Justine Greening – 2014 Speech in China

    justinegreening

    Below is the text of the speech made by Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, in Beijing at the China International Development Research Network on 2nd April 2014.

    Thank you for the introduction. I’m absolutely delighted to be hosted by CIDRN and to have the opportunity to address you today about the future of international development.

    The UK and China have both been giving assistance to countries in need for more than 50 years. There are differences in our approach to development but there are also important similarities. And there is a lot we can learn from each other.

    It was in this spirit that 3 years ago the UK and China established a ground-breaking partnership on international development.

    Since then we have established successful collaborations in investment, peacekeeping and building resilience to disasters. Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the National Disaster Reduction Centre of China to see how China co-ordinates its response to natural disasters.

    I have come to Beijing because I think that the UK and China can work together more closely on development.

    And by sharing our different experiences of working in the developing world, and our different skills and expertise… collectively we can lift more people out of poverty and help more countries develop, thereby reducing their dependency on aid.

    I do not need to tell this audience that the last few decades have seen the most dramatic improvements in living standards the world has ever seen, with the number of people living in absolute poverty falling by half in 20 years.

    Much of this was driven by China, where over that same period 680 million people were lifted out of poverty by virtue of your economic success.

    There is now a growing conviction across the international community that if we keep at it, we can end absolute poverty within one generation.

    I know the UK and China both believe that this must be the simple – but powerful – aim of the next set of development goals when the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015: an end to extreme “dollar a day” poverty for the first time in history.

    Yet we know that progress is not inevitable. By 2015 there will still be 900 million people living in absolute poverty and these people will be the most marginalised… the most vulnerable… the most difficult to reach.

    It is going to take a global partnership, working together, rallying around a clear and inspiring set of development goals to end poverty for everyone.

    And today I would like to set out what the UK sees as some of the key ingredients for a powerful post-2015 framework that leaves no one behind.

    Girls and women

    As you know the Millennium Development Goals for tackling poverty really served to mobilise and galvanise the international community into action these last 13 years.

    And as the deadline for the MDGs approaches, we can cite many real achievements, including visible improvements in all health areas and getting more children into primary education.

    We need to finish the job of the MDGs and the next set of development goals must have a clear focus on getting the basics to absolutely everyone: health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation.

    And I think that is something we can all rally around and agree on.

    But we also need to tackle the issues that the MDGs left out.

    Like China, the UK believes that gender equality needs to be a key focus for the next set of development goals. No country can develop properly if they leave half of their population behind and excluded.

    In the last few decades significant progress has been made for girls and women. More girls are now going to school, women are living longer, having fewer children and participating in the labour market more.

    But there is so much unfinished business. Globally, women do 66% of the world’s work; but women only earn 10% of the world’s income.

    And in Africa, whilst 71% of girls attend primary school, only 32% go into secondary education.

    One in nine girls in the developing world is forced into marriage before they reach their fifteenth birthday.

    Since becoming International Development Secretary I have put girls and women firmly at the heart everything my department does. We are helping women around the world get access to education, financial services and contraception. We are improving women’s land rights and helping them access security and justice.

    This July we will host an international summit with our Prime Minister David Cameron to bring together global efforts to help eliminate early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation. Two really but important, neglected issues.

    This agenda needs global action if we are really going to deliver irreversible gains for girls and women. And alongside China we are supporting a dedicated standalone gender goal in the next set of development goals. I hope this can tackle critical issues at the root of gender inequality, such as ending child marriage and securing equal rights for girls and women to open bank accounts and own property.

    This will help us go beyond easy wins and really start to overcome the social, cultural and legal barriers that hold girls and women back from playing their full roles in their countries.

    Economic Development

    I know that the UK and China also agree that a focus on promoting private sector growth and jobs is fundamental to the next set of development goals.

    If you ask people in developing countries what they want – and it doesn’t matter at all whether you ask a man or a woman – they’ll often say getting a job and earning an income.

    People – no matter where they are – want the opportunity to be financially independent and to have the dignity of being able to provide for themselves and their family.

    Since becoming the UK’s International Development Secretary I have ramped up the focus on economic development.

    Across the world, we are helping to dismantle barriers to trade, boost investment and improve the business climate.

    British development money is modernising ports in Kenya and Uganda, upgrading roads from Uganda to Rwanda and cutting start-up costs for businesses in Nigeria.

    And this morning I was pleased to launch a new UK-China partnership with the Ministry of Commerce, focused on strengthening Africa’s trade performance.

    Over the next few months we will carry out joint research to assess how trade, investment and aid-for-trade from China and the UK can most effectively support growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa and Kenya.

    This partnership has the potential to lead to multiple wins, for the African nations themselves as we build up the evidence base on their specific needs and priorities in those countries, and for the UK and China as well. I look forward to seeing the results and to collaborating more on this in the future.

    Stability and security

    Gender and economic development are both key ingredients for post-2015 and I know that there is broad consensus on this.

    The UK, together with many other countries, also believes that peace and stability for all nations is an intrinsic part of the fight against poverty.

    When we come to agreeing the post-2015 framework, we must recognise that strong, effective, accountable institutions are intrinsically valuable outcomes in themselves – in addition to being essential for managing the risks of conflict and providing a stable environment for business.

    I think the UK and China can find common ground here as well, and China is already making significant contributions to African countries in this way through its support to peacekeeping missions and efforts at mediation.

    This is a really important agenda. We know that conflict-affected states have fared much worse in achieving MDGs and by 2025 around 80% of the world’s extreme poor are expected to live in these same countries.

    And just as conflict destroys infrastructure, enterprise, schools, the very things a country needs if it is going to break out of poverty, I believe development can contribute to peace by addressing the root causes of conflict.

    This is important to all of us. We all want our own personal security to be respected. And security and stability are vital for girls and women above all.

    One in three of all women will be beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime; over half a million die a violent death every single year.

    My department – the Department for International Development, or DFID – has a growing portfolio of programmes focusing on these issues.

    Britain is assisting Paralegal Committees to help more than 1,200 villages and communities in Nepal to prevent and respond to violence against women and children. This programme has been so successful that the Government of Nepal has asked if it can be integrated into their own Women’s Development Programme.

    When we come to agreeing the post-2015 framework, we must recognise that strong, effective, accountable institutions are intrinsically valuable outcomes in themselves…in addition to being essential for managing the risks of conflict and providing a stable environment for all.

    We also know that integral to economic growth and development are the institutions and governance that support it. It means a pro-business environment, governments that bear down on corruption, and the rule of law so that contracts can be enforced and so that property rights allow people to invest in their property and keep the hard-earned gains.

    On property rights for example, 90% of Africa’s land is estimated to have insecure tenure or contested land rights and this puts a major constraint on growth. The G8 land partnerships, launched during the UK presidency of the G8 last year, are helping to attract responsible investment through better assessment of the land related risks and how to mitigate them.

    The Golden Thread, as Prime Minister David Cameron calls it, is not a Western agenda. We recognise the need for countries to craft their own policies and strategies to deliver governance and peace. It is about countries having effective organisations; about governments and judiciaries themselves following rules and inspiring confidence and stability.

    But it isn’t only the UK that wants to see these issues included in the post-2015 framework: the Common African Position, adopted recently by African states, includes pillars on peace and security, and economic growth, as well.

    This is a powerful message from Africa to the rest of the world and I hope China will join us in listening and partnering with Africa on the post-2015 agenda.

    Conclusion: Why development?

    When I make the case for international development in the UK I say: it is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.

    The right thing to do because we are giving people, wherever they are in the world, the chance to stand on their own feet, to be healthy, and to be able to pursue their lives in their own way, to make the most of their talents.

    The UK public consistently shows immense generosity when it comes to helping those in need. And the UK government reflects that with our development work, particularly when it comes to giving life-saving humanitarian assistance.

    And development is the smart thing to do as well, because by driving growth and reducing the risks of investment in the world’s emerging and frontier markets, we have an opportunity to do even more business with them.

    The UK has been one of the many beneficiaries of China’s own development. Back in 1992, the value of UK exports was just £600 million. In 2011, our two-way trade was £13.7 billion and growing.

    International development means international trade and international trade means jobs and prosperity both overseas and at home. So working together is in all our interests.

    Today the world is at a crossroad for deciding the future of international development. We have a historic opportunity to agree a compelling set of post-2015 development goals.

    During my visit here this week I have been very pleased to discover how much common ground there exists between our two countries on the post-2015 agenda.

    And I truly believe that if we hold the course and work together to address the issues I have outlined today, we can ensure ours is the generation that eradicates extreme poverty once and for all.

  • Justine Greening – 2014 Speech on International Development

    justinegreening

    Below is the text of the speech made by Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, in Scotland on 3rd April 2014.

    It’s a great pleasure to be here with you today.

    As all of you know we are at a key moment for shaping the future of international development.

    The Millennium Development Goals have inspired a generation. These unprecedented set of developing world promises have given all of us a clear direction, a path we can all follow.

    It is a path we have followed. Over the past fourteen years we have witnessed the largest reduction in poverty in history. The number of people dying from malaria and HIV has plummeted. Polio is on the brink of eradication. Millions more children are in school, paving the way for more gains in the coming years.

    I’ve just this morning returned from China, where much of the progress towards the MDGs has been made. There I met people in their 50s and 60s who have witnessed the most extraordinary changes during their adult lives. They’ve watched China go from a country in 1985 where 75% of people lived in poverty to one where that percentage had dropped to 13% by 2010.

    They talked from the heart about how development had brought routine access to health, education and transport, transforming the lives of many ordinary Chinese people in just one generation. And I see no reason why we can’t help other parts of the world to achieve similar transformation in just one generation.

    So we face a crossroads. The 2015 deadline is fast approaching and we have a genuinely historic opportunity to agree an even more ambitious set of goals and to finish the job the MDGs started.

    The United Kingdom has an absolutely central role to play in this.

    As confirmed yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, the UK is the first country in the G8 to invest 0.7% of national income on international development. It prompted a BBC Newsnight reporter last night to christen the United Kingdom an “aid superpower”, which probably isn’t far wide of the mark when you think about it.

    But what matters is that meeting this long-standing UN target of 0.7 shows that we are fully committed to creating a more stable and prosperous world. It shows that while development is happening constantly, we – the United Kingdom – will not stand aside as millions of people across the world still suffer from the worst symptoms of extreme poverty.

    And there’s no doubt to me that it is in our country’s DNA to get out into the world and make an impact. We take global priorities and make them our own as any responsible country should.

    The UK Department for International Development is ranked consistently among the most effective and most transparent aid donors in the world. It’s something that I’m very proud of and I hope that you are too. The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee Peer Review – which as you know is the most rigorous international benchmark – has called DFID a model of good practice.

    And the results speak for themselves.

    Over the past three years, thanks to the work of the United Kingdom, six million children across the developing world have received a primary school education. 20 million people have access to clean water. 22 million children have been immunised against killer diseases.

    But our support for the developing world goes much further than that. NIDOS, for one, has been doing incredibly important work on policy coherence, demonstrating that UK support for the world’s poorest people doesn’t begin and end with DFID.

    By working with the Department for Business we have a major say in Britain’s trade policy, aligning international trade with what works for Britain and the developing world. Our work with the Department for Energy and Climate Change is helping to protect the world’s poor from the worst impacts that climate change can bring.

    Scotland’s role

    And the truth is that these achievements belong to all of us. Scottish civil society, and Scotland as a whole, can be proud of the immense contribution made with, and through, DFID.

    It was just 50 miles up the road from here, at the G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005, where G8 members in the EU committed to reach the 0.7% target.

    This would not have happened without the voice of civil society – your voice – ringing in those leaders’ ears. And you have played a uniquely important role in helping us stick to this promise.

    Scottish civil society plays a very significant role in the fight against poverty and DFID is proud to support the work of several NIDOS member organisations represented here today.

    Working with Edinburgh’s Mercy Corps we are delivering clean water and sanitation to one-and-a-half million people in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the most deprived places on earth.

    Alongside the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund we are helping to improve the lives of 6,500 disabled people in South Sudan.

    With the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines we have helped to make rinderpest only the second disease in history – after smallpox – to be eliminated by mankind. And if you’re not up to speed with rinderpest, it was a cattle disease that for thousands of years caused famine, ruined livelihoods and brought untold suffering. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this achievement.

    But that’s not all that Scotland with DFID is achieving.

    Across Scotland, DFID, through our Connecting Classrooms and Global Learning programmes, is helping to ensure schoolchildren can learn about life in some of the world’s poorest countries. Our children are Skype-ing and talking with their peers in totally different parts of the world, learning through understanding.

    Through the Health Partnerships Scheme DFID is working closely with the University of Edinburgh to improve palliative care in countries across Africa.

    And I am delighted to announce today that we will be providing another £10 million to the Health Partnerships Scheme. This will enable health institutions across the UK to join the fight against poverty in the developing world.

    And then there’s the UK International Citizen Service, providing young people in Scotland and the rest of the union the chance to volunteer for development projects in Asia and Africa, allowing them to make a direct contribution to the fight against global poverty.

    So with all that brilliant work taking place, I want to recognise the commitment of the 600 DFID staff at my department’s joint-headquarters in East Kilbride.

    At Abercrombie House, just a few miles from here, we have teams leading DFID activities worldwide, from supporting the UK’s overseas territories to improving governance and tackling corruption.

    DFID teams in East Kilbride also led the work on last year’s major Nutrition for Growth summit, which was part of our country’s G8 Presidency. Through this one event Britain secured 4 billion dollars in commitments from donor governments and businesses worldwide, helping 500 million undernourished women and children.

    And when disasters hit, like it did in the Philippines last year, staff from Abercrombie House play a role in our country’s response.

    This is the kind of positive work that Scotland and Scots are doing through their DFID – through our DFID. Real impact across the globe every day, helping millions of people each year.

    Now it’s true that the Scottish Government’s International Development Fund is supporting important work in Asia and Africa, building on Scotland’s great historic links with Malawi, and I pay tribute to that.

    But what is undeniable to me – looking at all of the UK’s great work – is that we have a far bigger impact on the lives of the world’s neediest people precisely because we have been united in this work.

    As the world’s second biggest aid donor the UK can make truly transformative interventions, as economies of scale enable us to squeeze the maximum value for money out of every penny we spend.

    As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and with our own place on the board of the World Bank, the UK can ensure core values shared right across the whole of the UK are reflected at the top of these vital global institutions.

    As a United Kingdom, we shape rather than follow the global development agenda.

    Post-2015

    And there is no better proof of this than our work shaping the post-2015 landscape.

    The UN Secretary General recognised the UK’s standing as a world leader in international development when he asked our Prime Minister to co-chair his High Level Panel on the post-2015 development goals last year.

    The resulting report said – rightly – that the progress made since the year 2000 means we now have an unprecedented opportunity to end extreme poverty within our lifetimes.

    But this is in no sense inevitable. There will still be 900 million people living in extreme poverty in 2015… and these people will be the hardest to reach.

    We face an enormous challenge. To meet it, we need a new set of clear, inspiring, ambitious goals that will build on the MDGs and address the issues they left out.

    The High Level Panel agreed that in creating this new set of goals we should leave no one behind. I am also personally committed to ensuring we not only have a standalone goal addressing gender equality… but that the empowerment of women is reflected in each and every goal agreed.

    The panel also agreed that 2015 represents an unprecedented opportunity to put development on a more sustainable footing. We need to manage the very worst risks of climate change while ensuring a more sustainable use of food, water and energy.

    But critically we need goals that tackle the causes as well as the symptoms of poverty.

    This means helping to create the conditions economies and societies need to thrive.

    Peace, the rule of law, an absence of corruption, the recognition of property rights and institutions that serve all the people, not just a select few.

    This is what economists – from Jim Robinson and Daron Acemoglu to Amartya Sen – want.

    Most importantly, this is what people across the developing world want and need. They want to be able to register land in their own name so they can have the confidence to invest in it. They want a police force that is impartial and can be relied on to protect their families and property. They want to establish businesses to create the jobs that provide the dignity of work and the financial independence to be able to take their own decisions in their lives and plan for the future.

    The UN has now asked over a million people what they want to see in the next set of development goals. Just below education, healthcare and job comes honest and responsive government, and protection against crime and violence.

    Golden Thread

    At the heart of all this is what the Prime Minister calls the Golden Thread of development. This is a thread that weaves together the values and conditions that lead to more stable, prosperous and ultimately successful societies.

    The first strand of this thread is peace and security.

    Stability is the foundation for development in all countries. A major lesson learned from the MDGs is that development simply isn’t possible without addressing the causes of conflict and fragility.

    Time and again we find that conflict and violence correlate directly with the most extreme and intractable poverty.

    Creating peaceful and stable states, from South Sudan to Syria, must be a priority for the international community. The violent conflict in these two countries has caused terrible suffering and displacement, setting back development by decades. It is estimated that the Syrian conflict has put back that country’s development by 30 years.

    We, for one, have been doing our part, achieving tangible results on the ground. In Nigeria, our Justice for All programme is improving personal security and access to justice, focusing on a more accountable police force.

    In just one year the percentage of the public reporting satisfaction with the police response in one Lagos suburb rose from 47% to 63%.

    We are also helping to ensure getting justice is not the sole preserve of men. In Malawi, where links with Scotland go back over 150 years, DFID is helping women living in rural areas to gain access to justice, working with traditional community tribunals.

    Before this programme began, only a third of tribunals included a female judge. Today virtually every tribunal assisted by DFID has elected women assessors.

    DFID remains committed to supporting the people of Malawi, which is why earlier this week we announced funding for the delivery of essential drugs and medicines to 660 health clinics across the country.

    The second strand of the Golden Thread is an open economy.

    Last year, Afrobarometer published the results of a poll of more than 30,000 people across Africa. They asked one simple question: what is the most important problem that your government should focus on?

    And there was one runaway winner: unemployment.

    Men and women around the world want the dignity to earn an income, to be independent and to look after themselves and their families. That’s why, in my time at DFID, I have ramped up the focus on economic development.

    The UK is helping to dismantle barriers to trade, boost investment and improve the business climate in the world’s poorest countries. UK aid is modernising ports in Kenya and Uganda, upgrading roads from Uganda to Rwanda and reducing start-up costs for businesses in Nigeria.

    This work – which we are doing hand in hand with business and governments – will install the fundamental building blocks of sustained and inclusive economic growth.

    We know that growth leads to jobs. But countries which are growing can also take responsibility for their own development, ultimately freeing themselves from a reliance on aid. This requires a tax regime, an effective revenue authority, and strong, corruption-free institutions that can invest these revenues in the vital public services that people need, like health and education.

    For instance, DFID is now working alongside HM Revenue and Customs to help countries like Somalia introduce financial budgeting systems for the very first time.

    The third strand is an open government and an open society.

    While many countries are making rapid progress towards the MDGs, some are still lagging behind when it comes to giving people a say, through free and fair elections, government transparency or freedom of expression.

    I don’t believe these are optional extras that can be permanently set aside by countries. We’ve seen time and time again that open societies and open economies deliver better outcomes for everyone – especially the poor. Sustainable prosperity spreads where people’s rights and freedoms – the right to vote, to trade, to start a business – are respected and enshrined.

    The Challenge ahead

    Peace and security… open economies and open societies: they are not only the building blocks of development, they are valuable outcomes in themselves.

    Which is why we’ll be pushing for these Golden Thread issues to be included in the post-2015 framework.

    I should say that it will not be easy. There are many voices out there who oppose standalone goals on governance and security.

    But this is precisely the kind of debate – a debate about the evolving nature of development – that we all need to engage in.

    And this also goes for the post-2015 framework as a whole.

    To make the new set of goals ambitious and workable, we need everyone – governments, NGOs, businesses and academics – to get out there, make their case, and get people excited about what these targets could deliver for the world and its neediest people.

    I believe that it’s a challenge all of us will grip because we know what’s at stake.

    The progress of the last 15 years has shown us what can be achieved – and has given us sight and hope of what could be 15 years from now: the ending of extreme poverty by 2030.

    United, I know we can do it.

    Thank you.

  • Justine Greening – 2014 Speech on Forced Marriage

    justinegreening

    Below is the text of the speech made by Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, on 4th March 2014.

    Introduction

    Thank you for that introduction, and I want to thank our hosts PLAN, Girls Not Brides and the UK Gender and Development Network for organising this event.

    I also want to thank all of my officials in DFID who work on this day in and day out, for all of their efforts.

    And I know there are charities, campaigners and activists here today who are at the forefront of helping to make the world a better place for girls and women.

    I don’t think I need to tell everyone here how important the girls and women agenda is to me personally, and to my Department. Our Prime Minister talks about the Golden Thread of Development, building the kind of open economies and societies where everyone has a chance to contribute. Women and girls are an integral part of that challenge.

    Many of you were present a year ago when I set out that the Department for International Development would be taking its work on girls and women to the next level.

    In many areas, that meant getting to the root cause of the problem, which is about tackling the discriminatory social norms that keep too many girls and women poor and marginalised.

    Tackling the deep-rooted prejudices and attitudes that mean simply being born a girl in some communities and countries, defines and limits what you can achieve for your whole life.

    And in the last year I really do feel like we’ve made real progress on our strategy to help give girls and women a voice, choice and control over their lives.

    We’ve helped more women access modern, safe family planning methods. We’ve helped promote girls and women as leaders in politics, peace processes and public life. And we are removing the barriers that so often prevent girls and women from contributing to and benefitting from economic development.

    I am personally championing a new initiative to leverage greater international investment from a wide range of partners, including the private sector, to support countries that are integrating work on improving girls and women’s prospects into national economic development plans, starting with Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

    And we are also scaling up our work on tackling violence against girls and women. And I’m particularly proud of the ambitious, world leading work DFID is doing to end Female Genital Mutilation in a generation, work that has been brilliantly led by DFID’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lynne Featherstone.

    I should also praise William Hague, the Foreign Secretary’s on-going commitment to addressing sexual violence in conflict through the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative and the UNGA Declaration of Commitments to End Sexual Violence, which have now been endorsed by 140 countries.

    The gap on Early and Forced Marriage

    So it has been a year of progress, and I’m really grateful to all of the campaigners, all the organisations here today who have worked with us. Together, I really do believe that we have pushed gender equality up the global agenda.

    But I’ve felt that there was an area that we didn’t talk about enough, an area that has too often gone unacknowledged and untackled and that is Early and Forced Marriage.

    In the past many of us have found talking about Early and Forced Marriage very uncomfortable. It’s generally been considered too difficult, too taboo, maybe too entrenched to focus on too much.

    As I’ll outline today, I believe this has simply got to change.

    All over the world millions of girls are being forced into marriage, many while they are still children, where they will come under immediate pressure to have children themselves.

    And for many of us, as we grow up we realise there’s a whole world of opportunity out there – but for these girls, whatever may be the case for their brothers – when they reach adolescence their world shrinks. And hope gives way to a restricted, limited reality.

    And this isn’t good enough. Nearly 20 years ago at a historic women’s conference in Beijing, the international community agreed with America’s then First Lady Hilary Clinton when she said: “that human rights are women’s rights…. and women’s rights are human rights.”

    Since then the world has made great progress on gender equality…but as long as Early and Forced Marriage exists we have not fulfilled our promise to girls and women. Early and Forced Marriage remains one of the critical symptoms of the low status of girls and women in many societies, and of the day to day neglect of their rights.

    It’s time for us to break the silence and take action.

    A Human Rights Issue

    DFID is already doing this in our campaign to help end Female Genital Mutilation.

    FGM is something we have historically backed away from in many respects. Yet there are 125million girls and women across the world who have had their genitalia partially or totally removed – leading to a lifetime of psychological scars and serious health problems.

    In many places FGM is carried out because it is believed to be in the girl’s best interests. Traditionally uncut girls cannot marry and are seemingly condemned to a life of stigma and discrimination.

    Slowly but surely things are changing for the better. Women and girls, – and many men and boys, – leaders and communities are speaking out against a harmful and violent practice that holds girls, women and countries back. And we are seeing thousands of communities in West Africa deciding to abandon the practice of FGM.

    Our job is to support them and to accelerate the pace of change.

    And the UK is already leading the way as the world’s biggest supporter of activity to end FGM, something I think we can be incredibly proud of. Last year DFID launched a £35 million programme that will work in 17 countries to support the Africa-led movement to end FGM.

    And I want to replicate the success that DFID and others are having on FGM with Early and Forced Marriage.

    It’s another huge issue…Early and Forced Marriage happens all over the world…it happens here in the UK.

    In total Early and Forced Marriage affects about 14 million girls every year. 1 in 3 girls in the developing world are married by age 18, and one in nine are married by age 15. Some are as young as 8 years old.

    But as with FGM, we are starting to hear voices across the developing world saying enough is enough. We must support them.

    Voices like Zambia’s First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba who recently launched her country’s campaign against child marriages…she highlighted the problem of Zambia having a statutory law prohibiting child marriage but customary laws allowing it.

    She says: “We cannot have a situation where defilement of girls as young as 12 years is backed by the law! How then do we come up with strategies that can protect our children when laws that are supposed to protect children are so fluid and porous?” Her words.

    And you only have to talk to girls themselves and hear how they feel about it to grasp how wrong this practice is.

    Girls like Fatima from Egypt, who was 15 when she was forced to marry what she describes as a ‘grotesque old man with 6 children’. After being married she was immediately under pressure to have a baby, against the advice of doctors.

    Girls like Lamana from Cameroon, also 15 when she was told she had to marry. When the day of the wedding was announced she recalls thinking, “how can I invite my friends to a forced marriage? I refused all of the ceremonies because I didn’t want to be a part of that.” She eventually ran away after her husband raped and beat her.

    Lamana and Fatima have since received help from PLAN, one of several amazing organisations doing pioneering work to help girls rebuild their lives and speak out against their experiences.

    But we know that there are many other girls who will never get to talk about their experiences.

    Last year it was reported that an 8 year old Yemeni girl named Rawan died after suffering internal injuries on the night of her arranged marriage – to a man more than 5 times her age. She was just 8.

    History, tradition, cultural practises…these should not and can never be used to excuse the unacceptable.

    And Early and Forced Marriage is unacceptable.

    The smart thing to do

    It is not just about human rights. When girls cannot decide for themselves whether, when and with whom to get married and have children: it’s not just unacceptable for them, it’s a disaster for development.

    Girls who marry earlier are more likely to suffer domestic violence and sexual abuse, they are more likely to contract HIV from their older husbands…

    …Girls who give birth before the age of 15 are also 5 times more likely to die in childbirth than girls in their 20s…

    …And the children of child brides are 60% more likely to die before their first birthday than the children of mothers who are over 19.

    Early and Forced Marriage is also closely linked to low levels of economic development…Girls who marry young are more likely to be poor and stay poor.

    In contrast delaying marriage and enabling girls to improve their education, health and job opportunities can not only help them to move out of poverty, it can also have a profound impact on their families and on their own children, giving them the opportunity to break the cycles of poverty that can pass from generation to generation.

    And that’s why the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day ‘Equality for women is progress for all’, is so apt.

    But as long as girls are being locked out of progress, valued only for their bride price…a country cannot develop properly. Transforming her future – means transforming the future of whole communities and countries.

    Taking action against Early and Forced Marriage

    So what can the UK do to tackle Early and Forced Marriage?

    To begin with, I think we’ve got to beat the drum internationally and see the UK play a leading role in calling for greater resources, better coordination, and a stronger focus on this issue.

    We need to step up as a country to join with Canada and the Netherlands, who have taken the initiative in actively supporting the Southern country leadership we’re seeing from Zambia, Ghana and others to push UN resolutions on Early and Forced Marriage.

    I also want the UK to be at the forefront of galvanising not just statements of support and UN resolutions, important as they are, but shaping long-term international action.

    As many of you are aware we are at a key moment for designing the next generation of international development goals, with the Millennium Development Goals for reducing poverty due to expire at the end of next year.

    These goals have seen some huge successes over the past 13 years…but progress has been uneven, particularly for girls and women.

    And it was fantastic that MDG3 addressed gender equality but in many respects the MDGs could have gone further in addressing discriminatory social norms, like Early and Forced Marriage. And in fact efforts to improve maternal health are among the most off track, progress on adolescent births has all but stalled.

    In May last year the UN’s High Level Panel for the Post-2015 development agenda, co-chaired by our Prime Minister, alongside President Yudhoyono of Indonesia and President Sirleaf of Liberia, said we should be the generation to end extreme poverty.

    The UK is hugely supportive of this and the Panel’s goal of leaving no one behind.

    And the UK believes it is vital that the world agrees a powerful standalone gender goal post 2015. It was right that the Panel recommended that we have an explicit target on ending Child Marriage, alongside these other gender targets, and we will work to support this in the process ahead in the UN.

    I will be raising Early and Forced Marriage when I attend the Commission on the Status of Girls and Women next week, holding a roundtable with Canada where we will champion the call for global action on this.

    I also believe that in DFID we can do more to help end Early and Forced Marriage with our own development programmes and humanitarian responses.

    As with FGM, we will build on what works, continuing existing pilots, scaling up where programmes are successful, and we will start new pilots to find more innovative solutions on what works.

    Our FGM campaign has also shown us that to succeed there needs to be a grassroots movement, a real coalition of voices – girls and boys, parents, religious and community leaders, politicians – all speaking out against a harmful practise. This movement has really started to get momentum already. In December last year Health and Education Ministers from 21 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa set themselves a target to eliminate Early and Forced Marriage by 2020.

    We must support them – DFID is working already directly with communities where Early and Forced Marriage is prevalent.

    Our flagship programme in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, focuses on engaging with the whole community to change attitudes. It works directly with girls and boys through programmes in schools, including girls’ clubs, mentorships, economic incentives to encourage girls to enroll and stay in school.

    It is early days for this programme but there are already parents who have changed their minds on the value of education for their daughters, and decided to keep them in school. And we know there have been over 600 marriages that have been cancelled since the start of the programme.

    These sorts of programmes can show us the way forward. And DFID is currently developing more programmes like this one. We are looking to reshape our portfolio so more of our work has an explicit and direct focus on Early and Forced Marriage. You can expect to hear much more on this in the coming months.

    The UK is also getting its own house in order on both FGM and Early and Forced Marriage. Legislation to criminalise forced marriage in the UK is currently going through Parliament.

    Our Forced Marriage Unit provides assistance to victims, and it gave advice or support relating to a possible forced marriage in more than 1300 cases in 2013. But we know this is unlikely to reflect the true scale of the abuse. And we know that some studies have suggested that between 5000 and 8000 forced marriages take place in the UK annually.

    At the beginning of the year the Prime Minister set out that in 2014 Britain will lead the charge on the empowerment of girls and women worldwide.

    And just this afternoon Parliament agreed a new law, proposed by the MP Bill Cash, and I want to pay tribute to the work Bill has done on getting this Bill through every stage of Parliament.

    This Bill will ensure that from now on the Department for International Development is legally obliged to consider gender equality before we fund a programme or give assistance anywhere in the world. And it sends a powerful signal about the UK’s clear intent in this area. It will be something we can take round the world and say to other countries we are doing because we believe this matters.

    A Call to Action

    Today I want to issue a challenge to everyone here, NGOs, charities, activists, businesses to help us bring Early and Forced Marriage up the global agenda in 2014 and then to keep on pushing.

    These are complex issues and we need to work with lots of organisations and partners. And I want to hear from members of this audience on what they think their role can be.

    I want to challenge businesses, our UK businesses to play their part to support girls and women in the sorts of countries DFID works in. This could mean sourcing more from women producers and business owners, tackling gender inequality in wages. It could mean offering flexible working arrangements, proper childcare facilities, parental leave and other support to all employees, men and women. Business is part of the solution too.

    Finally, I want to urge girls in the UK to join us in our campaigning efforts on FGM and Early and Forced Marriage this year and to stick with us on the road ahead.

    We know what a powerful force for change girls can be.

    Girls like Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani school girl shot by the Taliban for going to school is now spearheading a global campaign for girls’ education, which is having a huge impact all around the world.

    Girls like Fahma Mohamed who got a meeting with the Education Secretary after getting more than 250,000 signatures to her petition urging the Government to write to all schools about Female Genital Mutilation, which is exactly what we’ll be doing.

    And girls like Muna Hassan, who will be speaking to us shortly about her campaign on FGM, which she started at the age of 13.

    These girls took the causes they felt strongly about right to the top…and put the spotlight on governments and world leaders to demand, and get, change.

    I recently visited a secondary school in Wakefield in Yorkshire, Outwood Grange Academy, and as I listened to the girls there, I was struck by how strongly the girls in this country feel about girls their own age having to go through FGM, being forced into marriage, forced into having children before they were ready. They wouldn’t accept it themselves and they don’t want other girls to have to put up with it.

    Now I want to know what you think, so tell me on twitter @JustineGreening and #Transformherfuture

    I’ll be listening, the Prime Minister will be listening…And we are taking your priorities and making them ours.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, you can’t pick and choose on human rights. You can’t decide to go for some matters and raise those, but leave others that feel too hard, too sensitive, too controversial to tackle.

    Early and Forced Marriage is a human rights issue.

    It’s not focused on enough because it’s complex to address. It takes time to address. Because it means a fundamental shift in attitudes, a shift in investment, in policy. None of these things are easy, but that should never give us the excuse to ignore it

    And last year, I remember Tanya (the CEO of PLAN UK) asking me – what is the Government doing about Early and Forced Marriage? I gave an answer, but I knew in my heart it could have been better, and it was up to me and to Ministers to make sure we had a better answer.

    I believe Early and Forced Marriage is, in effect, a litmus test for us. If we can ensure voice, choice and control, then girls will be able to decide who and when to marry. And when this happens a better future will open up for them, and for their countries, and for us.

    The UK can but we also must show leadership on this, and we will. We will keep building on the growing momentum, until it becomes unstoppable.

    DFID’s going to leave no stone unturned in tackling Early and Forced Marriage. We will do this alongside our campaign on FGM, alongside our work to prevent other forms of physical, sexual and psychological violence against women, and together with our work on helping women entrepreneurs get finance and land rights, on family planning, and on education.

    By bringing all these things together, by keeping these issues under the spotlight, and by galvanising global action…we can give girls and women around the world the chance to write their own futures, and in doing so I passionately believe we will make all of our futures better too.

  • Damian Green – 2014 Speech to APCC

    damiangreen

    Below is the text of the speech made by Damian Green, the Home Office Minister, to the APCC on 21st January 2014.

    PCCs are vital in driving reform

    It’s been a challenging first year in office for everyone. We asked a lot of you. We asked you to empower communities and hold the police to account – at a time when the economic climate meant we had to make some very difficult decisions about police budgets; and at a time when the reputation of the police has been challenged by the unacceptable actions of a small minority of officers.

    But you rose to the occasion. Many of you are tackling these challenges head-on.

    You worked hard on behalf of the local communities that elected you. In terms of public awareness and their understanding of your role, undoubtedly you have had a bigger impact in a single year than police authorities did in the decade before that.

    Improving services through reform

    And we asked you to join us in radically transforming the police– embracing new technology, exploring new ways of collaborative working and driving new ideas to improve policing and increase efficiency. And that is what I want to talk about mostly today – collaboration.

    There have been some great success stories so far.

    To use an example from my local force, Kent is using Predictive Policing, which combines historic data with predictive algorithms, to identify areas most likely to be affected by crime to help allocate resources and target officers according to demand. So far this seems to have worked well.

    Northamptonshire and Cheshire, two forces separated by geography but united in collaboration, have created a joint shared service providing 24 hour HR advice, uniform ordering and admin functions. The two forces had already centralised these functions independently but recognised that joining together and sharing the investment cost would be more cost effective.

    West Midlands Police used ‘Priority Based Budgeting’ to re-examine services and challenge ways of working identifying savings of £48.7 million in the process.

    And as we have seen recently forces are making increasing use of Body Worn Video. We welcome the use of camera technology to protect the public and to support the police in discharging their duties. Body worn video is a powerful tool and can be used by the police to gather evidence to investigate crime. That evidence could also be used to investigate complaints and hold the police to account, but also evidence I have seen is that it affects behaviour. Officers have said to me that by saying this interview is being filmed then behaviours change. One example mentioned to me was of an individual who was upset at being stopped and his friend started filming the incident on his camera phone. The officer said good I am filming you as well. I hope to see more of this happening.

    There are national initiatives also. The National Procurement Hub will enable forces to make purchases at the best prices. Its management information will allow you to judge value for money. The Hub is not yet fully rolled out, but we are ensuring you can access the latest full year information on procurement spend which has been collected for all forces. I would urge you very strongly to use these tools to the fullest extent.

    PCC have played a vital role in driving this transformation – working with Chief Constables to ensure services are delivered more effectively and efficiently to the public.

    Progress is encouraging. HMIC’s assessment is that the vast majority of police forces are rising to the challenge of reducing budgets while protecting service to the public.

    But everybody in this room understands that 2014 is going to be difficult too.

    Central government funding for policing will need to reduce by a fifth over the spending review period. And as the Chancellor indicated earlier this month, further spending cuts will be required after the election. We published our provisional grant report before Christmas and, in line with the usual process, we are consulting on it. We will publish our final report early next month.

    Let’s be clear though. The sort of transformation we are talking about here is not about this year’s or next year’s budget settlement. It is not about trimming a little fat and hoping that another era of plenty comes along. It is about fundamentally re-thinking how policing is configured so it is efficient and effective for years to come.

    We know this can be done. Because it is being done.

    Collaboration, blue light integration and rehabilitation

    Collaboration

    I am pleased so many of you attended the ‘Innovation through Collaboration’ event at the Home Office last month, which gave you and chief constables an opportunity to learn from one another’s experiences of collaboration and to discuss bidding for the Police Innovation Fund.

    There is clearly no one-size-fits all approach with collaboration. Equally there is no reason why some forces should be planning less than 10% of their savings from collaboration. That may well be an opportunity missed.

    Collaboration is not just about saving money. It is about providing a more effective service. HMIC are reviewing the extent to which forces are meeting the Strategic Policing Requirement in relation to key national threats such as organised crime. On these and other crime threats forces need to collaborate with each other and with the wider public and private sectors.

    Emergency services integration

    By enhancing accountability you are driving greater effectiveness and efficiency. If it works for policing, it should work for other emergency services, like the fire service. In finding significant scope for reform, Sir Ken Knight’s independent report was clear that fire services could not, by themselves, achieve the required transformational change. The vast majority of fire and police boundaries are co-terminus and over half of police stations in England are within 1km of a fire station. The two services work closely together in more ways than one.

    Emergency services collaborating will deliver efficiencies. In Hampshire, fire, police and the county council are joining up corporate services and expect to save around £4 million a year. In Merseyside a joint police and fire command and control centre is being built.

    I know that many of you are exploring integration of police and fire.

    I want to see more of this. The government will set out in its response to the Knight Review shortly, but I want to be clear now that we want to work with you to build on what is already happening and to drive this forward by removing barriers and unlocking opportunities.

    And I would like collaboration to go further. Working closely with ambulance services will bring real benefits. In London, the Met and London Ambulance have created joint response units which are reducing average waiting times for the police from 36 minutes to just 5 minutes. That may not sound like a lot of time, but it has transformed their operations. In Surrey, there is a programme of collaboration between the police, fire and ambulance. Their collaboration will see the three services join forces to find ways of streamlining operations, sharing more premises and delivering joint safety campaigns. It would be good to see you driving similar joint working across the country.

    Transforming Rehabilitation

    Rehabilitation is another area where reform is urgently needed. For too long there has been a lack of real action on finding sustainable ways to reduce reoffending rates.

    It is not good enough that more than 148,000 criminals convicted or cautioned over the last year had at least 15 previous convictions or cautions.

    It is not good enough that over half a million offenders had at least one previous conviction or caution.

    And it is not good enough that the group of offenders most likely to reoffend – those sentenced to short sentences – are currently ignored by the system and receive no statutory rehabilitation.

    That’s nearly 85,000 further crimes committed by a group who walk out of prison with £46 in their pocket, and get little or no support to get their lives back on track and turn away from crime.

    That’s why we’re launched the Transforming Rehabilitation programme. This will provide more effective rehabilitation at better value to the taxpayer in a way that is sustainable. We want to draw on all the skills and services that can be offered by practitioners across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

    Opening up the market to a range of new suppliers will see innovative ways of working whilst giving the Department the financial flexibility to extend supervision and support to every former offender.

    I know that many of you have concerns about the changes, particularly the implications for the existing key local partnerships and accountability.

    To achieve their objective of reducing reoffending, providers will need to work closely with local partners – including yourselves.

    I want you to have a strong role in the reforms. I welcome the fact that many of you have actively engaged with the Programme to ensure your priorities are understood. We have listened to the concern, raised by many of you, that for the evaluation of bids to fully reflect key local priorities, it needs to include the views of those who have with the expertise and awareness at a local level.

    While there can be no formal role for PCCs or any other stakeholder in the evaluation process, the Programme has developed a proposal to establish a forum through which key local stakeholders with the expertise and awareness of local issues can provide advice to the local competition teams.

    The local competition teams will be in touch with all PCCs to discuss arrangements for this proposal and I hope this will make it easier for us to work closely with them to make the reforms as innovative and successful as possible.

    Innovation and technology – Innovation Fund

    Last year we announced an innovation fund worth up to £50m a year to incentivise collaboration, transformation and innovative delivery to improve effectiveness and efficiency of policing. The fund starts in full from 2014/15. But there was the need and readiness to press ahead now with transformation. So we introduced a £20 million precursor fund in 2013/14.

    We received, unsurprisingly, a fantastic response. There were 115 bids, for which I would like to thank you all. I was delighted to be able to announce last week that every police force in England and Wales will receive a share of that £20million. And £3.8 million of that funding will be used by six forces to collaborate on proposals to share buildings and infrastructure with the fire and rescue service, saving millions of pounds of public money in the process. A number of other themes emerging from the bidding process for the innovation fund included:

    – six forces who will receive funding to enhance public protection and support by investing in body worn camera technology;

    – a 24-force consortium who will move public-facing services such as incident reporting, Freedom of Information requests and impounded vehicle release payments online; and

    – nine forces who will be using the funding to roll out use of mobile data equipment so officers can access intelligence, take statements and update crime records without having to return to the station – obviously allows them to spend more time on the streets and in communities rather than sat behind their desks.

    We were able to approve 65 of the Innovation Fund bids in this round.

    Unfortunately we could not approve them all. In a number of cases there were positive ideas with potential to bring about transformation. But further work was needed to understand and articulate the impact of those changes. I hope you will feel encouraged to build on these bids and re-submit as part of future bidding rounds.

    We will be announcing the timetable for bidding to the 2014/15 fund in the very near future. In the meantime, we are conducting a review of the precursor fund. In particular, we are considering where the process, communications and criteria might be strengthened to ensure that the fund prioritises bids that truly reflect innovation and collaboration.

    I hope the feedback we have provided will help you prepare your bids for next year.

    Innovation through technology

    And when you are thinking about your bids, or indeed about future ways of working in general, think about the best ways to use the new technology that is available. You may have indulged in the New Year sales. According to the British Retail Consortium there was a 19% growth in internet purchases from a year earlier, the fastest increase in four years. Clearly this has a lot to do with convenience. And avoiding the bad weather! But it is more than that. This amounts to a change in mindset.

    Technology is shifting people’s behaviour and expectations of public services. Policing is responding to this. But are we responding fast enough? The re-launched police.uk website gives the public detailed local crime maps. It is a great tool. But in a world of apps that allow you to book your taxi, find out when your bus is coming and do your banking – all on your mobile, having access to data about crimes in their area on line is perhaps regular rather than remarkable. And if people can’t do relatively basic things like report crime on-line, as is the case with the majority of forces, then it is disappointing. There are exceptions like Sussex which allows the public to report crime online and Avon and Somerset which allows the public to track the progress of reported crimes online. In general, I think we would all admit that more could and should be done

    There are good foundations. All forces provide information via their website and Twitter. Nearly all forces (95%) provide information via Facebook; and two-thirds via YouTube. In many forces, the public can contact individual officers or specific neighbourhood teams.

    These are good examples. But I do not want to limit our ambitions to doing old things with new tools. We want to harness this potential to bring about transformational change. That is what digital policing is about.

    Neighbourhood policing illustrates this challenge. Neighbourhood policing improves public confidence and supports crime reduction, by tackling anti-social behaviour right through to national threats like organised crime. And neighbourhood policing is key to building and maintaining police integrity.

    HMIC has previously raised concerns that neighbourhood policing is being put at risk by changes driven by cost-cutting. But more recent findings from the College and HMIC suggests that budget cuts need not lead to a withdrawal from neighbourhood policing. So long as you and senior officers remain committed to supporting innovative approaches to delivery, neighbourhood policing can continue to go from strength to strength – and I know many of you are indeed strongly committed to this. The whole point of the new policing landscape is that the Home Office and the Policing Minister does not tell the police how they should operate. But it can play its part. We are giving PCSOs new powers to enhance their ability to support effective neighbourhood policing, and we have consulted on whether any further powers are needed. If you think there is more we can do I will be interested in hearing from you. In the meantime, HMIC will be looking again at this as part of its next Valuing the Police inspection.

    Here too we need to think about technology. For example, how does the traditional neighbourhood policing method serve a generation of young people immersed who are immersed in social networks, whose experience of crime might more likely be on-line than in their physical neighbourhood?

    More widely, is policing configured for the 86% of people in the UK who, according to the Office for National Statistics, use the internet, or the 14% who do not?

    It is not just the public and the police taking advantage of technology. Of course criminals are too. Which is why we are improving law enforcement capabilities to tackle cyber crime, including through developing cyber skills in mainstream policing.

    Embedding a culture of innovation in policing

    Innovation is vital. But it must become part of business as usual. As you know, the College is working to improve knowledge about effective crime-fighting interventions by developing networks so forces and academics can collaborate. Many of you will be having conversations with universities about potential new approaches. You should also work with the College to share good practice.

    I am also keen for the Home Office to support your emerging thinking on the form and function of a Police ICT Company to support forces to use technology in new ways.

    A new contract which the Home Office has just awarded for the provision of Evidence Based Decision Support will also help. This is founded on partnership across industry, SMEs and academia. This enables the right team of IT experts to focus on your specific problems before you make critical decisions to invest significant resources so they can support your forces transformation agenda and ensure it is set-up to succeed.

    The concept has been proven at the MoD and in Australia. I am looking forward to seeing what it can do for us.

    The team is here today and ready to answer your questions over lunch.

    A culture of reform has to encompass police leadership. I very much welcome the APCC’s timely review of ACPO. I look forward to working with you and the College to ensure we have the right police leadership structures to fit in with the new policing landscape.

    Challenges: integrity, undercover policing, the Fed review and FNOs

    I have set out how reform and innovation are tools to enable us to get on the front foot. But some elements of policing will always be about identifying and responding to challenges. I want to talk about some of them. But my point is that a policing profession that is constantly innovating will be better placed to deal with these challenges that emerge.

    Integrity

    You will, I am sure, share the Government’s determination to improve police integrity. It lies at the heart of the public’s confidence in policing. I know many of you are anxious about reductions to your budgets to resource the IPCC better. We believe the transfer for 2014/15 is proportionate and necessary to allow the IPCC to build capacity and take on additional cases this year. We are providing the IPCC with up to £800,000 from the Home Office budget in 2013/14 for transition costs and a further £10m in capital in 2014/15. The College of Policing also plays a key role in ensuring that all forces meet the highest level of standards in professional behaviour and is committed to delivering the package of measures announced by the Home Secretary to improve police integrity. One important step of this is.

    Undercover policing

    The alleged inappropriate behaviour of undercover officers in the past has caused concern. The two investigations into those allegations will report shortly, so I will cannot comment further. But we are working to ensure undercover work is done properly.

    We have recently introduced legislation increasing the oversight of undercover deployments by law enforcement officers.

    Law enforcement agencies must now notify the Office of the Surveillance Commissioners, all of whom are retired senior judges, of all undercover deployments. We have raised the internal authorisation level from Superintendent to Assistant Chief Constable. Deployments beyond 12 months must now be signed off by the independent Office of the Surveillance Commissioners before being authorised by the Chief Constable.

    Given the level of concern, the Home Secretary asked HMIC to conduct a thorough review of all undercover policing units. We will consider any recommendations carefully so we can assure the public that undercover operations, which are vital to public protection, are only used when necessary and do not go beyond the realms of decency. We must make sure the public have trust in this very sensitive but very necessary area of policing.

    I should also mention the Fed Review.

    As you will be aware, the independent review of the Police Federation, by Sir David Normington, published its report yesterday. The review raises some serious issues and we look forward to seeing the Federation’s response. It is important that all organisations have the opportunity to reform their functions and practices and we recognise the important step the Federation has taken in carrying out this review. It is essential that all parts of the policing landscape, including the Federation, have the confidence of the public to act with integrity and impartiality at all times.

    One other issue I want to touch on is Foreign national offenders

    The level of crime in England and Wales committed by foreign nationals is sizeable and increasing. In 2011/12 the Metropolitan Police arrested over 74,000 foreign national offenders. The scale of the challenge is less well understood outside London. But we are building that evidence for the rest of the country and will share it as soon as we can to help you deal with the problem more effectively.

    This is not about picking on people because they are not from the UK. Foreign national offenders are first and foremost criminals. The fact that they are not UK nationals provides us with other options for dealing with them.

    For example, from the beginning of this month it has been possible to take action to remove EEA nationals who are not exercising or who are abusing their Treaty rights.

    This potentially an important tool but it can only be effective if the police and immigration enforcement work together. We have been providing information to forces on steps the police can take. We will do more in the coming weeks.

    Conclusion

    There are a huge range of challenges. But just as importantly, we must maximise the opportunities. Overall crime is down to the lowest levels since the Crime Survey for England and Wales started in 1981; victim satisfaction is up and the proportion of officers on the frontline is increasing.

    But it’s all our job to ensure crime continues to fall. We want the public to feel protected by a truly 21st century police force. And we want officers to feel they belong to a proud profession.

    You PCCs uniquely placed to make sure this happens. That is because you are elected because you best understand the local people’s concerns. You have a responsibility to secure and maintain efficient and effective policing. And you have the opportunity to drive through innovative reforms. I know you are already doing this. I also know it is not going to be easy. You will encounter resistance. But many of you will find willing partners within policing, the Home Office and with policy colleagues.

  • David Cameron – 2014 Speech to Conservative Party Conference

    davidcameron

    Below is the text of the speech made by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, on 1 October 2014 to the Conservative Party Conference.

    I am so proud to stand here today as Prime Minister of four nations in one United Kingdom.

    I was always clear about why we called that referendum.

    Duck the fight – and our union could have been taken apart bit by bit.

    Take it on – and we had the chance to settle the question.

    This Party has always confronted the big issues for the sake of our country.

    And now…

    …England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland…

    …we are one people in one union and everyone here can be proud of that.

    And we can all agree, during that campaign a new star – a new Conservative star – was born…

    …someone who’s going to take our message to every corner of Scotland: our very own Ruth Davidson.

    The lead-up to that referendum was the most nerve-wracking week of my life.

    But I can tell you the best moment of my year.

    It was June 6th, the 70th anniversary of D Day.

    Sam and I were in Bayeux, in France, with my constituent, Patrick Churchill…

    …no relation to the great man – but a great man himself.

    Patrick is 91 years old – and 70 years ago, he was there fighting fascism, helping to liberate that town.

    I’ll never forget the tears in his eyes as he talked about the comrades he left behind..

    …or the pride they all felt in the job they had done.

    As we walked along the streets he pointed out where he had driven his tank…

    …and all along the roadside there were French children waving flags – Union Jacks – the grandchildren of the people he had liberated.

    Patrick’s here today with his wife Karin – and I know, like me, you’ll want to give them the warmest welcome.

    When people have seen our flag – in some of the most desperate times in history – they have known what it stands for.

    Freedom. Justice. Standing up for what is right.

    They have known this isn’t any old country.

    This is a special country.

    June 6th this summer. Normandy.

    I was so proud of Great Britain that day.

    And here, today, I want to set out how in this generation, we can build a country whose future we can all be proud of.

    How we can secure a better future for all.

    How we can build a Britain that everyone is proud to call home.

    The heirs to those who fought on the beaches of Northern France are those fighting in Afghanistan today.

    For thirteen years, young men and women have been serving our country there.

    This year, the last of our combat troops come home – and I know everyone here will want to show how grateful and how proud we are of everyone who served.

    But the end of the Afghan mission does not mean the end of the threat.

    The threat is Islamist extremist terrorism – and it has found a new, hellish crucible – with ISIL, in Iraq and Syria.

    These people are evil, pure and simple.

    They kill children; rape women; threaten non-believers with genocide; behead journalists and aid workers.

    Some people seem to think we can opt out of this. We can’t.

    As I speak, British servicemen and women are flying in the skies over Iraq.

    They saw action yesterday.

    And there will be troops on the frontline – but they will be Iraqis, Kurds, and Syrians…

    …fighting for the safe and democratic future they deserve.

    We are acting in partnership with a range of countries – including those from the region.

    Because let’s be clear:

    There is no “walk on by” option.

    Unless we deal with ISIL, they will deal with us, bringing terror and murder to our streets.

    As always with this Party, we will do whatever it takes to keep our country safe.

    And to those who have had all the advantages of being brought up in Britain, but who want to go and fight for ISIL – let me say this.

    If you try to travel to Syria or Iraq, we will use everything at our disposal to stop you:

    Taking away your passport; prosecuting, convicting, imprisoning you…

    …and if you’re there already – even preventing you from coming back.

    You have declared your allegiance.

    You are an enemy of the UK – and you should expect to be treated as such.

    When it comes to keeping Britain safe, I had one man by my side for four years.

    When he was a teenager, he didn’t only address the Tory party conference…

    …he read Hansard in bed…

    …and had a record collection consisting of one album by Dire Straits and dozens of speeches by Winston Churchill.

    All I can say is this: that boy became a fine Parliamentarian…

    …a brilliant Foreign Secretary…

    …our greatest living Yorkshireman…

    …and someone to whom I owe an enormous debt of gratitude: William Hague.

    William, there’s one more task I want you to carry out: bringing fairness to our constitution.

    During that referendum campaign we made a vow to the Scottish people that they will get more powers – and we will keep that vow.

    But here’s my vow to the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

    I know the system is unfair.

    I know that you are asking: if Scotland can vote separately on things like tax, spending and welfare….

    ….why can’t England, Wales and Northern Ireland do the same?

    I know you want this answered.

    So this is my vow: English votes for English laws – the Conservatives will deliver it.

    We’ve delivered a lot these past four years…

    …but we’ve had to do it all in a coalition government.

    Believe me: coalition was not what I wanted to do; it’s what I had to do.

    And I know what I want next.

    To be back here in October 2015 delivering Conservative policies…

    …based on Conservative values…

    …leading a majority Conservative Government.

    So where do we want to take our country?

    Where do I want to take our country?

    During these four years, I hope that the British people have come to know me a little.

    I’m not a complicated man. I believe in some simple things.

    Families come first. They are the way you make a nation strong from the inside out.

    I care deeply about those who struggle to get by…

    …but I believe the best thing to do is help them stand on their own two feet – and no, that’s not saying “you’re on your own”, but “we are on your side, helping you be all you can.”

    And I believe in something for something; not something for nothing.

    Those who do the right thing, put the effort in, who work and build communities – these are the people who should be rewarded.

    All of this is underpinned by a deep patriotism.

    I love this country – and my goal is this:

    To make Britain a country that everyone is proud to call home.

    That doesn’t just mean having the fastest-growing economy, or climbing some international league table.

    I didn’t come into politics to make the lines on the graphs go in the right direction.

    I want to help you live a better life.

    And it comes back to those things I believe.

    A Britain that everyone is proud to call home is a Britain where hard work is really rewarded.

    Not a free-for-all, but a chance for all…

    …the chance of a job, a home, a good start in life…

    …whoever you are, wherever you are from.

    And by the way – you never pull one person up by pulling another one down.

    So this Party doesn’t do the politics of envy and class warfare…

    …we believe in aspiration and helping people get on in life – and what’s more, we’re proud of it.

    The past four years have been about laying the foundations for that Britain.

    The next five will be about finishing the job.

    Put another way – if our economic plan for the past four years has been about our country – and saving it from economic ruin…

    …our plan for the next five years will be about you, and your family – and helping you get on.

    But Conservatives know this.

    Nothing comes easy.

    There’s no reward without effort; no wealth without work; no success without sacrifice…

    …and we credit the British people with knowing these things too.

    Other parties preach to you about a Brave New World…

    …we understand you have to start with the real world and make it better.

    So let other politicians stand on stages like this and promise an easy life. Not me.

    I am here today to set out our Conservative commitment for the next five years.

    If you want to provide for yourself and your family, you’ll have the security of a job…

    …but only if we stick to our long-term economic plan.

    If you work hard, we will cut your taxes…

    …but only if we keep on cutting the deficit, so we can afford to do that.

    For those wanting to buy a home, yes – we will help you get on that housing ladder…

    …but only if we take on the vested interests, and build more homes – however hard that is.

    We will make sure your children get a great education; the best education…

    …but only if we keep taking on everyone who gets in the way of high standards.

    For those retiring, we will make sure you get a decent pension; and real rewards for a life of work…

    …but only if we as a country accept we all have to work a bit longer and save a bit more.

    It’s pretty simple really: a good job, a nice home, more money at the end of the month, a decent education for your children, a safe and secure retirement.

    A country where if you put in, you get out.

    A Britain everyone is proud to call home.

    And a real long-term plan to get there.

    It starts with more decent jobs.

    And look how far we’ve come.

    Today there are 1 million 800 thousand more jobs in our country than there were in 2010.

    We are creating more jobs here in Britain than in the whole of Europe put together.

    1.8 million jobs.

    You know – when Britain is getting back to work, it can only mean one thing…

    …the Conservatives are back in Government.

    So here’s our commitment for the next five years.

    What the economists would call: the highest employment rate of any major economy.

    What I call: full employment in Britain.

    Just think of what that would mean.

    Those who can work, able to work…

    …standing on their own two feet, looking at their children and thinking “I am providing for you.”

    We can get there – but only if we stick to our plan.

    Companies are coming from all over the world to invest and create jobs here.

    That’s not happened by accident.

    It’s because they see a Government rolling out the red carpet for them, cutting their red tape, cutting their taxes.

    So here is a commitment: with the next Conservative Government – we will always have the most competitive corporate taxes in the G20…

    …lower than Germany, lower than Japan, lower than the United States.

    But George said something really important in that brilliant speech on Monday.

    A message to those global companies:

    We have cut your taxes – now you must pay what you owe.

    We must stick to the plan on welfare too.

    With us, if you’re out of work, you will get unemployment benefit…

    …but only if you go to the Job Centre, update your CV, attend interviews and accept the work you’re offered.

    As I said: no more something-for-nothing.

    And look at the results: 800,000 fewer people on the main out-of-work benefits.

    In the next five years we’re going to go further.

    You heard it this week – we won’t just aim to lower youth unemployment; we aim to abolish it.

    We’ve made clear decisions.

    We will reduce the benefits cap, and we will say to those 21 and under: no longer will you have the option of leaving school and going straight into a life on benefits.

    You must earn or learn.

    And we will help by funding three million Apprenticeships.

    Let’s say to our young people: a life on welfare is no life at all…

    …instead: here’s some hope; here’s a chance to get on and make something of yourself.

    What do our opponents have to say?

    They have opposed every change to welfare we’ve made – and I expect they’ll oppose this too.

    They sit there pontificating about poverty – yet they’re the ones who left a generation to rot on welfare.

    And while we’re at it: let’s compare records.

    Under Labour, unemployment rose. With us, unemployment is falling faster than at any time for 25 years.

    Under Labour, inequality widened. With us, it’s narrowed.

    Those are the facts.

    So let’s say it loudly and proudly…

    …with Britain getting off welfare and back to work…

    …the real party of compassion and social justice today is here in this hall – the Conservative Party.

    It’s not just the job numbers that matter – it is the reality of working life for people in our country…

    …especially the lowest-paid.

    Anyone should be free to take on different jobs so they can get on.

    But when companies employ staff on zero hours contracts and then stop them from getting work elsewhere, that’s not a free market – it is a fixed market.

    In a Britain that everyone is proud to call home, people are employed, they are not used.

    Those exclusive zero hours contracts that left people unable to build decent lives for themselves – we will scrap them.

    But there’s still more injustice when it comes to work, and it’s even more shocking.

    Criminal gangs trafficking people halfway around the world and making them work in the most disgusting conditions.

    I’ve been to see these – houses on terraced streets, built for families of four, cramming in 15 people like animals.

    To those crime lords who think they can get away with it, I say…

    No: not in this country; not with this party.

    …with our Modern Slavery Bill we’re coming after you and we’re going to put a stop to it once and for all.

    Once you have a job, I want you to take home more of your own money.

    If you put in, you should get out – not hand so much of it to the taxman.

    That’s why these past four years, despite everything, I’ve made sure we provide some relief to taxpayers in our country – especially the poorest.

    No income tax until you earn £10,000 a year – and from next April, £10,500 a year.

    Three million people taken out of income tax altogether.

    A tax cut for 25 million more.

    And our commitment to you for the next five years: we want to cut more of your taxes.

    But we can only do that if we keep on cutting the deficit.

    It’s common sense – tax cuts need to be paid for.

    So here’s our plan.

    We are going to balance the books by 2018, and start putting aside money for the future.

    To do it we’ll need to find £25 billion worth of savings in the first two years of the next Parliament.

    That’s a lot of money, but it’s doable.

    £25 billion is actually just three per cent of what government spends each year.

    It is a quarter of the savings we have found in this Parliament.

    I am confident we will find the savings we need through spending cuts alone.

    We will see the job through and get back into the black.

    And as we do that, I am clear about something else.

    We need tax cuts for hardworking people.

    And here and now, I have a specific commitment.

    Today, the minimum wage reaches £6.50 an hour, and before long we’ll reach our next goal of £7.

    I can tell you now that a future Conservative Government will raise the tax-free personal allowance from £10,500 to £12,500.

    That will take 1 million more of the lowest paid workers out of income tax – and will give a tax cut to 30 million more.

    So with us, if you work 30 hours a week on minimum wage, you will pay no income tax at all. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

    Lower taxes for our hardworking people…

    …that’s what I call a Britain that everyone is proud to call home.

    But we will do something else.

    The 40p tax rate was only supposed to be paid by the most well-off people in our country…

    …but in the past couple of decades, far too many have been dragged into it: teachers, police officers.

    So let me tell you this today.

    I want to take action that’s long overdue, and bring back some fairness to tax.

    With a Conservative government, we will raise the threshold at which people pay the 40p rate.

    It’s currently £41,900…

    …in the next Parliament we will raise it to £50,000.

    So here’s our commitment to the British people:

    No income tax if you are on Minimum Wage.

    A 12 and a half thousand pound tax-free personal allowance for millions of hardworking people.

    And you only pay 40p tax when you earn £50,000.

    So let the message go out:

    With the Conservatives, if you work hard and do the right thing…

    …we say you should keep more of your own money to spend as you choose.

    That’s what our long-term economic plan means for you.

    And while I’m on the subject of the big economic questions our country faces – on spending, on tax – did you hear Ed Miliband last week?

    He spoke for over an hour, but didn’t mention the deficit once. Not once.

    He said he ‘forgot’ to mention it.

    Ed – people forget their car keys, school kids sometimes forget their homework…

    …but if you want to be Prime Minister of this country, you cannot forget the biggest challenge we face.

    A few weeks ago, Ed Balls said that in thirteen years of Government, Labour had made ‘some mistakes’.

    ‘Some mistakes’.

    Excuse me?

    You were the people who left Britain with the biggest peacetime deficit in history…

    …who gave us the deepest recession since the war…

    …who destroyed our pensions system, bust our banking system…

    …who left a million young people out of work, five million on out-of-work benefits – and hundreds of billions of debt.

    Some mistakes?

    Labour were just one big mistake.

    And five years on, they still want to spend more, borrow more, tax more.

    It’s the same old Labour, and you know what?

    They say that madness is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

    Well I say: madness is voting for this high spending, high taxing, deficit ballooning shower and expecting anything other than economic disaster.

    In a country that everyone is proud to call home, you should be able to buy a home – if you’re willing to save.

    It shouldn’t be some impossible dream.

    But we inherited a situation where it was.

    Young people watched Location, Location, Location not as a reality show – but as fantasy.

    We couldn’t solve this housing crisis without some difficult decisions.

    The planning system was stuck in the mud – so we reformed it…

    …and last year, nearly a quarter of a million houses were given planning permission.

    Young people needed massive deposits they just couldn’t afford…

    …so we brought in Help to Buy.

    Of course there were those who criticised it…

    …usually speaking from the comfort of the home they’d bought years ago.

    But let’s see what actually happened.

    They said Help to Buy would just help people in London…

    …but 94 per cent of buyers live outside the capital.

    They said it would help people with houses already…

    …but four-fifths are first-time buyers.

    They said it would cause a housing bubble…

    …but as the Bank of England has said, it hasn’t.

    So here’s our renewed commitment to first-time buyers: if you’re prepared to work and save, we will help you get a place of your own.

    This conference we have announced a landmark new policy.

    It’s called Starter Homes.

    We’re going to build 100,000 new homes – and they’ll be twenty percent cheaper than normal.

    But here’s the crucial part.

    Buy-to-let landlords won’t be able to snap them up.

    Wealthy foreigners won’t be able to buy them.

    Just first-time buyers under the age of 40.

    Homes built for you, homes made for you – the Conservative Party, once again, the party of home ownership in our country.

    In a Britain that everyone is proud to call home, you wouldn’t be able to tell a child’s GCSEs by their postcode or what their parents do.

    There must be a great education for every child.

    A month ago I had this wonderful moment.

    Florence is now 4 and just starting school, so for the first time, all three of my children are at the same primary school.

    It was such a joy to take them to school together; Florence clinging on for dear life until she saw a new friend and rushed off to her classroom.

    It’s hard to describe what a relief it is as a parent to find a decent school for your child.

    It shouldn’t be a lottery.

    What we have in our state primary in London I want for every child in the country.

    And we’re getting there.

    More children in good or outstanding schools.

    More children studying science, languages and history.

    A new curriculum – with five year olds learning fractions; eleven years olds coding computers.

    And the biggest change is the culture.

    Teachers who feel like leaders again.

    Who say: this is our school, we’re proud of it, the children must behave in it, we will not tolerate failure in it.

    We’ve come so far – and make no mistake – the biggest risk to all this is Labour.

    You know what drives me the most mad about them?

    The hypocrisy.

    Tristram Hunt, their Shadow Education Secretary – like me – had one of the best educations money can buy.

    But guess what? He won’t allow it for your children.

    He went to an independent school that wasn’t set up by a local authority…

    …but no, he doesn’t want charities and parents to set up schools for your children.

    He had the benefit of world-class teachers who happened not to have a government certificate…

    …but no, he wants to stop people like that from teaching your children.

    I tell you – Tristram Hunt and I might both have been educated at some of the best schools in our country.

    But here’s the difference:

    You, Tristram – like the rest of the Labour Party – want to restrict those advantages…

    …I want to spread them to every child in Britain.

    We know Labour’s real problem on education.

    Every move they make, they’ve got to take their cue from the unions.

    That’s who they really represent. The unions.

    Well, I’ve got a bit of news for you.

    It’s not something we’ve ever said before.

    We in this party are a trade union too.

    I’ll tell you who we represent.

    This party is the union for hardworking parents…

    …the father who reads his children stories at night because he wants them to learn…

    …the mother who works all the hours God sends to give her children the best start.

    This party is the trade union for children from the poorest estates and the most chaotic homes.

    This party is the union for the young woman who wants an Apprenticeship…

    …for the teenagers who want to make something of their lives…

    …this is who we represent, these are the people we’re fighting for…

    …and that’s why on education we won’t let Labour drag us back to square one – we’re going to finish what we have begun.

    A real education isn’t just about exams.

    Our young people must know this is a country where if you put in, you will get out.

    Now I’ve got in trouble for talking about Twitter before, but let me put it like this.

    I want a country where young people aren’t endlessly thinking: ‘what can I say in 140 characters?’ but ‘what does my character say about me?’

    That’s why I’m so proud of National Citizen Service.

    Every summer, thousands of young people are coming together to volunteer and serve their community.

    We started this.

    People come up to me on the street and say all sorts of things…

    …believe me – all sorts of things…

    …but one thing I hear a lot is parents saying “thank you for what this has done for my child.”

    I want this to become a rite of passage for all teenagers in our country.

    So I can tell you this: the next Conservative Government will guarantee a place on National Citizen Service for every teenager in our country.

    That rule: that if you put in, you should get out…

    …more than anywhere it should apply to those who want dignity and security in retirement.

    But for years it didn’t.

    There were three great wrongs.

    Wrong number one: the Pension Credit that was basically a means test – the more you saved, the less you got.

    Wrong number two: compulsory annuities that meant you couldn’t spend your own money as you wished.

    Wrong number three: when people passed away, the pension they had saved was taxed at 55 per cent before it went to their family.

    Three wrongs – and we are putting them right.

    The means test – it’s going.

    In its place: a new single-tier pension of £142 a week…

    …every penny you have saved during your working life, you will keep.

    Those compulsory annuities – scrapped…

    …giving you complete control over your private pension.

    As for that 55 per cent tax on your pension?

    You heard it this week: we’ve cut it to zero per cent.

    Conservative values in action.

    When it comes to our elderly, one thing matters above everything.

    Knowing the NHS is there for you.

    From Labour last week, we heard the same old rubbish about the Conservatives and the NHS.

    Spreading complete and utter lies.

    I just think: how dare you.

    It was the Labour Party who gave us the scandal at Mid Staffs…

    …elderly people begging for water and dying of neglect.

    And for me, this is personal.

    I am someone who has relied on the NHS – whose family knows more than most how important it is…

    …who knows what it’s like to go to hospital night after night with a child in your arms…

    …knowing that when you get there, you have people who will care for that child and love that child like their own.

    How dare they suggest I would ever put that at risk for other people’s children?…

    …how dare they frighten those who are relying on the NHS right now?

    It might be the only thing that gets a cheer at their Party conference but it is frankly pathetic.

    We in this party can be proud of what we’ve done.

    We came in and protected the NHS budget.

    Funding six and a half thousand more doctors – 3300 more nurses…

    …a Cancer Drugs Fund to save lives…

    …more people hearing those two magic words: “all clear”.

    And think of the amazing things around the corner.

    From the country that unravelled DNA, we are now mapping it for each individual…

    …it’s called the genome, and I’ve got a model of one of the first ones on my desk in Downing Street.

    Cracking this code could mean curing rare genetic diseases and saving lives.

    Our NHS is leading the world on this incredible technology.

    I understand very personally the difference it could make.

    When you have a child who’s so ill and the doctors can’t work out what he’s got or why – you’d give anything to know.

    The investment we’re making will mean that more parents have those answers – and hopefully the cures that go with them.

    And let’s be clear: all this is only possible because we have managed our economy responsibly.

    That is why I can tell you this: we will do it again.

    The next Conservative Government will protect the NHS budget and continue to invest more.

    Because we know this truth…

    … something Labour will never understand – and we will never forget…

    …you can only have a strong NHS if you have a strong economy.

    A Britain that everyone is proud to call home.

    A place where reward follows effort; where if you put in, you get out.

    But it also means a country that is strong in the world – in control of its own destiny…

    …and yes – that includes controlling immigration.

    To me, this is about working on all fronts.

    It’s about getting our own people fit to work.

    Fixing welfare – so a life on the dole is not an option.

    Fixing education – so we turn out young people with skills to do the jobs we are creating.

    And yes – we need controlled borders and an immigration system that puts the British people first.

    That’s why we’ve capped economic migration from outside the EU…

    …shut down 700 bogus colleges – that were basically visa factories…

    …kicked out people who don’t belong here, like Abu Qatada…

    …and let’s hear it for the woman who made it happen: our crime-busting Home Secretary, Theresa May.

    But we know the bigger issue today is migration from within the EU.

    Immediate access to our welfare system. Paying benefits to families back home.

    Employment agencies signing people up from overseas and not recruiting here.

    Numbers that have increased faster than we in this country wanted…

    …at a level that was too much for our communities, for our labour markets.

    All of this has to change – and it will be at the very heart of my renegotiation strategy for Europe.

    Britain, I know you want this sorted so I will go to Brussels, I will not take no for an answer and when it comes to free movement – I will get what Britain needs.

    Anyone who thinks I can’t or won’t deliver this – judge me by my record.

    I’m the first Prime Minister to veto a Treaty…

    …the first Prime Minister to cut the European budget…

    …and yes I pulled us out of those European bail-out schemes as well.

    Around that table in Europe they know I say what I mean, and mean what I say.

    So we’re going to go in as a country, get our powers back, fight for our national interest…

    …and yes – we’ll put it to a referendum…

    …in or out – it will be your choice…

    …and let the message go out from this hall: it is only with a Conservative Government that you will get that choice.

    Of course, it’s not just the European Union that needs sorting out – it’s the European Court of Human Rights.

    When that charter was written, in the aftermath of the Second World War, it set out the basic rights we should respect.

    But since then, interpretations of that charter have led to a whole lot of things that are frankly wrong.

    Rulings to stop us deporting suspected terrorists.

    The suggestion that you’ve got to apply the human rights convention even on the battle-fields of Helmand.

    And now – they want to give prisoners the vote.

    I’m sorry, I just don’t agree.

    Our Parliament – the British Parliament – decided they shouldn’t have that right.

    This is the country that wrote Magna Carta…

    …the country that time and again has stood up for human rights…

    …whether liberating Europe from fascism or leading the charge today against sexual violence in war.

    Let me put this very clearly:

    We do not require instruction on this from judges in Strasbourg.

    So at long last, with a Conservative Government after the next election, this country will have a new British Bill of Rights…

    …to be passed in our Parliament…

    …rooted in our values…

    …and as for Labour’s Human Rights Act?

    We will scrap it, once and for all.

    So that’s what we offer: a Britain that everyone is proud to call home.

    And a very clear plan to get there.

    Over the next five years we will deliver the following things:

    3 million Apprenticeships.

    Full employment.

    The most competitive corporate taxes in the G20.

    Eliminating the budget deficit through spending cuts, not tax rises.

    Building 100,000 new Starter Homes.

    Letting you pass on your pension tax-free.

    Ring-fencing NHS spending so not a penny is cut.

    Renegotiating in Europe.

    Delivering that in-out referendum.

    Scrapping the Human Rights Act.

    No income tax until you earn £12,500.

    No 40p tax rate until you earn £50,000.

    If you want those things, vote for me.

    If you don’t, vote for the other guy.

    And let’s be clear.

    This is a straight fight.

    It doesn’t matter whether Parliament is hung, drawn or quartered, there is only one real choice.

    The Conservatives or Labour.

    Me in Downing Street, or Ed Miliband in Downing Street.

    If you vote UKIP – that’s really a vote for Labour.

    Here’s a thought…

    …on 7th May you could go to bed with Nigel Farage, and wake up with Ed Miliband.

    So this is the big question for that election.

    On the things that matter in your life, who do you really trust?

    When it comes to your job…

    …do you trust Labour – who wrecked our economy – or the Conservatives, who have made this one of the fastest-growing economies in the West?

    When it comes to Britain’s future, who do you trust?

    Labour – the party of something-for-nothing, and human wrongs under the banner of human rights…

    …or the Conservatives – who believe in something for something, and reward for hard work?

    Who do you trust?

    …the party of big debt; big spending, big borrowing…

    …or the party – our Party – of the first pay cheque, the first chance, the first home…

    …the one that is delivering more security, more opportunity, more hope …

    …the one that is making this country great again…

    …yes, our party, the Conservative Party.

    We’re making Britain proud again.

    Look what we are showing the world.

    Not just a country that is paying down its debts…

    …and going from the deepest recession since the war to the fastest-growing major advanced economy in the world…

    …but at the same time: a country that has kept its promises to the poorest in the world…

    …that is leading not following on climate change…

    …and that’s just saved our union in one of the greatest shows of democracy the world has ever seen.

    We’re making Britain proud again.

    Our exports to China doubling…

    …our car industry booming…

    …our aerospace expanding…

    …our manufacturing growing… we’re making Britain proud again.

    Car engines – not imported from Germany, but built down the road in Wolverhampton.

    New oil rigs – not made in China, but built on the Tyne.

    Record levels of employment…

    …record numbers of apprenticeships…

    …Britain regaining its purpose, its pride and its confidence.

    We’re at a moment where all the hard work is finally paying off…

    …and the light is coming up after some long dark days.

    Go back now and we’ll lose all we’ve done…

    …falling back into the shadows when we could be striding into the sun.

    That’s the question next May.

    Do you want to go back to square one – or finish what we’ve begun?

    I don’t claim to be a perfect leader.

    But I am your public servant, standing here, wanting to make our country so much better – for your children and mine.

    I love this country, and I will do my duty by it.

    We’ve got the track record, the right team…

    …to take this plan for our country and turn it into a plan for you.

    I think of the millions of people going out to work, wiping the ice off the windscreen on a winter’s morning…

    …raising their children as well they can, working as hard as they can…

    …doing it for a better future, to make a good life for them and their families.

    That is the British spirit – there in our ordinary days as well as our finest hours.

    This is a great country and we can be greater still.

    Because history is not written for us, but by us, in the decisions we make today…

    …and that starts next May.

    So Britain: what’s it going to be?

    I say: let’s not go back to square one.

    Let’s finish what we have begun.

    Let’s build a Britain we are proud to call home…

    …for you, for your family, for everyone.

     

  • Michael Kane – 2014 Speech after Winning Wythenshawe and Sale East By-Election

    Below is the text of the speech made by Michael Kane after winning the Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election on 13th February 2014.

    Tonight the people of Wythenshawe and Sale East have sent a very clear message – they want a government will to stand up for us all – a One Nation Labour government.

    It’s a result which emphatically demonstrates that people here know the NHS is not safe in David Cameron’s hands, and that we’ve had enough of his utterly out of touch government.

    But tonight we are thinking of those across the country affected by storms, by flooding and by the dreadful weather which we also experienced in Manchester on Wednesday.

    I will be an MP speaking out on the issues that matter to you:

    Fighting for a fair deal for Wythenshawe A&E.

    Exposing the cost-of-living crisis felt by families and pensioners across our area and beyond.

    And on the unfair and disproportionate cuts to local services – Wythenshawe and Sale has said tonight: enough is enough.

    This was the by-election nobody wanted.

    My dear friend Paul Goggins achieved so much for the people of Wythenshawe and Sale East, and their love and respect for him will be one of my abiding memories of the campaign.

    Paul’s legacy is matched by the legacy of my mentor and my inspiration Alf Morris, who championed the rights of the chronically sick and disabled.

    To be returned as MP for the area both Alf and Paul served so well, the constituency in which I’ve lived all my life, is a humbling moment for me.

    My message to you tonight, whether you voted for me, for one of my opponents, or you didn’t vote at all, is that I will represent everyone in this constituency and I will be your voice in Westminster.

    Almost 200 years ago Benjamin Disraeli stood on a spot across the road from here and spoke of One Nation – and he said “What Manchester does today, the world does tomorrow”.

    Well, Manchester has rejected David Cameron today…and the rest of Britain will tomorrow.

    Today’s Tories have abandoned Disraeli’s principles.

    It’s the same old Tory attitude of “them and us” , and people here are sick of their constant attempts to divide our communities.

    But as Ed Miliband told Wythenshawe when he came here during the campaign: we are a party for everybody – uniting communities, building on the best of Britain … not pandering to the worst.

    That’s what One Nation Labour is all about.

    I want to thank the returning officer, Sir Howard Bernstein, the staff and the police who have all worked hard at the count tonight.

    And thank you to my opponents for what has been predominantly a robust but fair contest … I wish them a safe journey home.

    I’d like to thank my agent and all those who have worked so hard on my campaign, so often battling the elements…

    And I want to pay special tribute to my wife Sandra who has been at my side all the way and without whom I wouldn’t be here tonight.

    But most of all I’d like to thank the people of Wythenshawe and Sale East.

    They have rejected the failed policies of the out-of-touch Tories…

    They have rejected the isolationism and scaremongering of UKIP.

    Labour is proud of Wythenshawe and Sale, and this is the place I am proud to call my home.

    Today the people have said loud and clear: Labour is on your side.

    Thank you.