Tag: 2022

PRESS RELEASE : Statement from the Joint Expeditionary Force [November 2022]

The press release issued by the Ministry of Defence on 10 November 2022.

Today, Defence Ministers and senior representatives of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) – comprising Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom – met here today in Edinburgh.

Eight months after meeting at Belvoir Castle on the eve of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the JEF nations remain steadfast in our support for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Since February, JEF members have been at the forefront of providing diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine, nationally and in various international frameworks. The JEF has also made a significant contribution to bolstering the security of Northern Europe through a series of coordinated activities to enhance defensive responses.

Yesterday we witnessed first hand personnel from JEF members instructing Ukrainian troops as part of the international training offer. Together we are providing Ukrainian citizens with the skills, capabilities and personal equipment that they need to defend their homeland.

Today we addressed recent developments in the ongoing invasion and considered how our nations should adapt our contributions to continue providing impactful and enduring support. JEF members have made significant provision of military aid over the last eight months. This support will also now be built upon through the International Fund for Ukraine, which will finance new contracts for the provision of vital equipment for Ukraine’s fight.

The JEF has increased its military activities in Northern Europe in 2022 to provide greater levels of security assurance to our members and the wider region. As we meet, Joint Protector 2022 is concluding in Denmark, through which JEF members have exercised our collective responses to the newly emerging threats and potential crisis scenarios. This year the JEF has also deployed military forces and provided practical assurance measures to Finland and Sweden through their accession to NATO, and we remain steadfast in our support of them becoming full members of the Alliance.

JEF meetings develop both our shared understanding of events and agility to react to them, providing a valuable contribution to regional and wider European security. Today, we reviewed that contribution and agreed to deepen our cooperation on hybrid threats and the protection of Critical National Infrastructure, and mature our vision for the JEF’s long-term development as a key component of Northern European security: supporting our members, delivering region-specific and multi-domain defence activities, and contributing to the security of Europe as one of NATO’s Framework Nation Concept.

The leaders of JEF member nations are scheduled to meet in Riga, Latvia, in December and will progress this work together.

November 10, 2022
PRESS RELEASE : Rishi Sunak call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine [November 2022]

The press release issued by 10 Downing Street on 10 November 2022.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this morning.

The leaders agreed that any Russian withdrawal from the occupied city of Kherson would demonstrate strong progress for the Ukrainian forces and reinforce the weakness of Russia’s military offensive, but it was right to continue to exercise caution until the Ukrainian flag was raised over the city.

The Prime Minister praised the bravery of the Ukrainian armed forces and reiterated the UK’s unwavering military, economic and political support. He expressed his horror at the ongoing Russian drone strikes on civilian areas and confirmed that the UK would continue providing further military aid, including another 1,000 surface-to-air missiles and more than 25,000 extreme cold winter kits for troops.

President Zelenskyy set out how UK military support is protecting vital energy infrastructure and helping Ukrainian troops to make advances on the battlefield against Putin’s unjustified invasion.

Ahead of next week’s G20 meeting, the leaders discussed the importance of continued coordinated international support for Ukraine. They agreed Russia must be held to account for its actions and prevented from blocking vital supplies of Ukrainian grain and fertiliser reaching global markets.

The Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy agreed to remain in close contact to make progress on these issues and ensure Ukraine succeeds as a sovereign and democratic nation.

November 10, 2022
PRESS RELEASE : Appointment of Interim Member, Philippa Hird, to the Senior Salaries Review Body [November 2022]

The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 10 November 2022.

The Cabinet Office has approved the appointment of Ms Philippa Hird as an interim member of the Senior Salaries Review Body, with immediate effect. The appointment is until 31 July 2023.

The Senior Salaries Review Body provides independent advice to the Prime Minister and senior ministers on the pay of many of the nation’s top public servants.

Philippa is an independent director with a particular interest in governance, people strategy, recruitment, remuneration and the delivery of complex change. She is currently Chair of the NHS Pay Review Body, Senior Independent Director and Remuneration Committee Chair of Ordnance Survey and a member of the Board of the University of Manchester. Philippa is a Non-Executive Director of UK Strategic Command, and an independent member of the Remunerations Committee of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge.

As Group Human Resources Director of ITV Plc until 2009, Philippa led the consolidation of the regional ITV companies. Prior to that she held general management and then HR roles in Granada Group Plc. She began her career in marketing with ICI and has an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from The Queen’s College Oxford.

Philippa has been a non-executive director of HMRC, Deputy Chair of City, University of London and of AQA, a Board member of Opportunity Now and of Creative Skillset and Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She is a Companion of the CIPD and a fellow of the RSA.

November 10, 2022
PRESS RELEASE : UK veterans get their say [November 2022]
The press release issued by the Ministry of Defence on 10 November 2022.
- A 12 week long UK-wide Veterans’ Survey has been launched today (10 November)
- The survey is the first ever government funded survey for all veterans across the country to provide their views
- The survey launches alongside the Office for National Statistics’ release of Census 2021 data on the veteran population.
The government has launched the first ever UK-wide survey, for veterans and their families.

Over the next 12 weeks, veterans across the country are able to complete the survey to shape the future of veteran services. Funded and commissioned by the Office of Veterans’ Affairs, this is the first ever exercise to collect feedback from the entire veterans community across the UK.

This survey, in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), will ask veterans to describe their experiences of being a veteran and of using government services. This will ensure that the government can adapt services to better meet the needs of veterans and their families.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer said:

Public services need to reflect the people they serve and so it’s really important we hear from veterans on their experiences in accessing support.

No one knows better what it’s like to be a veteran in Britain than ex-military themselves. So I urge all ex-service personnel to take the small amount of time to fill in the first ever Veterans Survey.

Your voice can help shape stepped-up services for veterans.

The launch of the survey comes alongside the release of the ONS’s Census 2021 data on the veteran population in England and Wales. Last year was the first time a question about someone’s military service was included in the Census.

The new ONS figures released today show that there were 1.85 million people in England and Wales who reported that they had previously served in the armed forces.

In England, regions with the highest proportion of veterans were the South West (5.6%) and the North East (5%). The proportion of UK veterans was higher in Wales (4.5%) of the population and in England (3.8%).

Sir Ian Diamond National Statistician at the Office for National Statistics said:

Responses to the survey will help us better understand the experiences, needs and wellbeing of our veteran community, and to guide future action. It is important we hear a wide range of views.

We are passionate about investing time and effort to produce high quality estimates that properly help us all understand how our veterans’ needs can be best met.

The stats from the ONS released today, as well as the veterans survey, deliver on commitments under the Veterans Strategy Action Plan to improve the data and understanding of Britain’s veteran population. This will help better target support and public services for those veterans who require help.

The ONS will be releasing further statistical information on the veterans population next year.

The survey can be completed online in under 30 minutes, and veterans can access tailored support to complete the survey through the Office for National Statistics’ dedicated helpline.

Veterans can fill in the survey here.
November 10, 2022
Ian Blackford – 2022 Speech on COP27

The speech made by Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statement. Let me also welcome his last-minute change of heart to attend COP27. But I am afraid that, whether he likes it or not, his initial instinct not to attend will be long remembered, and rightly so. It means that he now has a major job to convince people that he is truly committed to the challenge of climate change.

That commitment starts with our own domestic targets, but it is vital that our collective commitment extends to those in the global south. Nations and peoples are being damaged the most by a climate crisis that they have contributed the least to. These are the poorest people on this planet and they always seem to pay the highest price. That is why it is so right and necessary that loss and damage were on the formal COP agenda for the first time.

I am proud to say that, through the leadership of our First Minister, Scotland has become the first developed nation to pledge finance to address loss and damage. Our country is now committed to a total of £7 million—a small sum on the scale of what is needed, but a powerful message to larger nations that need to follow that lead. We do not need to wait for consensus and a decision at COP. We can start funding loss and damage programmes straightaway.

Will the Prime Minister guarantee that UK overseas aid earmarked for climate finance will be spent within the five-year timeframe, as originally promised? Will he also guarantee that the total aid budget will not be slashed further in the autumn statement next week? Finally, in terms of the new Prime Minister’s domestic targets on climate, will he honour the promises made to the north-east of Scotland on carbon capture and storage? Will he commit to taking the Scottish cluster off the Government’s reserve list and to fund it right now?

The Prime Minister

I am pleased that it was the UK that established a new Glasgow dialogue on loss and damage to discuss arrangements for funding activities to avert, minimise and address loss and damage, and those conversations are ongoing. With regard to our international climate finance pledges, as I say, we remain committed to the £11.6 billion, and it is our intention to deliver it over the timeframe that was originally envisaged. With regard to targets, again, it should be a source of enormous pride for everyone in this House that we have decarbonised in this country faster than any other G7 country. Our targets are among the most ambitious in the world and we have a credible plan to get on and deliver them.

November 10, 2022
Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech on COP27

The speech made by Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

I thank the Prime Minister for advance copy of his statement. May I start by raising the case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah? As the Prime Minister knows and has said, he is a British citizen jailed for the crime of posting on social media and has been imprisoned in Egypt for most of the last nine years; he has been on hunger strike for the last six months. The Prime Minister just said that he raised this case with President Sisi; what progress did he make in securing Alaa’s release?

It is right that the Prime Minister eventually went to COP27. Remember the stakes: the world is heading for 2.8°C of warming—that is mass flooding, habitats destroyed, untold damage to lives and livelihoods. We must prevent that, for security, for the public finances and for the next generation. That is why it was inexplicable that he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to even get on the plane. Britain should be leading on the world stage, helping the world confront the greatest challenge of our time, but his snub, one of the first decisions of his premiership, was a terrible error of judgment and sent a clear message that if you’re looking for leadership from this Prime Minister, look elsewhere, and that if you want to get this Prime Minister to go somewhere, get the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) first—get him to come along, then the Prime Minister will follow.

And the Prime Minister’s reluctance is so bizarre because climate action is not just a once-in-a-generation responsibility, it is also a once-in-a-generation opportunity: an opportunity to lower energy bills for good; an opportunity to ensure Britain’s security is never again at the mercy of tyrants like Putin; an opportunity to create millions of jobs and break out of the Tory cycle of low growth and high taxes. They are opportunities that he is passing by.

The Prime Minister said in his speech at COP27 that we need to “act faster” on renewables, so why is he the roadblock at home? As he was flying to Egypt, his Minister was reaffirming the ban on onshore wind—the cheapest, cleanest form of power we have.

The Prime Minister also said at COP27 that he realises

“the importance of ending our dependence on fossil fuels”,

but he inserted a massive oil and gas giveaway when Labour forced him into a windfall tax: taxpayers cash handed over for digging up fossil fuels. Shell has made £26 billion in profits so far this year, but not a penny paid in windfall taxes; he has completely let it off the hook.

And what about the industries of the future? Manufacturers of batteries for cars in Britain: struggling. Green hydrogen producers: struggling. Yet in other countries, these industries are taking off: jobs going abroad because we have no industrial strategy here at home.

The Prime Minister also said at COP27 that it was

“right to honour our promises”

to developing countries. So why is he cutting the aid budget? It is always the same message, “Do as I say, not as I do,” and because of that, it will always fall on deaf ears.

It is time for a fresh start. A Labour Government would make Britain the first major economy to reach 100% clean power by 2030. That would cut bills, strengthen our energy security, create jobs, and make Britain a clean energy superpower. And our green prosperity plan would establish GB Energy, a publicly owned energy company, to invest in the technologies and the jobs of the future here in the UK.

As we attempt this endeavour, we have a fair wind at our back: not just the ingenuity and the brilliance of people and businesses in this country but the natural resources of our island nation. Wealth lies in our seas and in our skies, and it is an act of national self-harm not to prioritise them over expensive gas. That is the choice at the next general election, whenever it comes: more of the same with the Tories or a fairer, greener future with Labour.

November 10, 2022
Maggie Throup – 2022 Question on Holding Asylum Seekers in Hotels

The question asked by Maggie Throup, the Conservative MP for Erewash, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

Despite a productive meeting with the Immigration Minister yesterday, the Home Office continues to house over 400 asylum seekers in two neighbouring hotels in my constituency. It is clear from my meetings with GPs and Derbyshire police that that huge influx of people in such a small area is putting local services under immense strain. Before services in Erewash hit breaking point, will my right hon. Friend commit to an immediate reduction in asylum seekers concentrated in one place, and will he intervene to set a timetable for permanent closure of accommodation centres at that location?

The Prime Minister

Let me give my hon. Friend my absolute cast-iron commitment that we want to get to grips with this problem. The best way to resolve it is to stop criminal gangs profiting from an illegal trade in human lives and the unacceptable rise in channel crossings, which is putting unsustainable pressure on our system and local services. She has my reassurance that the Home Secretary and I are working day and night to resolve the problem—not just to end the use of expensive contingency accommodation, but for more fundamental reform, so that we can finally get to grips with the issue, protect our borders and end illegal migration.

November 10, 2022
Munira Wilson – 2022 Question on Potential Cuts to Education Funding

The question asked by Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

I know the Prime Minister has been very busy failing to stand up to bullies, but in the real world schools and colleges across the country looking after actual children are struggling to make ends meet. One London headteacher has scrapped plans for mental health counsellors, a headteacher in Twickenham is no longer filling teaching assistant vacancies and another is axing school trips. Will the Prime Minister give pupils and parents a cast-iron guarantee that in next week’s autumn statement there will be no real-terms cuts to school and college budgets?

The Prime Minister

We have significantly increased funding going into schools over the next two years, but on top of that it was important to this Government to help those children who were left behind in terms of their education opportunities during the pandemic. That is why we invested £5 billion in helping those children to catch up, including unveiling the most comprehensive programme of tutoring this country has ever seen. It is closing the attainment gap and disproportionately benefiting disadvantaged children, and is something that I know all colleagues will get behind.

November 10, 2022
Bob Blackman – 2022 Question on Anniversary of Kristallnacht

The question asked by Bob Blackman, the Conservative MP for Harrow East, in the House of Commons on 9 November 2022.

Eighty-four years ago today in Germany, hundreds of synagogues were destroyed, Torah scrolls were desecrated, and thousands of Jewish businesses and shops were destroyed. Ninety-one Jewish people were murdered, and later 30,000 Jewish men were sent to the concentration camps. So as we commemorate Kristallnacht, let us remember that it was started with anti-Jewish hatred, it became antisemitism and it is still prevalent in society today. So will my right hon. Friend condemn antisemitism in all its forms, but congratulate the holocaust survivors, who give their testimony year after year? In particular, will he congratulate the Holocaust Educational Trust on the brilliant work it does in ensure that we will never, ever forget what happened in the holocaust? (902140)

The Prime Minister

I thank my hon. Friend for his powerful question and his continued work on this issue. I completely agree that antisemitism has no place in our society, and we are taking a strong lead in tackling it in all forms. We became the first country to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, and the Government’s independent adviser on antisemitism regularly provides advice to Ministers on how best to tackle this issue. May I join my hon. Friend, as I know the whole House will, in praising the work of those survivors who so bravely tell their stories so that we might never forget?

November 10, 2022
PRESS RELEASE : Ten years of Automatic Enrolment achieves over £114bn pension savings [November 2022]

The press release issued by the Department for Work and Pensions on 10 November 2022.

In 2021, employees across the UK saved £114.6 billion into their pensions. This is a real terms increase of £32.9 billion compared to 2012, when Automatic Enrolment was introduced.

The figures reveal how the policy has transformed pensions saving over the last ten years for people from Sterling to Southend, by normalising workplace pension saving, establishing a culture of retirement saving for a new generation, and helping foster a greater sense of security in later life.

More than 10.7 million employees were paying into a workplace pension in 2021, with the proportion of women saving into a workplace pension, be it public or private sector, jumping by about 50% since 2012. And young people too have benefitted, with those aged 22 to 29 saving into a workplace pension more than doubling in the same time period.

Minister for Pensions, Laura Trott, said:

Automatic Enrolment has completely transformed how people save – with staggering results. In the ten years since its introduction, 10.7 million people have started saving for their pensions with this easy to use scheme. We have also seen a huge and much needed increase in women and young people being enrolled into a pension.

Automatic Enrolment is doing its job – helping more people save more so they can do more in retirement.

Retail Entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den investor Theo Paphitis said:

In the ten-years since I was involved in the launch of Automatic Enrolment, pension saving in the UK has gone from strength to strength with more than two million workplaces signed up – this is something to celebrate.

It is right that employees are given the chance and encouragement to save and I am proud for my businesses to be involved. The evidence is there that people are indeed saving more and benefitting immensely.

Nest’s CEO, Helen Dean, CBE, said:

Over the past 10 years, Automatic Enrolment has completely changed the UK’s saving landscape, bringing millions of new people into pensions saving, many for the first time. It’s taken a lot of hard work and dedication, from the people who develop the policy, to schemes across the pensions industry, and employers up and down the country.

It’s been a privilege for Nest to be part of this retirement revolution and we look forward to the innovations we will achieve together over the next 10 years

The anniversary was marked by a celebratory event, attended by those who have made Automatic Enrolment a success including businesses, employers, pension providers and regulatory bodies.

Following the success of the Automatic Enrolment, the government intends to continue its work with thousands of employers and pension providers to further boost the amount of people in a workplace pension.

It will also continue its work on empowering savers to know their pension options by introducing revolutionary products such as Pensions Dashboards and Mid Life MOTs, providing accessibility and innovation in how people save for their retirement.

And now that a record number of people are saving for retirement, the government is exploring how Automatic Enrolment can go even further to help more people save more, sooner – by abolishing the Lower Earnings Limit for contributions and reducing the eligible age to 18.

November 10, 2022