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Tag: 2022

  • Yvette Cooper – 2022 Speech on Sending Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

    Yvette Cooper – 2022 Speech on Sending Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

    The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 15 June 2022.

    This is a shambles; it is shameful, and the Home Secretary has no one but herself to blame. This is not, and never has been, a serious policy, and she knew that when she chartered the plane. She knew that among the people she was planning to send to Rwanda on that plane were torture and trafficking victims, that she did not have a proper screening process in place and that some of them might be children. Can she confirm that the Home Office itself withdrew a whole series of those cases on Friday and yesterday because it knew that there was a problem with them, and that even without the European Court of Human Rights judgment, she was planning to send a plane with just seven people on board, because she had had to withdraw most of the cases at the last minute?

    The Home Secretary knows that there is a lack of proper asylum capacity in Rwanda to make fair decisions and that as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says, Rwanda normally deals with only a few hundred cases a year and has only one eligibility officer who prepares the cases. There is also a lack of interpreters and legal advisers to ensure fair decisions. The Home Secretary promised that there would be extra payments to Rwanda for each person transferred, presumably to pay for the extra caseworkers and support, but she has refused to tell us how much. What is she hiding? Will she tell us now how much she promised Rwanda for each of the people she was planning to send yesterday, and how many Rwandan refugees she promised to take in return?

    The Home Secretary knows that serious concerns have been raised about Rwandan restrictions on political freedom, the treatment of LGBT people, the fact that 12 refugees were shot by the authorities in 2018 for protesting against food cuts, and the fact that Afghan and Syrian asylum seekers have been returned by Rwanda. She knows that none of those concerns has been addressed.

    The Home Secretary also knows that the policy will not work. We need action to tackle dangerous criminal gangs who are putting lives at risk, and she knows that her policies will not achieve that. That is not their objective. If it was, she would not have asked the National Crime Agency, whose job it is to target the criminal gangs, to draw up 20% staff cuts—that is potentially 1,000 people being cut from the organisation that works to tackle the gangs. Can she confirm whether she has asked the NCA to draw up plans for staff cuts?

    If the Home Secretary was serious, she would be taking seriously the fact that the Israel-Rwanda deal ended up increasing criminal people trafficking and smuggling and that her plan risks making things worse. If she was serious, she would be working night and day to get a better joint plan with France to crack down on the gangs and to stop the boats being put into the water in the first place, but she is not, because her relationship with French Ministers has totally broken down.

    If the Home Secretary was serious about tackling illegal economic migration or cutting the bills from people in hotels, she would speed up Home Office decision making so that refugees can get support and those who are not can be returned home. Instead, the number of decisions has totally collapsed from 28,000 to just 14,000 a year—fewer than Belgium and the Netherlands, never mind Germany and France. She is so badly failing to take those basic decisions that she is trying to pay a country thousands of miles away to take them for us instead. How shameful does that make us look around the world if our Home Office cannot take those basic decisions?

    The Home Secretary knew about problem after problem with her policy. She knew that it was unworkable and unethical and that it will not stop the criminal gangs, but she still went ahead and spent half a million pounds chartering a plane that she never expected to fly, and she still wrote a £120 million cheque to Rwanda with a promise of more to come, because all she really cares about is picking fights and finding someone else to blame.

    This is not a long-term plan; it is a short-term stunt. Everyone can see that it is not serious policy; it is shameless posturing and the Home Secretary knows it. It is not building consensus; it is just pursuing division. It is government by gimmick. It is not in the public interest; it is just in the Government’s political interest, and along the way they are prepared to trash people’s lives, our basic British values of fairness, decency and common sense, and the reputation of our nation.

    Our country is better than this. We have a long tradition of hard work and stepping up to tackle problems—not offloading them—to tackle the criminal gangs who put lives at risk, and to do right by refugees. That is what the Home Secretary should be doing now, not this shambles that is putting our country to shame.

  • Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on Sending Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

    Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on Sending Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

    The statement made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 15 June 2022.

    With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement about the Government’s world-leading migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda.

    The British people have repeatedly voted for controlled immigration and the right to secure borders. This is a Government who act and hear that message clearly, and we are determined to deliver that. Last night we aimed to relocate the first people from our country who arrived here through dangerous and illegal means, including by small boat. Over the course of this week, many and various claims to prevent relocation have been brought forward. I welcomed the decisions of our domestic courts—the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court—to uphold our right to send the flight. However, following a decision by an out-of-hours judge in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, minutes before our flight’s departure, the final individuals remaining on the flight had their removal directions paused while their claims were considered.

    I want to make something absolutely clear: the European Court of Human Rights did not rule that the policy or relocations were unlawful, but it prohibited the removal of three of those on last night’s flight. Those prohibitions last for different time periods but are not an absolute bar on their transfer to Rwanda. Anyone who has been ordered to be released by the court will be tagged while we continue to progress their relocation. While this decision by the Strasbourg court to intervene was disappointing and surprising given the repeated and considered judgments to the contrary in our domestic courts, we remain committed to this policy. These repeated legal barriers are very similar to those that we experience with all other removal flights. We believe that we are fully compliant with our domestic and international obligations, and preparations for our future flights and the next flights have already begun. Our domestic courts were of the view that the flight could go ahead.

    The case for our partnership with Rwanda bears repeating. We are a generous and welcoming country, as has been shown time and time again. Over 200,000 people have used safe and legal routes to come to the UK since 2015, and most recently Britons have opened their hearts and their homes to Afghan nationals and Ukrainian nationals. But our capacity to help those in need is severely compromised by those who come here illegally and, as we have discussed in this House many, many times, seek to jump the queue because they can afford to pay the people smugglers.

    It is illegal, and it is not necessary, because they are coming from other safe countries. It is not fair, either on those who play by the rules or on the British taxpayers who have to foot this bill. We cannot keep on spending nearly £5 million a day on accommodation, including hotels. We cannot accept this intolerable pressure on public services and local communities. It makes us less safe as nation, because those who come here illegally do not have the regularised checks or even the regularised status and because evil people-smuggling gangs use the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains to fund other appalling crimes that undermine the security of our country. It is also lethally dangerous for those who are smuggled. People have drowned at sea, suffocated in lorries and perished crossing territories.

    The humane, decent and moral response to all this is simply not to stand by and let people drown or be sold into slavery or smuggled, but to stop it. With that, inaction is not an option—or at least, not a morally responsible one. This is, as I have said repeatedly, a complex, long-standing problem. The global asylum system is broken and between 80 million and 100 million people are now displaced, and others are on the move seeking better economic opportunities. An international problem requires international solutions.

    The UK and Rwanda have shown the way forward by working together, and this partnership sends a clear message that illegal entry will not be tolerated, while offering a practical, humane way forward for those who arrive to the UK via illegal routes. It has saddened me to see Rwanda so terribly misrepresented and traduced in recent weeks. It is another example of how all too often, critics not only do not know what they are speaking about, but seek to vilify another country that has a good track record when it comes to refugees and stepping up to international responsibilities.

    Rwanda is a safe and secure country with an outstanding track record of supporting refugees and asylum seekers. Indeed, we are proud that we are working together, proud that the UK is investing in Rwanda and helping that great country to thrive, and proud that those who are relocated to Rwanda will have an opportunity to thrive as well. They will be given generous support, including language skills, vocational training and help with starting their own businesses or finding employment, but I am afraid that the usual suspects, with the blessings of Opposition Members, have set out to thwart and even campaign against these efforts and, with that, the will of the British people.

    It would be wrong to issue a running commentary on ongoing cases, but I would like to say this: this Government will not be deterred from doing the right thing, we will not be put off by the inevitable last-minute legal challenges, and nor will we allow mobs to block removals. We will not stand idly by and let organised crime gangs, who are despicable in their nature and their conduct—evil people—treat human beings as cargo. We will not accept that we have no right to control our borders. We will do everything necessary to keep this country safe, and we will continue our long and proud tradition of helping those in genuine need.

    Many of us have met refugees, both abroad and on British soil, and listened to the stories that are frankly chilling and heartbreaking. It suits Opposition Members to pretend that those on this side of the House do not care, but as you referred to in the earlier point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, on this side of the House such accusations are a grotesque slur. What is truly chilling is listening to opponents going on about how awful this policy is while offering no practical solutions while lives are being lost.

    Helping to develop safe and legal routes to this country for those who really need them is at the heart of this Government’s work. Having overseen efforts to bring to the UK thousands of people in absolute need, including from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine, I am the first to say that controlled immigration, including by refugees, is good and outstanding for our country, but we simply have to focus on supporting those who need it most, and not those who have picked the UK as a destination over a safe country such as France. It is no use pretending that those people are fleeing persecution when they are travelling from a safe country.

    Our capacity to help is not infinite, and public support for the asylum system will be fatally undermined if we do not act. The critics of the migration and economic development partnership have no alternative proposal to deal with uncontrolled immigration. As on so many other issues, the Labour party and the SNP are on the wrong side of the argument. With their arguments, we would see public trust in the system only being corroded. That is irresponsible and utterly indifferent to those who we seek to help and support.

    I have always said that I will look at all proposals to reduce illegal migration and illegal entry to our country, even those that Opposition Members might put forward, although we are still waiting for them. [Interruption.] Fundamentally, the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald) and others do not think there is a problem, which is why they do not have a solution. They still stand for open borders—pure and simple. Meanwhile, this Government want to get on with not just delivering what the British people want, but reforming our systems so that they are firm and fair for those who pay for them and those who need our help and support.

  • Jacob Rees-Mogg – 2022 Comments on Government Hub in Manchester

    Jacob Rees-Mogg – 2022 Comments on Government Hub in Manchester

    The comments made by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up and Brexit Opportunities, on 14 June 2022.

    The First Street development reaffirms Her Majesty’s Government’s long-term commitment to Manchester. The Places for Growth programme is delivering high quality government jobs across the whole country, and ensuring that Whitehall can take advantage of the wisdom and experience from people all over the United Kingdom.

    This new site will provide a home for civil servants from at least four different government departments, making it one of the largest hubs for cross-government collaboration and operation outside London.

    By the time this site opens in 2025, 2,500 Civil Servants will have been relocated from Greater London to Manchester. I am pleased that the government has secured them a new home with office working at its heart, which will bring tens of millions of pounds to the Greater Manchester economy.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Speech on the 40th Anniversary of the Falkland Islands Liberation

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Speech on the 40th Anniversary of the Falkland Islands Liberation

    The speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 14 June 2022.

    It is a great honour for me to join you today before this extraordinary gathering of so many brave, gallant individuals, so many veterans and their families, exactly 40 years after British soldiers entered Port Stanley and liberated the Falkland Islands.

    If you look at the photographs of our troops raising the Union Flag over Government House, you’ll see young men who had just fought their way across a desolate and freezing landscape,

    and they’re unkempt and unshaven, their camouflage is streaked with mud, and you sense that their stamina – even their legendary stamina, has been tested to the limit, but what strikes you most is how their eyes and their faces are filled with pride in what they have achieved.

    I of course have to rely on photographs, yet many of you were actually there.

    You were the spearhead of an immense national effort, whereby our country dispatched a Task Force 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic to liberate a British territory from occupation and, even more importantly, to vindicate the principle that the people of the Falkland Islands – like people everywhere – have a right to decide their own future and live peacefully in their own land.

    You left behind 255 British service personnel who laid down their lives for that principle, along with three Falkland Islanders.

    As we honour their memory, the greatest tribute we can pay them is that ever since the liberation the Falkland Islands have lived and thrived in peace and freedom.

    Today, they are home to people of 60 nationalities, providing Britain’s gateway to the Antarctic, and vital opportunities for conservation and scientific research, based on a modern partnership founded on that principle of self-determination.

    None of this would have happened without the tenacity, courage and fortitude of everyone who served in the Task Force and the thousands of civilians who made it possible.

    Now, in honour of your achievements and sacrifice, I would like to ask the Hon Roger Spink and the Hon Leona Roberts of the Falkland Islands Government to present Tom Herring, the Chairman of the South Atlantic Medal Association, with a scroll giving all holders of the South Atlantic Medal the Freedom of the Falkland Islands.

  • Chloe Smith – 2022 Statement to the UN General Assembly in New York

    Chloe Smith – 2022 Statement to the UN General Assembly in New York

    The statement made by Chloe Smith, the Minister for Disabled People, in New York on 14 June 2022.

    Thank you Chair. The UK is committed to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is through legislation like the Equality Act 2010 and the new British Sign Language Act 2022, and policies that tackle the barriers faced by disabled people, in order to realise their full participation and inclusion in society.

    We want to help people start, stay and succeed in work. Last month the Government met the commitment made in 2017 to see one million more disabled people in employment – in half the time expected. We’re aiming to prevent health-related job losses.

    Recognising the need for wider societal change, our 18 Disability and Access Ambassadors are using their expertise and influence in business, driving and supporting changes in access for disabled consumers and employees.

    We recognise the importance of co-ordinated action across government, reflecting the full range of services and opportunities that deliver participation and inclusion. Our Disability Champions are driving forward work on disability.

    We continue to engage with disabled people to ensure their needs are considered, including in the Government’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.

    As we continue to rebuild from the global impact of COVID, our work on global disability rights is more urgent than ever.

    The UK remains steadfast in our commitment and co-hosted the first Global Disability Summit in 2018. That pivotal moment has become a movement.

    At the second Global Disability Summit this February, we launched the FCDO Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy. It reaffirms the UK’s commitment to act as a global leader, recognising disabled people – in all their diversity – must have greater voice, choice, and visibility to enjoy their full rights and freedoms.

    It sets out our ambitious approach to work for – and with – disabled people around the world. Across education to health; economic empowerment to humanitarian action; social protection to climate change.

    As we speak, Russia continues with its unprovoked, reprehensible attack on Ukraine. The deteriorating humanitarian situation is having a devastating and disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable – and many of the 2.7 million disabled people in Ukraine have been left behind.

    That is why we are strengthening our focus on reaching the most vulnerable, as part of which we are entering a new £15 million partnership with UNICEF in Ukraine.

    Thank you Chair. We are delighted to be with everyone, learning and sharing at this conference.

  • Sajid Javid – 2022 Speech at the NHS ConfedExpo

    Sajid Javid – 2022 Speech at the NHS ConfedExpo

    The speech made by Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in Liverpool on 15 June 2022.

    Thank you, Victor [Adebowale]. It’s great to be with you all in person – and to be part of the new format. The NHS Confederation has always had an awesome ability to bring people together and this Expo is an incredible example of just that.

    The last time I saw a crowd this size was at the Platinum Jubilee. We came together that week to celebrate an institution we’ve all grown up with. And I think these kinds of moments matter because they make us look forward, as well as back. Few can match the Her Majesty the Queen’s record of sacrifice and service – but the NHS can make a very fair claim. Like the monarchy, its success stems from continually reinventing itself for the times we live in.

    In nearly 74 years, the NHS has reigned over the greatest uplift in health in British history. And 50 of those years were spent safely in Conservative hands. I’m so proud to be the latest custodian of our health and social care system, working in partnership with Amanda, who – I think you’ll agree – has been a real force for good.

    Later this month, I’ll mark my first year in the job. It’s just the blink of an eye when you consider our history. But it’s been a remarkable year. Our Roadmap to Recovery. Omicron, and our fightback against it. And our Covid-19 Elective Recovery Plan. There have been so many unprecedented achievements of which you should be fiercely proud.

    In just a short time, I’ve experienced more highs and lows than in any other job – and I’ve had a few! Highs – like how we rose to meet the challenge of Omicron. Highs – like the way so many of you moved mountains to run a remarkable booster campaign. Highs – like how the social care workforce helped to safely open care homes so family members could visit again.

    But the lows have been profound too. Like receiving Donna Ockenden’s report on maternity failings in Shrewsbury and Telford. Like meeting heartbroken families, bereaved by painfully similar tragedies in Nottingham. Or learning of the allegations about the North East Ambulance Service.

    My experiences of health and care are so many people across the country. We’ve all borne witness to phenomenal bravery and dedication, all while knowing, things still need to get much much better.

    It is possible to love the NHS and still demand change. There’s no contradiction there.

    Like most of us, I watched that recent video from the A&E at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow with a mixture of emotions. Horror – at the thought: how would I feel if it was me in that room? Or one of my children? But also respect. Respect for the colleague who had to deliver that difficult message and her poise in the face of unimaginable pressure.

    We all know that people working in health and care have one of the most difficult jobs in Britain today. So to her, and to everyone else working in health and care: I want to thank you for everything you’re doing in such difficult circumstances.

    And I’m under no illusion about the challenges we face.

    Our Covid-19 Recovery Plan is ramping up to deliver a huge increase in activity, embedding new ways of working. Our new Community Diagnostics Centres are bringing life-saving tests, checks and scans closer to people’s home. It’s a vast effort, of which we should all be enormously proud.

    Yet the scale of the challenge is equally vast. We know that some 11 to 13 million people stayed away from the NHS because of the pandemic. Many of those people are now righty coming forward – and many of them to A&E.

    Omicron was also set-back, with an additional 16,000 Covid positive people in hospitals. And we know the number of people on waiting lists is continuing to rise.

    Not only that, but the Covid-19 backlog sits atop a broader set of generational challenges.

    Improved life-expectancy is one of the great triumphs of the modern age, and in so many ways, an NHS triumph. But it also comes with its own challenges.

    The Resolution Foundation has projected that this decade is likely to see the fastest pace of ageing in any decade from the 1960s to the 2040s. As our population gets older, more and more people are living with increasingly complex long-term conditions. Treating an 80-year-old is around four times more expensive than treating a 50-year-old.

    At the start of this century, in 2000, health spending represented around 27 percent of day-to-day public service spending. By 2024, that figure it is set to rise to 44 percent.

    This government will always make sure our health and care system has what it needs to face the future with confidence. We’ve put in record levels of funding in recent years, including raising billions more through the new Health and Social Care Levy.

    But funding will only ever be part of the answer. Growing health spending at double the rate of economic growth over the next decade, as I’ve heard some propose, is neither sustainable, desirable, nor necessary.

    I don’t want anyone’s children to grow up in a country where more than half of our national budget is taken up by healthcare, at the expense of everything from housing to education. That’s not a fair deal for the British people – particularly young people.

    Obviously, we face many structural challenges, from an ageing population and multiple long-term conditions. But demanding spending growth of this kind suggests that we will fail to reduce demand through prevention, early diagnosis and more effective care – as well as a fail to increase health and care productivity with improved use of capital, skills, management, data and innovative models of care. I refuse to countenance such failures.

    I know that – when it comes to improving productivity and quality over the next decade – there’s no one more ambitious than you. Indeed, it’s one of the four key objectives which Matthew set out for this conference, which I very much welcome.

    When reports came out of Cabinet last week that I’d described the NHS as like “Blockbuster in the age of Netflix”, it caused a bit of a stir. But it’s because I believe in the NHS and its founding principles that I want to focus minds on why some organisations keep pace, while others get left behind.

    Before entering Parliament, I had the privilege to live and work around the world. I can tell you: the NHS is unique. It’s not there to make a profit – and it never will be.

    But it’s also not immune to the same basic choices that face organisations right across the world. We need to be smarter with our capital, digitise and transform our use of data. We need to grow the workforce, improve leadership and management and prevent problems from escalating in the first place. We need to accelerate the development of new, innovative models of care and build a more personalised service in a way that people now come to expect.

    Can you imagine any multinational without access to levers like workforce planning? Or any big supermarket chain without a consistent leadership and management programme? Or any FTSE 100 company with its digital functions outside of its own organisation? I believe there are a great many things still to do before we even think about turning to taxpayers again. And it was great to hear what Amanda said just now about making the best use of taxpayers’ money.

    What we’ve done

    Together with all of you here today, a lot of this work is already under way. Let’s just take a quick look at some of the things we’ve worked on in the last year alone.

    We’ve built new institutions, like UKHSA and OHID to redefine how we do public health in this country.

    We’ve strengthened existing institutions, like NHSE by bringing workforce and digital transformation into the heart of the NHS.

    We’ve announced how we’ll improve the provision of social care, something successive governments have ducked for far too long.

    We’ve set out ambitious public targets to slash long waits in the coming years through the Covid-19 Elective Recovery Plan, and we’re projected to meet the first of these targets by next month.

    We’ve published our Integration White Paper, a blueprint for how we provide better care for patients and better value for taxpayers.

    In March, in a speech at the RCP, I laid out the building blocks for our future around Prevention, Personalisation, Performance and People. I did note Amanda’s ‘4 Rs’ earlier, which I also very much agree with.

    On Monday, I announced our new data strategy, called ‘Data Saves Lives’, to bridge the digital divides between health and social care and ensure we use people’s data safely and responsibly so we can take the public with us on this exciting journey.

    And next month, the bulk of the new Health and Care Act comes into force, including our statutory ICSs. It’s certainly not been a quiet first year in the job!

    But I’ve been determined we keep moving forward, because this moment in time we dare not lose. It’s a moment when we can combine valuable lessons from the pandemic, with incredible new technology and innovative ways of working which when taken together, help us face the challenges of the future.

    It’s a small window of time where we can make a big difference.

    Leadership Review

    For me, an important recent moment was when General Sir Gordon Messenger and Dame Linda Pollard published their landmark review into health and social care leadership.

    I remember Gordon saying: “For a report like this to really have an impact… it has to be supportive and honest”. I think we can all agree, that’s what we got. And I’m pleased it has been welcomed by the NHS Confederation, NHS Providers and many more.

    I’m so grateful to Gordon and Linda for their work, and I’m pleased to accept their recommendations in full. They found countless examples of great leadership, not just at the top but at all levels. More than that, they found great leadership under considerable stress.

    They found that where there’s better leaders, there’s better teams. And where there’s better teams, there’s better outcomes. I’ve seen this for myself, in countless visits around the country including this morning, on my visit to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

    But this kind of exceptional leadership isn’t embedded everywhere. The review had some really important insights.

    First, on collaboration. We know that, for years, people have worked tirelessly to do the right things for patients – doing their best to work across the walls that have kept us apart. The walls between health and care. The walls between neighbouring trusts. The walls between one organisation and another.

    We’ve chipped away at these walls for a while now. And through the pandemic, we sent whole sections crumbling down, for instance, the incredible way that we rolled out the vaccine – the incredible job the NHS did. No one wants the walls to go back up, so now we’re bringing more and more walls down. From the changes to NHSE to the new ICBs, colleagues can collaborate as never before.

    Implementing the recommendations of the review will support more collaborative leadership: one where we’re working across the divides where the walls once stood, and embracing a ‘connection culture’.

    I was also moved by the insights on culture in the workplace. They found “too many reports to ignore” of poor behaviour – and that we’ve reached a point where – in some parts of the system bullying and discrimination are – and I quote – “almost normalised”. All of us know, from our own careers, just how toxic that can be. Because when even just a tiny minority behave that way it can be contagious for behaviour and morale.

    We will have zero-tolerance on discrimination, bullying and blame cultures. And that of course includes racism – which was highlighted by the BMA’s report yesterday.

    We know that, if we tolerate it, it doesn’t just make health and care a worse place to work, it makes this country a worse place to live. The examples of Shrewsbury and Telford and Mid Staffs shows the extremes where this behaviour can take us. Standards not met. Complaints ignored. Lives, needlessly lost.

    Let me be clear: the actions of the few should take nothing away from the values of the many. In fact, it’s because of the incredible professionalism of the overwhelming majority of colleagues in health and care that we should be even more determined to get it right.

    And the good news is this: just as Gordon and Linda found that bad behaviour was contagious, they found that great leadership was contagious too. It works best when everyone – even those without the word ‘leader’ in their job title – feels like a leader.

    Other recommendations around training, standards and management will support this effort, helping the workforce at all levels, by creating the conditions for everyone to thrive.

    And when I say everyone, I mean everyone everywhere. Not just those in leafy pockets of England, but where people need it most.

    We know that in some regions, poor leadership is a constant challenge. That’s an injustice we’re just not prepared to tolerate. We need the best people doing the hardest jobs – and getting the right leaders in the right places takes the right incentives.

    One of the first things I did in this job was to read Sir Chris Whitty’s report on the serious health and social challenges in coastal communities. And I’ve seen them first-hand. I did my first speech in Blackpool, on health disparities. And I was recently in Clacton as part of my Road to Recovery tour, where they have the second highest mental health need of anywhere in the country. So I’ll make no apologies for encouraging top talent to areas facing the biggest problems, especially some of our most deprived communities.

    I’m committed to making these changes: To supporting the leadership our colleagues in the NHS and social care deserve – and the leadership everyone everywhere deserves.

    What’s to come

    The year ahead promises to be no less busy. We’ll shortly be publishing: our Digital Health and Care Plan; our Health Disparities White Paper; our 10-year plans on cancer, dementia, and mental health; our update of the NHS long-term plan after Covid; the HEE workforce framework, which, later in the year, will be followed by the NHS’s first-ever 15-year workforce strategy.

    I also recognise that Primary Care is going to be a crucial part of the puzzle. It’s the front door to health and care – and I’m grateful to all the primary care staff who make a difference every single day.

    But I don’t think our current model of primary care is working. That won’t be a surprise to you. I know. You know. Patients know. And everyone working in primary care knows: we need a plan for change.

    We are starting with pharmacy – and I will be setting out my plans shortly.

    I’m grateful to Dr Claire Fuller for her recent review on how we can improve patient access to primary care. I’m confident her recommendations will improve access, including for those with the most complex needs, and, ultimately, help us tackle the Covid backlog and help people live healthier lives for longer.

    I’m determined that when we look back on these years – on this window of change we have right now – that we can say we did all we could to secure the future of health and care for the generations that come after as.

    Reform Partnerships

    So today, I want to focus on one more thing our new Health and Care Act can help us achieve.

    The pressure of the pandemic produced some powerful partnerships. With the ingenuity of people on the front line, including so many of you, walls that had seemed so rigid came crumbling down. As we face the challenges of recovery, those ways of working can work again.

    Back at the RCP in March, I talked about the potential power of ‘partnerships for reform’. Now, we have a legislative framework that encourages it. For ICSs to fulfil their full potential – and make the changes truly worthwhile – I want to see the creation of many more of these reform partnerships.

    This is already happening. We’ve already taken forward the Provider Collaborative model where are group of providers of acute or mental health services agree to work together to improve the care pathway of their local population.

    For example, there are currently 47 NHS-led Provider Collaboratives for mental health, learning disabilities and autism. We’ve seen the success of this approach in London, where the South London Health and Community Partnership has been able to bring out of area patients down by a third, and readmissions down by two-thirds.

    There are also some 50 acute trust collaboratives and mixed collaboratives, bringing together acute, specialist, mental health and community providers. It’s about listening to the innovators already doing incredible things within the system – then giving them a platform to do it.

    They’ve already shown that when we partner like this, challenges that appear intractable in one place can be resolved in another. These partnerships work. They deliver for patients. And they’re helping us to tackle the Covid backlog.

    So for me, the logical next step is to think about how we can use these kinds of partnerships to support underperforming trusts.

    Earlier, I talked about using incentives to get the right leaders in the right places – places that have been let down for too long.

    Reform Partnerships will be a central way we can spread good leadership to those places. So as part of the work on Reform Partnerships, I want to explore whether we make being part of a Reform Partnership a requirement for underperforming trusts.

    I believe this could be powerful way to ensure that the leadership we need doesn’t stay in the walled gardens of England’s best performing trusts, but is there to help turn trusts round and with it, the health and happiness of those who live there.

    So I’m looking forward to working with all of you on these plans.

    I know you’ve faced – and continue to face – the most unimaginable kinds of pressures. And you continue to do so with passion and innovation.

    You have, not just my admiration, but my full support.

    I’m proud to work with you and call you my colleagues.

    Because if there’s a theme that unites all of this work, it’s this: that the ideas and the ways working we need are already here – with so many of you in the room today.

    I believe we can continue to reinvent ourselves for the times we live in; for this institution we’ve all grown up with to be the one we grow old with – with dignity and with good health.

    And the moment to do it is now. We have no time to lose. We have a small window of time to make a very big difference.

    Let’s keep breaking down the walls between us. To meet the challenges before us. So that, together, we can deliver better health and care for everyone everywhere.

    Thank you all very much.

  • Kwasi Kwarteng – 2022 Comments on Supporting Technology Projects

    Kwasi Kwarteng – 2022 Comments on Supporting Technology Projects

    The comments made by Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, on 15 June 2022.

    The incredible work of the Vaccine Taskforce, housed at my department through the pandemic, demonstrated that this country is home to some of the best scientists and innovators in the world.

    I’m immensely proud of the work we have done to support ground-breaking research so far, having confirmed £40 billion in funding for R&D over the next 3 years and placing it at the very top of our agenda. London Tech Week itself is testament to that.

    And today, we’re announcing over £743 million in investment – including in the latest quantum technologies, to ensure Britain has pole position in the global marketplace in a host of new areas.

  • Victoria Atkins – 2022 Speech at the Modernising Criminal Justice Conference

    Victoria Atkins – 2022 Speech at the Modernising Criminal Justice Conference

    The speech made by Victoria Atkins, the Prisons Minister, on 15 June 2022.

    One of the reasons I came into politics was thanks to a 12-year-old boy called ‘Billy’.

    Before I was elected to Parliament in 2015, I spent nearly two decades working in criminal courts as a barrister. In one of my earliest cases, I was sent to a Youth Court to represent Billy for an opportunistic commercial burglary.

    I arrived at court to find Billy there, completely alone, with no appropriate adult. It was his first offence and he was terrified.

    When I asked him whether mum or dad were coming to court, he replied “I’ve never known my dad and my mum will be flat-out drunk on the floor”.

    It was 09.30 in the morning…

    With that first criminal conviction, twenty years ago, Billy’s diminishing life chances could be predicted with depressing certainty – as could the harms for society that his future offending would mean.

    Two decades later, it is the mission of this government to make our streets safer and it follows that modernising the criminal justice system is a priority. I welcome this opportunity to share the Government’s ambitious plans for delivering on these aims in partnership with you.

    We want to prevent harm from happening in the first place. If we can prevent young people from being ensnared in a life of crime, we spare the pain of potential victims and we save the taxpayer billions-a-year on services such as policing, children’s social care, courts and even detention.

    These costs continue into adulthood as 80 percent of prolific adult offenders commit their first crimes as children. It is therefore in our best interests to try to stop harm from happening in childhood – not just for today and tomorrow, but for the decades to come.

    This is why last month we announced our new £60m “Turnaround” early intervention programme which will support up to 20,000 more children in England and Wales. It will target those at risk of criminality before they start a cycle of offending which, if left unaddressed, can escalate towards more serious crime.

    This is just one part of our determined efforts to tackle youth offending. Our ten-year, £200m Youth Endowment Fund is not only funding intervention programmes but it is evaluating what works to help local commissioners spend tax-payers’ money on the most effective interventions – again, modernising our processes to ensure the best results for the public. To back this up, in the Ministry of Justice alone, we will be investing a total of over £300m over three years to tackle youth offending.

    We have already seen a dramatic reduction in the last decade of children entering custody, down by two thirds, but we want to go further. This is not only the right thing to do for the children themselves, it is also the right thing to do for society, helping to make our streets safer.

    As part of this intervention and prevention work, one of the most pressing facts that we must confront in criminal justice is racial disparity. In 2020/21, two thirds of children arrested in London were from minority ethnic groups. We are working at all stages in the youth justice system to address disparities, including helping youth justice services to understand the needs of ethnic minority children; tightening the tests applied to ensure that custodial remand for children is a last resort; and improving the diversity and training of Youth Custody Service staff to maximise the chances of rehabilitating young people in custody.

    We are also working with the Metropolitan Police to trial the automatic receipt of legal advice for children in Brixton and Wembley custody suites. This will mean that vulnerable children, a disproportionate number of who are from a minority ethnic background, will receive the legal advice they need automatically – an “opt out” model, as opposed to the usual “opt in” model, removing the perception some may have that they have to ask for help. If successful, this trial could be rolled out further to help ensure that justice is served.

    Our work in the adult system includes our detailed cross-government responses to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparity report, the David Lammy Review and our Race Action Programme for prisons and probation. Some of the actions taken include reform of prison processes that led to unexplained disparities, better support for ethnic minority-led services, and encouraging diversity in our court and prisons workforces. This is vital work for a justice system in the 21st century.

    One of the areas in criminal justice which is seeing the most modernisation is our work to tackle violence against women and girls. I have the responsibility of drawing this work together across government, focusing particularly on the treatment of rape and sexual violence cases.

    Last year will be remembered for the shocking murders of women going about their lives – walking home from a friend’s, or out for a drink, attending a party in the park or walking their dog. These appalling murders led to a national conversation about women’s experiences and what we can all do to stop this.

    We wanted women and girls to help shape our new national Strategy to Tackle Violence Against Women and Girls. We re-opened the government’s consultation and in just two weeks, we received 160,000 responses – an unprecedented level which demonstrated the public’s anger and expectation that things must change.

    We published the new cross-government strategy last summer and its work is well underway. For example, a new public communications campaign – #Enough – has been launched to break the biases and attitudes that contribute towards these crimes. Again, this work is about preventing the harm from happening in the first place.

    But where horrific offences such as rape and sexual violence are committed, the criminal justice system must respond quickly, effectively and justly. Last year, we conducted a forensic examination of each stage of the criminal justice process, from the moment a victim reports such a crime to the police, to the moment the case results in a conviction or acquittal. We published the End-To-End Rape Review and have identified eight levers which can help secure justice for more victims.

    These include:

    … rolling out suspect-focused investigations techniques across police forces and the CPS; so that the suspect’s behaviour is examined not the victim’s credibility

    … addressing victims’ concerns about handing over their phones to the police for sometimes days or weeks on end through our investment in modern technology and new disclosure guidelines;

    … increasing victim support funding to £185 million by 2025,

    … raising the number of specialist Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisors by 43 percent – a vital service for victims that not only helps them recover but also helps them stay the course with an investigation or prosecution;

    … and rolling out pre-recorded cross-examination and re-examination nationally to improve the court experience for vulnerable witnesses and help them to provide their best evidence.

    We are measuring all of this through transparent reporting of data both nationally and locally, via local Criminal Justice Board areas so that we and the public can see what is happening in their local areas.

    The early signs of progress are encouraging…

    … The police are referring more rape cases to the CPS…

    … More people are being prosecuted…

    … The average number of days for adult rape cases from the CPS charging a suspect to the case being completed has continued to fall, down by 5 weeks since the peak in June 2021.

    … And convictions for rape are up 67 percent compared to 2020.

    But there is more to do – and you will hear more in the coming days and weeks on our efforts to modernise further the criminal justice response to these devasting crimes.

    Finally, I would like to talk about prisons. We need a criminal justice system that stands up for victims, delivers swift justice and protects the public by imprisoning offenders and rehabilitating them. We set out our plans in for the prison estate in the Prisons Strategy White Paper in December. I would like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation and I am pleased to announce that we published the response yesterday.

    … It’s what the public wants and expects to see.

    … So, we are toughening sentences.

    … We are creating new prison places.

    … And we’re investing £3.8 billion pounds over the next three years that will be used to build modern prisons that prioritise the rehabilitation of offenders.

    HMP Five Wells is an example of what the modern prison estate will look like. With 24 workshops available – more than any other prison in the country – and cutting-edge tech that puts education, training and jobs at its core, prisoners will be given the right opportunities to turn over a new leaf.

    Because, as you know, all these factors are proven to cut crime, reduce reoffending and protect the public.

    And we’re confident that following the same prison blueprint at HMP Fosse Way, when it opens next year, will allow even more offenders to spend their time preparing to give back to society on release.

    We know, however, that our vision for the next generation of prisons is unachievable without the brilliant people that run them, and work in them. Our workforce will grow considerably as we recruit up to 5,000 new officers in line with prison expansion across the public and private estate.

    We are committed to supporting our staff so that they are equipped with the right skills to meet the diverse needs of prisoners in a safe, decent, and secure environment.

    And in order to retain the talent and experience the Prison Service attracts, we have developed a number of new interventions. These include a supervision pilot which is now live in two prisons, a leadership training pilot – where attrition is highest, and two new mentoring and budding schemes which are being rolled out across all prisons.

    An extended part of our reducing reoffending work is tackling the scourge of drugs. If we are to stop prison from being a revolving door for repeat offenders, ensuring drugs don’t get into the hands of prisoners is also of the upmost importance.

    As explained in the Prisons Strategy, we’re taking a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to the smuggling of illicit items such as drugs, weapons, and mobile phones, which fuel crime and violence behind bars.

    That’s why we have invested £100 million pounds in security over the last three years. We know that body scanners in prisons in England and Wales have foiled twenty thousand plots to smuggle drugs, phones and weapons into jails.

    We want to build on this and so are investing an additional £25 million in new technology and security measures to detect the very latest handsets tucked away in the crevices of cells, as well as microscopic smears of illegal substances such as spice on prisoners’ mail.

    And more of the most challenging prisons will be kitted out with the full range of the most up-to-date, innovative technology specially designed to keep contraband out of prisons – including airport-style baggage scanners.

    As we tackle the conveyance of drugs into prisons, we are also supporting offenders to face up to and beat their substance misuse issues.

    And under our plans outlined in the Prison Strategy White Paper, all prisoners will have access to a full range of high-quality treatment, including abstinence-based treatment options as soon as they arrive at custody.

    When offenders overcome their addictions, they have the best chance of keeping on the straight and narrow once released and our streets become safer as a result.

    We know that education and employment reduce reoffending significantly, with prison leavers in employment being nine percentage points less likely to reoffend.

    We are delivering a Prisoner Education Service within this parliament to raise prisoners’ levels of numeracy, literacy, skills and qualifications with the aim of helping them secure jobs or apprenticeships on their release.

    To do this, we must give prisons the tools they need to succeed. We will invest in digital infrastructure, more training that delivers the skills employers need, more education experts to support Governors and improved support for prisoners with additional learning needs.

    And we are introducing apprenticeships into our prison system for the first time that will not only cut crime and reduce reoffending, but also address local labour shortages.

    We are ensuring prisons are equipped to offer the training and work experience offenders need to secure jobs once released, which we know is another powerful tool in our fight against crime.

    We are rolling out Employment Advisory Boards and employment hubs in every resettlement prison which link offenders with job opportunities on the outside. I have seen for myself the success of these innovative schemes at HMP Lincoln and HMP Thorn Cross.

    We will deliver a presumption in favour of offering offenders the chance to work in prison, on Release on Temporary Licence and on release, including by building stronger links with employers.

    And we have listened to prisoners and campaigners in recognising the value of family.

    Research shows that if a prisoner receives visits by a partner or family member, the odds of reoffending are 39 percent lower than for prisoners who do not.

    So, we’re designing prisons, introducing innovative schemes and reforming regimes to factor this in across the prison estate. HMP Five Wells for instance has a family area, a homework club and facilities that allow prisoners to join parents’ evenings.

    And for female offenders who are sent to custody for short sentences, our new £10 million-pound residential women’s centre in Swansea – opening in 2024 – will support many to live healthy, crime-free lives, whilst keeping them closer to their own community and families.

    In closing, I want to thank all of you for your dedication to improving the criminal justice system.

    Together we can fight for the victims who feel voiceless…

    …Neighbourhoods that feel neglected…

    …And offenders who need the right opportunity to go straight.

    Together, we can make our streets safer for us all.

    From increasing the number of people convicted for rape offences, to getting more prisoners job-ready with their backs turned on crime for good – working together gives us the greatest chance of achieving lasting change for the justice system.

  • Gillian Keegan – 2022 Comments on Charging Reforms in Social Care

    Gillian Keegan – 2022 Comments on Charging Reforms in Social Care

    The comments made by Gillian Keegan, the Minister for Care, on 15 June 2022.

    Our charging reforms will mean no one will have to face unpredictable and often catastrophic care costs and this new funding will help local authorities to implement these vital changes.

    We’re committed to fair and high-quality care, and this is the beginning of our journey of reform, creating the next step in making our ambitious plans a reality.

    We’re working closely with local authorities, providers and care receivers to deliver a smooth transition into the new system to end unpredictable cost of care for the public.

  • Victoria Atkins – 2022 Statement on the Prisons Strategy White Paper

    Victoria Atkins – 2022 Statement on the Prisons Strategy White Paper

    The statement made by Victoria Atkins, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice, in the House of Commons on 14 June 2022.

    Today I am publishing the Government response to the prisons strategy White Paper consultation.

    The prisons strategy White Paper was published in December 2021. The commitments in the paper tackle this Government’s priorities for prisons: building the next generation of prisons and managing an estate that is safe and secure for staff and prisoners; supporting rehabilitation and resettlement through education, employment and accommodation; and creating prison and probation services that cut crime and protect the public.

    A total of 19 questions were included in the White Paper to ensure the views of interested parties were considered. The consultation opened on 7 December 2021 and closed on 4 February 2022, receiving 155 responses. The Government have carefully considered the responses and are grateful for all of the contributions.

    Since publication of the White Paper, this Government have moved swiftly to deliver its aims:

    HMP Five Wells opened in March, delivering 1,700 modernised places.

    Digital upgrades have been delivered to a further seven prisons, with four additional sites completed by October 2022.

    The landmark security investment programme was completed in March 2022, including the deployment of enhanced gate security across 42 high-risk sites.

    Committed an additional £25 million investment in prison security: installing high-specification drugs trace detection, mobile phone blocking technology, x-ray baggage scanners, and an intelligence management system.

    Secured £34 million to improve prison safety and move towards a more preventative approach.

    Accelerated the roll out of employment hubs with 23 now established and the appointment of 20 employment board chairs.

    Announced that we will legislate to enable prisoner apprenticeships, in collaboration with the Department for Education.

    Committed to action on Friday releases to tackle the strain this can cause if prisoners cannot access essential services; this includes pursing legislation to address this issue for those at risk of reoffending, when parliamentary time allows.

    Plans to open a residential women’s centre in Wales to provide a community-based alternative to a short custodial sentence.

    Launched our staff retention toolkit into all prisons alongside a number of new initiatives to support retention, including a new buddy scheme.

    Key performance indicators, introduced in April 2022, set clear expectations of delivery, and governors will be held to account as part of their performance reviews.

    As the consultation response makes clear, this is the start of an ambitious delivery plan in the years to come and the Government are committed to continued engagement with stakeholders to ensure we deliver on it.

    Today, I lay in Parliament this response, which sets out the views of respondents to our consultation questions and how the Government propose to implement the commitments in the White Paper.