UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2022

  • Amanda Milling – 2022 Statement on Executions in Saudi Arabia

    Amanda Milling – 2022 Statement on Executions in Saudi Arabia

    The statement made by Amanda Milling, the Minister for Asia and the Middle East, in the House of Commons on 14 March 2022.

    We are shocked by the execution of 81 individuals on 13 March. The United Kingdom strongly opposes the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. The UK ambassador has already raised the UK’s strong concerns with the Saudi national security adviser and the Saudi vice-Foreign Minister. We will continue to raise UK concerns with Saudi counterparts through our ministerial and diplomatic channels and seek further clarification on the details of these cases.

    No aspect of our relationship with Saudi Arabia prevents us from speaking frankly about human rights. Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country, including because of the use of the death penalty, and restrictions on women’s rights, freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief. We regularly raise concerns with the Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels, including Ministers, our ambassador and our British embassy.

    Crispin Blunt

    Mr Speaker, thank you for granting this urgent question, which recognises the execution of 81 men on one day as of profound concern to this House and to our country, which has so many shared interests with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this represents a new low for human rights and criminal justice in the kingdom, coming only a week after the Crown Prince promised to modernise the Saudi justice system? A decade ago, as a Justice Minister, I supported Government-to-Government work to help Saudi Arabia modernise its justice system, as we worked to build a strong and positive partnership with the kingdom. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that emptying death row in this way is not the kind of modernisation anyone would have had in mind when we signed off support to Saudi Arabia in happier times?

    Does my right hon. Friend recognise the exquisite difficulties that this has presented to our Prime Minister? What assurances will she be seeking from Saudi Arabia in respect of human rights on her next visit there? Will she at least seek an assurance that executions of those arrested for crimes alleged to have been committed when they were children will cease? Will she make clear to the Crown Prince how appalled friends of the kingdom are, particularly in the light of the state’s assassination of Jamal Al-Khashoggi, only three years ago?

    Does my right hon. Friend think that these events have been the behaviour of a friend?

    Amanda Milling

    The UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is of great importance, ranging from national security to economic interests, but the nature of that relationship does mean that we can speak frankly about human rights. As I said in my opening remarks, the United Kingdom strongly opposes the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances as a matter of principle, and Saudi Arabia is well aware of the UK’s opposition to its use. We have raised these concerns with the authorities through a range of ministerial and diplomatic channels. We have also raised concerns with the Saudi authorities about the juvenile death penalty application.

    The UK has always been clear about the fact that the murder of Khashoggi was a terrible crime. We condemn his killing in the strongest possible terms, which is why we sanctioned 20 Saudi nationals involved in the murder under the global human rights regime.

    Mr Speaker

    I call the shadow Minister, Bambos Charalambous.

    Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)

    We on this side of the House are appalled by, and utterly condemn, the execution of 81 Saudi men on Saturday. This massacre was the largest execution in Saudi Arabia’s history. We do not believe that the timing of the executions—while the world is focusing its attention on atrocities elsewhere—was coincidental. Referring to the killings, the Interior Ministry stated that it

    “won’t hesitate to deter anyone who threatens security or disrupts public life”.

    That demonstrates just how low the bar is for execution in the kingdom, where individuals can be sentenced to death for protest-related offences or for exercising their right to free speech.

    This mass execution comes in a week when the Prime Minister reportedly plans to travel to Riyadh to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. We have seen what happens when human rights abuses go unchecked. I therefore ask the Minister these questions. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that human rights are at the forefront of any future trade deals with Saudi Arabia? Will the Prime Minister be expressing Parliament’s outrage at this massacre when he meets the Crown Prince? What assurances will the Government be seeking to ensure that such mass executions carried out by a friendly country never happen again?

    Amanda Milling

    As I have said, we were deeply shocked by the executions of the 81 individuals on 13 March. As I have also said, no aspect of our relationship with Saudi Arabia prevents us from speaking frankly about human rights, and we regularly raise our concerns about human rights with Saudi authorities through diplomatic channels, including Ministers and our ambassador, and at the embassy. Saudi Arabia remains an FCDO human rights priority country, particularly because of the use of the death penalty but also because of restrictions on women’s rights, freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief.

    I am not going to speculate in respect of the Prime Minister’s visits.

    John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con)

    Does not this bad news reinforce the urgency of the UK producing more of its own oil and gas to reduce dependence on these powers? Could not that include onshore gas where the local community of people are willing? Would not that be speeded up if they were given a royalty?

    Amanda Milling

    It is important for all partners to work together to ensure that there is stability in energy markets, and OPEC also has a key role to play in this regard.

    Mr Speaker

    We now come to the Scottish National party spokesperson, Alyn Smith.

    Alyn Smith (Stirling) (SNP)

    I have a deep personal interest in Saudi Arabia. I grew up in Saudi Arabia—we spent much of the 1980s in Riyadh—and I am a friend of Saudi, with all the political issues that it has. I am glad to hear the Minister say there is a frank dialogue with the Saudis on judicial matters, but—I say this gently—it does not seem to be having much effect on the Saudis themselves. Friends speak bluntly to friends, and executing 81 people in public by beheading, whatever their alleged crime, is an atrocity and there need to be consequences beyond harsh criticism. I know the Minister will not speculate on the visit of the Prime Minister, but may I modestly suggest that she can relay the House’s concern that his visit should not go ahead and that there should be a consequence? Also, we have a programme of judicial and justice co-operation with the Saudis. Surely that has to end, or at least be suspended, given the deep concern of all in this House over each and every one of these cases.

    Amanda Milling

    I am afraid that, if I am going to get asked multiple times about the Prime Minister’s visit, colleagues are going to be disappointed because, as I have said, I am not going to speculate about that. As I have also said, our relationship with Saudi Arabia means that we can speak frankly about human rights matters. I have said from the outset that we were shocked by the execution of these 81 individuals and our ambassador has raised the strong concerns of the UK Government with the Saudi national security adviser and with its vice-Foreign Minister.

    Fay Jones (Brecon and Radnorshire) (Con)

    What happened in Saudi Arabia was a gross violation of human rights and it places a strain on global relationships, which are crucial right now. Does the Minister agree that no country found to be complicit in human rights abuses such as those we are currently seeing in Ukraine should receive a penny of UK taxpayers’ money in international aid?

    Amanda Milling

    This goes back to the fundamental point that human rights violations are something that we do raise where we see them. We are not ashamed to do so and we will not stand back from raising them where they are seen to happen.

    Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)

    The UK Government have given the Saudi regime an estimated £20 billion in arms sales since the start of the war in Yemen, despite clear breaches of humanitarian law. It is extremely likely that British weapons have been used to kill civilians. In the light of the executions on Saturday, will the Prime Minister cancel his planned visit, and will this Government do what they should have done long ago and end arms sales to the Saudi regime?

    Amanda Milling

    As I have said before—I suspect I will be saying it a few times—I am not going to pre-empt the Prime Minister’s travel plans. In terms of arms exports, we take our strategic export control responsibilities very seriously and we examine every application on a case-by-case basis against strict criteria. We would not grant an export licence if we thought it was inconsistent with the strategic export licensing criteria, including respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.

    Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)

    As a boy, I witnessed two executions, one a beheading, in what is now called Yemen. I am vehemently against the death penalty. Can I ask the Minister if the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has any idea what percentage of the Saudi population is actually in favour of capital punishment?

    Amanda Milling

    I am afraid I do not have the answer to that specific question, but let us be really clear: the United Kingdom strongly opposes the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances as a matter of principle.

    Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)

    In 2018, the Saudi Arabian Government told the United Nations that

    “if the crime committed by the juvenile is punishable by death, the sentence shall be reduced to a term of not more than 10 years detention”.

    However, the following year, six young men sentenced to death for childhood crimes were executed, as was Mustafa al-Darwish in 2019, having recanted a confession that was extracted under torture. The Minister says that we can speak frankly to the Saudi Arabian Government. Will she frankly say to the House of Commons now that the promise the Saudi Arabian Government made to the United Nations that it would not execute minors for crimes committed when they were children was not made in good faith?

    Amanda Milling

    As I said, the Government have raised concerns with the Saudi authorities regarding the juvenile death penalty. We monitor these cases very closely, and we routinely attempt to attend the trials. In April 2020 the Saudi human rights commission announced a moratorium on discretionary death sentences for crimes committed by minors.

    James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)

    I strongly support the Minister’s reluctance to speculate on the Prime Minister’s travel arrangements, but does she agree that, should the Prime Minister happen to find himself in Saudi Arabia in the near future, it would be a good opportunity to say to the ruling party, in the strongest possible terms, that these events are a human rights outrage?

    Amanda Milling

    I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to reiterate that I will not speculate; he understands why. Diplomats and Ministers clearly have frank conversations with Saudi Arabia about human rights. As I said at the outset, we were absolutely shocked by the executions at the weekend.

    Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)

    The Minister may be shocked, but she should not be surprised, because this sort of thing has happened before. Actions speak louder than words. If the Prime Minister goes to Saudi Arabia in the next few days, we would be sending a very clear signal that, no matter what we say, we are not really bothered about this sort of thing.

    It has been reported that we have a judicial co-operation memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia. Will the Minister commit to publishing it, along with the related human rights risk assessment made by the Government?

    Amanda Milling

    The key point is that, given our relationship with Saudi Arabia, we are able to have frank conversations about human rights. We are opposed to the death penalty in all countries under all circumstances. As I said, Saudi Arabia remains the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s human rights priority country, particularly because of its use of the death penalty.

    Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)

    Saudi Arabia has, at best, an ambiguous relationship with revolutionary Islamism. Can the Minister confirm that, in seeking to lessen our dependence on one source of oil and gas, we will not end up creating dependency on another unreliable and sometimes hostile regime?

    Amanda Milling

    The key point is that it is important that all international partners work together to ensure the stability of energy markets.

    Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)

    Mass executions are particularly grotesque and barbaric. There is no due process in the Saudi justice system, in which there is widespread use of torture, and 75% of executions are for non-lethal offences. Will the Minister specifically answer the case of Abdullah al-Huwaiti? He was a juvenile when the alleged offence was committed, and he is on death row awaiting execution. She has known about the case for months. What representations has she made to the Saudi authorities? What does she intend to do about it now?

    Amanda Milling

    I have been clear about our opposition to the death penalty. We have raised a number of cases with the Saudi authorities, and I will happily follow up on that particular case in writing.

    Brendan O’Hara (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)

    The Greek writer Aesop once said that a man is known by the company he keeps. That applies equally to states. This week, while the Prime Minister’s former friends in Moscow were committing atrocities in Ukraine, his existing friends in Riyadh were executing 81 people. It is obvious that the oft-repeated words of condemnation mean nothing. Is it not time that this country, rather than cosying up with such regimes, completely resets its relationship with regimes that do not share our values and that feel, because of their wealth, that they can continue to trample over basic human rights with impunity?

    Amanda Milling

    What I would say, actually, is that given our relationship with Saudi Arabia, we are able to have frank conversations about human rights.

    Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)

    Will the Minister confirm whether there is a memorandum of understanding on judicial co-operation between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia? If so, will she publish it?

    Amanda Milling

    As I say, I think I have set out quite clearly the various ways in which we raise human rights with the Saudi Arabian authorities.

    Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)

    May I press the Minister? Does she not see any contradiction between rightly ending dependence on Putin’s Russia for fossil fuels and then seeking to replace them by going cap in hand to another murderous tyrant, who executes his own people and to whom we sell arms that are being used to kill civilians in Yemen? Is she aware of reports in the US that Saudi Arabia is pressurising President Biden to repay access to oil by supplying more military support for its war in Yemen? Can she assure us that this Government would not tolerate a “more arms for oil” deal with that murderous regime?

    Amanda Milling

    In terms of energy, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are having to phase out Russian oil, which is absolutely the right thing to do. It is important that all partners work together to ensure the stability of the markets.

    Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)

    There seems to be a bit of a pattern developing here. When the Deputy Prime Minister visited Saudi Arabia in June, the regime subsequently executed Mustafa al-Darwish, a child defendant convicted of protest-related offences. Now, days before the Prime Minister is due to go and speak business with the Saudi monarchy, the regime has executed 81 people. Does the Minister agree that the Saudi monarchy sees this UK Government as a soft touch—as people it can ignore—because Ministers do not possess the backbone to stand up for British values and for human rights, and the regime can therefore act with impunity and continue with its bloodshed?

    Amanda Milling

    As I have said on a number of occasions, it is because of our relationship with Saudi Arabia that we are able to have very, very frank conversations about human rights. We were shocked by the executions at the weekend. We do raise our concerns; the ambassador has raised concerns with the Saudi national security adviser and the Vice Foreign Minister.

    Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)

    Is the Saudi Arabian public investment fund a right, proper and fit-for-purpose owner of Newcastle United?

    Amanda Milling

    The Saudi Arabian public investment fund is a significant investor, having invested billions in the UK and other western markets. It operates across a range of sectors. We welcome the purchase of Newcastle United, a sign that the UK remains a great place to invest.

    Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)

    Our foreign policy, including our trade deals, must be underpinned by human rights and the rule of law. Does the Minister agree that it is arguably their absence from our current foreign policy and from our current international dealings that has led President Putin to feel that he can absolutely ignore all of that and do what he wants in Ukraine?

    Amanda Milling

    Let us be really clear. The international community and the UK have been absolutely clear throughout that the Russians’ invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked, unjust and illegal, and we will do everything we can to limit Putin’s ability to wage war. On human rights, let us be clear: we call out human rights violations where we see them.

    Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)

    I am puzzled as to why the Minister is so shifty about the existence of this memorandum of understanding on judicial co-operation—

    Mr Speaker

    Order. Can I just say I am not comfortable with the use of the word “shifty” in the House, especially when it is a straight accusation to the Minister? Whatever we might think, I am sure that the hon. and learned Lady, with her good language from her court days, can come up with a nicer way of putting it.

    Joanna Cherry

    I am happy to put it more politely, Mr Speaker. I am puzzled as to why the Minister is so evasive in respect of the persistent questioning about the existence of this memorandum of understanding on judicial co-operation. If it does not exist, why does she not just say that it does not exist? If it exists, why can we not see a copy? Why can she not tell us whether there is a human rights risk assessment and publish that?

    Amanda Milling

    I do not know about being described as shifty, but I have been really clear about what we do as a UK Government in terms of raising human rights with the Saudi authorities. Saudi Arabia remains a human rights priority country and, as I say, Ministers and the ambassador all raise concerns about human rights.

    Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)

    It is one thing for the morally bankrupt premier league to accept money from Saudi Arabia but it is another for the UK Government to turn around and say they welcome its investment. Our frank talking to Saudi Arabia has amounted to nothing more than diplomatic finger wagging and created no change whatsoever in Saudi Arabia’s attitude. In response to this atrocity, can we expect any change at all in the relationship between the UK and Saudi Arabia?

    Amanda Milling

    As I have said on a number of different occasions during this urgent question, the relationship with Saudi Arabia is of great importance and covers a range of national security and economic interests. It is because of that relationship that we are able to have frank conversations about human rights.

    Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)

    I am wearing the colours of my football team, Newcastle United, and it is important to say that in utterly condemning this atrocious, horrific massacre, I speak for many, many of my constituents and Newcastle United fans. Does the Minister agree that whereas football fans have no control over or influence in the ownership of their beloved clubs—especially in a premier league awash with dirty money—the UK Government have both control over and influence in who they trade with and engage with? The Minister has said what she is not going to do, but what is she going to do with that control and influence? Is she going to make it absolutely clear that sportswashing is not an option?

    Amanda Milling

    With regard to Newcastle United, we never had a role at any point in the club’s prospective takeover, which has been a commercial matter for the Premier League.

    Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)

    This is all incredibly depressing. I remember trying to ask questions in 2012, when I was shadow Minister for international human rights, about David Cameron’s visit to Saudi Arabia. The responses were like something out of “Yes Minister”: I kept being told that nothing was off the table or that a wide range of issues were discussed. It went on and on and I never got an answer, but we now hear that two years ago he went camping with Lex Greensill and the Saudi crown prince, which says a lot about what was probably discussed then.

    If the Prime Minister does go to Saudi Arabia next week—I hope he does not—will he raise the case of Abdullah al-Huwaiti, as mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith (Andy Slaughter)? He was 14 years old at the time of the crime and was sentenced to death last week.

    Amanda Milling

    I am trying to think of another way to suggest that I will not be speculating on the Prime Minister’s travel plans this week, next week or next month.

    Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)

    Despite the Minister’s protestations, nobody in this Chamber believes that we would see the same weak response from the Government if the murders had taken place in, for example, Iran. Saudi Arabia is Britain’s single biggest weapons customer and Britain is Saudi Arabia’s second biggest arms supplier; is it not the case that, whether it is weapons for murderers in Saudi Arabia or peerages for Russian oligarchs in London, for this Tory Government money talks louder than human rights ever will?

    Amanda Milling

    I have been pretty clear that the Government were shocked by the execution of these 81 individuals at the weekend. I have also been clear that the UK opposes the death penalty in all countries and under all circumstances as a matter of principle, and Saudi Arabia is well aware of the UK’s opposition to the use of the death penalty.

    Dame Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)

    The Saudi authorities have said that these executions were carried out in compliance with Saudi law. Given that we know that the Saudi justice system falls far short of international standards, including obtaining confessions through torture and the use of the special criminal court for the prosecution of human rights defenders and political activists, what recent discussions have the Government actually had with the Saudi authorities about the failings of the Saudi justice system and about the cases of those who are in jail for trying to exercise their fundamental human rights?

    Amanda Milling

    As I have said, we regularly raise concerns about human rights, but, specifically, Lord Ahmad, the Minister responsible for human rights, raised them during his visit to Saudi Arabia earlier in February.

    Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)

    Pope Francis recently said that the death penalty is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the human person, and is inadmissible in all cases. Following on from what the right hon. Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) said, 1.7 million Catholics live in Saudi Arabia—8% of the population. King Salman has a cordial relationship with the Church, and the Crown Prince recently visited the Archbishop of Canterbury to talk about inter-religious dialogue. What pressure can we put on civil society groups to explain to the royal family there that many of their people do not believe in the death penalty and give them an understanding as to why we do not believe in it?

    Amanda Milling

    The UK Government and partners do raise human rights issues and also our opposition to the death penalty. As I have said, the UK strongly opposes the death penalty. Saudi Arabia remains a human rights priority country, which is, in part, because of its use of the death penalty, but also because of its restrictions on women’s rights, freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief.

    Allan Dorans (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)

    Last week, the Minister for Defence Procurement was in Riyadh at the World Defence Show, actively promoting UK arms exports to the Saudi regime. Does the Minister agree that, in light of the weekend’s mass executions, the UK Government should cease all arms trade with a regime that shows no sign of respecting human rights?

    Amanda Milling

    Regarding arms exports, as I have said in an earlier answer, we do have very strong criteria by which we examine every application, and we will not grant an export licence if it is inconsistent with the strategic export licensing criteria, including in respect of human rights and international humanitarian law.

    Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)

    The Minister has said many times now that the Government make representations and have frank discussions. Can she point to a single example of any impact or effect of those representations?

    Amanda Milling

    Let me provide one example in terms of what happened this weekend: the UK ambassador has already raised our strong concerns with the Saudi national security adviser and the vice-Foreign Minister. We do raise our concerns with the Saudi authorities, and Lord Ahmad raised human rights concerns during his visit last month.

    Patricia Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP)

    To what extent does the Minister personally think that it is appropriate to continue to sell arms to the brutal Saudi regime, which has no regard for the human rights of even its own people, publicly crucifying men after beheading them for homosexuality and stoning to death any woman deemed to have committed adultery?

    Amanda Milling

    I think I have answered the question in relation to arms exports on a number of occasions, so I refer back to previous answers.

    Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)

    The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights said that, in the cases that it has been able to document, the charges involved “not a drop of blood”, even under Saudi rules used to establish criteria justifying executions. Opacity in the Saudi judicial system and witness intimidation lend further secrecy to the nature of the charges against the executed, many of whom are believed to have been Shi’as. What material steps, not conversations, are the Government taking to show Saudi Arabia that they will not tolerate these barbaric abuses?

    Amanda Milling

    As I have said, we were shocked by the executions. We have raised our concerns and, through our ministerial and diplomatic channels, we will seek further clarification on the details of those cases.

    Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)

    May I thank the Minister for her reply, declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for international freedom of religion or belief and express concern over the restrictions on religious beliefs in Saudi Arabia? These executions are deplorable and they shock the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Has the Minister made any representations to her Saudi counterparts to review the rationale behind this mass execution? Can we apply any diplomatic pressure to urge a reconsideration of executions carried out in that way, which makes them appear as a spectacle rather than the murderous, sombre, sober and shocking events they truly are?

    Amanda Milling

    I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question and I know how passionately he campaigns on all matters of freedom of religion or belief. As I have said, the UK ambassador has raised our strong concerns about the executions at the weekend; through ministerial and diplomatic channels, we will seek further clarification on the details of those cases.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Speech to Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Speech to Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, on 12 March 2022.

    Thank you to Pepe, Geoff, Julie and your team for making me feel so welcome today.

    Geoff, I know you have been a reassuring voice of calm and reason these last two years cutting through the chaos and providing invaluable support to school and college leaders in these difficult times.

    Your weekly bulletins have made life that bit smoother for headteachers and principals, during a period like no other and you have done so with a positivity that must have been severely tested.

    I look forward to working with you and ASCL in the coming months and years.

    When the story of this pandemic is written, NHS workers, and those who developed vaccines so fast, will deservedly get many of the accolades.

    But I believe alongside them there should be a proud place, for those who work in our schools and colleges – the headteachers, principals, senior leaders, teachers, lecturers, support staff.

    It is you who have kept young people going throughout extraordinary and difficult circumstances.

    – Who have helped with their wellbeing.

    – Stepped in when free school meals were not being paid.

    – Undertaken extra safeguarding checks for the children most at risk.

    – Moved lessons online.

    – Provided technology for those without.

    – Supported the most vulnerable.

    – Turned your schools into testing centres.

    – Coped with a never-ending exam fiasco.

    – Kept going when staff absences got above 10, 20, 30% – in some cases more.

    You have absorbed the stress of the community, comforted bereaved families, provided a safe space for reflection and through it all, given each teacher and each group of children the best chance of continuing to learn.

    You deserve our heartfelt thanks. You have been true heroes.

    Thank you.

    Sadly, your life has been made so much more difficult and more stressful, by having to deal with a chaotic patchwork of promises and guidance, often at the last minute, often too late to pre-empt every school and college in the country having to make up their own policies.

    When clear, focused, government leadership was needed in response to the pandemic there was a vacuum.

    No plan, no direction. No ambition.

    And when a clear, focused plan for recovery was needed – again, nothing.

    Sir Kevan Collins’ plan was rejected out of hand by a Chancellor who told us he had “maxed out” on support for our children, and education ministers who didn’t make the case for investment in our children’s future.

    Time and again, for this government, our children are an afterthought.

    So I take on my role at a time when we need to raise our sights as a country.

    Ambitious Leadership is the theme of this conference and now is the time for it.

    I know so many of you have reflected deeply on the last two years, and want something better for young people.

    If we are to come back stronger after the pandemic, then part of the renewal is to ask bigger and bolder questions.

    When forty percent of teachers leave the profession within four years, we need to ask how we can make this profession so rewarding and stimulating, that teachers want to stay.

    When take up of the creative arts has plummeted, we need to ask questions about the balance in the curriculum.

    When one in three children leave primary school below the standards we want them to reach in English and Maths, and a third leave school without vital qualifications, we need to ask how we redouble our efforts to ensure every child leaves education both ready for work and ready for life.

    When five years after leaving school, more than a quarter of disadvantaged children end up outside sustained education, employment or training, we need to ask why we don’t have a better model for tackling inequality and creating opportunity.

    The biggest question of all is how can we enable every young person to both achieve and to thrive.

    For me that’s about seeing every individual as both extraordinary and multi-dimensional – the capacity to inspire, collaborate, create, think, perform, talk, is the great wonder of humanity.

    We see that emerging in the early years classroom, captured in the early learning goals that span basic skills, understanding of the world, and social and emotional development.

    Yet as children grow up, that balance changes. School becomes more, not less, narrow.

    And that narrowing turns too many young people off learning – which is a problem for their future, and for all of our futures.

    We must retain the breadth of the early years throughout a child’s journey through education.

    Our world is increasingly polarised by seemingly binary choices. Debate quickly becomes dogmatic, along those fault lines.

    Education is no different.

    But I have no time for these false choices.

    I make no apology for being determined to see young people achieve academically, and just as important, I want them to thrive in life.

    Supporting children to develop the literacy and numeracy skills they need is central to education.

    And so is supporting them to become ambitious, creative, confident young people who enjoy music, arts, sport, and culture.

    As someone who loved studying history, I celebrate the incredible work of our teachers and lecturers who bring knowledge alive for the next generation.

    Knowledge is essential, but so is the ability to apply that rich knowledge to the real world, so young people learn communication, collaboration and problem solving skills, and understand the difference they can make.

    That is why Keir Starmer has announced Labour’s Council of Skills Advisors, to support us in ensuring every young person receives a rounded education that instils a love of learning while equipping them with the skills they need for work and for life.

    Because children need to achieve so they go on to succeed, and they also need to thrive as human beings so they can flourish as adults.

    We want children to be happy and to be successful.

    The increasingly narrow focus, often designed to hit what many feel to be arbitrary benchmarks, is not beneficial to young people, and not beneficial for our society or our country.

    We need to get behind you – the school leaders – who I know want to nurture creative subjects, enrichment opportunities and a rounded education, but often have to go against the grain of the accountability structures currently in place.

    That is why we must ensure that school improvement and school accountability work better together – with peer to peer learning in particular, recognised for its value, encouraged, and developed between schools and leaders.

    In a week that marks thirty years since Ofsted was created, we should remember the remarkable improvements in schools and colleges in that time.

    The “long tail of underachievement” we saw when inspections started has now largely gone.

    The fact that 85% of schools are good or outstanding, in Ofsted terms, is testimony to the huge efforts and hard work of school leaders and teachers across the country over these last three decades.

    Here in this room, you have put your shoulders to the wheel to achieve that, and I thank all of you.

    But I want to highlight too the political choices – the focus, the investment, the ambition, and the sense of priority and urgency – which the last Labour government made, after years of Conservative neglect, and which unlocked and enabled that achievement.

    So what next?

    Let me be clear. Labour believes that inspection has been part of that success.

    An independent schools inspectorate, with chief inspectors not beholden to ministers, unafraid to speak their minds, is a sign of a mature and confident education system.

    But to be supportive of Ofsted’s role, is not to believe it cannot be better.

    For one thing, it is hardly surprising if the Ofsted we need tomorrow is different from the Ofsted we needed 30 years ago.

    For another, the way inspections operate makes teachers, leaders and lecturers too often feel punished rather than supported.

    Getting the best out of people means respecting their professionalism, and supporting improvement, as well as challenging their performance.

    And of course, the way in which schools are funded, managed, and structured, has changed entirely in that time.

    Multi-academy trusts have become central to how many schools are run and how they perform, but inspection of them is missing.

    At the same time, and in too many cases, local authorities have responsibilities that matter, but without the powers to deliver.

    All of that has to change.

    Ofsted should be a critical friend to every good leader and every good teacher.

    The sort of friend who tells you the truth from which others might flinch.

    Yet Ofsted still operates in a way that is often too high stakes, and where the risks of a ‘bad’ inspection outweigh the rewards of a good one.

    A cat and mouse game between inspectors and schools, with no incentive to have an honest professional dialogue, to accept weakness and work to address it, are the unhelpful features of such an adversarial system.

    That should concern the government as much as it concerns schools.

    So change needs to happen.

    Labour is not in the business of disrupting good schools.

    We need a focus on supporting and improving struggling schools and spreading best practice.

    So the way we assess performance has to fit the educational landscape of today and tomorrow, not yesterday .

    We have to be clear what inspection is for:

    For children, to ensure they get the start they deserve, the chance to achieve and to thrive.

    For teachers, to learn and develop, ensuring they are supported to deliver those opportunities every child needs.

    For parents, so we have independent and trusted information about the performance of our child’s school.

    For the system as a whole, that responsibility sits at the right level, with multi-academy trusts properly accountable for the provision within schools.

    The triggers for intervention and the way the whole system operates need to be more in line with those purposes:

    – We need to see more of a focus on the schools that need support to improve.

    – We need inspections of every part of the school system that can be a locus for improvement and a force for change.

    – Inspections where the intensity of the experience is reasonable and proportionate.

    – That point teachers to the support they need to improve.

    – That consider the broad context for schools and recognise when progress is being made.

    – And we need assessments that celebrate what’s great as well as identify what’s not.

    I said that this is the year Ofsted turns thirty.

    It’s time for Ofsted to turn a corner.

    And we need wider change.

    Labour has already started to set out the direction in which we want to take our schools and our colleges.

    We have announced a National Excellence Programme for schools and we will pay for that by ending the tax exemptions for private schools.

    It will mean:

    – a teacher recruitment fund, to recruit and train over six and a half thousand new teachers, filling vacancies and skills gaps,

    – establishing an Excellence in Leadership programme, to support new headteachers throughout their first years on the job,

    – and a teacher development programme, to enable all leaders and teachers to access continuing professional development.

    Because we believe that investment in our young people, includes investing in you.

    And I have to say, the contrast with yesterday’s announcements from the Secretary of State is stark.

    So little to offer a profession that has given so much, and a generation that has lost so much.

    We see things very differently.

    We believe in supporting children’s recovery from the pandemic, because their future is going to be all of our futures.

    It matters for the children who have been deprived of opportunities during lockdown.

    And it matters for the country we want to build.

    The evidence is very clear about the longer-term damage that will be caused to our economy, to wider society, and to the opportunities and life chances of our young people, if we don’t invest now and get this right.

    That’s why this is such a priority for Labour.

    Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan means small group tutoring, breakfast clubs and activities for every child, quality mental health support for children in every school, professional development for teachers, and targeted extra investment for those young people who struggled most with lockdown.

    The drumbeat of news about the failures of the government’s National Tutoring Programme shows all too clearly the perils of ministerial arrogance, of not bothering to listen to school leaders about what works.

    In this recovery, we also need to pay special attention to the early years.

    We knew this long before Covid but now we need to redouble our efforts.

    Children who joined reception classes in September will have lived more than half their lives under the pandemic.

    In many cases, they have not had the chance to explore, socialise, develop vital skills, in nurseries or play groups, all of which will matter right throughout school, and right throughout their lives.

    As we move on from the pandemic we need not just to get children’s recovery right, but to put education once more at the heart of our ambition for Britain.

    Because what’s clear is that for this government it isn’t there.

    You heard the paucity of their ambition yesterday.

    The Conservatives are failing a generation of our children, and they’re not even ashamed of it.

    Our future depends on unleashing the ingenuity, problem solving, community-building, ability of our people.

    The only way we will build the Britain we want to see, bringing opportunity to every corner of our country, is by harnessing the creativity, know-how, technology and innovation to create the high skilled jobs of the future.

    And to do that education has to be world class.

    Keir Starmer has staked out the three guiding principles of this national renewal: security, prosperity, and respect.

    Education is crucial to each.

    A good education, with strong foundations in the basics, provides the platform of security for young people.

    An education that fosters creative thinking, and ensures every child leaves education ready for work and ready for life, is the route for individuals and nations to become more prosperous.

    And respect is about how we respect the worth of every person – ensuring that whatever your background, whatever your needs, you are given the opportunity to think big, to spread your wings, to seize opportunities.

    Ultimately, education is about opportunity.

    So when Keir asked me to become shadow secretary of state for education, I was honoured and delighted.

    Because my own life has been a lesson in the power of education.

    My local state school in the North East completely transformed my life.

    My mam brought me up on her own, so times were often hard for her as a single parent in the 1980s.

    We didn’t always have it easy but in other ways I know I was lucky.

    I had a family where I was supported to read, where education was valued and encouraged, and I look back now and feel how fortunate I’ve been.

    I went to a school where my teachers were fiercely ambitious for me and my friends, because they believed in the value and worth of every single one of us.

    They had high expectations and saw no reason why either our ambition or our achievements should not meet them.

    So I was lucky. But life should not come down to luck.

    Too many children are held back by virtue of where they’re born, their circumstances and family background.

    My priority will be to see that change.

    Government should not temper, but match, the ambition of our young people.

    I will bring that sense of ambition and those expectations with me to government, to champion every child’s learning and wellbeing, delivering enriching childhoods, which support every young person to succeed.

    I want every child to benefit from a brilliant education which instils in them a love of learning carried throughout their life.

    Because when I meet parents and pupils, teachers, and lecturers headteachers, principals or employers there is a clear consensus about what needs to happen next.

    They all want us to be more ambitious.

    To offer young people a rounded education, one that develops all their human faculties – a rich mix of knowledge, skills and abilities – one that gives young people the chance to shape their life rather than having life done to them, one that delivers academic success alongside enriching experiences.

    It is that which will give every child the chances they deserve, and it is that which will make a world class education a reality.

    Thank you for all your extraordinary efforts over these last two turbulent years.

    I look forward to working with you all, to make the change we need, the reality we see.

    Thank you.

  • Caroline Nokes – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    Caroline Nokes – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    The speech made by Caroline Nokes, the Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    It is an absolute pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate and, this year, I have doggedly looked for things to celebrate, perhaps with a grim sense of determination. I will start by focusing on a few positive things, such as a young boy who, in his school assembly on Monday, said to me, “Tomorrow’s International Women’s Day. What are you doing to celebrate?”. That is how far we have come—even 12-year-old boys wish to celebrate alongside us. I thank Hugo for asking me what I was going to do. I told him that I would speak in today’s debate and celebrate international women.

    I want to celebrate female entrepreneurship in this country. This morning I have been at No. 11 Downing Street to hear the brilliant women of the British Beauty Council talking about their new project to launch jobs in STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—and beauty, focusing on the fact that science and beauty go hand in hand. We have to make sure that brilliant women in this country study science subjects and go on to fabulous careers in scientific areas. We heard from an amazing woman, Tumi Siwoku, who spoke about her journey into the beauty industry via science-based A-levels. She was meant to study medicine and become a doctor, but her act of rebellion was to make sure that she went into beauty—and, my goodness, I love rebellious women. They are the ones who push boundaries, break down barriers and do the unexpected.

    I also want to talk about the female entrepreneurs I met this week at somewhere far more traditional—Goldman Sachs. They are absolute leaders in their fields, and I want to talk specifically about a very young woman, Thuria Wenbar. She is the chief executive officer of e-Pharmacy, and she talked about her excitement at launching menopause products over the counter. She is still in her 20s, but she was talking about the menopause, and that shows how far we have come. It also pays tribute to the work of my hon. Friend—and she is my hon. Friend—the Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris), who has done so much to break down the taboo and stigma around the menopause. Thuria spoke absolutely unashamedly of her determination to create prosperity and jobs for other women. She spoke about bias—her personal bias—in employing more women in her organisation, and that is one bias we do not wish to break.

    I would like to pay tribute to the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), who has done so much work on the menopause and women’s health. We can look forward in a few short weeks to the female health strategy coming forward, and I would like to say that, in her role as the Minister for patient safety and primary care, she has been a breath of fresh air. Staying on that theme, I also look forward to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport making a real difference with her forthcoming online safety legislation. That could be a real game changer for young women, and indeed men, for whom the online harms they currently face every single day can spill over into real life. I have no doubt about her mission and determination to bring forward a fiercely effective piece of law.

    There are other colleagues I want to celebrate. My hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), who is here, has done so much brilliant work on botox. It seemed really trivial this morning to be talking about the beauty industry, lipstick and botox, but her private Member’s legislation—the Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act 2021—makes it illegal to give botox to under-18s. We need to be protecting young women from the dangers of injectables and cosmetic procedures that can go horribly wrong and alter their looks forever, and we need to be protecting young women from that “Love Island” identical face, which actually looks pretty awful. I would also like to celebrate the brilliant female scientists who made vaccines for covid possible.

    But, actually, today I do not want to celebrate at all; I want to talk about International Women’s Day and the women we have seen in war who have been impacted by the Putin invasion of Ukraine. There are those killed by the war, those reporting on the war whether as a journalist or a citizen journalist via social media, and the doctors in the hospitals tending to the sick and the wounded, including the maternity hospitals that we have seen bombed.

    I want to talk about one specific woman, Yaroslava Antipina. I do not know her—I had never heard of her before the war started—but she is keeping a daily diary of her life in war, and I know from what she has written that she wants to have her life back. She wants to be able to drink coffee in peace with the people she has met on Twitter. She has fled her home, and I wonder what it would feel like for all of us if we had been forced out of our homes and made to live again with our mothers in a different part of the country. She has taught me that, in Ukraine, International Women’s Day is a holiday—there is a great idea, and perhaps we could introduce that here—but it is not a holiday from war. She wears a sweatshirt that says “Superwoman”, and she genuinely is one.

    Yaroslava wants to be able to buy jeans, but she does not know whether the shops will be open, or whether the small shop she has gone to today will be open between 12 noon and 3 pm, so she has launched “operation jeans”, because she just wants to have a spare pair of trousers to wear. She has established her regular no make-up war look, and she posts photographs of it. I want to imagine what that would be like for each and every one of us coming into this Chamber with no make-up. That is why I referenced cosmetic procedures and the British Beauty Council, because we take all that for granted, and if we were her, we might have to accept that, for the conceivable future, everything will look different and our faces will look different.

    Yaroslava talks of “this” life and “that” life. This life is the present, her reality; and that life was what she had before—freedom, and her coffee with friends, her jeans, her lipstick and her life in Kyiv. While we celebrate International Women’s Day here, we have to recognise that, just as Yaroslava has a “this” and a “that” life, there is a life here and a life there: here there are no bombs, there are jeans in the shops and we can drink coffee whenever we want; and there they have none of those things. There are little girls in bomb shelters singing the song from “Frozen”, female doctors dodging bombs to treat the sick, female MPs staying defiantly in Kyiv—their capital—and a former Miss Ukraine brandishing her assault weapon in army uniform. There are women on the borders of Ukraine with their children, having left their husbands, their fathers and theirs son behind to fight. So on International Women’s Day this year, I cannot celebrate, but I have to have hope that, as the women of influence in this country, we can make sure that we do better.

  • Colleen Fletcher – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    Colleen Fletcher – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    The speech made by Colleen Fletcher, the Labour MP for Coventry North East, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) and I associate myself with her comments, especially those regarding the women and children of Ukraine.

    Disagreements are par for the course in this place. We are often divided, yet occasionally there are issues that bring us together, unify our sense of purpose and drive us towards collective goals that can deliver a brighter, fairer and more equal future. This is one such issue and the tenor and tone of today’s debate is testament to that unanimity.

    Ensuring that we can debate International Women’s Day is so important. It gives us a chance to reflect on where we are as a society and on the progress we have made to date on gender equality. Equally, however, it helps to highlight how much further we still must go to achieve true equality and it marks a call to collective action and shared responsibility for delivering and accelerating gender balance.

    Although it is clear that we have come a long way and made significant progress in recent decades, we still have a mammoth task ahead of us to achieve full gender equality. The gender pay gap still exists, women continue to face workplace discrimination, misogynistic abuse is rife, violence against women and girls persists, and women still fall behind men in healthcare and education. While those inequalities remain, the need to mark International Women’s Day is stronger than ever.

    Of course, that is particularly true given the impact of covid-19, which hit women disproportionally hard and which analysis suggests could have put gender equality back decades. At the height of the pandemic, a report looked at the impact of covid-19 on women in my city of Coventry. It found that pre-existing inequalities in debt, violence, healthcare, employment and childcare had been exacerbated. It warned that unless a gender-sensitive approach was taken to rebuilding the country and economy, decades of progress towards achieving gender equality could be reversed, so I call on the Government to review the impact of their policies on women and to ensure that the recovery from the pandemic is an equal recovery with women at its heart.

    Although International Women’s Day provides an opportunity to shine a light on such inequalities, it is also a time to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. In Coventry, one initiative from the Godiva Trust will see residents pay tribute to women who are special to them by helping to decorate some trees placed around the city. People are being invited to attach messages to the trees’ branches to celebrate the lives of inspiring women. That made me think about the inspirational women who have touched my life and who my message would be about. I am privileged to say that there have been many influential women in my life but I pay special tribute to my mum and my two sisters.

    My mum was my single biggest inspiration. Without her influence, without her leading the way and showing me that the only thing that limits people in this world is their imagination, and most of all, without her love and support, I would not be where I am today. When she entered politics some 50 years ago—I think that is actually when I entered it too—little did I know that it would become such a large part of my life and would lead me to be right here, the 414th woman ever elected to this place.

    While my two sisters did not follow the same path, politics none the less plays a part in their lives. They support me, share my concerns and experience my highs and lows. They give me my sense of resilience and we share a mutual trust and an unconditional love. They are my biggest critics and my staunchest defenders. I know that they are proud of me, as I am of them.

    As we mark International Women’s Day, let us pay tribute to those closest to us: our carers, mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts. They are the often-unsung heroes who nurture and guide us, who shape our futures through their sacrifices and selfless actions, and whose very presence contributes to who and what we are today, even if we do not always recognise it. Let us pay tribute to the women whose achievements are so great, yet so often and so easily overlooked—the women whose achievements epitomise the spirit of International Women’s Day.

  • Maria Miller – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    Maria Miller – 2022 Speech on International Women’s Day

    The speech made by Maria Miller, the Conservative MP for Basingstoke, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    I beg to move,

    That this House has considered International Women’s Day.

    There is a dreadful poignancy in opening this debate today. The bombing of a Ukrainian women and children’s hospital yesterday has left pregnant women on stretchers, covered in blood from shrapnel wounds, and I would hope that the message that we send from this place to every woman in Ukraine during this week of events to mark International Women’s Day is that we stand with those women against those who wage war on their country. We stand alongside those women in their battle for a free and independent Ukraine. We stand with the people of Belarus and Russia who do not want war. I was delighted to meet the Belarusian opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, in Parliament today to reinforce that message.

    In Ukraine, International Women’s Day is usually a public holiday—an opportunity to mark the unique role that women play in the culture of their nation—but this year has been very different indeed, because it is the women of Ukraine who make up the vast majority of refugees. The Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Trudy Harrison), will share my horror at seeing those women fleeing their homeland. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is right to be redoubling the Government’s efforts to cut unnecessary bureaucracy, so that we can offer women who seek sanctuary in our country swift passage.

    Acts of war and aggression disproportionately affect women. In Afghanistan, just 12 months ago on International Women’s Day, that nation celebrated the remarkable contribution made by Afghan women against the challenges of the covid pandemic. Now, the hard-won progress made on women’s rights over the past two decades has been all but reversed, with a new Taliban Government having no place for the 67 women elected to the Afghan Parliament. We know that the best way we can fight dictatorships and autocracies around the world is through support for democratic capacity for effective democratic institutions.

    The truth is that every democracy is fragile; it has to be nurtured. As we mark International Women’s Day as parliamentarians, we should focus every fibre of our body on how we can strengthen democracies around the world, because democracy is under threat like never before. Strong parliamentarians are representative of their people. Women playing their proper role in Parliament is not an optional extra; it is essential for our legitimacy. This year’s theme of “Break the Bias” could not be more appropriate, because there are few democracies around the world where women have an equal role in policy making and policy scrutiny—not even our own. Some 27 years on from the 1995 UN Beijing platform for action, which demanded worldwide equal participation for women in political decision making, we have seen slow progress, with just one in four elected representatives around the world being a woman.

    For International Women’s Day 2022, let us call for a renewed commitment to women’s equal role in policy making and policy scrutiny to ensure progress on securing women’s roles in democratic institutions. Internationally, both our Parliament and our Government actively support the rights of women and girls. The Government, through their work on education for girls and their support for organisations such as the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, work hard to help build women’s political participation. Here in Parliament, many of us are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, and we work with legislative bodies around the world to share our expertise and knowledge. Gender-sensitive Parliament audits are a practical support that the CPA has put in place for jurisdictions to address their institutionalised gender inequality. Over the past year, the CPA has trained women parliamentarians around the world to deal with online abuse, helping to find a way forward on one of the issues that holds so many women back from wanting to seek election in the first place.

    We want strong democracies around the world, but it has never been more important for our own Parliament to be an exemplar. In Westminster, there are still twice as many men as women elected to this place, demonstrating the challenges even embedded democracies have. I stand here as a Conservative Member of Parliament to say that there are three men for every one woman in my party, which is the Government party. That has to change.

    Each party takes this problem extremely seriously. I know that the Conservative party does, and we are acting. It is right that we press Government and political parties to do more, but Parliament itself has to act, too, as the custodian of one of the most important parts of our democracy is our legislature. As Sue Maguire high- lighted in her report to Government in 2018, while quotas for women to come into Parliament have a place—the Labour party has made good use of them—they do not

    “address the cultural and working practices in Parliament and local Government that remain significant barriers”.

    We can and must challenge the Government to do more, and parties to act, but if we simply say it is the fault of political parties, we are not listening to the mountain of evidence to the contrary.

    I applaud Mr Speaker for creating real momentum for change here, even before he became Speaker, by addressing for the first time issues such as the personal security of Members. We also now have a behaviour code and grievance procedures, thanks to my right hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Dame Andrea Leadsom).We have proxy voting for new parents and effective procedures to deal with bullying, as we saw earlier this week, but where is the progress on the other measures that have been put forward?

    Effecting change in this place can feel almost impossible. Although we have Select Committees to hold the Government to account, where is the mechanism to hold ourselves to account? There is no structure in Parliament for Members to identify a programme of co-ordinated change—coherent, transparent and accountable change—that would make this place somewhere that more women want to come to and stay in.

    As the Women and Equalities Committee’s report that was published last week by my right hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) said, five years on from the Childs “The Good Parliament” report and 10 more reports like it, many of the recommendations that have been put forward remain unanswered. Some of the actions can be delivered by Parliament and some need Parliament to work with the Government, but above all we need a co-ordinated plan of action for the House of Commons to get our House in order and to get equal representation of women as a top priority.

    I will give a couple of examples. We need to ensure that the Government implement section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, which is already in place, to require parties to publish data on the diversity of their candidates and appointments to the House of Lords, a recommendation made more than five years ago. We need to focus our House service public engagement on women’s participation in democracy and reach out to women across the United Kingdom to encourage them to consider standing for election, as we did at the all-party parliamentary group on women in Parliament’s event on Tuesday evening, which was attended by more than 100 women. Those events should not be held by Members; they should be held by the House of Commons to encourage more women to stand for election.

    We need to focus the House communications team on talking about the positive changes that we have already made to our culture here as a result of the new behaviour code and the grievance process. We need to work with the Government to ensure that there is legislation and enforcement against online threats, which disproportionately affect women Members. We need to embed a programme of training for Members who are using social media. We know that those actions need to happen, but we need to have a plan and there needs to be accountability for swift progress.

    We are the custodians of our legislative body. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for securing the time for this debate and the APPG officers and members for their support in it. A representative and inclusive House of Commons is essential for the fully effective functioning of a parliamentary democracy. The House itself has a unique responsibility to take steps to ensure that we are representative of the population. Recruiting good people is a matter for political parties, but parties cannot change what people think of Parliament or how they feel about working in the House of Commons. I want today’s debate marking International Women’s Day to be a call to action for our own Parliament. As Members, we need to ensure that the House of Commons is a place that everyone aspires to be part of, including women.

  • Chloe Smith – 2022 Statement on Support for Those Near End of Life

    Chloe Smith – 2022 Statement on Support for Those Near End of Life

    The statement made by Chloe Smith, the Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    The Government are committed to improving the level of support provided to people who are nearing the end of their lives. The special rules process allows simple and fast access to financial support through the benefits system. Last July, the Government announced their intention to expand eligibility for the special rules, which is currently aimed at those with six months or less to live, with a new 12-month end of life approach. Today, the Department for Work and Pensions is introducing an amendment to the Universal Credit (UC) Regulations 2013, the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Regulations 2008 and 2013 and the Decisions and Appeals Regulations 2013.

    The regulations will apply in Great Britain and will come into force on 4 April 2022. They will mean that people who are thought to be in their final year of life will be able to receive vital support through the special rules six months earlier than they are able to at present, thereby increasing the number of people who are eligible and the length of time that they are able to receive this support for. This means that more people will be able to make a claim under the special rules, and as a result, they will not be subject to face-to-face assessments, waiting periods and, in the majority of cases, they will receive the highest rate of benefit. The 12-month approach supports clinicians by providing a realistic and straight-forward definition, consistent with the current end of life definition used across the NHS.

    The Government have amended UC and ESA, where the definition is in secondary legislation, and when parliamentary time allows they will also amend the special rules for personal independence payment, disability living allowance and attendance allowance, where the definition is contained in primary legislation.

    Having a life limiting illness can cause unimaginable suffering for the patient and for their loved ones and we are committed to ensuring the benefits system supports people nearing the end of their lives. To support the implementation of the changes to the special rules criteria we are making today, we will provide clear and helpful communications for claimants, clinicians, and organisations that support people nearing the end of their lives so that they are clear about what they should do in light of these changes.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Covid-19 Inquiry

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Covid-19 Inquiry

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    On 15 December I announced the appointment of the right hon. Baroness Heather Hallett DBE as chair of the forthcoming public inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic. In doing so, I made a commitment to consult Baroness Hallett and Ministers in the devolved Administrations on the terms of reference for the inquiry before publishing them in draft. This process is now complete, and I have today placed a copy of the draft terms of reference in the Library of the House and published them on gov.uk.

    The terms of reference cover: preparedness; the public health response; the response in the health and care sector; and our economic response. Rightly, the terms of reference allow for an inquiry which is genuinely UK-wide, but which respects and does not duplicate any inquiry established on a devolved basis. Finally, the draft reflects the importance of the inquiry working to understand the experiences of those most affected by the pandemic—including bereaved families—as well as looking at any disparities evident in the impact of the pandemic and our response.

    The inquiry will play a key role in learning the lessons from this terrible pandemic and in informing our preparations for the future. It is therefore vital that we get its terms of reference right and that people can have their say. To deliver this, Baroness Hallett will now lead a period of public engagement and consultation, which will last for four weeks. This process will inform further refinements to the terms of reference before they are finalised and the inquiry begins its important work.

     

  • Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Inquiry into the Death of Dawn Sturgess

    Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on the Inquiry into the Death of Dawn Sturgess

    The statement made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    I announced on 18 November 2021 the Government decision to establish an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, to investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess in Amesbury on 8 July 2018, after she was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.

    The inquiry will now be chaired by the Lord Hughes of Ombersley.

    Lord Hughes is a retired judge who was a former judge of the Supreme Court, as well as a Lord Justice of Appeal and vice-president of the criminal division. Lord Hughes is also a judicial commissioner to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO).

    In accordance with section 3(1) of the Act, this inquiry will be undertaken by Lord Hughes alone as chair.

    The Government are establishing this inquiry after careful consideration of advice from Baroness Hallett, who led the inquest, that this is necessary to permit all relevant evidence to be heard.

    This is an important step in ensuring that the family of Dawn Sturgess get the answers they need.

    The current inquest will be suspended after the establishment of the inquiry. The inquiry will formally start on 17 March.

    I will today place a copy of the terms of reference, which remain unchanged, for the inquiry in the Libraries of both Houses.

    The inquiry’s investigations will be a matter for the chair. As the sponsoring Department, the Home Office will provide support and ensure that the inquiry has the resources that it needs.

  • Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Digital Identity and Attributes

    Julia Lopez – 2022 Statement on Digital Identity and Attributes

    The statement made by Julia Lopez, the Minister for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2022.

    I wish to inform the House that the Government have today published their response to the digital identity and attributes consultation.

    In our increasingly digital world, and as technology devices become ever more integral to everyday life, being able to prove identities digitally is a tool which will give people more convenience, choice and security in how they access products and services. From making purchases, starting a new job, or moving house, it is important now more than ever that people and organisations can trust who they are dealing with as easily when transacting online as they do when dealing with others in the physical world.

    Published in July 2021, the digital identity and attributes consultation sought views on three main proposals that could achieve a safe and secure digital identity system for the whole UK. Extensive engagement informed these proposals and the contents of the consultation response. We are determined to put the needs of individuals first with a strong focus on privacy, security and inclusion.

    Based on the views received from respondents to the consultation, our response details the Government’s intent to legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to enable the development of a secure and trusted marketplace for digital identities and attributes across the UK economy.

    First, the Government will seek to introduce legislation that will establish a digital identity and attributes governance function. This will help to build a trusted ecosystem in which digital identities and attributes can be used safely and securely across the economy. The governance function will have oversight of the UK digital identity and attributes trust framework and will be responsible for the issuance of a trust mark to organisations certified against it. This will give confidence to individual users of digital identities and attributes that they can trust certified organisations to offer safe and secure digital products because they have a trust mark to show they are adhering to the standards of the UK trust framework.

    The Government will also seek to introduce legislation to enable public bodies to allow secure digital checks by trust-marked organisations against personal data they hold for the purposes of identity and eligibility verification. This will allow people and businesses to have confidence that digital identities in the UK can be built on trusted datasets in a way which upholds UK standards of privacy and data minimisation.

    Finally, the Government will seek to introduce legislation which will establish that data held by public bodies which are then shared digitally through the legal gateway, are equivalent to the same data shared through traditionally accepted forms of identification, such as physical passports. This will provide all parties that rely on these data with the clarity and confidence that digital identities and attributes can be trusted.

    Further details can be found in the consultation response, available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/digital-identity-and-attributes-consultation/outcome/government-response-to-the-digital-identity-and-attributes-consultation.

    A copy of the consultation response will also be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Speech to the Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Speech to the Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    The speech made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Education, on 11 March 2022.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I am really pleased and honoured to be here for my first ASCL conference.

    I have been looking forward to being with you.

    As we gather today, the Ukrainian flag flies over the Department for Education. It does so because we stand shoulder to shoulder with all Ukrainians against the barbaric, criminal invasion of their sovereign, democratic country.

    For us in our country, it is almost impossible to imagine the horror they are going through, because we know that more unites us than separates us, and we are lucky to live in a safe, secure country where we resolve our differences through debate, discussion and of course through and the ballot box.

    We will continue to support Ukrainians in any way we can. I know schools and colleges are doing what they can to support their students make sense of what they are seeing on television.

    And we have a team that’s already making plans for a capacity of 100,000 Ukrainian children that will come in and take their places in our schools.

    To support schools’ efforts, I asked Oak National Academy to roll out an auto-translate function across all 10,000 of its online lessons. And I can share with you today that they have delivered on this, meaning Ukrainian children arriving in the UK can access education in their native language as they transition into life and safety here.

    In that same spirit of unity and support, after the two years we’ve just been through, I’d like to thank you on such a well-chosen and positive theme.

    I think all leaders should aim to be ambitious but there has never been a more critical time for leaders to make ambition really count.

    Actually, ambition is what gets me racing to the office in the morning …

    And before you say it, well there’s a surprise… he’s another politician…

    My ambition isn’t for me, but for every child, every teenager, every adult learner to get the absolute best chance to succeed in life.

    Which I know is exactly what you want for every child.

    So, with that in mind, as I speak to you, I want us to ask ourselves, why are we here today?

    Before I go any further, I just want to say thank you for the magnificent way you have responded to Covid – I know the past two years have been absolutely bruising.

    Now, typically when you hear from an Education Secretary, you might expect to hear about accomplishments in the sector – and certainly, in this room, there are enough accomplishments to fill the entirety of my speech.

    I will in a moment talk about what we have achieved together.

    But before I do that, I want to tell you why this is so important to me personally.

    I came here aged 11, unable to string a sentence of English together. I hid at the back of the class.

    Even the thought of going to school was a scary one.

    If my parents hadn’t had the wherewithal to push me to take advantage of the education this great country provides, I don’t know where I would have ended up.

    And if my teacher Bob Hiller hadn’t reminded me to funnel my – how should I put it – creative, disruptive energy into something good, I certainly wouldn’t be here today. Bob, wherever you are, thank you.

    Skills, schools, families. These are my priorities, and these are informed in many ways by my own life story.

    They are what made the difference to me and what I think can make a real difference in the lives of children across our country.

    Because there are children in our country, right now, who need the support that I needed.

    And those children will achieve incredible things if given that chance.

    Colleagues, we are going on a journey – I hope together – to do exactly that.

    The next chapter of this journey is the Schools White Paper.

    Since 2010 we have been on a mission to give every single child a great education, and I think we’ve made huge progress, but we have not yet achieved every goal that we need to.

    Too many children still do not get the start in life that will enable them to go on and fulfil their potential.

    Even before the Covid pandemic, about one in three primary school students did not reach expected standards in reading, writing and maths.

    And we all know that children who are on free-school meals or who have special educational needs are less likely to achieve the standards we want for them, and that gap widens as children get older, making it harder and harder for them to catch up…

    I know you’ll agree with me that this has to change. This is going to change.

    I want us to really come together… work together… so that we can work out how we are going to achieve this.

    The biggest asset we have in changing the lives of children for generations to come is the energy and expertise of our teachers, and of course the school and college leaders in this room and around the country.

    You can’t have a great education if you don’t have a great teacher.

    You will already know that I have set an ambitious target that 90% of children leaving primary school should meet the expected standards in literacy and numeracy, up from 65% today.

    Every child must be able to read, write and do basic maths fluently.

    They’re important in their own right, but also act as a door to other wonderful and joyful subjects that can inspire young minds as they make their way through school, college and beyond.

    Let me be clear: these are ambitions for the whole system. They are about making sure that we are ambitious for every child across our country.

    The White Paper sets out a plan to deliver on this strategy, and it is an achievable vision only because I know that in this room, we have the excellence and leadership to make it a reality.

    I know that investing in teachers and leaders – in you and your staff – is the single most important way to improve pupil outcomes.

    I am determined to make our system of training and support for teachers and school and college leaders world-class.

    We will deliver our promised 500,000 teacher training opportunities to make sure that every teacher, in every corner of our country, benefits from evidence-based professional development at every stage of their career.

    I am proud to be able to confirm today that more than 25,000 teachers and almost 23,000 mentors have taken part in our flagship Early Career Framework programmes this year.

    This is beyond even my most optimistic estimate, and, I think, testament to the support you as leaders are providing.

    But I also know that embedding this programme has been a huge undertaking for you and your colleagues, particularly mentors. We are listening to your feedback and we will be making improvements in areas that you have told us are causing real difficulties.

    And I want to keep working with you now and in the future to make sure we take forward this shared priority and to ensure that we achieve our shared goal of giving every early career teacher their entitlement to a high-quality, structured induction to the teaching profession.

    Building on this success, our golden thread of high-quality teacher development programmes includes a new Leading Literacy National Professional Qualification, available from this autumn.

    This will mean every school can have a trained literacy expert, driving higher standards of literacy teaching, kick-starting our 90% literacy mission.

    With this, as with the rest of the reformed suite of National Professional Qualifications, these will be freely available to all teachers and leaders in state-funded schools and colleges.

    What I ask, for those here or watching this speech, is that every leader here today walk away from this with a commitment to enrol their staff on a National Professional Qualification from the autumn.

    Alongside world-class training, we will also continue to invest in top graduates with generous bursaries and scholarships for those who choose to train to teach.

    And we will deliver on our manifesto commitment to the £30,000 starting salary.

    As an engineering graduate, I know the wonders of science and I want more children to be exposed to and inspired by science – not least to help save the planet.

    I want them to be taught by well-trained science teachers, equipped to give future generations of scientists the knowledge they need to tackle climate change, develop new vaccines and maintain our place as a scientific superpower.

    Through our Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for maths, physics, chemistry and computing teachers, we will retain more teachers in some of the most important subjects and of course in places where they are needed most.

    And because teaching is an increasingly global profession, I want to attract the very best teachers from across the world.

    That is why we will also introduce a new relocation premium to help with visas and other expenses for teachers and trainees moving here from abroad.

    But even this is not enough: I want our country to be known around the world as the place to train and practise teaching, rivalling the likes of Shanghai, Canada and of course Finland.

    But of course, great teachers need support.

    I want to empower teachers to focus on delivering the best possible lessons, and support schools by giving them access to resources and approaches that have proved their effectiveness.

    Oak National Academy has certainly been one of our great achievements.

    It was created by teachers, for teachers, and showed brilliantly what the profession was capable of in the hour of need.

    Over 500 teachers from over 50 schools, trusts and partners worked together, delivering over 140 million lessons during the pandemic.

    Building on this success, we will now establish Oak as a new arms-length curriculum body, working independently of government and collaboratively with the sector.

    Why is this important?

    The data backs up what you all know anecdotally: a recent survey showed 46% of primary teachers plan lessons from scratch. This is a drain on teachers’ time and I want to help fix that.

    Curriculum design is complex, and we want to share the very best practice so teachers can draw inspiration from examples of evidence based, carefully sequenced curriculum design.

    Instead of each teacher reinventing the wheel, they will be able to access content, for free, that continuously evolves and gets better and better on the back of feedback from teachers across the country – saving time and of course improving lessons immeasurably.

    Under the framework already provided by our excellent national curriculum, the curriculum body will lead the creation of curriculum maps and thousands of downloadable lessons and resources… and all freely available to all teachers, parents and children.

    These will help schools in a variety of ways depending on their needs. They will be also entirely optional and of course these materials will not be mandated by Ofsted.

    Teachers, who know their pupils best, can then adapt these, and the curriculum body will work closely with teachers to ensure it is meeting their needs, including those supporting children with additional needs.

    And the body will continue work with the Education Endowment Foundation – the EEF – to ensure its work is informed by the best available evidence and aligns with best practice.

    At the heart of this body will be collaboration and partnership, I am committed to building on the “by teachers, for teachers” approach that has been a key success factor for Oak National Academy.

    And with the same motivation to use evidence wherever we can, we will permanently put evidence at the heart of the teaching profession by re-endowing the EEF.

    As independent evidence guardians in the system, they will continue to generate and spread world-leading education evidence. The EEF will lead an ongoing cycle of reviews of the underpinning frameworks for teacher development at all levels to make sure they’re always based on “what works” to improve pupil outcomes.

    They will keep these frameworks updated in line with the best available evidence from this country and of course from abroad, giving an independent badge of assurance to our teacher development programmes… and all the while making sure teachers in England get the cutting-edge training they need to drive up standards.

    And we will continue to work with the EEF to scale up and spread effective teaching practice in literacy and numeracy to ensure pupils have the best chance of catching up following the pandemic.

    Colleagues, we must be sky-high in our ambitions for every pupil. If we don’t aim for excellence, we’re not going to achieve it by chance.

    I’ve listened to you, acted on your insight, and looked at the evidence across the whole educational landscape. And evidence shows that a family of schools that are tightly managed and well supported achieve the right outcomes for their students and deliver those important opportunities for staff.

    How? There are three things I want to highlight.

    A resilient profession… because high performing families of schools support leaders and give great opportunities to teachers for training and career progression.

    Collaboration… because schools can benefit from working together, creating opportunities to share resources and reduce workload, while reinvesting back into frontline teaching.

    And Freedom… because leaders spend less time worrying about managing facilities and more time making sure children learn and teachers teach.

    I’ve been clear before that I see this future as involving all schools being part of a strong trust – and I will say more about this in my White Paper.

    But I will say now that I underline the word strong because, and we mustn’t sugar coat this, some trusts are not high performing. The White Paper will set out how I plan to deal with that challenge as well.

    You are the future my friends, and you are going to produce other leaders of the future. We need you – I need you – on this journey.

    I know that everyone in this room will have an opinion on this – I’d expect nothing less, but I ask you to consider the data, the evidence, with an as open mind as possible.

    What I will pledge to you is that I will be guided by the data and the evidence.

    I want evidence to be our watchword, just as it was mine as vaccines Minister and continues to be now as Secretary of State for Education.

    In fact, following what the data tells me has shaped the new Schools White Paper.

    But that doesn’t mean I expect everyone to agree with me all the time. I am not afraid to disagree with you, and I know you – certainly Geoff – are not afraid to challenge me.

    What is important is that we follow what the evidence says. If we have a divergence of views on the evidence, then we will have a healthy debate and I will make my case as I am sure you will make yours.

    But no matter what, the priority must be working together.

    Because we can’t level up, we can’t deliver for children, if we don’t work together.

    Everything we are doing as a government comes back to one core mission and that is that we make life fairer for every child, in every school in our country.

    One of the most effective tools we have at our disposal to meet our ambition is targeted support.

    A huge part of that is tutoring, which I know will be going on in all of your schools right now.

    It’s important to step back and look at what we’ve achieved with the National Tutoring Programme.

    Tutoring used to be something only richer parents could afford.

    Thanks to the NTP, today it’s benefitting all children who need it, from Bristol to Blackpool and Newquay to Newcastle, helping them realise their potential.

    I am proud to be able to say that more than one million tutoring courses have been delivered since we rolled out this programme last year. ASCL, this is incredible.

    But there are still children who need this targeted tuition, and I know that many of you have had challenges with the programme. I have listened and I have heard you, and we are making improvements as I speak to you today.

    This includes the immediate transfer of up to £65 million into School Led Tutoring from the other two routes. It’s become clear to me that by far the most popular route is the one run by you – the school.

    I hope you will agree with me that what we are doing together on tutoring is an invaluable addition to our education system, and I am continuing to look at how we can make sure it is having as big an impact as we can make it.

    In addition to this, one of my priorities in the White Paper will be the schools and areas of the country most in need of support.

    Areas including County Durham, Cornwall and Hartlepool will get extra investment, to build strong trusts, enabling them to retain and recruit the best teachers and tackle those problems that have stopped them achieving what they should be achieving.

    I want to get this right, and I want you to have your say, so I will be announcing a consultation shortly on tackling school underperformance.

    Ahead of that, we must build on what we have already accomplished.

    We must make the most of the £7 billion increase in core spending 2024-25 – with an increase in real terms per pupil funding of 4% next year alone – really count.

    And, we cannot say we care about children’s education if we ignore those most in need. So, we must protect the pupil premium to support schools in improving outcomes for disadvantaged students.

    Because I have the same high ambitions for children with special educational needs and disabilities as I do for every child. And I know that they benefit from excellent teaching that allows them to fulfil their potential.

    I also know that headteachers are doing an incredible job at supporting children with SEND, and worked tirelessly to support them throughout the pandemic.

    So, before I come to a close, I want to say that the plans I am setting out today – for teacher development, for evidence-based practice, and for high quality curriculum – will all help to support children with SEND. But there is further to go.

    The forthcoming SEND Review will set our ambitious proposals for how we will deliver a system that ensures every child and young person gets the right support in the right place and at the right time.

    Geoff, I began by asking everyone why we are here today.

    I am here today to deliver on the promise in this room.

    I am here to embark on a journey together – one that means every single child and learner gets the start in life to be the best version of themselves….

    I couldn’t hope to deliver this vision if it wasn’t for you…

    Thank you.