The statement made by Matt Hancock, the former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 7 March 2023.
What’s being accused here never happened, demonstrating the story is wrong, and showing why such a biased, partial approach to the evidence is a bad mistake, driven by those with a vested interest and an axe to grind.
The right place to consider everything about the pandemic objectively is in the public inquiry.
The statement made by Matt Hancock on 2 March 2023.
I am hugely disappointed and sad at the massive betrayal and breach of trust by Isabel Oakeshott. I am also sorry for the impact on the very many people – political colleagues, civil servants and friends – who worked hard with me to get through the pandemic and save lives.
There is absolutely no public interest case for this huge breach. All the materials for the book have already been made available to the inquiry, which is the right, and only, place for everything to be considered properly and the right lessons to be learned. As we have seen, releasing them in this way gives a partial, biased account to suit an anti-lockdown agenda.
Isabel and I had worked closely together for more than a year on my book, based on legal confidentiality and a process approved by the Cabinet Office. Isabel repeatedly reiterated the importance of trust throughout, and then broke that trust.
Last night, I was accused of sending menacing messages to Isabel. This is also wrong. When I heard confused rumours of a publication late on Tuesday night, I called and messaged Isabel to ask her if she had ‘any clues’ about it, and got no response. When I then saw what she’d done, I messaged to say it was ‘a big mistake’. Nothing more.
I will not be commenting further on any other stories or false allegations that Isabel will make. I will respond to the substance in the appropriate place, at the inquiry, so that we can properly learn all the lessons based on a full and objective understanding of what happened in the pandemic, and why.
The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Independent MP for West Suffolk, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.
Matt Hancock (West Suffolk) (Ind)
Will the Secretary of State say a few words about the need not only to stop the diminution across the world of biodiversity, but, ultimately, to get to a place where the expansion of nature can once again happen? That is a long way off. But is it not true that UK Government leadership on this issue has just delivered a major landmark step forward and we should all, across this House, be proud of the effort the team has put in, in order to make as much progress as this? In the international arena it is hard to get big agreements, and the Secretary of State has just got one.
Dr Coffey
I thank my right hon. Friend for that. We both represent the magnificent county of Suffolk, which is why we are trying to make sure we continue that improvement of nature. I believe he is a champion for dormice and I am a champion for bitterns, and we have seen improvements in the habitats for both animals. On a long-term situation such as the environment, it is crucial that the House comes together to recognise the importance of what has been achieved and give credit, particularly to our civil servants, for that achievement. We also need to recognise the challenges ahead for Governments, local councils and industry, and for individual choices that people make, in what we are trying to do to not only protect, but enhance, restore and improve the environment, which we enjoy.
The letter sent by Matt Hancock, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, to Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, on 7 December 2022.
The comments made by Matt Hancock, the former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, serialised by the Daily Mail on 5 December.
Baroness Michelle Mone has sent me an extraordinarily aggressive email complaining that a company she’s helping isn’t getting the multi-million-pound contracts it deserves. She claims the firm, which makes lateral flow test kits, ‘has had a dreadful time’ trying to cut through red tape and demanded my ‘urgent help’ before it all comes out in the media.
‘I am going to blow this all wide open,’ she threatened.
In essence, she’s not at all happy that a US company called Innova has secured so many contracts while others ‘can’t get in the game’. She claims test kits made by the company she’s representing, and by several others, have all passed rigorous quality control checks but only Innova is getting the business.
Part of the statement made by Matt Hancock, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, in The Sun newspaper on 1 November 2022.
Some may think I’ve lost my marbles or had one too many drinks, swapping the comfortable surroundings of Westminster and West Suffolk for the extreme conditions of the Australian outback, going where there will be few creature comforts, not enough food, and a load of physical tasks involving snakes, spiders and plenty of other creepy-crawlies.
While there will undoubtedly be those who think I shouldn’t go, I think it’s a great opportunity to talk directly to people who aren’t always interested in politics, even if they care very much about how our country’s run.
It’s our job as politicians to go to where the people are — not to sit in ivory towers in Westminster.
There are many ways to do the job of being an MP. Whether I’m in camp for one day or three weeks, there are very few places people will be able to see a politician as they really are.
The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, on Twitter on 21 October 2022.
I have worked incredibly closely with Boris, Rishi and Penny in Government. I admire all three With the challenges we face today: economic crisis & the need to restore authoritative leadership, Rishi Sunak is the best person to lead our country I’m voting Rishi and hope you do too.
The speech made by Matt Hancock, the then Minister of Skills, in Birmingham on 20 November 2012.
Two months ago, in this hall, the Prime Minister gave a speech about the need for Britain to compete in the global race.
He talked about how every one needs to reach their personal best. And how we must not leave anyone behind. He reminded us that our young people must be equipped to compete. Not just with our European neighbours, but with ambitious, innovative, and determined countries all over the world.
This is a very specific challenge for everyone in this room. And it is that challenge that I want to talk about today.
Over these past months, I have been hugely impressed by the go-getting and dynamic leadership of the best FE and sixth- form Colleges. I know that you are among the most innovative and responsive of any delivery arm of Government. I know that in this room there is the capacity to do so much more.
I have a very clear view about what my main role has to be as Minister of Skills. It is not to complain or be a constantly niggling critic. Instead, I want to be the unequivocal champion of Further Education.
I’m quite unusual in politics.
When my school didn’t offer the A levels I wanted, I went along to West Cheshire College instead. You were there for me when I needed you. So I will celebrate, eulogise, proclaim and publicise the triumphs in Colleges every day across our land, not just because it is my job to do so, but because I know the value of what you do from my own personal experience.
But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t also tell it straight when I think things need to change.
Now I don’t want any change for change’s sake. But I know you sense a deep unfairness. You feel it in your hearts. I feel it too. It’s a sense of injustice that you deserve a better press, deserve the same recognition as schools and universities.
Well let me say this – I passionately believe that can happen.
There is no reason set in stone why technical education should not be seen as on a par with or even more virtuous than university, like it is in Holland or Germany.
But I also believe this: there is only one way to make that happen. The route to recognition is for every college to be as good as the most outstanding college is today. It will come only when teaching in FE is uniformly high quality. Only when every college is as enterprising as the Gazelle group. When every college reaches for the stars.
Outstanding education is the route to outstanding acclaim. I want to see every college an outstanding college. I want to see all teaching as inspiring as the best. I will work with you, support you, stand up for you, and yes, challenge you in that goal. And together we can get there.
For the public at large, the most trusted sign of excellence in education is a positive Ofsted report. School inspection has existed in England since the year Queen Victoria came to the throne. And I am at one with Sir Michael Wilshaw when he reminds us that “Satisfactory is not satisfactory as it’s not good”.
Ofsted is challenging. I know that. It’s meant to be. But the response must surely be: to raise standards. To improve teaching. To perspire. To aspire. To inspire. And I am at your side.
I have seen for myself what our best Colleges can achieve:
I have seen for myself at the Skills Show here in Birmingham the amazing talent on display, honed and thriving through competition.
When I see excellence I want to spread it. When I see innovation, I want to learn from it. When I see barriers to progress, I want to break them down.
Over the past two years, under reforms pioneered by my brilliant predecessor, you have taken hold of the freedoms and flexibilities you now have. From next year, a reformed funding system will, I hope, have given you yet more flexibility in how to provide outstanding education.
But we all know there is more to do. So I want to outline plans in four priority areas where i see the need for further reform.
Let me briefly take each in turn.
First, apprenticeships.
Since 2010, over a million Apprenticeships have been started, half a million of them in the last year. And while this increase in quantity is very welcome, we must ensure they are higher quality, more rigorous, and focused on what employers need. I hope that employers come forward with innovative proposals for higher quality Apprenticeships in the second round of the Employer Ownership Pilot we launched yesterday. And Doug Richard will before Christmas say how we can go further, in a report I hope we can embrace.
Second, as we raise the standard of Apprenticeships, that will leave a gap. Around the country I have been impressed by the work of many Colleges to give young people the skills they need to get and hold down a job, with Work Pairings, and joint ventures with the Youth Contract and JobCentrePlus. But we must do more.
So we will bring forward a new traineeship, combining a rigorous core of work preparation, work experience, Maths, and english, with a great deal of flexibility around everything else. I want this to support the best of what’s available, help raise the participation age, and give a clear sense of progression into an Apprenticeship.
Alongside Traineeships, we must also improve the way our skills system and our benefits system interact. How can we justify a system in which we pay people, so long as they don’t train, rather than support people so long as they do? It’s bad for the economy, it’s unfair on young people, and it has got to stop.
Third, high quality education needs stretching and valuable qualifications.
The QCF is here to stay as an organising framework post-19, but we must be more rigorous about what’s on it, and about what we in Government are prepared to spend scarce resources on. For vocational education to be valued and held in high esteem we must be uncompromising about the value added of vocational education.
Today we are publishing a revised list of approved vocational qualifications for 14-16 year olds, covering courses taught from next September.
We are also supporting the work of the Royal Academy of Engineers on new engineering qualifications that will both fit the new system and be stretching and rigorous. I’d like to see more august, employer-led bodies like the Royal Academy step up and design the qualifications employers need. And as you know, as well as reforming qualifications at 16, are we are working on plans for colleges directly recruiting pupils aged 14 and 15 to be directly funded.
But whatever the age of the learner, I share with Alison Wolf the view that we must encourage the use of the most rigorous and valuable vocational qualifications. And I also share her view that far too little genuinely occupational education takes place among 16-18 year olds.
We all know that the route for academic kids is straightforward. But those who choose not to take the academic route too often are encouraged into a general applied qualification, instead of properly considering the value of an Apprenticeship or a rigorous occupational qualification.
So in the coming weeks we will publish a consultation on how to identify the highest value vocational qualifications for 16 to 18 year olds, just as we have done for 14-16 year olds.
In it we will also consider what more we can do to encourage the take up of Apprenticeships and occupational – as opposed to general applied – qualifications. And of course we must consider what this means for adult qualifications too.
For vocational qualifications to be seen to be stretching and strong, they must be stretching and strong, and that’s what I hope to achieve.
Finally, standards.
I have already set out proposals for a guild, led by you, to build up inspirational teaching and a stronger sense of professionalism and pride.
Today I am setting out plans for high quality colleges to achieve a Chartered Status for Colleges.
And of course raising standards means tackling poor provision too. We need to be firmer in tackling educational and financial failure, and turning underperforming colleges around.
And so students and employers alike can see performance for themselves, I can confirm that, from this year, we will introduce common standards and measures of performance between schools and colleges. Both will be expected to meet minimum standards.
A levels and vocational qualifications are different, so they will be judged separately from each other. But each will be judged in the same way for all institutions. We said we’d introduce a level playing field, and we will.
And there is one area where Britain should lead the world, but where sinfully we have allowed ourselves to fall behind. Here in these islands, we invented the English language that now dominates the globe. It is the global language: of trade, of culture, of diplomacy, and of the arts. And our history is littered with many of the advances in mathematics too.
Yet too many of our young people cannot read or write, or add up properly. This is a scandal and it must change.
We are reforming schools, and exams at 16, to make this happen. That great revolution will take a generation.
But we don’t have a generation. And it often falls to you to pick up the pieces.
So to show the value we attach to English and Maths, and to make sure you’ve got the resources to deliver, today I’m announcing we are doubling the amount we pay for adult English and Maths functional skills, and for English and Maths within an Apprenticeship. English and Maths are the foundation of learning and we must succeed.
These four priorities: traineeship, apprenticeships, standards, and qualification reform, they are all aimed four-square at raising the value, the esteem, and the regard of further education and skills.
Recognising only the best vocational qualifications. Increasing support for English and Maths. Stronger Apprenticeships. And new traineeships to help young people into a job.
I will do what it takes so every one can play their part.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am a young man, and honoured to be your Minister. And while this job is hard, it is hugely motivating too. For I am passionate about giving everyone in our country the best possible start. I am passionate about what you do for your students every single day.
We have not been dealt an easy hand of plenty. And I can’t pretend the road ahead is not tough.
But I know that the innovation, dedication, and inspiration in this room can get us to our goal. And along that road, I am at your side, every step of the way.
The tribute made by Matt Hancock, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2022.
I rise to share gratitude for the life of Her late Majesty the Queen; share sadness for her family; and share sadness for the country and the world at the loss of the greatest statesman of our time. I also want to mark my personal gratitude for the advice that Her Majesty gave me, and in particular, as was mentioned by the most recent former Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), for her role in bringing the country together and giving hope in dark times during the pandemic. I also add my gratitude for her taking the rare step of going public with her health status when she declared that she had taken a vaccination, showing further leadership.
The Queen was much loved, of course, across my West Suffolk constituency, but perhaps nowhere more than in Newmarket, which she visited so often. Newmarket, of course, is the jewel in the crown of horse-racing, certainly domestically and probably across the world. On her many, many visits there she showed that she could walk with sovereigns and the general public alike. Newmarket was where I first met her, when I was lucky to be with my small daughter, who handed her a posy. It is my daughter’s first memory, and will no doubt be an abiding one for the rest of her life.
That reminds me of the many times that I have seen Her Majesty meeting the public and been impressed and inspired by her sheer ability to ensure that each person she met understood that she was focused entirely on them. She listened so well to them, knowing no doubt that, for each person she met, it was a moment that that person would remember for the rest of their life. Her fortitude in continuing to do that well into her 90s was incredible to behold.
We in Newmarket are not always known for our humility, but we do know that the reason Her Majesty loved to come to Newmarket was not we two-legged beings, but the four-legged ones. Her love of horse-racing was perhaps her greatest love outside of her duty to her family and her country. The twinkle that we have heard so much about was probably brightest, and the genuine smile that came on her face at its broadest, when she was at a racecourse, as she demonstrated on what was probably her last social public occasion at Ascot. I remember that love particularly when she visited to open the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket. She went down the line of dignitaries and she went down and met the public. She gave them her customary focus, but she was clearly doing her duty, because the museum is full of retired racehorses and it was only when she got to them that she really lit up. That was Her Majesty at her best.
We have lost a great servant. She is replaced by another great servant of our nation. God save the King.