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Tag: Speeches

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2023 Speech at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime

    Michael Tomlinson – 2023 Speech at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime

    The speech made by Michael Tomlinson, the Solicitor General, on 4 September 2023.

    Introduction

    It is a pleasure to be speaking to you today – in this wonderful setting – at what is my first Symposium since being appointed Solicitor General last year.

    It is right to say that this event is held in high regard – and indeed, the fact that the Symposium is celebrating its fortieth birthday is a testament to its enduring value in considering the ever-evolving threat we face from economic crime.

    And I know that Professor Rider has been at the heart of the Symposium since its foundation. I would like to thank him, and his team, for their work in bringing together such a comprehensive and thought-provoking programme.

    I would also like to mention Daniel Zeichner, MP, who spoke about the symposium in parliament recently – and to thank him for his warm welcome to me and his parliamentary colleagues.

    The Law Officers’ role

    Let me start by saying a little more about my own role, which can be something of a mystery – even, on occasion, to my ministerial colleagues!

    As Solicitor General for England and Wales, I am one of the UK Government’s three Law Officers. The others are the Attorney General for England and Wales – who is also the Advocate General for Northern Ireland – and the Advocate General for Scotland.

    Put broadly, the Attorney General and I have three main roles.

    Firstly, we are the Governments’ chief legal advisers.

    Secondly, we are responsible for superintending the work of several public bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

    And thirdly, we have several public interest functions that we carry out independently of government. This includes, for example, considering whether to refer sentences to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient; or granting consent to prosecute certain offences, such as cross-border conspiracies or under the Official Secrets Act, applying the established principles of evidential sufficiency and the public interest.

    The role the Law Officers is, in many respects, unique. While we are politicians drawn from the ruling party, and are government ministers, we are of course firstly lawyers.

    This dual politician-lawyer role has, over the years, given rise to questions related to the focus of this year’s Symposium: “integrity.”

    Integrity

    As a Law Officer, much of my role is acting quasi judicially and independently of Government – politics simply does not come into it. When considering whether consent should be granted for a prosecution; whether a sentence is unduly lenient; whether a charitable gift in a will is valid; or whether to institute proceedings for contempt of court.

    The public interest function is just that.

    But some have questioned, given our commitment to the political objectives of the Government, whether the Law Officers can maintain the integrity that is required to deliver independent, impartial – and potentially unwelcomed – advice to their colleagues.

    In fact, a number of previous Attorneys have felt challenged by the role. Sir Patrick Hastings said it was his ‘idea of hell’. Francis Bacon ‘described it as the painfullest task in the realm’

    The provision of frank advice, without fear or favour, is fundamental to our role – and that there is enormous value in having at the heart of Government independent lawyers who are trusted by those that they advise – precisely because they are one of them.

    Indeed, this is well captured in the very mission of the Attorney General’s Office which sets itself the task of “making law and politics work together at the heart of the UK constitution”.

    Corruption

    Perhaps a flipside of integrity is corruption.

    While there is no universally accepted definition, it is clear that corruption, in all its forms, has a corrosive effect. It threatens our national security and prosperity – and unchecked, it erodes public confidence in domestic and international institutions – including the rule of law.

    And one just needs to look to the international stage and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine – fuelled by a kleptocratic regime – to see just how devastating its effects can be.

    Promoting integrity and fighting corruption

    The UK has long been seen as a world leader in dealing with corruption, and we are continuing to take action – for example with economic crimes linked to corruption such as fraud and money laundering.

    I know that my noble friend Baroness Penn may expand upon this theme, but let me just mention the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, which we will be debating and voting on later today in the House of Commons.

    This will bear down even further on kleptocrats, criminals, and terrorists who target our economy and will help prevent our corporate structures being abused by corrupt actors.

    Disclosure

    Let me also mention integrity in the context of our prosecution system and disclosure.

    As we all know, effective disclosure is critical to a fair trial and supports public confidence in the administration of justice.

    At the same time, the volume of digital material generated in complex case work continues to grow exponentially – particularly in economic crime cases.

    This is posing significant challenges for law enforcement.

    Indeed, we are now dealing with petabytes – that’s a thousand terabytes – of data in some of our cases.

    This highlights the critical importance of ensuring we have a modern disclosure regime, which reflects the realities of our digital age.

    And this is why I have personally been working with colleagues across Government to ensure that the current regime supports effective disclosure in complex cases – whether prosecuted by the CPS or the SFO.

    This includes looking at the Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure to find ways to reduce the scheduling burden on investigators and prosecutors.

    We also announced – as part of the Fraud Strategy we published in May – an independent review of the disclosure regime for cases with large volumes of digital material.

    I look forward to continuing this work with many in this room and the independent reviewer on this important piece of work.

    The work of the prosecutors

    It would be remiss of me not to highlight some of the pivotal successes of the SFO and CPS in our fight against corruption.

    Just last year, the SFO secured the conviction of Glencore Energy UK Ltd, – and the company was sentenced to pay £280m – the largest corporate sentence imposed in the UK to date.

    And I never tire of mentioning SFO’s returns to the taxpayer – especially in front of a Treasury Minister – the SFO brought in nearly 4 times its cost to the taxpayer between 2019/20 and 2022/23, bringing in over £1bn into the Treasury against vote funding of around £280m.

    And I would like to take this opportunity to give particular thanks to Lisa Osofsky, the outgoing Director of the SFO, who leaves post at the end of this month. Over her five-year tenure, she has led the charge in delivering some outstanding outcomes and I wish her the all of the best for the future.

    The CPS has likewise responded robustly in cases of corruption and illicit finance.

    And I know that Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor in the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, will be talking more about this later.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, I know there will be much lively discussion and debate this week – and there is much in this impressive programme – and I am grateful to have been invited to be a part of it.

  • Steve Barclay – 2023 Statement on the Countess of Chester Hospital Inquiry

    Steve Barclay – 2023 Statement on the Countess of Chester Hospital Inquiry

    The statement made by Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 4 September 2023.

    With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the crimes of Lucy Letby.

    On 18 August, as the whole House is aware, Letby was convicted of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others. She committed these crimes while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. As Mr Justice Goss said as he sentenced her to 14 whole life orders, this was a

    “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder”

    and a

    “gross breach of the trust all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions.”

    I think the whole House will agree it is right that she spends the rest of her life behind bars.

    I cannot begin to imagine the hurt and suffering that these families went through, and I know from my conversations with them last week that the trial brought these emotions back to the surface. Concerningly, that was exacerbated by the fact the families discovered new information about events concerning their children during the course of the trial.

    Losing a child is the greatest sorrow any parent can experience. I am sure the victims’ families have been in the thoughts and prayers of Members across the House, as they have been in mine. We have a duty to get them the answers they deserve, to hold people to account and to make sure lessons are learned. That is why, on the day of conviction, I ordered an independent inquiry into events at the Countess of Chester Hospital, making it clear that the victims’ families would shape it.

    I arranged with police liaison officers to meet the families at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss with them the options for the form the inquiry should take, and it was clear that their wishes are for a statutory inquiry with the power to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath. That is why I am confirming this to the House today.

    The inquiry will examine the case’s wider circumstances, including the trust’s response to clinicians who raised the alarm and the conduct of the wider NHS and its regulators. I can confirm to the House that Lady Justice Thirlwall will lead the inquiry. She is one of the country’s most senior judges. She currently sits in the Court of Appeal, and she had many years of experience as a senior judge and a senior barrister before that. Before making this statement, I informed the victims’ families of her appointment, which was made following conversations with the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney General.

    I have raised with Lady Justice Thirlwall the fact that the families should work with her to shape the terms of reference. We hope to finalise those in the next couple of weeks, so that the inquiry can start the consultation as soon as possible. I have also discussed with Lady Justice Thirlwall the families’ desire for the inquiry to take place in phases, so that it provides answers to vital questions as soon as possible. I will update the House when the terms of reference are agreed and will continue to engage with the families.

    Today, I would also like to update the House on actions that have already been taken to improve patient safety and identify warning signs more quickly, as well as action that is already under way to strengthen that further. First, in 2018, NHS England appointed Dr Aidan Fowler as the first national director of patient safety. He worked with the NHS to publish its first patient safety strategy in 2019, creating several national programmes. Those included requiring NHS organisations to employ dedicated patient safety specialists, ensuring that all staff receive robust patient safety training and using data to quickly recognise risks to patient safety. Last summer, to enhance patient safety further, I appointed Dr Henrietta Hughes, a practising GP, as England’s first patient safety commissioner for medicines and medical devices. Dr Hughes brings leaders together to amplify patients’ concerns throughout the health system.

    Secondly, in 2019, the NHS began introducing medical examiners across England and Wales to independently scrutinise deaths not investigated by a coroner. Those senior doctors also reach out to bereaved families and find out whether they have any concerns. All acute trusts have appointed medical examiners who now scrutinise hospital deaths and raise any concerns they have with the appropriate authorities.

    Thirdly, in 2016, the NHS introduced freedom to speak up guardians, to assist staff who want to speak up about their concerns. More than 900 local guardians now cover every NHS trust. Fourthly, in 2018, Tom Kark KC was commissioned to make recommendations on the fit and proper person test for NHS board members. NHS England incorporated his review findings into the fit and proper person test framework published last month. It introduced additional background checks, the consistent collection of directors’ data and a standardised reference system, thus preventing board members unfit to lead from moving between organisations.

    Finally, turning to maternity care, in 2018 NHS England launched the maternity safety support programme to ensure that underperforming trusts receive assistance before serious issues arise. Also since 2018, the Government have funded the national perinatal mortality review tool, which supports trusts and parents to understand why a baby has died and whether any lessons can be learned to save lives in the future. Furthermore, the Government introduced the maternity investigations programme, through the Health Safety Investigation Branch, which investigates maternity safety incidents and provides reports to trusts and families. In 2020, NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme was expanded to cover neonatal services. It reviewed England’s neonatal services using detailed data and gave trusts individual improvement plans, which they are working towards. Indeed, Professor Tim Briggs, who leads that programme, has confirmed that all neonatal units have been reviewed by his programme since 2021.

    Let me now turn to our forward-facing work. We have already committed to moving medical examiners to a statutory basis and will table secondary legislation on that shortly. It will ensure that deaths not reviewed by a coroner are investigated in all medical settings, in particular extending coverage in primary care, and will enter into force in April.

    Secondly, on the Kark review, at the time the NHS actively considered Kark’s recommendation 5 on disbarring senior managers and took the view that introducing the wider changes he recommended in his review mitigated the need to accept that specific recommendation on disbarring. The point was considered further by the Messenger review.

    In the light of evidence from Chester and ongoing variation in performance across trusts, I have asked NHS England to work with my Department to revisit this. It will do so alongside the actions recommended by General Sir Gordon Messenger’s review of leadership, on which the Government have already accepted all seven recommendations from the report dated June last year. This will ensure that the right standards, support and training are in place for the public to have confidence that NHS boards have the skills and experience needed to provide safe, quality care.

    Thirdly, by January all trusts will have adopted a strengthened freedom to speak up policy. The national model policy will bring consistency to freedom to speak up across organisations providing NHS services, supporting staff to feel more confident to speak up and raise any concerns. I have asked NHS England to review the guidance that permits board members to be freedom to speak up guardians, to ensure that those roles provide independent challenge to boards.

    Fourthly, the Getting it Right First Time programme team will launch a centralised and regularly updated dataset to monitor the safety and quality of national neonatal services.

    Finally, we are exploring introducing Martha’s rule to the UK. Martha’s rule would be similar to Queensland’s system, called Ryan’s rule. It is a three-step process that allows patients or their families to request a clinical review of their case from a doctor or nurse if their condition is deteriorating or not improving as expected. Ryan’s rule has saved lives in Queensland, and I have asked my Department and the NHS to look into whether similar measures could improve patient safety here in the UK.

    Mr Speaker, I want to take the first opportunity on the return of the House to provide an update on the Essex statutory inquiry. In June, I told the House that the inquiry into NHS mental health in-patient facilities across Essex would move forward on a statutory footing. Today, I can announce that Baroness Lampard, who led the Department of Health’s inquiry into the crimes of Jimmy Savile, has agreed to chair the statutory inquiry. I know that Baroness Kate Lampard will wish to engage with Members of the House and the families impacted, and following their input I will update the House on the terms of reference at the earliest opportunity.

    The crimes of Lucy Letby were some of the very worst the United Kingdom has witnessed. I know that nothing can come close to righting the wrongs of the past, but I hope that Lady Justice Thirlwall’s inquiry will go at least some way towards giving the victims’ families the answers they deserve. My Department and I are committed to putting in place robust safeguards to protect patient safety and to making sure that the lessons from this horrendous case are fully learned. I commend this statement to the House.

  • Richard Thomson – 2023 Speech on the Security and Data Protection Breach in PSNI

    Richard Thomson – 2023 Speech on the Security and Data Protection Breach in PSNI

    The speech made by Richard Thomson, the SNP spokesperson on Northern Ireland, in the House of Commons on 4 September 2023.

    I join the Secretary of State in offering my thanks to Simon Byrne for his service. I believe his decision today, however, is the right one. This represented a shocking breach of confidentiality not just in relation to people’s personal data, but a shocking breach in the confidence that PSNI officers and staff can have in the organisation. I pay tribute to the dedicated PSNI officers and staff who daily protect and serve the people of Northern Ireland.

    The PSNI, as has been alluded to, is already suffering a crisis of funding and therefore resourcing. The officer complement is lower than it has been in the police service serving Northern Ireland than at any point since 1979. The UK Government pay £30 million a year in additional funding to meet the security challenge, but that funding was inadequate even before the breach and is surely even more inadequate now. Will the Secretary of State be a little clearer on exactly how he will give funding guarantees to the PSNI going forward, because I do not believe this is something where the buck can be passed entirely to those who are currently charged with administering devolved budgets?

    Chris Heaton-Harris

    I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. He talks about the additional security funding that the Government put in. The UK Government’s contribution to the financial year 2022-23 is £32 million in this space. The cost implications of the PSNI response are rightly being discussed with the Department of Justice. Any additional asks for funding would come through an established process. While it would not be right for me to pre-empt that, the Government are clear that security is paramount. Our focus remains currently on the asks that have been made of us, which are to provide specialist support and expertise in response to the latest assessment.

  • Hilary Benn – 2023 Speech on the Security and Data Protection Breach in PSNI

    Hilary Benn – 2023 Speech on the Security and Data Protection Breach in PSNI

    The speech made by Hilary Benn, the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the House of Commons on 4 September 2023.

    May I say that I look forward to working with the Secretary of State in the interests of peace, prosperity and progress in Northern Ireland?

    The release of the names and workplaces of thousands of PSNI officers and staff was doubtless inadvertent, but its consequences could not be more serious. That has now been recognised by the chief constable, Simon Byrne, who is resigning—I join the Secretary of State in thanking him for his service. Those who serve in the PSNI confront great risks every day in their job to keep the public safe, and we thank them. But they already knew that dissident republicans were targeting them and their families, and now they know that those who would do them harm have this list. The damage to morale and confidence should not be underestimated. They are asking urgently, “What will be done to reassure and protect us?”

    Does the Secretary of State agree that the inquiry needs to be completed as quickly as possible? Can he confirm that he will approve the appointment of the new chief constable in the absence of a Justice Minister in Northern Ireland? Does he intend to review the operation of the Northern Ireland Policing Board and how it functions? Does he recognise that there will be additional costs in protecting staff, as well as responding to potential civil claims? There were already great pressures on the Northern Ireland policing budget, and the cuts it now faces will, in the words of the PSNI, leave the service “smaller…less visible, less accessible and less responsive”.

    Finally, the whole House wants to ensure that the staff get the support, protection and reassurance they need, but to succeed in doing that we need leadership from the Government and the political parties in Northern Ireland, to get the Assembly and the Executive up and running again as quickly as possible.

    Chris Heaton-Harris

    I welcome the right hon. Gentleman to his place and look forward to working with him. As I mentioned outside the Chamber, I will happily brief him on any aspects and will arrange technical briefings from my officials so that he can be brought up to speed quickly. I would like to put on record my thanks to the former shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Hove (Peter Kyle), who is present, for the way he went about his business and for the very co-operative way we dealt with business. I appreciate it and wish him well as we move forward.

    The right hon. Gentleman asked about the inquiry. Yes, it needs to be expedited. A timetable has been set up by the Policing Board, which is independent, and I believe that it reports in three months’ time. It is quite a fundamental inquiry, and I hope in that time it will be able to bring all the answers required to the table. He asked about the appointment of a future chief constable; if the institutions of the Executive and the Minister for Justice are not present, we will have to pass secondary legislation in this place to allow that to happen. All that depends on the Policing Board going about its business and recruitment—I believe that is very much a rubber stamp of its work.

    The right hon. Gentleman asked about the Policing Board and reform. I spoke to a number of board members before the resignation of the chief constable, and they all know that the spotlight is on them and how they deal with this. I would like to wait and see how they discharge their duties over the course of the next few weeks before I commit to reform, because there are good people there who have the ability to do the job.

    Finally, on the budget, which I mentioned in my answer, the right hon. Gentleman forgot to mention that the Information Commissioner will come out with a decent fine for the data breach. We will have to take a whole host of things into account. As and when they materialise, we will look at them.

  • Chris Heaton-Harris – 2023 Statement on the Security and Data Protection Breach in PSNI

    Chris Heaton-Harris – 2023 Statement on the Security and Data Protection Breach in PSNI

    The statement made by Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in the House of Commons on 4 September 2023.

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his urgent question. As you know, Mr Speaker, I was keen to do a statement on the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s data breach on 8 August, so I am pleased to have this opportunity. I am also happy to provide an update to the House on this matter. However, since writing this answer, and as the right hon. Gentleman will know, news of the PSNI’s Chief Constable’s resignation has broken over the past few minutes. I thank Simon Byrne for his years of public service. The right hon. Gentleman will know that the appointment of a new Chief Constable is a matter for the Northern Ireland Policing Board, and I will continue to liaise with the senior management team of PSNI while the process of appointing a successor gets under way. The PSNI continues to have my and the Government’s full support in responding to the data breach, and we are focused on providing appropriate and proportionate data and expertise.

    The breach, where the personal information of more than 10,000 officers and staff was accidentally published in what appears to be a human error involving a number of spreadsheet fields, happened on 8 August. Not realising that the relevant document contained a hidden table, the initials and surnames of every rank and grade, the location where an individual was based—but not their home address—and their duty type were published online for approximately three hours. The data breach is deeply concerning and significant. Recent events in Northern Ireland, including the terrible attack on Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, show that there is still a small minority in Northern Ireland who wish to cause harm to PSNI officers and staff in Northern Ireland. I take this opportunity to thank all those individuals who work to keep the people of Northern Ireland safe. They have my many thanks, and we all owe them our gratitude.

    I recognise, too, that there is significant concern about the consequences of this data breach. Many PSNI officers and staff have raised concerns about themselves and their families, and they have my support and understanding as they go about their important work, keeping communities safe in these worrying and most testing of circumstances. To them, I again say thank you.

    In response to these concerns, the PSNI and wider security partners are taking appropriate action and are working around the clock to investigate the incident, provide reassurance and mitigate any risk to the safety and security of officers and staff. As of 30 August, 3,954 self-referrals have been made to the PSNI’s emergency threat management group. That is part of the welfare and support services that have been made available to PSNI officers.

    The House will understand that the PSNI is devolved and has operational independence. That has been the case since April 2010 with the creation of the Department of Justice. However, as the House would expect, the Government have remained in close contact with the PSNI since this breach and other data breaches came to light. My officials and I have been receiving regular updates and the Government’s focus has been on providing specialist support and expertise to the PSNI in its handling of this issue. Officials in the Cabinet Office have chaired—[Interruption.] I will finish in a second, Mr Speaker. Officials in the Cabinet Office have chaired regular meetings, and I will update the House further, hopefully during this urgent question.

    Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson

    Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to raise the plight of police officers and staff in Northern Ireland. The industrial-scale breach in data last month was yet another self-inflicted blow to the morale of the police service, as well as to confidence in policing across Northern Ireland. For the rank and file, and for the staff working in our police stations, for their personal details to be released into the public domain and to find their way into the hands of dissident republicans is unforgivable.

    The current terrorist threat level in Northern Ireland is “severe.” Just a few months ago, Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was barbarically attacked by gunmen in front of his young son after coaching an under-15s football team near Omagh. Now, each one of his colleagues must come to terms with the fact that they and their families have potentially been placed in harm’s way by the release of this data.

    It goes further than that. Last week’s ruling by Mr Justice Scoffield found that the PSNI’s senior command unlawfully disciplined two of its own officers in order to appease Sinn Féin. These actions are hugely damaging to community relations, to community confidence and to confidence in the rule of law in Northern Ireland. Fair and even-handed policing is just as foundational to progress in Northern Ireland as is fully functioning political institutions operating on a cross-community consensus basis. We therefore need to hear from the Government that they will ensure that the necessary resources are available to the police—notwithstanding budgetary constraints—so that police officers, their families and police staff are properly protected against terrorist attack.

    Furthermore, the Democratic Unionist party welcomes the decision by the chief constable to announce his resignation. We believe that is the right thing to do in all the circumstances. Now we want to see confidence rebuilt in our police service, and we will work with the PSNI—it has our full support—to achieve and deliver effective and efficient policing for everyone in Northern Ireland in a way that commands cross-community support.

    Chris Heaton-Harris

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman again for the urgent question and for the various questions he has posed. Officials in the Cabinet Office have chaired regular operational meetings—initially daily—bringing together the PSNI, Government Departments and our world-class security services to ensure that all their collective skills, including cyber-expertise, have been brought to bear in supporting the PSNI on the breach.

    You will appreciate, Mr Speaker, that given your ruling on sub judice and for security reasons, I cannot comment on specific details of the response, but six individuals have been arrested by detectives investigating the breach and the criminality connected to it. Five have been released on bail to allow for further police inquiries and one has been charged with possessing documents or records likely to be useful to terrorists, and another item.

    The right hon. Gentleman mentioned money. The response to such a significant breach will obviously come with a cost. The UK Government are clear that security is paramount, and the focus remains on support and expertise at this point. With Northern Ireland’s policing being devolved, it is for the Department of Justice to set its budget and ensure it can fulfil its duties and responsibilities, but it still remains a fundamental responsibility of the Executive—in their absence, Northern Ireland Departments—to run a balanced and sustainable budget. Where additional funding is required, the correct process, which includes a whole host of different things, must be followed. However, I completely understand the right hon. Gentleman’s point.

    Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)

    This whole episode is agonising. I want to put on record my support and sympathy for all those brave men and women of the PSNI who fear for their security and that of their families as a result. I urge the Secretary of State to do everything possible with the PSNI to ensure that documents of this sensitivity are subject to sufficient protection so that a mistake of this sort can never ever be made again.

    Chris Heaton-Harris

    I think that the right hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson) referred to it in his question as a “self-inflicted” wound, and it surely was. To be frank, checks and balances should have been in place. I completely agree with my right hon. Friend, and we will do what we can to assist the PSNI and the Department of Justice, as she would expect. We keep abreast of these matters, as I hope I detailed in my answers, but this is a really significant breach. As one police officer put it to me, “When I joined the police service, I used to think when I went to work that maybe people knew what I did for a living, but now that has completely flipped—I feel that they absolutely know what I do for a living.” That has changed the psychology around the whole piece. I know that a lot more assurances need to be given for us to get to the place that my right hon. Friend wishes to get to.

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Interview on Failing Concrete in Schools

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Interview on Failing Concrete in Schools

    The interview broadcast by Sky News with Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, on 4 September 2023.

    RISHI SUNAK

    New information came to light relatively recently and it’s important that once it had that, the Government acted on it as swiftly as possible. Of course, I know the timing is frustrating, but I want to give people a sense of the scale of what we’re grappling with here. There are around 22,000 schools in England and the important thing to know is we expect that 95% of those schools won’t be impacted by this. Around 50 schools have already been mitigated, another 100 are in the process of being so and our expectation is that in a matter of weeks the bulk of the remaining schools that will have this issue will be identified as well. Also, important context to know that in many cases, this could be limited to as a single classroom, for example, and so people should have a sense of the scale of what might be happening as well.

    INTERVIEWER

    The former Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education has said this morning that when they wanted to put more money into repairing schools, you as Chancellor didn’t allow that to go ahead and, in fact, cut that budget. Are you to blame for what’s happening now and you want to apologise to parents?

    RISHI SUNAK

    That is completely and utterly wrong. Actually one of the first things I did as Chancellor, in my first spending review in 2020, was to announce a new 10 year school rebuilding programme for 500 schools. Now that equates to about 50 schools a year that will be refurbished or rebuilt. If you look at what we’ve been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we’ve always done, about 50 or so schools a year, refurbished or rebuilt. That’s what I announced as Chancellor in my first Spending Review. On top of that, I also invested 5 billion pounds to help our kids catch up with lost learning from COVID, the education recovery programme, that you’ll remember at the time, that was rightly a priority of the country to help our kids who’ve been disrupted by COVID with extra tutoring, for example, to help them catch up and that cost 5 billion pounds, which I invested in as Chancellor.

    INTERVIEWER

    But the former Permanent Secretary said 50 schools a year, yes, but they asked that they had funding initially for 100. They thought the total number that needed to be done per year was 300 to 400. Prime Minister, you talk a lot about trade offs, but isn’t this simply a trade off that if you choose to save money in this area and don’t put as much money into repairing schools as senior officials ask, then you run the risk of them having to shut down because of a risk of them falling down?

    RISHI SUNAK

    Well, if you look at what we’ve been doing over the past decade, we’ve been rebuilding or refurbishing about 50 schools a year. As Chancellor, I announced a new 10 year programme to refurbish and rebuild 500 schools over the decade, completely aligned with what historically we’ve done in this country. On top of that, I announced record funding for schools not just to help catch up our children with lost learning, 5 billion pounds it was an enormous amount invested in the largest ever tutoring programme that this country has seen, that was seen rightly at the time as the priority. Our kids’ learning had been hugely disrupted by COVID, it was important that we helped them catch up, particularly the most disadvantaged pupils were the ones that were impacted the most. So I thought it was right also to invest in that, as alongside just increasing the day to day schools budget back to the record levels that we had seen previously. Taken together there has been a very strong investment in schools and now we’re getting on with mitigating the issues that we’re seeing today in a way that will help children quickly get back into the classroom.

    INTERVIEWER

    And just finally on those mitigations. Can you promise that schools will get all the money they need on things like transport to new classrooms, or other costs to make sure that in the schools that are impacted, kids can go on learning in person and we won’t have a return to remote learning that we saw during the COVID pandemic?

    RISHI SUNAK

    The Chancellor has been crystal clear that schools will be given extra money for these mitigations, it won’t come from their existing school budget, there will be extra money to the school so the school budget won’t be impacted by this. They will be given the extra money to deal with the mitigations, and again, just for context is our expectation is 95% of schools won’t be impacted by this and then the 50 or so schools that have already been mitigated. What we’ve seen is in the majority of cases, children continue to go to school, they’re taught elsewhere on the school estate, and for those that do have to be home that on average, it’s been just for about six days or so. So hopefully people can get a sense that we can work through this relatively swiftly and we want to minimise disruption on kids’ learning.

  • Andrew Mitchell – 2023 Statement on the Election Process in Zimbabwe

    Andrew Mitchell – 2023 Statement on the Election Process in Zimbabwe

    The statement made by Andrew Mitchell, the Minister for Africa, on 31 August 2023.

    The United Kingdom commends the people of Zimbabwe for demonstrating patience and resilience in exercising their democratic rights, and especially for maintaining a peaceful atmosphere on election day and beyond.

    We share the view of the Election Observation Missions’ preliminary statements that the pre-election environment and election day fell short of regional and international standards. Issues included limited transparency from the electoral commission, the lack of level playing field, the passing of repressive legislation, long delays in the opening of some polling stations, and reports of intimidation of voters. The UK takes note of the announcement by the Chair of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission of results on 26 August. However, we are concerned by a lack of transparency in the tallying of results, as well as the arrests of domestic observers.

    We urge all parties and citizens to continue to follow constitutional processes in the coming weeks, allow space for inclusive dialogue, and act with restraint.

  • Andrew Mitchell – 2023 Statement on Gabon

    Andrew Mitchell – 2023 Statement on Gabon

    The statement made by Andrew Mitchell, the Minister for Africa, on 30 August 2023.

    The UK condemns the unconstitutional military takeover of power in Gabon and calls for the restoration of constitutional government. We acknowledge concerns raised regarding the recent electoral process, including restrictions on media freedom, and urge all parties and citizens to commit to and follow legal and constitutional processes to resolve any electoral disputes. We continue to monitor the situation in Gabon.

  • Grant Shapps – 2023 Statement on Becoming Defence Secretary

    Grant Shapps – 2023 Statement on Becoming Defence Secretary

    The statement made by Grant Shapps on his appointment as Defence Secretary on 31 August 2023.

    I’m honoured to be appointed as Defence Secretary by Rishi Sunak. I’d like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution Ben Wallace has made to UK defence & global security over the last 4 years.

    As I get to work at DefenceHQ I am looking forward to working with the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who defend our nation’s security. And continuing the UK’s support for Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s barbaric invasion.

  • James Cleverly – 2023 Speech to the International Crimea Platform Summit

    James Cleverly – 2023 Speech to the International Crimea Platform Summit

    The speech made by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, on 30 August 2023.

    Thank you, President Zelenskyy, for bringing us together for this important discussion.

    When you established the International Crimea Platform two years ago, the UK committed its support to this important initiative to strengthen the global response against Russia’s illegal annexation.

    Our commitment to that undertaking hasn’t just endured, it has increased.

    Two years ago, none of us imagined the challenges we would all now face.

    But we have risen to the occasion, no one more so than the Ukrainian people.

    We are more united, more determined and more emboldened than ever before.

    As Crimea is a crucial part of the focus on Ukraine, it is only right that it remains at the centre of our discussions.

    As with Russia’s wider presence in Ukraine, it is civilians who have had to bear the brunt in Crimea.

    Houses searched, arbitrary arrests, illegal conscription, continuous abductions and reports of torture have revealed Putin’s chilling indifference to human life.

    You don’t liberate a country by sending its children to re-educations camps abroad. You don’t free people by suppression, subjugation, and the curtailing of democracy.

    The moral contract between Kyiv and the Kremlin is stark.

    Ukraine offers democracy, Russia tyranny.

    Ukraine strives to protect human rights. Russia disregards them.

    Like our Ukrainian friends, the UK works tirelessly to promote and protect human rights in Crimea by supporting human rights defenders and the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission.

    Together, we will hold those responsible for human rights violations and abuses to account. Just as we will hold Putin to account for withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain Initiative – an act that deprives the world’s most vulnerable of desperately needed food and supplies.

    Be in no doubt, the UK and the international community will never recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, or any Ukrainian territory, and will stand with you for as long as it takes.

    Let me end by wishing Ukraine a happy Independence Day for tomorrow. Your defiance, your strength and your resilience are an inspiration to us all.