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Tag: Speeches

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Speech on Advancing the Rule of Law in China

    hugoswire

    Below is the text of the speech made by Hugo Swire, the Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, at the Great Britain China Centre on 16 March 2016.

    Introduction

    Thank you Martin for that kind introduction, and to the Great Britain China Centre (GBCC) for convening this seminar on ‘Advancing the rule of law in China’, in such auspicious surroundings. Thank you all for coming this afternoon. It’s wonderful to have so much expertise in one room.

    Importance of the rule of law

    All of us here know how important the rule of law is. It is the cornerstone of an open and fair society; it promotes prosperity and stability; it provides the transparency and legal clarity needed to promote trade and investment; and it ends impunity and improves access to justice for all citizens.

    Rule of law enables states to function on behalf of their citizens. Without it, elites can misappropriate a nation’s wealth, abuse power and control access to entitlement. States without the rule of law are often the poorest and most fragile.

    Rule of law in China

    Whilst we of course recognise that China has made unprecedented improvements in social and economic rights and personal freedoms in the last 30 years, there is no doubt that its application of the rule of law and the Rules Based International System, at home and further afield, continues to present challenges. Recent events in Hong Kong and the South China Sea have raised questions about China’s commitment to the rule of law. The Foreign Secretary raised both these issues with counterparts during his visit to China in January.

    Hong Kong

    Turning first to Hong Kong. The peaceful return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty under One Country Two Systems was one of the great successes of United Kingdom-China diplomacy. Rule of law is a key part of that system and has been fundamental to Hong Kong’s continued economic success. It is one of the main reasons why British and international businesses have chosen to locate their Asian headquarters in Hong Kong. As long as the rule of law remains in place it makes good business sense.

    That is why the upholding of that rule of law remains so fundamental to Hong Kong’s future growth and prosperity. That is also why we are so concerned about the disappearance of British citizen Lee Po and other employees of the Mighty Current publishing house – as the Foreign Secretary set out in our most recent 6 monthly report to Parliament.

    Our current information indicates that Lee Po was involuntarily removed to the mainland. This constitutes a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of One Country Two Systems. We call again for the immediate return of Lee Po to Hong Kong.

    South China Sea

    The United Kingdom is also concerned about tensions in the South China Sea and the effect that these could have on regional peace and security, global prosperity – given the $5 trillion worth of trade that passes through it each year, around one-third of global seaborne trade by value – and the principle of freedom of navigation. We are concerned about moves towards militarisation of the South China Sea – most recently the siting of missiles on Woody Island, part of the Paracels – and other unilateral actions, such as large scale land reclamation, that change the facts on the ground.

    We do not take sides on sovereignty in the South China Sea. But we do have an interest in the way in which territorial claims are pursued. We want to see claims settled peacefully in line with international law.

    So we are watching closely the case launched by the Philippines against China under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The United Kingdom fully supports countries’ rights to use these peaceful dispute settlement proceedings, and will respect the outcome of the ruling, as should the rest of the international community. And how China responds will also be seen as a signal of its commitment to the Rules-Based International System.

    Domestic issues

    We also continue to have significant concerns about a range of civil and political rights issues in China. Access to justice is part of this and that is why it forms an important part of our dialogue and cooperation with China.

    We raised our concerns yesterday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. We regularly report on them as part of our annual Human Rights Report, and we are one of only a handful of countries that insist on an annual human rights dialogue with China, at which we raise both individual and thematic cases. We look forward to the next round of the dialogue, which is scheduled to be held here in the United Kingdom next month.

    Why engage on the rule of law?

    In this context, I believe there are clear reasons why it is in the United Kingdom’s interest to deepen our rule of law engagement with China. It is the right thing to do to support social and economic equity and growth. It is the right thing to do to support our values and human rights. It is the right thing to do to fight corruption.

    It is also the right thing to do for United Kingdom trade. It supports our companies and our people who – like their Chinese counterparts – need certainty and transparency to grow their business, create jobs, boost innovation. This means the provision and implementation of rules for setting up or closing a business, protecting property rights or paying taxes.That is why the United Kingdom has been so successful in attracting investment, not least from China itself, which chooses to invest more in the United Kingdom than anywhere else in Europe.

    We believe that developing the rule of law is in China’s interests too, and I am pleased that President Xi Jinping has prioritised it in the third and fourth Plenums. Because as the Chinese economy moves into its next phase of development, it needs to unleash entrepreneurship and innovation on a huge scale. As it does so, economic progress will increasingly depend on the development of the rule of law. This will provide the certainty and the security that investors and entrepreneurs demand.

    Rule of law in China – United Kingdom cooperation

    The United Kingdom is particularly well placed to engage due to our comparative advantages in this area – from our common law system and the excellent reputation of the judiciary, to our strong legal services sector. Following the strengthening of the United Kingdom-China relationship with the State Visit of President Xi last year, we are now better placed than ever. A good example of this strengthened relationship is the agreement we reached during the State Visit not to support state-sponsored cyber enabled commercial espionage.

    We are already making the most of this closer relationship. The United Kingdom is one of China’s primary partners for Intellectual Property cooperation. This has helped shape real change – on civil court procedures, patent protection and copyright enforcement. These changes have been welcomed by British companies, who lose hundreds of millions of pounds every year due to the lack of protection for Intellectual Property.

    Plans for future cooperation

    It makes sense that we try to take our cooperation further. The Foreign Secretary discussed it with his ministerial counterparts in Beijing earlier this year. Among the areas of collaboration identified were training of judges, judicial reform, and legal clarity for bilateral trade and commerce.

    In the next few months, the GBCC will be taking forward an exciting new partnership with the China Law Society. This will build on the GBCC’s excellent work on judicial reform and transparency, and expand the scope of their work in China to support the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s wider programme.

    In May, Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger will lead the United Kingdom delegation to China for the third United Kingdom-China judicial round-table.

    In the same month, the Prime Minister will hold a high level Anti-Corruption Summit. We have been working closely with China on anti-corruption, in the framework of the G20, and look forward to seeing a high-level Chinese representative at the summit.

    In June, we will welcome Supreme People’s Court President Zhou Qiang to the United Kingdom to study the development of the common law system.

    And in July, Baroness Neville Rolfe, Minister responsible for Intellectual Property at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, will visit China to focus on Intellectual Property issues.

    I am delighted that we have recently agreed a new programme of funding to support this new strand of cooperation between the United Kingdom and China. This work will build on our existing cooperation in a wide range of areas from judicial reform and transparency to regulatory reform, from dispute resolution and arbitration to intellectual property, from access to justice to anti-money laundering.

    Wider context

    Of course there are wider international considerations which make our cooperation with China on the rule of law even more pressing. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China is already a key player in the Rules Based International System. With rapid growth and increased exposure to global economic and political risk, we expect China to play an increasingly active role on the international stage. And we welcome the recent support the Chinese gave to the latest United Nations Security Council Resolution against the continuing ambition of North Korea to develop its nuclear programme.

    Part of this will be in shaping multilateral institutions and international law to ensure they are fit for purpose for the 21st century, whether this be the way in which the international financial institutions are governed or the standards that are applied to cross-border procurement.

    How we define that phrase – fit for purpose – will be a key task for the United Kingdom, China and others, working together to secure prosperity and security for all of our people. That is why we support efforts to reflect China’s growing economic and political power in multilateral institutions, as well as China’s initiative to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). We have just provided one of the AIIB’s vice presidents, in the form of Sir Danny Alexander, former Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

    Conclusion

    So to conclude: we have our differences, but these should not in any way preclude us from working together, both to further the rule of law and to develop the international system of governance for the 21st century. There is much that we can learn from each other, much that we can share and much that we can do together to the benefit of both our peoples and the wider world. This is wholly in keeping with our global partnership.

    We want China’s reforms to succeed. We do not believe they will unless China demonstrably applies the rule of law and adheres to the International Rules Based International System. We do believe that an enhanced, mutually beneficial partnership on the rule of law will help. In that spirit, we are determined to continue building a stronger and deeper United Kingdom-China relationship to enable that partnership to flourish, for the benefit of the people of both our countries into the 21st century. Thank you.

  • David Cameron – 2016 Statement on European Council Meeting

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    Below is the text of the statement made by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, on 18 March 2016.

    Good afternoon,

    This European Council has rightly been focused on the migration crisis affecting continental Europe.

    With over 8,000 migrants still arriving in Greece every week and signs that the numbers using the Central Mediterranean route are on the rise once again, it is absolutely vital that Europe takes the concrete action necessary to stem these flows.

    And that is what we’ve agreed here today.

    This is a plan to break the link between getting in a boat and getting settlement in Europe. It’s a plan to bust the business model of the smugglers. And it’s a plan to reduce the numbers coming from both Turkey and Libya.

    Let me say a few words on each.

    First, I welcome the agreement we have reached with Turkey today.

    We will work together to stop migrants from leaving Turkey in the first place, to stop at sea those that do leave and to turn back the boats and to return back to Turkey those that do make it to Greece.

    For the first time in this crisis, I believe that we have a plan, if properly and fully implemented, that really could help to make a difference deterring people from coming and shutting down the trade that the smuggling gangs have been exploiting.

    Now we’ve got this on paper, we have absolutely got to make it work in practice.

    This will not be easy.

    It will require a comprehensive and large scale operation.

    Britain will help. We have the expertise. We have skilled officials. Indeed, we are already playing our part.

    Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Mounts Bay and border force vessels are patrolling the Aegean.

    Asylum experts and interpreters are already working in Greece to help them process individual cases.

    And today I’ve said that we stand ready to do more.

    But it all needs to be part of a fully worked up plan to be drawn up – at our suggestion – in the next few days.

    Now let me be clear about the part the UK plays in this because of our special status.

    We will not be giving visa free access for Turks coming to the UK. That is a decision taken by Schengen countries for the Schengen area. We are not in the Schengen area, we are not bound by their decisions. This is a national decision by Britain and we won’t be giving that visa free access.

    Second, we will not be taking more refugees – we have our programme of resettling people direct from the refugee camps and that stays the same.

    We are already investing in the Syrian refugee camps in Turkey and elsewhere and we have been calling for others to do more – so the financial commitment agreed today is money rightly spent and our share comes from our existing aid budget.

    With this new agreement today, I do think we can significantly reduce numbers coming to Europe via the eastern Mediterranean.

    But we mustn’t take our eye off the ball and forget about other routes – particularly across the central Mediterranean from North Africa.

    Now the EU naval operation we established last Summer has had some success – over 90 vessels have been destroyed and more than 50 smugglers arrested.

    HMS Enterprise is taking part and we will extend her deployment through the Summer.

    But with a new government now in Libya, we now have an opportunity to make this operation more effective – working with the Libyan coastguard in Libyan waters so we can turn back the boats and stop the smugglers there too.

    Now this isn’t going to happen overnight – but we need to start now.

    That’s why today I brought together leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Malta to discuss how we make this happen.

    And we all agreed that we would work with the new Libyan government, that we’d commit the necessary resources and we’d look towards the next stage of the mission which is going into Libyan territorial waters.

    And we all agreed that we would:

    – work with the new Libyan government

    – we’d commit the necessary resources

    – and we’d look toward the next stage of the mission which is going into Libyan territorial waters.

    Finally, I just wanted to seize the opportunity here at this summit to address a concern of many people back at home – the VAT rate on sanitary products.

    We have some EU wide VAT rules in order to make the single market work.

    But on the specific issue of VAT on sanitary products, we have been pressing the European Commission for several months to bring forward proposals so we can apply a zero rate.

    I secured clear Council Conclusions for this and that’s exactly what they will do – with proposals in the coming days.

    What’s more, I also secured backing from all other European leaders for this plan.

    So we are now a step closer to stopping this tampon tax once and for all.

    It shows that when we fight for our interests here, we are heard and we can get things done.

    We can reform the EU to make it work for Britain.

    And at this summit we have shown that once again.

    And I believe that Britain will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed European Union.

    Thank you very much.

  • Eric Pickles – 2016 Speech on Anti-Semitism

    ericpickles

    Below is the text of the speech made by Eric Pickles, the United Kingdom Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues, in Berlin on 21 March 2016.

    It’s a great pleasure to be here. It was a great honour to be at the Bundestag yesterday when Chancellor Merkel delivered a very important speech. I’d like to thank the organisers for putting together such a good programme.

    We are just about to build a new monument to the Holocaust in the United Kingdom, it’s going to go next to the House of Commons, right next to Victoria Tower. And there’s going to be a learning centre.

    As part of trying to understand what’s necessary for this, the Imperial War Museum invited me to look around their exhibition, which they are about to revamp. I was looking around, and there are various objects there relating to the build up to the Shoah, and I came across something, about the size of a drinks coaster. It would be handed to somebody, and it said this: ‘You have been seen going in to a Jewish shop. No true German would support a Jewish shop’.

    In other words, a boycott on Jewish goods. So what’s the difference between that, and the BDS campaign?

    The answer is very straight forward – time. There’s nothing complicated to it, it’s the same thing happening 70 years later. It’s the same ideology, it’s the same language, it’s the same threats. After all the BDS picket and threaten people who are trading with Israel – it’s the same thing.

    The only difference between now and 70 years ago, is that bigots don’t have to get out of bed. Seventy years ago, they had to buy themselves some whitewash and a bucket, they had to go down the street and paint all this anti-Jewish language. Now, they can do it from the comfort of their own home. They don’t even have to move the duvet to do it.

    If Twitter and Facebook had been available in Nazi Germany, Goebbels would have been an enormous hit. This guy exploited film, he exploited newly-invented radio, you bet he would have worked hard at Facebook and Twitter.

    When you go to the darker fringes of those websites, Joeseph Goebbels’ spirit lives on.

    It is unacceptable, for citizens of any European country not to be able to walk the streets without fearing abuse or something more serious. And it is a dereliction of duty by Governments to allow this to go on unchecked.

    It’s clear to me that the broader problem of tackling extremism in our society cannot be advanced without integrating antisemitism into that policy. Antisemitism and extremism are like DNA, they run together. You can’t come up with a coherent policy relating to one, without tackling the other.

    Now Michael Gove spoke earlier about the number of incidents in Britain, 924 last year, a drop from almost 1,200 the year before. Absolutely we need to understand that these incidents are not often violent – we understand that – but there is a coarseness, there is a nastiness, that didn’t exist in the United Kingdom twenty years ago.

    We have a conference for our political parties, we all have conferences – the last one was in Manchester, a beautiful town in the north of England. We had outside a group of privileged and expensively dressed left-wing activists. They used this occasion to spit and shout abuse at delegates going into the conference.

    One young lad came past, very smart, wearing a Kippur, and the chant went up: ‘Hey you not-very-nice-description-of-a-Jew, why don’t you go back to Auschwitz, why don’t you go up the chimney?’

    This is Britain! I couldn’t believe it. And there were our policemen, just standing by. That is unacceptable.

    When a Jewish person can’t walk in to a political conference, without fear of being spat at and abused, then there is something deeply wrong in society.

    We know from attacks elsewhere – be it in Paris or Denmark – that there are more serious threats, and it’s only natural that we want to ensure our population should be safe. The first duty of a Government is to ensure the safety of its citizens, and of course British Jews are a vital part of the British identity. If British Jews were to leave the United Kingdom, part of our identity would go with that process.

    The Government funds the security of Jewish institutions, including schools both private and public. This year this that commitment is worth 17.2 million Euros. Children deserve to go to school without fear.

    The Government is also preventing those who profess antisemitic views from entering the country, like the self-described comedian Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala. My view is that a comedian should make people laugh, it should be a joyful thing. I can’t see how anyone can describe themselves as a comedian when they peddle hate and encourage others to despise their fellow man.

    Obviously tougher security only helps to tackle the symptoms, and not the causes of antisemitism. It can’t be right in the long term that children have to go to school guarded by police. We need to work for other solutions.

    Importantly the Government works with the community to build trust and shows that we are on the same side. You heard from colleagues this morning about the various working parties on antisemitism, and my colleague Luciana [Berger] also talked about the publication of this new pamphlet, and she said that I would talk to you about it. I must confess that at that point I hadn’t read it!

    But I now have, it takes fifteen minutes, it makes ten recommendations, it tells you how to get organised in dealing with antisemitism, it will be on the web, and I urge to read it, I urge you to use it – it’s only got twenty two pages, you can read it between here and the airport! By the time you return home, you can get yourself organised.

    The antisemites are organised, and we’ve got to be better organised. And it’s free!

    It’s important that communities not only see Government tackling antisemitism, but that the community can also raise concerns. We have a very high level of data sharing, between community organisations and the police, who take issues extremely seriously.

    We’ve been talking about the working definition, relating to the state of Israel, but our police have already adopted that working definition, and we’ve found it extremely useful in order to be able to define incidents of antisemitism.

    We’ve taken those lessons that we’ve learnt in terms of fighting antisemitism, to also apply them to those seeking to persecute Muslim groups. We’ve used the same techniques, the same definitions, and we’ve found it was very easily transferable, and all this would have been very difficult to set up without the active work of the British Jewish community.

    Fundamentally our efforts to tackle antisemitism need to be building more integrated communities, one where antisemitic views, and prejudiced views of all kinds, are shunned. It starts by having zero tolerance to discrimination. For example the United Kingdom is privileged to have one of the best football leagues in the world, but we need to make sure that their fans behave reasonably.

    Some clubs’ fans have a reputation for using antisemitic slogans. We had a law that said that if you had a process of due diligence, you weren’t responsible for your fans. We changed that. There is now no defence, even if you have been diligent. You are responsible for the way in which your fans behave, and that has made a big difference.

    It also means breaking down barriers, and helping people to get to know one another, because when people work together they realise that their preconceptions were totally wrong.

    The UK Government sponsors the Anne Frank Trust, which uses the story of Anne Frank to teach the dangers of prejudice while also encouraging aspiration and achievement in many deprived areas of the United Kingdom. We have a Near Neighbours fund, a programme that offers grants to local faith organisations to carry out small projects that reach across faith boundaries.

    But we’ve got to do a lot more.

    With 900 reports of antisemitic incidents in a single year, antisemitism continues to present a real problem, particularly on our university campuses, often under the cover of opposition to Israel.

    Of course, we need to preserve freedom of speech, but we also need to ensure that Jewish students can get an education without fear. The internet is too often a place where bigots can give free rein to their dreadful and abhorrent opinions.

    We need to redouble our work with internet companies to make sure they deal with prejudiced views on their sites.

    We need to continually work to combat antisemitism, and its new disguises and means of expression. In the UK we’re determined never to let our guard down and to be ever-vigilant.

    We’ve had some really fine speeches over the last couple of days. You’re not going to remember everything. So I want you to make a special effort with me, and remember just one thing.

    This is it: do not be seduced with the idea that education is the cure to antisemitism. If it was, there wouldn’t be a problem. There has been lots of very good education in dealing with antisemitism over the last 70 years. The lesson of Auschwitz itself is a brutal piece of education.

    But antisemities are completely immune to education, to facts and to tolerance. They live by bigotry, so while education can be a good foundation, constant vigilance is required. Antisemitism is like the cockroaches that creep out from under the oven after Armageddon. It will always be with us. We must always be vigilant, and we must not allow free speech to masquerade as a defence to this wicked, evil, doctrine.

    Thank you.

  • Nicky Morgan – 2016 Speech on Educational Excellence

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    Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at King’s College School of Mathematics, London on 17 March 2016.

    Thank you David [Laws, former Schools Minister].

    Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

    Thank you so much for taking the time to be here today.

    I’m thrilled we’re launching our vision for education in this white paper here at King’s College Maths School.

    It’s a real pleasure to see how the school has progressed since I was last here in 2014 and its success really speaks for itself when more than 70% of students achieve AAB in their A levels.

    And it’s no wonder because the approach they take is innovative, inclusive and inspiring. Its head, Dan Abramson, is exactly the kind of leader we need in the education system if we are to make that sort of approach a reality everywhere.

    I have to applaud the whole school – students and teachers alike for what they have achieved here in such a short space of time.

    Raising our sights

    You’ll often hear politicians talking about the future.

    In part that’s because we all like to see ourselves as visionaries plotting a path for the nation’s future. Because we want to change our country for the better. And the way to change our country is to have a clear plan for what the future looks like.

    The administrations which have been most successful – from Asquith and Lloyd George overseeing the People’s Budget, to Attlee’s formation of the welfare state to Thatcher’s economic reforms – are those which didn’t let themselves get buried in the day-to-day busy-ness that fills up every Minister’s diary and red box; they worked out what was important and focused on the reforms which set our nation up to succeed for tomorrow. And their success is that we take those radical reforms for granted.

    But a desire to look and build for the future runs deeper and wider than politics. If the history of human progress is bound by one common thread it is that most human of all instincts – the desire that the next generation should be happier, healthier, wealthier than we are. We want them to benefit from our work and effort, and to be ready to take the next step forward.

    The Prime Minister made this point eloquently, in his life chances speech in January. Education is at the heart of this government’s mission – because a good education transforms a child’s future. I’m convinced that no aspect of public policy can be more focused on the future than our education system.

    That’s why in a time of austerity, when public spending faces ongoing reductions, the Chancellor chose yesterday to invest more in our education system and put the next generation first. He did that, because he, like me, and like the whole of this government recognises that education is the best investment that we can make in the future of our country.

    And we have to make this investment. Because the latest data from OECD showed us that in 2012 our children were no more literate or numerate than their grandparents’ generation. Because in other parts of the world from Germany to Hong Kong, we see our competitors in the global economy, surging ahead, demanding more of their children and reaping the rewards.

    And so today’s white paper is about raising our sights – taking pride in the huge steps that schools, teachers and children have made over the last 5 years, but also setting our sights on the future. It is about:

    – making the most of the fact that we have the best generation of teachers ever – giving them the same status as other professions such as those in law, medicine and science, and the freedom to drive forward the future of their own profession

    – giving every school the freedoms that come with being an academy, and the support to make the most of those freedoms
    putting an end to the inequality that means that there are some areas where parents – frankly – have no chance of getting their child into a good school – and making a reality of educational excellence everywhere

    – equipping parents with the knowledge and influence to play an active, informed role in their child’s education

    – A new model – and a new approach to change

    My white paper isn’t just about a new set of ideas about the future – it is also a radical departure from the approaches to education policy of government’s past.

    From Butler’s 1944 Act, to Baker’s national curriculum, to Blunkett’s national strategies, major interventions in education have always been top down.

    All have seen the state asserting more control and management – right down to the level of individual classrooms.

    That approach is understandable. After all, the concept of universal state education to 16 is actually a relatively new one to our country, and standardisation was necessary to guarantee every child received that core entitlement.

    But such an approach can only take you so far. As Michael Barber and Joel Klein have said: “You can mandate adequacy but you cannot mandate greatness; it has to be unleashed.”

    It is greatness that we want to see everywhere in our education system today.

    That desire for greatness has underpinned all of our reforms since 2010 – and it is why we chose to free teachers and school leaders from the shackles of central government diktats, allowing them instead to innovate, challenge orthodoxies and tread new ground.

    This is what has made our education reforms so transformational – they are devo-max in the truest sense of the world.

    They were founded on the core belief that the future of our education system was best served in the hands of professionals on the frontline, not politicians and bureaucrats in Whitehall or town halls.

    This white paper is the next stage on that journey.

    It does not propose another big idea to be imposed on schools – instead it lays out how we will give schools, school leaders, and the education profession the power, incentives and accountability to give every child an excellent education. And it sets out the underpinning infrastructure that will equip schools to succeed and build an adaptive, dynamic school system, which rewards innovation, spreads excellence and is intolerant of failure.

    The vision you will read in the white paper is the vision for a truly future-facing education system, based on learning from the best systems around the world, and designed not just to deal with the challenges of today but of years to come.

    Autonomy not abdication

    Reading the white paper should leave you with no doubt that we are strong proponents of school freedom. But let me be clear that giving every school autonomy does not mean the government will be abdicating its responsibilities. I am not so naïve as to believe that academy status in itself is a magic wand.

    There is and always will be a role for government in education. The public rightly expects their elected government to hold schools to account for the outcomes young people achieve and the investment tax payers put in.

    This white paper outlines a radically different role for government to play – my job is to create the conditions for autonomy to succeed right across the country.

    The past 5 years have demonstrated incontrovertibly that autonomy and freedom in the hands of excellent leaders and outstanding teachers delivers excellence. We also know that excellence can be delivered in the most challenging of environments.

    Just ask the pupils at Lowedges Junior Academy in Sheffield where 45% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Aston Community Education Trust, an experienced sponsor with a track record in turning around primary schools became its sponsor in 2014. With the trust’s support the school has managed to bring about a 36% jump in pupils achieving level 4 in reading, writing and maths at key stage 2 from 45% when it took over to 81% now.

    And it’s not just a few isolated examples. We have 1.4 million more pupils in ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools since 2010 because our reforms, translated into reality on the ground by the hard work of school leaders and teachers, really do work.

    But, for all that we have unlocked excellence, as I have said many times before, we do not yet have that excellence everywhere and for me, the everywhere is non-negotiable.

    Pockets of excellence are fantastic and act as trailblazers for the system, but their impact will be marginal if we cannot find a way for the rest of the system to learn from their success. Because we’re not asking schools to do any more than the best schools are already doing.

    Our country can’t afford a 2-tier education system with London streaking ahead and areas like Knowsley and Medway lagging behind. It’s morally wrong and economically self-defeating.

    Instead we have to enable every area to excel. And I do mean enable – we will not be directing and driving from Whitehall. But we will do more to ensure that autonomous leaders across the country have the tools they need to succeed. We know that schools improve fastest when they work together – and we will focus on helping that to happen, through MATs and teaching school alliances. And all the more so in areas that have seen entrenched educational failure for generations.

    Dynamism

    One of the first acts of the coalition government was to turbo-charge Lord Adonis’ academy programme.

    We saw how autonomy gave strong sponsors the freedom and flexibility they needed to turn around failing schools, and we saw no reason why ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ school leaders shouldn’t have that freedom as well.

    I’m talking about schools like Harris Academy in Peckham which runs a year round academic Saturday school for key stage 4 and key stage 5 pupils or King Solomon Academy which runs an extended school day for its students or Kings Leadership Academy in Warrington which teaches character through weekly public speaking, philosophy and ethics classes.

    We now have well over 5,000 schools as academies, the majority of secondary schools and increasing numbers of primary schools.

    Our Education and Adoption Act, which received royal assent yesterday takes that approach a step further, allowing us to turn around not just failing schools but those that have coasted over a period of time and failed to stretch pupils to reach their potential. It also gives us the same powers to intervene in those academies which have, for whatever reason, fallen behind.

    And yesterday at the budget the Chancellor announced the next phase of the academies programme, which will see every school on the path to become an academy.

    Why have we done this? Because it’s abundantly clear that academy status leads to a more dynamic, more responsive and ultimately higher-performing education system, it allows successful school leaders not just to consolidate success but to spread that excellence right across the country.

    I can hear the howls of derision from opponents of academies – asking “what about this one or that one that struggled?”

    It’s true some academies have been weaker than others, some haven’t met the high expectations that we’ve set for them. But here’s the crucial difference, when a local authority school failed, it was stuck with the local authority, end of story.

    Under a system of academies and multi-academy trusts we have the power not just to intervene swiftly, but to actively move schools to new management to turn them around.

    Rather than the perverse situation which persisted before in which schools were islands and stronger heads were unable to spread their reach and influence and weaker schools were left to languish under the monopoly of LA control. We now have a system where the best leaders can take control of those weaker schools, turn them around and in doing so transform the life chances of young people that attend them.

    Outstanding sponsors, great heads, successful trusts aren’t constrained by geographical borders; they can extend their reach to wherever they’re needed, wherever they can make a difference.

    For that reason, this white paper places a premium on the growth of multi-academy trusts – because they allow for strong governance, sharing of resources, true collaboration and better opportunities for staff development.

    There will always be a role for schools which can make it on their own, but we want to see more schools embracing the benefits of partnership that only multi-academy trusts can offer.

    And to ensure that the system remains responsive we will allow new entrants to come in where there is basic need, educational need or a demand for innovation.

    That is what the free school programme gives us; it allows parents to demand more for their children and for pioneering visionaries to establish schools that bring in cutting edge ways of engaging and inspiring young people.

    A system based on academies and free schools working dynamically together can’t stagnate, because where schools are struggling, they’ll be able to benefit from collaboration and support, and where they simply aren’t delivering the school can be re-brokered to a new MAT or parents and teachers will be free to set up new schools. This system of collaboration and competition which lies at the heart of a MAT-based system means that schools will continue to strive for excellence and be firmly focused on the future.

    Supported autonomy

    But before that system of collaboration and competition can really work, we need to tackle those areas where there has been entrenched failure and there simply isn’t the capacity to take advantage of the promise that autonomy offers.

    Autonomy cannot be a recipe for allowing the highest performing areas of our country to grow in strength, while the weaker ones fall further behind.

    That means we must take a smarter approach to autonomy with a clearly defined role for the government within an autonomous system and that is the second theme of this white paper – supported autonomy.

    Let me be clear what that means. It means that the government fund schools fairly, and hold them to account by setting clear but ambitious expectations for outcomes.

    Where schools are meeting those expectations and performing well, government will get out of the way, and let schools get on with delivering for young people.

    But where capacity is lacking, for whatever reason, we will make sure that schools and trusts get the support they need to improve.

    We’ll ensure the schools that need it most can draw on the support of other ‘outstanding’ schools and leaders by approving 800 more national leaders of education and 300 more teaching schools where they are needed, resulting in full coverage across the country.

    We’ll ensure they can benefit from great leadership and challenge by developing sponsor capacity, from other schools, businesses and the third sector right across the country.

    And we’ll ensure that they can attract and retain the great teachers and leaders they need through schemes like Teach First, the National Teaching Service, and Teaching Leaders and our forthcoming senior leadership development programmes in the areas that need them most.

    Crucially all of these interventions are about making sure the best elements of our education system get to those schools that need them the most – ensuring that no school is an island.

    It is not about the government itself doing improvement, it is certainly not about regional schools commissioners interfering in the day to day running of schools. Instead, RSCs will act to ensure that those with a proven track record of improvement can support those schools most in need.

    When I spoke about educational excellence everywhere in November, I highlighted those areas where underperformance is most entrenched, where educational standards are not just low, but where a culture of aspiration is almost entirely lacking.

    This white paper proposes new measures firstly to identify those areas, but secondly to create new achieving excellence areas, including coastal and rural areas where a history of chronic underperformance is coupled with a lack of capacity to improve.

    We won’t be reasserting top-down bureaucratic control in these areas – but instead targeting and directing our programmes of support intensively on particular areas and making sure they have the great teachers, leaders, system leaders and sponsors the need to succeed.

    Empowered leaders

    The best schools that I have visited have leaders with a vision and ethos for their school which is evident in everything they do. They have a sense of purpose for their school and that is not about pleasing me or pleasing Ofsted. It’s about getting the best possible outcomes for the young people. These reforms are about giving more power and responsibility to those excellent school leaders. In fact the system I am outlining today depends entirely on strong school leaders, which is why we will place a premium on ensuring leaders have the tools that they need to succeed, and that we have a strong pipeline of future leaders to steward our schools for years to come.

    Multi-academy trusts have a key role to play in this, because of the fast track opportunities and a clear pathway they create.

    Within a MAT you can move from subject teacher, to head of that subject across 30 schools, to head of a school, but at the same time have the support of an executive head above you and a MAT CEO who takes responsibility for overall governance, letting school heads focus on the day to day management of their individual schools.

    This is a total break from how we have viewed school leadership in the past, with a linear route that stopped at school head and often took many years. In the future we will see multiple pathways, better support and faster progression.

    We’ll support MATs to develop strong leaders, by bringing the best educational leaders together to develop new professional leadership qualifications. To be clear these will not be mandatory, nor do we expect them to be the only qualifications, but rather they will act as a standard against which MATs, and others can benchmark against – ensuring school leaders receive world class preparation and support to run schools well.

    And most crucially, we will give our backing to leaders who step forwards to help turn round a struggling school. We will remove the perverse incentives which stopped the best leaders from working in our most challenging schools. It is unacceptable that our accountability and inspection regime actively discourage school leaders from taking up a challenge – because they’ll be penalised for the prior attainment of the pupils they’ll teach, or because they’ll face inspection before they’ve had time to really make a difference.

    The measures in this white paper will start to change that, introducing inspection holidays and reinforcing our commitment to holding schools accountable for pupil progress as well as attainment.

    Outcomes focused

    And because we trust professionals from school leaders to classroom teachers this white paper makes clear our focus will be on outcomes not methods.

    What I care about, and what any government should care about are the outcomes that young people achieve. We want our schools to produce knowledgeable, skilled and confident young people and we should hold schools to account for getting them there.

    But how can they do it?

    That is for teachers as professionals to decide on the basis of evidence.

    No matter how well intentioned it might be micromanaging classrooms from Westminster doesn’t work and at its very worst it can stamp out the very innovation that drives pedagogy forward.

    And when I see the outputs of conferences like ResearchEd and read blogs by countless teachers it’s abundantly clear that this is not a profession that needs me to tell them how to do their job.

    We have not only the best qualified workforce in history, but also a workforce that is increasingly focused on constant self-improvement, that is driven by the evidence and which like other professions is breaking new boundaries, sharing what works, challenging one another and unleashing greatness.

    This white paper recognises this, and goes further than any government has done to recognise teachers as the professionals they are.

    It reaffirms our commitment to support an independent College of Teaching.

    But more fundamentally it also proposes a radical shake up of how we accredit excellent teachers. We will replace the outdated QTS mark, and instead introduce a more meaningful accreditation.

    Rather than being an almost automatic award to staff who complete ITT and a year in the classroom, the new accreditation will be awarded when teachers have demonstrated deep subject knowledge, and the ability to teach well.

    Most fundamentally of all – as in other mature professions like medicine and law – it will be for the teaching profession itself to decide when a teacher is ready to be accredited. This will ensure that the decision is made by those who know best what makes a great teacher: outstanding schools and heads.

    And because we respect teachers as professionals, we’ll do all that we can to reduce the central prescription and bureaucracy and workload that distracts from their core job of teaching, engaging and inspiring young people.

    Shortly our workload review groups will report on planning, marking and data collection. But in the meantime this white paper also proposes that Ofsted will consult on removing it’s judgement for quality of teaching – because we know it both drives workload and because, and I’ll repeat it again, it’s outcomes that matter. If pupils are achieving well and making sufficient progress they are being taught well, end of story.

    So this white paper envisions an increasingly confident, highly-skilled workforce driving forward their own development.

    I believe that this will make teaching an even more attractive profession for potential new entrants, who’ll see the opportunities that teaching offers and will know that they’ll enter a profession which is not only rewarding and engaging but where they’ll be respected and trusted to lead their own development.

    Yes we will continue to do all we can to bolster recruitment, particularly as there are more graduate opportunities, and to keep the excellent teachers we have through our package of support ranging from bursaries to support for returners.

    But ultimately we know that the best way to get more people into teaching is to make the career itself more attractive and ensure teachers are treated as the professionals they are

    High expectations

    And while we will not prescribe the methods, the outcomes we expect will be based on the highest of expectations.

    That’s why our reforms to the curriculum and qualifications place these high expectations at the heart of what pupils learn:

    – through a knowledge-based curriculum that ensures young people master the basics, and then introduces them to all of the very best that has been thought and said

    – through a rigorous academic core, which see all young people who are able study the EBacc combination of maths, English, 2 sciences, a humanity and a language up until the age of 16

    – through gold standard qualifications, that might not allow politicians to trumpet ever higher pass rates, but do command the respect of employers and academics and so set young people up to succeed in the global race

    – and through a new grading system, that gives every child in primary school the chance to attempt more stretching questions, and distinguishes better between the most exceptional candidates at GCSE level

    But ensuring high expectations, means ensuring them for all pupils and this white paper identifies 2 groups of pupils who have often been neglected by our current system.

    Firstly the most able, who in some cases, were ignored because they weren’t a worry and were sure to bank that C grade. As a result their vast talents and promise were lost. This isn’t the approach they take in competitor countries in the Far East – in Shanghai and Singapore and South Korea, they make sure that every child is stretched to the very bounds of their ability.

    So we will engage in a new programme of work, to fund new and innovative approaches to stretch the most able, ensuring our country benefits from the very brightest achieving their full potential.

    At the same time we are determined to improve outcomes for young people who, for whatever reason have fallen out of mainstream education and ended up in alternative provision. By many objective measures, pupils who have spent time in alternative provision do considerably worse than their peers.

    I will not tolerate a situation where we effectively give up on a whole group of young people and where alternative provision becomes a dumping ground.

    So the white paper proposes a number of measures to transform AP – most fundamentally, changing accountability arrangements so that a pupil’s mainstream school will retain accountability for their educational outcomes, reversing the incentives, creating a drive towards high-quality provision and encouraging MATs to set up their own alternative provision.

    Parents and pupils at the heart of everything we do
    We know that parents have high expectations for their children and we believe they have a real role to play in realising them. But the truth is that for too long parents have been side lined in our education system.

    Slots for parent governors gave a handful of informed parents the chance to express concerns, but that isn’t a real parental voice.

    Parents I speak to often tell me the biggest barrier is to their involvement in their children’s education is that they don’t know what to expect, what to demand and what they can do to help.

    For a self-improving, school-led system to work it needs to allow parents to challenge the system and ultimately to vote with their feet, and that means giving them the information they need. So far, we’ve helped parents to do that by expecting new academies to display important information about their curriculum and offer to students on their webpages, and reformed performance tables to allow parents to compare local schools.

    Now we’ll go further, with the creation of a new parent portal. This portal will provide parents with everything they need to understand their children’s education, it will cut through the jargon we’re all guilty of using and explain what they should be able to expect and when, it will show them how to raise complaints and what the options are available to them.

    At the same time we’ll create a new mechanism for parents to raise complaints, ultimately right up to the new Public Sector Ombudsman.

    And empowering parents means a new role for local authorities as well. Rather than running schools, local authorities will instead play a role in ensuring the system works for parents, focused on ensuring there are enough places, overseeing admissions complaints and commissioning support for children with specific needs.

    Alongside this, the opportunities provided by local devolution give local authorities the opportunities to act as champions and advocates for the education their community wants and deserves.

    This white paper sets out our vision for schools, but it is just one strand of my department’s work to transform life chances for the next generation.

    I am also publishing the department’s overall strategy, which sets out how we will work towards achieving our vision of world class education and care during this Parliament.

    I’m occasionally accused of being a zealot when it comes to our education reforms.

    Well to tell you the truth I am a zealot about our education reforms.

    I’m a zealot because I believe in social justice, I’m a zealot because nothing makes me angrier than wasted potential, I’m a zealot because children get one shot at their education, and it’s my job to give them the best one possible.

    And I can be a zealot about the reforms I’ve outlined today, because we know they work, we’ve seen them work across the country and around the world.

    My promise to the hardworking professionals in schools up and down the country is this: like you, this government won’t shy away from seeking the best for every child, wherever they are.

    But we do understand how hard it is to deliver the high standards that our children really need and deserve – especially in our toughest schools, colleges and communities. We’ll do more to offer support where it is most needed. And we’ll be disciplined in resisting the temptation to make changes from the centre.

    Each part of the strategy I have outlined must work together. It relies on a number of actors playing their part: autonomy demands accountability; a system led by the front-line only works if there’s sufficient capacity where it’s needed.

    But just think about the prize if we succeed – a fairer society, a more productive society, a society where reward is based on talent and effort, where potential is unleashed, where young people’s dreams can be realised.

    All of us in education, from politicians and civil servants in Westminster to our phenomenal teaching workforce in classrooms across the country do what we do, because we believe in the potential of the next generation.

    This white paper is about ensuring that all of us can play the role that we do best, it’s a blueprint for how we can work together, not just to improve standards, important though that is, but to create a fundamentally different education system – an education system fit for the 21st century, an education system which is truly focused on putting the next generation first.

    Thank you.

  • Caroline Dinenage – 2016 Speech on Gender Equality

    carolinedineage

    Below is the text of the speech made by Caroline Dinenage, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities and Family Justice, at the UN General Assembly in New York on 15 March 2016.

    Good afternoon chair. It’s my great pleasure to speak on behalf of the United Kingdom delegation.

    When our world feels ever-smaller, yet its peoples often feel far apart; when challenges multiply while certainties shrink; when gender equality feels almost within our grasp and yet so far away – these are the times when it feels vital for us to come together and work together. So I feel immensely privileged and honoured to be here with you today.

    We are stronger together and CSW provides us with the valued opportunity to share our successes and learn from those of others; to reflect on the areas where we have failed; and to strengthen our partnerships.

    This is, beyond doubt, a critical time for gender equality. Across the globe, women are constantly achieving new firsts: running multinational corporations, becoming heads of state, even exploring space.

    But they are also at the eye of the storm of conflict and repression, their bodies the site of social and cultural battles and the object of aggression and contempt. This makes our destinies interlinked, and the importance of working together for women’s freedom and equality all the more vital. Gender equality is at the heart of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, and those Goals are just the beginning of what the Head of UN Women has described as ‘a massive and relentless drive towards a world of equality: a Planet 50-50 by 2030’.

    That is what makes CSW so important; it is why we are all here today; and it is why everybody in this room has a key role to play in ensuring that gender equality is at the top of the international agenda.

    We are certainly lucky in the UK to have a good story to tell about progress towards gender equality.

    I agree with Gloria Steinem that, “Nothing changes the gender equation more significantly than women’s economic freedom”. So we have given very high priority to maximising women’s life chances in the workplace.

    · Now in the UK, we’ve more women in work and more women-led businesses than ever before

    · We’ve helped to achieve the lowest ever gender pay gap on record

    · And we’ve more than doubled women’s representation on the boards of our biggest companies since 2011.

    But economic freedom must go hand in hand with social freedom, and in particular the right to live without fear.

    Last week we launched the new cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, which sets out ambitious plans for building on our work to prevent violence, to support victims, and to take action against perpetrators. This includes tackling the challenges facing women in the age of technology and social media

    We have also announced that we will be extending the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women to the Cayman Islands and Anguilla. Almost 40 years after it was adopted in this place, it remains as relevant as ever.

    We need to share the good news about all we have achieved. But I am also looking forward to learning at CSW – learning from you, and from our international partners, about what works elsewhere. And I am hoping for fresh ideas, new ways of thinking, creative risk-taking, ways to raise girls and boys free from stifling stereotypes, ways of engaging men to champion gender solidarity, ways of unlocking the power and resourcefulness of women.

    There is no time to be complacent. It is over twenty years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was agreed and yet people continue to be disadvantaged, abused and even killed for simply being born female. We, in this room, need to show determination against forces that are hindering progress: discrimination, regressive ideas, and harmful social norms.

    Last week, on International Women’s Day, I reflected on how it was 150 years since the ladies of the Kensington Society presented a petition on the women’s right to vote to the UK Parliament. It started the suffragette movement.

    I wish we could bottle the courage and the vision of those early campaigners and use it to counter the tiredness and cynicism of much public debate on gender equality. But while I am here at the CSW, surrounded by wise, passionate and committed women, I realise perhaps we already have.

  • Andrew Jones – 2016 Speech on Vision for Transport

    andrewjones

    Below is the text of the speech made by Andrew Jones, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, in Milton Keynes on 17 March 2016.

    Good morning.

    Thank you for that welcome.

    I’m delighted to join you today for what is set to be a fascinating event.

    And what better place to host a smart travel conference than Milton Keynes – a city with a growing reputation for transport innovation.

    Not only home to the Transport Systems Catapult centre.

    But also recently confirmed as one of our ‘Go Ultra Low’ cities.

    That means we’ll be providing £9 million to boost the use of green vehicles here through measures like free parking and priority lanes, and to support a new Electric Vehicle Experience Centre.

    So it’s a real pleasure to join you today.

    Smart travel is about getting us to think about the transport choices we all make.

    It’s also about considering how those decisions impact on families, communities and the environment we share.

    And making use of new technologies and ideas to keep our towns and cities moving efficiently.

    Our ultimate objective is to make all transport ‘smart’.

    So everyone takes for granted the smarter travel options we are discussing today – to reduce congestion on our streets, cut pollution and CO2 emissions, and make transport as safe and affordable as possible.

    So smart travel becomes the norm – wherever we live.

    Admittedly, we’re some way from achieving that at the moment.

    While most people acknowledge that the growth in car ownership we’ve seen in recent decades is unsustainable, many drivers are resistant to alternatives, or have no other choice.

    So the challenge we face is not just to make vehicles cleaner.

    And build environments that make it easier to walk or cycle.

    It’s also to encourage behavioural change by developing attractive and affordable options.

    And show how that will meet people’s travel needs, while benefiting our society and economy.

    Certainly, we are a nation of car lovers.

    Often owning 2 or more vehicles in 1 family.

    Many local journeys are taken by car, often with just 1 occupant.

    Clearly, this isn’t a ‘smart’ use of precious road capacity.

    In fact it’s the opposite.

    It causes congestion.

    It makes parking spaces very challenging to find in many towns and cities.

    And it contributes to poor air quality.

    Never mind the cost.

    It’s not our job to tell people how to travel.

    But what we can do is give people real alternatives to car ownership.

    In fact we’re already seeing a shift in attitudes, particularly among young people, with the growth of car clubs, and other services which give people the opportunity to share rides.

    Many companies now have schemes so staff can drive to work together.

    While other demand-responsive projects combine vehicle sharing with more personalised and tailored options.

    The DfT has invested £1.5 million in a car clubs programme since 2014, helping clubs launch and expand, supporting demonstration projects, and developing better links between shared transport and public transport.

    Since 2014, we’ve funded 23 schemes.

    And we are sponsoring a feasibility study into a new initiative in Manchester called Simply Connect, which aims to help local people and businesses make smarter travel choices by improving data and information about different forms of transport.

    This is via the Transport Technology Research Innovation Grant.

    New technologies are also helping us change the way we use the road network.

    Smart motorways are reducing congestion, and improving journey times by smoothing traffic flow.

    In fact, during this Parliament, Highways England will add over 400 lane miles of smart motorways.

    There’s a huge array of technologies which will profoundly change the way we drive and manage traffic.

    And we’re only just starting to test their potential.

    While it’s difficult to predict the future of technology, we know further change will come.

    Being in Milton Keynes and sharing a stage with Steve Yianni from the Transport System Catapult, I have to mention the groundbreaking work that’s being done in this country on autonomous vehicles.

    The projects range from autonomous shuttles and pods to vehicles carrying visually-impaired passengers using advanced sensors and control systems.

    All of which will benefit from the government’s £100 million Intelligent Mobility Fund.

    Trials to test driverless cars on the streets are being carried out in several locations around the country.

    And autonomous vehicles are also being used in Heathrow to move passengers before real world tests start in Greenwich this summer.

    Roads, bridges and tunnels are also starting to join the ‘Internet of Things’.

    Indeed, wireless connection between vehicles and the wider environment is already helping warn drivers about hazards, weather and traffic patterns.

    The systems we use today to bring music and entertainment and GPS information into our vehicles will help us build a smart vehicle network.

    For example, if a car ahead hits congestion, it will immediately alert other cars so they can take another route. Autonomous vehicle technologies will profoundly change the way we travel, transforming our roads by making travel a simpler experience for drivers, reducing accidents and helping traffic flow more smoothly.

    The UK is a world leader in this field.

    And the publication of the Code of Practice for driverless cars reconfirms the UK as the best global location for safe testing without placing additional regulatory burdens on industry.

    Alongside the exciting developments in autonomous vehicles, we are also seeing the market for ultra low emission vehicles (ULEV) grow significantly.

    I’ve already mentioned the latest developments in Milton Keynes, but there’s tremendous progress going on across the country.

    Plug-in vehicle registrations reached a record high in 2015, as 29,972 new ULEVs arrived on UK roads, more than the past 4 years’ totals rolled into one.

    That’s a success story the government wants to see continue.

    And that’s why in the last Spending Review we increased our support for the British ULEV market to £600 million over this Parliament.

    Since 2011, around 70,000 plug in grant claims have been made, and with the continuation of the grant a further 100,000 people will get financial support when purchasing ULEVs.

    The UK is one of the largest markets for ULEVs in the EU and the fourth biggest in the world.

    And we now have the most comprehensive rapid chargepoint network in Europe.

    All this keeps us on track for all cars and vans on our roads to be effectively zero emission by 2050.

    We are also encouraging our bus operators to go green.

    The government will provide £30 million of funding for low emission buses and associated infrastructure from 2016-2019.

    And I hope to announce further details soon.

    This scheme builds on nearly £90 million of funding provided through the Green Bus Fund to support the purchase of over 1,200 new low carbon emission buses.

    So we have a fantastic opportunity over the next few years to transform the way we think about and use transport.

    With huge investment going into cycling and walking.

    And £560 million allocated through the new Access Fund.

    We are starting to see real change in transport planning.

    Both at local and national levels.

    Partnerships are springing up to take advantage of those opportunities.

    And that’s what Smarter Travel LIVE! is all about.

    So can I finish by thanking you for listening.

    And thanking Landor for organising a wonderful event.

    For bringing us all together.

    So in partnership, we can all shape a smarter transport future for Britain.

  • Sajid Javid – 2016 Speech on Apprenticeships

    Below is the text of the speech made by Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, at the Shard in London in 14 March 2016.

    Thanks Lizzie.

    As a minister I give a lot of speeches at a lot of venues.

    Normally they’re in dull conference centres or anonymous lecture theatres.

    So this is really something else!

    I’m a bit worried everyone’s going to be concentrating on the view rather than on what I have to say. Although I’m sure some people would call it a welcome distraction!

    I’m not a big guy, either, so this a rare opportunity for me to look down on Nick Boles!

    He’s down there somewhere…

    The whole of London is spread out below us.

    I can see everywhere I’ve worked in this great city, from the Square Mile to Westminster.

    And when you were staring out of the windows before the event began, you could see all those tiny little trains and buses snaking their way through the capital.

    They’re carrying millions of people on their way to work, to school, to university.

    And thousands more young Londoners will be on their way to an apprenticeship.

    Now for too long, apprenticeships were seen as a second-best option.

    A safety net for kids who didn’t make it to A-levels or university.

    But we know that’s not true.

    We know apprenticeships are real jobs, paying a real wage and providing a real education.

    We know they’re an excellent way for young people to gain the skills they need to compete and for employers to develop the leaders of tomorrow.

    Some of the apprentices travelling to work down below will be heading to Google, or Burberry, or Pinewood Studios.

    Others will be on their way to Nestle and John Lewis.

    Further afield they’ll be clocking on to maintain giant jet engines at Rolls Royce, or to build Typhoon fighters at BAE.

    Today we’re joined by Starbucks, Greene King, Deloitte, Prezzo, Fortnum & Mason and Goldman Sachs.

    And all of them will be announcing significant plans to take on more apprentices of their own.

    Apprenticeships are an incredible opportunity for people who want to achieve incredible things.

    And that’s why this government is giving them the respect they deserve.

    In the last Parliament we saw more than 2.5 million people start apprenticeships.

    In this one we’re going to create at least 3 million more.

    Think about what that means.

    Millions of young people unlocking a new career.

    Millions of young people gaining the experience, qualifications and business knowledge that can take them anywhere.

    Millions of young people learning the skills they need to rise to the top of the 21st century jobs market.

    And think about the hundreds of thousands of employers who will benefit.

    The successful companies that can plug a skills gap with British workers rather than looking overseas.

    The small businesses that can take on and train up the new staff they need in order to grow.

    I mention small businesses for a reason.

    Many larger employers have already recognised the benefits of offering apprenticeships.

    But too many small and medium-sized firms, the backbone of our economy, are still missing out.

    So I’m pleased to see the National Apprenticeship Service working closely with groups such as the Federation of Small Businesses and the British Chambers of Commerce.

    In turn, they’re asking their members to make a commitment to apprenticeships.

    And together we’re showing how every business, no matter how small, no matter how niche, can see a real return on investment when they take on an apprentice.

    Larger employers, meanwhile, are getting set up for the new Apprenticeship Levy.

    It’s going to arrive next year and I know there’s been a bit of concern about this.

    Some people see it as an extra tax, an extra burden.

    But it’s really nothing to be afraid of.

    For starters, it will only affect the very biggest companies, those with a pay bill of £3 million or more.

    That’s less than 2% of employers, those at the very top.

    I know how hard it is to run a small business, how many demands you face.

    How the last thing you need or want is someone from the government turning up with another bright idea!

    But if that’s you, don’t worry – you’re not going to be affected by the new levy at all.

    And if you ARE in the top 2%, I don’t want you to worry either!

    The levy is simply a straightforward way of funding the increase in high quality apprenticeship training.

    It will be set at 0.5% of your pay bill and will be collected via PAYE.

    Control of the money it raises will be put in the hands of employers, so they can use it to deliver the training they need.

    There won’t be someone sat in Whitehall handing out grants or telling you how to spend it.

    And if you’re really committed to training you’ll even be able to get back more than you put in.

    The whole thing will be managed and run through the Digital Apprenticeship Service.

    But it’s a lot more than an online bank account.

    Through the service, employers will be able to choose an apprenticeship training course, choose a training provider, even find the right candidate to take on.

    And in future, all employers of all sizes will have access to the service – regardless of whether they’re big enough to pay in to it.

    Of course, if you’re paying for something you want to know it’s worth the money.

    It would be easy for us to hit our 3 million target by piling up cheap but useless training courses.

    But that’s not going to help employers or apprentices.

    We need apprenticeships that are relevant, challenging and fit for purpose.

    And we need them to be respected, valued, and held in esteem by employers, individuals and wider society.

    In short, we need apprenticeships that we are all proud of.

    That’s why quality has always been more important to us than quantity.

    That’s why we’re protecting the term ‘apprenticeship’, so cowboy operators can’t use it.

    And that’s why we’re creating an Institute for Apprenticeships.

    The Institute will support the development and delivery of high quality apprenticeship standards and assessment plans.

    It will act as the guarantor of quality in the system. It will do this entirely independently of government.

    And it will be up and running by around this time next year.

    I grew up on Stapleton Road in Bristol, which a tabloid once dubbed ‘Britain’s most dangerous street’.

    Sure, it wasn’t exactly salubrious, but the people I knew around there weren’t bad, or lazy, or stupid.

    More often than not they just lacked the opportunities that many take for granted.

    My school careers advisor told me I should set my sights no higher an entry-level job at Radio Rentals.

    But he didn’t say that because he thought I could learn a trade and get qualifications.

    He was just telling me what kids from Stapleton Road were expected to do.

    We didn’t go to university – we simply left school at 16 and got ourselves a low-paid, low-skilled job.

    In 2016, I’m not prepared to tolerate that attitude.

    Every young person has the potential to succeed, and everyone should have the opportunity to succeed.

    This Apprenticeship Week, I want to see government and business come together to make that happen.

    I want us to deliver high-quality, employer-led training.

    I want us to create the highly skilled workforce Britain needs.

    And I want us to give ALL of Britain’s young people the opportunity they need to rise to the top.

    Thank you.

  • Philip Hammond – 2016 Comments at EU Foreign Affairs Council

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    Below is the text of the comments made by Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, to journalists when he arrived at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 14 March 2016.

    I’d just like to start by offering my condolences to the people of Turkey and the people of Cote d’Ivoire for the terrible loss of life in the terrorist incidents there yesterday, and as you would expect, we stand firmly behind them, alongside the people of those countries and the people of all countries as they face and deal with the challenges of terrorism around the world.

    We’re going to be focusing here today on Russia, on Libya, and on Iran.

    On Russia, we need to be clear about how we manage the EU’s relations with Russia in the future. We have to have relationships with Russia but we can’t lose sight of the challenge that Russia represents to our values and to our security and we have to be robust in making our case and defending our principles, our values, and our borders in Europe.

    We also need in Syria, the Russians to get a grip on their Syrian clients, and make sure that they are delivering the obligations that Russia has made on their behalf in the International Syria Support Group which lie behind the current cessation of hostilities. We expect President Putin, who has backed President Assad with huge amounts of military and political commitment, we expect him to be able to get control of Assad, and at the moment it doesn’t look like he is in control of Assad.

    On Iran, we need to make sure that our approach is balanced so that while we exploit the opportunities that come from an opening of Iran and improved relationships between Iran and the West, we also have to be clear that Iran continues to carry out unacceptable behaviour, missile testings, aggressive behaviour in sponsorship of terrorism around the Gulf, and we shouldn’t in any way pull our punches about that kind of behaviour.

    And finally we’ll be talking about Libya with Martin Kobler, the UN Special Representative. We are obviously all very keen to see the full endorsement of the government of national accord and its installation in Tripoli as the de facto effective government of Libya. The EU has plans for a big collaboration with the Libyan government once it is properly installed and in place, and we mustn’t lose sight of the fact either that Libya remains an important irregular migration route into the European Union and as well as worrying about the situation in Turkey, we need to think about potential for continued migration flows through Libya.

  • Michael Gove – 2016 Speech on Anti-Semitism

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    Below is the text of the speech made by Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Justice, on 15 March 2016.

    Can I begin by thanking the Federal German Government, Chancellor Merkel, and my good friend, the British Labour MP John Mann, for the opportunity to speak here today.

    It has been a little over five years since leading politicians came together for the second Inter-parliamentary conference on Combating Anti-Semitism, in Canada.

    As we meet for the third such conference, our work is needed more than ever.

    Because anti-Semitism is not just the oldest hatred, it is also a virus which mutates.

    In the Middle Ages, anti-Semitism was focused on the religious identity of Jewish people and found its expression in forced conversion, ghetto-isation and expulsion.

    In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was the physical identity of the Jewish people that came under sustained attack. Pogroms and racial laws culminated in the unique horror of the Holocaust – history’s greatest crime.

    The memory of that crime, and the appeal to all of us: ‘Never again’, generated a new determination to protect human rights and stood behind the creation of the state of Israel – a modern miracle.

    But now – after horrors that should have meant this hatred was banished forever from human hearts – anti-Semitism is resurgent.

    In the last year Jewish citizens of European nations have been targeted by fanatics simply because of their identity.

    They were slaughtered because they shopped in a kosher supermarket, or volunteered to protect a synagogue.

    One victim, Yoav Hattab, was the last of four hostages to die in the siege at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris, in January 2015.

    Yoav, the student son of the Chief Rabbi of Tunis, was just twenty-one years old when he was shot dead by a killer who claimed allegiance to so-called Islamic State.

    Witnesses said that this brave young man died trying to confront the gunman with a weapon he had discarded.

    There is a reason that I mention Yoav in particular. Tragically, this was not the first time his family had been targeted.

    In 1985, Yoav’s aunt was one of three worshippers shot dead in a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba. She was just fourteen years old.

    The gunman, a local police officer, opened fire with a submachine gun on people as they prayed.

    Thirty years separate those deaths, and still Jews live in fear.

    In France, recorded anti-Semitic attacks soared by 84 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, according to Interior Ministry figures.

    In Britain, the number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in 2015 was 924. This was the third-highest total ever, according to the Community Security Trust, a leading charity that protects British Jews from anti-Semitism and related threats.

    Today, anti-Semitism targets the collective identity of the Jewish people. Jewish citizens of European nations are targeted if they dare to assert the dignity of their difference.

    Synagogues and schools need security guards. Children wearing the kippah, or students meeting as the’ University Jewish Society’, face intimidation. And, of course, the most important expression of collective Jewish identity, the state of Israel, is faced with a campaign of prejudice against its very existence.

    The BDS movement – urging the use of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel – claims to draw inspiration from the struggle against apartheid.

    But the comparison is offensive. Israel is a democracy in which all citizens are equal: whether Jewish, Arab, Christian, Muslim, of Ethiopian heritage, Bedouin and Druze – all have the same votes and rights, which is why Arab Muslim politicians sit in the Knesset and a distinguished Arab lawyer sits on Israel’s Supreme Court.

    More than that – the BDS campaign indulges prejudice rather than fighting it. It calls for the shunning of Jewish academics, the boycott of Jewish goods, the de-legitimisation of Jewish commerce. We have seen these all before. And we know where it takes us.

    Modern anti-Semitism finds a home in far too many hearts. There are those on the radical left whose purported sympathy for Arab suffering never results in campaigning against Middle East autocrats, but always in opposition to Israel.

    There are those on the extreme right whose dark prejudices have never been extinguished and who now use opposition to globalisation to revive old anti-Semitic tropes.

    And there are Islamist extremists who want to undermine what they see as the Zionist-crusader state and rail against Jewish influence everywhere.

    We need to stand against them all – and any who might be persuaded by their arguments – in solidarity with the Jewish people – and in solidarity with their right to national self-determination.

    There is a duty on all of us in public life to speak out.

    And to watch out for those with whom we might align ourselves

    There is a particular duty on those of us charged with upholding justice to pursue justice in this cause.

    That means asking how those who threaten Jewish lives, Jewish work and the Jewish people’s rights to self-determination – whether in Tehran or Tower Hamlets – can be confronted and held to account.

    It also means – as the British Government has done – outlawing prejudice paid for by public money.

    We have made clear that local authorities and public bodies cannot adopt BDS policies aimed at Israel; they cannot use public resources to discriminate against Jewish people, Jewish goods and a Jewish state.

    The legal changes we have made follow a campaign led by the pioneering organisation, Jewish Human Rights Watch, which I wish to salute today. Its founding father Manny Weiss – the child of Holocaust survivors – has been a valiant campaigner against prejudice and his work has been recognised by our Government.

    The Prime Minister, David Cameron, is clear that this is a battle he is determined to win. ‘We will fight anti-Semitism with everything we have got,’ is his vow.

    ‘Together, we will make sure Britain remains a country that Jewish people are proud to call home – today, tomorrow and for every generation to come.’

    And I know that commitment to openness and tolerance – that belief in human equality and dignity – is shared by everyone here today.

  • James Duddridge – 2016 Speech at Chatham House

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    Below is the text of the speech made by James Duddridge, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Minister for Africa, at Chatham House in London on 15 March 2016.

    Good morning. Thank you Alex. I am delighted to be back at Chatham House. I have the best job, travelling to and from Africa. I am passionate about Africa and about the prosperity agenda.

    Last year I spoke to you about why Africa matters to the UK Government, and to me, personally, as a long time resident of the continent.

    Since then, as Minister for Africa, I have been lucky enough to revisit many of the African countries that are close to my heart. I have travelled across the continent, met people doing important work, and spoken at many events on the enormous economic potential and commercial opportunities that can be found right across Africa.

    It is unwise to generalise in a continent as diverse as Africa. But despite the global economic slowdown, growth across the continent has remained generally positive this year. While the IMF’s latest predictions are for a reduction in growth in sub-Saharan Africa to 3.8%, this is still above the predicted global growth rate of 3.1%. This is rather good: George Osborne would be very pleased with 3.8%. In fact, except for one small blip in the 1990s, as a region Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced consistent growth year-on-year. It is a great place for long-term investment.

    The situation is difficult for the few large oil producing economies, but experts believe that the majority of low income countries will continue to grow. Countries such as Cote D’Ivoire, where I’ll be in three weeks’ time, Mozambique and Tanzania, where I was last week, all High Level Prosperity Partners, hope to see growth of around 7% this year.

    We need action to create enabling environments that support economic growth in Africa. Action that encourages innovation, and unleashes the entrepreneurial spirit of the young. Action to meet the aspirations of the continent’s growing youth population.

    African governments have a crucial role to play, creating good governance mechanisms that encourage transparency and tackle corruption, regulatory frameworks that allow business to operate and invest responsibly, and strong and independent institutions that respect the rule of law.

    Looking ahead, the UN estimates that Africa’s population will double to 2.5 billion people by 2050 .

    The World Bank predicts that at least 600 million people will enter the job market in Africa in the next 15 years. That’s a massive opportunity.

    Huge investment is required to create jobs and improve infrastructure in order to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. Infrastructure that facilitates trade rather than hinders it. So that it no longer takes more time for a container to cross a couple of African borders than it does for the same container to be shipped from Hong Kong to Dar es Salaam.

    Infrastructure is a pipeline for money. Airports, railways and roads are all pipelines for economic activity. This requires local knowledge and skills but also global expertise and help to get people and money moving.

    So the partnership theme of this year’s conference is highly appropriate.

    It is vital that we build partnerships between the private and public sector, working together in Africa; Working for the benefit of millions of Africans; Working to deliver the transformational change that the continent needs, to unlock growth and grow the taxation base.

    Such partnerships will be essential to help grow Africa out of poverty. So too are the partnerships between the UK and countries across Africa.

    The High Level Prosperity Partnerships forged between the UK and Angola, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania emphasise that the UK wants to work more closely with these countries and to work with others across the continent.

    The prosperity partnerships place the private sector in the driving seat of economic transformation.

    Allowing the private sector to flourish creates jobs and generates taxes. Taxes fund vital services such as health and education. A better educated, healthier workforce will create the entrepreneurs and innovative business of tomorrow. This virtuous circle can sustain African growth and the UK is ready to play an important part.

    UK companies have skills and expertise from project design, through planning and implementation. British architects, professional services, legal firms and capital markets are among the best in the world and stand ready to support infrastructure development on the continent. And of course the City of London is the place in the world to raise capital and a repository of a great deal of wisdom on how to deliver successful partnerships between the public and private sectors.

    The UK’s extensive aid programme, part of our commitment to spending 0.7% of gross national income on overseas development, also recognises the importance of partnerships with the private sector to drive forward economic development.

    We have a new Prosperity Fund of £1.3 billion over five years with the aim of fostering economic growth. Part of this fund will be used to help Africa grow out of poverty.

    Just last week I was in Tanzania where I saw for myself how cities with weak infrastructure are crippled by events as mundane as heavy rain.

    The infrastructure deficit was clearly visible. The rapid transport system is sadly not yet up and running. There is no quick fix. I was talking to Paul Collier about urbanisation in Africa and the need for a flexible job market. Big infrastructure projects take time to implement. But it is good that the Department for International Development is supporting a Government of Tanzania programme with the World Bank to make the City of Dar Es Salaam more resilient to these extreme weather events.

    The problems of congestion and inefficiency at Dar es Salaam Port are well known.

    That is why the UK Government is helping Tanzania unlock the potential of this maritime gateway and supporting Trademark East Africa to work on the immediate congestion problems. We are supporting critical feasibility studies necessary for the Government of Tanzania to secure bigger finance through the World Bank. With greater funding, Tanzania can improve the port infrastructure and realise the regional trade benefits that will come from improved freight corridors across Tanzania.

    Of course I will continue to play my part too. Championing Africa as a place to trade and invest. Working together with business. Working with colleagues across Whitehall and in the City of London. Most importantly, working with my counterparts in Africa to support Africa’s continued economic transformation.

    This year the UK and Africa have continued to build on their enduring partnership. By working together, I firmly believe that this partnership, built on long standing political links, cultural connections and historical links, will go from strength to strength.

    Thank you.