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Tag: Speeches

  • Wes Streeting – 2022 Speech on Urgent and Emergency Care

    Wes Streeting – 2022 Speech on Urgent and Emergency Care

    The speech made by Wes Streeting, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, and wish him and the ministerial team well as the new Prime Minister appoints her first Government. I also welcome what he said towards the end of his statement about the importance of vaccination and funding for motor neurone disease.

    Emergency care is in crisis. After 12 years of Conservative Governments, the NHS can no longer reach patients on time. The outgoing president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said earlier in the summer that ambulance delays had got so bad that the NHS was now “breaking its promise” to the public that life-saving emergency care will be there when they need it. Twenty-nine thousand patients waited more than 12 hours in A&E in June, more than ever before. Ten thousand urgent cases waited more than eight hours for an ambulance last month. It is estimated that the collapse of emergency care that we are now seeing could be costing 500 lives a week. If the statistics did not paint a stark enough picture, no one can ignore the case of 87-year-old David Wakeley, whose family had to build a shelter around him as he waited outside for an ambulance, with broken bones, for 15 hours. What a shameful indictment on 12 years of Conservative mismanagement of the NHS.

    There have been recent reports that the NHS will tell patients to

    “avoid A&E as the winter crisis bites early.”

    That was in August. The simple fact is that we have gone from no crisis in the system in 2010, to annual winter crises, to the situation we have today where there is a crisis all year round—the worst crisis in the history of the NHS. There is no point in the Secretary of State blaming the pandemic or, indeed, the extreme heat we saw this summer, although they do not help. The reality is that, before the pandemic, the NHS had not hit the 18-minute response time target for emergency incidents since 2017. Will the Secretary of State, on behalf of the Government and his party, finally take some responsibility and admit what his colleague the Culture Secretary was honest enough to say, that the Conservatives left our health service “wanting and inadequate” when the pandemic hit?

    The NHS needs Ministers to grip this crisis and work tirelessly to get patients the care they need, so where have the Government been all summer? It is almost as if, the moment the Conservative leadership candidates hit the road, the Cabinet turned on their “out of office” and hit the beach as the NHS slipped into the worst crisis in its history and the Government did diddly-squat on the cost of living crisis, which will also exacerbate people’s health problems.

    I pay tribute to St John’s Ambulance for the vital work it does, and I am pleased it has now been formally commissioned to provide England’s ambulance auxiliary. Can the Secretary of State confirm that this capacity is being used by the system today? Perhaps he might have a word with his colleague the Secretary of State for Education, or his successor, about recruitment, because the shambles we saw on T-levels and the hand-wringing we saw from the exam boards is unacceptable and risks the pipeline of talent we need to staff the NHS.

    Although extra capacity is important, let us be honest that it will not solve the ambulance crisis unless we tackle the delayed discharges that are causing logjams in hospitals. The Secretary of State talked about this, but let me be clear that one in seven hospital beds is occupied by someone who is medically fit to leave but cannot do so because there is no support available—some people are waiting up to nine months longer than needed. What is the answer to this staffing crisis? It has not been to pay care workers a decent wage so that we stop losing them to the likes of Amazon, and it has not been to provide a great career so that people in our country enter this important profession. The answer has been to pull the “immigration lever,” to quote the Government, and to recruit people from overseas on lower pay. How fitting that this Prime Minister’s Government ends with yet another broken promise. One year after promising to fix social care by hiking taxes on working people, where is the plan to tackle the work- force crisis without resorting to immigration every time?

    Finally, the Secretary of State barely mentioned the cost of living crisis. The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for Erewash (Maggie Throup), has said the Government are worried that if people cannot afford to heat their home, more will lose their life to flu. Has the Secretary of State made an estimate of the number of people who could fall ill as a result of soaring energy bills? As this is rightly a concern, may I point out that there is a plan right in front of him to freeze energy bills, fully costed and ready to go, paid for by a windfall tax on the oil and gas companies? When will the Government stop dithering, delaying and talking to themselves and start acting for the country? Rising energy prices will also push care providers to breaking point, with some facing closure as they are unable to absorb increases of 500% or more. What plans does he have to prevent care home residents from being booted out this winter and to prevent care home doors from closing?

    The reality is that this Government are now out of time. A new Prime Minister will be appointed tomorrow who has suggested charging patients to see a doctor. I did not think anything could be worse than fining people for missing appointments, but our new Prime Minister has somehow managed it. Public satisfaction with NHS services is at its lowest recorded level, and patients are struggling to access the care they need. Under Labour, patients could call 999 knowing that an ambulance would come when they needed it, but the longer we give the Conservatives in power, the longer patients will wait.

  • John Healey – 2022 Speech on Ukraine (September 2022)

    John Healey – 2022 Speech on Ukraine (September 2022)

    The speech made by John Healey, the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    I welcome this statement on day one after the recess and on day 194 of Russia’s brutal illegal invasion of Ukraine. I thank the Defence Secretary for the regular briefings he has given during this period to those in all parts of the House and on all sides. On behalf of Members on all sides, may I say that we trust that he will remain in his post in the new Truss Cabinet?

    I say on behalf of my party that we now stand ready to work with the new Prime Minister to maintain the UK’s united support for Ukraine and united determination to stand up against Russian aggression. President Putin expected Ukraine to fall within six days. Six months on, the massively brave Ukrainian resistance, military and civilian alike, is stronger now than it was in February, and all the Government’s moves to provide military, economic, diplomatic and humanitarian help to Ukraine will continue to have Labour’s fullest backing.

    We strongly support the UK’s training programme for new Ukrainian army recruits, which the Labour leader and I saw for ourselves on Salisbury plain. I am humbled by the fact that those brave new recruits whom we met last month are now on the frontline, fighting in Donbas. I thank the Defence Secretary and Brigadier Justin Stenhouse for organising our visit. Will this training under Operation Interflex be extended beyond the initial commitment of 10,000 troops and beyond the basic soldiering skills currently covered?

    We also welcome the extra long-range missiles and unmanned air systems announced over the summer. What is the strategy behind our military assistance? Is it designed to help Ukrainians hold current ground or take back more territory from Russian forces? What action has been taken to replenish our domestic stockpiles? How many new contracts have been signed? Has the production of replacement NLAWs—next generation anti-tank and anti-armour weapons—now finally started?

    The war is entering a critical new stage, with Russia unable to deploy the overwhelming force needed for a decisive breakthrough and Ukraine well on the way to sapping the will of the Russian army to fight, hitting ammunition dumps, command posts and airfields deep into Russian-held territory. With the Russian military leadership under increasing military pressure, does the Defence Secretary agree that we are approaching another turning point, where Putin is likely to step up efforts to persuade the west to lean on Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire and negotiations? What are the Government doing to counter such activities?

    What are the Government doing to explain to the public that the energy crisis and supply disruptions are not a result of Russia’s war, but an essential part of Russia’s war? Russia is fighting on the economic battlefield, not just the military battlefield. What action will the new Prime Minister take to help the country with escalating energy costs, rapidly rising food costs and the highest rate of inflation in this country for 40 years?

    On the subject of the new Prime Minister, before the Tory leadership campaign, the Defence Secretary and Defence Ministers said that the invasion of Ukraine proved the integrated review right. They said:

    “if more money were made available, there are other things that we would do more immediately than regrow the size of the Army.”—[Official Report, 18 July 2022; Vol. 718, c. 688.]

    Then, towards the end of the leadership campaign, the Defence Secretary wrote of the new Prime Minister:

    “I welcome her plans to update the integrated review, reconsider the shape of our forces, and increase defence spending.”

    I welcome his conversion to the arguments that Labour has been making for well over a year, but what does he believe now needs updating in the integrated review? Will he halt his plans for Army cuts? Will the £1.7 billion cut in day-to-day MOD spending now be replaced?

    Finally, very few people believed Ukraine would still be fighting Russia’s invasion six months on. We now know that Russia’s aggression will go on a lot longer. Will the Government set aside individual announcements and instead set out a grand strategy of long-term military, economic and diplomatic support, so that we can help ensure Putin’s invasion really does end in failure?

  • Ben Wallace – 2022 Statement on Ukraine (September 2022)

    Ben Wallace – 2022 Statement on Ukraine (September 2022)

    The statement made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    It is good to be back after the summer recess, and it is good to see you in your place, Mr Speaker.

    I want to update Members about progress in Ukraine and UK support to date since the House rose for the recess. On 29 August, Ukraine embarked on a counter-offensive in the south of the country, around the city of Kherson on the west bank of the Dnipro river. As part of the shaping fires, Ukraine has inflicted serious damage on a range of river crossings with the aim of restricting Russian logistical support. That has had considerable success. I can report to the House that the Ukrainian forces have made real progress, assaulting on three axes, and especially on the advance to the south of the city of Kryvyi Rih. The grinding fight in the Donbas continues, but with Russia making few substantive gains in the east over the past two months. Since June, Ukraine has struck more than 350 Russian command posts, ammo dumps, supply depots, and other high-value targets far back from the frontline. Many of those have been with longer-range weaponry supplied by international partners, including the United Kingdom.

    As of today, the Ukrainian army is engaging with Russian forces using both artillery and brigade-level operations. It is making real gains, but understandably, as we have seen elsewhere in this conflict, the fighting is close and hard, and Ukraine is suffering losses associated with an attacking force. My thoughts, and the Government’s thoughts, are obviously with the men and women of the brave Ukrainian forces who are fighting to uphold our values as well as theirs, and to defend their land. However, Russia continues to lose significant equipment and personnel. It is estimated that to date more than 25,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives, and that, in all, more than 80,000 have been killed, have been casualties, have been captured, or constitute the reported tens of thousands of deserters. This will have a long-lasting impact on Russia’s army and its future combat effectiveness. Russia has yet to achieve any of its strategic objectives, and we are now on day 194 of what was expected to be a month-long campaign.

    I know that Members will be worried by reports about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the biggest nuclear power station in Europe. On Friday 1 September, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Authority visited the plant accompanied by Russian media. No other international media were allowed to attend. Under the IAEA, an inspection was carried out, and the agency has left a team behind. It has already drawn attention to the violation of the plant’s “physical integrity”, and the United Nations remains gravely concerned about the dangerous situation in and around the plant. We will continue to monitor it, and ensure that we engage with Ukrainian partners to ensure that no one’s safety is put at risk.

    Earlier in the month, Turkey, Russia and the United Nations came to an agreement on grain exports from Ukraine; the so called “Black sea initiative” was put in place. This has now seen over 2 million tonnes of grain exported, with another 100 ships waiting to embark with grain from Ukraine’s ports. I want to place on record the Government’s thanks to both the United Nations and the Turkish authorities for facilitating this—it was no mean feat. We have offered the Turkish military any support they require; to date, the Turkish Government have not requested any support, but we stand ready to do that. The United Kingdom continues to gift military aid to the Ukrainian armed forces to help resist the illegal invasion. Since the end of July, when this House rose, we have gifted a further three M270 guided multiple-launch rocket system platforms, and accompanying missiles. We are now working on an additional package of support. The total funding committed to this support is £2.3 billion.

    In June, I recognised that training is as important as military hardware, which is why we embarked on establishing a network of training camps in the UK to train 10,000 Ukrainians. That was accompanied by specialist armed training across a number of countries in Europe. So far, we have trained 4,700, and I am delighted that over the summer we were joined by forces from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, Canada, Holland and New Zealand; they are all now in place alongside British military personnel delivering that training. The training cycle is now in its third iteration and, after lessons learned, we have now extended it to a five-week syllabus. We are already seeing this make a difference to the combat effectiveness of Ukraine, and we are evolving the course and feedback to make sure that the experiences do exactly what the Ukrainians need.

    Support for Ukraine goes beyond the here and now. Being able to plan for the medium and long term requires international funding. So at the beginning of August, at the invitation of our Danish friends in the Danish Government, I co-chaired with them a conference in Copenhagen. So far, we have amassed pledges of up to €420 million of support, including through an international fund for Ukraine. We are working through the governance of the fund with our international partners and we hope to add to it when I present more details this week to the Ukraine defence contact group convened by the United States in Germany on Thursday. The fund will be used hopefully to support a range of measures, including ammunition production, to ensure that there is a sustainable supply over the long term in Ukraine.

    I would like to place on record my appreciation of the Prime Minister’s enduring support for Ukraine throughout the process, without which a lot would not have been possible. I am grateful, too, for all the support of all the parties in this House for the action we have taken. That allows us to lead on the world stage with determination and a focus on all the things that are right about Ukraine’s defence from an illegal invasion and on the fact that we share such common values of freedom, and respect for sovereignty and the international rule of law. I hope all of us in this House do so—I know from experience that we do so. This Government’s commitment to Ukraine remains unwavering and enduring, and I commend this statement to the House.

  • Greg Clark – 2022 Statement on the Work of the Levelling Up Department

    Greg Clark – 2022 Statement on the Work of the Levelling Up Department

    The statement made by Greg Clark, the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    Since I was appointed on 7 July, I have been privileged to lead the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in its work to spread opportunity in all parts of the United Kingdom.

    This statement updates the House on progress that has been made during the summer recess. All relevant documents referred to will be placed in the Library of the House.

    We have delivered stronger local leadership.

    A devolution deal has been signed with York and North Yorkshire to create a Mayoral Combined Authority comprising the City of York and North Yorkshire Councils and covering a population of 818,000 people. The deal, which is subject to ratification by the councils, includes a £540 million investment fund over the next 30 years, and over £22.5 million to support the building of new homes on brownfield land and to drive green growth in the area; the devolution of the adult education budget; an integrated transport settlement and confirmation that the Government are minded to provide additional support for the regeneration of the York central brownfield site, subject to an agreed business case. The first mayoral election would be in May 2024 and the new Mayor would take on the functions of the police, fire and crime commissioner. There will be a locally run public consultation, and the secondary legislation to implement the deal is subject to consent from councils and parliamentary approval.

    A devolution deal has been signed with Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to create an East Midlands Mayoral Combined County Authority. The deal is subject to ratification by the councils, and to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill receiving Royal Assent. The deal includes a Mayor for the 2.2 million people of the area, to be elected in May 2024. Both the Government and the four councils place great importance on the involvement of the 15 district and borough councils in the area. The deal establishes an investment fund of £1.14 billion over the next 30 years—the joint largest of any devolution deal so far—over £17 million to support brownfield development and further investment, subject to business cases, of £18 million to support local housing and net zero priorities. The deal also includes devolution of the adult education budget and an integrated transport settlement. There will be a locally run public consultation and the secondary legislation to implement the deal is subject to consent from councils and parliamentary approval.

    Other deals named in the levelling-up White Paper are progressing well, notably with councils in Suffolk and north-east England, and with Cornwall, as well as additional trailblazer deals with the west midlands and Greater Manchester.

    We have taken decisive action to restore good governance to councils in England that have let down local residents, in Slough, Liverpool, Nottingham and Thurrock. In making interventions, we have established an approach that help from within the local area should be pursued wherever possible and we are grateful to Mayor Steve Rotheram for stepping forward to guide the future of Liverpool City Council and to Essex County Council for leading the intervention in Thurrock.

    We have tightened rules to prevent councils in England from using creative accountancy to avoid the spirit of the financial frameworks which are there to protect taxpayers, and have advised consultancies that they should not facilitate such practices at the taxpayers’ expense.

    We have published for consultation the draft policy and strategy statement for the Electoral Commission required by the Elections Act 2022, in which combating electoral fraud through so-called family voting in local and national elections is emphasised.

    We have provided further opportunities to level up across the United Kingdom.

    Round 2 of the £4.8 billion levelling-up fund was opened on 15 July and closed on 2 August. Over 500 applications have been made from every part of the United Kingdom. Analysis of the bids is currently taking place and results will be announced in due course.

    Over 50% of the allocations from the future high street fund have now been made.

    On 1 September we published, with the Welsh Government, the prospectus for a freeport to be established in Wales.

    In addition to the eight freeports in England, good progress is being made towards the designation of green freeports in Scotland, in a joint process with the Scottish Government.

    We have delivered for our communities and faith groups and protected vulnerable people.

    The British people have now welcomed over 120,000 refugees from Ukraine through the “Homes for Ukraine” and “Ukraine Family” schemes. We would like to pay tribute to the work of Lord Harrington of Watford, who led the “Homes for Ukraine” programme.

    We have supported the next phase of the welcome programme to support people from Hong Kong with BN(O) visas in settling into the United Kingdom.

    With £1.3 million of new funding we announced a new deal fund to support faith groups to support vulnerable people and communities.

    Nearly 90% of the £150 council tax rebate has been paid out by councils to residents.

    Because everyone deserves a home that is habitable, whatever its tenure, we have launched a consultation on setting a decent homes standard for private rented properties.

    To help people with the cost of living during this time of high inflation, we have launched a consultation on setting a lower cap on maximum social housing rent increases in 2023-24.

    On 3 September the landmark rough sleeping strategy to end rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament was launched, on which a separate ministerial statement is being made.

    We have accelerated moves to provide justice for leaseholders in buildings that are unsafe because of cladding.

    We have reopened the building safety fund for applications.

    We have worked with lenders who have agreed to restart lending on affected properties.

    We have issued contracts to developers to make good their pledge to remediate unsafe buildings for which they are responsible.

    We commenced the primary legislation that will enable us to establish an industry scheme to penalise developers who fail to discharge their responsibilities.

    We launched a call for evidence to enable us to address the specific problems of leaseholder-owned and commonhold buildings.

    We have taken steps to increase the pace of development.

    In order to accelerate development, we have set out measures to speed up the planning process for nationally significant infrastructure projects like nuclear power stations and offshore wind farms.

    We have set out measures that will reduce the levels of nutrient pollution entering our most sensitive watercourses, thereby allowing stalled housebuilding to proceed while protecting the environment.

    We have emphasised the importance of the beauty and the enjoyment of our built and natural environment.

    We have strengthened the powers of councils to require takeaway restaurants to clear up litter they generate in our high streets.

    We have launched the levelling up parks fund in England to create or restore 100 green spaces in our urban areas with the least access to parks.

    A major planning application on the south bank of London has been called in for public inquiry to assess, among other things, the impact of the proposed development on the historic environment.

    And we have extended the ability of cafes, pubs and restaurants to take advantage of the great British summer with al fresco dining.

    I am proud of what has been delivered in eight weeks, and I am grateful to my officials in Government Departments as well as to partners in local councils, businesses and voluntary organisations across the United Kingdom for their intense work this summer. It shows what can be achieved to the benefit of all our citizens when people work together in joint endeavour.

  • Greg Clark – 2022 Statement on the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy

    Greg Clark – 2022 Statement on the Government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy

    The statement made by Greg Clark, the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    On 3 September Government published their new strategy to end rough sleeping in England.

    This Government have made the unprecedented pledge to end rough sleeping within this Parliament, and this strategy will help us to deliver that goal. Working with our partners across Government, in local authorities and the sector, we have delivered remarkable progress so far, with rough sleeping levels in the most recent annual rough sleeping snapshot at an eight-year low in England. However, we face significant challenges if we are to end rough sleeping for good, and we must work across Government and with local partners to step up our efforts.

    The strategy will build on that progress and help us end rough sleeping for good by bringing forward a bold new approach backed by £2 billion of funding over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in England.

    For the first time, we are defining what we mean by ending rough sleeping—that rough sleeping will be prevented wherever possible, and when it does occur, it will be rare, brief and non-recurrent. We will bring forward a new data framework, which will enable us to track progress against the definition and ensure all local and central partners are doing their bit.

    We will embed a “prevention first” approach so that rough sleeping is better prevented before people reach the streets. This means ensuring the landmark changes in the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 are fully embedded, to prevent more people from reaching a homelessness crisis, as well as bringing forward investment so that nobody leaves a public institution, such as prison or care, to the streets. As part of this, we will provide new funding over the next three years to expand the accommodation for ex-offenders programme so that people at risk of homelessness, including rough sleeping, in all parts of England are supported into long-term, settled accommodation.

    We will also empower local authorities by extending our flagship rough sleeping initiative to 2025, with up to £500 million of funding so that local areas can provide the tailored support needed to end rough sleeping over the next three years. We will complete delivery of the Housing First pilots in Greater Manchester, Liverpool city region and the west Midlands, providing a further £13.9 million over two years on top of the £28 million already invested, and expand Housing First more widely through £32 million within the rough sleeping initiative.

    This will sit alongside £200 million of new funding for the single homelessness accommodation programme, which will deliver up to 2,400 much-needed homes for vulnerable people at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping, including young people and those with the most complex needs, alongside expanding existing accommodation programmes that we know work.

    We will act across the system to reduce rough sleeping. We will ensure new local integrated care systems in the NHS consider the health and social care needs of those sleeping rough in their area in the development of their strategies. Jobcentres will work closely with local authorities to support people experiencing rough sleeping to access benefits and employment advice. We will be launching a new homelessness employer covenant with Crisis to help employers recruit and support employees who have been homeless or rough sleeping.

    A quarter of people sleeping rough nationally are not from the UK, rising to nearly half in London. Since the pandemic we have seen local authorities looking to exhaust all options to support this group away from the streets; we want to see this continue. For those here legally but with restricted eligibility for public funds, we want to see them get appropriate support to sustain a life away from the streets. For those here illegally, we want to ensure people return to their home country swiftly and receive the appropriate support to do this.

    As part of the strategy we are announcing allocations for areas in England in a range of key initiatives including the rough sleeping initiative, rough sleeping accommodation programme, rough sleeping drug and alcohol treatment grant and Housing First. Full details of allocations can be found on gov.uk.

    While we have taken the significant step of committing to repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824 in full, we must make sure the police, local authorities and other agencies have the powers and tools they need to respond effectively to begging, support vulnerable individuals and help communities feel safer. Government are currently consulting on the need for appropriate replacement legislation to ensure the police and other agencies remain able to protect the public, while also embedding rehabilitation and support at the heart of our approach.

    The whole of Government are united in ending rough sleeping. In order to achieve this, all partners, across central and local Government, voluntary organisations, delivery partners and the public must work together as one.

    We want our ambitious approach to be matched by bold local delivery and expect all those involved in ending rough sleeping to play their part. We want to ensure rough sleeping is ended in a way that is sustainable in the long term, and this strategy lays the foundations for the long-term system change needed to support that.

    This strategy shows that this Government are committed to ending rough sleeping, and we will continue to work with local and national partners to achieve this.

    A copy of the rough sleeping strategy will be deposited in the Library of the House.

  • Michael Ellis – 2022 Comments on Becoming the Attorney General

    Michael Ellis – 2022 Comments on Becoming the Attorney General

    The comments made by Michael Ellis on 7 September 2022.

    I am honoured to have been appointed as Her Majesty’s Attorney General for England and Wales and delighted to join the Prime Minister’s Cabinet which will get our economy growing, deal with the energy crisis and put the health service on a firm footing. I look forward to working again with the superb civil servants in the Attorney General’s Office who will support me in my role as Attorney General, making law and politics work together.

    I am also delighted to take up my role as Advocate General for Northern Ireland. Strengthening our Union, protecting the security and prosperity of all its nations, and levelling up every part of the country are important to me. I look forward to working with my fellow Law Officers as we carry out our functions across the whole of the United Kingdom.

  • Robert Buckland – 2022 Comments on Remaining as Welsh Secretary

    Robert Buckland – 2022 Comments on Remaining as Welsh Secretary

    The comments made by Robert Buckland, the Secretary of State for Wales, on 7 September 2022.

    It’s an honour and a privilege to be reappointed as the Secretary of State for Wales.

    Working alongside our new Prime Minister, fellow Cabinet Ministers and colleagues in Wales, I’m looking forward to delivering for all parts of our great country.

    The cost of living and increasing energy bills are having a significant impact on every single person in the country, and it’s a priority for me to make sure that families, businesses and individuals across Wales receive all possible help to see us through this challenging winter.

    Wales has a huge part to play in our longer-term energy needs with potential for offshore wind, nuclear and renewable energy schemes. These are projects that create jobs and prosperity, help secure our energy future and deliver our Net Zero targets.

    On top of specific measures to tackle the immediate cost of living issue, we will continue to deliver the investment Wales needs through the UK Government’s Levelling Up and Shared Prosperity Funds.

    I am a proud Welshman and a proud Unionist and want to see Wales prosper as a strong part of our successful United Kingdom.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2022 Statement on the UK-Ukraine Digital Trade Agreement

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2022 Statement on the UK-Ukraine Digital Trade Agreement

    The statement made by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the then Secretary of State for International Trade, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    On 24 August, the Government launched negotiations with Ukraine towards a bilateral digital trade agreement, the proposed UK-Ukraine digital trade agreement.

    The UK is standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in the face of unjustified aggression from Putin, and I remain committed to ensuring that trade policy plays its part in supporting Ukraine now and throughout its economic reconstruction. In addition to the immediate actions we have already taken to liberalise tariffs and starve Putin’s war machine of funds, we need to put in place longer-term measures to support Ukraine and play our part in securing its future as a prosperous, stable and democratic partner in Europe.

    The UK is increasingly recognised as a global leader in digital trade, with a network of international agreements that drive productivity, jobs and growth. In 2021, under its G7 presidency, the UK brokered agreement on the ground-breaking G7 digital trade principles, while earlier this year the UK-Singapore digital economy agreement—the world’s most innovative trade agreement—entered into force.

    As a result, in my discussions with our Ukrainian partners, we have agreed that we should seek to negotiate a digital trade agreement to play an important role in supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction objectives. Ukraine has strong digital ambitions, and it has identified greater digitalisation of the economy as one of its areas of focus.

    Ukraine sees digital trade as part of its vision for the future, and the UK is ideally placed to help Ukraine benefit from the opportunities this presents.

    In addition to furthering our vital support for Ukraine, this agreement will also be good for British businesses. The current UK-Ukraine free trade agreement contains limited digital and e-commerce provisions. Expanding these commitments will remove barriers to digital trade and enable UK exporters to service Ukrainian markets more easily.

    As digital trade is now the foundation of modern global trade, securing this agreement will send a strong signal of the United Kingdom’s support for our Ukrainian allies in response to the ongoing conflict, and further cement our position as a forward-thinking trading partner in the modern global economy.

    I will continue to keep the House updated as negotiations develop.

  • Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on Home Office Work Over Summer 2022

    Priti Patel – 2022 Statement on Home Office Work Over Summer 2022

    The statement made by Priti Patel, the then Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    Today I am updating Parliament on Home Office delivery since my statement of 31 March 2022. The Department is committed to delivering better outcomes for the public and will continue to work to deliver a safer, fairer and more prosperous United Kingdom.

    Reducing crime

    The first job of any Government is to keep its people safe, which is why we have made it our absolute priority to get more police on our streets, cut crime and protect the public. Over the last three years the Home Office has worked hard to achieve these priorities and improve confidence in policing.

    In July 2021, my Department published the “Beating Crime Plan” which sets out our approach to driving down crime, restoring confidence in the criminal justice system and better supporting victims. It balances the prevention we need to keep our citizens safe, with the enforcement required to deliver swift and certain justice for those who choose to break our laws.

    We are delivering the commitments we made in the plan. As of 30 June, police forces in England and Wales have recruited 13,790 additional police officers, 69% of the 20,000 officers targeted by March 2023 under the police uplift programme. Moreover, we are focused on cutting crime in areas with the highest levels of crime.

    As part of our commitment to excellence in the basics, every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have a named and contactable police officer and league tables have been introduced for 999 call answering times.

    I removed restrictions on section 60 searches that have been in place since 2014. These restrictions have limited when officers could use the vital power and decreased their confidence in deploying it. Since 2019, stop and search use has increased by around 85% and has contributed to over 70,000 deadly knives and offensive weapons being taken off our streets.

    In January 2020, we launched the place based safer streets fund, directing £120 million of investment to the worst affected areas to tackling acquisitive crime, neighbourhood crime, antisocial behaviour, and violence against women and girls, and improving public safety for all.

    Since 2019, we have invested £170 million into the multi-agency violence reduction units and a further £170 million into bolstering the police response to serious violence in the areas most affected by serious violence. The Government will invest £130 million in 2022-23 to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime. Together, these programmes have prevented 49,000 violent offences in their first two years of activity, providing a saving of £3.16 for every £1 spent.

    We are continuing to invest in the future of young people and intervening early to divert them away from a life of crime, including through the £200 million, 10-year youth endowment fund, which has supported 195 projects and already reached more than 64,097 at-risk young people.

    We know that the drugs trade is at the heart of much of the homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime that blights our communities. Our 10-year cross-Government drug strategy provides £300 million of dedicated investment over the next three years, to drive work on tackling drug supply and reduce drug demand.

    Our work is achieving results on the ground. Under our county lines programme, between November 2019 and March 2022, the police closed 2,400 lines, made over 8,000 arrests, and safeguarded more than 9,500 people. Our work on Project ADDER, which focuses on the response to addiction, diversion, enforcement and recovery has supported over 700 organised crime group disruptions, more than 12,500 arrests, 6,000 out of court disposals started by police, more than 14,000 drug treatment interventions by outreach workers, and diverted people away from offending and into recovery support between January 2021 and February 2022.

    Our work at the border has delivered consecutive annual increases in drug seizures in each of the past three years. Last year, thanks to our investment, the police and Border Force made 223,106 drug seizures in England and Wales during 2020-21, a 21% increase on the previous year. We have also launched the new conflict stability and security fund counter supply of illicit commodities programme to enable priority countries to disrupt priority threats’ supply chains more effectively, focused on class A drugs, illicit firearms, and cash trafficking.

    The Home Office has supported important legislation through Parliament, to reduce crime, support victims, and put the law-abiding majority first.

    The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 was passed in April. It doubles the sentences for assaults on emergency workers, introduces Harper’s law, and puts the police covenant in statute. It equips the police to combat crime and create safer communities, while overhauling sentencing laws to keep serious sexual and violent offenders behind bars for longer.

    Meanwhile the Public Order Bill will further enhance the police’s ability to deal with disruptive protests that prevent ordinary people going about their daily lives and divert police resources from communities where they are needed most to prevent serious violence and neighbourhood crime.

    Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act was passed in March. Hundreds of individuals and entities were designated within hours of it becoming law. The Government has sanctioned over 1,000 individuals and over 100 entities. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will allow us to bear down further on kleptocrats, criminals, and terrorists who abuse our financial system, strengthening the UK’s reputation as a place where legitimate business can thrive while dirty money is driven out.

    Tackling violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, has been supported by major funding and the landmark Domestic Abuse Act. It means action to prevent and raise awareness of these crimes, including investing £3 million per annum in prevention projects, improved support for victims, directly supporting thousands of victims and children, and tackling perpetrators through an ambitious £25 million package of behaviour change programmes and research to reduce further violence. The Home Office provides funding for a number of helplines and online services to support victims of VAWG, including domestic abuse. This includes specialist domestic abuse helplines for elderly, deaf and disabled, LGBT and male victims, as well as teachers and employers. In 2021-22, over 81,000 people used the national tackling VAWG helplines for support.

    The tackling child sexual abuse strategy, published in January 2021, has driven improvements in education, social care, health, law enforcement, and industry. We are working with international partners, to ensure we are doing all that we can to keep children safe online and in our communities in the UK and around the world.

    Reducing the risk from terrorism to the UK & UK interests overseas, securing a safe and prosperous UK

    The threats we are responding to are becoming more complex and they increasingly overlap. In May, this year, the National Security Bill was introduced to Parliament. It completely overhauls and updates outdated espionage laws and provides updated investigative powers and capabilities so that our law enforcement and intelligence agencies can deter, detect, and disrupt a wide range of modern-day threats from hostile states.

    The US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and I released a joint statement in July announcing that the UK-US data access agreement will enter into force in October. It allows UK and US law enforcement to directly request data held by telecommunications providers in the other party’s jurisdiction for the exclusive purpose of preventing, detecting, investigating, and prosecuting serious crimes such as terrorism and child sexual abuse and exploitation. It will have a transformative effect.

    The Government are committed to tackling the threat from all forms of terrorism. In the last three years, I have proscribed four extreme right-wing terrorist groups, including Sonnenkrieg Division and Feuerkrieg Division. I also proscribed the Islamist group Hamas in its entirety and we supported the successful US prosecutions of two members of Daesh: Alexanda Kotey and Elshafee Elsheikh.

    We opened the world-leading counter-terrorism operations centre in June 2021, including a cutting-edge counter-terrorism operations suite and state-of-the-art forensics laboratory. For the first time it brings together all the London-based elements of counter-terrorism policing to ensure they can discover and disrupt threats more quickly.

    The Home Office delivered the first UK policing counter-drone capability, which was used effectively at the G7, COP26 and the Commonwealth Games. A combination of deterrence communications, effective use of airspace restrictions, and new police equipment, powers and procedures is reducing the incidence of misused drones and facilitating their tracking and seizure.

    We have passed key pieces of legislation such as the Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Act 2020 ended the automatic early-release of terrorist offenders. In addition, the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act was passed in 2021 and which ensures that sentences reflect the severity of the offence and strengthens the monitoring of suspects.

    To enhance our ability to protect the UK we have also passed the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021, which provides the police powers to better protect the UK from malicious drone use. We completed a call for information last year on the Computer Misuse Act 1990, to ensure that our legislation and powers continue to meet the challenges posed by the threats in cyberspace.

    Tackling illegal migration, removing those with no right to be here, and protecting the vulnerable

    The Nationality and Borders Act is the cornerstone of the Government’s new plan for immigration. Since receiving Royal Assent on 28 April 2022,1 have wasted no time in implementing the Act, delivering a fair but firm system to ensure that we can better support those in genuine need of asylum, deterring illegal migration, especially dangerous small boat arrivals; breaking the business model of vile criminal gangs; and removing from the UK those with no right to be here.

    We have already achieved significant changes in the system with the first raft of reforms, including: the introduction of fixes to the asylum system; new and tougher criminal offences for illegal entry and people smuggling; and nationality law changes that allow fairer access to British nationality.

    The reforms will build towards a new national age assessment board and scientific age assessment methods to protect children, modern slavery reforms and a new one-stop process and appeals to stop repeated, unmeritorious and last-minute claims seeking to frustrate removal.

    In July 2021,1 signed a new agreement to strengthen UK-France co-operation on tackling illegal immigration across the channel. Through our joint action with France, we prevented more than 23,000 crossings in 2021. So far in 2022, over 17,000 people have been prevented from crossing the channel in small boats, around 70% more than to this point in 2021. In addition, the UK-France joint intelligence cell, established in July 2020, has, with France, dismantled 21 small boat organised criminal groups, securing over 500 arrests. In the few months it has been operational, the NABA has already resulted in a further 82 arrests, 62 charges, 10 convictions with sentences handed down of 5.9 years following the introduction of the NABA legislation. This includes 38 arrests, 32 charges and 1 conviction for facilitation. Also there have been 23 arrests for illegal entry, 17 charges and 7 convictions.

    We successfully transferred primacy for operations in the channel to the Ministry of Defence, as part of the whole of Government effort to counter channel crossings by irregular migrants. This sees border force, immigration enforcement and service personnel working side-by-side to ensure the UK’s borders are protected and to effectively manage pressures in the channel.

    In April 2022, I announced the world-leading migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda. It is part of a suite of measures under the new plan for immigration to tackle the increasing number of small boats arrivals since 2019 by deterring them from making dangerous crossings. The partnership will see those travelling to the UK through illegal, dangerous and unnecessary methods considered for relocation to Rwanda, where they will have their asylum claim processed. While there are ongoing legal proceedings, the partnership arrangement fully complies with all national and international law and we prepare for delivery.

    We deported 11,532 foreign national offenders between 2019 and March 2022. Since April 2020 we have used 151 charter flights and so far this year, we have returned 1,741 FNOs and other immigration offenders. To support this work, we have agreed new international returns agreements with international partners Albania, Serbia, Nigeria, and most recently Pakistan.

    In addition, since 2019, we have helped over 11,000 people return home through our voluntary return service and other initiatives; offering practical support and assistance to those who wish to return to their home countries but have no means to do so.

    The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need of protection, Our safe and legal routes have resulted in over 320,000 people coming to the U.K. Since the Hong Kong BN(O) route was set up in January 2021, over 140,000 BN(O) status holders and their family members have chosen to take the UK up on this offer and have applied for the BN(O) route as of 30 June 2022.

    In February 2021, the Home Office completed our commitment to resettle those 20,000 people fleeing conflict in Syria. An additional 1,838 refugees were resettled through the vulnerable children’s resettlement scheme.

    Through the UK resettlement scheme (UKRS), we have expanded our geographical focus beyond the middle east and north Africa to continue to offer safe and legal routes to the UK for some of the most vulnerable refugees around the world. 1,685 vulnerable refugees have been resettled through the UKRS since the launch of the scheme in March 2021 and since January 2019, 8,710 refugees have been resettled across all the Government’s resettlement schemes, not including Afghan schemes.

    We helped over 15,000 people to safety from Afghanistan in the biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history. A further 5,000 more people have been helped to enter since the evacuation. This January the Government launched the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme which will see up to 20,000 people from Afghanistan and the region resettled to the UK over the coming years. This is in addition to individuals relocated through the Afghan relocations and assistance policy. In less than a year, almost 7,400 Afghan evacuees have been provided with permanent homes.

    In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine we set up some of the fastest and biggest visa schemes in UK history. The Ukraine family scheme had received 58,600 visa applications by 23 August 2022, of which 50,100 visas had been issued. We had received 149,900 Ukraine sponsorship scheme visa applications, and issued 128,800 visas, by 23 August 2022.

    In June we also announced that the Homes for Ukraine scheme will also allow eligible children under the age of 18 who are not travelling with or joining a parent or legal guardian, to come to the UK in carefully defined circumstances.

    This record of delivery demonstrates the efforts of the Home Office to get on with the job of protecting the public, keeping our borders secure and the British people safe from harm.

    Enabling the legitimate movement of people and goods to support economic prosperity

    In 2019, we had uncontrolled immigration from the EU. Since then, we have ended free movement and launched a points-based system, creating a single, global immigration system, attracting and retaining the brightest and best global talent, while realising the enormous potential of our domestic workforce.

    We have made significant progress in digitising the immigration system, making further improvements to how applicants apply for, access and prove their immigration status to others.

    In terms of operational processing, between January and July 2022, 96.4% of UK standard passport applications were completed within the published processing time of 10 weeks. The Passport Office is working hard to investigate and conclude the reducing number of cases which fall outside 10 weeks. We plan to recover work in progress (WIP) to base levels across all workstreams in time for year-end WIP target levels, so that we are prepared for the levels of intake next year which we anticipate will be similar to those of 2022.

    We are currently facing extremely high pressure globally across our visa network, caused by a significantly increase in visa demand following the easing of travel restrictions and the prioritising of Ukraine family scheme and Homes for Ukraine applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine. We are working hard to reduce the current processing times as quickly as possible by flexing staff resource and utilising agency across our visa routes as well as pursuing a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and reduce the numbers who are awaiting an interview or decision. We have also recently reintroduced priority and super priority services in a number of our visa routes to improve the customer experience.

    Ahead of our exit from the European Union, Border Force recruited 1,570 new staff and trained a total of 8,000 in new policy and processes. We worked with HMRC to operationalise new inland border facilities, effectively creating 5 new ports; and delivered complex and interrelated change across a total of 125 ports.

    We have further expanded our points-based immigration system to attract the most promising international talent to the UK and maintain our status as a leading international hub for emerging technologies. In May 2021, we expanded our global talent route to allow recipients of international awards, including the Nobel prize for physics, to automatically qualify for the visa. In 2022 we introduced the global business mobility, high potential individual and scale-up visa routes.

    Since 2019, we have continued to increase border efficiency through the increased use of eGates, expanding their use to passengers from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea & USA, in addition to British, Irish and EU nationals, and with Border Force now operating 288 eGates at 15 ports. National rollout of the eGate upgrade, which has introduced a new operating system, Border Crossing, and upgraded the software, was completed six months early.

    Since I overhauled the Windrush compensation scheme in December 2020, interim payments rose from £250 to £10,000. As at the end of June 2022, £53.8 million had been paid or offered under the Windrush compensation scheme, with £43.9 million paid out across 1,098 claims. Our One Home Office cultural transformation programme features an increased focus on ethical decision-making with new routes for colleagues to escalate concerns and think more about the “face behind the case”.

    By 30 June 2022, we had concluded nearly 6.5 million EU settlement scheme applications, granting status in over 5.9 million applications. Over 450,000 individuals have been supported to apply to the EUSS by our network of grant-funded organisations across the UK. This includes victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse.

    In 2021, we removed the ability for EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals to travel on an ID card, unless the holder is protected by the citizens’ rights withdrawal agreements, given they were one of the most abused documents at the border.

    All these achievements represent a record of delivering on the people’s priorities, a record of which I am very proud.

  • Steve Barclay – 2022 Update on the Department for Health and Social Care

    Steve Barclay – 2022 Update on the Department for Health and Social Care

    The statement made by Steve Barclay, the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 5 September 2022.

    Over the summer recess, the Department of Health and Social Care has made significant progress in many areas, both to prepare the NHS and social care systems for the winter and to lay the foundations for further improvements in the coming years.

    In respect of preparations for winter, the Department has worked closely with NHS England and other Departments across Government to:

    Widen and launch the covid autumn booster programme, including through the first approval worldwide of two “bivalent” vaccines, which protect against both the original and omicron strains of covid-19;

    Increase capacity in primary care, including through additional roles in primary care;

    Put in place plans to boost the NHS’s capacity by the equivalent of 7,000 beds, including through the use of innovative “virtual” beds;

    Increase the numbers of call handlers in both the 999 and 111 services respectively, with a target of having 2,500 call handlers in 999 and 4,800 call handlers in 111 by the end of December; and

    Agree a new ambulance auxiliary contract with St John Ambulance, providing at least 5,000 hours of extra support each month.

    The Department, the NHS and local authorities also continue to work together to address ambulance handover delays and delayed discharges, including by identifying the actions for which NHS leaders are responsible, and those for which social care leaders are responsible, thus supporting accountability.

    Over the summer recess, we have also been focusing on increasing the NHS and social care workforce, by drawing on both domestic and international sources, with the aim of increasing the capacity of the NHS and social care systems both in the short term and over time. Our international recruitment taskforce is developing plans for implementing a “support hub” to help care providers recruit from abroad, and the Department is laying regulations to help increase the capacity and capability of the professional regulators to test the standards of overseas recruits. We also launched a consultation on 28 August with the aim of extending “Retire and Return” NHS pension changes through to 31 March 2023, allowing retired and partially-retired NHS staff to continue to receive important pension changes if they re-enter the workforce. Further work is also under way, including the consideration of further options on the pensions of healthcare professionals.

    The Department continues to work closely with NHS England to address the covid-19 waiting times backlog—104-week waits were virtually eliminated, in line with the elective recovery plan, and the NHS is making good progress to address 78-week waits by April 2023. In support of this:

    A further 50 surgical hubs were given the go-ahead over the summer, in addition to the existing 91 surgical hubs;

    A further seven community diagnostic centres were given the go-ahead. The programme has so far delivered an extra 1.7 million tests; and

    Choice of provider at the point of GP referral will be available to all patients from April 2023 at the latest, supported by information to be made available to patients through the NHS app

    A number of reforms looking to the long-term needs of the NHS and care system are also now under way:

    Work led by Professor John Deanfield is considering how we better embrace home testing for a wider range of conditions through a modernised NHS health check;

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is expediting work to consider how to improve the uptake and adoption of well-evidenced MedTech; and

    Standardised, modular hospital design—delivering scale and process efficiencies—will be adopted as the default for cohorts 3 and 4 of the new hospitals programme. Enabling works for the new hospitals at Whipps Cross, Kettering and Hillingdon have been unlocked, and the strategic outline case for Shrewsbury and Telford has been approved.

    Good progress continues to be made on the development of framework 15 and the NHS workforce plan. The future needs of the NHS and social care systems are best met by a workforce which is trained flexibly, which is adaptable, which embeds new roles in clinical practice, and which allows all health and care professionals to practise at the top of their competence.

    Taxpayers expect the Department and the NHS to continue to be effective stewards of public money. We have therefore imposed further controls on the use of consultancy, professional services and contingent labour, with the aim of generating at least £170 million of additional savings over this financial year, with further recurrent savings thereafter. We have also instituted new mechanisms to assist transparency: more than 50,000 people work in national and local NHS organisations which do not provide direct patient care; and to help those who work in the NHS and the wider public understand more about the value delivered, we are today publishing an organogram of the Department—to be made available on a searchable platform over the coming days—followed by searchable organograms for NHS England and the other national arm’s length bodies by the end of September. Integrated care boards are being asked to emulate this approach.

    There has also been progress on a number of other very important issues including:

    The publication of the women’s health strategy;

    The launch of the Government’s dementia mission; and

    Confirmation of interim payments to those who have been infected by contaminated blood and bereaved partners

    In November 2021, the Government announced it would make £50 million funding available for research into motor neurone disease over five years. Following work over the summer with DHSC and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and UK Research and Innovation, to support researchers to access funding in a streamline and co-ordinated way, we are pleased to confirm that this funding has now been ringfenced. DHSC and BEIS welcome the opportunity to support the motor neurone disease scientific community of researchers, as they come together through a network and link through a virtual institute.

    The Department has taken these actions to help the NHS and social care systems be better prepared for the winter challenges ahead and beyond.