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Tag: Speeches

  • Grant Shapps – 2021 Comments on Liquid Hydrogen Aircraft

    Grant Shapps – 2021 Comments on Liquid Hydrogen Aircraft

    The comments made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 6 December 2021.

    As we build back greener, it’s crucial that we place sustainability at the heart of the aviation industry’s recovery from COVID-19.

    This pioneering design for a liquid hydrogen powered aircraft, led by a British organisation, brings us one step closer to a future where people can continue to travel and connect but without the carbon footprint.

    I will continue to work closely with the Jet Zero Council to support the UK’s world-leading research in this sector, which will create green jobs, help us meet our ambitious net zero targets and lead the global transition to net zero aviation.

  • Liz Truss – 2021 Statement on Aung San Suu Kyi

    Liz Truss – 2021 Statement on Aung San Suu Kyi

    The statement made by Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, on 6 December 2021.

    The sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi is another appalling attempt by Myanmar’s military regime to stifle opposition and suppress freedom and democracy.

    The United Kingdom calls on the regime to release political prisoners, engage in dialogue and allow a return to democracy. The arbitrary detention of elected politicians only risks further unrest.

  • Keir Starmer – 2021 Comments on Vaccine Booster Programme

    Keir Starmer – 2021 Comments on Vaccine Booster Programme

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 5 December 2021.

    Healthcare professionals and volunteers around the UK are working so incredibly hard to roll out booster jabs. It is vital that we all support them and our NHS for the winter ahead by playing our part and getting a booster vaccination as soon as invited to.

    It is frustrating and worrying that medics are seeing too many hospital beds and NHS resources are taken by those that have chosen not to get the vaccine. I am calling on those who are eligible but unwilling to get vaccinated to consider the impact of their decision and think again.

    We are stronger when we all come together and act to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities from the virus.

    But with the number of vaccinations down a quarter from the peak earlier this year, we simply cannot afford for the Government to take its eye off the ball in speeding up the rollout of the booster programme. The Prime Minister needs to break the habit of his tenure by stepping up and getting a grip.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Anne-Marie Trevelyan’s Visit to US

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Anne-Marie Trevelyan’s Visit to US

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, on 5 December 2021.

    The Government have long promised that a Free Trade Agreement with the United States would be top of the priority list. We are two years on from the General Election and no deal is even in place.

    The Secretary of State must use her visit to Washington to prioritise British jobs and industry and kickstart the negotiations.

    She must also – urgently – work with the US Government to lift the damaging steel and aluminium tariffs imposed in 2018. The Conservatives have not taken this issue seriously enough – they must stop letting steel workers down.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2021 Comments on the Government’s Drugs Strategy

    Yvette Cooper – 2021 Comments on the Government’s Drugs Strategy

    The comments made by Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 6 December 2021.

    Action on drugs and crime is long, long overdue as the Government has allowed serious problems to grow over the last few years. Class A drug use has increased by 27% since 2010, drug-related deaths were the highest since records began last year, and the number of children referred as suspected victims of county lines has increased by more than 30% since 2019. Meanwhile, more than £100m has been cut from treatment services, and cuts to policing budgets have meant that specialist drug enforcement teams have taken a backseat, allowing gangs to grow, dealing to increase and demand to soar.

    Ministers need to set out a plan which properly reverses the damage the Government has done, which stops communities being blighted by criminal drug dealing and gangs and which properly addresses the new and serious drug related problems that are emerging. We need action to tackle changing patterns of drug-related crime, including the huge growth in child exploitation and the explosion in online criminal drug networks.

    Too often the Government makes grand promises, but then fails to deliver or does the opposite. Drug use is up, serious violence is up, anti-social behaviour is up. More and more offenders are getting away with their crimes as overall prosecutions have plummeted. Any action from the Government must be substantial enough to undo the damage they have caused.

  • Edward Argar – 2021 Statement on Health and Social Care

    Edward Argar – 2021 Statement on Health and Social Care

    The statement made by Edward Argar, the Minister for Health, in the House of Commons on 3 December 2021.

    Madam Deputy Speaker, with permission, I would like to make a statement on the work we are doing to keep our country safe this winter. Today, we have published our health and social care approach to winter. This shows the preparations we are making so that health and social care services remain resilient, joined up and available to patients over the coming months, and it sets out what actions the public can take. As this plan shows, we are also doing everything in our power to give our NHS what it needs and keep it standing strong this winter, including through our plans to recruit more staff, give greater support to the NHS workforce and bolster capacity across urgent and emergency care. For example, the NHS has given ambulance trusts an extra £55 million to boost staff numbers this winter; there is nearly half a billion to fund an enhanced discharge programme; and we have measures to reduce pressure on accident and emergency departments, reduce waiting times and improve patient flow.

    This document comes ahead of a critical winter for our NHS. We face the challenge of fighting covid-19, and the new omicron variant, along with the other challenges, such as flu, that winter can bring. We are doing everything we can to strengthen our vital defences. One of our main defences is, of course, our vaccination programmes, and we are expanding our booster programme, which hit the milestone of 19 million doses yesterday, along with delivering the largest flu vaccination programme in UK history. Yesterday, we announced how we will be buying a total of 114 million additional Pfizer and Moderna doses for 2022 and 2023, which will future-proof our Great British vaccination effort and make sure we can protect even more people in the years ahead. Another defence is antivirals, and it was fantastic news that yesterday another covid-19 treatment was approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, after it was found to be safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death in people with mild to moderate covid-19 infection.

    Just as we tackle the virus, we are also tackling what the virus has brought with it. The pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on the NHS and led to a backlog for elective care. To fix this, the NHS needs to be able to offer more appointments, operations and treatments, and we need to adopt new, innovative ways of working so patients keep getting the best possible care. We are determined to maximise the capacity of the NHS to keep elective services going over the winter months so that people can keep getting routine treatments such as hip surgery and diagnostic tests. Today, I am pleased to update the House on the £700 million fund that we announced in September for elective recovery. This transformative funding, which is being split across all regions in England, will support 785 schemes across 187 hospital trusts. It will help reduce waiting times for patients by providing more operating theatres and beds, and greater capacity for our NHS. Today, we have published the regional breakdown for this funding, which was allocated on a fair basis, according to weighted population, to make sure there was an equitable spread across the country. This includes £112 million for the north-east and Yorkshire, £131 million for the midlands and £97 million for the north-west. At least £330 million will be invested in the NHS estate and a further £250 million will be spent on digital initiatives that aid elective recovery. Over £600 million from this fund has already been committed to approved bids, such as for new wards at University Hospitals Birmingham, a new South Mersey elective hub and a new, modular unit in Castle Hill Hospital in Hull. This investment will have a huge impact, and this is the beginning not the end of our investment, as we are continuing to identify and assess submitted bids for investment in the remainder of this financial year. It is part of £5.4 billion that we have announced to support the NHS response to the pandemic in the second half of the year and it builds on the work done ahead of last winter, where we invested £450 million to upgrade A&E facilities in over 120 separate trusts, to boost capacity. This is a Government who back the NHS. Ahead of what will be a testing winter This is a Government who back the NHS. Ahead of what will be a testing winter, we are putting everything behind our health and care services, so everyone can access the services they need when they need them.

    I conclude by urging everyone to play their part this winter by taking simple steps that can help our NHS. People should get the jabs they need for flu and covid-19 when the time comes, and should follow the rules that we have put in place. If they do that, we can protect not only the NHS but the progress that we have all made. I commend the statement to the House.

  • Kemi Badenoch – 2021 Statement on Covid-19 Health Disparities

    Kemi Badenoch – 2021 Statement on Covid-19 Health Disparities

    The statement made by Kemi Badenoch, the Minister for Levelling Up Communities, in the House of Commons on 3 December 2021.

    I am publishing today my final report on progress to address covid-19 health disparities among ethnic minority groups.

    When the Prime Minister asked me to lead this work in June 2020, we knew that ethnic minorities were more likely to become infected and to die from covid-19 but we did not know why. Thanks to analysis from the Government’s race disparity unit and new research backed by over £7 million in Government funding, we now have a much better understanding of the factors that have driven the higher infection and mortality rates among ethnic minority groups. These include occupation, living with children in multigenerational households, and living in densely-populated urban areas with poor air quality and higher levels of deprivation.

    We also know that once a person is infected, older age, male sex, and having a disability or a pre-existing health condition (such as diabetes) increase the risk of them dying from covid-19. Genetics may also play a role in survival rates from covid-19. 61% of south Asian people carry a gene which doubles the risk of respiratory failure and death from covid-19 in under-60-year-olds, compared with 16% of people of European ancestry.

    These insights have been crucial in shaping our response to covid-19.

    Early action, informed by the emerging data and scientific advice, focused on reducing the risk of infection and protecting key frontline workers who were most at risk, particularly our NHS workers. Our approach evolved as our understanding of the risk factors developed. For example, in the second wave of the pandemic, we published guidance on preventing household transmission, recognising that people from the Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups faced a higher risk of dying from covid-19 and are more likely to live in multigenerational households. We also piloted approaches where families could get jabbed together at vaccine sites to promote uptake in these groups.

    The most significant measure to protect ethnic minorities from the risk of covid-19 has been the vaccination programme. We led the way in terms of the scale of our programme to approve, procure and deploy the covid-19 vaccines. The largest mass-vaccination programme in British history has been delivered through an unprecedented partnership approach between citizens, national and local government, health agencies, and the voluntary and community sector. This has involved tackling misinformation and building trust with ethnic minority groups through measures such as housing vaccination centres in places of worship and providing over £23 million in funding to the community champion scheme, which has used trusted local voices to drive up vaccination rates. These learnings are informing our approach to the current roll-out of the booster programme to ensure we continue to drive up vaccination rates in ethnic minority groups.

    Through these combined efforts we have seen increases in both positive vaccine sentiment and vaccine uptake across all ethnic groups since vaccine deployment began.

    There are a number of wider public health lessons that we must learn from these experiences and these are reflected in the recommendations in my report, which the Prime Minister has accepted in full. These recommendations will still be applicable even as we see the emergence of new variants. Work on addressing covid-19 disparities will now be taken forward by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities as part of our longer-term strategy to tackle health disparities.

  • Sajid Javid – 2021 Statement on Health and Social Care Approach to Winter

    Sajid Javid – 2021 Statement on Health and Social Care Approach to Winter

    The statement made by Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the House of Commons on 3 December 2021.

    Today the Government publishes the health and social care approach to winter.

    This joint publication between DHSC and NHS England and Improvement sets out the expected challenges of this winter, and the wide range of preparations we have made to ensure that health and social care services remain resilient, joined up and available to patients over the coming months.

    The document also announces the allocation of £700 million targeted investment fund announced in September this year. At least £330 million will be invested in NHS estate, and £250 million on digital initiatives that aid elective recovery efficiency and reconfiguration, with a further £120 million to support associated or additional revenue costs.

    Funding has now been allocated to regions on a weighted population basis, with investment of:

    £112 million in north-east and Yorkshire

    £97 million in the north-west

    £131 million in the midlands

    £78 million in the east of England

    £105 million in the south-east

    £69 million in the south-west, and

    £109 million in London.

    The importance of these preparations has been brought home to everyone over the last few days with the emergence of the B.1.1.529 “omicron” covid-19 variant. With the roll-out and acceleration of covid-19 boosters alongside the largest flu vaccine programme in UK history, we are doing more than ever to support people to stay well this winter. We will continue to work closely together across health and social care to ensure people continue to access the services they need, when they need them.

  • Julia Lopez – 2021 Statement on Building Digital UK Update

    Julia Lopez – 2021 Statement on Building Digital UK Update

    The statement made by Julia Lopez, the Minister for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure, in the House of Commons on 3 December 2021.

    Broadband plays a pivotal role in today’s society. Its significance has been highlighted by covid-19 and its importance will only increase in future years. Tackling the digital divide means ensuring that everyone in the UK can access and use digital communications services. Achieving this means ensuring the right infrastructure is in place to deliver nationwide connectivity for all.

    In 2020, the Government committed to a new programme of work which would see a £5 billion investment in fixed broadband infrastructure and £0.5 billion in mobile broadband infrastructure over the coming decade. The programmes are a top priority for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and represent a significant increase in ambition and scale from previous schemes.

    The organisation responsible for delivering the investment in broadband infrastructure, Building Digital UK (BDUK), has historically delivered spending commitments as a directorate within the Department. However, BDUK requires expert and independent board oversight, appropriate operational autonomy and delegated authority to further drive effective delivery.

    I am therefore announcing my intention to establish BDUK as a specialist delivery Executive agency of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in April 2022, to drive the effective execution of BDUK’s substantial portfolio of delivery commitments.

    As an Executive agency, BDUK will be a clearly designated unit that will be administratively distinct but will remain legally within the Department.

    The objectives for BDUK are complex, challenging and on a demanding timescale. The move to an Executive agency will improve the likelihood of success by enabling BDUK to deliver in a manner tailored to its specific requirements, reducing dependencies on central departmental functions for critical path activity.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2021 Comments on His Retirement

    Barry Sheerman – 2021 Comments on His Retirement

    The comments made by Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP for Huddersfield, on 5 December 2021.

    After 40 years as Huddersfield’s Member of Parliament, I have taken the decision that I will not be standing at the next general election.

    Serving Huddersfield has been the honour of my life.

    Thank you to my constituents for the kindness, support and warmth you have shown me.