UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Speeches

  • Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Forthcoming G7 Meeting

    Boris Johnson – 2021 Comments on Forthcoming G7 Meeting

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 14 February 2021.

    The solutions to the challenges we face – from the colossal mission to get vaccines to every single country, to the fight to reverse the damage done to our ecosystems and lead a sustainable recovery from coronavirus – lie in the discussions we have with our friends and partners around the world.

    Quantum leaps in science have given us the vaccines we need to end this pandemic for good. Now world governments have a responsibility to work together to put those vaccines to the best possible use. I hope 2021 will be remembered as the year humanity worked together like never before to defeat a common foe.

  • Robert Jenrick – 2021 Comments on Support for Renters

    Robert Jenrick – 2021 Comments on Support for Renters

    The comments made by Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 14 February 2021.

    We have taken unprecedented action to support renters during the pandemic including introducing a six-month notice period and financial support to help those struggling to pay their rent.

    By extending the ban on the enforcement of evictions by bailiffs, in all but the most serious cases, we are ensuring renters remain protected during this difficult time.

    Our measures strike the right balance between protecting tenants and enabling landlords to exercise their right to justice.

  • Alan Whitehead – 2021 Comments on Government’s Fuel Poverty Strategy

    Alan Whitehead – 2021 Comments on Government’s Fuel Poverty Strategy

    The comments made by Alan Whitehead, the Shadow Minister for Energy, on 11 February 2021.

    After presiding over a decade of spiralling energy bills and rising fuel poverty, it’s welcome that this Government is now taking action – but today’s announcements won’t do enough to help families make ends meet.

    The Government urgently needs to act to bring energy costs down, fix its botched Green Homes Scheme, and provide more clarity on what it will do for regions such as the North East where disproportionate numbers live in fuel poverty.

    Fuel poverty can’t be separated from other types of deprivation, which this Government has consistently failed to tackle amidst rising costs and falling incomes for families during the pandemic.

    Labour would give families security by ensuring our energy market puts consumers first, bringing in proper measures to reduce bills, and providing warm homes for all.

  • Anneliese Dodds – 2021 Comments on British Business Recovery

    Anneliese Dodds – 2021 Comments on British Business Recovery

    The comments made by Anneliese Dodds, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 14 February 2021.

    Labour would rebuild Britain by backing businesses and supporting families through the crisis and then putting Britain on the path to growth.

    The Chancellor simply offers a return to the same, old policies that left the foundations of Britain’s economy weakened before the crisis. His economically illiterate plans to demand repayments next month risk crushing British business and our recovery under a mountain of debt. He would leave taxpayers on the hook for billions and other firms cash-strapped for years – leading to less investment and fewer jobs.

    Instead of pushing business to the brink, Labour’s plans would protect small firms and give larger ones flexible options to manage debt. We would help businesses get back on their feet, secure our economy and get Britain on the road to recovery.

  • Andy McDonald – 2021 Comments on Declaring Covid a Workplace Risk

    Andy McDonald – 2021 Comments on Declaring Covid a Workplace Risk

    The comments made by Andy McDonald, the Shadow Employment Rights and Protections Secretary, on 14 February 2021.

    The decision against classifying Covid as a ‘serious’ workplace risk has prevented enforcement action to keep workers and the public safe, contributing to the UK having the highest death rate in the world and the worst economic crisis of any major economy.

    It is staggering that inspectors have been denied the powers to close workplaces and prosecute employers. That the Health and Safety Executive has failed to close a single business for putting employees at risk of Covid despite more than 3,500 outbreaks at work, shows how workplace protections have been neglected through the pandemic.

    Inspectors ought to have the powers to keep workers’ safe and protect the public. Covid must be classified as a serious workplace risk.

  • Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Smart Motorways

    Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Smart Motorways

    The press release issued by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 12 February 2021.

    Labour urges Government to take action on smart motorways to prevent more deaths

    Labour has once again demanded the Government take action on smart motorways to prevent more fatalities, after it emerged Highways England could face charges over the death of a woman.

    During Transport Questions in the Commons last month Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, was called on by Labour’s Jim McMahon to “commit, the minute this session finishes, to pick up the phone and to issue the instruction to re-instate the hard shoulder on smart motorways because god forbid we’ll be here again reviewing more deaths if action isn’t taken”.

    It followed a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, on a smart motorway in 2019.

    McMahon, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, has written to the Government to ask again for the hard shoulder on smart motorways to be reinstated while promised safety reviews are ongoing.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Border Policy

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2021 Comments on Border Policy

    The comments made by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Shadow Home Secretary, on 12 February 2021.

    The UK government are clearly content to continue lurching from one crisis to another when it comes to border policy.

    They need – urgently – to move to a comprehensive hotel quarantine system, to protect against mutant strains of the virus and provide certainty. Continuing with this ‘red list’ approach will achieve neither.

  • Therese Coffey – 2021 Statement for Plan for Jobs

    Therese Coffey – 2021 Statement for Plan for Jobs

    The statement made by Therese Coffey, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the House of Commons on 8 February 2021.

    Our Plan for Jobs is an ambitious programme of job creation and support to help people of all ages move into work or gain the skills that will open up job opportunities. I would like to update the House on two of the schemes: SWAPs—our Sector-based Work Academy Programme, and our new Job Finding Support service, which went live across Great Britain on 11 January.

    SWAPs are helping people in England and Scotland to upskill, retrain and pivot towards surging sectors, including construction, infrastructure and social care to meet local labour markets and employer demand. SWAPs are not currently offered in Wales as there is a similar programme provided by the Welsh Government. Today I am pleased to inform the House that we are increasing the number of placements on the scheme to 80,000 for the upcoming financial year. This builds on the more than 40,000 starts we have already seen since last April.

    I am very excited about this expansion of SWAPs—it will mean work coaches can help many more people open the door to jobs they may not have previously considered and move back into work with new skills, work experience and a guaranteed interview for a job. They will join those who have already started roles through SWAPs, including in care worker jobs with Derby City Council, security roles with the Mercury Group and GMS Group in Birmingham, and banking jobs with Barclays and the Wise Group in Kilmarnock.

    These are just a few examples of how SWAPs is helping people gain the right skills and experience to support them into work following the impact of the pandemic and into the jobs employers and the country needs as we look to secure our national economic recovery.

    Job Finding Support also launched last month and has made rapid progress to help people quickly bounce back into work. The new digital support service is in operation across Great Britain and we expect this vital service to help up to 160,000 people over the course of the next 12 months.

    This new light-touch support, provided entirely online, is helping those who have become unemployed and claimed benefits within the past 13 weeks. Many of them will have worked in continuous employment for several years and will not have recent experience of applying for jobs, so Job Finding Support aims to address any skill gaps and help people move rapidly back into work.

    Participants receive a minimum of four hours’ flexible, personalised support, including a mock interview, and at least one digital online group session aiming to help identify their transferable skills and provide sector-specific job advice. Participants will also be helped to fine-tune their CV, with a Job Finding Action Plan tailored to their needs. Those who fulfil the eligibility and suitability criteria will be referred by Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches, on a voluntary basis.

    Our Plan for Jobs is a plan for everyone; creating the opportunity to level up the nation, the opportunity for hope, and the opportunity to build back better.

  • Priti Patel – 2021 Statement on the UK Terrorism Threat Level

    Priti Patel – 2021 Statement on the UK Terrorism Threat Level

    The statement made by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, in the House of Commons on 8 February 2021.

    On 4 February, the joint terrorism analysis centre (JTAC) lowered the UK national terrorism threat level from severe to substantial. This means that a terrorist attack is still likely.

    The decision to change the UK terrorism threat level is taken by JTAC independently of Ministers. JTAC keeps the threat level under constant review and conducts a formal review every six months. This is a systematic, comprehensive and rigorous process, based on the very latest intelligence and analysis of internal and external factors which drive the threat.

    The decision to lower the threat level from severe to substantial is due to the significant reduction in the momentum of attacks in Europe since those seen between September and November 2020. However, the UK national threat level is kept under constant review and is subject to change at any time.

    Terrorism remains one of the most direct and immediate risks to our national security. “Substantial” continues to indicate a high level of threat; and an attack on the UK is still likely. The public should continue to remain vigilant and report any concerns to the police.

    The Government, police and intelligence agencies continue to work tirelessly to address the threat posed by terrorism in all its forms and the threat level remains under constant review.

  • Kit Malthouse – 2021 Statement on the Deletion of PNC Records

    Kit Malthouse – 2021 Statement on the Deletion of PNC Records

    The statement made by Kit Malthouse, the Minister for Crime and Policing, in the House of Commons on 8 February 2021.

    Further to my statement to the House on the 18 January, this is an update on the work being carried out to recover the records deleted from the Police National Computer (PNC) in error.

    The Home Office is taking forward a four-phase plan to respond to the incident and recover the data:

    Phase 1 has been completed and involved using code to identify and extract the complete list of what had been deleted;

    Phase 2 has also been completed and involved analysis to establish an accurate list of the affected systems and records for each force;

    Phase 3 is ongoing involves recovering the data from the PNC and the IDENT1 (Fingerprint) and National DNA systems;

    Phase 4 will involve work to ensure we are deleting any data that should have been deleted as usual when this incident first began.

    Phases 1 and 2 of the work found that a total of 209,550 offence records have been wrongly deleted, which are associated to 112,697 persons’ records. Of these 15,089 individuals have had their data deleted in totality. Our analysis has identified that only 195 full fingerprint records were deleted, with all these records relating to cases over 10-years old. We have also confirmed that no records of convictions have been deleted. Our analysis shows that 99.5% of the deleted records were created prior to 2011.

    Phase 3 is now well under way and technicians are confident that all the data that has been deleted can be restored. Work to recover that data is moving forward as quickly as is possible, but it is vital that the data is restored safely to protect the integrity of the data. Our current assessment suggests that the work will take approximately 12 more weeks to complete, though clearly, we will accelerate this if we possibly can.

    While the data is incomplete, there is the possibility that law enforcement partners will not have access to records and information that could help progress their inquiries and investigations.

    Outlined below are details of such mitigation activities:

    First, they can search the Police National Database (PND). This is a national intelligence database that holds records of arrests of individuals and contains information that will allow law enforcement partners to judge whether there is biometric information or other key evidence missing from the affected systems. If missing data records are identified, then the investigating officers can request copies of biometric samples and arrest records from the owning organisations.

    Second, forces have a wide variety of local systems in place to log calls and to maintain custody records. These are frequently used as the primary system into which information is entered, before it is then integrated into PNC for national use.

    Third, the police can also continue to search other relevant national databases, such as the violent offender and sex offender register.

    Fourth, where an individual is suspected of a crime and the PNC confirms the existence of a duplicate set of fingerprints then officers can request the set of prints from the force who retain a hard copy.

    Fifth, if the police have enough evidence and they believe that the DNA of a suspect is required but cannot find any records on the PNC or other systems, they can arrest suspects and collect their DNA in line with their powers.

    Sixth, the Home Office, and our suppliers, have worked to make the incorrectly deleted DNA profiles available to policing while the full capability is restored. In order to deliver this mitigation, we have restored the DNA database backups to a temporary, secure location. We have made this data accessible to forces and national agencies this week and setup a business process has been created to enable matching in support of ongoing investigations. During this period all audit and legislative requirements will be met.

    Finally, the Home Secretary and I have commissioned an external review led by Lord Hogan-Howe to ensure the necessary lessons are learned to avoid similar incidents in the future.

    The review is expected to report by the middle of March. After the review has concluded and been considered by the Home Secretary, a summary will be placed in the Library of the House.

    We will provide a further update to the House in due course.