A new independent body responsible for challenging social injustices and creating a fairer country has been announced today by Prime Minister Theresa May.

The Office for Tackling Injustices (OfTI) will present future Governments with more effective, data-driven, evidence-based challenge to help drive forward reforms to tackle wide-ranging disparities in society.

Following the approach taken by the Race Disparity Audit which uses data to analyse how a person’s ethnicity affects their experiences of public services, the new body will use data and analysis to find out what the key barriers are for specific groups and gather data that is currently unreliable or simply not available.

The OfTI will look at disparities in areas including socio-economic background, ethnicity, gender, disability and sexual orientation and explore if specific groups of people are unfairly discriminated against or held back from getting on in life.

For example, the body will use data to drive Government to look at gender and disability inequalities in the workplace and in housing. Women, who generally enter the workplace with higher qualifications than men, are paid less at entry level and only 32% of disabled private renters said their accommodation was suitable.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Deep-seated societal injustice requires a long-term focus and cannot be eliminated overnight.

Since becoming Prime Minister, I have challenged the injustices which still exist in our society through the power of data – from our world-leading gender pay gap reporting to the Race Disparity Unit – and I have demanded that if disparities cannot be explained, they must be changed.

I am proud of what we have achieved to make the UK a more just society. But there is more to be done now and in the years to come, if we are truly to say that this is a country which works for everyone – no matter who they are or where they’re from.

That’s why the Office for Tackling Injustices will go further, using the power of data, gathered from extensive sources, to shine a spotlight on key injustices and provide the catalyst for better policy solutions. By holding Government and wider society to account, we can create lasting change.

Minister for Women and Equalities, Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt said:

We know that high quality data and evidence are important tools in tackling inequality. We need to know how well we are tackling injustice and the impact on people’s lives.

The Office of Tackling Injustices will provide that accountability in the new Cabinet Office equalities hub at the heart of government. Sitting alongside the world-leading Race Disparity Unit, the Government Equalities Office and the Office for Disability, it will be an important part of work to drive change throughout Whitehall and improve lives across the country.

Maria Miller, Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee said:

I’m delighted that the Government is taking seriously its commitment to this agenda. The sorts of social justice issues the Prime Minister has highlighted require a sustained focus based on good evidence. The Women and Equalities Select Committee welcomed the approach taken by the Race Disparity Audit and I hope the Office for Tackling Injustices can take this further – with additional independent challenge.

Ruth Hunt, Chief Executive of Stonewall said:

We’re really pleased that the Government is making this commitment to improve the data we have on the challenges facing LGBT communities. Reliable data on the experience of LGBT people is scarce, and there are huge difficulties gathering it. The Office for Tackling Injustice will give us a clearer picture of the barriers and better enable us to act against the discrimination LGBT people still face.

Simon Woolley OBE, Director of Operation Black Vote and Chairman of the Race Disparity Audit said:

As the Office for Budget Responsibility acts as an independent watchdog over the public finances, so will the Office for Tackling Injustices objectively assess the Government’s progress towards social justice.

I will do all I can to support and champion this new Office, which I believe will become a shining beacon that not only shines necessary lights on those injustices the Prime Minister cares about such as gender equality, social mobility and race inequality, but also a powerful bulwark for change.

Three revolutionary new tools will be rolled out to improve the capability of the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID), in a huge boost to bring child sexual abusers to justice and safeguard victims.

The Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced forces across the UK will have access to new tools, which will speed up investigations of online child abuse and limit the number of indecent images of children (IIOC) police officers have to view.

CAID is a single database of IIOC which enables UK law enforcement to work collaboratively to safeguard children and bring people to justice.

The new tools to be phased in following successful trials are:

• a fast-forensic tool to rapidly analyse seized devices and find images already known to law enforcement

• an image categorisation algorithm to assist officers to identify and categorise the severity of illegal imagery

• a capability to detect images with matching scenes to help identify children in indecent images in order to safeguard victims

The Home Secretary was also shown tech demonstrations of the new capabilities.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Vile predators who are creating, viewing or sharing indecent imagery of children are constantly adapting their tactics to evade capture. We must move at the same pace and evolve to ensure we catch these paedophiles, bring them to justice and protect vulnerable victims.

This game-changing tech will help us do this and will be vital in the fight against online child abusers.

CAID was first introduced to police forces from December 2014. There are currently 13 million images on CAID and the number grows on average by half a million every two months. The Home Office has invested £18.2 million into the programme since 2014, with the new innovations costing £1.76 million.

The fast-forensic tool will allow a rapid analysis of a device against images on CAID, which will significantly free up police time. For example, with the new tech a 1TB drive would take just 30 minutes to process, when previously it would take up to 24 hours.

Officers currently grade up to 200 images an hour from grade ‘C’ to ‘A’ for the most extreme form of IIOC. The image-categoriser will sort these before officers have to see them and see up to 2,000 images an hour graded. While police officers will have to look at the images it is hoped this is the first step to use computers to relieve investigators of the psychological pressures of viewing the imagery.

The Home Office is currently discussing with the Senior Judiciary and stakeholders on how machine grading can be used in future prosecutions to lessen the burden on officers.

The third innovation will help identify victims using scene matching technology in indecent images of children.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Child Protection, Chief Constable Simon Bailey said:

There have been year on year increases in reports of people accessing indecent images of children and as a service, we are searching more properties, arresting more suspects and safeguarding more children than ever before.

The improvements to the Child Abuse Image Database will enable us to catch more offenders, rescue more children from harm and reduce the pressure and trauma on our officers from having to review every image manually.

Accessing indecent imagery of children is not a victimless crime. The images depict the worst possible forms of child abuse and those who access them create a market for further images to be produced.

Benjamin Gancz, Qumodo’s CEO said:

The level and extremity of this content can be truly harrowing to investigate. Current practices expose police officers and content moderators to it for unnecessarily long periods of time with very little support. By teaming up with an AI we can moderate this exposure and identify when staff may be struggling.

This will provide an entirely new capability to the world of child protection and forensics. We are proud to have developed a product that will directly support the police and help to safeguard children in the future.

The tools were developed in partnership between the CAID Innovation Lab and UK-based companies Qumodo, Vigil AI and Cyan Forensics as part of the government’s efforts to tackle all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA).

Last month the Home Secretary announced the government would be publishing a Child Sexual Abuse strategy to drive the improvement in tackling offenders and supporting victims, both online and offline.

In April the government launched its Online Harms White Paper, which sets out ways to keep children safe online, including imposing a statutory duty of care on tech companies, enforced by an independent regulator.

Interim codes of practice being drawn up, which the Home Office will also expect the future regulator to include in its code of practice, are likely to include the reasonable steps companies should take to proactively identify and act upon CSEA activity or content, including within live streams.

Other actions include:

• £550,000 funding for new technologies to identify and disrupt livestreamed CSEA

• A Home Office-consortium gave £635,000 to the Marie Collins Foundation to help tackle CSEA at source internationally

• Convened advertisers to discuss how advertising is inadvertently funding sites with CSEA content, including live streams

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns promoted international property investment opportunities worth £1.19 billion across Wales at MIPIM’s UK launch event at the Old Bailey on Thursday 11 July.

In March this year, the UK Government announced six Welsh investment opportunities at the main MIPIM international property exhibition in Cannes.

International investors and leaders from each of the six Welsh projects gathered to discuss the opportunities which range in sectors from tourism to city regeneration and business and are spread across Wales from Anglesey to Milford Haven and Barry Island.

Speaking at the event, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said:

Each project within this portfolio demonstrates some of our strengths and highlights what makes our beautiful, resourceful country such an attractive destination for investment and business.

Investors in Wales will benefit from the support of all levels of government and our vision for Wales is the same. We strive for a global Wales which nurtures homegrown business, industry and enterprise while supporting those who choose to come to Wales create jobs and support our economy.

Trade Policy Minister, George Hollingbery said:

The UK remains the leading destination for Foreign Direct Investment in Europe and we are committed to attracting investment into all four corners of the UK, including Wales.

The UK government’s new Wales portfolio offers an array of exciting opportunity for international investors, creating hundreds of jobs in Wales and will help showcase the UK as an innovative and open place to do business.

The projects in the Wales portfolio are:

• Cardiff: a mixed office and multi-storey car park development in Cardiff Central Quay

• Milford Waterfront: a leisure-focused development in Milford Haven

• Barry Island: Nells Point; a beachside tourism development on Barry Island

• Swansea: Phase 2 of a mixed development in Swansea Central The four new projects will be combined with two existing projects in Anglesey North Wales.

• Anglesey: Menter Môn is offering an opportunity for investment into the development of a £35 million marine energy infrastructure facility.

• Anglesey: Development of an 80-hectare holiday village development along the north east coastline of Holy Island, Anglesey.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

2015 to 2019 FCO, Leader of Modern Slavery Campaign and Joint Head of Human Rights Policy Unit, Multilateral Policy Directorate 2009 to 2015 Santo Domingo, Her Majesty’s Ambassador, and Non-Resident Ambassador to Haiti 2006 to 2009 Budapest, Deputy Head of Mission 2006 Budapest, First Secretary – EU/Economic and Communications 2002 to 2006 Caracas, Deputy Head of Mission 2001 to 2002 FCO, Head of Communications, European Union Department 1998 to 2001 FCO, Head of Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Section, Eastern Department 1995 to 1998 Singapore, Second Secretary – Economic/Commercial and Communications 1993 to 1995 FCO, Desk Officer, Single Market, European Union Department

Lord Neuberger, Chair of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts, and Amal Clooney, Deputy Chair of the Panel, today announced the composition of the independent High Level Panel of Legal Experts. The panel will convene for the first time at the Global Conference to Defend Media Freedom.

The High Level Panel is an independent body convened at the request of the UK and Canadian governments and chaired by Lord Neuberger, former President of the UK Supreme Court.

Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said:

Stemming the tide of violence against journalists requires political will, diplomatic pressure and a legal framework to support countries to improve.

The independent High Level Panel of Experts consists of the best legal minds from across the globe. Together they will develop and promote legal mechanisms to help prevent and reverse media abuses.

International human rights lawyer and Special Envoy on Media Freedom, Amal Clooney said:

The High Level Panel of Legal Experts brings together leading international experts on media freedom, including judges, lawyers and academics, from all over the world. I look forward to working alongside them to develop and advance legal frameworks that can help to protect media freedom around the world.

The independent High Level Panel of Legal Experts will examine legal and policy initiatives that states can adopt to improve media freedom including by:

• proposing legal and other initiatives that can be taken by governments to ensure existing international obligations relating to media freedom are enforced
• advising on any new international commitments by governments that would help to prevent and reverse media abuses
• supporting governments to repeal legislation that is outdated or restricts media freedom
• promoting best practice and model legislation to protect a vibrant free press

The Global Campaign for Media Freedom aims to shine a spotlight on media abuses and reverse the trend of violence against journalists.

The High Level Panel of Legal Experts are:

• Lord David Neuberger, UK (Chair)
• The Honourable Irwin Cotler, Canada
• Hina Jilani, Pakistan
• Dario Milo, South Africa
• Amal Clooney, UK (Deputy Chair)
• Sarah Cleveland, US
• Baroness Helena Kennedy, UK
• Nadim Houry, Lebanon
• Can Yeğinsu, Turkey/UK
• Karuna Nundy, India
• Galina Arapova, Russia
• Justice Manuel José Cepeda Espinosa, Colombia
• Professor Kyung-Sin Park, South Korea
• Baroness Françoise Tulkens, Belgium
• Ms Catherine Anite, Uganda
• Judge Robert D. Sack, US

Background

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Further information