Thank you for inviting me here today and giving me the opportunity to speak on an issue that I know many of you here share my passion for – sport and physical activity and how we can all collectively work together to tackle inactivity and the associated problems.

I want to start by paying tribute to the work of local authorities in delivering sports and leisure services.

I recognise that this is a difficult time for Local Authorities and that tough decisions are having to be made in terms of services delivered due to challenging financial circumstances.

The vast majority of sporting activity in this country is delivered at a local level and it is extremely important that this support continues.

But I also know that many of you will argue on a regular basis with your finance directors as to why investment in sport and leisure is needed at a time when every other directorate may have what seems like a stronger hand.

The truth is that investment in leisure not only can reduce the burden on more expensive budgets but it also builds and bonds communties, and helps tackle social problems, hidden or otherwise, that can quietly eat away at the core of society until it is too late.

It is for this reason that when I looked at rewriting the Sports Strategy we looked to local government and DCLG first to get initial thoughts. How you deliver what we wanted for the next ten years was going to be key. When I did media straight after one of the recurring questions was but government has cut local authority budgets…but my answer was always good local authorities get it. They get why this is important. And yes of course it may be delivered differently across the country, that is what local government is about, but not tackling inactivity by not providing sport and leisure services in an accessible and affordable way only stores up more expensive problems for councils down the road.

Your agenda today deals with much of this so I won’t repeat what they will say and instead outline some of the key points from the Sports Strategy, two years old next week.

The Sports Strategy was not about getting the active more active. Instead it stressed the importance of getting the inactive, active, and set out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation.

It marked a big shift in the way we think about promoting, supporting and investing in sport and physical activity. It emphasised that we as a government, and a country, need to think more broadly about the benefits that getting active can bring.

We set out 5 key outcomes that we want to strive towards and that we want to see delivered in return for government support and investment. These were: * physical wellbeing; * mental wellbeing; * individual development; * social and community development; and * economic development.

I’m committed to making sure that these outcomes drive everything we do, and I’m pleased with how government and the sport and physical activity sector has responded to the challenge so far.

So what have we achieved?

On physical wellbeing Sport England has committed to spending at least a quarter of its total budget on tackling inactivity.

Sport England will be devoting much of its focus to supporting those groups who have been traditionally underrepresented to get more active.

For example, their Active Ageing Fund will invest up to £10 million into projects that help inactive older people get active.

Their Tackling Inactivity and Economic Disadvantage Fund is investing £3 million to support inactive people from lower socio-economic groups.

And their Tackling Inactivity in Colleges programme will invest £5 million in 49 colleges across England to help students be more active.

We’ve sought to tackle what people often feel is an artificial distinction between sport and physical activity. Not everyone likes the idea of playing sport. It provides an automatic barrier to many either because they think it is about getting sweaty or muddy or uber competitive. Or maybe people think they are too old for sport. Or not interested in team activities. But physical activity is different. Take what many of you already invest in – the health walks. I went on one locally and not a single person thought they were doing sport but through their hour long walk they were certainly doing something active and their physical well being was vastly improved as a consequence.

What matters is that people are getting active in a way that suits them and that makes them more likely to continue being active in future.

Mental wellbeing, the second outcome we are aiming to achieve with our strategy, is just as important as physical wellbeing.

And funding is already going to organisations that show they can best deliver this outcome, for example Sport England have invested a significant amount of government and National Lottery funding in mental health projects such as Mind’s Get Set to Go programme.

Get Set to Go has supported over 3,500 people to become active in local communities, and trained over 300 coaches and leaders in mental health awareness for sport and physical activity.

We encourage sports and mental health organisations to continue to work together to drive work in this area, improving mental health through sport and physical activity and changing lives for the better.

In terms of the third and fourth outcomes of our strategy, the impact sport and physical activity can have on individual and community development is significant.

We know there is a great deal of excellent work going on locally to demonstrate the impact of sport and physical activity.

I have seen the results first hand visiting a number of projects across the country which are using physical activity and sport to bring communities together and engage those who are less likely to be active.

For example I recently visited a project in Milton Keynes called MK SNAP, which is using sport and physical activity to help those with learning difficulties. Activities like yoga are really making a difference to improve the quality of the participants’ lives.

I have visited Active Norfolk’s Mobile Me project focusing on over 65s. It is designed to address barriers to participation identified by this age group, and take physical activity interventions into sheltered housing and residential care homes.

I’ve also been to Crawley Old Girls, a female football development group organised by the Crawley Town Community Foundation and the Football League Trust Female Football Development Programme.

Weekly sessions are held for women aged 40 and over, who have an interest and passion for football and who may not have had the opportunity to participate before.

And in Worcester I met Disability Sport Worcester, who specialise in creating and running sporting events, clubs and activities for children and adults with disabilities.

Of course, sport is also a significant contributor to the UK economy – and economic impact is the fifth of our key outcomes I referred to earlier. I see you have an agenda item later today about how sport can boost the visitor economy. I can’t stay for the session but I can give you a little nationwide taster…

In the UK, sport was valued at £35 billion in terms of Gross Value Added in 2015.

And as well as major events, grassroots sport contributes hugely too. People who follow sporting trends and buy the latest gear or purchase gym memberships also play their part.

It is important that we continue to build and capitalise on the economic growth of the sector.

However, there is still plenty of work to do in order to fully implement all of the actions set out in Sporting Future and the role for Local Authorities in delivering sport provision will continue to be crucial.

Local Authorities are the biggest public sector investor in sport and physical activity, spending over £1bn a year.

Your understanding and knowledge of communities is vital in targeting opportunities to encourage participation and designing services to suit.

You also have responsibilities that span wider policy areas which can have a significant impact on the physical activity of the local population, including management of rights of way, parks and other green spaces.

With increasingly devolved funding and opportunities for place based working we are keen to see innovative ways of engaging communities in sport and physical activity.

We must make sure that all investment into sporting and leisure facilities is well considered and provides an offer that is demand-based and led by the needs of the customer. We are working closely with Sport England and ukactive on their proposal to co-locate community services with sport and leisure facilities to encourage more people to participate in sport and physical activity.

I am keen that we continue to drive the development of local solutions to inactivity, with ideas like this.

With this in mind, it is my great pleasure to announce that 12 areas have now been confirmed as the Sport England Local Delivery Pilots. The full list is being published this morning but includes Bradford, Essex, Doncaster and Withernsea.

The aim of these pilots is to trial new and innovative ways of increasing participation in sport and physical activity at the local level and to make sure that this increase is sustained over time.

It’s about whole system change involving all local agencies, including small third sector organisations that work in the heart of these often disadvantaged communities we need to reach.

Sport England will be investing up to 100 million pounds over the next four years across these 12 areas to support this ambition. They will also be investing staff resource in working with the pilot areas.

This is going to be a huge challenge. We know that too often, investment in a particular project or place can yield a short term result but that as soon as the money stops, the gains can fade.

We want these pilots to be different.

We must make sure that we learn from the pilots, that we scale up what works in other areas and that we learn from what does not work so well.

The areas chosen as pilots include a good mix of urban, rural and coastal areas and a good geographic spread. This is deliberate, and will help the sharing and scaling up of learning across different areas.

This is a long term programme and Sport England will be working closely with these areas over the next four years.

We are not going to see results overnight, however this is a very important step in the right direction and Sport England will be monitoring progress carefully, as will I.

So in conclusion I would like to again take this opportunity to thank all of you for the huge part you already play in getting the nation active and I look forward to working with you to ensure Sporting Future is fully implemented and embedded in every community across the country. It is not going to all work overnight but with the right strategic direction in place and the will and enthusiasm of people like you I genuinely believe we can deliver the outcome of creating a fitter healthier nation for years to come.

Romanian national Claudiu Pricope was stopped by Border Force officers at the UK inward tourist controls at the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles on 4 November. When asked what he was carrying in his Seat Alhambra, Pricope was vague, saying that it was clothing, but that he did not know where it was from, where it was going or who it was for.

Unsatisfied with his responses, Border Force officers subjected the vehicle to further examination.

Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe, said:

The car appeared to be full of bags of clothes, however when officers opened a rear side door and began removing the bags they found a 2 person tent, fully erected in the void where the rear passenger seats should have been. Inside the tent were crammed 5 people.

The temperature inside the tent was intense. All 5 of the teenagers were drenched in sweat, but people smugglers care little about the conditions in which they transport their human cargo, often putting the lives of others at risk.

The Vietnamese nationals, 2 males and 3 females, were passed to the French Police Aux Frontières and Pricope, 29, of no fixed UK address, was arrested. The investigation was passed to Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation officers and Pricope was subsequently charged with assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.

Pricope pleaded guilty yesterday (4 December) at a pre-trial hearing at Canterbury Crown Court and was sentenced there immediately.

Assistant Director David Fairclough, from the Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation team, said:

This was not an opportunistic offence, but a carefully planned attempt to circumvent the UK’s immigration rules. Pricope misguidedly believed that zipping the people into a tent would defeat Border Force, but all it achieved was to subject them to uncomfortable conditions.

We work closely with Border Force colleagues to rigorously investigate allegations of immigration related criminality and this case should serve as a warning to anyone tempted to get involved with this kind of offending. We will catch you, and put you before the courts.

Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

The CMA has accepted new undertakings from the NHBC on structural warranties, an insurance that protects against potential defects in new buildings.

Loyd, thank you for that introduction.

I am delighted to be here this morning, to celebrate with all of you our shared commitment to our heritage and historic environment.

And to launch my Heritage Statement.

I am particularly pleased to be here in this wonderful, historic, Grade I listed building, the home of the Royal Society of Arts since 1774.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the listing system. And Historic England’s website tells me that this building was first listed in 1958.

As you will know, Historic England is encouraging people to enrich the list by adding new information about listed buildings and places. So this morning I took the opportunity to enrich the list myself, by noting that in this building on the 5th December 2017, a certain John Glen launched the 2017 Heritage Statement. A historic moment indeed!

My Heritage Statement sets out our direction and priorities for heritage in the coming years. It builds on the commitments we made in last year’s Culture White Paper.

It links our agenda for heritage to our wider agendas and strategies: for industry, for regeneration and placemaking, for skills, for the environment, and for an internationalist, outward-looking Britain.

And it focuses on areas where we in government can help to support all of you in the heritage sector and add value to the fantastic work that you are all doing to conserve, protect and promote our heritage.

All of us in this room understand the value of heritage. But there are people who question why we are devoting government resources and public money to heritage when there are so many other pressing issues for us to address.

My Statement seeks to set out just why this government sees heritage as such an important national priority.

Our heritage is an integral part of every community. It is there in the places where we live, work and visit. It provides employment for thousands of people, and learning, training and volunteering opportunities for thousands more. It is part of what makes this country so attractive to international businesses and tourists.

We must continue to make the case for heritage and demonstrate how investing in our heritage and historic environment benefits our economy, our communities, our wellbeing and our quality of life.

Across the country there are some fantastic examples of heritage and historic buildings being restored and placed back at the heart of their local communities, attracting business and tourism. We must celebrate these places and use them to show what can be achieved.

Since being appointed as Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism earlier this year, I have travelled around the country and seen just a small fraction of our nation’s heritage and the amazing work being done to protect and promote it.

I have been struck by the sheer variety of our heritage. And I have been impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm of the many people – specialists, professionals and volunteers – who care for and promote our heritage.

I was very disappointed not to be able to attend Historic England’s Angel Awards last month. They recognise inspiring and dedicated individuals and groups who have achieved fantastic results rescuing our heritage and telling its story. From the restoration of historic places to innovative projects delivered by and for young people, the breadth and impact of these initiatives is truly awesome.

The overall winner this year – the magnificent Piece Hall in Halifax, which is featured as a case study in the Heritage Statement – is a superb example of a historic place being restored and brought back into use for the benefit of local people and local businesses, as well as a magnet for visitors.

Historic England’s Heritage Action Zones are demonstrating how our heritage can help to create economic growth and improve the quality of life in our villages, towns and cities. In Hull, which has had an amazing year as UK City of Culture 2017, the Heritage Action Zone will help to ensure that part of the legacy of 2017 is seen in the city’s physical environment.

In 2021 another city will benefit from being UK City of Culture. I will announce on Thursday which city that will be. Don’t ask me today which city has been chosen – I haven’t been told yet!

I have, however, been informed of the next group of places to become Heritage Action Zones. I am delighted to say that there are eight of them, and I am extremely pleased to be able to announce them today.

These places had to beat off very stiff competition to be selected as Heritage Action Zones. They will benefit from working in partnership with Historic England, receiving expertise, advice and grant funding, as well as working closely with other local partners, to unleash the power of their local historic environment. I hope that they will prove to be an excellent vehicle for investment by others as well as Historic England.

The eight new Heritage Action Zones are: Bishop Auckland, Dewsbury Living Market Town, Greater Grimsby, North Lowestoft Heritage Quarter, Rochdale Town Centre, Stockton and Darlington Railway, Stoke-on-Trent, and Walworth in Southwark.

I am also announcing today that we are working with Historic England to launch a new scheme to enable local communities to identify, mark and celebrate the events, people and places that are important to them. The events that helped to shape their communities. The people who left their mark on history. And the places where history was made.

This new scheme will include a competition to design a plaque or marker to share these stories.

It will encourage more people to find out about the heritage around them and the history of the places where they live and work. It will help to create local pride and an increased sense of belonging. And, by encouraging communities to make the most of the heritage and history on their doorsteps, it will offer more opportunities for increased tourism, employment and economic growth.

And continuing with the announcements, I can also announce today a new World Heritage Wall to Wall Collaboration linking our Hadrian’s Wall experts with their Great Wall of China counterparts.

This collaboration is part of the UK – China People to People dialogue. It is a perfect example of the global significance of heritage and how it can be used to strengthen our international partnerships, grow tourism and build a truly global Britain.

There has – rightly – been concern recently over loss or damage to buildings while they are being considered for listing. This is unacceptable and I recognise that we need to protect our heritage while the formal process of listing is in progress. So we are working with our partners to identify the best way to provide appropriate protection while respecting the rights of owners and developers.

A priority for me, over the next few years, will be to ensure that heritage is properly considered in all aspects of the government’s policy-making.

To help me in this, I am planning to set up a Heritage Council. I intend to invite senior representatives from those Departments whose policies have an impact on heritage and the historic environment to join the Council, as well as representatives from the heritage sector.

The Council will be a forum for discussing current issues, finding solutions, promoting best practice and supporting co-operation across the heritage sector and between the public, private and voluntary sectors.

A major part of the Chancellor’s recent Budget focussed on housing and the need to provide more homes across the country. You may also have heard about proposals to review the planning regime. Let me assure you that I will be in close contact with the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure that the opportunities which our heritage provides for placemaking, as well as the need to protect the historic environment, are factored in at all stages, as these initiatives proceed. The new Heritage Council will play a key role in helping me to do this.

In the six months I have been in office, I have been hugely impressed by the innovative and imaginative ways in which old buildings are being put to new uses, combined with creative ways to fund them and make them sustainable. But I know that rescuing and breathing new life into historic places is not easy. We need to work together to identify the issues and barriers and to find solutions, so that our historic environment can continue to contribute to our economy and society. My new Heritage Council can help to drive this shared ambition forward.

I know that many of you have concerns about the amount of VAT charged on the repair and maintenance of historic buildings, and about other aspects of the tax system as it applies to heritage and the historic environment.

I want to assure you that I hear and understand those concerns. Whilst tax and fiscal changes are challenging at the best of times, I will continue to work with the Treasury to keep under review the scope for possible changes.

And I would ask that you work together across the sector to identify the changes which are most important to you and to build the strongest possible evidence base to help make the case for those changes.

That evidence base will also help to support and justify further investment and policy measures for our heritage. It will provide a firm basis for funding and investment, not only by government but by private funders and investors.

The National Lottery has generated billions of pounds in funding for heritage – over £7.7 billion since 1994. But I am sure you are all aware of the financial challenge to be faced due to falling lottery receipts. I am confident that the heritage sector can rise to this challenge and find new, innovative sources of funding. My new Heritage Council can help to identify and promote new ways of raising funding and investment.

Finally, I started by referring to the RSA, who are hosting us today in this magnificent place. I would like to end by mentioning our other host – the Heritage Alliance, who have organised this event.

I have talked today about collaboration and partnership working. Fortunately, the heritage sector already has many fantastic examples of excellent partnerships. And the Heritage Alliance is another great example of that. I commend the work of the Heritage Alliance. We are very fortunate to have Loyd, Lizzie and the rest of the team doing the great work that they do for our heritage and for the heritage sector.

Our heritage is a precious part of our country. My Heritage Statement sets out issues we need to address and measures we need to take to ensure that current and future generations can enjoy and benefit from it.

As we take forward the priorities and ambitions set out in the Heritage Statement, we will need your engagement, advice and your support.

I look forward to working with you all on this.

Independent research with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds has found that the majority feel there are barriers to them being successful in business.

Called ‘Ideas mean business: views on innovation among young, disadvantaged adults’, the report was commissioned by Innovate UK, in partnership with The Prince’s Trust. It is based on research conducted by YouGov, which lays bare that:

• 82% of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds view the business sector as difficult to access
• 4 in 5 (78%) wouldn’t know where to go to get advice about setting up a business, with the main barrier being a lack of funding (79%)
• just 8% would describe themselves as entrepreneurial

Yet, despite being aware of the challenges, many of those questioned had high ambitions:

• more than half (54%) would like to run their own company
• 39% have ideas for products and services they think they could sell

Ideas Mean Business

Ideasmeanbusiness launch event

To help more young adults make their ideas a success, Innovate UK and The Prince’s Trust are launching a national campaign to find the next generation of UK innovators, and provide them with support, advice and funding.

The programme – Ideas Mean Business – is open to 18 to 30-year-olds from a range of backgrounds. We are inviting young adults with ideas to fix everyday problems, make changes in their community or tackle environmental issues to take part.

A series of regional innovation events will run through January 2018 to help anyone interested to develop their ideas. The competition will then open in February 2018, with the award package being presented in March 2018.

Advice, support and inspiration

Dr Ruth McKernan CBE, Chief Executive of Innovate UK, says:

There are young people from all walks of life across the UK who have great ideas. But for some there are barriers that stop those innovations becoming a reality.

A little advice, finding the right support and inspiration to succeed can make all the difference. By focusing on young people from diverse backgrounds and motivating them to see how their ideas mean business, we hope to unearth the UK’s future innovators.

Lindsay Owen, Director of Policy and Evaluation at The Prince’s Trust, adds:

For thousands of young people across the UK, starting their own business could be a viable route to success, and a sustainable income for themselves and their families.

Although many of these young people are evidently brimming with ideas and entrepreneurial spirit, a lack of confidence they can succeed appears to be holding them back.

While their concerns are understandable, in fact, their worries are unfounded; funding and support are available to help get new business ideas off the ground. The underlying problem, therefore, appears to be a lack of knowledge about what support is out there.

We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Innovate UK because with the right support from organisations like ours and from government, there is no limit to how much these young people can achieve.

Campaign launch

Investor, entrepreneur and ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, Deborah Meaden officially launched the campaign today at a pop-up coffee shop in Angel, London.

Young people were invited to attend and speak with business mentors and experts, including successful young innovators such as 19-year-old entrepreneur Ben Towers.

Deborah Meaden, explains:

Young people represent our future, so to describe their engagement in business and innovation as crucial is no overstatement.

With the new research from Innovate UK and The Prince’s Trust highlighting the scale of their disengagement and sense of mistrust, it is clear we need to urgently re-frame the business and innovation landscape as one that is open and inclusive of ideas that come from anywhere and from anyone. I believe the campaign will be hugely successful in welcoming in the next generation of UK innovators.

Commenting on the campaign, Science Minister, Jo Johnson said:

The UK is one of the most innovative countries in the world and in order to continue this global leadership we need to inspire the next generation of inventors. The initiative will do exactly that, helping our young innovators make their ideas a reality.

In our Industrial Strategy, we pledged to break down the barriers preventing talent from growing. This will enable us to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to take their innovative ideas to the next level and prepare them for the technologically driven future that awaits.