Tag Archives: HM Government

London is one of my favourite cities to travel through. I love the architecture, the history and the throng of the crowd. But today’s route really made me stop and think. My journey started near Parliament, and from there I drove over Westminster Bridge, past Borough Market and through London Bridge, and this year, these places of course have taken on a new significance.

We’ve witnessed terrorist attacks at these sites and Manchester Arena, Finsbury Park and Parsons Green. On each occasion police officers responded with exemplary skill and bravery – working long hours and putting themselves in harm’s way to keep others safe. We will never forget the heroism of PC Keith Palmer who was fatally stabbed while defending our Parliament.

So today I want to start by saying thank you to all of you who have played your part and I know it’s been utterly exhausting.

I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my deepest condolences and sympathy to the victims and families who have lost loved ones in New York in such a vile and cowardly act of terrorism. Our thoughts are with you at this most difficult time.

The day after the Parsons Green attack, I met officers who had been part of the response team. I could see what a strain events like this put on emergency services. And in Manchester, I met the team of detectives who are working tirelessly to investigate the Manchester Arena bombing. It’s true that in all jobs there are bad days at work, but there’s few which involve confronting terrorists.

But I’m not here today to talk about terrorism – horrific as it is. What I want to talk about is local policing and how best to fight the day to day crime which blights people’s lives.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales, acknowledged by the ONS as our best measure of long term crime trends, shows there’s been a substantial 9% fall in crime over the last year – and a 38% drop since 2010. This has led to more confidence in the police with latest figures showing that 78% of people now have confidence in their local force.

But we also know that police-recorded crime had gone up by 13% this past year. This reflects continued improvements in crime recording and an increased willingness of victims to report crime. However, it also reflects a genuine increase in some specific crime types including homicides, knife crime and firearms offences.

Types of crime which ruin lives and cause irrevocable damage to families and communities.

We all need to account for, and find solutions to, these worrying rises.

But behind these national rises are huge local variations.

Take the example of police recorded knife crime for instance. While in the year to June 2017 it was up by 36% in the Metropolitan Police area, it was down 16% in the Greater Manchester Police Force area. During this same period, the East of England has seen a 19% drop in homicides, whereas the East Midlands has seen a 35% rise.

Local policing can make a difference. You’re probably tired of Conservative Home Secretaries standing here and saying the Home Office doesn’t run policing.

But it’s crucial. You are the ones who are responsible for cutting crime and delivering an effective and efficient police service for your local area.

Of course, part of being a Police and Crime Commissioner is about speaking to the government about resourcing. But it mustn’t just be about lobbying the government for money.

It needs to be about cutting crime, delivering on the priorities you were elected on and being held to account by local people in your area when you don’t.

So when crime statistics go up, I don’t just want to see you reaching for a pen to write a press release asking for more money from the government. I want you to tell your local communities and the victims in your area what your plan is to make them safer.

Because policing can make a difference.

Just as we at the Home Office will set out what we are doing to make the country safer.

Because we do still have a role to play. Giving you the powers you need. Supporting you when you need to be supported. Challenging you when you need to be challenged. And yes, in making sure you have the right resources.

When it comes to powers, I hope you, as police leaders, feel we are responding to the recent changes in crime. Because as crime changes, the powers you need are changing too.

Following the worrying recent rise in violent crimes, we’re taking action. We’ve recently published our consultation outlining how we’re intending to crack down on violent crime and offensive weapons. This will be complemented next year by the publication of a new strategy to combat serious violence.

We’re going to prevent children purchasing knives online and we’re going to stop people carrying acid in public if they don’t have a good reason. And as I outlined at the Conservative Party Conference, the sale of acids to under 18s will be banned and the public sale of sulphuric acid dramatically limited.

Attacks with knives and acid ruin lives. Confidence and happiness can be lost forever.

We need to make sure that the thugs who think of attempting these horrible acts are stopped before they are able to realise their hateful ambitions – and that they face the full force of the law.

And on stop and search.

I know there are those who think it’s a controversial tactic, and I know it has been badly used in the past.

But figures show that stop and search reforms are working. The stop-to-arrest rate has risen and once again is the highest on record. The new data published as part of the ‘best use of stop and search’ scheme shows that around two-thirds of searches result in some kind of police action.

It is my belief that stop and search is a useful tool for the police, especially to target rising levels of knife crime and acid attacks, and that you should have the confidence to use it where necessary. My message to you today is that officers who use stop and search appropriately will always have my full support.

However, let me be quite clear. No-one should be stopped because of their race or ethnicity. Locally, where there are racial disparities in the use of stop and search, chief constables will still need to explain these.

Because if stop and search is misused, then it is counter-productive and, more importantly, it damages confidence in policing.

And when you tell me you need additional powers, it’s my job to listen carefully.

You said that officers have concerns about pursuing and apprehending moped-riding criminals. You explained that some officers worry about their legal position when pursuing suspected offenders when they’re on mopeds or scooters.

So we’ve listened and we’re taking action. We’re reviewing the law and practice regarding police pursuits. We want to make sure officers feel they have the legal protection they need to go after moped and scooter gangs. And I can announce today that we will finish the review early next year.

My officials at the Home Office are working with the police, including the Police Federation as well as the IPCC and other criminal justice agencies, to do this. But I can say today that there will be change. Officers have said they don’t feel confident they will be supported if they pursue a criminal on a moped. These criminals terrorise our streets, intimidating people into giving over their phones or wallets and leaving many too scared to walk outside their front doors. I don’t want any officer to feel that they cannot pursue someone like this because they have taken their helmet off. We will always support the police and officers, not the criminals who commit these awful crimes on our streets.

But the job of the Home Office isn’t just to give new powers; it’s also about providing support, constructive challenge and ideas.

Because police reform is not an objective which left the Home Office when Theresa May did. And whilst policing is in a much better state now than it was in 2010, there’s still work to be done and that work is easier to do when we collaborate.

I’m really pleased that in the policing vision 2025, you’ve set out a transformative programme for yourselves. My department is committed – and stands ready – to do whatever it takes to support you with these plans. This includes making our expertise and resources available to the Police Reform and Transformation Board where helpful, for example to help them address commercial, procurement or programme management issues.

We also want to help you further professionalise the sector. That’s why we continue to work alongside the College of Policing. We are putting in place multiple reforms in this area, such as the Policing Education Qualifications Framework, to ensure that policing continues to develop its existing workforce and attract the best recruits. We are also establishing the Licence to Practise Scheme to give those who operate in the most high risk and high harm areas the correct skills and training to do so.

We’re also supporting those of you in the audience who want to deliver greater efficiency and effectiveness through closer collaboration between emergency services, to benefit your local communities. We’ve legislated to enable PCCs to take on responsibility for fire and rescue services locally, where a local case is made, and to place a statutory duty on all three emergency services to collaborate. But you are in charge and you can decide where the opportunities lie for your area and your communities.

I am delighted that on the 1st October, Roger Hirst in Essex formally became the country’s first Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner, and I know PCCs elsewhere have, or are considering, submitting their own proposals.

And look, as I’ve said, I know that policing can be a stressful business. You work long hours, you deal with people at their worst and no doubt this has an impact on physical and mental health. That’s why in July I announced £7.5 million of funding to pilot and – if it is successful – fund a dedicated national police welfare service to help those who need it.

But I’ll tell you something that we won’t stand for. Officers being attacked, abused and spat at while they do their jobs. This sort of behaviour is unacceptable. That’s why we are supporting new legislation which will send a clear message that we will not tolerate attacks on emergency workers and we will ensure that those who are violent are punished.

You protect us and it’s right that we protect you.

So the Home Office’s job, and my job, is to give you the powers you need to keep us safe.

We will use our coordinating role to support and, where necessary, challenge you.

And, yes, it’s our job to provide you with the right level of funding and resources.

We’re investing £1.9 billion in cyber security which will contribute to relieving pressures on individual forces tackling online and cyber enabled crime.

We’re providing funding to bolster counter-terrorism policing in the wake of this year’s terror attacks. For example, we’re putting an extra £24 million into counter-terrorism policing in addition to the £707 million already announced.

And since 2015 we’ve protected the total amount of spending that goes to policing in line with inflation. That means that overall police spending is increasing from £11.4 billion in 2015 to 2016 to around £12.3 billion in 2019 to 2020.

Within that we’re spending hundreds of millions of pounds to ensure you continue to reform and become more productive.

And today I am pleased to announce the award of £27.45 million police transformation funding to a further ten projects which includes:

• £1.9 million for the Metropolitan Police to design a single call handling system and centralised control rooms for London’s emergency services
• £6.87 million to South Wales Police to help them join up with health professionals and other local partners to better support the vulnerable people they come into contact with, many of whom have had traumatic childhoods
• £2.87 million to MOPAC’s drive project which involves working with serial perpetrators, offering one-to-one support to break the cycle of domestic abuse

All the remaining successful bids will be listed on the Home Office website.

I know a number of you have been calling for more money on top of this. We’ve always been clear that decisions about funding need to be based on evidence and not assertion.

That’s why the policing minister will have visited or spoken to every force in the country ahead of this year’s spending settlement.

We appreciate that the increase in complex, investigatory work has put pressure on forces, as well as the efforts to deal with the unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks we’ve sadly seen this year.

But police financial reserves now amount to more than £1.6 billion and the independent inspectorate remains clear that there is more forces can do to transform, with greater efficiencies still available.

So these are the considerations we will balance as we take decisions on future funding. Listening to your concerns, but also critically evaluating them. So we get the decisions right for the people we serve.

But I don’t want to finish by talking about resourcing. Because I don’t believe the people we serve want to hear disagreements between us on whether a hundred million pounds should be given straight to forces as part of the core grant, or instead bid for as part of the transformation fund.

They want to hear about what we are doing, together, to cut crime.

Because being a PCC, or chief constable for that matter, should be about agreeing and then delivering on a plan to cut crime in your area.

Remind yourselves that millions of people voted for you in the PCC elections in 2016. They voted for your plans to keep them safe.

Because, they like me, believe policing can make a difference.

And we’re already seeing some great examples of your initiative:

Like Marc Jones, the PCC in Lincolnshire who has funded an initiative to deploy a team of nurses to the police control room to help officers deal with incidents involving mental health issues. Or like Martin Surl, the PCC for Gloucestershire who backed a 12 month trial to reintroduce horseback patrols to help serve the public and reduce crime.

And if you look back over the cumulative effect of your work since PCCs were first elected in 2012, then you should be really proud.

You’ve presided over a fall in traditional crime, you’ve made efficiencies which have saved hundreds of millions of pounds for the taxpayer, and you have increased the proportion of officers on the frontline. You’ve brought real democratic accountability to British policing and you’ve shown true leadership.

But now it’s time for you to rise to the challenge of leading the next chapter of reform so you deliver for your local communities.

Because policing can make a difference. And together we can improve people’s lives.

Thank you.

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• First 2 winners of the Newton Prize are an affordable portable device to monitor maternal health, and a pioneering solar energy project, with each being awarded £200k to address global challenges
• During the visit, Jo Johnson also announces further research agreements securing further collaboration between the two countries

Science Minister Jo Johnson has today (Wednesday 1 November) announced the first 2 winners of the Newton Prize 2017, during a two-day India visit where he outlined the strength of collaboration with Indian partners and the UK’s ambitions to develop the relationship further.

The winning projects, which will each receive a £200,000 grant, include the development of a portable device to measure blood pressure and pulse of expectant mothers to try and prevent deaths from the biggest causes of maternal deaths worldwide, and a solar energy programme that will look at providing cheaper and more efficient solar power. Both projects are partnerships between UK and Indian researchers.

The Newton Prize has been developed to celebrate and further encourage the partnerships that UK researchers have forged with their colleagues in Newton Fund partner countries. Further prize awards will also be made in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in the coming weeks.

The collaborations developed under the Newton Fund address some of the world’s most pressing challenges, by utilising the skillsets of UK researchers and researchers globally to improve the quality of life for many around the world.

Jo Johnson said:

These Newton Prize winners not only embody international collaboration on crucial issues, but also illustrate our ambition to work with our global partners on a wide variety of mutually-beneficial research.

The Newton Prize demonstrates how the UK is working with partners to address important international issues. This complements the work we are undertaking as part of our upcoming Industrial Strategy to support our world-class research and innovation sector, helping them work collaboratively to address the great challenges of our time.

The UK-India Newton Fund, known as the Newton-Bhabha Fund, is an instrumental part of the UK-India research and innovation relationship, with a joint commitment of more than £200 million joint investment up until 2021. This collaboration enables the UK to produce higher quality research and innovation and to maintain its scientific excellence.

In addition to announcing the winners of the Newton Prize, Jo Johnson announced India-specific Rutherford Fellowships that will be delivered by the British Museum, British Library and Natural History Museum, as well as global Rutherford fellowships through the British Academy.

Jo Johnson also made a number of further research announcements, funded by Newton-Bhabha Fund:

• The publication of a Research Councils UK and Department of Biotechnology commissioned report on AMR mapping that provides a deeper understanding of antimicrobial resistance and outlines recommendations to address this growing global challenge
• A joint pilot innovation project between the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Central Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories and India’s Tata Institute of Fundamental Research to upskill Indian engineers on cutting edge technology as they jointly develop control systems for high power lasers
• 4 new projects funded within the ‘Energy Demand Reduction in the Built Environment’ programme that will seek to monitor energy use and demand with the overall aim to achieve reductions in carbon emissions
• 8 new projects funded within the India-UK Water Quality Programme, supporting policymakers, water managers, business and local communities to improve India’s water quality
• Extension in funding for the India-UK Water Centre for a further 2 years, which facilitates collaboration and cooperation between researchers, policy makers and water managers in the UK and India
• £7 million of joint investment on the Agricultural-Data Enhancement for Animal and Plant Health programme which will seek to enhance existing animal and plant health data growing on each country’s expertise in this area

Notes for Editors

1. The first of the 2 successful projects seeks to overcome the challenge of obstetric haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia and sepsis which accounts for more than 50% of maternal deaths worldwide. The winning scientists from St Thomas’ Hospital in London and the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Belgaum, India, tested the introduction of a device that measures blood pressure and pulse, and is affordable, easy-to-use, and portable with low power requirements. The device has already been introduced in 10 countries across Asia and Africa, and initial results show that the system strongly predicts the risks of complications and its introduction into maternity care will help save lives. The UK and Indian partners for this project are the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Department for Biotechnology, India.

2. The second Newton Prize winner is the APEX-II programme, which is developing a new product that uses solar cells to supply clean, sustainable and affordable energy, and is led by Brunel University of London and the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. Low-cost, high-efficiency energy is a key global development challenge, and by advancing the technology around perovskite solar cells, this project is addressing this challenge and aims to help improve the quality of life of people around the world by developing cheaper and more efficient solar cells. This delivers benefit to both the UK and India, by enabling UK researchers to draw on the expertise of the very best scientists to develop new technologies in solar energy. The UK and Indian partners for this project are the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department for Science and Technology, India.

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The Queen has approved the nomination of the Very Reverend Christopher Charles Dalliston, MA, Dean of Newcastle in the Diocese of Newcastle, to be appointed to the Deanery of the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, Peterborough, on the resignation of the Very Reverend Charles William Taylor, MA, on 6 October 2016.

Further information

The Very Reverend Christopher Dalliston, (aged 61) studied modern History at Peterhouse Cambridge and Theology at Oxford where he trained for the ministry at St Stephen’s House.

He served his title at Halstead in Chelmsford Diocese from 1984 to 1987, before becoming the Bishop of Chelmsford’s Domestic Chaplain from 1987 to 1991. From 1991 to 1995 he was Vicar of St Edmund Forest Gate in Chelmsford Diocese.

From 1995 to 1997 he moved to be Priest-in-Charge of Boston in Lincoln Diocese and then Vicar from 1997 to 2003 and was also Rural Dean of Holland East during that time. Since 2003 he has been Dean of Newcastle.

Christopher is married to Michelle who is also ordained. He has four adult children: Alex, Tom, Georgie and Bella.
His interests include poetry, music and all things Italian. He is a life-long supporter of Norwich City Football Club.

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Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak at this year’s summit, which from looking at the agenda will be an interesting and thought-provoking event.

I’m especially delighted to see the focus on the positive impact sport and physical activity have on wider society.

As I am sure I don’t need to tell you, physical activity brings a number of benefits.

Firstly it can transform people’s lives. And secondly it can strengthen both communities and the economy.

Furthermore, as ukactive set out in their “Manifesto for an Active Britain”, published in May, physical inactivity costs the UK an estimated £20bn and causes 37,000 deaths every year.

And we can see from the two reports ukactive has launched today – ‘Physical Activity – A Social Solution’ and ‘Moving More, Ageing More’ – public leisure provides a vital contribution.

Our sports strategy Sporting Future, published almost two years ago, 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.

The strategy encourages relevant departments to work closer together to create a more physically active nation, where children and young people enjoy the best sporting opportunities available and people of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy the benefits that sport and physical activity can provide, at every stage in their lives.

We have committed to investing in and supporting sport and physical activity, not simply on the basis of the number of people taking part, but because of the wider value it has for us as individuals and society.

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: *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 the sport and physical activity sector has responded to the challenge so far.

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

As part of this, they will invest up to £130 million in 10 places across England to trial new and innovative ways of achieving a sustained increase in participation in sport and physical activity.

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 support their students to be more active.

We’ve sought to tackle what people often feel is an artificial distinction between sport and physical activity.

We’ve extended Sport England’s role to cover certain types of physical activity to help make this a reality. An example of this is cycling for travel which Sport England didn’t used to measure but now do.

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.

Also Sport England’s remit has been extended so that it is now responsible for supporting children aged 5 years and up with their physical activity outside school.

And Sport England’s Active Lives Survey seeks to capture information on how active people are overall in their lives, instead of purely in a sporting context.

It’s a big improvement on the previous Active People Survey, and will help us understand people’s behaviour better, and the barriers they face to getting active.

The first set of results from the survey came through in January this year. They tell us that, while over 60% of adults are meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines on physical activity, over a quarter are currently inactive.

We want to continue to see these figures improve and to encourage those that are currently inactive to take up physical activity.

It’s exactly this 25% of people that we have to reach and to nudge towards a more active lifestyle. We know that by supporting these people there are huge benefits to be gained – not only for the individuals themselves, but for wider society.

We also said in Sporting Future that government would be more joined up in its approach to sport and physical activity. We are bringing together ministers in an Inter-Ministerial Group on Healthy Living to help with this.

For the first time this will bring together a range of government departments, including the Department of Health, Department for Education, Department for Transport and Department for Work and Pensions, to look at how sport and physical activity can be made more widely accessible so that it benefits everyone.

We know that collaborative working happens organically in sport, with projects that encompass health, business, community cohesion and economic growth to name just a few. We need to help create more opportunities for this to happen.

And the fact that three Ministers are speaking today is evidence of the cross government commitment to driving this agenda forward.

Mental wellbeing, the second outcome we are aiming to achieve with our strategy, is just as important as physical wellbeing. We are working closely with the Department of Health to explore how sport can improve its offer of mental health support.

I recently hosted two roundtables, one for athletes co-hosted by the Minister for Care and Mental Health, and the other for sports and mental health organisations, to agree an action plan for future work in this area.

This is something that I am passionate about, and I am determined that sport should lead the way in breaking down stigma and raising awareness of mental health issues.

Duty of Care in sport has been another big priority. Baroness Grey-Thompson recently published her Duty of Care in Sport review, which made a number of recommendations about welfare and wellbeing of sports participants.

I am extremely grateful for Baroness Grey-Thompson’s hard work and I welcome the contribution her report makes to the debate about the welfare of participants in sport at all levels. This has to be a high priority for the sport sector.

I am considering the recommendations from the report in detail and am working with colleagues across government to look at what more government can do to support this agenda.

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. I have seen the results of this first hand.

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 and gardening are really making a difference to improve the quality of the participants’ lives.

I also had a tour of facilities at Sir Herbert Leon Academy, a mixed comprehensive in Bletchley. I got to engage with school children during a P.E. lesson to learn about how a swimming pool can support a range of people, including, different faith groups.

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 also attended the opening of new designated parkour site in school in West London. Earlier this year the UK became the first country to formally recognise Parkour, or free-running as it’s sometimes known, as a sport. I’m delighted to see how this activity continues to grow its reach.

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.

And so we know there is some good work going on locally to demonstrate the impact of sport and physical activity.

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.

In the UK, sport was valued at £35 billion in terms of GVA 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.

A Sports Business Council has now been established which met for the first time in June. It brings government and leading sport sector organisations together to ensure the sector continues to grow and prosper.

Initial areas for focus are: *Intellectual property *Event staging *Skills *and developing the sport economy evidence base.

A representative of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy also attends the Council. I would like to thank Steve Ward from ukactive for agreeing to join the Council and chair its skills working group.

However, there is still some work to do in order to fully implement all of the actions set out in Sporting Future.

For example, we remain committed to establishing a network of employers in line with the recommendation set out in Sporting Future.

We are working with Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions to move this forward, and hope to be able to make an announcement on this shortly.

The role of employers is vital in encouraging employees to be physically active. It isn’t something that employers should see as just a benefit to their staff, as it is of course a benefit to them too. It brings greater levels of staff engagement and commitment to the organisation.

We are already seeing this for ourselves through the take up of our civil service workplace challenge. This is starting to have a real impact. It allows departments and workplaces involved to set up challenges, track progress and compete against each other.

With people spending so much of their day at work, it is vital that employers play a part in helping people to be active.

Another commitment in Sporting Future was to strengthen the sector by introducing a new Code for Sports Governance.

This is now in place. It will help to ensure that organisations receiving public funding are held to the highest standards of governance and conduct.

We’ve already seen big improvements to the governance of the national governing bodies of sport, and some big steps forward on diversity of leadership and board and council term limits.

The deadline for organisations receiving public money to comply with the Code was yesterday.

I know that Sport England and UK Sport are now working hard to assess the information they have received, and to make important decisions on compliance.

So much has already been achieved – and I’m proud of the efforts that we and the sector have already made. But of course there’s much still to do.

I want to see the Code fully embedded, with organisations that we invest in continuing to strive for the highest standards, improving their diversity and decision making.

Looking ahead, I’m looking forward to seeing the sector build on this progress in the coming months and am counting on its support to help to make the UK an exemplar for good sports governance.

But it is vital that we all do as much as possible to uphold the integrity of sport too. If sport’s integrity is ever in doubt, the damage is considerable.

This is an area in which I feel the UK should continue to take the lead.

I’ve said it before, most recently at the Sports Betting Integrity Forum, and I’ll say it again: Protecting the integrity of sport is of paramount importance.

If sport is corrupt, or sport is perceived as being corrupt, the public can very quickly lose faith.

If fans walk away, that is the end – the sponsors and the media would follow – so it is vital that we never underplay the importance of protecting sport’s integrity.

By addressing the range of areas that present threats – of which doping is one – we can collectively mitigate those threats.

The Gambling Commission’s Sports Betting Intelligence Unit works to ensure Britain maintains its reputation as a safe place for sports betting to take place, through protecting our betting markets and our consumers.

While I’m confident that this is a world leading regulatory system we need to make sure that we are able to assist and share our own industry best practice with other countries who may not even regulate gambling.

Education of the health impact of doping in sport is also an area that I feel strongly needs addressing.

That is why I was pleased to see that one of the recommendations in the recently published Review of the Criminalisation of Doping in Sport was for Image & Performance Enhancing Drugs to be integrated into drug information and education.

And, as has been highlighted several times over recent months, sports need to ensure they have robust whistle-blowing procedures in place and take appropriate action when people report concerns.

Turning to facilities, one of the main points that we made in our Sporting Future strategy was that the customer, and their experience of sport and physical activity, is absolutely vital.

One of the key determinants of whether or not someone will continue to take part in physical activity on a regular and enduring basis is whether they have an appealing, attractive, accessible space to do this in.

Baroness Grey-Thompson’s call for a national network of Community Wellness Hubs that would co-locate community services with leisure facilities, speaks to this point.

I absolutely agree with the Baroness that we need to do more to support people to get more active, and am passionate about the role that physical activity and sport can play.

With partnership working, I am pleased to see that ukactive and Sport England are working closely together to deliver against Sporting Future, and are in the process of developing a Memorandum of Understanding to set out how they can best work together in future.

This MOU will strengthen the partnership between the two organisations across a range of priorities, to ensure an efficient approach to delivery and to maximise the impact of their investment.

I understand the aim is to have this formal partnership agreement in place by the end of 2017.

Finally, a brief word about Brexit. As we move closer to leaving the European Union in 2019, I am determined that the needs of the sport sector should be fully brought into government thinking around the challenges and opportunities our EU exit will bring.

My officials are working closely with representatives from the sport sector, including ukactive, to that end.

To conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to thank ukactive and everybody here today for the contribution you have made in implementing Sporting Future and improving the health of the nation.

I look forward to continuing to work closely with you.

Thank you for listening and enjoy the rest of the day.

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The review, entitled ‘The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power’, is aimed at ensuring the pain and suffering of the Hillsborough families is not repeated.

It was commissioned by the now-Prime Minister following the conclusions of the fresh Hillsborough inquests in April 2016 so that the families’ perspective was not lost.

Bishop James, who is the Home Secretary’s advisor on Hillsborough, met the families in both group sessions and one-to-one as he compiled his report.

In the review, he urges the Home Secretary to help ensure that those responsible for national institutions listen to what the experiences of the Hillsborough families say about how they should conduct themselves when faced by families bereaved by public tragedy.

Bishop James’ review – which includes numerous first-hand accounts of the Hillsborough families’ encounters with private and public authorities – has 25 points of learning.

They include:

• the creation of a “Charter for Families Bereaved through Public Tragedy”, made up a series of commitments by public bodies to change, each related to transparency and acting in the public interest

• “proper participation” of bereaved families at inquests, including publicly funded legal representation for bereaved families at inquests at which public bodies are legally represented; an end to public bodies spending limitless sums; and a change in the way in which public bodies approach inquests so they treat them not as a reputational threat but as an opportunity to learn

• the establishment of a “duty of candour” for police officers which addresses the “unacceptable behaviour” of serving or retired police officers who fail to cooperate fully with investigations into alleged criminal offences or misconduct

Bishop James also welcomes the commitment in the Queen’s Speech to create an independent public advocate to act for bereaved families after a public disaster and to support them at public inquests. He stands ready to assist in this important work.

The Right Reverend Bishop James Jones KBE said:

Over the last two decades as I have listened to what the families have endured, a phrase has formed in my mind to describe what they have come up against whenever they have sought to challenge those in authority – ‘the patronising disposition of unaccountable power’. Those authorities have been in both the public and private sectors.

The Hillsborough families know that there are others who have found that when in all innocence and with a good conscience they have asked questions of those in authority on behalf of those they love, the institution has closed ranks, refused to disclose information, used public money to defend its interests and acted in a way that was both intimidating and oppressive.

And so the Hillsborough families’ struggle to gain justice for the 96 has a vicarious quality to it so that whatever they can achieve in calling to account those in authority is of value to the whole nation.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

I am grateful to Bishop James Jones for undertaking this important piece of work. His thoughtful and considered report raises important points.

The government will now carefully study the 25 points of learning and we will provide a full response in due course.

You can read Bishop James’ review, which was laid before Parliament today.

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