Ladies and Gentleman,

I welcome all of you to the Managing Defence in the Wider Security Context training programme.

This course follows on from two successful training programmes that we funded on Strategic Leadership where we brought together men and women from across a range of government departments and agencies. And is good to see from the participants list from this programme that we again have diverse representation.

Although the words Defence and Security are in the title of this course, I have no doubt that many of the ideas, principles and models covered in this week are of relevance to all of you, not only those of you working directly in the defence or security sectors. The delivery of these courses in Fiji and elsewhere is a demonstration of Britain’s commitment to the Pacific region, of our common values and our deep rooted relationships. I thought carefully about what I might cover this morning that would be relevant to the diverse range of participants. I have decided to pick out a few issues that I believe are of interest to all public servants. The first thing is strategic context. As policy formulators, managers and leaders, we all need to be aware of the external influences and drivers that affect our work and the work of our departments.

We need to lift our heads and scan the horizon to spot potential problems and opportunities. These might be political, economic, social, environmental or legal – to name just a few. Let me give you an example. Let’s imagine that I am a Police Superintendent in Manchester in the North of England.

I have been asked to plan the policing operation for a large demonstration in central Manchester next Saturday. The demonstration is expected to attract up to a quarter of a million people for a rally in support of Ukraine. It will be essential that I approach this task with a good understanding of the strategic context. I need to think about the political background to this rally. I know that people are coming to protest for and in peace. But I know that emotions are running high and that there is widespread anger towards Russia as the perpetrators of the aggression against Ukrainians.

I need to be ready for emotions spilling over, not likely into violence but into acts that might disrupt the running of the city.

I also need to be politically smart in the way that we police the event. Public and political opinion is overwhelmingly supportive of Ukraine.

I need to be reactive to that prevailing political and social mood by policing the rally in as facilitative way as possible.

I also need to have an eye on public perceptions. I need to think about media coverage, the world’s eyes.

If I end up with a popular protest in support of a high profile cause turning violent and police having to intervene, that’s going to be bad news for me and my police force.

I need to think about the law. My force’s actions are governed by human rights law and the right to freedom of assembly.

We take a human rights based approach to policing. I need to balance that with my responsibility to guarantee people’s safety. I could go on. But I think you get the idea. As a senior police officer, I need to scan what is a complex strategic horizon and understand how a range of factors could affect my task, for good or for bad.

Another issue I wanted to focus on is collaboration. How do I work with a range of partners and stakeholders to formulate policy or deliver services. As with strategic thinking, this is about recognising that very often we will need to work in partnership with colleagues from different parts of our organisation, other government departments, with civil society or sometimes with other countries. Collaborating and partnering is essentially a recognition that rarely can we deliver our priorities alone. As an example of this I refer to a programme that we have in the British Government called the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund or CSSF.

This is a cross government fund which supports and delivers activity to prevent instability and conflict that threaten UK interests. It uses a whole of government approach to national and international security challenges. It brings together staff from the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defence, the Development Ministry and the National Security Department.

It was designed out of an understanding that our policies and interventions are improved if we combine various skills, experience and disciplines. And that to win the competition, you need to bring in a range of players, from a range of teams. The third issue that I ‘d like to touch on is accountability and transparency. As public servants in a democracies, good governance means that we have an obligation to explain decision making and to justify our conduct. We report to politicians, the elected representatives of the people. But we are ultimately accountable to citizens. As civil or public servants we are serving the people.

There has over many years been a gradual erosion of public trust in western democracies and there is an increasing demand in many countries for more direct and explicit accountability relations between governments and citizens, civil society and the media. This has for example led in many countries, including my own, to the introduction of Freedom of Information legislation where members of the public are entitled in law to request information from public authorities. This is not always comfortable for public servants. But to my mind, it comes down to an essential truth of democratic governance; we are not spending our money, we are spending public money. We do so with public consent and are accountable to them for the way we spend that money.

I wanted to finish by saying something about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Let us be clear, this is not a conflict that has happened by accident. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was an unprovoked, needless and premeditated attack against a sovereign democratic state. The Russian government’s actions are reprehensible and illegal. They are in direct contravention of the United Nations Charter – the UN Secretary General himself has been clear about this. Thousands of innocents are being killed, millions are feeling their homes. And if I were to set Russia’s invasion in the context of some of the issues that will be covered in this course, I ask myself a few questions.

To what extent has Russia thought about the strategic context of its invasion?

Did it think about its obligations in international law?

Did it think about the mass humanitarian devastation that would inevitably follow?

Did it think about the huge act of economic self harm that it would do to itself?

Did it ask itself what its own people wanted. Did it feel accountable to them or to anyone?

If they had exercised strategic judgement and awareness, we might avoided the tragedy that is now unfolding.

So Ladies and Gentleman. I will leave it there.

I hope that you will find this week’s training to be informative, inspiring and that you will open your minds to new ideas. I hope the you will develop friendships and working relationships that you can take back your departments.

I hope that you enjoy yourselves.

Vinaka

• Consultation launched on wider reform of online advertising regulations include greater powers for regulators to tackle harmful, offensive and misleading adverts
• Influencers failing to declare payment for promoting products could face tougher penalties

Social media sites and search engines will be forced to stamp out fraudsters and scammers on their platforms as the government strengthens its pioneering internet safety laws.

The move comes as the government also launches a consultation as part of a wider overhaul of how online advertising is regulated in the UK, including proposals to improve transparency and accountability and tackle harmful, fraudulent and misleading adverts.

Together the measures aim to boost people’s trust and confidence in being online by making sure the UK’s rules and regulations keep pace with rapid advances in technology.

A new legal duty will be added to the Online Safety Bill requiring the largest and most popular social media platforms and search engines to prevent paid-for fraudulent adverts appearing on their services.

The change will improve protections for internet users from the potentially devastating impact of fake ads, including where criminals impersonate celebrities or companies to steal people’s personal data, peddle dodgy financial investments or break into bank accounts.

Separately, the government is launching a consultation on proposals to tighten the rules for the online advertising industry. This would bring more of the major players involved under regulation and create a more transparent, accountable and safer ad market.

Harmful or misleading adverts, such as those promoting negative body images, and adverts for illegal activities such as weapons sales, could be subject to tougher rules and sanctions. Influencers failing to declare they are being paid to promote products on social media could also be subject to stronger penalties.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said:

We want to protect people from online scams and have heard the calls to strengthen our new internet safety laws. These changes to the upcoming Online Safety bill will help stop fraudsters conning people out of their hard-earned cash using fake online adverts.

As technology revolutionises more and more of our lives the law must keep up. Today we are also announcing a review of the wider rules around online advertising to make sure industry practices are accountable, transparent and ethical – so people can trust what they see advertised and know fact from fiction.

Security Minister Damian Hinds:

Crimes like romance and investment fraud leave lifelong scars on their victims and can completely destroy their finances and ability to trust. Organised crime groups have discovered new ways to take full advantage of people, using increasingly sophisticated methods which would trick even the most scrupulous of individuals.

We know that these crimes are on the rise and with all of us spending longer online, criminals are spotting their opportunities to abuse people’s trust and trick them more and more.

The changes that we are announcing today mean that online and social media companies will have to acknowledge these issues and take robust action to combat the scourge of online fraud, and take more responsibility to protect their users from this high-harm crime. Innocent victims must not be taken advantage of and conned online by fraudsters.

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, whose face is among the most used by scammers in the UK, said:

I am thankful the Government has listened to me and the huge numbers of other campaigners – across banks, insurers, consumer groups, charities, police and regulators – who’ve been desperate to ensure scam adverts are covered by the Online Safety Bill. We are amidst an epidemic of scam adverts. Scams don’t just destroy people’s finances – they hit their self-esteem, mental health and even leave some considering taking their own lives.

The Government now accepting the principle that scam adverts need to be included, and that firms who are paid to publish adverts need to be responsible for them, is a crucial first step. Until now, only user-generated scams were covered – which risked pushing more scam ads, incentivising criminals to shift strategy. Yet it is a complex area. Now we and others need to analyse all elements of this new part of the Bill, and work with Government and Parliament to close down the hiding places or gaps scammers can exploit.

Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, Financial Conduct Authority said:

We welcome that the Online Safety Bill will now require the largest platforms to tackle fraudulent advertising. We have been clear about the need for legislation and appreciate the Government’s positive engagement on this. We look forward to working closely with the Government and regulatory partners as they finalise and implement the details of the draft Bill.

Online Safety Bill – fraudulent advertising duty

Under the current draft of the Online Safety Bill, search engines and platforms which host user-generated content, video-sharing or live streaming will have a duty of care to protect users of their services from fraud committed by other users. This includes ‘catfishing’ romance scams and fake stock market tips – posted by people in images, comments or videos.

Today the government is adding a new duty to the bill which will bring fraudulent paid-for adverts on social media and search engines into scope, whether they are controlled by the platform itself or an advertising intermediary.

These companies will need to put in place proportionate systems and processes to prevent (or minimise in the case of search engines) the publication and/or hosting of fraudulent advertising on their service and remove it when they are made aware of it.

It will mean companies have to clamp down on ads with unlicensed financial promotions, fraudsters impersonating legitimate businesses and ads for fake companies. It includes ‘boosted’ social media posts by users which they pay to have promoted more widely.

The regulator Ofcom will set out further details on what platforms will need to do to fulfil their new duty in codes of practice. This could include making firms scan for scam adverts before they are uploaded to their systems, measures such as checking the identity of those who wish to publish advertisements, and ensuring financial promotions are only made by firms authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Ofcom will oversee whether companies have adequate measures in place to fulfil the duty, but will not assess individual pieces of content, in keeping with the approach taken in the rest of the bill. It will have the power to hold companies to account by blocking their services in the UK or issuing heavy fines of up to £18 million or ten per cent of annual turnover.

Online Advertising Programme (OAP)

The government is today launching a public consultation on its Online Advertising Programme (OAP).

The content and placement of online advertisements is currently overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) under a system of self-regulation. But rapid technological developments have transformed the scale and complexity of online advertising leading to an increase in consumer harm.

Adverts seeking to defraud such as investment scams and promotions for fraudulent products and services including fake ticketing, which in many cases involves fake celebrity endorsement, have proliferated online.

People are also being targeted through legitimate-looking adverts that contain hidden malware. When clicked on they allow hackers to commit malicious cyber security attacks such as ‘cryptojacking’ – the unauthorised use of people’s devices to mine for cryptocurrency.

Elsewhere there is evidence of online adverts selling items prohibited in UK law, such as prescription medicines and counterfeit fashion, misleading adverts misrepresenting the product or service they offer, and influencers failing to reveal sponsorship arrangements with companies in their posts.

The programme will look at the current regulations and regulators including whether they are properly empowered and funded. It will consider the whole supply chain and whether those within it should do more to combat harmful advertising, including ad-funded platforms such as Meta, Snap, Twitter and Tik Tok and intermediaries such as Google, TheTradeDesk and AppNexus.

Options include strengthening the current self-regulation approach or creating a new statutory regulator with tough enforcement powers including:

• Rule-making powers such as setting mandatory codes of conduct and enforcing them with fines and the ability to block and ban advertisers which repeatedly break the rules.
• Increased scrutiny across the supply chain related to high-risk advertising such as the promotion of products related to alcohol or weight loss. Companies could be required to demonstrate they are taking care to protect users – for example avoiding targeting vulnerable groups.
• Increased scrutiny of advertisers which repeatedly breach codes of conduct and more checks on firms and individuals placing adverts and buying ad space. This could include requiring third-party intermediaries or platforms to make advertisers self declare an interest in placing high-risk advertising such as age restricted ads.
• Information gathering and investigatory powers such as the power to audit and request transparency reports from companies and request data from them.

ENDS

Notes to editors

• The Online Advertising Programme consultation will be open for 12 weeks from Wednesday 9 March 2022. The government intends to respond to the consultation and outline proposals to reform online advertising later this year.
• The National Cyber Security Centre launched the Suspicious Email Reporting service in April 2020 to help people report suspicious emails, including those claiming to offer coronavirus services. As part of the Online Safety Bill, we are making sure that online providers prioritise tackling fraud and doing everything they can to protect members of the public using the platforms. Since the launch, the NCSC have shut down over 76,000 scams across 139,000 websites.

Facts and figures on the advertising industry:

• Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to visit the US for talks to deepen our diplomatic, intelligence and security ties as we stand together against Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
• In the face of Russian aggression, Britain is working side-by-side with the United States to ensure Putin will fail.
• She will meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to coordinate further support for Ukraine and crippling economic consequences for Russia.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss begins an intensive round of diplomatic talks in the US tomorrow (Wednesday 9 March) as countries around the world continue to hold the Putin regime to account for its invasion of Ukraine.

In Washington DC, she will meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to discuss what more the UK and US can do to support Ukraine on security, intelligence, and humanitarian issues.

Liz Truss will raise the importance of a stronger deterrence against hostile states, and the need to reduce strategic economic reliance on authoritarian regimes, including energy dependency on Russia.

She will also emphasise the need for both the US and UK to build closer economic and security ties with like-minded countries who believe in democracy and the sovereignty of nations.

Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss said:

The UK, US and our allies have shown remarkable strength and unity in supporting Ukraine and imposing severe sanctions on Russia. We need to maintain that unity and do more to ensure Putin fails in Ukraine.

The Ukraine crisis is a wake-up call for free democracies. I am in the US to talk about what more we can do to deter hostile state actors, reduce strategic dependency on Russian energy – and authoritarian states more broadly – and build stronger economic and security alliances around the world.

During her visit, the Foreign Secretary will also hold a series of talks with Members of Congress to discuss deepening UK-US ties and she will deliver a keynote speech at the Atlantic Council.

The Foreign Secretary’s visit to the US follows an intensive week of diplomacy in Europe. She spoke at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, met Baltic allies in Lithuania and in Brussels attended the EU Foreign Affairs Council, met NATO allies and held talks with G7 counterparts. In all her meetings she has sought to bring together fellow believers in freedom and democracy to isolate Russia and stand against its aggression.

In addition, the Foreign Secretary announced last week additional UK sanctions against Russian oligarchs, as part of a tough package against Russia, which also includes sanctioning the Russian Central Bank, and banning the Russian State and all Russian companies from raising funds in the UK. In coordination with the US and other allies, these measures amount to the largest set of financial sanctions in history. The Foreign Secretary will use her visit to further coordinate with the US on what more the international community can do through sanctions to cripple the Russian economy.

In terms of humanitarian efforts, the UK has pledged £394 million in aid to help Ukraine – £220 million in humanitarian aid; £100 million on the energy sector and reform; £74 million fiscal support. The UK is matching pound for pound the public’s first £25 million for the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal – the UK’s largest ever aid-match contribution. UK humanitarian experts have deployed to neighbouring countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova).

Thank you, Madam President, and welcome to the Council.

Thank you for chairing this debate. Our briefers and speakers so far have eloquently highlighted the importance and the value of women’s economic inclusion for maintaining peace, and stabilising peace in post-conflict settings.

And, this debate is timely as we grapple with the challenge of recovering globally from the Covid-19 pandemic, whose economic impacts fell disproportionately on women and girls –- and risk, without effective intervention, having a long-term effect.

Madam President, our theme today is partnerships – may I highlight three?

First, as Ms Coulibaly highlighted, the critical role of funding:

The UK government is committed to working with partner governments, multilaterals and the private sector to support women in fragile economies to play an equal role in the economy, to access the benefits of trade globally, and to establish economic partnerships as levers for equality.

For example, in Jordan, where women face the compound effects of conflict, displacement, and the impacts of COVID-19, the UK development programmes provide cash transfers to refugees and to at-risk Jordanian women.

More generally, the UK and our G7 partners are leading the way in mobilising public and private investments to advance gender equality and address persistent gaps in women’s economic opportunities, such as access to digital and financial assets.

Through the 2X Financing for Women Challenge, launched during the UK’s G7 Presidency last year, British Investment International and our partners committed to investing over $15 billion over the 2021-22 period, to advance this agenda in developing countries.

And, this work includes supporting flexible working practices, access to leadership opportunities, financing, and affordable products and services. But in a context where only 25% of women in fragile states have bank accounts, we also need to consider innovative interventions like microcredit loans.

Second, with partners, we’re partnering to promote policies designed to promote women’s inclusion and full and meaningful economic participation. We particularly welcome the theme of Gender and Climate at this year’s CSW, which is an opportunity to highlight the role women can play in advancing the climate change agenda after COP in Glasgow and ahead of COP in Egypt. In addition, the UK has committed, with G7 partners, to new targets to get 40 million more girls in school, and 20 million more girls reading by 2026.

Overall, our vision is that all girls should get 12 years of quality education.

Thirdly, we seek to strengthen partnerships here in the UN and here in the Security Council in support of women’s economic, social and political inclusion – drawing on the experiences that we have heard about. And, I join others in highlighting the particular reversals that women of Afghanistan have suffered since August.

As we discuss the renewal of the UNAMA Mandate, we will prioritise returning Afghan women to their full meaningful inclusion in Afghanistan’s economy and society.

Madam President,

The UK welcomes today’s debate, which has underlined why economic inclusion should be an integral part of a holistic approach to women, peace and security.

But, I cannot finish without stating the obvious. Economic inclusion is no protection against bullets and bombs. This has been made horribly clear over the last 13 days. And just yesterday, we witnessed Russian shelling kill a Ukrainian mother and her two children as they sought to evacuate the city of Irpin.

They were not the first casualties – tragically, they will not be the last. Men, women, children – Russian as well as Ukrainian – will continue to suffer until Russia ends this brutal and unprovoked war.

Thank you for convening today’s debate.

Good afternoon everyone once again. And I would like to start by thanking everyone for taking part in this global pandemic preparedness summit. It has been fantastic for the UK to welcome so many people both in person and online and to take part in such a rich discussion and to show our collective support for CEPI’s pioneering work.

But while we gather here in London on the critical agenda of pandemic preparedness, I know that many of us will also be thinking about the horrors being committed by President Putin on the peaceful people of Ukraine. And I’m sure you will want to join me confirming that our thoughts and prayers are with Ukraine today as we condemn this unjustified war. I am proud the UK is providing critical medical supplies as part of our wider humanitarian support. Six flights have departed so far with over 500,000 items. So we remember Ukraine.

But through this summit, we also show that responsible countries and partners are still coming together to build a better, safer world. We are not deflected from that critical mission. The commitments made today in support of CEPI show our determination to learn the lessons from Covid and to build our collective health defences.

Together, we put our money where our mouth is, and raised a total of over 1.5 billion US dollars towards CEPI’s fundraising goal.

And many industry partners have made their own commitments today to deliver real progress towards making the 100 days mission a reality with a joint statement of intent now published and signed between the UK government, CEPI and industry.

This is not just an investment in CEPI and their ground-breaking research. It’s an investment in global resilience against disease

An investment in a healthier future in which the 100 days mission is a reality.

CEPI has more than proven its worth in the global response to COVID-19.

Their investment in 14 vaccine partnerships, which made up one of the world’s largest vaccine portfolios, helped give world’s scientists – including our researchers in Oxford – a head-start in their race to save lives. Every deal that CEPI has struck has had equitable access to vaccines at its heart.

And they have shown steadfast leadership on making vaccines available across the world in this pandemic, through their work to launch the ACT-Accelerator and the COVAX facility.

And we have also heard today about CEPI’s work on boosting vaccine manufacturing to give all regions the ownership they need on this agenda.

Today, on International Women’s Day, we have also heard how pandemics have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, who often carry the burden of being primary carers or frontline health workers and are often at high risk of infection or complications, particularly pregnant and nursing women.

CEPI, with their commitment to vaccine equity is a key part of the solution for women, girls, and other marginalised groups and vulnerable populations. And women have been at the forefront of vaccine development, as brilliant scientists who’ve stepped-up over the past two years and saved millions of lives. In the face of devastating impacts of COVID-19, this has been science’s finest hour.

And I’d particularly like to recognise: Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, and her work to create the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine; Dr Nita Patel – who led the development of Novavax; And Dr Katalin Karikó, who paved the way for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

However, we also know that COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic we face.

Future pandemics could pose an even more severe threat, so we have to stay vigilant and, as an international community, prepare to respond to the unknown Disease X, whatever it is and wherever it emerges in the world.

Today has shown why CEPI’s target to have safe vaccines ready within 100 days for a future outbreak and to develop vaccines for their priority pathogens is so important.

The UK championed the 100 days mission under our G7 Presidency and we have committed £160 million towards the total raised today as a critical down payment against CEPI’s plan to make 100 days mission a reality.

And the UK is proud to continue our steadfast collaboration with CEPI, through their newly announced partnership with the University of Cambridge’s DioSynVax. This partnership will develop vaccines that are broadly protective against a range of beta coronaviruses including potential new variants.

Achieving this will require the best of the public and private sectors working together earlier and on a global scale and CEPI is a key partner when it comes to realising this goal.

That is why the UK could not be prouder to host this summit, or be pleased that this summit has raised over 1.5 billion dollars today for CEPI. This is a fantastic start toward CEPI’s 5 year strategy and I look forward to more of our international partners coming forward to support CEPI’s mission, and to pledge funds in the coming weeks following this summit for this vital work.

Together, we are not just turning the tide against COVID-19, but we are ensuring the world comes out of this pandemic stronger and safer for the future.

Thank you for making that possible.