Thank you to the President and to the International Olympic Committee for inviting me to speak here today.

It is a pleasure to be here with you in Lausanne at the Olympic House, and to see so many of you tuned in to talk about integrity in sport from all across the world.

As the UK’s Minister for Sport, fair and clean sport is of paramount importance to me, as it is for the wider UK government.

Just two weeks ago, I had the privilege of addressing the eighth session of the Conference of Parties to UNESCO’s Anti-Doping Convention.

There, I spoke about our commitment to clean sport, and the importance of international collaboration in the continued fight against doping.

Just as the threats to sport from doping change and evolve over time, our efforts to tackle these challenges must also adapt.

It is through continued close working with international partners, and our sustained domestic focus on doping, that we will meet these challenges.

But we also recognise other threats to the integrity of sport, such as corruption and match-fixing.

These are growing threats and tackling them requires absolute commitment from governments, inter-governmental organisations and sports bodies working together in unison.

The fact that so many of you have joined today from across the world demonstrates our shared commitment to fighting corruption.

The covid pandemic has shown how integral and valuable sport is to our lives.

The Tokyo Games lifted our athletes and the nation’s spirits in the UK, and I commend the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee, and the Tokyo Organising Committee for hosting a wonderful games in such challenging circumstances.

I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo to witness the extraordinary achievements of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

The games have shown that even in the most challenging circumstances, sport and the Olympic Movement has the power to unite people and communities together, change lives and inspire the next generation. Indeed, as the Olympic motto now states: ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together’.

We now look forward to the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic games which begin in a few short months. 2022 is also a big year for sport in the UK with the Commonwealth Games, Rugby League World Cup and Women’s Euro Championships all being hosted in the UK.

The UK Government recognises the wide ranging benefits that hosting major sports events can bring, from societal benefits in building stronger communities, improving mental and physical wellbeing to inspiring the next generation of sporting stars. As well as huge economic benefits.

But, while the pandemic has focused efforts on the economic stability and recovery of sport, given the health of the entire sporting system has been weakened, it is more important than ever that we tackle integrity risks.

Sport matters more than ever and all governments need sport to be resilient, sustainable, inclusive and well governed. That is why the UK Government are investing large amounts of money every year in grassroots, elite sport and major events.

The nature of this forum replicates exactly what we need in the fight against corruption – collaboration at an international level to be able to respond to global threats and strengthen the credibility of sport at a national and international level.

The threat to integrity often is, and will continue to be, cross-border, and so we can only tackle this if we work together internationally. And by working together internationally we can ensure our individual domestic efforts are strengthened.

Back in 2016, the then British Prime Minister hosted an anti-corruption summit in London. At this summit, Governments committed to support the launch of an international partnership with a view to eliminate corruption from sport.

Here we are, five years on from that summit, and four and a half years later from the launch of the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport. And we have made much progress.

We are proud to be a founding partner of IPACS alongside the IOC, the UNODC, the OECD and Council of Europe with the mission to bring multi-agencies together to eliminate corruption and promote a culture of good governance.

From our perspective, IPACS provides a unique and open platform for real interaction and dialogue with other governments on their approaches and challenges in the fight against corruption.

IPACS provides concrete and tangible outputs to tackle and prevent corruption, such as the toolkit to ensure integrity in the selection of major events, to the development of a global benchmark for good governance.

This is all thanks to the four taskforces of IPACS who provide the fruits of the partnership, and I want to pay particular thanks to the taskforce members, and the lead organisations for their work.

One of the strengths of the partnership and the taskforces is its ability to evolve and adapt as the threats and landscape change, for example, with the creation of task force 4.

We were delighted to join the Bureau of IPACS this time last year under the leadership of the Canadian Government and the IOC, and continue to be committed to the support and development of the partnership, working with others such as the Australian Government, CONI and ASOIF who are playing a key role in strengthening the governance of sports bodies at the international level.

I know you will all be hearing more about IPACS from our Bureau colleagues at the next panel session today.

Domestically, good governance is of huge importance to the UK.

Our Code for Sports Governance, which was first published in 2016, sets out the standards all sporting organisations must meet in return for public funding.

It has proved hugely successful in setting clear expectations around good governance and diversity.

But standards in good governance also evolve, and our sporting agencies, UK Sport and Sport England, will be publishing an updated Code later this year.

One of the key updates will be to ensure sporting bodies in receipt of substantial public funding each have clear ambitions and actions to drive diversity and inclusion reflective of our communities and society; and that good governance cascades from Boards to all levels of operations. The revised code will make even clearer the levels of transparency, diversity and inclusion, accountability and integrity required to ensure that sports bodies in receipt of public funding are well governed.

Looking ahead, there is still more we can do collectively. We must continue to work together internationally on this agenda – tackling corruption and promoting good governance in sport.

I would urge those governments who are not yet involved in IPACS to participate in the partnership – we can be stronger together in eradicating corruption in sport.

The sports industry has a unique reach and power around the world. It is in everyone’s interest that governments, as well as international sports bodies and international organisations, work together to look at addressing these challenges.

So as we look to 2022, and the exciting sports events in the UK, we remain committed to tackling corruption at all levels, as we build back better from the pandemic.

Thank you.

Thank you Dr. Neira for that introduction.

And thank you to the panel, it was a fantastic, informative and lively discussion. Thank you to Minister Morton for chairing it so expertly.

I guess we all really enjoyed hearing the insights and also the progress that’s being made.

I’d like to send my best wishes to Dr Hala Zayed the Egyptian Health Minister who was due to join the panel today, and thank you for stepping in, but was sadly admitted to hospital last week.

We wish her all the very best for her recovery and I very much hope that she’ll be hosting us at COP27 in Egypt next year.

So on behalf of the UK Government, thank you everybody for joining us here in Glasgow for COP26.

And this is a Conference where health is very much on the agenda.

There was a time when people might have wondered what a health minister was doing at a summit about climate change.

But those days are gone. There is now widespread recognition including here of course in the room today that climate change isn’t just an environmental emergency.

It’s a global health emergency too.

According to the UN, climate change is expected to cause around 250,000 extra deaths a year between 2030 and 2050.

And we know that climate change affects so many of the things that make us safe and healthy today.

The air we breathe, the water we drink and how safe and secure we feel in our communities.

Our health and our environment go hand in hand, it’s clear.

And although we’ve made huge strides in advancing health security across the world, we cannot allow this great work to be undone by the destabilising threat of climate change.

And it’s not just a threat to our health, but a threat to our health systems too.

Health systems around the world are already seeing the impact of climate change on the frontline.

Such as greater demand for health services due to reducing crop production, to water insecurity and natural disasters.

So it’s vital that we build up resilience to climate change within our health systems allowing them to anticipate and respond to any climate related shocks, like disruption to supply chains and damage to infrastructure.

But most of all, we need to make sure that our health systems themselves are not part of the problem.

And we’ve heard today, health systems currently contribute around 4 to 5 per cent of global carbon emissions.

If they were a country, they would be the fifth largest emitter.

On top of that, health professionals all around the world are telling us that we need to go further.

They see the negative impact of climate change on their patients, and they know there is no time to spare.

Representatives from over 100 nations making up over three quarters of the world’s health professionals have signed the Healthy Climate Prescription demanding more action to address the climate crisis.

And we must all heed this call.

And think about what change we can make within our health systems.

Like the impact of the hospitals we build, the supply chains that we create and even the vehicles we use.

NHS travel and transport which makes up 3.5% of all road traffic in England.

And here today you can see the world’s first hydrogen electric zero emission ambulance that’s capable of travelling up to 300 miles before re-charging, which was developed here in this country.

And we’re working across borders too.

We’ve been partnering with countries in the Caribbean to support smart hospitals that are more resilient to extreme weather events and that use green technologies, like solar panels, to reduce the impact on the environment.

Because if our shared experience of this pandemic has taught us anything it’s that our actions have an impact on those far beyond our shores.

And today, we’ve seen yet more shared solidarity in response to this looming threat, with some concrete commitments being made.

As we heard, 50 nations – from all across the world – have made pledges.

Like to develop low carbon sustainable health systems on the path towards net zero and to develop national strategies to make health systems more resilient to climate change.

And I’m proud that the UK Government and the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also played our part.

Today, we’ve all shown that health leaders, and our health systems, have an important voice in the climate debate.

And a huge opportunity to make an impact.

And as well as these firm commitments we must also work to understand more about the common threat of climate change.

Because even as we meet here as an international community for the 26th time there are gaps in our collective knowledge that we need to fill.

To fully understand how our health systems can be built to withstand the impact of climate change and to protect the health of the people we serve.

We can’t sit back and wait for the evidence to come to us.

Because the longer we wait, the worse the impact will be.

So today I’m pleased to announce our National Institute for Health Research is developing a new package of sustainability funding.

This includes £20 million of funding for research to develop new evidence. And that will be focused on improving the health outcomes of those most impacted by climate change in developing countries.

There really is no time to spare.

One of the greatest successes of the pandemic was the way that nations worked together at rapid pace to pool our knowledge and our expertise.

Like sharing data from vaccine clinical trials, setting up databases for genomic sequencing.

Now, we need to draw on this same spirit, for the equally urgent threat of climate change.

In recent months, our health systems have been at the forefront of one of the battles of our times.

Now, we must make sure they are at the forefront of another.

As our nations recover and rebuild from this pandemic, let us seize the opportunity that Glasgow has given us.

For our health, for our planet, and for our future generations.

Thank you very much.

The Environment Agency has released new upgraded flood maps for all reservoirs in England to provide a more accurate picture of flood risk in the very unlikely event of a reservoir failure.

The £3 million project has reviewed, updated and improved the reservoir flood maps for 1,865 large raised reservoirs in England.

The new maps, which can be viewed on the ‘Check Your Long Term Flood Risk’ page and the Defra Data Services Platform, have made use of the most up-to-date ground level information, new modelling techniques and improved knowledge of how quickly water would flow from a reservoir failure.

They are primarily for use by Civil Contingency Responders, such as the emergency services, local authorities and the Environment Agency, helping them to put in place plans for warning and evacuation.

John Russon, FCRM Director at the Environment Agency said:

We have an excellent safety record for reservoirs in England. These new maps mean we can more accurately predict what would happen in the unlikely event of a reservoir failing. This enables us to work better with partner organisations to warn and inform people if we think there is a risk of a reservoir breaching.

For the first time the maps show the maximum flood extent both in the case of ‘dry-day’, where reservoir flooding took place with river levels at normal levels and a ‘wet-day’, where reservoir flooding takes place alongside wider river flooding.

Ian Scholefield from United Utilities said:

This is a great piece of work and will help Panel Engineers and reservoir owners identify key risk areas posed by large raised reservoirs and recommend and implement proportionate measures to reduce the probability of reservoir failure to protect downstream communities.

In addition this will also allow emergency responders, reservoir owners and Panel Engineers develop on and off site plans to help all parties prepare to manage the impacts during those very rare incidents that may pose a risk to loss of life and or significant property or environmental damage.

The new maps will also help the undertakers of large raised reservoirs prepare on-site flood plans, which are now required to assure public safety and prepare reservoir undertakers for potential reservoir failure emergencies.