Fiona Dickie recently attended PUB20 to tell tenants what the Pubs Code can do for them.

This short video promotes our statutory advice to pub-owning businesses on the minimum steps they must take to show that every MRO offer they send out complies with the Code. They are also required to complete a Compliance Record and Declaration every time they produce a MRO proposal and to make this available to the tenant.

More information on this statutory advice, which has been published as a new chapter to the PCA’s Regulatory Compliance Handbook can be found here.

The PCA regularly publishes information on the Pubs Code and news about its work on its website. There are also useful videos about the Code and its processes on the PCA YouTube channel.

You can sign up for regular email alerts on the PCA homepage and here.

Published 27 February 2020

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I would like now to make a statement on the Government’s approach to our Future Relationship with the European Union.

Now that Britain has left the EU we are entering a new chapter in the history of these islands.

This Government has honoured the clearly expressed wish of the British people. Their instruction to us, their servants, to secure our departure from the EU has been followed. The votes of 17.4 million people – more than have ever voted for any democratic proposition in our history – were implemented on January 31 and we are now on a new journey.

As a sovereign, self-governing, independent nation we will have the freedom to frame our own laws, control our own borders, lower all our taxes, set our own tariffs, determine our own trade relationships and ensure we follow the people’s priorities on security, the economy and democratic accountability.

Over the next nine months we will negotiate a new relationship with our friends and partners in the EU based on free trade and friendly co-operation. We have today published the approach for those negotiations and copies of the document – The Future Relationship with the EU – were made available to Members in the Vote Office from 9.30 am.

Talks with the EU on our future relationship begin next week and it is our aim to secure a comprehensive free trade agreement as well as agreement on questions such as fisheries, internal security and aviation.

We are confident that those negotiations will lead to outcomes which work for both the UK and the EU. But this House, our European partners and, above all, the British people should be in no doubt: at the end of the Transition Period, on the 31 December, the United Kingdom will fully recover its economic and political independence. We want the best possible trading relationship with the EU but in pursuit of a deal we will not trade away our sovereignty.

The Government’s vision for the UK’s future relationship with the EU was outlined with crystal clarity by the Prime Minister during the general election campaign, and the election result comprehensively confirmed public support for our direction of travel. And in his speech in the Painted Hall in Greenwich on February 3rd, the Prime Minister laid out in detail how we will reach our destination.

The first principle of our approach is that we wish to secure a relationship based on friendly cooperation between sovereign equals. We respect the EU’s sovereignty, autonomy and distinctive legal order, and we expect them to respect ours.

We will not accept nor agree to any obligations where our laws are aligned with the EU or the EU’s institutions, including the Court of Justice.

Instead, each party will respect the other’s independence and the right to manage its own borders, immigration policy and taxes.

The second, and allied, principle of our approach is that we will seek to emulate and build on the types of relationship that the EU already has with other independent sovereign states.

We will use precedents already well established and understood to ensure both sides’ sovereignty is respected. And by using already existing precedents we should be able to expedite agreement. We will seek functioning arrangements the EU will recognise from its many other relationships.

So our proposal draws on existing EU agreements such as the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement with Canada, the EU/Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and the EU/South Korea Free Trade Agreement.

This approach will enable us to move swiftly towards the goal envisaged in the Political Declaration agreed last October, in which both sides set the aim of concluding a ‘zero tariffs, zero quotas’ Free Trade Agreement, or FTA.

And as well as concluding a full FTA, we will require a wholly separate agreement on fisheries. We will take back control of our waters, as an independent coastal state, and will not link access to our waters to access to EU markets. Our fishing waters are our sovereign resource and we will determine other countries’ access to our resources on our terms.

We also hope to conclude an agreement on law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters so we can work with the EU to protect their citizens, and ours, from shared threats. But we will not allow our own legal order to be compromised. And by taking back full control of our borders we can implement measures to make the British people even safer, and we can tackle terrorism and organised crime even more effectively.

We also wish to conclude a number of technical agreements covering aviation and civil nuclear cooperation which will help ensure continuity for the UK on its new footing as an independent sovereign nation.

Now securing agreement on all these questions should not, in principle, be difficult. We are, after all, only seeking relationships with the EU which it has with other nations, relationships that respect the interests and sovereignty of both partners.

And it is in that light we should view discussions about what has been termed the ‘level playing field’. It has been argued that EU demands in this area will make full agreement difficult. Yet there is no intrinsic reason why requirements that both parties uphold desirable standards should prejudice any deal. The United Kingdom has a proud record when it comes to environmental enhancement, workers’ rights and social protection.

In a number of key areas, we either exceed EU standards or have led the way to improve standards. On workers’ rights, for example, the UK offers a year of maternity leave – with the option to convert this to parental leave so that both parents can share care. The EU minimum is just 14 weeks.

And on environmental standards, we were the first country in the world to introduce legally-binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets through the Climate Change Act. We were also the first major global economy to set a legally-binding target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the economy by 2050.

We will not dilute any existing protections – indeed, as the Environment Bill debated yesterday demonstrates, we wish to go further and faster than the EU in improving the natural environment. We do not need the EU’s permission to be a liberal nation leading the world in the fight against climate change and for social progress.

And that is why the UK Government seeks an FTA with robust protections for ‘the environment’ and ‘labour standards’. But we do not see why the test of suitability in these areas should be adherence to EU law and submission to EU models of governance. The EU does not apply those principles to Free Trade Agreements with other sovereign nations and they should not apply to a sovereign United Kingdom.

Some argue that we must accept EU procedures as the benchmark because of the scale of UK trade with the EU. But the volume of UK trade with the EU is no greater than the volume of US trade with the EU, and the EU was more than willing to offer zero tariff access to the US without the application of EU procedures to US standard-setting.

And the EU has also argued that the UK is a unique case owing to its geographical location. But proximity is not a determining factor in any other FTA between other neighbouring states with large economies. It is not a reason for us to accept EU rules and regulations. You need only to look at the USMCA agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico for an example of a trade agreement that does not require regulatory alignment to one side’s rules, or demand a role for one side’s court. Geography is no reason to undermine democracy.

To be clear: we will not be seeking to dynamically align with EU rules on EU terms governed by EU laws and EU institutions.

The British people voted to take back control, to bring power home, to have the rules governing this country made by those who are directly accountable to the people of this country. And that is what we are delivering

Mr Speaker, the negotiations are due to begin next week, led by the Prime Minister’s Sherpa, David Frost, and I’d like to end by looking ahead optimistically to the coming months.

There is ample time during the transition period to strike the right deal for the UK. We hope to reach a broad agreement ahead of the EU Council’s high-level summit in June, whereupon we will take stock.

We know our proposals are measured and our approach is fair; we know what we want to achieve; we are ready to go.

And this Government is committed to establishing the future relationship in ways that benefit the whole of the UK and strengthen the Union.

We are committed to working with the devolved administrations to deliver a future relationship with the EU that works for the whole of the UK.

And may I take this opportunity to reassure colleagues that our negotiation will be undertaken without prejudice and with full respect to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

This Government will act in these negotiations on behalf of all the territories for whose international relations the UK is responsible. And in negotiating the future relationship between these territories and the EU, the UK Government will seek outcomes that support the territories’ security and economic interests, and reflect their unique characteristics.

And as the Prime Minister committed to do at the Second Reading of the Withdrawal Agreement Act, we will keep Parliament fully informed about the negotiations and colleagues will be able to scrutinise our progress in the normal way.

Mr Speaker, this Government is delivering on its manifesto commitments with energy and determination. This government got Brexit done and will use our recovered sovereignty to be a force for good in the world and a fairer nation at home.

We want and we will always seek the best possible relationship with our friends and allies in Europe – but we will always put the welfare of the British people first – and that means ensuring the British people exercise the democratic control over our destiny for which they voted so decisively – that compact with the people is the most important deal of all – and in that spirit, I commend this statement to the House.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has launched a consultation today (27 February 2020), which looks at ways in which the current system of external quality assurance for apprenticeships might be simplified. This work includes an expansion of Ofqual’s role in undertaking quality assurance.

Sally Collier, Ofqual’s Chief Regulator, said:

We welcome the Institute’s consultation on its proposals for a strengthened and simpler approach to quality assuring apprenticeship end point assessments, including an expanded role for Ofqual. Like many others in the sector, we believe the current arrangements are complex, and the proposals outlined by the Institute will simplify and strengthen the approach in the future. The proposed new arrangements will enable efficiencies across the system.

We encourage all who are connected with the system to respond to the consultation.

We have established a strong track record of regulating end point assessments and employers and apprentices can have confidence that they are fair, consistent and signal occupational competence.

We are planning for this expanded role, including how we could bring existing End Point Assessment Organisations into regulation. It maximises the opportunities and potential for each organisation’s expertise and powers.

Published 27 February 2020

I would like to provide an update on next steps for the Whiplash Reform Programme.

The Government remains firmly committed to implementing measures to tackle the high number and cost of whiplash claims. The Reform Programme includes the measures in Part 1 of the Civil Liability Act 2018, which will introduce a fixed tariff of damages that a court may award for pain, suffering and loss of amenity for whiplash injuries sustained in a road traffic accident, as well as a ban on the making or accepting of offers to settle a whiplash claim without a medical report. Alongside these, we will be increasing the small claims track (SCT) limit for road traffic related claims to £5,000.

The Government had indicated that we wished to implement these measures from April 2020. The Ministry of Justice has made major progress towards this. It has worked closely with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), and with stakeholders representing claimants, including litigants in person, and defendants, on the successful build of a new Official Injury Claim Service (the Service). With the MIB, and using independent research, we have designed the new Service to put the needs of the claimant at its heart. It will provide a simple, user-friendly and efficient online route to provide those affected by road traffic accidents with an opportunity to settle small claims for personal injury without the need for legal representation or to go to court. Where a claimant is not able to make a claim online there will be the option to do so on paper. A dedicated customer contact centre will be available to support all customers through the journey if necessary.

Alongside the MIB, the Ministry of Justice has demonstrated the development of the Service at numerous stakeholder events in London and Manchester, and spoken at stakeholder conferences across the country. We have been clear about the design of the Service, and how we will work to ensure stakeholders from across the claimant and insurance industries are kept aware of, and can feed into, the development of the new platform.

Despite this progress, the Government has given careful consideration to whether implementing the whiplash measures in April remains practical, given the work that remains to be completed. We have listened to the arguments made by both claimant and insurance representative bodies.

As a result, the Government has decided that more time is necessary to make sure the Whiplash Reform Programme is fully ready for implementation. We have always been clear that we need to do this right rather than hastily. In particular, we need to provide sufficient time to work with the Civil Procedure Rules Committee to put in place the supporting rules and pre-action protocol and to give industry sufficient time to prepare their businesses for the changes to how small road traffic personal injury claims are managed. We will also lay the statutory instrument in Parliament to introduce the tariff of damages for whiplash injuries.

In the light of this, the Government has decided to implement these reforms on 1 August 2020. The necessary rules and pre-action protocol, and the statutory tariff, will be published in sufficient time before implementation.

The new Service is designed with all users in mind, and will be simple and easy to operate. Currently motor insurers accept liability for damages in the majority of whiplash claims after road traffic accidents, and we do not expect insurer behaviour to change post implementation.

However, there will be occasions when insurers do not accept liability, and claimants will need to be able to resolve liability disputes. Initially, the Government proposed to include a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution to enable liability and quantum claims to be adjudicated. However, in the event, no practicable solution which gave sufficient coverage of ADR for claims could be found. As a result, ADR will no longer be part of the online Service. Instead, we will ensure access to justice by developing bespoke processes to enable litigants to go to court to establish liability.

The increase in the small claims track limit will not apply to those who have been termed “vulnerable road-users”, for example, motor-cyclists, cyclists and pedestrians, and who in any event will not subject our whiplash tariff provisions.

The increase in the small claims track limit will also not apply to children or protected parties. This will enable the Government to test the processes and ensure that we have them correct before considering further extension.

Because these claimants will not be subject to the new small claims limit, they will also not be subject to the new pre-action protocol and so will not have access to the online Service. As such, they will not be able to source their own medical report via the online Service, which is statutorily required to settle claims for whiplash injuries. Therefore, until they can access the online Service, the normal track for claims by children and protected parties which include a whiplash injury, will be the fast track and these claims will not be allocated to the small claims track. This means that, for now, these claimants will be able to instruct a legal representative who may obtain a medical report on their behalf and their costs of legal representation will remain recoverable. This decision has been taken for no reason other than that we consider it the fairest and most straightforward approach to ensuring, for now, that these claimants can obtain the medical report which they must obtain before they can settle their claim.

It is absolutely right that this Government continues its commitment to tackle the high number and costs of whiplash claims, and the impact these have on the cost of motor insurance premiums for hard working families. Delivering these reforms remains a key Government priority. We will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure that all are sufficiently prepared for the new measures on 1 August 2020.

Since 2010, there have been increases of more than:

• 20,000 more doctors
• 18,500 more nurses, midwives and health visitors
• 4,900 more paramedics

The government has said there will be 50,000 more nurses and 6,000 more doctors in general practice by 2025.

This will be supported by £33.9 billion of funding a year for the NHS by 2024 to 2025, which is being made law.

Student nurses, midwives and many allied health professionals such as paramedics on courses from September, will get support of at least £5,000 a year to help with their living costs. They will not need to pay this back.

The latest UCAS statistics show the number of nursing applicants to English universities has risen for the second year running. There have been 35,960 applicants to nursing and midwifery courses at English universities in 2020 – a 6% rise compared to 2019.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:   

As Health Secretary, I’m determined to deliver on our commitment to have 50,000 more nurses in the NHS.

So I’m delighted that figures out today show that alongside a reduction in vacancies and an increase in the number of GPs, we’ve got record numbers of nurses working in our NHS – up by over 8,000 on the same time last year.

This government is determined to make good on its commitments and deliver on the people’s priorities – and today’s figures show that we are doing just that.