HM Government

Launching the report ‘Setting the Standard’ at a horizon scanning event, Lord Bew said:

In 2016-17, we considered issues across public life from regulatory bodies to referendums, and party funding to induction for new MPs, to reinforce the importance of the Nolan Principles and emphasise their relevance in fast-changing times.

In September we launched our report on regulators, Striking the Balance – Upholding the Seven Principles of Public Life in Regulation. In 2017-18 we will publish the findings of our current review on ‘reasonable limits’ for MPs’ outside interests, and work with a wide range of audiences to address other standards issues.

The new Parliament provides an opportunity for everyone in public life to reflect on their standards of conduct, both what they do well and what can be improved. As the process of negotiating and scrutinising the UK’s departure from the EU begins, honesty and integrity in political discourse has never been more important. We call on all public office holders to consider how they can incorporate the Seven Principles into their daily work to promote public trust and confidence as we face the challenges ahead.

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The travel industry is providing training for staff working in the UK and overseas to help keep holidaymakers safe this summer.

Over 23,000 employees have attended sessions, which include advice on how to spot suspicious items and activity, as well as what to do in the event of a major incident.

The programme is being run in partnership with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) which has created a short presentation offering travel companies an easy to deliver counter terrorism awareness product.

This covers the core CT guidance needed by staff working in a Crowded Place at home or abroad. The product – funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office – includes three new films which show staff what to expect and how to respond in the safest way to the terrorist threat:

Identify and Respond to Suspicious Behaviour

Identify and Respond to Suspicious Behaviour

Identify and Deal with Suspicious Items

Identify and Deal with Suspicious Items

How to React to Firearms or Weapons Attacks

How to React to Firearms or Weapons Attacks

The presentation is accompanied by a helpful leaflet (PDF, 178KB, 2 pages) which can be printed and distributed as an aide memoire for staff and refers to the ACT: Action Counters Terrorism guidelines for reporting any suspicious behaviour or items.

In addition to the industry training, holidaymakers travelling abroad this summer are also being urged to watch a new video designed to help keep them safe in the event of a terrorist attack.

New Run Hide Tell video

This film is four minutes long and outlines key actions to take if terrorists strike.

While there is no specific intelligence that British holidaymakers will be targeted this summer the launch of the film, and supporting information, is part of a general campaign to raise awareness among the public. It highlights the steps people can take to minimise the impact of an attack – including knowing the local emergency services number.

The central message is Run, Hide, Tell, which was first launched by UK police in December 2015 after attacks in Paris. It was recently re-issued to the public by officers during London’s Borough Market incident.

The original film to launch Run, Hide, Tell was based in an office block setting but the new travel-related videos show an event taking place in a hotel.

In June 2015, 30 British travellers were among 38 killed by terrorists at a resort in Tunisia. UK police were determined to work with the travel industry to do everything possible to learn from the tragedy.

Detective chief superintendent Scott Wilson, National Coordinator for Protect and Prepare, says:

The chances of being caught up in a terrorist incident are still low, but sadly we have seen atrocities take place in the UK and abroad. So it is important everyone – staff and customers – stays alert and knows what to do if the worst was to happen.

Understandably people want to go on holiday to relax and enjoy themselves, but we need to remain vigilant at all times.

We want people to think of this in the same way they do the safety film airlines show before take-off. They don’t expect anything bad to happen but it is a sensible safety precaution to show people what to do.

A few minutes of your time spent watching the video before you go on holiday could save you and your loved ones. And find out in advance the local emergency number. For EU counties it is 112. Other numbers can be found on the foreign and commonwealth Office website.

Nikki White, Director of Destinations and Sustainability from ABTA adds:

We recognise the importance of raising awareness and providing clear guidance for our Members and their employees. We know that customers would look to those staff working in their hotels and resorts to take the lead and respond quickly to an emerging situation.

Representatives of the travel industry, taking part in the training, have responded positively.

We will continue to work closely with the police to make sure we are doing all we can to help raise awareness of these messages.

The key advice is:

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Welcoming Prime Minister Abadi’s statement on Mosul, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said:

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Over two-thirds of finance firms believe that signing up to the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter will lead to permanent and sustainable change in gender diversity at senior levels across the industry.

According to new research, conducted by think tank New Financial, 62% of firms have taken specific action to support female career progression since signing up to the Charter – an initiative which aims to build the pipeline of female talent for leadership positions.

PDF, 631KB, 10 pages

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Initiatives, such as succession planning, examining hiring practices and unconscious bias training, are helping to make the culture at these firms more female-friendly, and in the long run, should help firms attract and retain the best talent.

The Economic Secretary, Stephen Barclay, said:

For too long many women in finance have been underpaid, underrepresented and undervalued compared to men and it’s great to see the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter making a tangible difference in the banking sector.

Firms are waking up to the fact that promoting more women into senior roles is not only the right thing to do, but will also improve their overall business performance. Diversity of thought at the top is crucial in keeping the financial sector at the cutting edge.

Data shows that the ground-breaking Women in Finance Charter is also paving the way for firms to improve on other types of diversity.

Over two-thirds of signatories either have used, or are considering using, the Charter as a blueprint to improve the representation of other diversity characteristics in their firms, such as ethnicity and sexual orientation, with PWC claiming that the Charter is already driving stronger executive accountability for both their gender and ethnicity targets.

This focus is welcomed by the Economic Secretary, who commented:

The Charter does not prevent firms focusing on other aspects of diversity, and if we are to meet the economic and political challenges ahead, we need a meritocracy which promotes diversity across all areas, including LGBT, class, and geography.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money and government’s Women in Finance Champion, said:

I’m delighted to see such strong progress being made by the financial services sector. Embracing diversity not only improves productivity and business performance, it is quite simply the right thing to do.

Yasmine Chinwala, partner at New Financial and author of the report, said:

The survey data clearly shows that the Charter is already beginning to make an impact on financial services at both company and industry level, and not only for female representation but diversity as a whole. The big challenge ahead will be making sure diversity stays on the business agenda.

This data comes as a further 25 firms sign up to the Women in Finance Charter, bringing the total number of firms involved to 141.

Major firms including AXA, Citi, KPMG and Post Office Ltd, employing over 40,000 people, have stepped up to show their commitment.

The new signatories mean that over 560,000 people are now covered by the Charter – equal to over half of the employees in the financial services sector and more than the total employees in the mining, energy and water sector combined.

Jenny Grey, Citi EMEA Head of HR said:

At Citi, we believe a diverse workforce at all levels is business critical. Diversity and inclusion are strategic priorities across the firm globally. Diversity of thought keeps us at the cutting edge of innovation and technology, enabling progress for our clients, shareholders and the communities we serve. We believe that to be innovative, you must be inclusive. Companies with diverse and inclusive cultures are the future and Citi wants to be a leader in this progressive group.

Gender diversity is a key focus and our global diversity strategy sets out a clear path to work towards improving our gender balance. We are proud to sign the Women in Finance Charter and to demonstrate our commitment to driving change in our industry. We welcome the initiatives introduced by the Charter and fully support the aims and objectives in achieving greater gender balance.

Over a quarter of the signatory firms who have published their diversity targets are committed to a 50/50 gender split in senior roles, and have set a date to achieve that target.

The Charter sits among a set of wider government reforms to improve gender equality in the work place. These include the £5 million fund for ‘returnships’ announced at Budget 2017 and making gender pay gap reporting mandatory from April this year.

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Plans to clamp down on bogus holiday sickness claims have been announced by ministers today.

The move follows concerns from the travel industry that more and more suspected false insurance claims for gastric illnesses like food poisoning are being brought by British holidaymakers, partly fuelled by touts operating in European resorts.

Advice from the travel industry shows the upsurge of claims in this country – reported by the industry to be as high as 500% since 2013 – is not seen in other European countries, raising suspicions over the scale of bogus claims and damaging our reputation overseas.

Due to the reported increase in claims, and as many tour operators appear to settle them out of court, the costs to the industry are increasing.

This is raising fears of higher package holiday prices for the majority of law-abiding holiday makers.

A major barrier to tackling the issue is that these spurious claims are arising abroad. Legal costs are not controlled, so costs for tour operators who fight claims can be out of all proportion to the damages claimed.

Ministers today said they want to reduce cash incentives to bring spurious claims against package holiday tour operators. Under these proposals tour operators would pay a prescribed sum depending on the value of the claim, making the cost of defending a claim predictable.

Justice Secretary David Lidington said:

Our message to those who make false holiday sickness claims is clear – your actions are damaging and will not be tolerated.

We are addressing this issue, and will continue to explore further steps we can take. This government is absolutely determined to tackle the compensation culture which has penalised the honest majority for too long.

A system to control costs already exists for most personal injury claims in England and Wales, but a loophole is being exploited in foreign holiday claims.

To prevent this ministers have asked the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, which is responsible for setting rules on legal costs, to urgently look at the rules governing the costs of holiday claims. As a result of these proposed changes, fixed recoverable costs can be extended to cover claims arising abroad, closing the loophole and meaning that pay-outs for tour operators will be subject to stricter controls.

The vast majority of holidaymakers will not make false claims, and those with genuine claims will still be able to claim damages. But these changes will crack down on those who do make bogus claims and help stop the price of package holidays soaring for the honest majority.

In addition to today’s action, ministers will ask the Civil Justice Council in the coming weeks to look at the rules around how low value personal injury claims more generally are handled to reduce the incentives to bring claims lacking merit.

The government will also be bringing forward proposals to tackle the continuing high number and cost of whiplash claims via the Civil Liability Bill.

Further information:

• Holidaymakers should be reminded that they could face up to 3 years in prison if found guilty of making a fraudulent claim.
• A system of Fixed Recoverable Costs already exists for most personal injury claims in England and Wales, limiting the legal costs that are paid out. This does not currently apply to a tour operator if the incident happened abroad, however.
• Costs for tour operators who are unsuccessful in challenging a claim arising abroad are uncontrolled and can be out of all proportion to the damages claimed. Extending Fixed Recoverable Costs to cover these means tour operators would instead pay a prescribed sum depending on the value of the claim, making the costs of defending a claim predictable.
• We have been liaising with the Association of British Travel Agents and other industry representatives to understand the underlying problems and identify the most appropriate and effective response. In addition to today’s action to close this loophole, we will be calling on the travel industry and others to come forward with further evidence. This Call for Evidence will aim to gather robust data on the volumes and costs of claims, which will help inform further action from government and industry to tackle the issue. The government is committed to tackling all fraudulent claims. The Claims Management Regulator has taken significant steps in this area and the Claims Management Regulator and the Solicitors Regulation Authority are working together to this end.
• The Civil Procedure Rule Committee was set up under the Civil Procedure Act 1997 to make rules of court for the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the County Court. The Civil Procedure Rules set out the practice and procedure to be followed.

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