Day: May 16, 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May will underline the UK’s unconditional commitment to maintaining Europe’s security and upholding European values on her visit to Macedonia today (17 May 2018) – the first visit to the Western Balkans by a serving UK Prime Minister for almost 20 years.

The PM will begin the day in Sofia at the EU’s Western Balkans Summit, where she will restate the UK’s desire to work with European allies to promote greater stability, security and prosperity across the region.

Travelling on to Macedonia, Theresa May will be the first British Prime Minister to set foot in the Western Balkans since Tony Blair visited in 1999. Here she will meet with Prime Minister Zaev to discuss the programme of reforms his government is undertaking to strengthen democracy, uphold the rule of law, and reach out to its neighbours, as well as progress on negotiations with Greece on the Name Issue.

On International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the Prime Minister will also meet with LGBT activists to discuss their experiences and the shifting culture in Macedonia.

The Prime Minister will end her trip by speaking at a reception in Parliament, which will be attended by politicians, officials, military personnel and future leaders from across Macedonian society.

Prime Minister, Theresa May said:

This year, as we mark the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Macedonia and the UK, the ties between our countries are stronger than ever.

Next year the UK is leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe – and we will continue to work with our allies to protect our collective security and champion the European values that so many in Macedonia and the wider Western Balkans share.

I’m looking forward to hearing from Prime Minister Zaev and others about the progress the country is making towards a more progressive, prosperous and democratic Macedonia.

At the EU’s Western Balkans summit in Sofia, the 28 leaders in the EU and the 6 leaders in the Western Balkans will discuss the next steps in helping the Western Balkans continue on its path to stability, free from conflict and malign influence, and able to tackle its own problems.

The UK will host a Western Balkans Summit on 10 July in London, focussing on strengthening regional security cooperation; increasing economic stability; and fostering greater political cooperation. This will be the fifth annual Summit as part of the Berlin Process that Chancellor Merkel launched in 2014.

Political heavyweights Boris Johnson and Gordon Brown today (Wed 16th) joined forces to discuss improving education for the world’s most marginalised girls.

The Foreign Secretary met the former Prime Minister as part of his campaign to deliver 12 years of quality education for women and girls around the world.

The meeting with Mr Brown – now the UN’s Global Education envoy – is the latest in a series of high profile engagements Mr Johnson has held as part of his #LeaveNoGirlBehind campaign.

In recent weeks, Mr Johnson has discussed his campaign with girls’ education activist and Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, senior adviser to President Trump, Ivanka Trump and philanthropist Melinda Gates.

The Foreign Secretary has also spoken to HRH Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle about his campaign during a star-studded launch at last month’s Commonwealth Summit.

Mr Johnson hopes that his drive will build a coalition of political heavyweights and cultural icons that will lobby the world’s leaders to prioritise girls’ education.

Speaking after the meeting the Foreign Secretary said:

Girls’ education is manifestly in the global interest. It is the Swiss Army knife, the Rosetta Stone, the Black and Decker toolkit that solves a multitude of the world’s problems.

If we fail to educate girls, we store up huge problems for the future and wilfully miss out on boosting economic growth, managing population pressures and creating stable, prosperous societies – and most importantly, it is the right thing to do.

Gordon understands this, which is why he is a passionate advocate of improving education for women and girls around the world.

It was a pleasure to listen to his ideas and exchange views on the ways which the UK can become the global leader in ending the gross sexism behind attitudes which shut 130 million girls out of the classroom.

Appallingly 90 per cent of world’s poorest children leave school unable to read and write. Mr Johnson believes that one of the root causes of girls’ illiteracy and poor schooling is sexism masquerading as ‘tradition’, which is holding millions of the world’s poorest girls back. Britain is leading by example by providing £212 million through the Department for International Development to ensure one million vulnerable girls across the Commonwealth get 12 years of quality education by 2030.

The Foreign Secretary believes that the single biggest thing that can be done to improve stability and reduce conflict in the world is to make sure that every girl gets 12 years of quality education.

During last month’s Commonwealth Summit, Mr Johnson pushed for firm commitments from Foreign Ministers to make girls’ education a priority. He will also use the UK’s Presidency of the UN Security Council in August, to influence General Assembly members on the need to remove barriers to education.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @BorisJohnson and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

I welcome the publication of the Big Brother Watch report as in my view it adds value to a much needed debate on a matter of growing public interest, the public interest which demands clear legislation, transparency in governance and approach and a coherent and effective regulatory framework in which they can derive confidence whenever and wherever their civil liberties are at risk from the state. I shall consider the report carefully.

The effective regulation of use of face identification technology (commonly referred to as Automated Face Recognition or AFR) by the police is a priority of the National Surveillance Camera Strategy and a matter which I have been addressing as a priority for some time now, engaging with the National Police Chief’s Council, the Home Office, fellow regulators and Ministers alike.

The police have to abide by the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice which I regulate under the terms of Section 33(1) Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Those familiar with the content of the code will know that it is explicit in that face identification technologies used by the police in England and Wales will be regulated by it. That is not to say that I consider existing or indeed anticipated legislation as being wholly sufficient in these matters. I do not. My fellow regulators, the Biometrics Commissioner and in recent times the Information Commissioner have added welcome contributions to the debate.

I do think that the police are genuinely doing their best with AFR and to work within the current and anticipated legal regulatory framework governing overt surveillance. That framework is far less robust than that which governs covert surveillance, yet arguably the evolving technological capabilities of overt surveillance is the equal in terms of intrusion, to that which is conducted covertly. It is inescapable that AFR capabilities can be an aid to public safety particularly from terrorist threats in crowded or highly populated places. Andrew Parker, the DG of the Security Service rather eloquently set out the threat context to our society only recently. It is understandable that there is an appetite within law enforcement agencies to exploit face identification capabilities, an appetite which is doubtlessly borne out of a duty and determination to keep us safe. This technology already exist in society for our convenience and therefore it is arguable that the public will have something of an expectation that those technologies are so used by agents of the state to keep us safe from serious threats, but only in justifiable circumstances where their use is lawful, ethical, proportionate and transparent.

In the context of safety, the public also need to be safe from unlawful, disproportionate and illegitimate state intrusion, and they must have confidence that those technologies have integrity. In my view, the challenge is arriving at a balance and for that to happen there need to be a clear framework of legitimacy and transparency which guides the state, holds it to account and delivers confidence and security amongst the public. I have yet to have confidence that government has a satisfactory approach to the issue in delivering a framework upon which the police and others can rely and upon and which the public can have confidence, but I do believe that we are on a journey to that destination and a journey is fuelled by constructive and challenging debate.

The commissioner is available for media interview and contactable at scc@sccommissioner.gsi.gov.uk

The government will fully fund the removal and replacement of unsafe cladding by councils and housing associations, estimated at £400 million, it was announced today (16 May 2018).

Local authorities and housing associations, which are non-profit making, will be given access to the money to help with reasonable costs of removing and replacing unsafe cladding from buildings which they own to ensure people are safe in their homes.

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the government quickly established a comprehensive building safety programme. It made clear that aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding on buildings over 18 metres which was not compliant with building regulations guidance should be remediated by the building owners.

The fund follows the government’s offer last year of financial flexibilities to assist local authorities with essential fire safety work. From conversations with social sector landlords, it has become apparent that they are having to take decisions about how to prioritise important services, repairs and maintenance work and investment in new homes.

The government has listened to their concerns, discussed the issue in Cabinet, and decided that, although social landlords have made good progress on replacing unsafe cladding, it is right to provide further support. It is therefore today announcing additional funding for the social sector. It recognises the tough decisions that are being made to carry out fire safety work as well as the potential impact on other services.

The government will also continue to provide financial flexibilities to councils for other essential fire safety measures and is directing local authorities to take cladding-related issues into account when carrying out reviews of housing conditions in their areas.

Social landlords have been working hard to replace unsafe cladding. Interim safety measures are in place in all affected buildings and latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that over 65% (104 out of 158) of social housing buildings with unsafe cladding are currently going through the process of remediation.

The additional money will enable social housing providers to focus on providing safe properties for people to live in.

Housing Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

People must always feel safe in their own home.

Since the tragic events at Grenfell Tower, we have taken steps to ensure the immediate safety of all high rise buildings.

This money will ensure local authorities and housing associations are being given the support they need to get this work done now as well as removing the uncertainty around funding.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said:

We have always been clear that unsafe cladding must be removed from tower blocks so that people are safe in their own homes.

But we do not want vital safety work to put at risk our high priority house-building programmes. So we have decided to provide funding to ensure that housing associations and councils can carry out this vital work.

The government is clear that building owners in the private sector must ensure private sector homes are made safe.

The Secretary of State, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, will meet industry representatives to ensure that remediation work is completed as soon as possible.

The industry roundtable will take place shortly.

Further information

The government will set out further details shortly about how councils and housing associations can apply for funding, including conditions attached to the grant.

The Treasury is providing £4 million of additional funding to the ONS so that we continue to have world-leading statistics that capture what is happening in the modern economy.

This brings investment to-date to £16 million, and will allow the ONS to:

• develop new ways to measure the Sharing Economy and inflation, for example by trawling the internet for price changes
• fund improvements to the measurement of the labour market, trade, productivity and GDP in the face of rapid technological change via the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence
• roll out new PhDs and apprenticeship places for the next-generation of data scientists
• improve coverage of the services sector, on financial links across the economy and the breakdown of the UK’s trade around the world

The modern digital economy is harder to measure than the goods based economy of the past. The ONS is working hard to further understand the changes. The rapid rate of technological innovation, free services for consumers and major intangible investments by businesses all create challenges for the ONS, which this funding will help address.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Elizabeth Truss said:

We are boosting our understanding of the Britain’s dynamic, go-getting companies that are driving productivity
forward. From TransferWise to Deliveroo, disruptors are offering profoundly new services and shaking things up.

We want to understand their impact on the economy, as together we build a country that works for everyone.

National Statistician, John Pullinger said:

Today’s announcement will greatly help ONS meet the challenges of measuring new forms of economic activity and give policy makers better insights into the UK economy.

The Data Science Campus is already allowing us to interpret many new and exciting forms of data and the
Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence provides a crucial link to harnesses the internationally-renowned
expertise of our universities.

The new investment will also help ONS to build on recent innovations, such as the inclusion of the latest VAT information from thousands of UK business into official figures. New projects in the pipe line or already delivered
including better measurement of wages, trade in services, productivity and the digital economy.

What has the ONS already delivered?

The government commissioned Professor Sir Charles Bean to carry out an Independent Review of UK Economic Statistics. This review reported in March 2016 with recommendations for how the ONS should adapt to an increasingly digital world. The government responded at the time. This new funding will continue to deliver on the Bean Review’s recommendations. Since 2016 the ONS has:

• established an Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence, bringing together academics and policymakers to deliver cutting edge research on how to measure the modern, digital economy
• established a Data Science Campus to harness the power of ‘Big Data’, particularly to improve real-time indicators of economic activity
• continued to develop ONS’s existing statistics, for instance through the inclusion of VAT data in GDP, which increases the number of small and medium-sized businesses sampled each month to over 600,000
• improved trade statistics, with substantially more country and commodity breakdowns in both goods and services
• significant productivity insights including company and regional level analysis
• improved the ONS’s analytical capability, including through expanding the number of economists in the ONS workforce to over 100

What the government is doing for the economy

We will improve our productivity by embracing new technologies, investing in skills and infrastructure, and helping businesses create better, higher-paying jobs. We are delivering an ambitious Industrial Strategy and:

• increasing the National Productivity Investment Fund to £31 billion as well as increasing R&D spending by the largest amount for 40 years
• establishing the UK as a world-leader in emerging technology such as A.I. and driverless cars while reforming technical education and re-training