Month: November 2018

Minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, said:

I am very concerned about the life sentence handed down by the Appeals Court of Bahrain today to Sheikh Ali Salman, in addition to the sentence he is currently serving. I understand that Sheikh Ali Salman now has the right of appeal against this latest sentence.

The UK continues to encourage the Government of Bahrain to deliver on its international and domestic human rights commitments.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt @AlistairBurtUK

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Jeremy Heywood, Lord Heywood of Whitehall, died this morning. Lord Heywood was until recently the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, retiring on 24 October 2018.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

This is extremely sad news and all of my thoughts are with Jeremy’s family and friends.

The many retirement tributes paid to Jeremy from across the political spectrum in recent weeks demonstrated his extraordinary talent supporting and advising Prime Ministers and Ministers, and leading the Civil Service with distinction.

He worked tirelessly to serve our country in the finest traditions of the Civil Service and he is a huge loss to British public life.

I will always be grateful for the support which he gave me personally and will remember his achievements across his career as we regret that he did not have the chance to offer his talents for longer in retirement.

Jeremy will be sorely missed and I send my deepest condolences to Suzanne and the children and to all his family and many friends.

Sir Mark Sedwill, Lord Heywood’s successor as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, said:

Jeremy made an immense contribution to public life, serving four Prime Ministers with distinction. He joined the Civil Service in 1983, advising and supporting governments through some of the most challenging episodes of the last 30 years. Jeremy was the exemplary public servant.

We will miss him more than we can say, and will be the poorer without his advice, leadership and extraordinary insight. He set the highest standards and challenged us to meet them. Jeremy was always looking to move difficult problems forward, restlessly confident to deliver a better way. He was a champion of innovation and embraced change while consolidating and protecting the best of history. He promoted a diverse and inclusive Civil Service, fit to meet the digital, commercial and policy challenges of the future.

Jeremy also considered it a privilege to lead the hundreds of thousands of civil servants up and down the country, and across the world, who work day after day to make people’s lives better.

We offer our condolences and best wishes to Jeremy’s wife Suzanne, his three children, the rest of his family and their friends.

Notes

Lord Heywood was appointed Cabinet Secretary in January 2012 and Head of the Civil Service in September 2014. Prior to that, he was Permanent Secretary at Number 10 and held a range of senior roles including Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Head of Corporate and Management Change at HM Treasury, and Principal Private Secretary to Chancellors Norman Lamont and Kenneth Clarke. He also spent time at the International Monetary Fund and at Morgan Stanley. Lord Heywood’s first job in the Civil Service was as an Economic Adviser at the Health and Safety Executive. Lord Heywood retired as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service on 24 October 2018. He died on 4 November aged 56.

• New research commissioned to explore how widespread the practice of targeting consumers through personalised pricing and search results is
• Companies can use customer data and technology to offer different prices to consumers based on factors which may include geography and marital status
• Research comes as government held the first meeting of the Consumer Forum with government and regulators this week to discuss what more the government and regulators can do to protect vulnerable consumers

The government and the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) are to undertake pioneering new research into the practice of retailers targeting online shoppers and charging people different prices for the same items through personalised pricing, such as holidays, cars and household goods, it has been confirmed today (4 November 2018).

Personalised pricing involves customers spending different amounts when searching for the same products, tailored to the specific customer journey they have taken. The research will explore whether and how personalised pricing makes use of personal data points such as a consumers address, marital status, birthday and travel history.

The government-commissioned research, supported by the CMA, will explore how widespread this practice is, how businesses are applying it through different mediums like search engines, apps or comparison tools and the extent to which personalised pricing is preventing shoppers getting the best deals.

This week the Financial Conduct Authority also announced it will be investigating the issue of personalised pricing for car and home insurance policies after finding hidden discrimination between customers. The regulator’s study will assess the scale of the issue, whom it affects, and possible solutions.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

Ensuring markets work fairly and in the interests of consumers is a cornerstone of our modern Industrial Strategy, and I am proud to say that our consumer protection regime is among the strongest in the world.

UK businesses are leading the way in harnessing the power of new technologies and new ways of doing business, benefitting consumers and helping them save money. But we are clear that companies should not be abusing this technology and customer data to treat consumers, particularly vulnerable ones, unfairly.

The research we are undertaking will help us better understand how we can ensure businesses work in a way that is fair to consumers.

Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the Competition and Markets Authority added:

With more of us shopping online, it’s important that we understand how advances in technology impact consumers. This personalised pricing research will help us stay at the forefront of emerging technology, so we can understand how best to protect people from unfair practices where they exist.

We will also use the results of the research as part of our ongoing efforts to help vulnerable consumers.

It comes as the Consumer Forum, comprised of CEOs from sector regulators and Ministers from across government, met for the first time this week time to discuss how to best work together to protect vulnerable consumers, including addressing Citizen’s Advice recent super-complaint on the ‘loyalty penalty’, and how to ensure consumers can use their own data to get the best deals.

It will play an essential role coordinating action to help consumers and address recommendations made by the National Audit Office in its report on vulnerable consumers in regulated markets last year.
The Consumer Forum is one of the commitments from the Consumer Green Paper and its areas of focus reflects the Government’s commitment to ensuring vulnerable consumers are not exploited.

The Forum, chaired by Consumer Minister Kelly Tolhurst, is made up of representatives from the CMA, Ofcom, Ofgem, Ofwat, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) who will sit alongside Ministers and senior representatives from BEIS, HMT, DCMS, Defra and DfT. It will meet regularly and involve consumer organisations with a particular interest in regulated markets to inform its ambitious work.

Delivering on a commitment from the Consumer Green Paper and in an effort to better support vulnerable consumers, the UK Regulators Network also this week published a report into data sharing between energy and water companies.

The report highlights the significant benefits that can be delivered to vulnerable customers from cross-sector regulatory and industry collaboration and challenges industry to go further in their collaboration, with a continued focus to overcome challenges around customer consent, staff training and data quality.

The money will be used to provide training for teachers on how to spot early signs of bullying and how to intervene appropriately. It will also be used to provide resources to support teachers in delivering lessons on LGBT issues to ensure all pupils feel accepted and included.

The Government Equalities Office has already delivered the anti-bullying programme in 1,200 schools in England – ahead of its March deadline – and is now inviting voluntary and charitable organisations to bid for £1 million of further grant funding to roll out the programme in more schools.

A further £1 million will also be available for organisations to improve LGBT people’s health and social care. The LGBT Survey found that at least 16% of survey respondents who accessed or tried to access healthcare services in the last year had a negative experience because of their sexual orientation, and over half of those surveyed who accessed or tried to access mental health services said they had to wait too long.

Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt said:

“Everyone in this country should feel safe and happy to be who they are, to love who they love, and to live their lives without judgement or fear.

“That’s why this government is stepping up its work to tackle bullying in schools, to protect more children and to stop hatred from festering and growing into discrimination in adulthood.

“The aim of our Action Plan is that everyone can live safe, happy and healthy lives where they can be themselves without fear of discrimination.”

Today, Ms Mordaunt also announced:

• A new fund of £600,000 will also be available to local community groups, through a new LGBT Sector and Community Development Scheme to help them engage LGBT people in their area. Alongside this, these organisations will receive training and development to help them grow, mature and become more sustainable over time.

• An LGBT Advisory Panel to advise the Government on policy, act as a sounding board, and provide evidence on the experiences of LGBT people. Stonewall, the LGBT Consortium and the LGBT Foundation have already been appointed to the panel given their longstanding, wide-ranging work on LGBT equality. A further nine members will be recruited through an open process that launches this week.

The LGBT Action Plan, launched in July 2018, made 75 commitments to tackle discrimination and improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the UK. It was published alongside the results of the largest national survey of LGBT people ever undertaken. The survey, which had over 108,000 respondents, shows LGBT people are experiencing prejudice on a daily basis.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The LGBT survey was launched in July 2017.

The LGBT Action Plan can be found here

The Advisory Panel recruitment will launch this Sunday 4 November.

The grant funding will launch during the week of Monday 5 November.

Prime Minister Theresa May will attend Armistice commemorations in Belgium and France next week as part of a series of events marking one hundred years since the end of the First World War.

Looking ahead to the commemorations, the Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Next week will mark one of the most significant moments in our nation’s history. One hundred years after the guns fell silent on the Western Front, each and every one of us can pause to reflect on the immense sacrifices that were made by so many.

The killing fields of France and Belgium are scarred by the horrors of war, but the strength and closeness of our relationship today is a testament to the journey our countries have travelled together. I’m proud to represent the immense gratitude of our nation at these commemorations and share these moments of reflection with our friends and partners in Europe.

The Prime Minister’s programme includes:

• Visiting the St Symphorien Military Cemetery in Mons in Belgium on Friday. The PM will lay a wreath at the graves of John Parr, the first UK soldier to be killed in 1914, and the last, George Ellison, who was killed on the Western Front at 9.30am before the Armistice became effective at 11am. By coincidence, they are buried opposite each other at the cemetery.
• The PM will then travel to France where she will meet President Macron in Albert, an historic town at the heart of the Somme region, which suffered significant bombardment during the First World War. The visit will give the two leaders the opportunity to reflect on the unique shared history between our two countries and the importance of the Centenary.
  They will attend a working lunch before departing for a wreath laying ceremony at the Thiepval Memorial. The memorial is the site of a major annual commemorative event for the Missing of the Somme and bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and forces who died in the battle.
  A special wreath will be made for the occasion combining poppies and le bleuet, the two national emblems of remembrance for Britain and France.
• On Saturday evening, the Prime Minister will attend The Royal British Legion (RBL) Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. The event, attended by the Royal Family, will see the members of The RBL leading the nation in saying ‘thank you’ to all who served and sacrificed.
• The Prime Minister will attend and lay a wreath at the Cenotaph ceremony on Remembrance Sunday. German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will also attend, marking the first time a German leader will lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in an historic act of reconciliation. They will both also attend a special service at Westminster Abbey later that day.

At PMQs this week the Prime Minister said:

What Armistice gives us is an opportunity to come together to remember the immense sacrifices made in war, but also to join with our German friends to mark reconciliation and the peace that exists between our two nations today.

The local authorities taking part in the 2019 Voter ID pilots are announced today.

The pilots will take place at the 2019 local elections, providing further insight into how best to ensure the security of the voting process and reduce the risk of voter fraud. In addition, the pilots will generate insight into the methods of ID that work best for voters.

The Cabinet Office facilitated pilots in five local authorities as part of the 2018 local elections. The evaluation showed that the trials were a success, with the overwhelming majority of people able to cast their vote without a problem.

Minister for the Constitution, Chloe Smith MP, said:

I am pleased to see that so many local authorities came forward to participate in the 2019 pilots so we can gain a deeper understanding of how voter ID will work on a wider scale – and what works best for voters.

We want people to have confidence that our elections are safeguarded against any threat or perception of electoral fraud.

People are already required to show ID to pick up a parcel from the Post Office, rent a car, or apply for benefits, and this is a common sense next step to securing the integrity of our elections.

To verify that voters are who they say they are, each local authority will test one of four models of Voter ID checks in their pilot:

• photo ID
• photo and non-photo ID
• traditional poll cards
• poll cards with scannable barcodes

The Cabinet Office is engaging with a broad range of charities and civil society
organisations – including members of the Accessibility of Elections Working Group –
to ensure that the overall policy reflects the needs of all voters in the UK.
Local authorities will provide alternative methods of ID to individuals who do not have
a specified form of ID, free of charge, ensuring that everyone who is registered has
the opportunity to vote.

Voters in Pendle, East Staffordshire and Woking will be asked to show photo ID before they are given their ballot papers.

Ribble Valley, Broxtowe, Derby, North Kesteven and Braintree will require voters to present either one form of photo ID or up to two forms of non-photo ID.

Mid Sussex, Watford and North West Leicestershire will test using poll cards as a means of identification.

In addition, Peterborough and Pendle will run a separate postal vote pilot, looking at the security of postal votes and providing additional guidance in postal vote packs.

Proxy voters in Peterborough will also be required to show ID before they can vote.

Northern Ireland has required paper ID to vote since 1985 and photo ID since 2003, without adverse effect on turnout or participation.

Corporate Director and Returning Officer for Pendle Council, Philip Mousdale, said:

We’re pleased to be a pilot area to help to shape the government’s introduction of
photo ID at polling stations.

It also means we can tackle concerns we have in Pendle around fraudulent behaviour in relation to postal voting.

Director of Communications and Research for the Electoral Commission, Craig Westwood, said:

Our key recommendation following the 2018 voter ID pilots was that any future
pilots should include a wider range of local councils, taking in a mixture of rural and
large urban areas and areas with different demographic profiles.

We are pleased to see this reflected in the proposed list of authorities for 2019, to
provide more detailed evidence about the impact of voter identification on different
groups of people.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent evaluation
of the Cabinet Office’s pilot schemes. We will publish our findings following the May
elections, in the summer of 2019.

A commission to champion beautiful buildings as an integral part of the drive to build the homes communities need has been announced by the Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP today (3 November 2018).

The ‘Building Better, Building Beautiful’ Commission will develop a vision and practical measures to help ensure new developments meet the needs and expectations of communities, making them more likely to be welcomed rather than resisted.

This move follows the government recently rewriting the planning rulebook to strengthen expectations for design quality and community engagement when planning for development. The new rules also ensure more consideration can be given to the character of the local area.

This commission will take that work further by expanding on the ways in which the planning system can encourage and incentivise a greater emphasis on design, style and community consent. It will raise the level of debate regarding the importance of beauty in the built environment.

The commission has 3 aims:

1. To promote better design and style of homes, villages, towns and high streets, to reflect what communities want, building on the knowledge and tradition of what they know works for their area.

2. To explore how new settlements can be developed with greater community consent.

3. To make the planning system work in support of better design and style, not against it.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

Most people agree we need to build more for future generations, but too many still feel that new homes in their local area just aren’t up to scratch.

Part of making the housing market work for everyone is helping to ensure that what we build, is built to last. That it respects the integrity of our existing towns, villages and cities.

This will become increasingly important as we look to create a number of new settlements across the country and invest in the infrastructure and technology they will need to be thriving and successful places.

This commission will kick start a debate about the importance of design and style, helping develop practical ways of ensuring new developments gain the consent of communities, helping grow a sense of place, not undermine it. This will help deliver desperately needed homes – ultimately building better and beautiful will help us build more.

This announcement comes as a month long series of events coordinated by think tank Policy Exchange, to showcase the importance of beauty in the built environment, begin.

Welcoming the announcement Policy Exchange Director Dean Godson said:

We know from our research and polling that local support for development increases across all income groups when beauty is made a priority and this commission represents a fantastic first step.

Placing beauty at the heart of housing policy is the biggest idea in a generation.

Sir Roger Scruton has been appointed to Chair the commission, with further commissioners to be announced in due course.

Further information

Biography – Professor Sir Roger Scruton

Eminent writer and philosopher, Prof Sir Roger Scruton has for over 3 decades taught at institutions on both sides of the Atlantic including Birkbeck College, Boston University, and more recently, the University of Buckingham.

He is an author of over 40 books. In his work as a philosopher he has specialised in aesthetics with particular attention to music and architecture. He has written several works of fiction, as well as memoirs and essays on topics of general interest.

He engages in contemporary political and cultural debates from the standpoint of a conservative thinker and is well known as a powerful polemicist. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the British Academy.

He has been officially honoured by the Czech Republic, by the City of Plzen and by Virginia’s General Assembly. In 2004 he received the Ingersoll Weaver Prize for Scholarly Letters. In 2015 he published 3 books all of which were chosen among people’s ‘books of the year’.

In 2016 he was recipient of the Polish Lech Kaczynski Foundation’s Medal for Courage and Integrity and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

• Advisory panel appointed to advise on recommendation to Her Majesty The Queen
• Next poet laureate will take over from Dame Carol Ann Duffy in May 2019
• Government also announces National Poetry Competition, to increase access to poetry for young people

The process of selecting the UK’s next Poet Laureate has begun with the appointment of a new advisory panel, Jeremy Wright, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, announced today.

The panel, made up of experts from across the regions and nations of the UK, includes the founder of the Bradford Literature Festival and the organiser of a showcase event with the Jamaican Poet Laureate.

It will offer its suggestions on the scope and purpose of the next Poet Laureate, with a recommendation put to Her Majesty The Queen.

The next Poet Laureate will take over from Dame Carol Ann Duffy, who was appointed in 2009, and was the first woman and first Scot to take up the post.

Representatives from the British Council, Arts Council England and Arts Council Northern Ireland, Royal Society of Literature, Scottish Poetry Library, Literature Wales, The Poetry Society, Forward Arts Foundation, British Library and Poetry Book Society are also included in the panel.

The news comes as the Government announces the relaunch of the National Poetry Competition in schools from September next year. The competition will give young people a chance to discover more about the UK’s rich literary heritage and experience the joy that comes from learning a poem.

Jeremy Wright, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said:

Poetry has the power to connect us to people, places and ideas. It also cuts across social and cultural divides. The important role of Poet Laureate helps to record key moments in British history and celebrates our rich literary tradition.

I pay tribute to Dame Carol Ann Duffy for her dedicated service in championing poetry to the nation. I look forward to working with a new advisory panel, that reflects the whole of the UK and the new ways we consume poetry, in electing her successor.

Nick Gibb, Minister for School Standards, said:

We hope that relaunching the National Poetry Competition will inspire children to read and write poetry and learn from the way the best poets use language.

Our focus on phonics in primary schools is helping more young children open up the joys of the written and spoken word, with 163,000 more six-year-olds on track to be fluent readers than in 2012. This means the world of poetry has never been more accessible to young people.

Since the role of Poet Laureate was established in 1668, incumbents have included William Wordsworth, Ted Hughes and Sir John Betjeman.

When she completes her ten-year term in April 2019, Dame Duffy – well-known for her range of monologues, love poems, children’s rhymes and plays – will have written poems to mark the deaths of Henry Allingham and Harry Patch (the last two British soldiers to fight in the First World War), the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and even David Beckham’s injured Achilles in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup.

She has also just published ‘The Wound In Time’, a poem which seeks to remember those who died during the First World War, ahead of commemorations that will mark the centenary of Armistice Day next weekend.

Dame Duffy has spent much of her tenure boosting the national conversation about poetry, carrying out a range of visits to schools and festivals, and launching the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, which seeks to recognise excellence in poetry, highlighting outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life.

Following the closure of nominations in December 2018, the advisory panel will agree a shortlist of candidates for consideration by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, before a final recommendation is put forward by the Prime Minister to Her Majesty The Queen in the Spring. A formal announcement is expected to be made in May 2019. The role will be for a ten year period.

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

The news follows National Poetry Day research recently published by the National Literacy Trust, which highlighted how poetry continues to transcend social backgrounds and the changing way children engage with it, finding that:

• Children who receive free school meals are more likely to say that they read, listen to or watch poetry in their spare time (34%) than those who don’t (23%)
• Almost half (46%) of all children and young people said they consume or create poetry in their spare time

Of this group:

• 47% read, listen to or watch poetry in their spare time at least once a week
• 32% of “young poetry consumers” now read poetry online or on a phone, and 31% now watch it as a video
• 68% said they read poetry because it makes them feel creative
• 66% said they write poetry because it is a great way to express themselves and their feelings
• 52% write or perform poetry in their spare time because it is different to other forms of writing they do in school

Those surveyed made a range of suggestions on how to make poetry more appealing, such as “including more narrative, making it more like a story”, “make it more relevant and modern”, and “find more poems about sports or video games”.

Membership of the Poet Laureate Steering Group:

• Alex Higgs, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Chair)
• Sarah Crown, Director of Literature, Arts Council England
• Cortina Butler, Director of Literature, British Council
• Molly Rosenberg, Director, Royal Society of Literature
• Judith Palmer, Director, The Poetry Society
• Sophie O’Neill, Managing Director, Poetry Book Society
• Nicola Solomon, CEO, Society of Authors
• Susannah Herbert, Executive Director, Forward Arts Foundation
• Chloe Garner, Artistic Director, Ledbury Poetry Festival
• Jamie Andrews, Head of Culture and Learning, British Library
• Lleucu Siencyn, Chief Executive, Literature Wales
• Syima Aslam, Director, Bradford Literature Festival
• Chris Gribble, Chief Executive, National Centre for Writing
• Asif Khan, Director, Scottish Poetry Library
• Damian Smyth, Head of Drama and Literature, Arts Council Northern Ireland

The Laureateship was a lifetime appointment until 1999. Following the death of Ted Hughes, it was decided that the appointment should be for a fixed term of ten years, to give more poets the opportunity to serve.

The appointment is made by Her Majesty The Queen, acting on the advice of Her Majesty’s Government.

The position is honorary and it is up to the individual poet to decide whether or not to produce poetry for national occasions or Royal events.

The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry was devised by Carol Ann Duffy, and is supported by The Poetry Society to recognise outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life. The £5,000 annual prize money is awarded by Carol Ann Duffy, funded with the honorarium the Poet Laureate traditionally receives from Her Majesty The Queen.