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A new educational programme inviting schools across the country to discover inspirational women from the First World War, celebrate their achievements and identify current trailblazing women was launched today (6 February 2018), one hundred years on from some women being given the vote for the first time.

The educational programme – Trailblazers: World War One’s Inspirational Women will:

• empower students through public presentation workshops to become confident public speakers and active citizens within their local community
• encourage secondary schools to connect with their local communities through a range of activities, including leading an assembly in a local primary school on inspirational women

As a legacy of the programme, each year, participating schools will nominate an Inspirational Women Ambassador to promote gender equality and female empowerment within their school community.

Communities Minister Heather Wheeler said:

This year marks an important national moment, 100 years since the end of the First World War as well as celebrating the centenary of some women in the UK being granted the right to vote.

The programme will sit at the heart of these commemorations and is a unique opportunity for schools to mark the centenary of the Armistice and celebrate women’s achievements in the First World War and the present day.

Further information

To mark the centenary of the Armistice and celebrate women’s achievements in the First World War and the present day the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are funding Big Ideas Company to lead nationwide school and community engagement projects in 2018. For more details see: www.bigideascompany.org

Among the inspirational women whose achievements are to be promoted through the project are:

Evelyn Miles (1867-1939)

In 1917, Evelyn Miles became the first woman to be employed by Birmingham City Police.
Between 1914-1916, 700 male police officers left the city to serve in the First World War. At the time, many people believed that maintaining order and enforcing the law was beyond the capabilities of a woman. Miles thought differently, and wrote to the Chief Constable of Birmingham City Police requesting consideration for the role of Assistant Matron.

Her role as assistant matron required her to look after female prisoners and ensure they were being treated fairly by the judicial system.
On 1 July 1918 she was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and put in sole charge of a unit. Evelyn Miles worked as a police officer in the city until she retired in 1939 at the age of 72.

Edith Cavell (1865-1915)

Edith Cavell was a famous medical reformer and nursing teacher before the war and had trained as a nurse in London and Belgium.

Cavell was in England when the war broke out, but decided to return to Brussels to continue her work as a nurse and teacher. When Cavell arrived in Brussels, the city was already in the control of the German army.

Now working behind enemy lines, Cavell continued to treat every patient, whether German, British or Belgian with the same level of care. German officials however suspected that Cavell was acting as a spy, and passing information back to the British army.

Cavell was not a spy but – along with twenty others living in occupied Belgium – she was helping allied soldiers and civilians to escape from the Belgian capital into Holland. This ensured they would not be taken as prisoners of war by German forces. Around two hundred soldiers escaped using this underground network of safe houses.

Edith Cavell confessed to having helped British and Allied soldiers and was executed on 12 October 1915.

Dorothie Feilding (1889-1935)

When war broke out, Dorothie Feilding decided to serve with the Munro Ambulance Corps in Belgium, driving wounded soldiers to hospitals. Three of her sisters also volunteered as nurses and ambulance drivers.

Feilding was responsible for driving one of the earliest motor ambulances, which replaced the earlier ambulances, pulled by horses. As the war progressed, the driving conditions became increasingly difficult. This was very dangerous work, and often placed Feilding directly in the line of fire.

Dorothie Feilding was awarded numerous medals including the Military Medal for Bravery (UK), the Order of Leopold II (Belgium) and the Croix de Guerre (Bronze Star; France).

In 1917, she left the Western Front and returned to London where she continued to work as an ambulance driver, driving wounded soldiers to hospitals across the capital.

The Awards were presented at the Gold Award Ceremony held at Temple Trees, Colombo on 4 February 2018, by HRH The Earl of Wessex; Chair of the Award’s international organisation, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation.

Tissa Samarasinghe, National Director of the Award in Sri Lanka says:

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award has significantly contributed towards developing and empowering young people in Sri Lanka; helping them to challenge themselves, experience life and find their purpose, passion and place in the world. The Gold Award challenges participants over 18 months and more, in five areas – physical activity, skill development, service to community and by taking them outside of their comfort zone, through an adventurous journey and residential project.

HRH The Earl of Wessex says:

It has been a great honour to meet such inspiring young people, hear about their Award journeys and celebrate their achievements. Achieving your Gold Award is not an easy task – it requires commitment, tests your resilience and challenges you to step outside your comfort zone. But it also opens up many opportunities for young people and enables them to be their own agents of change, both for themselves and their communities.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a global, non-formal education framework which challenges young people to discover their potential and celebrate their achievements. It operates in more than 130 countries and territories around the world, helping to inspire over 1.3 million young people every year.

The Royal couple spoke with students and their parents to understand how the project is helping children with disabilities integrate into society and reach their full potential.

During their visit to the centre in Nuwara Eliya, Their Royal Highnesses heard from founders Ranji and Chris Stubbs how the project, which began in 1988 with 6 children and their families, is now working with over 3000 children and their families today. MENCAFEP is present in three districts, Nuwara Eliya, Batticaloa and Killinochchi.

Ruwan, a young man who was educated at MENCAFEP and is Chair of the MENCAFEP Children’s and Young Persons Group, said,

For The Earl and Countess of Wessex to visit MENCAFEP and meet and talk to the children and young people at our school has given us loads of respect and pride in the MENCAFEP community.

Thusitha Amarasinha, Secretary of the MENCAFEP Parents Committee said,

The Royal visit to MENCAFEP is a great blessing to all of us here, and an important event in our history. The Earl and Countess of Wessex’s visit creates awareness of what MENCAFEP is doing for our children. It also gives us hope and the strength to build a future for MENCAFEP.

MENCAFEP began 30 years ago when Ranji and Chris Stubbs were working helping unemployed young women in Nuwara Eliya to find work. They found that there were many disabled children who were being left neglected because their parents did not know how to care for them. In many cases learning-disabled children were simply being left in isolation. Ranji and Chris decided to start a day-care school and centre where these children would be looked after, and where the unemployed women in the area could work with them. During MENCAFEP’s years of service they have worked with over 8000 children and their families.

In addition to providing an education for disabled children, MENCAFEP also works with families and communities to counter stigma around mental disability, and it educates staff from government agencies and civil society in effective care-giving techniques.

The report covers e-cigarette use among young people and adults, public attitudes, the impact on quitting smoking, an update on risks to health and the role of nicotine. It also reviews heated tobacco products.

The main findings of PHE’s evidence review are that:

• vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking and switching completely from smoking to vaping conveys substantial health benefits
• e-cigarettes could be contributing to at least 20,000 successful new quits per year and possibly many more
• e-cigarette use is associated with improved quit success rates over the last year and an accelerated drop in smoking rates across the country
• many thousands of smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking; around 40% of smokers have not even tried an e-cigarette
• there is much public misunderstanding about nicotine (less than 10% of adults understand that most of the harms to health from smoking are not caused by nicotine)
• the use of e-cigarettes in the UK has plateaued over the last few years at just under 3 million
• the evidence does not support the concern that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people (youth smoking rates in the UK continue to decline, regular use is rare and is almost entirely confined to those who have smoked)

PHE’s evidence review comes just a few weeks after a US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on e-cigarettes. Their conclusion on e-cigarette safety also finds that based on the available evidence ‘e-cigarettes are likely to be far less harmful than combustible tobacco cigarettes.’

Professor John Newton, Director for Health Improvement at PHE said:

Every minute someone is admitted to hospital from smoking, with around 79,000 deaths a year in England alone.

Our new review reinforces the finding that vaping is a fraction of the risk of smoking, at least 95% less harmful, and of negligible risk to bystanders. Yet over half of smokers either falsely believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking or just don’t know.

It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about their safety.

Professor Ann McNeill, lead author and Professor of Tobacco Addiction at King’s College London said:

It’s of great concern that smokers still have such a poor understanding about what causes the harm from smoking. When people smoke tobacco cigarettes, they inhale a lethal mix of 7,000 smoke constituents, 70 of which are known to cause cancer.

People smoke for the nicotine, but contrary to what the vast majority believe, nicotine causes little if any of the harm. The toxic smoke is the culprit and is the overwhelming cause of all the tobacco-related disease and death. There are now a greater variety of alternative ways of getting nicotine than ever before, including nicotine gum, nasal spray, lozenges and e-cigarettes.

Professor Linda Bauld, author and Professor of Health Policy, University of Stirling and Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention, Cancer Research UK said:

Concern has been expressed that e-cigarette use will lead young people into smoking. But in the UK, research clearly shows that regular use of e-cigarettes among young people who have never smoked remains negligible, less than 1%, and youth smoking continues to decline at an encouraging rate. We need to keep closely monitoring these trends, but so far the data suggest that e-cigarettes are not acting as a route into regular smoking amongst young people.

PHE is calling on smokers and a number of bodies to act on the evidence.

Smokers

Anyone who has struggled to quit should try switching to an e-cigarette and get professional help. The greatest quit success is among those who combine using an e-cigarette with support from a local stop smoking service.

Local stop smoking services and healthcare professionals

These should provide behavioural support to those smokers wanting to quit with the help of an e-cigarette. A new training course on e-cigarettes for healthcare professionals by the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training is now live.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

MHRA continue their work in regulating and licensing e-cigarette products and support manufacturers to expedite the licensing of e-cigarettes as medicinal quit aids. PHE believes there is compelling evidence that e-cigarettes be made available to NHS patients.

NHS Trusts

To become truly smokefree, Trusts should ensure

• e-cigarettes, alongside nicotine replacement therapies are available for sale in hospital shops
• vaping policies support smokers to quit and stay smokefree
• smoking shelters be removed
• frontline staff take every opportunity to encourage and support patients to quit

The government’s new Tobacco Control Plan for England includes a commitment to ‘maximise the availability of safer alternatives to smoking’. It makes clear that e-cigarettes have an important part to play in achieving the ambition for a smokefree generation.

Background

1. McNeill A, Brose LS, Calder R, Bauld L & Robson D (2018). [Evidence review of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. A report commissioned by Public Health England. London: Public Health England. Read the report.
2. Over the past few years, e-cigarette use has hovered at just under 6% of the adult population in Britain. The most common reason for e-cigarette use continues to be to help with quitting and they are the most popular quitting tool in England. At the same time, quit success rates have been improving and we are also seeing an accelerated drop in smoking rates (currently 15.5% in England): smokinginengland.info/latest-statistics.
3. 79,000 people in England die every year as a result of smoking, and over half of long-term smokers will die from a smoking-related illness if they do not quit: digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB24228.
4. PHE 2015 e-cigarettes evidence review: McNeill A., P. Hajek et al, E-cigarettes – an evidence update: A report commissioned by Public Health England, Public Health England, August.
5. Authors’note on evidence for ‘around 95% safer’ estimate.
6. Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction, Royal College of Physicians, April 2016.
7. Smoking Toolkit Study.
8. ASH (May 2017) Use of e-cigarettes (vapourisers) among adults in Great Britain.
9. Bauld, Linda, Anne Marie MacKintosh, Brian Eastwood, Allison Ford, Graham Moore, Martin Dockrell, Deborah Arnott, Hazel Cheeseman, and Ann McNeill. ‘Young people’s use of e-cigarettes across the United Kingdom: Findings from five surveys 2015–2017.’ International journal of environmental research and public health 14, no. 9 (2017): 973.
10. Towards a Smokefree Generation: A Tobacco Control Plan for England Department of Health, July 2017.
11. NHS Digital, Statistics on Smoking: England, 2017.
12. US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (January 2018) Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes.

About Public Health England

Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. We do this through world-leading science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and providing specialist public health services. We are an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and a distinct organisation with operational autonomy. We provide government, local government, the NHS, Parliament, industry and the public with evidence-based professional, scientific expertise and support. Follow us on Twitter: @PHE_uk and Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland.

In a speech to mark the centenary of women’s right to vote, the Prime Minister will celebrate the heroism of the suffrage movement which transformed British democracy, and “the enormous strides we have taken as a society” over the past hundred years.

But she will say that, to ensure we continue to build on this progress and protect our democracy, social media must be a force for good in our public life.

She will add that, while social media firms are making some progress in this area, a series of further steps are needed. They include:

• A new annual internet safety transparency report, to provide data on what offensive content is being reported, how social media companies are responding to complaints – and what material is being removed.
• A Law Commission review of the legislation relating to offensive online communications, “to ensure that the criminal law, which was drafted long before the creation of social media platforms, is appropriate to meet the challenges posed by this new technology.”
• The publication of a social media code of practice later this year setting out clearly the minimum standards expected of social media platforms.

Speaking in Manchester, a centre of activism for the women’s suffrage movement and the birthplace and home of Emmeline Pankhurst, the Prime Minister is expected to say:

“Those who fought to establish their right – my right, every woman’s right – to vote in elections, to stand for office and to take their full and rightful place in public life did so in the face of fierce opposition. They persevered in spite of all danger and discouragement because they knew their cause was right.”

The Prime Minister will take the opportunity to reflect on the nature of our public life in 2018, saying: “As we remember the heroic campaigners of the past, who fought to include the voices of all citizens in our public debate, we should consider what values and principles guide our conduct of that debate today.”

She is expected to say: “For while there is much to celebrate, I worry that our public debate today is coarsening. That for some it is becoming harder to disagree, without also demeaning opposing viewpoints in the process.

“In the face of what is a threat to our democracy, I believe that all of us – individuals, governments, and media old and new – must accept our responsibility to help sustain a genuinely pluralist public debate for the future.”

She will warn that the ideal “of a truly plural and open public debate in which everyone can take part is in danger. A tone of bitterness and aggression has entered into our public debate. Participants in local and national public life – from candidates and elected representatives to campaigners, journalists and commentators – have to contend with regular and sustained abuse.” The Prime Minister will note in her speech that in the centenary year of votes for women, we find that abuse and intimidation is disproportionately targeted at political candidates who are female, black, minority ethnic or LGBT.

And she will add: “It is online where some of the most troubling behaviour now occurs… As well as being places for empowering self-expression, online platforms can become places of intimidation and abuse… This squanders the opportunity new technology affords us to drive up political engagement, and can have the perverse effect of putting off participation from those who are not prepared to tolerate the levels of abuse which exist.”

Last year the Prime Minister commissioned an investigation into intimidation in public life. In her speech, she will endorse the recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life of actions that social media companies can take to address this problem.

She will say: “The social media companies themselves must now step up and set out how they will respond positively to those recommendations. So far, their response has been encouraging, and I hope they will continue in that spirit.”

The Prime Minister will pledge that the Government will establish a new annual internet safety transparency report to track companies’ progress in stamping out online abuse.

Transparency reporting will include data on the amount of harmful content reported to companies; the volume and proportion of this material that is taken down; how social media companies are handling and responding to complaints; and how each online platform moderates harmful and abusive behaviour and the policies they have in place to tackle it.

Regular reporting will set a baseline against which companies’ progress in stamping out online abuse can be measured, and to encourage them to share best practice with each other.

The Prime Minister will say that, in addition, the Government will publish its Internet Safety Strategy in the spring.

She will announce that, following a consultation, the Government will introduce a comprehensive new social media code of practice this year.

This will set out clearly the minimum expectations on social media companies, and include the full range of issues that were consulted on.

The code of conduct will cover the development, enforcement and review of robust community guidelines for the content uploaded by users and their conduct online, and the prevention of abusive behaviour online and misuse of social media platforms – including action to identify and stop users who are persistently abusing services.

It will also include the reporting mechanisms that companies have in place for inappropriate, bullying and harmful content, and ensure they have clear policies and performance metrics for taking this content down; the guidance social media companies offer to help users identify illegal content and contact online and advise them on how to report it to the authorities, to ensure this is as clear as possible; and the policies and practices companies apply around privacy issues.

The Government wants to see as many social media companies as possible sign up to the code of conduct, to demonstrate their commitment to improving online safety for all.

The Prime Minister will also announce that the Law Commission will conduct a review of the legislation relating to offensive online communications, “to ensure that the criminal law, which was drafted long before the creation of social media platforms, is appropriate to meet the challenges posed by this new technology.”

The Law Commission is expected to look at whether the current law is fit for purpose in relation to tackling offensive online communications, including by ensuring that what is illegal offline is also illegal online. This will consider whether particular concepts need to be reconsidered in the light of technological change, for example whether the definition of who a ‘sender’ is needs to be updated.

Reflecting on the centenary and on the courage and perseverance of the campaigners who fought to make our country a better place, the Prime Minister is expected to say, “As the woman at the head of our country’s government, a century after my grandmothers were first given the right to vote, my mission is clear.

“To build that better future for all our people, a country that works for everyone, and a democracy where every voice is heard.”