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JON CRAIG: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW PHILIP HAMMOND ON THE NEW DYNAMICS OF THE WORLD SADIQ KHAN CONSIDERS SENTENCING AND REHABILITATION VINCE CABLE ON UK TRADE WITH THE WORLD MICHAEL FALLON ON GOVERNMENT’S DUTY TO DEFENCE THERESA MAY LOOKS AT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ABUSE LUCIANA BERGER ON ENDING THE MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA

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ACHIEVING HIGH ATTAINMENT IN SCHOOLS INSIDE:

DAVID CAMERON NICK CLEGG ED MILIBAND

NICKY MORGAN, TRISTRAM HUNT, DAVID WARD AND MARGARET JONES

INTERVIEW: PAUL BURSTOW

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6 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: JON CRAIG Jon Craig talks to Marcus Papadopoulos about what this year’s autumn party conference season means for the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, which party will be the most confident going into the conference season and how David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will use their respective conferences to appeal to the British electorate

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16 LEADERS David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband lay down their visions for Britain 34 COLUMNS Paul Routledge assesses the impact of UKIP in traditional Labour-supporting areas, while John Coulter argues that the Irish factor may be crucial to UK politics in 2015 36 CORRIDORS Philip Hammond discusses how Britain will meet its Editorial Board: Esther McVey Lionel Zetter Paul Routledge John Bretherton Harold Atcherley Terry Ashton Michael Pownall

challenges in the world Michael Fallon argues that the British armed forces are receiving the funds they require to remain a worldclass fighting force Theresa May on tackling domestic violence and abuse Vince Cable looks at British trade and the emerging economies Sadiq Khan explores sentencing and rehabilitation

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140 SPOTLIGHT: ACHIEVING HIGH ATTAINMENT IN SCHOOLS Nicky Morgan, Tristram Hunt, David Ward and Margaret Jones 148 INTERVIEW: Paul Burstow 194 DIARY PAGE: Nigel Nelson

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September/October 2014 Politics

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Poli�cal biographical and contact database covering all of the UK's legislators Rt Hon David Cameron (Con) Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury & Minister for the Civil Service Tel: 020 7219 3475 email: [email protected] Constituency: Witney Majority: 22,740 First Elected: June 2001 DoB: 9/10/1966 Place of Birth: London

Constituency office: 58-60 High Street Witney Oxfordshire OX28 6HJ Tel: 01993 702 302 @David_Cameron

Rt Hon Nick Clegg (Lib Dem) Deputy Prime Minister & Lord President of the Council Tel: 020 7219 5090 email: [email protected] Constituency: Sheffield, Hallam Majority: 15,284 First Elected: May 2005 DoB: 7/1/1967 Place of Birth: Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks

Constituency office: 85 Nethergreen Road Sheffield South Yorkshire S11 7EH Tel: 01142 309 002 @Nick_Clegg

Rt Hon Ed Miliband (Lab) Leader of the Opposition Tel: 020 7219 4778 email: [email protected] Constituency: Doncaster North Majority: 10,909 First Elected: May 2005 Date of Birth: 24/12/1969 Place of Birth: London

Constituency office: Doncaster Labour Party North Bridge Road Doncaster DN5 9AA Tel: 01302 875 462 @Ed_Miliband

Rt Hon Philip Hammond (Con)

Constituency office:

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ZOL can be integrated withand AIMediaComms’ Secretary of State for Foreign Commonwealth Affairswell-established Vuelio 55portal Cherry Orchard Tel: 020 7219 4055 email: [email protected] Staines which has several hundred exis�ng subscribers. In combina�on, the applica�on Surrey Constituency: Runnymede and Weybridge offers Majority: the most comprehensive stakeholder engagement pla�orm available. 16,509 TW18 2DQ First Elected: May 1997 Date of Birth: 4/12/1955 Place of Birth: Epping, Essex

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In the Leaders section, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband set out their visions for Britain and offer a blueprint as to how they intend to achieve their objectives.

With education so critical to sustaining the UK economy’s recovery, and enabling Britain to successfully compete against the world’s emerging economies, the Spotlight of the edition is on raising attainment in schools. Nicky Morgan, Tristram Hunt, David Ward and Margaret Jones explain how pupils can be given the opportunity to fully achieve their potential and, in doing so, lay a foundation for obtaining successful jobs in their adult years.

Jon Craig, Sky News’ Chief Political Correspondent, gives us an exclusive interview in which he discusses what to look out for during the party conferences and what could constitute the biggest dangers for the leadership of the three parties during their respective stay in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. Philip Hammond highlights the critical challenges to British foreign policy and how the UK should and must approach these, while Theresa May discusses the options of how to tackle domestic violence and abuse. Vince Cable looks at how Britain should increase its trade with the emerging markets, and Liam Fox outlines a new approach to the contentious issue of immigration. There are, of course, many other thought-provoking articles and interviews in the edition which have been tailored to captivate the attention and imagination of the reader, including one on the reflections of a veteran of the Malaysian campaign during World War Two who was forced to help build the infamous Burma Railway.

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So it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the conference edition of Politics First! Inside, you will find articles from David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband, members of the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet together with backbench politicians from both the House of Commons and House of Lords. The topics discussed in the articles cover important and, indeed, in some cases, critically important, challenges facing Britain both at home and abroad. So, from the economy to the NHS to transport to Iraq and Syria to immigration – and there are many more.

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POLITICS F I R S T A travelling circus of politicians, journalists, lobbyists, delegates and international observers, armed with umbrellas, notepads and pens, descending on cities up and down the UK can only mean one thing...it is the autumn party conference season! But this year’s conference season is no ordinary one; it is the last before the 2015 general election – an election that is expected to be one of the most tantalising since the 1992 contest between John Major, Neil Kinnock and Paddy Ashdown.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a successful time in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, and I hope you enjoy reading this special edition of Politics First.

Dr Marcus Papadopoulos, Publisher/Editor

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:

JON CRAIG On your marks, get set, go... because Sky’s the limit! Jon Craig, Sky News’ Chief Political Correspondent, talks with Marcus Papadopoulos about what will be happening during the last autumn party conference season before the 2015 general election

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ne of the main events on the UK political calendar is the autumn party conference season when the three main parties, together with journalists, lobbyists and international observers, descend on towns and cities across the country.

three parties going into the conference season but, at the same time, all three believe that there is reason for optimism as David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have begun to cite policies and events which they consider will be vote winners for the British electorate.

This year, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow are playing host to the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, respectively.

On May 7, 2015, the British electorate, having shown signs of voter apathy and a disinterest in the three parties for a number of years now, will be asked to cast their votes on who they want to see govern the country. And the foundation for the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats appealing to a weary electorate will be set during this year’s conference season.

However, this year’s conference season is no ordinary one. It is the last before the 2015 general election – an election which is set to be one of the most intriguing that Britain has experienced in a long while. Feelings of uncertainty in regard to the forthcoming general election plague the

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So, what can the electorate expect to see during the conferences? To discuss that critically important question, enter

September/October 2014

Jon Craig - Sky News’ Chief Political Correspondent. Jon Craig is one of the most experienced broadcasters and print journalists on the circuit, having been a political correspondent for 32 years, working on titles such as the Daily Express and The Sunday Times and presenting on BBC London. As this author frequently remarks: “When there’s a story knocking about, Jon Craig is sure to be about!” In an exclusive interview, Jon assesses the last conference season before the general election. He discusses the parties’ standings going into their respective conferences, the dangers to David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg and what the electorate can expect to hear resonating from Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.


EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: JON CRAIG

So, this autumn’s conferences are the last chance for each party to bask in a week’s wall-to-wall coverage on television, radio, newspapers and online and sell their policies, their party leader and their leading personalities to an ever-more-sceptical electorate. Ever more sceptical because more voters are turning to smaller parties like UKIP and the Greens or not bothering to vote. Turnouts are down and the three main parties fear that as well as defecting to another party, many disillusioned voters will simply stay at home and not bother to vote. That is why the party conferences are so important. And none more so than the final ones before a general election. There is no room for mistakes, indiscipline from disgruntled ex-ministers or backbenchers, or ministers or shadow ministers going off-message. Discipline, focus and stick to the message: that is the order of the day from the parties’ high command. As a result, the conferences will be strictly controlled and stage managed – they hope! – with malcontents gagged – they hope!

Q Which party will be the most confident going into the conference season? A Labour has maintained a modest lead over the Conservatives in the opinion polls throughout the summer, ranging from a couple of points to five points, depending on which pollster takes your fancy. But do not let that fool you into thinking Ed Miliband’s party is confident of victory next year. Labour MPs have the jitters, worried by Mr Miliband’s poor personal ratings, equally poor ratings on the economy and a belief that if their party is to win next year, the opinion poll

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The Liberal Democrats, distraught at their dismal poll ratings and collapse in support since they have been in coalition, fear a wipe-out next year and, at best, are hoping to hold on to around half of the 56 seats they hold now. Despite being behind in the polls, it is the Tory high command which is probably the most confident, especially after the huge morale boost of a comfortable victory over UKIP in the Newark byelection this June. Tory strategists, led by George Osborne, believe Labour’s opinion poll lead is soft and that the Coalition’s economic policy is starting to work. Their worry, of course, is will the voters thank them for it?

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This conference season is the launchpad for the general election campaign

David Cameron trounces Ed Miliband every week in Prime Minister’s Questions, Tory MPs believe, and will do so again in television election debates. They are confident that voters do not want “Red Ed” as PM and that their Aussie election strategist Lynton Crosby will ensure a disciplined campaign, focusing only on the key issues and those which favour the Conservatives.

Q How will David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg use their respective conferences to appeal to the British electorate? A For David Cameron, the Tory conference and the election campaign that follows it is all about trying to persuade


voters to give the Conservatives an overall Commons majority in 2015 so they do not have to govern in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. A tall order! So, we can expect to see plenty of Liberal Democrat bashing, as well as an emphasis on those policies that the Tories have had to ditch because they have been in coalition, such as tougher trade union laws, a human rights crackdown and declaring war on Brussels. He has also got to woo back all the voters who deserted the Conservatives for UKIP in the local and European elections this May. How does he do that? Some Tory MPs fear that trying to outdo UKIP will backfire. Ed Miliband has to convince voters – and, indeed, plenty in his own party - that he is a Prime Minister in waiting and not another loser like Michael Foot or Neil Kinnock. He also has a big job to do to persuade voters that he is not “weird” or “geeky”, as some polls have suggested he is seen by many voters. He needs more eye-catching policies like his energy prize freeze, which was initially dismissed as a gimmick by the Tories and then threw them into a panic when they realised it was popular with voters. His supporters claim he is at his best when taking on the big vested interests, though some Labour MPs caution that he must not appear to be too anti-business. Above all, Mr Miliband has to persuade voters to imagine him and his wife Justine standing on the steps of 10 Downing Street on May 8 next year. In 1992, Labour had an opinion poll lead over John Major’s Conservatives, but it slipped away at the end of the election campaign and Neil Kinnock could not convince voters he was Prime Minister material. Nick Clegg has to persuade voters that the Liberal Democrats have made a difference and had a positive impact in government since 2010. He needs to claim the credit for some of the Coalition’s more popular measures which were originally Liberal Democrat proposals, like the £10,000 income tax threshold, which George Osborne now shamelessly claims the credit for. He needs to rediscover the sort of elec-


trifying form he showed in the “I agree with Nick” television debates in 2010. His critics claim no-one agrees with Nick anymore because of his broken promises. So, he has to persuade those disillusioned voters not to drift back to Labour. And he needs to boast proudly about how the Liberal Democrats have curbed some of the Tories’ more extreme policies in government.

Q What will be the buzzwords emanating from Manchester Central, The ICC Birmingham and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre? A Ed Miliband’s big slogan is “One Nation Labour”. No more “New Labour” or


even a return to Old Labour. The aim is to persuade voters that Labour would govern for the whole country and not just the working-class, middle-class or any other class.

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Look out for many more left-leaning pledges from Nick Clegg

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A This is it! The countdown starts here! This conference season is the launchpad for the general election campaign for all three parties, with only a few months to polling day on May 7, 2015.

lead needs to be much bigger.

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Q What does this autumn party conference season mean for the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties?


I am sure we will also hear plenty from Labour in Manchester about “the same old Tories” and “tax cuts for millionaires”. Despite his July reshuffle, we will hear more, too, about David Cameron’s “women problem”. The Labour leader likes to talk about “the squeezed middle” when describing the effect of Coalition economic policies. That is not his own phrase. It was first coined by his fellow Yorkshire MP and ally John Healey. The point of those buzzwords is to convince wavering voters that the Conservatives’ policies benefit only a limited numbers of voters. Labour’s argument is that the Tories look after the rich, their policies hit people on middle incomes


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leader’s speech. Cue more friction between the two Eds!

The Conservatives will hit back by concentrating their attacks on Labour on the “failed” economic policies or the two Eds, Miliband and Balls. We will hear a lot about the role of the two Eds under Gordon Brown “when they were in the Treasury”. David Cameron never misses an opportunity to taunt Ed Balls during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Labour’s national policy forum, meeting in Milton Keynes this July, more or less signed off the party’s manifesto. New proposals include a vague promise of taking some rail franchises back into public ownership.

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But the Tories’ favourite jibe at the two Eds on the economy, much used by Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne, is: “Why give the keys back to the people who crashed the car?” Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats will talk a lot about “making a difference in government”. The Liberal Democrats are unashamedly pro-European, too, so we can expect the Liberal Democrat leader to attack the Euro-scepticism of the Conservatives as “frankly ludiicrous”, a phrase he uses a lot. And in the first of his television debates against Nigel Farage this year, Mr Clegg dubbed UKIP “the party of ginsoaked retired colonels”.

Q Can the electorate expect to hear policy pledges from the three leaders? A The energy price freeze pledge was the big news in Ed Miliband’s conference speech last year. He and his team will be hoping to come up with a headline grabber that is equally dramatic this year. Being the final party conferences before the election, we can expect more policy pledges than usual this year. Party leaders, of course, are notorious for stealing the best party conference announcements from the speeches of Cabinet ministers or Shadow Cabinet members. So, for example, we might see a major policy pledge on tax policy being stolen from Ed Balls by Ed Miliband for the

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Politics First

Many Conservative MPs are gloomy about their party’s prospects, while many Labour MPs are pessimistic about their chances of being in government

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Two slogans sum up the Tory economic approach: the mantra we also hear in PMQs, recited by Tory backbenchers in PMQs, about the “long-term economic plan” delivering for Britain.

Labour is even more vague, though, on its policy on Europe and immigration. We can expect Ed Miliband to attempt to sharpen up the message on both in Manchester.

David Cameron’s speech will be full of what a Conservative-only government would do if it won the 2015 election. There will be a lot of pledges on Europe, despite his pledge when he became leader in 2005 to stop “banging on about Europe”. These days, he is a prisoner of the Tory Right and UKIP, to the dismay of pro-European Conservatives. But he will argue that the only party that which can deliver a referendum on whether Britain should stay in or leave the European Union is the Conservatives. Nick Clegg’s rabbit out of the hat in his 2013 conference speech was free school meals in primary schools, which has hit problems in its introduction. My hunch is that David Cameron will hand his Deputy


Prime Minister another bone to toss to his party faithful this year to keep the Coalition intact until next May. Look out for many more left-leaning pledges from Nick Clegg, too, to try to hold on to Liberal Democrat voters tempted to vote Labour next year and to leave the door open to a Liberal-Labour coalition.

Q What will be the main challenges to David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg during the conferences? A Dissent and troublemakers rocking the boat so close to a general election are the two big dangers for all three party leaders. For Ed Miliband, the rump of disaffected Blairites can still potentially cause trouble, pining in public for his brother David to rescue the party, branding him “weird” and unelectable and harking back to the glory days of New Labour and Tony Blair. Unlike most Labour leaders, Ed’s enemies are on the Right, not the Left. Peter Mandelson, Charles Clarke and other former Blair Cabinet members are the main dangers. Ed’s other problem is to keep Len McCluskey out of the headlines. The Unite leader, “Red Len”, signed up to the Labour manifesto at the party’s national policy forum in Milton Keynes this July, so he is under orders from allies close to the Labour leadership to behave. But will he? For David Cameron, the main dissent will come from bruised and angry exministers shuffled out of the Government this July. Who can forget the menacing sight of the two hard men of the Tory Right, sacked and snubbed, Owen Paterson and Liam Fox, standing at the Bar of the House during the first PMQs after the reshuffle, arms folded and staring directly at David Cameron in a threatening pose. Both will be the darlings of the fringe. And since most Tory activists share the pair’s Right-wing Euro-sceptic views, they will be greeted with adulation as they exact their bitter revenge.


Then there is cuddly old Ken Clarke, coming at the Prime Minister from the Left and championing the pro-Europe cause, backed now by another sacked minister, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who lost his job because he was out of step with the Tory leadership on human rights. Nick Clegg’s dissenters are those Liberal Democrat activists who want an end to the Coalition now, before it is too late and the party is wiped out at the election. The good news for the Liberal Democrat leader, however, is that most of his MPs are broadly supportive and the poisonous influence of Lord Oakeshott – whose botched coup has destroyed the leadership prospects of his one-time friend Vince Cable – will not cause trouble in Glasgow.

Q How will UKIP seek to respond to what will be happening in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow? A Nigel Farage is retaliating to the three main parties by holding the UKIP conference at Doncaster Racecourse in Ed Miliband’s constituency. He will triumphantly parade his new MEPs and ridicule the main parties in his usual amusing fashion, no doubt, and be back in the headlines after a three-month lull.

cliffhanger election like 1992. Right now, David Cameron would gladly take John Major’s majority of 21, although the following five years saw his majority disappear in a spate of by-election defeats and his party plunged into civil war over Europe. With the polls so close, and the Conservatives confident of closing the gap on Labour, it is entirely possible that the Tories could win the largest number of votes but Labour could have more seats. It is also likely that UKIP will inflict more damage on the Tories in marginal seats than on Labour. And polls by that wise old sage Lord Ashcroft put Labour ahead of the Conservatives in marginal seats.

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The leader who loses in May 2015 will be dumped by a ruthless party pretty swiftly

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and women are worse off because of Coalition policies on tax, benefits and jobs.

But has UKIP peaked? Will those who voted for the party in the local and European elections this May stay loyal or return to Labour or the Conservatives? Nigel Farage has to regain the UKIP momentum from earlier this year. After the exhilaration of May, UKIP has had a quiet summer and the Tories have picked a former UKIP leader in Thanet South, the Parliamentary seat that Nigel Farage has had his eye on for some time.

Some Tory MPs suspect David Cameron would secretly prefer another Coalition with the Liberal Democrats than a small Tory majority and having to rely on what Ken Clarke calls the “headbangers” of the Right on his back benches.

But he will argue, in response to the Tories’ drift to the Right, that if you want an anti-EU party, vote for the real thing, not the Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats will lose seats, but even with 30 or so they could still be in Coalition with Labour or the Conservatives.

Q Do you have any predictions for the outcome of the 2015 general election? A Next year is shaping up to be a


Many Conservative MPs are gloomy about their party’s prospects, while many Labour MPs are pessimistic about their chances of being in government.

The stakes could not be higher. The leader who loses in May 2015 will be dumped by a ruthless party pretty swiftly. That is why the 2014 party conferences are so important.

Jon Craig Born on 9 August 1957, in Eastham, Cheshire; Attended Prestbury Church of England Primary School and The King’s School, Wetherby High School and Tadcaster Grammar School; Studied at the University of Southampton, graduating with an LLB; Following graduation, became President of the Student Union of the University of Southampton; In 1982, became Parliamentary Correspondent for Thompson Regional Newspapers; From 1986 to 1989, served as Political Reporter and then The Home Affairs Correspondent for The Sunday Times; From 1989 to 1992, served as Political Correspondent for the Today newspaper; In 1992, joined the Daily Express; In 1998, joined the Sunday Express as its Political Editor; In 2001, joined BBC London; In 2003, joined Sky News, becoming its Chief Political Correspondent in 2006.


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of the benefits the industry and its products provide. We work to ensure pesticides, known professionally in agriculture as crop protection products, are used responsibly and safely and we provide the public with information on how they are regulated. We are not just UK focused, but also keep track of developments in Europe, as pesticide legislation falls under EU law. What are the key challenges facing UK farmers? There’s no doubt that UK farmers are facing a tipping point. The tools they need to protect yields and play their part in feeding a growing global population are being relentlessly taken away from them. It’s right that products such as pesticides are regulated to ensure they’re safe for use, but we’re now subject to a system which has become paralysed by its obsession with precaution over innovation, and which seems to be oblivious to the hugely important role crop protection products play in food production. We take our responsibility to wildlife and the environment very seriously. Our products are designed to be used in a modern, professional and sustainable farming system that optimises productivity while minimising environmental impact. Despite this, we continue to see misleading campaigns against pesticides on grounds of health or biodiversity which ignore the reality about their impact, which are founded on scaremongering and which present a very serious obstacle to food security. Every second we lose an area of global farmland the size of a football field while two more people are added to the world’s population. That should be a signal to European policy-makers to foster innovation in agriculture so that our farmers can increase their productivity sustainably – sadly I fear it’s one that is being ignored. We run the risk that it will only be when food prices in the UK and across the globe reach unaffordable levels that policy-makers accept the nature of the challenge. If we’re not careful we will have undermined our own productive capability by then, through disincentivising R&D and dismantling agricultural capacity, so that we simply won’t be able to respond. This is why it is crucial that farmers, industry, politicians and the public in the UK make the case to European policy-makers to ensure food and farming policy is based on sound science, fosters innovation and protects our farmers’ competitiveness. At our Annual Convention in May we heard MPs from across the political spectrum agree that the next UK government should work to boost agricultural productivity by taking a mature approach to issues of hazard and risk. We look forward to working with them in the next Parliament to make that happen and to support a productive and sustainable agriculture.

Photo : © Ma rtin Hic ks

How do you view the Food Security challenge we currently face? What can we do to safeguard our food supply in response to increasing global demand?

Are there votes in animal welfare? rd a Telfo © Emm Photo:

Nick von Westenholz, CEO

23 September, 8.00pm LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE The Radisson Blu, Manchester SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Maria Eagle MP, Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA n Peter Egan, actor n Joe Duckworth of the League Against Cruel Sports

29 September, 3.00pm The League Against Cruel Sports will present a series of fringe events at each of the Party Conferences this year to debate the challenges facing animal welfare with a wide variety of high profile politicians and celebrities. Entrance is free and all fringe events are outside of secure zone and open to the public. Refreshments served. ur Party the Labo t a 8 2 t stand at the Visit us a and A12 t s d n a ce Conferen erence rat Conf c o m e D l Libera zone) e secure h t e id s in (

CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE The Crowne Plaza, Birmingham SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Dominic Raab MP n Neil Parish MP Anne Main MP n Joe Duckworth of the League Against Cruel Sports n Lorraine Platt, founder of Blue Fox n Peter Egan, actor

n

7 October, 1pm LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PARTY CONFERENCE The Crowne Plaza, Glasgow SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Baroness Parminter n Joe Duckworth of the League Against Cruel Sports n Liberal Democrat MP TBC.

01483 524 250 [email protected] www.league.org.uk /LeagueAgainstCruelSports

@LeagueACS

Registered Charity No. 1095234

PARTY LEADERS:

Securing Britain’s future for all Britons

I

n 2010, when Conservatives met in Birmingham for our first party conference in Government, we said we would give Britain a brand new start.

“

We said we would reduce the deficit; cut people’s taxes; cut crime; open brilliant new schools; and cap benefits. All those things, and more, we have done. The job is not completed – but we are on our way.

The world is looking on as Britain’s economy establishes itself as the fastest growing in the West

“

As we meet this year in Birmingham, 1.8 million more people are going to work than in 2010; 400,000 more businesses are doing a day’s trade; 800,000 more children are taking their lessons at a good or outstanding school; and 26 million workers are spending money – their own hardearned money – that otherwise would have been taken in taxes.

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Politics First

And the world is looking on as Britain’s economy establishes itself as the fastest growing in the West. But this conference is not about patting ourselves on the back; it is about setting out to the British people why we need to finish the job we have started. Ahead of that critical election next year, here are four major reasons why people should back the Conservatives.

“ There is no such thing as government money, only taxpayers’ money

“

Prime Minister David Cameron

First, we are the team with a longterm plan – a plan that is working.

plan. Those are not just Conservative values; they are British values, too.

By cutting the deficit, cutting taxes, creating jobs, reducing immigration, capping welfare and delivering the best schools and skills, we are securing Britain’s future.

We believe that the best route out of poverty is work; that it is wrong to burden our children with debts that we should have paid ourselves; that work should always pay; that fairness is as much about what you put in as what you get out; that there is no such thing as government money, only taxpayers’ money; and, crucially, as I put it on the steps of Downing Street in 2010, that those who can, should, and those who cannot, we will always help.

You can see it around us in Birmingham – in hundreds of new businesses, thousands of new apprenticeships, multi-million-pound road and rail upgrades, and billionpound investment in the city’s car manufacturing. That proves we are leading a recovery for all of Britain. But we are not there yet – not by a long way. We will only reach that better, brighter tomorrow if we stick to the plan today. The second message is about the values which underpin our long-term


So, if you are ill, we will look after you; if you are elderly, we will look out for you; if you are out of work, we will do everything we can to help you find a job and reach your potential. That is the Conservative way, and it is the British way, as well. The third message is this: we cannot let Labour anywhere near the nation’s finances again. P.T.O


PARTY LEADERS:

ADVERTORIAL

Modern infrastructure is key to Britain’s future John Horgan, Group Managing Director of Europe, Middle East and India at URS, speaks to Marcus Papadopoulos about the economic impact of infrastructure Q: In today’s digitally connected world, why is investment in infrastructure still so important? Improved connectivity, combined with a growing population, has amplified rather than diminished the need for physical infrastructure. As countries compete in an increasingly globalised world, the quality of ports, roads, railways and airports can be decisive in determining success. If commerce provides the heart of a healthy economy, then infrastructure serves as its arteries.

Today, they are threatening to do it all over again, with more spending, more borrowing, more taxes and more debt – more than our children could ever hope to be able to pay. Our fourth message is about the future, because the Conservative Party did not come into government just to fix things, or to improve our position on league tables or graphs. We came in to build a better, brighter future – not just for one part of the country but for every single region, every single town, every single family. So, at this conference, we need to clearly spell out our ambition for Britain: that we do not just want more jobs – we want full employment;

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Politics First

“ The Conservative Party did not come into government just to fix things

“

Four years ago, they left us with one of the biggest deficits in the West and the deepest recession in our peacetime history.

we do not just want to get the deficit down – we want to get rid of it altogether and run a budget surplus; and we do not just want more apprenticeships – we want every school leaver who does not choose university to learn and earn as an apprentice.


That is what a brighter future looks like: an education system where state is indistinguishable from private; a welfare system which is a lifeline not a way of life; an infrastructure system fit for modern Britain, with superfast broadband, high-speed rail and improved roads; an immigration system that puts Britain first; and a society where those who work hard – wherever they come from, whatever their starting point – really can get on in life. We can get there. Just think what we have already achieved – both in the shadow of Labour’s Great Recession and within the constraints of Coalition. If we keep taking the difficult decisions, if we stick to our long-term plan, then with the determination of the British people and with the incredible work of Conservative activists, we really will be able to finish the job.


It is well recognised that investment in infrastructure, such as improved transport links or increased energy generation capacity, is strongly linked to economic growth. Every £1 billion invested in infrastructure will typically lift the UK’s GDP by around £1.3 billion, according to a report for the Civil Engineering Contractors Association. Few other forms of investment can unlock so substantial a return. Projects we are involved in, such as Crossrail, HS2 and London Gateway Port, provide a compelling argument for the economic impact of infrastructure due to the jobs and contribution they bring to GDP. Of course, growth arises not just from new transport links but from the people and places those links connect. Industrial regeneration and housing need to be joined up with infrastructure development from the outset, so that the economy can move forward as a whole. Q: How can cross-party backing for infrastructure projects be achieved? The UK’s major political parties all recognise the need for urgent investment in infrastructure, though they often differ in their approach. As a result, it is all too easy for a much needed project to become a political football, with protracted delays being the inevitable result. A logical step is to depoliticise infrastructure planning so that decisions are made in the long-term interests of the nation, rather than for short-term political gain. A more strategic approach to infrastructure planning that extends


well beyond the five-year electoral cycle is crucial. Sir John Armitt has called for an independent National Infrastructure Commission to identify the UK’s longterm infrastructure needs and monitor plans developed by government to meet them. We support the establishment of an apolitical, independently funded body to assess national infrastructure needs and plan for the future. An integrated approach to all modes of transport is essential for meeting future capacity demands. Q: How does the UK ensure sustainable funding for infrastructure projects? More than £375 billion is required to finance the projects set out in the UK’s planned infrastructure pipeline, so government funding alone will not be sufficient. Foreign investment will be vital, alongside funding from the domestic private sector. To succeed, UK infrastructure projects must therefore match the appetite for financial risk and reward among those target investors. Ministers have already shown themselves open to adopting innovative financing measures on projects, such as the Mersey Gateway funding package underwritten earlier this year with a government guarantee. Innovative overseas financing techniques should also be considered. While the UK has pioneered public-private partnerships, the US has blazed trails in regional infrastructure funding models, including municipal bonds and projectspecific taxes voted through by the local electorate. These novel approaches to finance could play a role in turning the UK’s ambitious infrastructure plans into reality. Q: How does the UK’s engineering skills shortage affect infrastructure delivery? Skilled engineers are essential to delivery but the industry is struggling to recruit both graduates and experienced staff, and many experienced professionals are now nearing retirement. Decades of stop-start

investment in infrastructure have led to the current skills shortage. Technical expertise cannot be turned on and off like a tap. In a globalised industry, expertise migrates to those countries offering stable and rewarding career prospects. Apprenticeships help address the skills shortage, offering an alternative route to graduate entry. We are a member of the Technician Apprenticeship Consortium (TAC), a cross-industry group examining ways to help companies recruit and train apprentices more easily, and run our own apprenticeship scheme highly tailored to the engineering design industry. A longer-term approach to planning national infrastructure would provide project continuity and sustained demand for technical expertise. Q: What can be done to build public support for major infrastructure projects? The human dimension is often overlooked, but achieving public buyin when planning major infrastructure is essential. Truly transformational infrastructure projects bring disruption and change. Winning public support by conveying the socio-economic and societal benefits that will be delivered is vital. National infrastructure strategy must map onto the needs of local communities and stakeholders. The challenge is to meet the needs of the majority without the cost to the minority being too high.


First 19

ADVERTORIAL

“The Hyde Group is an award winning provider of genuinely affordable housing – making a significant contribution to meeting the country’s housing needs and improving people’s quality of life. As one of the largest housing associations in England, we own or manage around 50,000 homes in London and the South East.”

Service with a smile in Hyde’s customer service centre

Hyde residents outside their home

As these regions face the biggest housing challenge for 50 years, Hyde is determined to play a significant role in helping to meet the demand for quality affordable homes. Our social purpose is to provide homes for people who otherwise would struggle to afford them by offering a range of options, from affordable rent to low cost home ownership. Each year we invest three times the value of our surplus in our development programme and over the last five years we have delivered around 4,500 new homes through a mix of social and affordable rent, shared ownership and outright sale. Our social purpose is our licence to operate; it distinguishes us from other developers. However, with Government capital funding diminishing, as part of efforts to reduce the UK’s deficit, we have to be more inventive in the ways we finance our new homes. We can only develop affordable homes if we generate surpluses from commercial activity, which delivers a range of new homes in different markets. The profits from the sale of these homes will make a significant financial contribution to our ability to fulfil this social purpose. Over the next five years we plan to build a further 5,015 homes – 3,400 of which will be affordable, 600 for private market rent and 1,000 for outright sale. We have a skilled team of people, brimming with ideas, and a management team and Board that are passionate about growth. They are ambitious to position Hyde to take advantage of emerging opportunities, by working more progressively with both public and private sector partners. But we will not lose sight of our social purpose. We are proud to operate with a business head and a social heart. Several of our large scale regeneration schemes, such as those in Bermondsey, Packington (Islington) and Stonebridge in Brent have won awards and transformed formerly troubled estates into thriving communities.

We continue to build homes when many other providers are not

Helping residents to get online

Young residents enjoying summer holiday programme

Through our social investment team, Hyde Plus, we help residents fulfil their potential. In the last year alone we provided advice and support to 3,740 residents; secured a total of £3.2m in benefit entitlements and additional income for residents, many of whom are affected by Welfare Reform Changes. In addition, we have helped 36 households to downsize, ensuring our residents live in a home they can afford, while releasing 40 spare bedrooms. What is more we helped more than 1,400 residents with employment and training advice and opportunities. That’s how Hyde makes a lasting difference.



First 21

cancer cer in men and women, and is the 2n mostt common cause of cancer de death. Each year, more than 41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel t is one of the most treatable of cancers c cancer and 43 people die from the disease each day. Research indicates that 9 out of 10 bowel cancers detected early can be with early Each year, m more tha successfullydiagnosis. treated. Survival rates have doubled overdiagnosed the last 30 years and are with bowe 41,000 000 people are continuing to improve due to increased awareness, earlier diagnosis, improved treatments, and screening. cancer cer and 43 people die from the disea Regular bowel cancer screening has been shown to reduce the risk of dyingResearch from bowel cancer by 16%. each h day. indicates that 9 out The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening offers routine screening to those aged 50 - 74 in Scotland and 60 - 69 in the rest of the UK. 0 bowel cancers detected early c can be For more information contact your Helpline: Scotland - 0800 012 1833 successfully cessfully Survival rates have England - 0800 707treated. 6060 Wales - 0800 294 3370 NI - 0800 015 2514 doubled bled over the last 30 years continuing co o improve mprove due to increased awareness, awar earlier er diagnosis, improved treatm treatments, and screening. Regular bowel cancer can scr has been shown to reduce the risk ris of dyi rom m bowel cancer by 16%. The N NHS Bo Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is the 3rd most common type of cancer in men and women, and is the 2nd most common cause of cancer death. It is one of the most treatable of cancers with early diagnosis.

IT PAYS £71.4 BILLION, TO BE PRECISE. That’s the current value of the creative industries to the UK economy. Read our new Creative Industries Strategy and find out more at thecreativeindustries.co.uk Image Credit: Karmarama. Source: See www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk

Supporting Cancer Research UK and local hospices

Raising awareness Bowel wel cancer, also known as colo colorectal ofisbowel cancer, cer, the 3rd cancer most common ttype of

020 8968 4340 [email protected]

Reg charity 1103457 - The Paul Daisley Trust was set up in 2003 after the untimely death of Paul Daisley MP and is run entirely by volunteers

ADVERTORIAL

A billion passenger journeys are made our rail and bus services every year. We’re part of the fabric of the communities we serve.

You only need to spend a short time watching daytime TV or flick through a newspaper to be reminded of an undeniable truth - Britain is a nation of unrepentant property lovers.

We take people to work, to school, to visit family and friends, and then home again after a night out.

Yet as a result of decades of failing to build, whether you rent or buy, housing is an increasingly scarce resource.

We’re proud of our strong commitment to protecting the environment. And we’re the first transport company to receive all three Carbon Trust Standards for achievements in carbon, water and waste reduction.

Robin Fieth CEO Building Societies Association

The economist Kate Barker wrote her seminal report on the problem over a decade ago and since then, despite two Governments and three political parties all claiming that housing is a key priority, this situation has only got worse. But before we get too negative about the UK’s housing market, let’s take stock of how much it has changed and developed over the last 100 years. In 1914, aside from facing one of the bloodiest conflicts this country has ever seen, three quarters of UK households rented. By 1970 51% of households owned their own home and from here on it has been the dominant tenure.

Diversity is vital in financial services and it’s equally vital in housing. 24

Politics First



Part of this rise in homeownership was down to the fact after the end of the Second World War we rebuilt and then kept on building thousands of homes. This mass production of property made owning a home relatively affordable in relation to wages. In England alone in 1968 we built 352,540 properties - 203,000 from private builders, 143,680 Local Authorities and 5,540 from Housing Associations. By contrast last year we built 109,640 properties in England, 87,000 from private builders, 21,670 from Housing Associations and 840 from Local Authorities. While there may be much to criticise the quality and type of properties built in the 50s, 60s and 70s, you can’t knock it from a

productivity point of view. So how do we get back to that? Diversity is vital in financial services and it’s equally vital in housing. Along with freeing up more land and cutting red tape, we need to encourage and make it much easier for different types of builders and buildings. These include: boosting the self build sector; alternative affordable leaseholds like Community Land Trusts; Buildoffsite construction whereby buildings can be up and ready within a week; properties specifically built for rent, not to mention making shared ownership more attractive. Over the last 35 years the UK’s housing market has been boosted by stoking demand through the plentiful availability of credit. We now need to stoke the supply of housing and that will take strong political leadership to ensure housing is a key priority. Which ever party is in power, the Housing Minister needs to be a full cabinet post. The provision of adequate shelter is as essential to our nation’s prosperity as health, education and defence and it’s vital that housing has a strong voice in Government. If we want to ensure that the provision of housing over the next 100 years supports and grows with the country rather than holds it back, then now is the time for the Governments of today and tomorrow literally to build a better future.

KEEPING UK BROADCASTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Who said that? (and when, and why?)

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is a vast treasury of wisdom and wit spanning the centuries—a browser’s paradise of over 20,000 quotations, comprehensively indexed for ready reference. Since the first edition was published in 1941, it has remained unrivalled in its coverage of quotations past and present. 2014 sees the publication of the eighth edition.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FREEVIEW FOR VIEWERS AND THE TV SECTOR a monthly subscription. Freeview is able to keep pay TV providers such as Sky and Virgin on their toes and ensures that balanced national and regional news coverage and other public service television is available to everyone. The switch to digital TV made Freeview available everywhere but was just the start of transforming UK television. The explosion in demand for tablets and smartphones is revolutionising how we communicate and consume media It’s sometimes easy to forget just how good content. This in turn has triggered a UK television is. Whether it’s Doctor Who or surge in demand for UHF spectrum – the Downton Abbey, world-class journalism or airwaves - to boost capacity for mobile sensational sports coverage, the dawning services, particularly video content. of a fully digital age has given us both Switchover saw a big chunk of airwaves quality and quantity, blockbuster shows released for 4G mobile broadband, now and specialist channels for every interest. being steadily rolled out across the UK. The UK television sector is booming, However, policy momentum is already exporting programmes around the world gathering behind another big handover and boosting our credentials as a global of frequencies in the early 2020s, or leader in the creative industries. Latest possibly sooner. figures show our TV revenues grew again Digital UK and the main UK broadcasters last year to a record-breaking £13 billion, believe any future change in the use of supporting tens of thousands of jobs the airwaves must continue to allow for a across the UK. strong, free-to-air TV service, with the same Many factors contribute to this success. coverage and line-up of channels people One critical ingredient is the choice of ways enjoy today. With the support of Ofcom, to watch, whether via a satellite dish, cable government and MPs, we want to ensure or aerial. At the heart of this competitive that any future change is properly planned. market is digital terrestrial television (DTT), Viewers should not lose out, either financially commonly known as Freeview, which or in terms of their channel line-up. ensures virtually every home can enjoy We see a strong future for services such Politics First September/October 2014 While phones and tablets an array of quality programmes without as Freeview. JONATHAN THOMPSON IS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF DIGITAL UK, THE COMPANY WHICH MANAGES AND SUPPORTS DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION (DTT) IN THE UK

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offer great flexibility, all the signs are that the traditional television set will remain the preferred way to watch programmes for the foreseeable future and DTT continues to be the most popular platform, with 44 per cent of all TV viewing. Mobile devices look set to continue offering the perfect complementary viewing experience, ideal for shorter content and watching catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer on the move. It’s easy to take the simple things for granted. Millions of families across the UK will continue to rely on TV through an aerial not only for entertainment but also as their means of staying in touch with the world around them. This is why keeping the Freeview platform strong, and allowing it to continue to evolve and develop, is so important to the health of the UK TV sector and to consumers across the country. By ensuring sufficient airwaves are available for broadcasting, we will keep our TV on top of the world.

Drawing on Oxford’s unrivalled dictionary research programme and unique language monitoring, over 700 new quotations have been added, ranging from the words of St Joan of Arc and Coco Chanel to Albrecht Dürer and Thomas Jefferson. Two hundred authors make their ODQ debut this time round. Now hear this! As a brand-new feature, the Oxford Reference Quotations website now contains links to dozens of recordings of the quotations spoken by the authors themselves.

Jack Dee ‘You’re not surfing. You’re not. You’re sitting in your bedroom typing.’

Coco Chanel ‘A woman can be overdressed, never over-elegant.’

“Every home should have a copy.’’ Sunday Telegraph

1168 pages hardback 978-0-19-966870-0 September 2014 £30.00

• FREEVIEW IS AVAILABLE TO 98.5% OF UK HOMES • DTT GENERATES £80BN FOR THE UK ECONOMY OVER A TEN-YEAR PERIOD • 92M FREEVIEW TVS AND BOXES HAVE BEEN SOLD • 95% OF THE MOST-WATCHED PROGRAMMES ARE AVAILABLE FREE VIA AN AERIAL • 45% OF FREEVIEW TVS SOLD IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2014 WERE SMART TVS, OFFERING ACCESS TO CATCH-UP TV AS WELL AS LIVE CONTENT.



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Policy Knowledge

Policy Knowledge’s

Upcoming briefings • Improving the Sexual Health of the Nation – 1st October 2014 Central London • Health and Well-Being Boards: The Future of Healthcare Commissioning – 7th October 2014 Central Manchester • Supporting Young People Not in Education, Employment and Training to Boost Youth Employment – 7th October 2014 Central London • Increasing Employability in Scotland Taking Tailored Approaches to Support People into Work – 8th October 2014 Central Edinburgh • The Future of Rural Scotland – 9th October 2014 Central Inverness • Tackling Obesity in Scotland – 9th October 2014 Central Edinburgh

With a focus on creating an environment where key issues can be examined and explored, Policy Knowledge brings together key policy makers, shapers and stakeholders involved in public policy to debate and discuss key issues. Each Policy Knowledge briefing ensures that there are ample opportunities to interact and discuss the issues of the day with the speakers and your peers from across the public, private and third sectors.

• Improving Outcomes for Looked After Children and Care Leavers – 15th October 2014 Central London • Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Commissioning Support Units (CSUs) – 16th October 2014 Central Manchester • Creating Thriving Sporting Communities in Wales – 21st October 2014 Central Cardiff • Local Government under a Labour Administration – 22nd October 2014, Central London • Building Britain’s Low Carbon Future – 23rd October 2014, Central London • Creating an Efficient Health Service and Improving Patient Outcomes through Technology – 28th October 2014 Central Manchester

Book by 30.06.14 to receive £100 off your next booking, when using promo code PKPF2014

• The Future of Dentistry and Oral Health in England – 29th October 2014, Central London

For more information visit www.policy-knowledge.com or call 0845 647 7000 e: [email protected] t: 0845 647 7000 w: www.policy-knowledge.com @policyknowledge

policy knowledge

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The private-rented sector is changing. One in five households now rent their home from one of the 1.5 million private landlords in the UK. The vast majority of landlords are ordinary hardworking people, who are trying to supplement their squeezed incomes, make a living or fund their retirement. An entire industry of builders, lenders, and investors are reliant on private landlords, who have Membership

legitimate interests and helps to maintain a private-rented sector in which people choose

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stability for landlords, tenants, and investors alike. We recognise problems in the sector where they exist and find solutions where we can, including strongly supporting the identification and prosecution of criminals. The result is four million homes provided, maintained against a backdrop of undersupply, and increased investment which helps drive up living standards. We want to work with politicians of all parties to ensure the private rented sector is fair for

47,000 200,000

Members and Associates Properties of various types and sizes managed by NLA Members

300

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38,000

Calls successfully dealt with by our Telephone Advice Line each year

15,000

Landlords participate in NLA campaign activities.

all those who depend on it.

To find out more and to discuss the work of the NLA: Visit: www.landlords.org.uk Call: 020 7840 8938

30

Politics First



We can help you in your dealings withSeptember/October the private sector www.politicsfirst.org.uk 2014rented Politics First 31

PARTY LEADERS:

PARTY LEADERS:

A proud record of delivery in government

Building a better Britain that works for everyone

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg

T

he next General Election will be a chance not only to reflect on our achievements but also further set out our distinctive liberal vision for the country. When we look back, it is vital that we remember the challenges we faced in 2010: our banks in crisis; our economy on its knees; crisis meetings in Brussels; and rioters on Europe’s streets. Yet, today, Britain goes from strength to strength. We are the fastest growing economy in the G7, more people are in work than ever before and GDP has risen above pre-crash levels. We put our country before our party, we put our national interests before our own interests and there would be no recovery without the Liberal Democrats. The rescue succeeded because of us and it is something every party member should be extremely proud of. So, we must not let our critics rewrite history. We went into government for good, decent, honourable reasons and no one should be allowed to take this away from us. We should also be proud that Liberal Democrats in Government have delivered an economic recovery that is not only robust but fair. In coalition, we have cut taxes for 26 million for ordinary workers and taken three million people on the lowest wages out of tax altogether. We have helped business create 1.7 million new jobs, delivered the biggest cash rise in the state pension worth an extra £650-a-year and

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Politics First

provided every child in infant school with a free school meal.

Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband we will reward the unsung carers who look after sick friends and relatives, and who contribute so much to our society.

We have also created 1.8 million apprenticeships, supported disadvantaged children through the £2.5 billion Pupil Premium, scrapped ID cards and passed the Equal Marriage Act.

Only the Liberal Democrats can be trusted to rebuild the economy in a fair way - a way that lets every person fulfil his or her potential.

But, as we move from rescue to renewal, we must again shape the choices we offer voters at the next General Election and set out our distinct vision of a liberal Britain.

Labour, as we know, simply cannot be trusted on the economy. Ed Miliband in Number 10 would drag the country backwards, borrow too much, spend too much and risk our hard-fought recovery.

It is our duty to build on our principles of fairness, freedom and trust in people, and offer British people the hope for a different, better and liberal future.

It is not in the Tories’ DNA to treat people fairly – it is just not who they are. A single-party Conservative Party would back the better off, let employers fire staff without cause and allow schools to run for profit.

We believe that nobody in our country should be left behind and economic recovery must go hand-in-hand with measures which create opportunities for everyone. It is those core beliefs that spur thousands of Liberal Democrats up and down Britain to go out in the rain, knock on doors and deliver leaflets day in day out. And it is why over the coming months we will commit only to policies which speak to a stronger economy, fairer society and offer opportunities for everyone. Those include balancing the budget by 2018 so future generations will not be forced like the Coalition to clean up the mess left by irresponsible former governments. We will ringfence the entire education budget - from cradle to college - so that no student is ever left behind again. And


We knew we would pay a price for working with the Conservatives. We knew we would have to do controversial things to clean up Labour’s mess. We knew we would lose the support of the people who had only ever voted for us to stick two fingers up to the other two. But, the Liberal Democrats can go into next year’s General Election with our heads high and campaign proudly on our record of delivery and the promise to build a stronger and fairer Britain. We fought for the policies which our country needs and we have laid strong foundations for the future. Our task now is to redouble our efforts and build a stronger economy and fairer society that offers opportunity for everyone. That can only be delivered with Liberal Democrats in Government.


A

s we meet in Manchester for the Labour Party Conference, the big question in politics is whether we choose a new direction, one which means we can genuinely say that Britain works for all and not just a few at the top. Across the country, most people are treading water, working harder – and harder just to stay afloat – and are also less secure about their future. Earlier this year, I met a man in Nottingham, struggling with insecurity in his job. Every day at 5am, he would ring his agency to find out if there was work for him – more often than not there was none.

something that should shame us all. While most people have been making huge sacrifices, David Cameron has stood up for a privileged few. He has given a tax cut to millionaires – while everyone else has to pay more – and refused to introduce a mansion tax to pay for the reintroduction of a starting 10 pence tax band. The next Labour government will analyse every pound spent by government through our zerobased review and we will balance the books and get the national debt falling as soon as possible in the next Parliament. But our ambitions for Britain must be much more than paying down the debt.

chapter against insecurity at work and low pay. A Labour government would set a clear target for increasing the minimum wage for each Parliament, so that we raise it closer to average earnings. We would also ensure that people who are working regular hours, for month after month, are entitled to a regular contract, not a zero hours contract. A Labour government would improve the NHS, not run it down and privatise it. We will repeal the NHS Bill and introduce a guaranteed GP consultation within 48 hours, rather than forcing them to wait for weeks.

Sadly, he is not an isolated case. The number of zero-hours contracts is now well above one million, there are five million low paid people in the UK and, shockingly, for the first time on record, most of the people who are in poverty in Britain today are people in work, not out of work. The fact that that is happening in 21st century Britain, the fourth richest country in the world, is


Labour has a plan to build a Britain that works for ordinary people, turning decisively away from a Tory government that works only for the privileged few. If elected Prime Minister, my government would create an economy which rewards hard work not just wealth, privilege and power. That would include writing a new

By committing to build 200,000 homes a year by the end of the next Parliament, we will ensure that our country offers a better future for all our children - not accepting that the next generation will do worse than the last without the opportunity of a home of their own. As we gather in Manchester, that is the new direction we offer for a better Britain.


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COLUMNS:

COLUMNS:

JOHN COULTER

PAUL ROUTLEDGE

Emerald Check

Man with the Mirror

The Irish could decide who walks into Number 10 in 2015

Doncaster racecourse, where publicsector Unison held its annual race day only weeks earlier, isn’t the obvious setting for a Ukip jamboree. But he’s a natural gambler, and his bet is cannier than it might look. Having made big inroads into the Tory vote, Farage believes Labour support is “soft”, even where it is most entrenched. And it doesn’t come more dug in than former coalmining country, where so many carpet-bagging Labour MPs found a secure electoral base – including Ed Miliband in Doncaster North. The figures speak for themselves. In the May local elections, Ukip blasted a hole in Labour’s long-standing hegemony in Rotherham, winning ten seats – seven from Labour - on the borough council. They are now the official opposition, and have their sights on the Westminster constituency. Okay, Rotherham is a special case. Labour was not exactly the flavour of the month. Former MP Denis MacShane quit and was jailed for expenses fraud. A leading councillor resigned to become Police Commissioner for south Yorkshire, and the ensuing by-election in which his wife was the candidate, was foolishly delayed, allowing Ukip to claim its first scalp last year. But that political misfortune can’t explain Farage’s success and near-wins elsewhere. Ukip picked up three seats in Sheffield, two in Wakefield, eight in North-East Lincolnshire, and one each in Bradford, Hull and Doncaster. Set

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alongside Labour’s tally of 786 seats and control of most big authorities across the region, that doesn’t look particularly impressive. Drill down into the figures, however, and a different picture emerges. Even where it didn’t win, Ukip piled up votes in marginal constituencies that Labour has to win if Ed Miliband is ever to get his feet under the Cabinet table. In three wards of working-class Keighley, they scored over 3,000, and ousted a longstanding Labour trade unionist.

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Ukip piled up votes in marginal constituencies that Labour has to win

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ith an eye to a media spoiler, Nigel Farage called his party conference the weekend before the Tories gather for theirs. And with typical swagger, he stages it in Labour-loyalist south Yorkshire.

In Doncaster’s old pit villages like Armthorpe, Conisborough/Denaby and Hatfield, Farage’s candidates regularly clocked up a thousand or more votes. It was the same in the former mining communities of Wakefield. So maybe nifty Nigel’s choice of Doncaster wasn’t quite so quixotic after all. Ukip may not yet be in a position to win in these “old Labour” constituencies, but they still represent a danger to some senior Shadow Cabinet members. Ukip polled over 4,000 votes in Ed Balls’s Morley and Outwood. His majority in 2010 was only 1,101 If they can do that in Yorkshire, where they traditionally weighed Labour votes rather than counting them, they can do it anywhere. And they have, in Sunderland, for instance, and Great Yarmouth. A big


T vote for Ukip is not necessarily a boon for Labour, whatever the psephologists claim. As Tam Dalyell might say about the rise and rise of Ukip’s workingclass appeal : “Why?” John Healey, former TUC official and Labour MP for Wentworth and Dearne, said voters on the doorstep told him they wanted to give both major parties “a good kicking.” That’s too simple an explanation. Traditional Labour voters already give the Tories a good kicking by not supporting them, in droves. Switching to Ukip is a genuinely new political direction, and I suspect the main reason is immigration. Working-class people feel more threatened by the influx of Polish and other east Europeans than the electorate of middle-class constituencies. They have taken many of the few jobs that have come to de-industrialised parts of the North and Midlands, and Ukip’s hard-line hostility to migration falls on receptive ears. It’s possible that “Faragemania” has, like Cleggmania, the seeds of its own destruction, and will fail similarly. But who’s taking chances? Election supremo Douglas Alexander warns members that: “Support for Ukip shows a clear disengagement with mainstream politics, and we as a party have to understand that and respond to it.” Miliband promises a worker-friendly manifesto, including curbs on “the abuse of migrant labour” by banning recruitment agencies that only hire foreign workers and “pressing for stronger controls in Europe.” Rather late in the day, he has finally deciphered the political writing on the wall.


he Irish are coming! Never mind the outcome of this September’s Scottish independence referendum; it will be the Northern Ireland MPs who could decide the next Westminster Government in the likely event of a hung parliament. If the Liberal Democrats turn in another European poll-style meltdown, Tory David Cameron will be seeking another coalition partner if he wishes to retain the Downing Street keys. Cameron is also facing a potential electoral threat from Nigel Farage’s UKIP. If UKIP can hold its European vote, the Farage movement could seriously damage the number of Tory MPs returned to the Commons, triggering the hung parliament bargaining race. That has resulted in Cameron politically snuggling up to the Democratic Unionists who have eight MPs, with a Conservative/DUP coalition as one possible outcome. That would be electoral paradise for the DUP, guaranteeing its position as the lead Unionist party in Northern Ireland and, effectively, sounding the death knell for the once mighty Ulster Unionists. But what could kill this DUP dream would be a Cameron/Farage poll pact resulting in around 20 UKIP MPs and a Tory/UKIP coalition. All that assumes Ed Miliband’s Labour will not benefit from another UKIP mauling of the Tory vote. What if “Red Ed” can woo enough Labour voters back from UKIP to put him in the driving seat for a Number 10 coalition? The chances of a Labour/DUP Government are virtually impossible given Labour’s traditional sympathy for a united Ireland. Miliband may be able to call on the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party’s three MPs along with Independent MP and ex-UUP Lady Sylvia Hermon and East Belfast Alliance


MP Naomi Long – assuming the SDLP does not face another electoral drubbing at the hands of Sinn Fein. The one-time apologist for the Provisional IRA terror campaign has rebranded itself as a democratic republican movement, more akin to the now defunct Irish Independence Party and Irish Nationalist Party. In the Irish Republic, under the guiding hand of party president Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein has steadily increased its share of MPs in the Dublin Parliament so that after the next Dail election, Sinn Fein may well be a minority coalition partner with either Fine Gael or Fianna Fail, eclipsing Irish Labour’s current partner status.

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A Conservative/DUP coalition is one possible outcome

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Not so secure for Labour up North

As Sinn Fein is part of the power-sharing Stormont Executive, republicans could be commemorating the centenary of the failed Easter Rising in 2016 in government in both Irish jurisdictions. However, Sinn Fein – unlike the Scottish and Welsh nationalists – operates an abstentionist policy of not taking its Westminster seats because of the royal oath. Sinn Fein presently has five MPs, but has its sights set on the three SDLP seats and possibly one of the DUP seats. But to have any impact on a future Westminster Government, Sinn Fein would have to address its historic ‘boogie man’ – the oath of allegiance. That is a crisis which has bedevilled

Sinn Fein since its formation in 1905. In the 1918 General Election, in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, Sinn Fein won 73 of the 105 Irish Commons seats when Ireland was still one nation under the British Empire. Over the decades, the party has realised the folly of abstentionism and has successfully abandoned this policy in relation to the Dail and Stormont. After 1918, abstentionism relegated Sinn Fein to fringe status. It was not until the 1981 republican hunger strikes, which saw 10 IRA and INLA inmates starve themselves to death in the Maze prison, that Sinn Fein again grasped the power of the ballot box. If Sinn Fein was to follow the Dail and Stormont example and abandon abstentionism at Westminster, the party could form a Celtic Front with Scottish and Welsh nationalists – enough MPs to hand Miliband those coveted Number 10 keys in any hung parliament. One of the chief architects of the Sinn Fein ‘peace’ agenda – former IRA commander and current Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness – is already laying the foundations for such an historic move by republicans. McGuinness has already met the Queen and attended a royal banquet. Sinn Fein will demand major concessions from the British Establishment in return for those vital Commons votes, especially if Scotland opts for independence. Only two outcomes will derail this Sinn Fein bandwagon – Nigel Farage becoming Deputy Prime Minister, or the miracle of a Liberal Democrat revival.

Dr John Coulter is a political columnist with the Irish Daily Star


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ADVERTORIAL

CORRIDORS:

A Britain ready to face the new global challenges Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and MP for Runnymede and Weybridge

The UN ‘buffer zone’ that cuts through the Republic of Cyprus. Refugees and displaced persons have been prevented from returning to their homes for 40 years by Turkey’s army of occupation

“It is absolutely vital that Britain remains an outward-facing nation”

Those skills and capabilities are vital because foreign policy has to be about more than reacting to current crises. And it is the growing strength and depth of our diplomatic network that allows us both to respond effectively to today’s challenges, and to remain focused on our long-term plan for Britain’s security and prosperity. The attempt by the brutal and barbaric terrorist organisation, ISIL, to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is not only a threat to the region; if it is allowed to take root, this organisation will seek to target us here in Britain, too. That is why, in addition to providing urgent humanitarian assistance to the hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Iraq, we are working with our international partners, and with the Iraqi Government, to promote an inclusive, sovereign and democratic Iraq that can push back ISIL’s advances.

T

he scale and breadth of recent crises – the rise of the barbaric Islamist terrorist organisation ISIL in Syria and Iraq, the rapid spread of the Ebola virus in Africa, the hostilities between Israel and Hamas, and Russia’s aggression in Eastern Europe – demonstrate the range and diversity of the challenges we face in the early 21st Century. The relative certainties of the Cold War and its immediate aftermath have given way to an era in which challenges to our national security, our prosperity, our interests and our values can come from across the globe. In an increasingly interconnected world, where instability in one part of the globe can rapidly be transmitted to another, it is absolutely vital that Britain remains an outward-facing nation, ever more engaged around the world in order to protect our security, enhance our prosperity, project our values and protect our citizens and our interests. Since 2010, this Government has reversed the strategic shrinkage in our diplomatic footprint that was one of the hallmarks of Labour’s foreign policy. My predecessor, William Hague, boosted Britain’s presence overseas, opening new diplomatic posts across Africa, Asia and Latin America. With more than 250 new positions opened up in key posts overseas, and more to follow, we are demonstrating that the UK is determined to grow its diplomatic profile. Our embassies, high commissions and consulates are promoting British trade and exports with an energy, ambition and success that would have been unrecognisable just five years ago. And we are growing the diplomatic skills, language skills and the deep cultural and political knowledge of other nations that helps both to pursue Britain’s economic interests and advance our political interests.

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Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, the UK has been at the forefront of European Union measures to impose sanctions on Russia in response to its illegal annexation of Crimea and its destabilisation of eastern Ukraine. We remain firmly committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and we welcome international efforts to address the humanitarian situation in the Russian separatist held areas. But we will not allow Russia to exploit a humanitarian crisis to gain military advantage in the area. While we seek to deal with those crises, as well as playing our part in the containment of Ebola and ending hostilities between Israel and Hamas, we remain firmly focused upon advancing Britain’s national interest elsewhere. Nowhere, in the coming year, will that be more important than in Europe. Building on our impressive record of ending Britain’s obligation to bail-out Eurozone members, keeping Britain out of the fiscal compact, securing protections on Banking Union and reforming fisheries policy, we need to argue more powerfully than ever for genuine and widespread reform. With the Conservatives remaining the only party that can and will give the British people their say on EU membership in an in/out referendum, we will be making the case for a more competitive, flexible and accountable EU, putting in the hard work now that will prepare the way for a successful renegotiation of new settlement in the EU after the General Election, ahead of the referendum in 2017. The years ahead look like being a turbulent period in global affairs. That is all the more reason for Britain to maintain our global role, increase our engagement, strengthen our defences and enhance our diplomatic presence. That is the way to ensure both our security and our prosperity in the years ahead.


Cyprus: a lesson in hypocrisy Leaders of the USA, the UK and other EU member states were quick to condemn what they referred to as a ‘land grab’ by Russia of the territory of Crimea. These leaders have continually stated that Russia’s annexation will never be recognised and have applied sanctions on Russia. However, it is precisely the same states and the same leaders that continue to turn a blind eye to Turkey’s illegal land grab and 40 year-long occupation of the northern area of Cyprus.

Forty years ago, in July and August 1974, more than 35,000 Turkish troops illegally invaded Cyprus. Thousands of Greek Cypriots were murdered, tortured, raped or ‘disappeared’. 200,000 Greek Cypriots were ethnically cleansed from their homes and replaced with more than 300,000 illegal immigrants from Turkey in a deliberate and cynical policy of ethnic engineering. This was followed by the catastrophic devastation of the European cultural heritage of Cyprus through the destruction of hundreds of churches and cemeteries by Turkey, an aspiring EU member state. Invasion, occupation and violation of territorial integrity are precisely what the West criticises Russia of committing in Ukraine. In order to avoid taking a hypocritical stance one would expect full support from these Western leaders for Greek Cypriot positions on Cyprus. However, we believe they have chosen to prefer hypocrisy. Rather than condemn the continuing occupation of the northern area of Cyprus they continue to pressure the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, a full UN member state since 1960 and EU member state since 2004, to accept a political settlement that

will legitimise this illegal state of affairs and condone Turkey. Such a settlement, which will effectively create the legal partition of Cyprus along ethnic lines, is disguised as a ‘bizonal bicommunal federation’. But what is this ‘bizonal bicommunal’ creature? Where else in the world can one be found? The answer is nowhere. Anyone

The time has come to search for a settlement in Cyprus that respects basic human rights and international law – something that no bizonal bicommunal solution can ever achieve who has studied the current proposals and predecessor plans such as the 2004 Annan plan will see that the plan is to create two ethnically separate zones, one Greek one Turkish, joined within a loose federation, which does not respect property ownership rights on either side of the artificial divide and which creates apartheid. Unsurprisingly this model has not been followed elsewhere. Artificial divides on racial grounds within multicultural states are abhorrent especially in the 21st century and within the EU. With the

carving up of an existing EU member state along ethnic and religious lines, such a settlement sets a dangerous precedent for the EU. In any event we cannot understand how creating legalised borders can be said to be a way of unifying a country. Calling this a federation is an exercise in semantics. It is legalised partition and nothing more. The time has come to search for a settlement in Cyprus that respects basic human rights and international law; something that no bizonal bicommunal solution can ever achieve. Without genuine respect for fundamental freedoms, we cannot see how any Cyprus settlement can be made to work.

www.lobbyforcyprus.org @lobbyforcyprus [email protected] Lobby for Cyprus is a non-party-political organisation with the aim of reuniting Cyprus

CORRIDORS:

Assessing the new world Richard Ottaway, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and MP for Croydon South

“ The UK is at the forefront of the need for EU reform”

Last chance to get your nominations in!

local authorities to cope with unsustainable levels of population growth and, finally, prevent the spread of jihadist terrorism in the UK.

We welcome you to take part in The Public Affairs Awards 2014.

The situation in Ukraine, which demonstrates that old conflicts can suddenly re-emerge, is another pressing issue. The annexation of Crimea, followed by bloody clashes in eastern Ukraine, were a wake-up call for Europe and the US. The conflict has confirmed NATO’s crucial role in guaranteeing global security. Russian imperialism has resurfaced, proving that Moscow has never reconciled itself with the fall of the USSR and the loss of influence over its neighbours.

T

oday’s world is completely different from the one we had 50 or even 20 years ago. It is globalised, multipolar and increasingly interconnected. News circulates faster and targets a wider public. Twitter and Facebook disseminate information and facilitate networking. The UK’s security no longer depends on its diplomacy and defence capabilities solely. Factors such as terrorism, cyber-security, the global economy and dependency on natural resources also play an important role. The growing influence of jihadist extremism is one of the biggest challenges for the world’s stability. The Syrian war and the Iraqi situation are not just regional conflicts. They are global issues. The increasing sway of ISIS not only threatens to challenge the regional status quo, but is a concern for the UK. According to the Government’s estimates, around 400 British citizens are currently fighting in Syria and Iraq. Frustrated British Muslims are lured into jihad by social media and other networks. They are flying to the Middle East and fighting alongside ISIS or al-Qaeda. Some of them will soon realise that warfare is not as glorious and heroic as they think it will be. Others will get proper training and try to export jihad to other countries. The conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Libya and Mali pose real threats to UK security. The Government’s strategy is to support regional powers in combating Islamism and terrorism in their respective countries. “These problems will come back and hit us at home if we do not”, warned David Cameron. The Government aims to relieve humanitarian crises, help

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The Public Affairs Awards will take place at Thames Room, Park Plaza, Riverbank on 9th December 2014. This is our inaugural awards – and we believe they could not be better timed. Politics is becoming interesting again. With a Scottish referendum, a general election and the possibility of an in/out referendum on the EU, the next few years will be an eventful and exciting time for your industry. Which is why it's time to start recognising and rewarding the hard and innovative work you and your colleagues across the industry are doing.

From the outset, the UK, together with Eastern European countries, has been pressing to impose far-reaching European Union sanctions on Russia. London has also been pushing hard on reducing the EU’s dependency on Russian gas. The tragic downing of the Malaysian aircraft with 298 people on-board could be a turning point in the matter. Russia must enable a full and independent investigation of the crash, reign in the proseparatists rebels and establish a proper long-term relationship with Ukraine and the EU. If it fails to do so, Europe and the West will undoubtedly reassess its links with Moscow.

We are delighted to announce that Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent of Sky News, will be compering the awards night.

The UK is at the forefront of the need for EU reform. The European elections showed a high level of discontent with the direction the EU is heading in. The EU cannot continue with business as usual - it has to change. The EU has to carry on with what it does best - deepening the single market and widening it outside Europe.

Get your nominations in before the end of September.

So far, the EU has given UK companies unrestricted access to a market of 500 million of the wealthiest people in the world. That translates into 13 per cent of British jobs dependent on the EU and half of our exports worth £211 billion. There is more to come. The single market, if completed in services, digital and energy, could increase the UK national income by 7 per cent. If we widened that to include the US, it could increase the British GDP by up to £10 billion a year.

For further details call 0845 647 9000 or email [email protected]

However, at the same time, the EU has to get rid of red tape that encumbers companies and citizens. The UK supports the EU free movement of people, but will not accept benefit tourism and illegal immigration. In the past, the UK has been successful in shaping key EU polices such as single market, global free trade, liberal economics, competition enforcement and EU enlargement. The Conservative team, if it wins next year’s general election, has every chance to fulfil its promise to change the European project for the better.


THE

PUBLIC AFFAIRS AWARDS 2014

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ADVERTORIAL

Looking after the mental health of military veterans Recent figures indicate that there has been an increase in the number of ex-military personnel seeking help for mental health problems. Whilst there are a wide range of organisations offering support to veterans, it is the NHS which provides evidence-based psychological treatment and works with the veterans with the most complex needs. Since 2011, the North West of England has had a dedicated NHS psychological therapies service, hosted by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. The North West investment in the service recognises that whilst approximately 11% of the UK population lives in the North West, the region provides almost 25% of the army infantry, a group which the research indicates are at increased risk of developing mental health problems.

Over 60% of the referrals to the service (which average 45 per month) are from non-health routes such as self-referrals, voluntary sector, Ministry of Defence, and criminal justice referrals. The service meets the Armed Forces Community Covenant commitment that ”For those with concerns about their mental health, where symptoms may not present for some time after leaving service, they should be able to access services with health professionals who have an understanding of Armed Forces culture.” Immediate family members of ex-military personnel can access treatment, which includes couples/ family therapy, and there are robust safeguarding procedures in place in recognition of the impact that a veterans mental health issue can have on those around them.

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The service’s success is due to its specialist nature, having a deep understanding of veterans, their needs and experiences. The commitment of the clinicians, the diversity of evidencebased treatments on offer and effective partnership working with a range of other services and agencies has allowed the service to achieve good clinical outcomes. This is evidenced in the independent evaluation of the service, undertaken by the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Manchester who concluded that the service demonstrated “good engagement and beneficial outcomes for military veterans at a cost which is defensible.” Dr Alan Barrett said “Veterans can be a hard to reach group who often display an understandable degree of ambivalence about asking for help, and may choose unhelpful methods to cope. We ask that veterans make their military experience known to their health care providers and ask that services take time to appreciate the needs of their veteran clients.”

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dedicated NHS services like this one that can help veteran’s find what they need.”

“There is a lot of misinformation about military-related mental health and it’s treatment, and an increasingly confusing provider landscape, but it is dedicated NHS services like this one that can help veteran’s find what they need” says Dr Alan Barrett, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead for the Military Veterans’ Service.

For more information visit: www.penninecare.nhs.uk/ your-services/militaryveterans-service

TRAKKER

CORRIDORS:

UK defence is fighting fit Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defence and MP for Sevenoaks

“The flagship of the Royal Navy and the most powerful ship ever built in Britain”

The ultimate guaranteed delivery service.

Secondly, we are making sure that NATO remains the cornerstone of our defence – united, resolute and ready to meet future threats. We have just held the first NATO summit on UK soil since the end of the Cold War. It was the largest international political gathering ever hosted in this country and offered us a unique opportunity to: galvanise the Alliance; speed up its decisionmaking powers; make better use of our joint capabilities; and reverse the decline in NATO defence spending and bolster our Transatlantic bond. Thirdly, we are making sure our Armed Forces are fighting fit. We have placed defence on a strong and sustainable financial footing for the first time in a generation. With the biggest Defence budget in the EU and the second largest in NATO, our commitment to investing to keep Britain safe is clear. Over the next ten years, £164 billion will be spent on providing our soldiers, sailors and airmen with the best equipment money can buy.

D

efence of the realm is this country’s number one priority. It underpins both our security and our prosperity. And no praise can be high enough for the men and women of our Armed Forces who put their lives on the line to protect us from harm.

At sea, the UK can look forward to the unprecedented flexibility provided by the Queen Elizabeth Class Carrier – the flagship of the Royal Navy and the most powerful ship ever built in Britain. And that capability will be complemented by Type 26 Global Combat Ships, six Type 45 destroyers and MARS tankers.

Since becoming Defence Secretary, I have had the privilege of seeing their outstanding work first-hand. On my first visit to Helmand and Kandahar, I paid tribute to the achievements and sacrifice of our troops over the past 12 years. They have improved life for ordinary Afghans and helped train a strong Afghan force – now numbering almost 350,000 – capable of taking charge of its own security. Above all, they have deprived the terrorists of a safe haven to launch attacks on British streets.But the chilling barbarity of ISIL fanatics, as well as Russian aggression in Ukraine and Crimea, remind us that we continue to live in a dangerous and unpredictable world.

Beneath the oceans, seven Astute hunter killer submarines – employing technology as complex as the space shuttle – will safeguard our interests while Strategic Successor Submarines will maintain our continuous at sea deterrent for decades to come.

This Government is doing everything it can to guarantee our national and international security. Firstly, we are working alongside our Allies to tackle those threats head on. In Iraq, we are working closely with the Iraqi Government and our allies to deliver humanitarian aid, track down ISIL militants and stop the extremist advance. Recently, I was in Cyprus to meet those brave RAF pilots and crews who are helping to save lives. In Eastern Europe, we are providing vital reassurance to our NATO allies including by sending four RAF Typhoon fighters to Lithuania to patrol Baltic airspace. From this September, a full battle group of 1,300 troops and over 300 armoured vehicles including tanks will begin taking part in large-scale exercises in Poland.

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In the air, we will be welcoming the Lightning II, the most advanced combat jet in the world that will launch from our Carrier. And the RAF will also benefit from upgraded multi-role Typhoon fighter planes and a modern strategic and tactical airlift fleet including the C17, Voyager, and Atlas A400M. We will deploy upgraded Chinook and Merlin helicopter fleets, new multi-role Wildcat helicopters and Unmanned and Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. Back on terra firma, we are spending more than £13 billion on land equipment including tanks and other armoured vehicles. Our investment programme also reflects the threats of tomorrow. That is why we are making sure we have the sophisticated systems vital to countering cyber operations – including a £800 million surveillance package recently announced by the Prime Minister. With the last of the redundancies announced earlier this year, servicemen and women can now feel more secure about their future. With new investment coming through, Regulars and Reserves will be better accommodated, better paid and better integrated than ever before.


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Getting the RAF view to where it matters

The RAF FF gathers evidence from regular and reserve personnel, (including single personnel) and their close family members on issues causing them concern.

John Tubman, Group Defence Director for Europe, Middle East and India at URS, speaks to Marcus Papadopoulos about the UK defence industry challenges maintaining adequate personnel levels, especially in specialised areas.

The Federation is funded by the RAF but is independent of the chain of command and seeks to represent these views to influence policy and bring about changes for the better.

The compatibility of equipment and interconnection of logistics with other NATO forces is another issue. Agreed standards and shared protocols can cut costs and increase effectiveness in the field. Pooling of expertise can also help ensure the lessons of recent conflicts are more widely learned.

The RAF FF also provides a signposting service; maintains a comprehensive website; produces Envoy, its quarterly magazine and uses social media to promote its work and gather further evidence.

The RAF FF engages at high level through: Regular briefings with Ministers Evidence to the HCDC Annual formal evidence to the AFPRB The Service Complaints Commissioner The Welsh Assembly The RAF Senior Leadership Team The RAF FF is contributing to: The Armed Forces Covenant The New Employment Model Reserves 2020 Welfare Policy

To follow RAF FF activity: register at www.raf-ff.org.uk to receive Envoy and eBULLETIN facebook.com/RAFFamFed twitter.com/RAF_FF

Q How will the UK’s defence needs change over the next decade? Naturally the UK must maintain the ability to protect its own national security, but as a nation with global interests it must do so in cooperation with allies and partners. Rather than a safer world, today the UK faces an ever widening spectrum of threats. Hybrid warfare has emerged, where conflicts are fought on digital and economic fronts, through proxies and by covert special forces. Amid this uncertainty, the UK must maintain a balanced, flexible and agile capability to react to threats both at home and overseas. It must also harden its defences in new ways, strengthening the physical protection and operational resilience of critical national infrastructure. This may mean rethinking the design and operation of facilities to contain the impact of terrorist attacks and mitigate natural disasters. Q Does the UK have the required defence capabilities for a changing global geopolitical landscape? The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is currently pursuing an ambitious equipment programme, having brought its plans in line with resources over the past two years. But budgets are tight, as Ministers have conceded, and there are still some acknowledged capability gaps. There are

Q What role can industry play in supporting the UK’s defence needs? Defence is no longer a matter exclusively for the military establishment or the Government’s National Security Council. Civilian involvement is on the rise, from greater reliance on Reserve Forces to closer relationships with industry. The private sector is providing support and services in vital areas, including close to the front line. Industry can support a more flexible approach to provisioning through better intelligence gathering, producing supplies in short order at times of need rather than stockpiling. Today, defence typically draws on private sector innovation and is increasingly engaged in outsourcing. Both the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) have turned to industry to aid delivery. The savings and efficiencies generated are likely to help meet future budget constraints. Increasingly, private sector contracts for military services will mirror the international cooperation of NATO. Global companies bring vital international expertise that is transferrable to the UK, as well as the required scale and innovation. Q What benefits does the defence industry bring to the UK? The economic benefits of the defence industry are insufficiently appreciated.

It adds around £23bn to the UK economy and directly employs 162,000 people and almost as many indirectly. Defence exports are worth around £9bn per annum. The impact on regions where defence work is concentrated can be much greater, especially if opportunities for other employment are limited. There is also scope for increased engagement with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through apprenticeships and training. Q Why is defence a priority for Government? The provision of defence and security is the first responsibility of Government, without which no country can develop and prosper, economically, socially or politically. Government must balance many priorities, but defence spending has been repeatedly cut. Reduced budgets necessitate private sector engagement. Industry can deliver value for money through competition, economies of scale and by bringing best practice and innovation to bear. Q What do you hope for in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR)? A fresh assessment of threats to the UK’s vital interests is essential. Given the current geopolitical landscape, maintaining current budgetary commitments is prudent provided wider economic circumstances permit. A full threat assessment should identify the evolving risks to critical national infrastructure and establish a programme to increase protection. We would welcome increased opportunities for industry to help cut costs, releasing more resources for the front line. We would also like to see improved conditions and incentives for reservists, who must balance military duties with career commitments.

ADVERTORIAL In association with URS

www.raf-ff.org.uk 01780 781650 [email protected]



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ADVERTORIAL

CORRIDORS:

Safeguarding the duty to defence

Our message to the Government must be:

over the next decades may be very different to those of past years, but they are no less vital.

One year ago, we looked on in horror at the chaos and bloodshed in Syria, still shell-shocked by the fiasco of the prime minister so mishandling parliamentary opinion that he was unable to command a majority for limited strikes against Bashar al-Assad’s war machine, which had deployed chemical weapons against its own people. One year on, the conflict in Syria drags on, with a death toll approaching 200,000. But now we must add ISIS to that nihilistic violence, a force dedicated to destabilising states throughout the Middle East and engaging in religious cleansing to achieve their ends. ISIS is an evolution of the al Qaeda threat, but one that will require a different response. And on top of that, there is the on-going crisis in Ukraine - a conflict at times between proxies of Russia and the government of Ukraine, but increasingly a direct confrontation on Europe’s doorstep. There are those who will argue that none of those current crises represent an existential threat to the UK. They would be very wrong. The fact that the ISIS murderer of James Foley was almost certainly British demonstrates that this is not a movement whose reach does not extend to Britain; nor can it possibly be claimed that a conflict on the borders of the European Union is somehow not one in which the UK is invested. But even if we were to accept that premise, what the past twelve months has shown is that attempts to read crystal balls on future threats and insecurities is a fool’s errand. Our defence needs

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Alongside the SDSR, a major decision which will face every MP elected next May, whether in government or not, will be on the renewal of Britain’s continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent, a key plank of Britain’s defence. In a world as unstable as this, with new threats emerging from the blue, the case for the nuclear deterrent no longer being necessary is weakening by the day. The decision on renewing Trident requires us to make a judgement on the likely nature of the threats to the UK in the 2040s and 2050s. It is hard to see how any government which places defence as its first duty could make a judgement that a unilateral gesture of disarmament in the current global situation would serve that duty. It is welcome, therefore, that both major parties are committed to the retention of a minimum credible deterrent, a decision that must come alongside a significant stepping up of efforts to achieve multilateral disarmament and the achievement of the Global Zero goal on nuclear warheads signed up to under the previous Labour government. The first duty of government is defence, but it also has duties towards securing global stability and disarmament.


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Major General John Moore-Bick CBE DL General Secretary of the Forces Pension Society

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o one could argue that the world is not a more unstable and dangerous place than it was the last time the three main parties gathered for their respective conferences.

But while pursuing savings, the next SDSR must avoid the traps fallen into by the incoming government in 2010, racing after false economies. That is a period that will always be remembered, nonetoo-fondly, for the aircraft carrier without any aeroplanes and the astoundingly over-optimistic targets for replacing regular soldiers with reservists. It is increasingly clear that the defence strategy of the past four years has seen a reduction in capabilities far greater than that necessitated by the Treasury-imposed cuts. Nor is it clear that the smaller armed forces we see today are necessarily better equipped to deal with new threats, such as cyber-terrorism or the radically different non-state threats of the sort ISIS represents.

FOR

One of the first tasks of whoever forms the next government after May 2015 will be to face up to those needs – they will have just a matter of months to shape the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). Like its predecessor, published in October 2010 and which is already looking dangerously outdated, the review will not only be shaped by the threats Britain faces but by the incredibly tight financial environment in which the armed forces will continue to need to operate.

DEAL WITH THE PLIGHT OF FORCES WIDOWS

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“The case for the nuclear deterrent no longer being necessary is weakening by the day”

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a member of the Defence Select Committee and MP for Barrow and Furness

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John Woodcock,

S WID

AND RECEIVE A VOTE OF THANKS

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our years ago, before the 2010 General election, we were close to securing a change in the rules that would have allowed all Forces Widows to retain their Armed Forces pensions if they remarried or cohabited.

That’s why, with the weight of the whole Military Community pulling together, we must give a mighty push to spur this Government into action. If we don’t, we could still be running this campaign in another four years’ time.

Then along came the new Government, trumpeting the introduction of the Armed Forces Covenant; a commitment to ensuring that those who serve their country would not be disadvantaged for doing so.

Our message to Government is very simple: stop the suffering of our widows; don’t force them to choose between love or loss of pension.

And yet four years and four Ministers later (Andrew Robathan, Mark Francoise, Anna Soubry and now Julian Brazier) we have still not succeeded in persuading the Government to abolish this archaic and repressive rule.

Act before the Election and you’ll receive our vote of thanks. It’s simple. The new pension scheme AFPS 15 begins in April. Time the rule change to coincide with that and we’ll know if the Government has listened before we cast our votes in May.

IT’S TIME TO ACT, PRIME MINISTER If you would like to read the arguments in favour of changing the rules, and why the Government’s objections don’t stand up, visit www.forcespensionsociety.org.uk The Forces Pension Society, 68 South Lambeth Rd, Vauxhall, London SW8 1RL 020 7582 0469

A member of

Cobseo The Confederation of Service Charities

THE POLICING FRINGE

CORRIDORS:

No place for domestic abuse in British society Theresa May, Secretary of State for the Home Department and MP for Maidenhead

returns to the 2014 party conferences... “Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government”

man or woman, the right to ask the police whether their partner has a violent past. It was named after 36-year-old Clare Wood who was murdered in 2009 by her former partner, who had a history of violence against women. That information could have saved Clare’s life. Now that Clare’s Law has been introduced, I hope more women and men will be able to make informed decisions about their future, and be better able to protect themselves and their children. We have also introduced Domestic Violence Protection Orders which allow the police to put protective measures in place for victims, and ban a perpetrator from making contact with a victim for up to 28 days after an incident. In addition to that, our Police Innovation Fund has provided £1.4 million for body-worn cameras to help officers gather evidence at the scene of an incident.

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very year, beatings, rapes and crippling emotional attacks take place behind closed doors. Those attacks inflict immense suffering. They shatter lives. And sometimes that abuse ends in tragic deaths. In 2013, 77 women were killed by their partner or ex-partner. More than a million suffered physical or psychological abuse. And behind those statistics is appalling misery, hurt and trauma. Domestic abuse is a serious crime that I am determined we confront. It is important we recognise that the abuse does not always involve violence. Controlling behaviour and emotional abuse can be harder to spot but can have a devastating impact nonetheless. That is why this August I announced a public consultation on whether we need a specific offence in order to tackle emotional and psychological abuse. We have already expanded the Government definition of domestic abuse to capture non-violent behaviour. Now I want to look at whether we need to strengthen the law. I want to ensure we hear the views of victims and experts to understand how we can offer the best possible protection. We want police and lawyers to see domestic abuse that stops short of violence as criminal. And it is important that the courts can consider ongoing patterns of behaviour when weighing up sentences. We believe that introducing a single offence could help police see domestic abuse as the horrific crime it is, provide greater protection for victims and bring more perpetrators to justice. Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for this Government. And already, we have done more on this than any previous government. Earlier this year, “Clare’s Law” – a law I have championed since becoming Home Secretary – came into force, giving everyone,

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Join the debate on the future of policing at this year’s party conferences

Steve White Chair, Police Federation of England and Wales Sir Hugh Orde President, Association of Chief Police Officers Irene Curtis President, Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales Chair • Mark Williams-Thomas , TV Presenter and Criminologist will be joined by:

LABOUR PARTY • 23 September, 17.45 - 19.00

We have ring-fenced nearly £40 million to fund local services and specialist helplines. As a result, more rape support centres have been set up. And our highly successful “This is Abuse” campaign teaches teenagers that abuse is not always physical, and encourages them to re-think their understanding of consent within relationships.

Lancaster Suite, The Midland Hotel • MANCHESTER

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Shadow Home Secretary (invited) Jack Dromey MP, Shadow Policing Minister

Alongside government action, we must change society’s attitudes to domestic abuse. Last year, I commissioned HMIC to look at the police response to domestic abuse because I was concerned it was not good enough. Its report earlier this year made for depressing reading. The report found that in too many cases domestic violence was being treated as a “second-class crime”. That is not acceptable. I am absolutely clear that I want the police to do more to tackle domestic abuse.

CONSERVATIVE PARTY • 30 September, 17.30 - 19.00 Hall 8A, the ICC • BIRMINGHAM James Brokenshire MP, Immigration Minister, Home Office

So, I am chairing a national oversight group to ensure HMIC’s recommendations are implemented. And each force will publish a strategy outlining how it will tackle domestic abuse in its region. Of course, as HMIC identified, there are many good examples of officers who work incredibly hard to protect victims. A number of forces have written to me setting out immediate action they have taken.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS • 6 October, 18.15 - 19.15 Castle Suite I, Crowne Plaza • GLASGOW

When perpetrators are caught, I want to see more being brought to justice. I am pleased that figures released by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) this July showed that domestic violence referrals from the police rose to the highest level since CPS recording began. Three- quarters of people prosecuted for domestic abuse offences were convicted. But, we must make sure we build on all that work. Every attack is an outrage, and must be stopped. We need to send out a strong message that domestic abuse has absolutely no place in our society. And as Home Secretary, I am working hard to ensure that is what we achieve.


Rt Hon Norman Baker MP, Minister of State for Crime Prevention

#policefringe

CORRIDORS:

Britain must act more decisively to prevent violence against women Seema Malhotra, Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls and MP for Feltham and Heston

“Prevention is a key aspect of the overarching approach to violence against women” Earlier this summer, the Shadow Home Secretary announced that in our first Queen’s Speech, Labour would be seeking to bring in new measures to tackle violence against women. This year we have also been consulting on plans for an independent Commissioner for Domestic and Sexual Violence, a strong voice for victims working in partnership with the Victims Commissioner and Children’s Commissioner. Their work will be vital - advising on policy, cross-Government working and gaps in the services available to victims. In the last few years, we have seen a drop in prosecutions and convictions for rape, child sex offences and domestic violence, even though the number of offences being reported to the police have gone up.

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he level of violence against women in Britain and across the world is shocking. And it is increasingly acknowledged that too little is being done to prevent those crimes, support the victims when they occur and bring the perpetrators to justice. In recent months, a series of scandals have exposed even further the scale and extent of violence against women and girls. Operation Yew Tree, Rochdale and Rotherham continue to shock with the scale of what they have uncovered in our communities – often vile abuse behind closed doors that the authorities felt uncomfortable about intervening in. Last year alone, 12.9 million incidents of domestic violence were recorded against women, while approximately 750,000 children will have witnessed violence in their own home. That is not a problem; it is a crisis. That is why the Labour Party has made tackling violence against women and girls a priority. In the Shadow Home Office brief, it sits alongside policing, immigration and national security as a key tenet of the department’s work. For Yvette Cooper to have a dedicated Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls as part of her team elevates that as an issue – it gives it a new level of political importance. And we believe that if we are serious about seeing a renewed focus on a national strategy that can bring about the step change we need to tackle the problem, political leadership will be key.

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At Conference this year, we are also updating activists on the emerging outcomes of Labour’s Women’s Safety Commission which has been led by Vera Baird QC and Diana Holland. Reaching out to women across the country, the Commission has heard stories of women’s day-to-day concerns about safety in the home, in the workplace and on the streets. Alongside that, the Commission is also looking at how the criminal justice system is working – particularly the way victims of domestic and sexual violence are made to feel. We have heard a lot about a “culture of disbelief” amongst police forces. We need to address that, as well as the sense that many women have expressed to me that the system works better for perpetrators than victims. We need to close the injustice gap and change the system so it is seen as fair and transparent. We need to see minimum standards in the way the police operate and the way the criminal justice system responds to victims, and better training for all those who work with women who have experienced incredible trauma. Prevention is a key aspect of the overarching approach to violence against women; and this must begin with education. The recent revelation about the rise in the number of rapes reported in schools is also a stark reminder about how we need to intervene to support young children with better sex and relationship education. That will make a huge difference for young boys and girls growing up in a complex world – to understand from a young age about why we need a zero tolerance to violence in relationships and the importance of respect and sexual consent. Too often than not, I have met women who are too frightened to report their abuse, or are struggling to leave their abuser. We need to step up our response to tackling domestic and sexual violence in all its forms. The statistics demand it, the harrowing stories from victims demand it, and we as society must demand it.


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Campaigning together to eliminate hepatitis C in 15 years Blenheim is a charity that provides support services for drug and alcohol users, families and carers. We believe in people’s capacity to change. Registered charity no. 293959 www.blenheimcdp.org.uk

CORRIDORS:

Ensuring adequate retirement income for all Steve Webb, Minister for Pensions and MP for Thornbury and Yate

“Let us not forget the groundbreaking pension freedoms we introduced”

The roll-out of automatic enrolment continues at pace - almost four million people have now been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension with all large employers on board. We are expecting to enrol around six million more people in the next parliament. Of course, those new savers need to be able to save with confidence, and this is why we will bring in a cap on charges on default funds in defined contribution pension schemes. That will do even more to ensure fairness and good value. And let us not forget the groundbreaking pension freedoms we introduced in the last Budget.

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e have made the unthinkable a reality; people across the country are now interested in pensions.

Perhaps that overstates this great renaissance a little – but it is fair to say that pensions have increasingly taken centre stage in UK politics, and people are sitting up and taking notice more than ever before. More importantly, we are finally reversing the longstanding trend of falling pension saving. As we look towards the end of this Parliament, I can confidently say that we will leave Britain’s pensions in a far better - and far fairer - state than we found them.

As a Liberal, I believe people should have the power to make their own decisions about how they spend their money – money that they have earned and saved over their working lives. Ending the effective requirement to purchase an annuity is a massive game changer and there are already signs that people are now more willing to save for a pension as a result. We need to ensure those big decisions for people about how best to use their savings are supported with clear, impartial guidance - and we will, with our free ‘guidance guarantee’ which will be available from April 2015, giving people the help and support they need to take advantage of the new freedoms. We have much to be proud about. But I am not spending the coming months resting on my laurels and regarding contentedly the good work we have accomplished.

One of the first elements of our reform programme – and one of which I am most proud - was to protect the income of all pensioners with the triple lock guarantee. That is a Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment which we have delivered on in Government.

We have just started the new Pension Schemes Bill’s passage through Parliament. The bill is crucial – not only will it make the Budget freedoms a reality; it will also bring about new types of workplace pensions.

Because we have introduced a system in which the rate rises by the highest of growth in earnings, prices or 2.5 per cent, this year the basic State Pension is forecast to be a higher share of average earnings than at any time since 1992.

Defined Ambition schemes, which the bill will enable, will give businesses and workers new options to share risk, rather than seeing all the uncertainty of pensions being loaded onto the shoulders of workers.

But we have not stopped there. From 2016 onwards, a much more ambitious overhaul of the state pension system will come into effect, giving people a simpler, fairer system and a strong foundation on which to build their own savings.

The bill also creates the opportunity for collective pension schemes, where through the pooling of risks, we can deliver less volatiles outcomes for savers as well as better value for money Those types of schemes work well around the world, and we think British workers should have them as an option.

The new State Pension – to start in April 2016 – will provide clarity about what individuals can expect from the state as well as benefiting many women, self-employed people and the low-paid. We are setting the full level of the state pension above basic means-tested support. That should give people greater confidence that saving into a private pension is worthwhile. But our landmark state pension reforms have not taken place in a vacuum – they are part of a much wider-ranging programme of change.

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And in the next parliament, the Liberal Democrats would go even further. We would guarantee the triple lock in law so that people in future can be confidant that they will get a fair rise in their state pension every year. Our reforms represent some of the biggest changes in the world of pensions in over half a century. Over time, they will create a fairer society so that people in Britain can look forward to a better retirement.


O C E T

he award winning South Yorkshire ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme provides a “Win,Win” scheme for local authorities looking to tackle their Air Quality issues and fleet operators wanting to improve their operational and environmental performance. Along with other Councils in the UK and the EU, the authorities in South Yorkshire have tough air quality targets to meet. South Yorkshire’s issues relate to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particles, eg PM10, a significant proportion of which have been attributed to the volume of diesel engined vehicles operating on its roads. The South Yorkshire authorities led by Barnsley Metropolitan Council are pursuing a range of measures to improve air quality, among them the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme. With collaborative working and introduction of voluntary measures, the scheme allows the councils to reach out to fleet operators, promising significant improvements. South Yorkshire ECO Stars is currently funded through a combination of EU, Local Sustainable Transport Funding (LSTF) and Barnsley Public Health and encourages fleet operators of all sizes to improve efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and emissions, which all helps improve local transport related air quality. And most importantly to operators, it’s free to join. When joining, members have their vehicles and overall fleet rated by industry experts to assess their current performance, both operational and environmental, and achieve an ECO Stars rating of between 1 and 5. A bespoke “Road Map” is then produced containing tailor-made guidance to help improve the efficiency of their fleet. ECO Stars was launched in South Yorkshire in 2009 and now has 76 members including logistics giants DHL, 3663 and Malcolm Logistics; bus and coach operators such as Stagecoach and First, supermarkets Asda and Sainsbury’s and a whole host of other nationally recognised companies. The scheme has since expanded and is now being run by local authorities across the UK in York, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Mid Devon, Nottinghamshire, Thurrock, Dundee, North Lanarkshire, Warrington and Sefton.

ECO Stars is also part of the EU’s Intelligent Energy Europe programme. The initiative has been replicated in a further seven case study areas, in five other EU countries. Around 400 transport businesses have been audited and advised for free, helping them improve the energy efficiency of the equivalent of 40,000 vehicles. Such is its success that it is likely to continue developing, even if no longer supported by European funds.

“

ECO Stars is a brilliant example of the public and private sector working together to bring about genuine and sustained improvements in both working practices and the environment. It’s a scheme that we can be rightly very proud of in South Yorkshire.” Dan Jarvis, MP for Barnsley Central, speaking on the 5th anniversary of ECO Stars.

Pictured (left) alongside Barnsley Councillor, Roy Miller (right) and representatives of Clipper Logistics and Airmaster– South Yorkshire ECO Stars 1st and 75th members.

ECO Stars National Scheme Manager Ann Beddoes from Barnsley Metropolitan Council said, “With almost 300 members across the UK, ECO Stars has proved to be an effective tool for local authorities to communicate with operators of commercial vehicle fleets. I would encourage other local authorities to considering running the scheme.”

For more information, contact Ann Beddoes at Barnsley Metropolitan Council on 01226 772632 The ECO Stars scheme is managed by specialist transport consultants, Transport & Travel Research Ltd. Visit www.ttr-ltd.com for more information.

CORRIDORS:

Intensifying trade with the world’s emerging economies

Take a new view of road haulage

Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and MP for Twickenham

“We badly need export growth to rebalance the economy” consumers around the world increasingly bypassing traditional distribution channels. The UK’s export performance has been disappointing and we badly need export growth to rebalance the economy. To this end, we have increased the budget for UK trade and investment, and refocused its efforts on enhanced support for mid-sized companies, creating a stronger overseas business support network, and allocating greater resource to emerging markets, including Africa and Latin America. UK Export Finance, meanwhile, has provided over £12 billion to support exporters since 2010. We have reintroduced help for exporters of consumer and light-manufactured goods, as well as raw materials, and launched new products providing trade finance and credit insurance solutions for small business. I am putting through legislation to widen UKEF powers – including help for exporting supply chains and complex contracting chains.

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he rise of the emerging economies has become increasingly apparent for the best part of three decades, evidenced by a diverging pattern of growth, with developed countries’ economies averaging annual growth of around 2 per cent per annum and emerging economies closer to 6 per cent.

The results give some encouragement. UK goods exports to China were up 18 per cent in 2013, and 13 per cent to India. UK business has won £10.4 billion of contracts since 2011 through UKTI’s high value opportunities programme. Over the past year, all told, UKTI has helped 40,000 firms to export and to secure £21.7 billion of new business.

China is, on plausible measures, the world’s largest economy and India the fourth largest after China, the United States, and Japan. I wrote 20 years ago about those contrasting countries, speculating that, in the long run, the Indian democratic model could have more resilience – but, for the moment, China is clearly the more dominant of the two economically.

Nevertheless, the Government’s target of doubling UK export values to £1 trillion by 2020 remains challenging. We know, for instance, that up to 150,000 small and medium companies could export on a sustainable, continuous basis. And just a third of small businesses have any kind of digital presence.

Its share of world exports has risen from 1.3 per cent in 1990 to 10.5 per cent in 2013. In 2012, it consumed more than 40 per cent of all refined metals globally. Although its economic growth has tailed off, relative to the period before the global financial crisis, it remains robustly healthy – forecast to be 7.5 per cent this year. In India’s case, growth is predicted to be 5.4 per cent – far stronger than the eurozone, but well below its potential. It is right to highlight the enormous business opportunities in China and India – as well as in major countries such as Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, Korea, and Indonesia. It may be that the main growth economies in future are elsewhere. Africa is currently the most rapidly growing continent. The clearest trend in global trade is a shift away from Western hegemony, but there is a major change too in the technology behind trade – the inexorable growth of online trade – with

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Internationally, the UK is, in fact, ahead of the game regarding online trade – but we must exploit that early advantage. Hence the measures we have already put in place. We are spending £1 billion to extend broadband infrastructure to 95 per cent of the UK. More generally, we are determined that business fulfils its export potential in overseas markets where we currently lag well behind Germany in the proportion of companies engaged in exports. We are expanding and diversifying business lending through the British Business Bank. The GREAT campaign continues to enhance the UK brand globally. And, on the diplomatic side, we remain a leading proponent of expansive trade deals and of open markets. Economic recovery is underway. If it is to be sustained it has to be export focused. Growth support is available. I call on UK business to increase its risk appetite and explore the overseas opportunities with which UKTI can help them.


A progressive, multi-faceted, service industry directly employing many hundreds of thousands of qualified people. An industry that is increasingly driven by training and technology and where IT skills are essential. An industry on which our growth, wealth creation and people depend. Our Manifesto:

● MPs must give positive, public recognition; and support the road haulage industry’s drive to recruit, invest and develop.

● Government must provide targeted, evidence-based support where the industry says it is needed.

We have recently seen and welcome:

● The sensible increase in HGV speed limits. ● The smooth introduction of the HGV road user levy. ● The fuel duty freeze. We now look for:

● Focussed funding for HGV vocational licence acquisition. ● Re-invigoration of Government action to ensure the provision of adequate, secure truck parking.

● Better roads. They are our workplace - as shops, offices and factories are for others.

For more information, engage with the Road Haulage Association providers of representation, advice, training, auditing and networking for the UK haulage and logistics industry.

www.rha.uk.net [email protected]

CORRIDORS:

A modern transport system capable of supporting the UK economy Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport and MP for Derbyshire Dales

“£38 billion to improve Britain’s rail infrastructure”

But the truth is that we could and should be doing even better. The UK has had chronically under-invested infrastructure for decades – well behind other leading global economies – and the impact of this has been considerable. The most obvious effect has been the increasing congestion on our roads. But that lack of investment has also held back the wider economy. By one estimate, growth was on average 5 per cent lower in each year between 2000 and 2010 as a result.

I

am sure that many of Politics First’s readers will have seen the compelling documentaries earlier this summer telling the story of Crossrail’s construction. If you did see the programmes, you could not fail to have been amazed by the precision engineering skills that manoeuvred a Tunnel Boring Machine as long as 14 London buses through a gap just inches above a busy tube line. It is possible, however, that fewer people’s holiday reading will have included the Public Accounts Committee’s equally fascinating report on Crossrail that was published this July. The report confirmed that the Crossrail project is not just an example of world-class engineering; according to the PAC, it is also “on course to deliver value for money to the taxpayer”. Those project management skills are probably most impressively on display when it comes to moving all the material that is needed to build the new stations through London’s busy streets to the cramped building sites at the core of the route. Take, for instance, the new Bond Street station worksite on Davies Street. There is very little room for storage on a site just 35 metres by 70 metres in size. So, on a typical day, that means 35 deliveries, in precise order, on time, every time or work literally has to stop. As I travel across the country, businesses - from construction to car manufacturing - tell me that they increasingly rely on ultraefficient delivery networks. It has been estimated that logistics like those are saving UK companies over £6 billion a year. That means cheaper goods for consumers and it makes our exports more competitive. It also means the success of our economy increasingly relies on regular, reliable and affordable transport.

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That is why as part of our long-term economic plan we are making a record investment to improve Britain’s vital transport infrastructure. That includes: £38 billion to improve and run Britain’s rail infrastructure, including the rebuilding of Birmingham New Street and, as part of a £400 million electrification programme for the north-west, faster more frequent connections between Glasgow and Manchester Airport; £24 billion for Britain’s strategic road network, that will see annual investment triple to over £3 billion a year by 2021 and, over the coming years, we will build a 240 mile long smart motorway corridor stretching from Cheshire to Kent; providing over £10 billion to councils to maintain local roads, with a £7 million investment through the local pinch point fund to cut congestion in Birmingham city centre; and building the first new north-south railway line for a generation, High Speed 2, in just three years time. Alongside that record investment, we are also determined to help hardworking families by reducing the cost of essential transport. That is why we have slashed fuel duty, frozen train fares for the first time in a decade and will be cutting the cost of getting a driving licence. We also want that investment to support the growth of worldclass manufacturing and engineering in Britain. We already are seeing signs of potential skills shortages in some areas such as technical civil engineering roles and in signalling. That is why improving and expanding our transport infrastructure is not just an investment in ports, airports, roads and rail. It is an investment in the long-terms skills base of the country; for example, the new High Speed Rail College will equip a generation of engineers with the skills needed to build the 51,000km of High Speed Rail that are planned here and elsewhere around the world. We are backing Britain’s long-term growth with a record investment to ensure this country has the transport infrastructure we need. It will help create jobs, boost the economy of towns and cities across Britain and equip the next generation of engineers with the skills British firms need to compete on the global stage.


CORRIDORS:

Time for major reform Mary Creagh, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and MP for Wakefield

“Labour will put the passenger front and centre of everything we do”

DOUBLE WHAMMY.

and create new skilled jobs and apprenticeships in every nation and region of the UK. But more work must be done to link HS2 with future rail investment, especially in the north, to ensure the maximum benefits for the whole country from the project. The costs of HS2 are significant, and there can be no blank cheque for this or any other infrastructure project, but the benefits will be great.

B

ritain’s transport system has long led the world. The train, the bicycle and the jet engine were all invented here. Transport continues to play a full role in the UK’s national economic life. It can help us to build new towns and cities, regenerate older areas and create jobs and growth. A modern transport system which drives growth must be accessible, low-carbon and integrated. Labour will earn our way out of the cost-of-living crisis by building an economy that works for working people. In transport, that means using our transport infrastructure to drive jobs and growth, while keeping costs down for hardworking families. A Labour Government’s investment in our road and rail infrastructure will be long-term and strategic. The current Government proposed to cut £3.9 billion of investment in strategic roads and £1.2 billion in road maintenance budgets in 2010, leading to delays and cancellations of major road projects and contributing to the pothole epidemic. Labour will tackle the poor maintenance of some of our roads, which impacts on commuters and businesses, with a fix-it-first strategy to get our roads up to scratch. The next Government must make a decision on airport expansion in the south-east. Good aviation links are vital to Britain’s competitiveness and future economic success. However, we must remember the contribution of aviation to the carbon emissions that cause climate change and the impact of aircraft noise on communities living near airports and under flight paths. High Speed Two also has the power to transform the economic geography of our country. It will cut congestion on the railways, better connect our cities and help to rebalance the economy

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Labour’s ambitious plan for the railways will deliver a fair deal for both passengers and taxpayers. We will create a single guiding mind for the railways in order to plan investment and services. For the first time, a new overarching body will bring together Network Rail with a new representative passenger rail organisation and will contract routes, coordinate services, oversee stations, fares and ticketing, plan new rolling stock, support skills in the rail industry and ensure customer satisfaction. The next Labour Government will learn from the failures of the existing franchising process and put in place a system that is fit for purpose. We will learn the lessons of East Coast and legislate to allow a public sector operator to bid against private train operators on a genuinely level playing field. Drawing on our cooperative principles, we will increase passenger and employee involvement in rail services, giving users more of a say. We will devolve decisions over the running of regional and local services, including to Scotland and Wales, so that communities can bring together different modes of transport into a single network. Those reforms will bring our Victorian rail network into the 21st century, delivering efficiencies to invest in rail infrastructure and to ease the pressure on farepayers. Affordable and accessible public transport is vital to support economic growth. This Government’s cuts to local bus services are making it harder for people to get to work, school and town centres and are holding back economic activity. Labour will give communities more control over their bus fares and services by making it easier for local authorities to move to Quality Contracts. Cycling is a healthy, cheap and convenient way for people to get to work, school or leisure. We will support cycling by encouraging transport planners to consider cycling and walking when designing new road schemes and a HGV cycle safety charter to help cut cycling deaths and serious injuries caused by lorries. The Tories’ time in government will be remembered for soaring fares, fewer bus services, botched rail franchises and delays, infighting and incompetence on HS2. Labour will put the passenger front and centre of everything we do, stand up to vested interests and create low carbon, green transport networks that help communities to grow and prosper.


We’ve dealt a couple of knockout blows in our fight against the high-speed rail project HS2. Firstly, we learnt our legal case concerning the Government’s non-compliance with important legislation designed to protect the environment has been accepted by the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. This Committee, based in Switzerland, is part of the United Nations and is charged with ensuring countries, including the UK, maintain adequate environmental laws.

Secondly, we won the right to present our petition to the Select Committee looking at Phase 1 of HS2, despite HS2 Ltd’s crude and anti-democratic attempt to stifle proper and full debate on important environmental issues and compensation. It’s the closing rounds that matter and we are going for a knockout. HS2’s dismal economic and environmental performance is winning us more supporters every day. The Government can’t stand up to common sense – our Sunday punch!

www.hs2actionalliance.org

Big change starts with small steps,

Continuous reflection & improvement

but we must remember to keep climbing. The only way to keep patients at the heart of the care they receive is to consistently review their experiences and use them to improve health and social care services for all. The positive action taken as a result of the Francis Report is the first step on the ladder to a better functioning, patient-centred, health and social care service, but the ladder is long - and we must remember to keep climbing.

In 2013, there were around 100,000 more incidences of patients ‘always’ getting answers they could understand from their doctor compared to the previous year*

Picker Institute Europe is a charity which:

Influences policy and practice so that health and social care systems are always structured around the needs and preferences of patients and service users Develops tools and services to ensure all experiences of care are used to improve quality Empowers people working in health and social care to improve experiences by measuring, understanding and acting upon; staff, patient and service user experience

300,000 more incidences where patients reported that they ‘always’ had confidence and trust in their nurses in 2013, compared to 2011*

Improved care

Engage and empower professionals to act on findings

Use appropriate mechanisms to collect and communicate data

Enable a better understanding of all experiences of care

Go to page 47 to find out more about the Picker Institute’s views on patient and staff experience by reading the interview with our Chief Executive, Dr Andrew McCulloch

Optik Inside. ®

Inspire a culture of care where patients are the priority

Francis Report Meet the pioneer of notebook technology, perfected through years of research. At the core of every Black n’ Red notebook is our bright white, high-definition 90gsm Optik® technology, designed to keep your work in crisp, clear condition. Smart hardware you can rely on. *Based on there being over 10 million elective inpatient admissions during 2012-13. Results taken from the CQC National Inpatient Survey 2011, 2012 & 2013.

www.pickereurope.org

Discover a smarter generation of notebook at www.blacknred.com

CORRIDORS:

Achieving efficiency across government Jon Ashworth, hadow Cabinet Office Minister S and MP for Leicester South

“Labour’s Zero-Based Review is taking a long-term perspective” Francis Maude, the Minister responsible for efficiency across government, has made much of his controls on expenditure on consultants in Whitehall. But the latest annual accounts from the Cabinet Office show that there was a massive increase last year in spending on expensive consultants at his own department - from £5 million to nearly £24 million. That is an increase of over 360 per cent. You could not make it up. There have been too many instances of short-term budget decisions like that which are costing more in the long-run. To give just two further examples: we have had the decision to withdraw the A14 upgrade in 2010 because it was “unaffordable” at £1.3 billion, and then the revival of the same project in 2013 at a cost of £1.5 billion; and then the decision to close 14 prisons, creating a shortage of capacity, only for the Government to then commission new ‘Titan’ prison projects.

A

fter four years in government, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are not only set to break their promise to eliminate the deficit and balance the books by next year, but borrowing is now expected to be almost £190 billion more than planned. Despite the Government’s boast to the contrary, a major part of the problem has been waste and inefficiency across government. Ministers, such as Francis Maude at the Cabinet Office, like to talk about “efficiency savings” and slap themselves on the back when re-announcing misleading and unofficial savings figures every year, but the truth is that the level of overspending and waste under this government has been staggering. Since 2010, billions of pounds have been spent on a bigger benefits bill, over £3 billion has been wasted on David Cameron’s unnecessary re-organisation of the NHS, and over £40 million of taxpayers’ money has already been written off as a result of the failed Universal Credit programme. And the list goes on. Across the public sector, we have also seen thousands of staff made redundant, but then replaced with expensive temporary staff. The Government’s approach has seen over 4,000 NHS staff being laid off and then rehired, many on six-figure salaries. Ironically, the Cabinet Office has been one of the worst offenders, spending over £30 million on sacking staff between 2010 and 2013, but then spending another £30 million on plugging capability gaps with temporary and agency staff.

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In contrast to that short-term approach, Labour’s Zero-Based Review of public expenditure is taking a long-term perspective, looking at what we need to do to get maximum value for every pound of taxpayers’ money, provide a fairer society and rise to the challenge of delivering a recovery that it built to last. The review, led by Labour’s Treasury team, is guided by five key principles: Firstly, we will use public money more efficiently and seek efficiencies in every area of spending. Secondly, we will use all departmental budgets to strengthen the economy – supporting growth, job creation and innovation.

OUR SURVEY SAYS…

OVER TWO THIRDS OF TEACHERS WORRY THEY WON’T HAVE ENOUGH INCOME AFTER RETIREMENT* The current environment of change and uncertainty is creating an increasing need for school staff of all ages to find out more about their occupational pension scheme benefits and give due consideration to their future financial plans.

Wesleyan provide workplace presentations that are designed to provide staff with a good understanding of the key features and benefits of their occupational pension scheme, and include a Q&A opportunity.

In our recent survey:

Let Wesleyan alleviate any of these concerns. Our visits to schools are FREE and we can provide our sessions to fit with school timetables and staff availability, but typically provide a one hour presentation plus a Q&A session during INSET days, or staff meetings.

} 67% of teachers worry they won’t have enough income to live comfortably after retirement, but also don’t know exactly what income they really need.

Thirdly, we will ensure greater fairness in the impact of spending and will prioritise expenditure which prevents future problems.

} Despite these concerns, a quarter of teachers aren’t making any additional savings to boost their retirement income.

Fourthly, the quality and experience of public services must improve at the same time as increasing efficiency.

} Over two thirds accept they have a limited knowledge and understanding of their current pension scheme.

And lastly, we will strengthen accountability and transparency across government – with clear efficiency incentives for departments in Whitehall.

Contact us today, quoting 60898

As Ed Balls and Chris Leslie have said, that process will require iron discipline, cross- departmental co-operation and long-term thinking. Labour is committed to that approach and to getting the current budget into surplus and the national debt falling as soon as possible in the next Parliament. There is no doubt that that will demand a hard-headed approach and a review of every item of government expenditure. But that is the only way we can get the job done and ensure efficiency across government.


Wesleyan. Providing specialist advice for teachers.

n [email protected] n www.wesleyan.co.uk/appointment Follow us:

n 0800 980 3413

* Wesleyan Professionals Survey - March 2014 from over 108 respondents Advice is provided by Wesleyan Financial Services Ltd. ‘WESLEYAN’ is a trading name of the Wesleyan Group of companies. Wesleyan Financial Services Ltd (Registered in England and Wales No. 1651212) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is wholly owned by Wesleyan Assurance Society. Wesleyan Assurance Society is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Incorporated in England and Wales by Private Act of Parliament (No. ZC145). Registered Office: Colmore Circus, Birmingham B4 6AR. Telephone calls may be recorded for monitoring and training purposes. WFT-AD-111-07/14

CORRIDORS:

PROSPECTS FOR SCIENCE

Efficiency in government: join up the dots, please Sir Andrew Stunell, MP for Hazel Grove

“The foot-soldiers simply rolled their eyes and carried on as usual”

With 50,000 members in science, technology and engineering, Prospect is well placed to speak up for its members – specialists who work across government and industry. As part of a national campaign, we’ve argued the case for the creation of a minister-led commission to work to increase the percentage of women in STEM careers from 13% today to 30% by 2020.

quite so good at ‘using their common-sense’, which leads to them being set even more targets, and so on ad infinitum. And because those are large and complex organisations, perverse outcomes are routine. Almost never are the full consequences of a target worked through to see what the “whole system cost” is likely to be. One example is the impact of public sector procurement. Surely, when the public sector spends billions on A4 paper and toner cartridges, there are huge discounts to be had by bulk buying? Cue a new target. And when local councils (and central government departments and agencies) are often the biggest employers and the biggest spenders locally, does it not make sense for them to buy locally and thus develop their local economy? Cue another target.

T

he search for efficiency in government has been a matter of fierce debate since the days of Ancient Rome. According to a contemporary account, the Roman Army was in almost constant organisational turmoil as reviews and reconfigurations succeeded and overlapped each other. Apparently, the foot-soldiers simply rolled their eyes and carried on as usual. More recently, it was famously said of the Ministry of Defence that “everyone knows half the money is wasted; we just don’t know which half”. Acute pressure to improve efficiency, economy and effectiveness extends throughout the public sector. The NHS, for instance, is committed to 3 per cent efficiency savings each year at the same time as improving its reach and effectiveness. That is a challenge because inherent in every large organisation is complexity, and with this comes uncertainty and data overload that makes good decision-making frustratingly difficult. Of course, every manager (and Minister) knows that you need a fresh initiative if you want to shorten response times and improve outcomes. The problem is that seldom has one initiative run its course before the next starts. Indeed, initiatives can come in such a deluge that, like the Roman Army, the footsoldiers simply roll their eyes. Unlike the private sector, public services do not have the ready-made metric of “are we making money?” to guide them towards efficient use of resources in order to produce measurable outcomes. The alternative of ‘targets’ for performance has produced mixed results. It turns out that people are actually very skilful at demonstrating that they have met their targets. The problem is that they have not proved

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The only problem is that those two targets conflict. Public sector buying-power is enormous, and councils, for instance, can obtain big discounts from suppliers when their orders are pooled. The supplier will be big, too, or they cannot manage the contract. Typically, they are national companies, if not international, with a global supply chain. Their procurement, in turn, is most unlikely to be from the local area so the councils’ highly efficient spend will, in fact, all go elsewhere - in big dollops, to big firms. Alas, so much for investing in the local economy or supporting SMEs. Worse than that, government departments and local authorities are very big clients: they need very big suppliers, and they need it to be kept simple. So they may overlook the extraordinary high unit price for widgets because, overall, the contract represents (and I quote) “good value for money”. The fact that the widgets (which turn out to be in unexpectedly high demand) cost twice the price charged by the little widgetman on the local industrial estate is irrelevant. Irrelevant, that is, unless you have just submitted your Council Tax Benefit application, having been made redundant by the widget-man because he lost the contract for being too small, even though his widgets were cheaper. So, my message is a practical one: when we talk about making government ‘more efficient’, we need to make sure that we do not just mean “cheapest first cost”, or “headline savings”. It is not efficient unless it is taking account of “best outcomes, whole system costs”. We should aim to maximise the beneficial impact of all public sector activity: service delivery, procurement, and economic outcomes. And then, carry that big picture into individual service level planning and delivery. That does not need more slogans or more ideology; just a bit more time and effort to join up the dots, and maybe, just maybe, fewer targets?


Prospect has published a charter for women in science, technology, engineering and maths. It aims to: l Promote the economic and business benefits of a more diverse STEM workforce l Pilot science and engineering apprenticeship programmes for disadvantaged young women and provide a sustainable funding model for higher-level STEM apprenticeships l Commit to greater longevity and stability of STEM funding to reduce short-termism l Prioritise action to remove barriers to part-time working in STEM occupations l Target science and engineering-based companies to enhance board level representation of women l Create a Cabinet level science minister with specific responsibilities to increase the representation of women at all levels of the STEM workforce. Prospect organises regular STEM seminars and events, most recently at the Royal Aeronautical Society for a seminar on Women in STEM. Speakers included Meg Munn MP, Lord Mayor of London, Fiona Woolf, Professor John Perkins and Fiona Jackson of EDF Energy.

For more information about Prospect’s campaign work go to: www.prospect.org.uk/select_an_industry/science



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CORRIDORS:

ADVERTORIAL

Liberty, equality and the community: the core values of Liberal Democrats

Does the health of a teacher impact on students’ learning?

Tim Farron, President of the Liberal Democrat Party and MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale

“The Liberal Democrats have always been the party of resilience” been working hard to make this a Conference to remember, from the speeches which will be made, to the venue and the fringe events we will be hosting. Conference will be an incredibly busy time for all involved but an incredibly exciting time, too. I am excited for what lies ahead and excited to go into the next Election with a set of really positive policies. Not only will Conference be a time for the Party to get together and vote on the pre-manifesto; it will also be a chance for the Liberal Democrats to celebrate our achievements and our record of delivery so far. Whether that is the 26 million people who will be receiving a £800 tax cut and the 3 million poorest workers who will be lifted out of paying income tax altogether or the fact we have helped businesses create more than a million jobs and created a record 1.8 million apprenticeships.

C

onference season is upon us once again and this means the last Autumn Conference before the 2015 General Election. This is an exciting time for the Liberal Democrats and this year’s Conference will play a critical role in determining the policies and priorities which will be at the heart of our 2015 manifesto. It is our chance to set out our stall before. Unlike the other main parties, what happens at our Conference really makes a difference as our policy is decided by our members. Their experience and understanding helps to ensure we have the very best policies which matter to ordinary people. No proposal can become Liberal Democrat policy until Conference has voted for it and our members can put forward their own proposals, which carry the same influence as ideas from our Ministers and MPs. After a Summer of announcements - our promise to close the gender pay gap, our commitment to a carers’ bonus, our proposed changes to the spare room subsidy and the introduction of the regional growth fund to help local communities and businesses, to name but a few - we are raring to go. We are ready to debate our pre-manifesto at Conference and excited to present our Election manifesto. As Party President, I sit on the Party’s Federal Conference Committee and have been involved with the staging of Conference, helping to provide a steer on organisational issues, the agenda, speeches and Q&A sessions. The Committee have

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On top of that, the Liberal Democrats have introduced the £2.5 billion pupil premium to help those children who need it the most and have established the triple lock pension. We have given the poorest two-year olds and all three and four year-olds 15 hours of free childcare a week and we have introduced equal marriage for all couples. When we formed the Coalition back in 2010, the economy was on its knees and we were in the midst of a banking crisis. Now, going into the 2015 Election, we have come out the other side with the UK economy back to pre-crash levels. As we move from rescue to renewal, the Liberal Democrats are determined to make our economy even stronger and our society fairer – so that every single person benefits from the recovery and has the opportunity to get on in their lives. While I am incredibly proud of all that we have achieved, especially as a junior coalition partner, the upcoming seven months will be tough. We know that, but the Liberal Democrats have always been the party of resilience; we have always worked hard and fought for what matters. The last four years have not been easy and we have had to make some tough decisions but we have stood true to what we believe in - a fair, free and open society with liberty, equality and the community at its heart. It is those values which we will be celebrating at Conference, that will be at the heart of our polices and which we will whole-heartedly embrace as we approach next May.


Anecdotally, teachers and unions recognise the story of chronic exhaustion among staff coupled with the fear of underperforming and its potential impact on their students’ learning.

similar to strains within the teaching profession. Three quarters of NHS Trusts who implemented workplace guidelines, to reduce long-term sickness absence and to promote physical and mental health, resulted in healthier, more productive staff with better patient outcomes.

Now, Teacher Support Network is calling for further research to establish a causal link between teacher health and wellbeing and the thing ministers and many school leaders care about above all else – education standards and examination results.

A recent report from Estyn, the schools inspectorate in Wales, revealed that high levels of teacher absence affected education standards. It found that supply staff struggle to establish effective relationships with pupils, resulting in worse behaviour and poorer quality of lessons. An important 2007 study found a correlation between increased staff wellbeing and SATs results, while another showed that having a good teacher impacted positively on exam results. However, further research is needed to prove this message to decision-makers.

The charity, which provides counselling and practical support for teachers and staff in FE and HE, received 26,000 calls to its 24-hour helpline last year, many of which were related to problems over work and stress. The Chief Inspector of Schools in England, Sir Michael Wilshaw, recently reported that the problem of teacher ‘burnout’ is widespread. The result is a wasteful loss of talent, with around seven in 10 teachers saying they have considered leaving the profession because of workload and exhaustion. Earlier this year, Teacher Support Network commissioned a review of present research into the relationships between teacher health and student outcomes. The report by The Work Foundation, a research group from Lancaster University, found there is compelling evidence that a healthier workforce can lead to important savings for organisations across various sectors through increased productivity and reduced staff absences. Dame Carol Black’s 2008 report calculated this could save the Government more than £60 billion. The teaching profession could learn from the health sector where extensive research has established a clear link between staff health and patient outcomes. Studies showed that despite a physically healthy workforce, NHS staff had high levels of sickness absence, a quarter of which was attributed to stress, depression and anxiety. Factors that led to this included the physically and psychologically demanding nature of NHS work,

Julian Stanley, Chief Executive of Teacher Support Network, said: “For those of us who work in schools, it seems blindingly obvious that pupils taught by teachers who are stressed and frequently sick will perform less well than those who aren’t. “Our review of evidence shows that further research into the relationship between teacher wellbeing and pupil outcomes could reveal whole new ways to improve education in the UK, but we need your help. Whether you work in Westminster or elsewhere, please go to the website www.teachersupport.info to read the review and find out how you can help to make this imperative research happen.”

CORRIDORS:

Assessing the option of shale gas Tessa Munt, MP for Wells

“ Fracking is a waterhungry process which uses vast quantities of a precious resource” site. We will be fracking for methane, a different proposition altogether. There are simply not the number of petrochemical plants across the south of England to change the maths for the UK fracking proposition, so we will be singing to a different financial tune. We do not know the long-term effects on the land. Fracking itself is not new, but I am told that the methods intended under the Government’s plans for shale gas exploration under licence are. In my part of the world, the countryside is criss-crossed with an intricate and balanced system of rivers and rhynes (man-made ditches) and we are utterly dependent on the water to irrigate pasture which, in turn, leads to the production of superb local butter, cheese, beef and the apples so critical to Somerset’s famous ciders. That carefully balanced environment has been maintained for centuries by the monks, farmers and smallholders working across and around the Isles of Avalon.

T

his May, the Government announced plans to encourage investment in the UK’s energy infrastructure and opened the bidding for new Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences to cover half the country, and all of Somerset. That came as no surprise, as David Cameron is on record as stating his intention to “go all out for shale”. However, I think we should err on the side of caution. I am concerned about fracking for several reasons. I believe we should be moving away from – not increasing – our use of fossil fuels, which contribute to global warming. Investing in solar, tidal and offshore wind works – in the first quarter of 2014, 25 per cent of the country’s energy needs were met from renewable sources. Designing every new home, office, farm and factory, and upgrading existing buildings to the highest possible ‘green’ specification, would focus on much greater energy efficiency. When we build, each roof tile should be an energy-making cell. Energy efficiency standards should rise, encouraging even more energy-saving innovation for every aspect of our lives. Let us make sure all our rubbish can be, and is, recycled and re-used. It is possible. It just needs political will. I am not convinced by claims that fracking will bring American-style reductions in our energy bills. The glut of methane which means cheap energy for American homes and businesses is the unwanted leftovers from the gas extraction process by petrochemical companies who are seeking butane, ethane and propane. It is easy to see the attraction of selling a spare by-product for a few cents, rather than burning it off on

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And it is not just Somerset; Scotland’s beef, whisky and raspberries, Kentish hops, Lincolnshire’s vegetables, vineyards in the South East, East Anglian grain and many other products depend on the quality of our soils and water. Areas dependent on tourism - the Lake District, West Country, Norfolk Broads, our spa towns and coastal resorts - are totally dependent on the integrity of our water. Pollution would be disastrous. We cannot risk all in the dash for gas. Fracking is a water-hungry process which uses vast quantities of what is, after all, a precious resource. And no one has explained what and where the enormous volumes of contaminated water which result from the fracking process will be stored. We should not accept that as a minor administrative problem which we do not need to worry about now. We have had similar reassurances for 60 years about the safe storage of nuclear waste but no solution yet, just occasional beach closures when radioactive leaks are discovered. The argument that tighter rules will apply to Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB’s) and National Parks where drilling will only be allowed under “exceptional circumstances and in the public interest” are ludicrous. If AONB’s and National Parks need ‘protection’, then this is a tacit admission of potentially serious environmental and visual risks to the process. What possible “exceptional circumstances” and exactly what “public interest” could justify fracking in those areas? Even if our coalition partners are intent on fracking across the English countryside, we should consider all the risks and answer public concerns. The way things are, without significant public pressure and a consequent change of heart from David Cameron, he will be pushing hard to ease the way for a risky process.


unlocking Britain’s Potential www.cuadrillaresources.com

CORRIDORS:

CORRIDORS:

Young people: stand up and be counted

Labour is ready to deliver on sentencing

Sophy Ridge,

Sadiq Khan, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and MP for Tooting

Political Correspondent, Sky News

“Ministers are presiding over a system that is not punishing criminals” is often more effective - leading to victims having more confidence - and is cheaper. Prison is not the only option.

That carelessness is a dangerous fallacy. One hundred and one years ago, it was a sunny day in early summer when a red haired woman from a comfortable, middle-class background flung herself under the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby. Four days later, Emily Dickinson died of her injuries.

I am a fan of the Sentencing Council and the way it responds to the everchanging landscape as new crimes emerge, and new sentences are needed. I like the way how members are open in consulting widely on the factors which should be taken into consideration by judges when handing down sentences. Their methodical way of working through the most important types of offences means there is a regular review of sentences, into which the public, victims and campaign groups can feed in their views.

P

ublic confidence in our justice system is crucial.Without it, the system crumbles. People need to be confident that those guilty of crimes are being caught, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced.

If public confidence is eroded, then people will not want to come forward and report crimes.Without victims and witnesses prepared to come forward, there can be no catching and prosecuting the guilty. Criminals will go scot free. A life of crime will be seen to have no consequences.That would be a disaster for wider public safety. So, confidence is crucial, but it is also delicate and not to be taken for granted. Just one bad experience can do untold damage to confidence. People seeing witnesses on the receiving end of a horrific cross-examination by a prosecution barrister might be put off coming forward. Or reports of victims who do not have their complaints taken seriously by the authorities will lead others to question whether it is worth reporting crimes.That is not an exhaustive list but some of the examples people tell me about. That is why much more needs to be done to support victims and witnesses of crime.Too often, they are treated as an afterthought.That has to end, which is why Labour has committed to bring in aVictims’ Law, putting in legislation the standards which victims and witnesses should expect of our criminal justice system. But one area where we need to maintain public confidence is in sentencing. People need to be assured that the punishment fits the crime.They want to know that the guilty will pay the price for their crime. But there is a lot of public confusion about sentencing. For many people, sentencing equates to prison, but that is not always the case. Low level crimes and first time offences can often result in non-custodial sentences such as community sentences.That

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One thing is for certain, victims of crime want to know that the right sentence is being given to their perpetrator. It is still shocking how many serious and violent crimes get warnings and are disposed of outside the normal criminal justice process. Data has revealed how time and again those guilty of rape and violent crimes get away with a slap on the wrists, and how perpetrators of domestic violence are dealt with through community resolutions. But that is justice on the cheap. It cheapens the experience of victims, leaving many to wonder why they bothered reporting the crime. This Government have had over four years to get to grips with the growing problem but seem incapable of doing anything about it. Furthermore, over the last four years, prisons have steadily worsened. Recent months have seen warnings from many people about a growing crisis, including from the usually reserved Chief Inspector of Prisons. As a result of increased overcrowding and shortages of staff, violence is on the rise and prisoners are languishing in their cells. Ministers are presiding over a system that is not punishing and reforming criminals, putting public safety at risk down the line. It is going to be left to whoever wins the next election to pick up the pieces. Labour has ambitions for putting rehabilitation at the heart of prisons, incentivising governors to put on the education and training courses as their performance will be judged by how well offenders are rehabilitated.We will bring in expertise from outside by establishing prison boards, working with local authorities, probation, police and the health service.The status quo is not acceptable. Only by making prisons punish and reform criminals will we be delivering on the aims of sentencing. By not reforming criminals, the true aims of sentencing are being let down. That is a slap in the face of victims and is cocking a snook at justice.We are determined to act, and Labour has the values, ideas and policies in place to deliver a justice system that properly punishes and reforms criminals, thereby strengthening public confidence in sentencing.


“Sky News is launching a new campaign - Stand Up Be Counted”

There are no YouTube videos of that moment, and no Vines or virals. It is hard to imagine in 2014, with just 39 per cent of young women bothering to turn up at the ballot box, someone being passionate enough about their right to vote that they are willing to die for it. It is no secret that the history of democracy is full of the blood of campaigners and the sweat of determined politicians. But now that we have universal suffrage, why worry if voting figures drop?

T

here is a crisis in politics. No, I am not talking about UKIP defections, the Lib Dems’ polling figures or even David Cameron’s hairline.

This is something far bigger than that: thousands of young people are simply switching off from democracy. If that sounds alarmist, then just look at the figures. Back in 1964 (just 50 years ago), 76.4 per cent of 18-24 year olds voted. At the last election, in 2010, that number had fallen to just 44 per cent, according to Ipsos Mori. For young women, the figure was at 39 per cent. It is easy to write that off as young people simply being apathetic about politics. I prefer to say there is a crisis in democracy itself. It is true that Westminster is not exactly in vogue at the moment. Scars from the expenses scandal and the Iraq War run deep, and trust in politicians is low. At the same time, though, young people are still politically engaged. Just look at the number of people who sent bricks, blood and even faeces to a UKIP free post address. It may not be mature but it does show people have an opinion.

It is tempting to relax in the assumption that democracy has been achieved, and whoever gets into power will make little difference. The real question, however, is whether we can have a true democracy when one segment of society is far less likely to vote than another. Less young people are choosing to vote when compared to their older equivalents - it is not an enforced discrepancy. But whatever the cause, the impact is the same. Why should politicians treat all people equally when they are far more likely to get votes from the over 60s than the under 25s? If you were an MP fighting a close battle in a marginal constituency, which type of voters would you be most likely to reach out to? It is not difficult to see the impact of that in policy terms. Is it any wonder that the Coalition Government has vowed to protect pensioner benefits (from free bus passes to TV licenses) when every other age group has shouldered cuts? Or that the Conservatives are actively considering ending housing benefits for the under 25s?

The Scottish referendum is another good example of a political issue that resonates and has had huge cut through on social media. The spoof Twitter account Angry Salmond - Sultan of #SexySocialism - has more than 10,000 followers. When the No campaign produced a misjudged, patronising advert aimed at women voters, Twitter exploded. Dozens of spoof images and videos of the woman in her kitchen were created and shared, with captions such as “Ma Fridge Magnets Said Vote No”.

In my view, it is imperative that young people do not take democracy for granted.

But while the under 25s may be politically switched on, for them democracy is a given. It is something that has always existed; it is impossible to imagine anything different.

If you are a young person who thinks politicians should pay equal attention to people whether they are 20 or 60, get involved at standup.news.sky.com or using the Twitter hash tag #StandUp .


That is why Sky News is launching a new campaign - Stand Up Be Counted. It is a dynamic digital platform designed to amplify the voices of young people before the General Election. The idea is for 16 to 25 year olds to post videos, comments and articles on the issues affecting them and share them across social media.


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CORRIDORS:

A fair deal for mental health

Ending the stigma surrounding mental health

Norman Lamb, Minister of State at the Department of Health and MP for North Norfolk

“I have championed the idea of ‘parity of esteem’”

Luciana Berger, Shadow Minister for Public Health and MP for Liverpool Wavertree

organisation they come into contact with. Our street triage pilot schemes which see police forces and health services working side by side have already meant a decrease in the number of people detained inappropriately in a police cell. The Concordat makes clear that the numbers of people who end up in a police cell because of a mental health crisis should halve during 2014/15.

R

ectifying the profound injustice of the institutional bias against mental health has been one of my highest priorities as Health Minister – as it was for Paul Burstow. Given that at least one in four people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives, making sure they get the support they need to live independent and fulfilled lives is essential in delivering a stronger economy and a fairer society. It is simply not fair or acceptable that someone with a physical illness can get better care than someone with a mental health problem. I have championed the idea of ‘parity of esteem’ so that mental health is treated as seriously as physical health. We gave NHS England clear direction on achieving parity of esteem equality for mental health - through the first ever NHS Mandate in 2012, setting out specific objectives. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is now inspecting mental health services against new, tougher care standards to ensure patients are being given the level of care we expect and that they deserve. One of the clearest disparities between mental and physical health has been in the care and support people can access in a mental health crisis. When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, it is essential that they are able to access the help they need – and quickly. But all too often that is simply not the case. We have launched a Crisis Care Concordat, agreed between over 20 organisations including the Association of Chief Police Officers, setting out clear standards for the first time in respect of the care people should expect in a mental health crisis – whichever

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I am also determined to improve the care and support provided to children and young people experiencing a mental health crisis. Effective support for young people with mental health problems is incredibly important in giving people the best possible start in life. But the current system is horribly fragmented between the different tiers of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). What is more, the transition point from CAMHS to adult mental health services at 18 creates an incredibly damaging cliffedge at what is already one of the most stressful points in the life of a young person. I have launched an expert taskforce to look at how we can make sure every child with mental health problems gets the high quality support they need. I have asked the taskforce to look at the Australian “Headspace” model, which links up mental health services with sexual health, relationships, and employment advice. Crucially, young people can access the services themselves, confidentially, without the daunting hurdle of having to visit their GP. There are many local services of a similar sort run by third sector organisations across England. As a Liberal Democrat, I want to go even further in making sure that mental health gets a fair deal – which I believe is crucial if we are to build a fairer society. I want to see much more effective cooperation between mental health services and local employment services, so that people with mental health problems are able to access the support they need to help them back into employment, which can so often bring its own benefits for those with mental health conditions. On dementia, too, we need to build on the momentum created by Britain’s chairmanship of the G8 in 2013 to encourage research – not just into a possible “disease altering” treatment, but also into better care. Throughout my career as an MP, one of my highest priorities has been campaigning for better mental health services. I believe the changes I have set out could transform the lives of millions of people across the country, giving them the chance to live the life they choose, and helping build a fairer society.


“We need a bigger and bolder response”

Government the two do not match up. On David Cameron’s watch, mental health funding has gone down for the first time in a decade. Mental health services have been cut by 20 per cent more than other services and Mental Health Trusts have lost £250 million of their funding since 2012. In their first year, new NHS bodies and Clinical Commissioning Groups only spent, on average, 10 per cent of their annual budgets on mental health, despite mental illness accounting for 23 per cent of the national burden of disease. Funding cuts alone would be bad enough, but at a time when demand for mental health services has shot up, the impact has been devastating. Under this Government, we have seen the number of specialist mental health doctors and nurses drop, bed shortages, vulnerable people having to travel hundreds of miles to get the treatment they need, and very ill children being detained in police cells because there is nowhere else for them to go.

M

ental illness will touch us all at some point in our lives. One quarter of us experience a mental health problem every year so the chances are if we do not ourselves experience mental illness, someone we know will. Yet, too often it remains a taboo subject in our society, one that people sweep under the carpet or avoid entirely. Nearly nine out of ten people who experience mental illness say they face stigma and discrimination as a result. That can be even worse than the symptoms themselves and can mean that people are reluctant to come forward to get the help that they need. With less than a third of people with mental health problems receiving any treatment at all, Ed Miliband was right to say that it is “the biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age”. However, there are welcome signs that the status of mental health in our society is starting to shift. Since the Time to Change campaign started in October 2007, it has reached millions of people across England and has begun to improve public attitudes towards people with mental health problems. Back in 2012, Ed Miliband became the first Leader of the Opposition to make a speech focused solely on mental health, arguing that we cannot be One Nation if people with mental illness are marginalised. And that same year, it was Labour votes in the House of Lords that forced the Government to write “parity of esteem” between mental health and physical health services into law. Those are encouraging steps in the right direction. Yet, rhetoric is one thing, reality is another and under this


People are waiting so long for psychological therapies that their conditions are becoming much more serious. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, introduced by the last Labour Government, made talking therapies available to more people than ever before. Yet this Government has failed to prioritise extending access to treatment to meet the demand and the system is struggling to cope. An alarming 84% per cent of GPs responding to a recent survey said they were forced to prescribe medication to their patients because their local IAPT service could not help them. Good mental health starts in our workplaces, our schools and our communities which is why Labour’s Mental Health Taskforce is focusing on the best approach to improving our nation’s mental health across society. But how can we expect to achieve a shift in how our society views mental health if the Government is not showing the leadership which we need? We need a bigger and bolder response which is why Labour is putting mental health at the heart of our vision for an integrated health and social care system. Rather than watching from the sidelines, it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure the right services are in place to meet the needs of our most vulnerable people. At a time when mental health is receiving much needed attention, Ministers must stamp out the stigma once and for all. They must guarantee that anyone who is ill, regardless of whether that be with a physical or mental illness, diabetes or depression, anxiety or asthma, receives the help and support that they need.


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CORRIDORS:

CORRIDORS:

Taking welfare reform forward Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and MP for Chingford and Woodford Green

The complexities of welfare reform “Experts are now recognising the role that welfare reform has played”

Dame Anne Begg, MP for Aberdeen South and Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee

market, but it is one which can greatly affect the health and wealth of the nation. Inactivity not only blights individuals’ prospects, but has a negative impact on the economy and society at large.

answer. But the government was not content with just that reform. There were also major changes to Housing Benefit. I would like to think it was not the government’s intention to cause fear and alarm to large numbers of disabled people when it told them that their homes were now deemed too big for them, even when they had been specially adapted. But those are the consequences of the government’s actions in introducing the so called “Bedroom Tax”.

I have long believed that the strength of our labour market would both drive Britain’s economic recovery, and increase as a result. This Government created the conditions for growth, and gave businesses the freedom and confidence to create jobs. And at the same time, we drove a programme of welfare reform where every change was designed to get Britain back to work. As well as a sign that the economy is getting back on track after Labour’s great recession, the strength of Britain’s labour market is the surest indicator of how successful our welfare reforms have been in getting Britain working - and changing attitudes in workless households.

O

ver the last four years, few issues have been as hotly contested as the reform of welfare. Little wonder, given that this Government has embarked on the most significant programme of reform for a generation, transforming the way the state supports those in need. A change that is not just about Britain’s benefit and pensions systems but, more than this, has at its heart a change in the culture of welfare, both in Government and beyond it. Our mission was to renew the incentive to work and remove the barriers in people’s way in doing so, transforming the lives of those locked out of the labour market for too long. Every single change we have made – from the introduction of the benefit cap to the reform of sickness benefits – has been underpinned by the firm belief that Britain will only be great again if all in our society are part of our nation’s prosperity.

It is welcome to see so many experts now recognising the role that welfare reform has played. Whereas under Labour over half of the rise in employment was accounted for by foreign nationals, we have reversed that damaging trend and over the last four years nearly 70 per cent of the rise in employment has been made up of UK nationals. As the economy improves, this is where the real effect of our reforms is felt: British people re-engaging with the workforce and regaining the opportunity to access the jobs being created ensuring everyone who is able to can play a part and realise their potential. As we look towards the next election, we must ensure that what we do next is underpinned by the same logic. Certainly, that is what the Chancellor meant when he talked about a commitment to fight for Full Employment in Britain, as part of our long-term economic plan.

In its simplest articulation, our programme of reform has been about getting Britain back to work; giving people previously left to languish out of work the skills and the incentive to take the jobs being created in our growing economy.

It is my belief that a future Conservative Government should consider that to be, perhaps, the most vital aim: with help and support, everyone contributing and realising their potential.

None of that has been easy. When we entered office, we inherited an economy at breaking point - welfare bills out of control and high levels of worklessness.

Cultural reform - of society and of government - in a way that restores effectiveness in public spending and personal responsibility in our welfare system.

Now we have employment at record levels, private sector employment up over 2 million since the election, and an unemployment rate that ranks amongst the lowest in Europe.

Through Universal Credit being rolled out now in a safe and controlled manner, we will ensure that work always pays and is seen to pay, and that people have the right support available to get them back on track.

In addition to that, the proportion of the population that is inactive – those who are neither in work nor looking for work – has never been lower. Economic inactivity is too often a forgotten part of the labour

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The gains will be enormous when we complete all our changes.

And in government spending, making the money follow the outcome, so that it is no longer possible to fiddle around with quality programmes or not see them through.


“I have always thought of UC as the Holy Grail of welfare reform”

T

here are three things which you need to remember about Welfare Reform.

Firstly, it is fiendishly complicated. People lead complicated lives so designing a welfare system which gets the most money to those most in need is never simple. It might be more coherent, or more easily understood, or have fewer cliff edges but it will never be simple to achieve. Secondly, there are always unintended consequences. No matter how well planned a new benefit is, there will be things which simply cannot be foreseen or people will not behave in the way expected. And thirdly, welfare reform takes a long time to implement even if the IT works from the start! Transitional arrangements can take a long time to work through the system even with the migration of existing claimants on to the new benefit. It can take even longer if the new benefit only applies to new applicants. That causes less upset but is one of the reasons why the existing UK system has become even more complicated. It can also be very expensive to implement if you want to make sure that noone loses out in the short-term. So, it is a “brave” government which undertakes some welfare reform, perhaps reforming one or two benefits, in the course of a single Parliament. Where that leaves a government which is attempting to overhaul almost the whole welfare system in the same timescale... I leave for you to judge! To have introduced Universal Credit (UC) to replace six different working age benefits would have been a tall order in itself. I have always thought of UC as the Holy Grail of welfare reform. If the torturous roll out of UC continues, then it would appear that, like the Holy Grail, no one has yet found the


The previous government had introduced the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) as a new out of work benefit for those with disabilities or health issues. Before it had been properly evaluated, the Coalition government speeded up the timetable for the migration of existing claimants to the new benefit. It is one thing to decide what benefit a new claimant should receive; it is quite a different matter to say to someone already on the existing benefit that they do not qualify for the new one. Given the capacity problems of assessing over two million for the new benefit, plus all the reassessments required, it was always going to be difficult to come up with an assessment process which everyone thought was fair. And now the government is discovering some of the same problems have arisen with the replacement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). I pointed out in a debate as far back as October 2012 that the Department for Work and Pensions’ original timetable for the implementation of ESA and PIP would require around 100,000 assessments every month! So, the migration from DLA to PIP was delayed but, even so, huge backlogs have developed. So what is the future for welfare? Well, the first thing the government needs to be honest about is the enormity of the task they have embarked upon. There is no point in pretending everything is on target when there are thousands of individual testimonies of delays and poor treatment which show that this is not the case. There is no point pretending that the roll out of Universal Credit is proceeding apace when less than 7,000 people in total have entered the system. Seven thousand down, only seven million plus to go! When you have bitten off more than you can chew, you simply cannot keep stuffing your mouth. The government needs to admit that delivering all the changes it has introduced will not happen in the timescale the DWP claims, if they happen at all. Just remember that welfare reform is fiendishly complicated, has unintended consequences and takes a long, long time to deliver.


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CORRIDORS:

The Science and Technology Select Committee: a special committee Andrew Miller, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston and Chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee

RELEVANT MARINE SCIENCE

“Science and technology cuts across departments”

Science is value neutral. It explains the world as far as that is possible in human terms and is not always sympathetic to human needs or concerns. Neither do we live in an absolutely rational society where all it needs is for evidence to be presented after which everyone has a Damascene moment of clarity and accepts that judgement. That is why we have politicians and Ministers; to give a human face to the decisions made and to apply human judgement about what the right thing to do might be. As Chair of the Committee, I do not want to see that the Minister has looked at the science and then slavishly implemented what it says, for better or worse. I want to see that the Minister has seriously looked at the scientific evidence or advice and has then made a rational decision in the light of that.

T

he quick explanation of the role of the Science and Technology Select Committee is that the Committee exists to scrutinise the Government, like every other select committee. A longer explanation would presume you knew that and wanted to know what makes the select committee special. Unlike the other departmental select committees, Science and Technology does not have a single, large Government department, like Health or Education, to scrutinise. Our claim to being a departmental committee is that we scrutinise the work of the Government Office for Science (GO-Science) that resides within the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. As GO-Science provides advice for Government as a whole in science matters, the Committee has the opportunity to examine what use the Government, as a whole, makes of its science advice and to make recommendations on related policies. What makes Science and Technology special is that, unlike other departmental select committees, it cuts across departments and often picks up issues which do not, themselves, fit neatly into a departmental straightjacket. So, our recent inquiry into social media data could have been picked up by any one of three departments or the Cabinet Office. Some consider the role of the Committee to be a champion for science in Parliament. That would be wrong; the Committee’s focus has to be politicians holding the Government to account. It is not the role of the Committee to ensure that every government policy follows what the science says. For one thing, it is not always easy to see what the science says; for another, it is not always the right thing to do.

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A good example of that was the recent decision by Theresa May to look at whether khat should be a controlled substance. She indicated that she had looked at the scientific evidence and advice, did not challenge it, but outlined other factors that, in her judgement, overrode the scientific ones. The role of the Committee here, if it had decided to consider that issue, would have been to ensure that the Minister had taken, and understood, the evidence and then made a good judgement call in the light of that evidence. Obviously, as a Committee, we might agree or disagree on the politics even if we agree on the science. Another benefit of the Science and Technology Committee having a focus on science is that the same Committee undertakes the consideration of science issues across the whole of Government. In this Parliament (that is since the 2010 General Election), the Committee has published twenty-nine reports on a variety of issues, since it was formed after the 2010 General Election and received responses from eleven different Government departments. The Committee has been able to follow how science advice has been sought and provided across all of those departments, witness good and bad practice and comment on this in an informed way. It is important that the framework for scientific advice is consistent and that it meets the policy needs of the Government. Science in Government is not for the needs of science; it is for the needs of the country. We exist to ensure that the framework for the provision of science advice is working and, at worst, that Ministers are, at least, aware of what the science says prior to them making policy.

Crowded coastal waters have many competing demands from industry, recreation and conservation. Evaluating and balancing the potential benefits and negative impacts have become a pressing problem for decision makers. PML’s marine socio-economics group provide information and analysis that support decisions across a wide range of sectors including marine planning, ecosystem service valuation and sustainability, offshore renewables, fisheries, and marine conservation. PML’s remote sensing group, one of the largest of its kind in the world, provides a wide-scale perspective, informing the selection of marine protected areas in UK seas and farther afield. The satellite data it processes has wide application, e.g. for aquaculture and bathing beaches for the early detection of harmful algal blooms. Long-time series of data collected via the Western Channel Observatory (www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk) feed into understanding how our seas are being altered through global change and are of relevance to partners, including the Met Office. Linking the diverse interests of PML’s marine science research is its marine environmental modelling group - one of the largest in Europe - which uses existing models to help untangle the complexity that is the marine environment, and also develops models to refine and increase detail of predictions across a range of ecosystem functions and effects. Understanding marine species, communities and habitats and how they function from the seabed to the surface and from seashore to continental slope is fundamental to PML research. Whilst the beneficial potential of the marine environment seems endless, marine organisms can have a down-side too, as they may negatively impact marine-based industries. PML is investigating, with shipping companies and the renewables sector, the problem of fouling organisms and how they might be prevented from becoming established. The effectiveness of ballast water treatment systems is also an area in which PML can offer its services. PML is a potent force in the here and now, but always has an eye to the future. PML continues to seek science and industry partnerships and encourage international collaborations, welcoming around 26 visiting researchers from around the world each month and supporting the ‘next generation’ of marine scientists through postgraduate and other hosted studentships.

MARINE SCIENCE FOR A CHANGING WORLD Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) is a world-class marine science research organization which aims to increase understanding of the challenges facing today’s ocean and provides solutions to marine-based issues of international societal concern. PML enjoys a global reputation for the quality of its research, as demonstrated by being rated amongst the top oceanographic research institutes in the world. Scientific excellence is the key to PML’s success, whilst relevant and timely outputs to support policy formulation and industrial applications are equally essential to the PML ethos. Core to PML’s achievements is its ability to create project-specific research groups from its multidisciplinary team of scientists so ensuring a creative and efficient interdisciplinary approach to solving challenges. This is enhanced through PML’s extensive network of partners worldwide, resulting in PML often leading, or being a partner of choice, in many large national and international research projects.

For further information please visit www.pml.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @PlymouthMarine and LinkedIn www.politicsfirst.org.uk

https://www.linkedin.com/company/plymouth-marine-laboratory-&-pml-applications-ltd.

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Anyone medically trained has no such possible dispensation from prosecution, whether helping a spouse or a patient. So, a family member taking a loved one to Switzerland to commit suicide or helping with an overdose probably would not be prosecuted (provided they were not a doctor) but they could not be sure of this until after a police investigation following the death.

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As many people said in the debate, and as even more wrote in to say, it is not death they fear, but the manner of dying. I only support the Bill for those who are terminally ill and if is to relieve the agony which too many people experience or witness. We have made childbirth – our coming into the world – less painful (for our mothers rather than ourselves) so I cannot understand why our going from the world should not also be made less painful, and in a setting of our choice.

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Feature The ergonomics of PPE: one size does not fit all —24

For supporters of the Bill, like myself, that is unsatisfactory. Both the dying and their loved-ones need certainty before the event and, above all, access to the correct amount of the correct drug to ensure the outcome is not botched. It must still be administered by the dying patient, but they would be allowed to have family or friends with them at the time if they so wanted.

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But the major change is to the legal status of any person aiding someone else to commit suicide (which is not, itself, a crime, only abetting is). At present, if someone (other than a medic) has helped, and on compassionate grounds, they are unlikely to be prosecuted, but they would be interviewed and liable to be charged.

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During the debate, the House, inevitably, was divided - not by votes but by members’ views on the Bill. Those divisions were not by party or by background. Whilst the former Archbishop of Canterbury supported, serving Bishops opposed. Disabled members spoke on both sides, as did Conservatives, Labour and Cross-Benchers. Catholics – not represented in the Lords by their clergy – were more united in opposition, while eminent lawyers, former Lord Chancellors and medics were on both sides.

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It was clear that everyone agreed the House of Lords was the right forum for such a debate, as it brought together eminent lawyers, retired judges, ethicists, academics, doctors, nurses, social workers, disabled members, bishops, former Ministers, prosecutors, Lord Chancellors, police officers and, amongst those voices and beyond, personal experiences of a loved one dying. The House united in its serious consideration of the issues, but also demonstrated the value of an unelected House able to draw to the centre of national debate a breadth and depth of experience which elected MPs could never match. One Peer (Lord Ali) went as far as saying that it would be “a dereliction of duty” not to speak, though that might have been “the easy option”.

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There are, of course, questions about whether six months is the correct time, how sure doctors can be about diagnoses, whether there are sufficient safeguards to ensure any vulnerable patient is not encouraged to go for this option – all matters which will be aired in Committee.

major ten hour debate on helping those in their final months of life to have the correct medicine to take their own lives when the pain becomes unbearable took place in the House of Lords this July. It was memorable for the number of speakers - 130 - but also for the wisdom, passion and concern that every member brought to the proceedings.

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The Bill itself is in many ways clear and simple. When two doctors both sign that someone has less than six months to live, and is of good, sound mind with a settled determination to end their life themselves (after counselling of all the options), and that the person wants access to the appropriate medicine to self-administer, then a doctor may prescribe it. And, if and when the patient decides it is time to use it, provided still of sound mind and firm determination, then the doctor may return with the drug for the patient to take at that time.

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Shadow Cabinet Office Minister

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Clinicians and patients at the forefront of the NHS “The terrible failings of Lord Howe,

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Quality

Mid-Staffs taught us what happens when a culture of secrecy takes hold”

for treatment and can choose how they want to access services, according to what suits them. But they cannot do that without good information. Knowledge is power, and we are determined to make the NHS the most transparent healthcare system in the world, reflected in policies like the Friends and Family Test. That gives patients the chance to have their say about whether they would recommend the care they received in their local hospital to the people they care about. And that, in turn, helps identify poor performance and encourages staff to make changes. And more widely, across the NHS, organisations are now being held to account for the quality of the service they commission or provide.

bEat CanCER SoonER. 2 in 4 people survive cancer today. Help us make it 3 in 4. Cancer survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years. But there is still a lot to do. More than one in three people will get cancer in their lifetime. You can help us beat cancer sooner by:

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We have moved away from top-down controls - something that doctors and nurses told us got in the way of caring for their patients - and are replacing them with a culture of accountability, transparency and improvement.

We are proud of it for the values that it espouses, as a comprehensive health service that is, and will remain, free at the point of use for all our citizens. It is not perfect and the challenges it faces are immense - the rising health needs of an ageing population, and the increasing cost of drugs and more complex treatments mean that demand on the service is rising. To make sure the NHS is there to care for future generations, it needs to adapt to meet those challenges.

The terrible failings of Mid-Staffs taught us what happens when a culture of secrecy takes hold. We responded to the Francis report, introducing new inspections and a duty of candour for Trusts, driving hospitals to raise their game, recruiting extra nurses and addressing how they handle patient complaints.

• Ensuring all people with cancer can access the best surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy

We brought in a tougher, expert-led inspection regime so the NHS is more open and upfront about mistakes and on the record about the steps it is taking to improve patient care. Meanwhile, Healthwatch has been established as the independent national and local voice for patients and the public, with a direct influence on how services are configured.

• Continuing to support the UK’s world-leading cancer research infrastructure

he NHS remains the single institution that makes us most proud to be British, more than the royal family or the armed forces.

One year on from the reforms there has been impressive progress. Today, instead of top-heavy layers of administration, doctors and nurses are designing pathways of care that are right for their patients. Those are the people who understand the services that local communities really need and how best they can be delivered. The reforms have stripped out £1.5 billion annually from the cost of NHS administration and re-directed this money to the frontline, where it benefits patients most. There are now 15,500 more clinical staff working in the NHS than in 2010 and 19,600 fewer administrative staff and managers. The benefits for patients are clear. Waiting times are low and stable and we have the lowest ever levels of hospital infections. This winter, the NHS met the A&E standard for the quarter and the year. That is what matters most to patients - getting the best quality care. Today, patients have a choice about where they go

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It has been a busy year but there is still a great deal more to do and I am determined not to let up. Our clear focus is what is best for patients; whether this is care provided by the local NHS hospital, or a private provider, such as the Horder Centre delivering excellent orthopaedic and physiotherapy to patients from their sites across the southeast; or a charity, like Marie Curie Cancer Care, providing superb palliative care for cancer sufferers. Some would roll back patient choice but this attitude betrays a lack of trust in the people who use the NHS, the people whom the NHS is for. The reforms have put power where it should be: in the hands of clinicians and patients. Patients today are seeing that drive up standards; patients tomorrow will enjoy world class care from our NHS, true to the values on which it was founded.


• Renewing efforts to promote the earlier diagnosis of cancer

We receive no Government funding for our research.

• Setting an aspiration for a tobacco-free society

Do you want to know about:

• Cancer Research UK in your community?

Contact us: [email protected] @CR_UK 020 3469 8524 cruk.org scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org cruk.org/localstats

• Our policy and parliamentary work?

Registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666) and the Isle of Man (1103).

• Our ambitious new vision for accelerating progress? • Local and national cancer statistics?

Photo: shutterstock.com

CORRIDORS:

The NHS is approaching a fork in the road Andy Burnham, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and MP for Leigh

“The Opposition is leading the wider debate about the future of health and care”

such as knee, hip and cataract operations - leaving thousands of older people struggling to cope. Thirdly, we warned that rhetoric about putting GPs in charge was a smokescreen and the Act was a Trojan horse for competition and privatisation. Last year, for the first time ever, the Competition Commission intervened in the NHS to block collaboration between two hospitals looking to improve services. Competition lawyers, not GPs, are now the real decision-makers. The truth is that this competition regime is a barrier to the service changes that the NHS needs to meet the financial challenge. If we are to relieve the intense pressure on A&E, and rise to the financial challenge, it is precisely that kind of collaboration that the NHS needs.

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he NHS in 2014 is demoralised, degraded and confused. As the dust settles on the biggest-ever reorganisation, the damage it has done is becoming clear. The last two years have been two lost years of drift when the NHS needed clarity. During the battle over the Government’s proposed reorganisation, there were claims and counterclaims about what it would all mean. But two years later, it is clear that the NHS has never been in a more dangerous position - and the evidence for this is the relentless pressure on A&E. The specific warnings Labour made ahead of the reorganisation have come to pass. Firstly, we said it would lead to a loss of focus on finance and a waste of NHS resources. An outrageous £3 billion and counting has been siphoned out of the front-line to pay for back-office restructuring £1.4 billion of it on redundancies alone.

The NHS has been laid low by the debilitating effects of reorganisation, has been distracted from front-line challenges and is now unable to make the changes it needs to make. It is a service on the wrong path, a fast-track to fragmentation and marketisation. The evidence of all that can been seen in the sustained pressure on A&E – the barometer of the NHS. Hospital A&Es have now missed the Government’s own A&E target for the last 43 weeks running. That is unprecedented in living NHS memory – the pressure is not abating. The reorganisation contributed very directly to the A&E crisis. Three years ago, the College of Emergency Medicine were warning about a growing recruitment crisis in A&E but felt like “John the Baptist crying in the wilderness” as Ministers were obsessing on their structural reform.

“I have huge respect for our doctors and nurses…” David Cameron That’s wonderful Prime Minister, but what about all the other NHS staff? More than 1.3 million people work in the NHS and a significant majority of them are not doctors or nurses.

As we approach the end of this Parliament, the Opposition is leading the wider debate about the future of health and care. By endorsing full integration of the NHS and social care, Labour has opened up an enticing possibility: a single service for the whole person, meeting all of their needs – physical, mental and social. With “whole person care”, we can start where people and their families want to be – in their own homes – and build out from there.

Lazy politicians and the media insult the other professionals who work across scores of roles delivering the best patient-centred care.

Secondly, Labour warned that the reorganisation would result in a postcode lottery. A recent poll of GPs found that seven out of ten believe that rationing of care has increased since the reorganisation.

The NHS is approaching a fork in the road. It either continues to embrace marketisation and fragmentation, with all the threats that entails, or it goes in the opposite direction and becomes more collaborative and integrated, so it can meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Health Care Professionals

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has warned that patients are no longer receiving the drugs they are entitled to and has even taken the unusual step of urging them to speak up. New arbitrary, cost-based restrictions have been introduced on essential treatments

The next election will decide which path it takes, and the decision will have irreversible consequences.

Just as we warned, four thousand people have been sacked and rehired. That is simply not justifiable when almost one in three NHS trusts in England are predicting an end-of-year deficit. David Cameron promised he would not cut the NHS but that is precisely what is happening across the country as trusts now struggle to balance the books.

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So, what phrase best describes the staff who TOGETHER deliver a worldleading service?

#healthcarepro The Society and College of Radiographers

www.sor.org

ADVERTORIAL

WINNERS AND LOSERS FROM HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION

Vision for the Careers Sector Workforce

Orthoptics is a little known speciality which helps countless people see better each year. Rowena McNamara and Anita McCallum from the British & Irish Orthoptic Society report, two years on, on the impact of the H&SC Act 2012. What is the British and Irish Orthoptic Society (BIOS)? BIOS is a professional body and (in the UK) a trade union, representing members at national and local levels. Orthoptics is one of the Allied Health Professions, and orthoptists are members of the eye care team (alongside others like ophthalmologists, optometrists, opticians and ophthalmic nurses). They work in the NHS managing a range of problems, mainly affecting the way the eyes move (such as squint and eye muscle palsies) and the eyes see (such as lazy eye and double vision). This might involve prescribing eye patching and eye exercises or referring for special spectacle lenses or for eye surgery. They use equipment to measure sight in premature babies and the size of the squint for the pre- operative surgery plan. Some orthoptists may also detect rare cancers of the eye and save lives as a result. Orthoptists are recognised as experts in assessing vision in children and adults with learning difficulties or stroke. They have a lead role in ensuring that the national vision screening of 4-5 year olds is carried out effectively. They work in hospitals community clinics and schools across age ranges – including babies who need visual assessment to the elderly with macular degeneration. They can transform lives and prevent bed blocking in hospitals: “I was admitted to hospital with double vision and dizziness. I had prisms fitted to my glasses which enabled me to go home instead of staying another day in hospital.” What has been the impact of the Health and Social Care Act 2012? Aside from the larger number of organisations and people to navigate round, the BIOS has found that health professionals who are greater in number, better organised and funded and, unsurprisingly, usually from the private

The CDI has set out our commitment and enthusiasm for all age provision for those who need it. We are recognised as a powerhouse for innovation and professional excellence. Our vision is to develop a workforce that operates effectively in partnership, in a variety of settings and always working collaboratively to support our clients in a way that meets their and the economy’s needs.

sector, have begun to dominate eye health care planning. Emerging Local Eye Health Networks (LEHN) providing advice to GPs who are commissioning health services for their local populations, are in the main, chaired by Optometrists. They may be running the very groups, supposedly independent, which are giving advice which directly benefit them through the contracts awarded. A conflict of interest question is raised here. What’s wrong with this approach? Now, many high volume, routine health procedures have benefited from this private provider approach; for example, hip and knee surgery, where the area is clearly scoped out and uncomplicated cases seen. In eye health, there are a range of conditions varying in complexity – some can be seen in the community and but others need close supervision and regular treatment for several years under hospital care. Aside from questions of conflict of interest, there are also practical issues of lack of connectivity with hospital-based, high street optometrist and GP-based information. And we may end up just losing services as someone who runs high street optometry services may not understand the breadth of interventions currently available in secondary settings. What’s the solution? A more inclusive approach is encouraged with private and public sector eye health practitioners all involved with planning of services in primary and secondary care settings. Without this and everyone given share of voice, patients could end up losing services and private health care providers could dominate the marketplace to the detriment of those wanting independent advice and treatment appropriate for their condition.

www.orthoptics.org.uk

Our actions to achieve the vision centres on two key elements: • A Career Development Sector Progression Pathway Karen O’Donoghue CDI President and Chief Executive of the Via Partnership Launched in April 2013, the Career Development Institute (CDI) is the successful, new UK-wide professional body for the career development sector. Our members are careers teachers, careers advisers and coaches and career managers working in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Strong, effective career development services have the power to raise individual aspiration, positively impact on social mobility by challenging stereotypes and provide a pool of talent – individuals who have considered their future, the skills they need and are motivated to work. Experience of work, exposure to employers and personalised guidance are some of the key ingredients to achieving social and economic prosperity.

• An effective and well regarded national (ie UK wide) Register of Career Development Professionals 1. CAREER DEVELOPMENT SECTOR PROGRESSION PATHWAY Our sector is a thriving and healthy mix of career development practitioners. Our members provide activities and services which help to motivate and empower individuals to make effective transitions in learning and work at all ages. Working with leading providers of accreditation and learning, we are building a clear and transparent Progression Pathway for the sector that identifies not only relevant qualifications but also describes the competences and behaviours that are expected, spanning levels of operation throughout the sector, from trainee to registered practitioner to management.

We believe that such a pathway is one of the hallmarks of a profession, bringing clarity for the practitioner, assured opportunities for development and the ability to work towards recognised standards. 2. THE NATIONAL REGISTER FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONALS Our work in establishing and promoting a public register will be the driving force in professionalising the sector. Our aim here is to achieve a broad based Register that celebrates and kite marks a clear standard for differentiated practice at Level 6 (graduate) and above. Our actions in broadening the range of qualifications that give entry to the Register will ensure a unifying framework for practice and offer transparency and open access for the market place. This will identify the standard to look for help to determine where specialist expertise is essential and where flexible skill sets can be deployed. Our overarching goal is to quality assure the professional practice of our sector in a meaningful way - differentiating only on methodology not on standards. We see these two main strands delivering our aim. The Career Progression Pathway will be completed and promoted through our website www.thecdi.net early in 2015. The National Register of Career Development Professionals can be accessed through our website and will also be available as an on-line directory later this year.

CORRIDORS:

Tackling the sustainability challenge in eye health Lord Colin Low, a Crossbench Peer

“Eye care services are extremely complex”

Take a trip through Eye Society … and help reduce avoidable sight loss Visit RNIB at the party conferences and immerse yourself in “Eye Society”. Our exhibition stand highlights the challenges faced by patients who are told they are losing their sight.

Action” notes, partial sight and blindness currently cost the nation in the region of £22 billion a year. That is accounted for in terms of direct health care costs (including the cost of falls due to poor sight), indirect costs (such as lost productivity) and the burden of illness. With half of all sight loss being avoidable through early detection, diagnosis and treatment, the case for spending more to save sight is a powerful one.

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n June 2014, NHS England published a Call to Action aimed at improving eye health and reducing sight loss. That is a welcome recognition of the importance of eye health and the major challenges the NHS faces in delivering comprehensive and cost effective services. The challenges are well known, and principally take the form of increasing demand for services arising from a growing elderly population with deteriorating eye health, major health inequalities with a strong link between social exclusion and preventable sight loss, and a highly constrained financial outlook. The specific objective of the “Call to Action” is to explore how primary care services can promote prevention and early detection. It seeks to stimulate debate on how a more preventative approach, early accurate detection by primary care services and effective management in the community could tackle health inequalities, improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary hospital appointments. It is, of course, extremely important to explore ways of doing “more for less”. We must look carefully at how eye care services can be reconfigured and, where it makes sense, moved out into the community. However, it is unrealistic to suggest that finding new ways of working will enable the NHS to meet rising demand now and in the future. Missing from the “Call to Action” is a recognition of the impact of new treatments for macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Assessed as cost effective by NICE, those have become available in the last five or so years and are saving the sight of tens of thousands of people who would previously have gone blind. They are, however, creating major pressures on eye care budgets and it is unrealistic to expect that these can be met without additional funding. The case for finding the money is very strong. As the “Call to

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Service reconfiguration and additional investment are two vital elements in tackling the “sustainability challenge” facing eye health. The third is national leadership. Eye care services are extremely complex, straddling primary, secondary, community and social care and involving a mix of NHS and private providers. Also, commissioning is split across NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities, which further complicates matters. Without clear leadership, there is a very real danger of fragmentation and unacceptable variation in service quality across the country. One element of the national leadership can be provided by the recently formed Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning. That brings together the main professional bodies and patient groups with the objective of providing sound advice to NHS England on commissioning issues. However, in addition there is a clear need for a National Clinical Director (NCD) working inside NHS England. There are over 20 NCD’s in post and they play a key role in driving transformation, promoting a balanced approach to service improvement and working to “maximise coherent system change”. That is particularly important in eye health where divergent interests have, at times, resulted in an inconsistent approach to service improvement. In a recent response to a Parliamentary question, Earl Howe made clear that decisions about NCD appointment would be made by NHS England “guided by the objectives set for it in the Mandate and a desire to provide clinical leadership across a broad range of fronts, focusing more on people and patient pathways rather than individual conditions.” It is hard to think of an area within the NHS that better fits that focus on people and patient pathways than eye health. Without a strong clear voice inside NHS England and without the Department of Health speaking up for eye health, patients will continue to lose out. We will continue to see unacceptable variation in the quality and accessibility of services across England. Service reconfiguration and additional investment will help, but if the “sustainability challenge” is to be effectively addressed the sector must have a National Clinical Director.


Almost two million people in the UK are living with sight loss and this figure is predicted to double by 2050. Over the last decade, many new treatments have been developed, saving the sight of thousands of people who would previously have gone blind. This is enormously welcome and a great step forward. However, these advances, coupled with an ageing population, are placing huge strains on eye departments and causing delays to patient care. Action is urgently needed to ensure patients can access the timely diagnosis and treatment which could save their sight. Some eye clinics have Eye Clinic Liaison Officers (ECLOs) providing vital post diagnosis support which also frees up clinicians’ time to focus on treating patients. But far too many eye clinics don’t have an ECLO. Visit us in the conference exhibition hall and take a trip through “Eye Society” and find out how you can support our new campaign to increase the number of ECLOs available to help people losing their sight. Alternatively, please contact us at [email protected] for further details. Registered charity numbers 226227, SC039316, 1109

Designed as an old fashioned automaton, our three-tiered stand is packed with working models that bring to life the patient journey from diagnosis to treatment.

CORRIDORS:

CORRIDORS:

Lessons learnt from the UK floods

Government must address the burning issue of biomass fuel

Maria Eagle, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and MP for Garston and Halewood

“What I saw from the Government was utter incompetence”

John Dye, President of the Timber Packaging & Pallet Confederation (TIMCON)

dramatically altered that picture; they mean artificially inflated demand for biomass will far outstrip supply and there are reports that virgin timber is already being purchased by these new power generators for burning.

But just as the winter floods exposed the Government’s inability to respond to a serious crisis, it also revealed something deeply worrying: a clear admission from the Tories that they just do not get the increasing threat of climate change.

There are two unwelcome effects of that activity. Firstly, the carbon in the wood is released immediately back into the atmosphere, when it could have been stored in products for years. Secondly, it distorts the market with simulated demand - this reduces availability, inflates prices and renders British manufacturers less competitive. That, in turn, opens the door to alternative materials, particularly plastics, which, once again, from an environmental perspective are clearly a far less attractive option.

I am clear that climate change is a serious threat to our national security. The destruction we saw this year and the misery it brought to thousands across the country can only serve as a reminder of that. The until recently Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, was a climate change denier who could not even be bothered to be briefed by the chief scientist at the Met Office or even his own departmental science adviser.

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his winter, the UK saw an exceptional period of storms, culminating in serious coastal damage and widespread, persistent flooding.

Over the months that followed, I met many individuals in Somerset and across the south-west who saw their homes and businesses ruined by floodwater. The emergency services and the staff at the Environment Agency deserve our praise, but what I saw from the Government was utter incompetence. The Government’s response to the winter floods was slow and chaotic, and despite all the meetings of Cobra - the Government’s emergency committee - it was far from clear what all the talking had achieved for all those still facing flooded homes and farmland. It is inexcusable that it took so long to get the pumps, boats and sandbags to communities which desperately needed help. Yet, despite David Cameron’s promise this February to spend whatever was needed to help get communities back on their feet, the reality for farmers, fisherman and businesses is that this money is not actually being delivered. When Parliament broke for this summer’s recess, the Prime Minister had paid out just £403,000 to Somerset farmers from the original £10 million pledged, and only £2,320 had been paid out to just one fisherman in the south-west. Clearly, the Prime Minister has gone from “money’s no object” to “out of sight, out of mind”.

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It was his job to protect us from the floods and future floods but, instead, he chose to ignore the science and we are now paying the price.

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We simply cannot continue to make policy based on the view that extreme weather events come around every hundred years or so. The Met Office, the Committee on Climate Change and the overwhelming majority of scientific evidence all tell us that extreme weather events are increasing in intensity as well as frequency.

The industry is a significant employer. It sustains approximately 8,000 British jobs directly, and a further 30,000 indirectly. It also benefits the environment because wood takes carbon from the atmosphere as it grows, storing it in the products we manufacture.

It is the failure to get to grips with the increasing threat of climate change and the Government’s short-term approach to flood defence funding that will lead to a significant increase in the number of households at risk of flooding. The Labour Party is clear that we will have to re-prioritise longterm preventative spending in flood risk management, including investment in the maintenance of flood defences, which is every bit as important as building new schemes. That is why Ed Miliband announced that the next Labour Government will establish an independent National Infrastructure Commission to identify the UK’s long-term infrastructure needs, including flood defences, and hold Government to account for meeting them. I hope that Liz Truss, the new Secretary of State, will end this Government’s prejudice-based policy-making and put flood protection back as a core Defra priority.


“Our main concern is Government subsidies for biomass fuel”

he timber pallets and packaging sector is one of the cornerstones of the UK economy. Almost all traded goods are protected and moved by those wellestablished products, manufactured from a natural, sustainable, environmentally friendly material.

Since the last Conference season 12 months ago, we have been pleased to see the early encouraging signs of what appears to be a sustained economic recovery as well as a growth in sales of a wide range of goods. An increase in demand for timber packaging and pallets - the essential items needed to move those products - has naturally followed as a result. That progress has boosted the packaging and pallets business, but also created a challenge for our industry, as the upswing in demand for wood for the construction sector has put upwards pressure on prices. That has been compounded by the increased requirement for timber by fencing, caused by severe storms and flooding early in 2014. That, however, is just another one of the many obstacles we have always overcome, and which have so often demonstrated the resilience of our sector. Our main concern is Government subsidies for biomass fuel. They are an environmental and economic folly and are distorting the market. To be clear from the outset, British forest-based industries such as ours began by supporting biomass. The initial proposition was solely to use thinnings from trees or marginal harvesting. But the introduction of significant subsidies


The timber packaging and pallet industry has been working hard, together with colleagues in other UK wood industries including panels, fencing and construction, and the Confederation of Forest Industries (CONFOR) to communicate those issues urgently. And there are an increasing number of non-commercial voices also asking the Government to reevaluate its policy on biomass as a priority, including journalists, academics and environmentalists. In a recent interview, Radio 4’s Environmental Analyst Roger Harrabin said the Government’s decision to subsidise biomass was a “fundamental miscalculation”. Meanwhile, a group of prominent US scholars were so concerned they have taken the unprecedented step of writing to the Government here in the UK to ask for an end to subsidies. We were encouraged to hear the results of the Government’s analysis on biomass subsidies released this July, which confirmed that the current system is not working. It found that without rules to ensure good practice, subsidies are increasingly likely to encourage the burning of virgin timber. They will continue to harm the economy and the environment. Further to that, they are a shocking waste of tax payers’ money in a time of austerity. The timber pallets and packaging industry is a great British success story; a resilient sector that keeps trade flowing smoothly. In just a few years, and as the result of significant investment in UK sawmilling and new plantings in the sustainable forests from which we source our raw material, we have seen the use of home-grown British timber in pallets increase from 35 per cent to around 90 per cent. We want it to remain a success so we are very pleased that politicians are starting to understand and engage with our industry on the vital issue of biomass fuels. We are looking forward to working with them in the year ahead to make further progress for the benefit of the environment and British business.


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CORRIDORS:

Time to understand the importance of lobbying

Are Parish Councils a thing of the past? Heather Wheeler, a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee and MP for South Derbyshire

Francis Ingham, Director General of the Public Relations Consultants Association

“It is a vital part of our democracy”

Newhall is a largely residential ex-mining town that is in need of some regeneration as it has a few derelict buildings and some closed shops. With the help of its residents, things are about to change.

The committee stated that they were “not aware of a case relating to a sitting MP which has involved such a sustained and pervasive breach of the house’s rules on registration, declaration and paid advocacy”. That was in line with how Kathryn Hudson, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, said that Mercer had inflicted significant reputational damage on the house and its members.

Newhall has a proud community who formed the Friends of Newhall Park and which is chaired by the very proactive Barry Woods. Over the last 18 months or so, Barry and the Friends of Newhall have approached various local firms and people to raise money and little by little they have begun the regeneration of their beloved town.

Obviously, that sorry story has been incredibly damaging for politics. But, neither that nor any of the other recent “lobbying” scandals have involved lobbyists, and the behaviour exhibited by these non-lobbyists (in many cases, journalists) is prohibited by the PRCA’s own Code of Conduct.

The Park now has picnic benches and, through the group’s hard work, achieved QEII status as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge to protect our outdoor spaces.

So, why did lobbyists get so much flack? The PRCA has been incredibly vocal in condemning parliamentary sleaze and has called for serious reforms. Indeed, our own Code of Conduct prevents members employing a sitting peer. That is not against the House of Lords’ own rules.

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At the time of writing this article, the Cabinet Office is struggling to find anyone to apply for the role of Lobbying Act Registrar. In the meantime, we continue to work with our members to deliver the PRCA Public Affairs Register and Code of Conduct that has provided full transparency for over a decade.

So, Conference season is upon us once again - a time when politicians and lobbyists mingle in the name of policy, conversation and partnership.

And the above is, of course, simply Part 1 of the Lobbying Act. Part 2, the controversial section attempting to regulate the campaigning activities of charities, is also a concern for our industry. This August, we wrote to the Electoral Commission calling for clarity on ten fundamental questions which remain unanswered about the impact that will have on PRs.

here would the world be without conference season? David Cameron might never have found the right moment to declare: “Let sunshine win the day”. Tony Blair’s brilliant “I’ve not got a reverse gear” might not have garnered as much coverage. And Iain Duncan Smith’s “quiet man” might not have been so loudly announced.

Conference is a key time for the members of the association I manage, the Public Relations Consultants Association - the leading industry body for the PR and Public Affairs industry. The absolute professionalism and shared goals that underpin those conversations during conference give very little indication of the hysteria we have seen around such relationships. This January, the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill made its final journey through Parliament. The PRCA has repeatedly condemned that omnishambles and spoken out about the mistakes in the Act. With its painfully narrow definition of lobbying, the planned statutory register will omit the 80 per cent of our industry represented by in-house professionals. How did we get here? Last summer, Patrick Mercer, MP for Newark, was the subject of a DailyTelegraph and BBC Panorama investigation. Mercer accepted £4,000 for asking questions in parliament by an undercover reporter with a hidden video camera. This April, Mercer announced he would resign his seat after the recommendation of the Standards committee that he should be suspended from the Commons for six months.

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Yes, the omnishambles is hydra-headed. It is extremely unlikely that the Government believes this Act – with its many troubling heads - is necessary. They merely felt they had to do something in the wake of problems like Mercer. The public affairs industry wants transparency - we currently abide by a greater level of transparency than the legislation in question will offer. The Act will not stand the test of time. Indeed, Labour has announced it would repeal the Act. We have some areas of agreement with Labour - in particular, they understand that the definition of lobbying is inadequate, the scope is too narrow and the information on the register leaves much to be desired. However, some of Labour’s language, once again, portrays lobbying as a somehow underhand, disruptive process. It is, in fact, a vital part of our democracy and needs to be properly understood. We will never relent in our mission to uphold the truth on the matter, prove our industry’s deep commitment to transparency and correct perceptions. Public trust in politicians can be rebuilt, but lobbyists are not the problem - nor is the Lobbying Act a solution.


“Newhall has morphed into a lively area”

P

arish Councils are an element of local Government that could well be facing extinction. But, are they still relevant and do they have a useful purpose? I, and the residents of South Derbyshire, believe it is the humble Parish Council which is the driving force of keeping our constituency the wonderful place that it is today. Most small villages and the fringes of towns have Parish Councils - a long standing arrangement passing on from generation to generation. However, not that many people know if they have a Parish Council, never mind the positive role that the Council and its Councillors play in our societies. Parish Councils are elected bodies - standing as the first tier of democracy - and are very locally focussed, area-centric bodies, which communicate mainly with the local District, City or County Council. Parish Councillors rarely contact MPs directly as the issues they tackle are solved at Local Authority level, but, of course, when it is necessary, they do so. Parish Councils have responsibilities which affect every single resident in their area. They are in charge of maintaining war memorials, particularly poignant in this centenary year of the First World War; they also have the ability to oversee the creation and ongoing maintenance of cemeteries, village halls and local recreational areas and grounds - some even have their own social housing to manage. South Derbyshire is a huge constituency consisting of over 30 Parish Councils. Our main town is Swadlincote, which has a growing urban fringe and where part of the surrounding area is the village of Newhall.


The group is also in the process of raising enough money to create an outdoor gym and play area together with searching for other local grants. Furthermore, the group is working on the relevant planning applications for other outdoor equipment, such as the creation of a skate park. From talking to Barry and the group, I learnt that although they have District and County Councillors, the residents want to represent themselves at a town level; to be in charge of their open spaces and protect their heritage, just as they have started to do with the park. That is when they approached me for help to create their own Parish Council in Newhall. As their local Member of Parliament, I have, of course, helped them on their way to do that. I was so delighted when I heard from them; as having once been a Councillor myself, I know how rewarding the role is and how exciting it is to represent the area that you live in. The people of Newhall want their voices heard, and the creation of a Parish Council is the perfect way for them to do this. They will be able to make their own vision of the area that they live in a reality as well as creating and using local groups, such as gardening clubs, to protect, preserve and enjoy their green spaces. Newhall Park Primary School will be able to help keep the War Memorials in the area in good condition whilst teaching the local children about our history and the local men and women who lost their lives serving their country. From an ex-mining town, undergoing the disruption of change, Newhall has morphed into a lively area with a bright future, all thanks to its hardworking residents. I think that is a prime example of how Parish Councils are still very much active and useful in our communities, and we should thank our Parish Councillors and their hard work to promote and ensure the longevity of the humble Parish Council.


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Laying a solid foundation for the housing market Brandon Lewis, Minister of State for Housing and Planning and MP for Great Yarmouth

Building for the present and the future

“This Government has made giant strides towards fixing the broken housing market”

accelerating the supply of new homes. It is no accident that since Help to Buy began, private housebuilding has shot up by a third. That is the sharpest annual increase for 40 years, and with housebuilders pledging to use this momentum to boost output, we can expect the positive news to continue. So, what next? In the year ahead we will continue to give the housing market a boost by helping people purchase new build homes, re-starting construction on stalled housing schemes and releasing surplus brownfield land for development. More homes will be built in every sector of the housing market. Our Affordable Housing Programme will deliver 170,000 new homes by 2015, and a further 165,000 by 2018, with many of the homes built with new “offsite construction” techniques, where high-quality new homes can be constructed in a day.

O

ur economy is growing faster than any country in the G7, and we are creating more jobs than the rest of Europe put together. However, when it comes to increasing housing supply, we lag behind our European neighbours. That is a not a new problem. Over the last 30 years, successive Governments have faced similar challenges. There is, however, a clear winner in the competition for the worst solution. That prize belongs to Labour. Housebuilding began to fall after 1997, and under Labour’s supposedly “strategic” planning system, the rate of housebuilding plummeted to its lowest peacetime level since the 1920s. Something had to be done. That is why we immediately dismantled the failed top-down planning system and channelled new investment into housebuilding. Since then, we have cut the deficit to keep interest rates low for homebuyers and introduced the Help to Buy scheme so that hard-working families can get on the housing ladder.

At the same time, we will support the delivery of new homes built specifically for private rent through the Build to Rent programme. Councils are already building new homes at the fastest rate for 23 years, and we will help them consolidate this success with £300 million of extra borrowing headroom through the Housing Revenue Account. Our new Right to Build will enable people who want to build their own home to ask their council for a suitable plot of land, and we are also funding 10,000 “serviced plots” where work on custom or self-built homes can quickly get underway. All of those measures will make a contribution to increasing the number of homes we build. But my main reason for optimism is the pipeline of new projects emerging from the reformed planning system. Last year, successful applications for major housing schemes were up 23 per cent, and planning permissions were granted for 216,000 new homes.

The good news is that our approach has worked. At the time of writing, our record stands at over 445,000 homes built since July 2010, including 200,000 affordable homes, with housebuilding at its highest level since 2007.

Those positive signs for future growth rest on the foundation of changing option towards new development. The latest British Social Attitudes Survey on housebuilding shows that since the introduction of our planning reforms, support for new homes has risen dramatically, from 28 per cent in 2010 to 47 per cent in 2013, while opposition to new homes over the same period has fallen from 46 per cent to 31 per cent.

The prospects for further progress are also bright. The construction sector has been growing for the past 14 months, and is hiring new workers at the fastest rate since records began 17 years ago.

This Government has made giant strides towards fixing the broken housing market we inherited in 2010. But I am under no illusion - increasing housing supply will remain a long-term challenge.

After months of doom mongering, the critics of Help to Buy have largely gone silent, for the simple reason that the scheme is fulfilling exactly what it was designed to achieve: providing assistance to hard-working families while expanding and

That is why it is a vital part of our long-term economic plan. It is now my job to maintain the pace of progress and give communities the support they need to build the homes they want.

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Alison Thain, Chief Executive Officer of Thirteen Group, discusses with Marcus Papadopoulos the role that her housing organisation is playing in the North-East of England Q What is the role of Thirteen Group? Thirteen Group is a housing organisation based in the North-East of England with the purpose of driving out further efficiencies and finding better ways of working by sharing expertise and resources for the benefit of the communities and tenants where we work. The group is made up of the parent company, as well as four landlords and developers and a specialist care and support arm. Q Why has the group been named “Thirteen”? We chose the name “Thirteen Group” because we want to challenge preconceptions and the word “thirteen” is a perfect example of that; it is only a word but people attach negative connotations to it. So, by never prejudicing, the aim of Thirteen Group is to help people think differently about their lives and recognise the opportunities available to them. Q Can you describe the set aims of Thirteen? Firstly, we are a group of landlords and take our responsibilities to our tenants very seriously. We have over 32,000 homes with more than one in ten of the local population living in our properties. So, being a good landlord is our number one priority. Secondly, as a social enterprise, we want to ensure that the profits we can generate are used to support the social aims of the communities we serve, focussing on the environments where our tenants live and the social wellbeing of our tenants. Q What do politicians at Westminster need to understand about the housing sector today in Britain? The bottom line is that there is a housing crisis in the UK based on a shortage. Experts in the housing sector believe that the government should be building a minimum of around 240,000 new homes a year; however only half of this figure is actually being met. That is bad for social mobility as young people are unable to get onto the housing ladder and, of course, this puts pressure on the rented sector. So, new homes need to be built but homes that people want and can afford. Q How do decisions taken at Westminster affect the North-East housing sector? There is a big question as to how we define housing markets because, having said that there is a crisis in the housing sector, it actually plays out very differently in different parts of the UK. In London and the South-East, there is a different kind of pressure on housing markets - namely that there is a desperate need for more homes in order to support the growing economies there. However, the government cannot allow London and the South-East to overheat and this therefore requires having a stronger emphasis on the regions. Lord Heseltine was very clear on that in his report when he said there have to be strong regions and strong housing markets to support the economic ambitions of local areas. In housing terms, the UK is a complicated picture because it follows economies. Given that there is such a strong economy in London and the South-East, this fact tends to dominate the policies and thinking of central government when there actually needs to be more creative thinking about what impact certain policies could have on the other major cities in the country. The Bank of England, for example, was concerned by the recent Help to Buy scheme because it feared it could lead to the overheating of the London and South-East housing market and, as a consequence, there was a discussion over whether the scheme should be scaled back. The Help to Buy scheme has benefited communities in the North-East tremendously and Thirteen Group would be very reluctant to see the scheme stopped because of a perception of overheating in London and the South-East. We need different policies for different regions and not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy. Q Why is it important for organisations like Thirteen Group to have a voice in the economic and political debate over housing? Housing associations are very well placed in their local areas to really understand the local picture. In light of how Thirteen Group is embedded in the North-East, we truly understand what the economic drivers are and can contribute a great deal to strategic debates. And, as a social enterprise, Thirteen Group re-invests its profits back into communities and neighbourhoods, thereby providing an extremely strong message and model. So, we are significant strategic players and can utilise our resources – over £1 billion worth of assets – to help support local initiatives such as jobs and training. Further to that, Thirteen Group is one of the top ten employers in the North-East in terms of the number of people we employ and the fact that we build around 500 new homes a year.



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Labour’s blueprint to get Britain building Emma Reynolds, Shadow Minister for Housing and MP for Wolverhampton North East

“We need a step-change in the scale of house building”

Tweetminster: how social media is changing the face of British politics Tom Brake Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and MP for Carshalton and Wallington

other cases it is due to speculative land banking. We have a house building industry that has become too reliant on volume house builders and lacks competition.

healthcare, policing and education. For politicians, social media provides an opportunity to engage with the electorate in ways which would have been impossible even a few years ago. Social media can make our politics more accessible, more egalitarian, more engaging and more inclusive. It is innovative and as politicians we must always look to encourage and reward innovation. Last year, during the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland, I hosted a Twitter Hunger Summit with major international development charities, and following this year’s Queen’s Speech, I filmed a 90 second YouTube video about its content to try and make politics more accessible.

If homeownership is to be a realistic aspiration for the next generation, and if rents are to be affordable, then we need a stepchange in the scale of house building. That is why Labour has made housing a priority for the next Labour Government. Both Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have made clear that building more homes is central to building a balanced recovery and fairer economy. We have also set out plans to release more land. We have been clear that we will keep the National Planning Policy Framework but will improve it by ensuring that local authorities which want to expand but do not have the land, can do so through a right to grow. Alongside that, Labour is determined to reform the land market. We will bring an end to land-banking by giving local authorities the power to say to developers who are sitting on land with planning permission to either ‘use it or lose it’.

H

ousing will be one of the key issues at next year’s General Election, and voters will be presented with a clear choice between the record of the Coalition Government and Labour’s plans to get Britain building. For more and more people, the dream of owning a home of their own is further out of reach than ever before. Increasing numbers of young people and families are finding themselves renting privately and for longer, in a sector that provides little security and, all too often, accommodation that is sub-standard. If you are waiting in the queue for a social home, then there are 1.6 million families ahead of you. There is a simple cause for the current situation: we have not been building enough houses. That problem did not begin with the current government. But, under David Cameron, it is becoming far worse. Housebuilding in the past four years is lower than at any time in peacetime since the 1920s. We are not even building half the number of homes we need. The failure to build also has much wider economic costs. The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has said that the housing market is the single biggest threat to economic recovery. That is why Labour has committed to getting 200,000 homes built a year by 2020 and our housing commission, chaired by Sir Michael Lyons, has spent the past year drawing up a roadmap for how we can deliver on this commitment in government. We are determined to tackle the root causes of the crisis. We do not release enough land to build homes on. In some cases, that is because it is constrained by the planning system, while in

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We have also set out plans to reform and increase competitiveness in the housebuilding industry. Earlier this year, Chris Leslie, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary, and I announced the details of Labour’s “Help to Build” policy specifically designed to help SME builders. In the Federation of Master Builders’ 2013 House Builder Survey, 60 per cent of members cited access to finance as a major barrier to their ability to increase their output of new homes. So, the next Labour Government will provide government guarantees for banks lending to SME construction firms in a similar way to how the current “Help to Buy” scheme underwrites mortgages. By themselves, those steps will not be enough. Given the severity of the shortage, we will also need some big scale solutions. That is why the next Labour government will forge ahead with the next generation of New Towns and Garden Cities. Further to that, under a Labour Government, three-year tenancies will become the default, with predictable rents to stop excessive rent increases. We will also ban letting fees on tenants, ending a situation where some tenants have to pay as much as £500 in unfair fees. Under this government, home ownership is at its lowest point since 1987. If we carry on as we are, it will fall even further. The only way to ensure more people can buy their own home is to build more of them. At the next election, Labour will have a fully worked out plan to achieve that.


“I also recently launched a new initiative: AskTom”

A

few years ago, my staff kept telling me that social media was the best way to be accessible and to reach out to people who MPs find it hard to engage with. After all, according to a McKinsey and Company report which came out last year, the average Briton spends 60 minutes on social networking sites every day, equating to 21 per cent of daily internet usage. Optimise Blog, a technology blogging website, suggests that that 53 per cent of the UK population, around 31 million people, are on Facebook, and Tony Wang, current Vice-President of Twitter, tweeted last September that there were 15 million active members of the microblogging site in the UK. Britain, it seems, is becoming more connected. Politics has changed a lot since I was first elected by the people of Carshalton and Wallington in 1997. During the televised debate for the 2010 General Election, 154,342 tweets appeared from 33,095 different people and, according to social media monitoring service Yatterbox, a combined total of nearly one million tweets were sent out by me and fellow MPs in 2013. Yet, I was always sceptical about its electoral benefit. However, during the local elections this May, hundreds of volunteers signed up to help via social media and hundreds more told me whether they would back my party locally. From personal experience, the more I use social media, the more I can see its effect. That is why, if politicians are to represent modern Britain, we must take the step into the online world and engage with social media. My residents’ e-survey has allowed me to target the issues which really matter to my constituents such as


It is often mused that young people are not interested in politics but this is fundamentally wrong. Demos, a think tank, found that 84 per cent of 16-17 year olds intend to become voters. According to Simon Milner, a Policy Director at Facebook, “the Facebook population is more politically engaged than the rest of the population and are 43 per cent more likely to vote and, crucially, 57 per cent more likely to persuade a friend or co-worker to vote.” Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ make it easier for our constituents to contact us and have the potential to attract the young and disengaged voter. A recent study, conducted by Ipsos Mori, a leading market research company in the UK, suggests that 68 per cent of Twitter users are under the age of 35. Likewise, the largest demographic on Facebook is 25-34 years old. That provides an opportunity for politicians to engage with their constituents on a platform which their constituents feel comfortable with. Social media has, without a doubt, made me a better MP. As a Member of Parliament, it is my duty to reach out to constituents in ways that they use themselves to communicate. Social media provides the perfect tool. That is why I have been holding regular surgeries on Facebook chat, Twitter and Google+ for several years - the first MP to do so. I also recently launched a new initiative: AskTom. I asked my constituents if they have any questions which they want to ask me and, if they do, to submit them through my website. The response was overwhelming. Hundreds of constituents got in touch to ask me questions ranging from foreign affairs and the environment to education. With public opinion of politicians at an all-time low, Westminster must evolve and show it can communicate on equal terms with increasingly e-connected citizens. If politicians fail to do that, then we run the risk of becoming irrelevant.


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Delivering the correct public pension sector scheme Kris Hopkins, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and MP for Keighley

“Our proposals were the culmination of a comprehensive examination”

Renewable generation makes up around 15% of the UK’s electricity supply. Over half of this comes from a combination of wind, wave and tidal power. These sectors currently support over 34,000 jobs and have the potential to create 70,000 more jobs over the next decade. Affordable

evidence and considered a wide range of options. We also relied on sector partners including local councillors and union representatives for additional analysis and advice. That innovative approach was part of the Government’s open policy making which encourages commissioning advice from outside Whitehall using the Contestable Policy Fund. Independent pensions experts Hymans Robertson produced an insightful cost benefit analysis of LGPS funds and investment vehicles. That work contributed significantly to the development of our proposals. The evidence all pointed in the same direction – fund mergers take longer to implement and deliver lower savings and reduced investment flexibility. So, we decided to focus on common investment vehicles which deliver similar scale benefits but without the same level of associated costs.

T

he sustainability and affordability of public sector pensions is crucial for the long-term health of our public finances.

When this Government came into power, our assessment was that the cost of public service pensions had become unsustainable, and with more retiring baby boomers than public sector workers paying into pension pots, it was clear that the figures did not add up to offer the best value for money to the taxpayer. The Government appointed Lord Hutton to review the rising costs of public servant pensions, and he recommended a comprehensive and long-term structural reform of public service pension schemes. The Local Government Pension Scheme was no exception. By 2010, the employer costs of the scheme had almost quadrupled in England alone and stood at an astonishing £5.7 billion. We were clear we had to act. The Local Government Pension Scheme was the first public service pension scheme to be reformed following Lord Hutton’s analysis. And a new programme with benefits based on career average earnings, rather than final salary, was successfully introduced in April this year. There is still more to be done to make the local government scheme more efficient. As a scheme that has £180 billion of investment assets, it is vital we strike the right balance between keeping investment fees down and maintaining strong investment performance. This May, we reached a significant point in that agenda when we published a consultation setting out how the scheme could save up to £660 million a year by the 89 pension funds working more closely together and investing more wisely. Our proposals were the culmination of a comprehensive examination of the way the scheme was structured. We looked at all available

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Common investment vehicles offer a more efficient approach to investment by pooling assets and allowing funds to deal with investment managers collectively, therefore reducing fees. For alternative investments like infrastructure and private equity, the evidence shows that savings of up to £240 million a year can be made if just one common investment vehicle is used instead of the existing arrangements. The analysis also indicated that managing listed assets such as bonds and equities through something called passive investment management. Passive management is inherently much cheaper as it mirrors a market and aims to deliver a return comparable with that market’s overall performance. That will cut fees by £230 million a year, with a further £190 million saved every year from reduced transaction costs. Some fund managers may feel that a move to passive management means they miss out on potentially higher returns. However, Hymans Robertson’s assessment was clear that if existing bonds and equities had been invested in that way, there would have been no discernable loss in overall investment performance yet management fees would have been substantially lower.

Secure

2

%

47 100 %

Support for wind energy accounted for £18 or less than 2% of the average domestic energy bill in 2013

of UK energy demand was met by imports in 2013, up two-thirds since 2010. We import over 80% of the coal we burn

(DECC)

(DECC, DUKES 2014)

Clean

Popular

12 #1 million tonnes

CO2

avoided in 2013 by generating clean electricity from wind – overall C02 emissions from the power sector fell by 7.5% (DECC, DUKES 2014)

Investing in renewables

48% of voters rank renewables investment as the top priority for UK energy security, ahead of new nuclear (15%), energy efficiency (14%) and fracking (13%) (ComRes, July 2014)

At a time when the taxpayer burden and public finances remain at the forefront of our long- term economic plan, the rising cost of investment must be given proper consideration. While those proposals take another big step towards tackling the rising cost of the scheme that we inherited, we have one more area to address: the pension fund deficit that remains. That is why we have asked our sector partners to develop a shortlist of feasible options for managing that pension gap in the most efficient way. Yes, the Local Government Pension Scheme has already experienced considerable change, but this Government has a clear plan to restore the health of the economy and our public finances. There is more we must do in the year ahead to ensure the scheme is fair and affordable to taxpayers’ and public sector workers alike.


If you want to find out more about the energy source that provided enough power for 6.7 million homes last year, please contact [email protected] If you want to show your support for wind and other renewables please sign up at www.actionforrenewables.org

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Wind energy delivers totally clean, homegrown power

CORRIDORS:

Helping the poorest to stay warm and healthy Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and MP for Kingston and Surbiton

“Our fuel poverty strategy has also linked up with the NHS”

so much because you had several homes or a very big house. Indeed, under Labour’s definition, even the Queen supposedly could not afford her electricity and gas bill! Hills recommended two new measures for fuel poverty. Firstly, a “low income, high cost” measure, so we do not end up directing policy at helping wealthier people cut their bills. And secondly, a measure of the depth of fuel poverty – so future policy would be able to consider those who were most fuel poor, where their inability to afford to heat their homes might well be damaging their health or, indeed, their children’s education. After consulting on Hills’ proposals, we largely accepted his initial package and have since been developing our ideas to use his vastly improved analytical framework.

W

hen MPs of all parties voted for the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act in 2000, there was a real belief we would end fuel poverty in a generation.

Yet, in 2014, we are nowhere near ending fuel poverty. In fact, the progress has been lamentably slow. So, what has happened, and how has the Coalition addressed the issue? After a promising start for the first three years after the 2000 Act, progress was sharply reversed between 2004 and 2010. That was mainly because energy prices began a long period of steady rises after 2004. Indeed, between 2005 and 2010, we saw faster rises in energy prices than we have seen in this Parliament, which partly explains why fuel poverty rose when Ed Miliband was Energy Secretary but has actually fallen every year since 2010. Other reasons for the Coalition’s relative success include energy efficiency work since 2010 and our introduction of the Warm Home Discount, which targets financial help with energy bills on the nation’s two million poorest households. However, my predecessor, Chris Huhne, was rightly alarmed that fuel poverty had risen so much under Labour. He asked a leading expert, Professor John Hills, to analyse exactly what fuel poverty was and how we were measuring it, and advise on how we could dramatically improve our performance. Hills pulled no punches. He found that each year more people died of living in cold homes than are killed on the roads. He found that the way we were measuring fuel poverty was too simplistic: if you spent over 10 per cent of your income on energy bills, you were in fuel poverty - even if you were spending

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Now we are consulting on our draft Fuel Poverty Strategy – the first since 2001. Our proposals include tough new targets to get as many homes as we can to an energy efficiency ‘C rating’ by 2030. By learning from past mistakes, we have included Interim targets to ensure future Governments can be held to account for progress – so we have targets for an ‘E rating’ by 2020 and a ‘D rating’ by 2025 for as many homes as practically possible. That will not be easy - currently only 5 per cent of England’s 2.3 million fuel poor homes would currently meet a B and C standard. Yet, it is right to be ambitious because it is the energy bills of the poorest that should worry us the most. And raising energy efficiency in the homes of the fuel poor can dramatically cut electricity and gas bills. Today, a typical B and F or G rated home faces energy bills that can be more than £1,000 higher than a B and C rated home. Our fuel poverty strategy has also linked up with the NHS. If someone is ill because their home is cold and damp, we want doctors to be able to solve the problem once and for all by prescribing improvements to people’s properties rather than just medicine which treats the symptoms but not the causes. As fuel poverty is disproportionately in the privately rented sector, I have also published important new proposals to help tackle fuel poverty for tenants. I have proposed that from 2018, landlords will only be able to rent out properties meeting certain energy efficiency standards and that tenants have a right to request energy efficiency improvements from 2016. Above all, our new strategy seeks to link up tackling fuel poverty with tackling climate change. We will only seriously cut our carbon emissions if we stop the scandal of cold, leaking homes. And now, at last, we have the right measurements, the right strategy and an approach that reaches across Government, especially into health.


Richard Coackley CBE, UK Energy Development Director at URS, speaks to Marcus Papadopoulos about the energy challenges facing the UK Q Will current plans for energy supply in the UK meet future demand? The UK faces a combination of energy challenges due to the closure of older power stations, creating a decline in fossil-fuelled capacity, and delays to the development of new nuclear plants needed to meet baseline demand. In addition, the UK has ambitious, legally binding carbon reduction targets that necessitate a transformation in the way we generate and use energy. The world is also in a phase of improving economic prospects and market recovery typically brings increased demand for energy. Rising international demand for fuel will drive up prices. As a result, the UK must urgently tackle not only the supply of power but also its use. Improving energy efficiency, particularly among the largest industrial consumers of power, could substantially ease future capacity requirements. Resilience also needs to be improved, to cope with interruptions to supply or peaks in demand caused by increasingly extreme weather events. However, the biggest challenge is probably the need to plan for the long term while continuing to meet short-term demand. Q What should policymakers do to ensure the lights stay on? Energy security is one of the most pressing challenges facing Government. Delays to new nuclear plants will squeeze the UK’s supply margins before the end of 2020, which raises the prospect of insufficient capacity to meet demand. Government must make it commercially attractive for companies to bring new capacity on stream, without placing an unmanageable burden of cost on consumers. This requires a careful balancing of investment and incentives, given the wide range of technologies involved. The UK has already witnessed turmoil in the solar


industry, caused by chopped and changed policies. Industry needs greater predictability if it is to build the mix of energy supplies that will be valid not just this year, but in 20 years’ time. The Government’s success in attracting investment from China, Japan and France should be applauded. However, given that there is division even within particular political parties over shale gas, nuclear, wind power, solar power and carbon capture, it would seem wise to try to insulate energy policy from the swings of the electoral cycle. There is cross-party support for an independent body to oversee transport infrastructure, and arguably the same approach is even more acutely needed for energy. Q Which technologies hold most promise for the future? There is no single solution. Meeting the UK’s future needs will require a blend of different approaches including new nuclear, a variety of renewables, energy storage, shale gas and carbon storage. Heating accounts for half of the UK’s total energy demand and offers significant scope for decarbonisation, as well as reduced demand on gas and electricity grids, through improved insulation and small-scale generation. At the other end of the scale, new nuclear plants hold a lot of promise, not just in energy terms but economically. Energy supply is a global market and the UK can be a world leader in nuclear technology. Q Won’t the intermittent nature of renewables like solar and wind power exacerbate supply problems? There is a lot of variability in these supplies but some cycles do even out. In the UK, solar and wind generation peak in opposite seasons, for example.

The most promising long-term solution is to develop new ways to store excess energy for later use. Hydroelectric pump storage is by far the most widely deployed current technology, but other options such as battery storage, electrolytic hydrogen production or liquid fuel synthesis are under development. Q Does the UK possess the skills needed to tackle such a wide variety of challenges? There are areas of excellence across the UK, with Sellafield nuclear site a prime example. Here, experts from NMP, a URSled consortium with AMEC and AREVA, are supporting the development of one of the most highly skilled nuclear decommissioning workforces in the world. Energy is a global business and global companies bring valuable transferrable experience to the UK, helping the country compete in an international marketplace. For example, URS has provided environmental, planning, consulting, engineering or construction services for virtually every nuclear power plant operating in the United States, making it well positioned to bring that expertise to bear in the UK.

ADVERTORIAL In association with URS


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The need to develop a credible approach to immigration

How Labour should and must approach the 2015 general election

Dr Liam Fox,

David Blunkett,

MP for North Somerset

“We need to separate fact and fiction”

MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough and a former Home Secretary

propaganda has been effective and with two parties against us, rather than the usual single governmental party with two main opposition parties combating them, the message is harder still to get across.

of the total figure. That matters because it reveals that whatever the future holds for Britain’s relationship with the EU, we still have plenty of control over our borders, and it is up to us to decide who we can let in and who we would prefer not to.

But there is also the matter of how the Liberal Democrats will start to disengage from the Coalition itself, and therefore from the Conservative overlords who have led them by a ring in the nose, since May 2010. The question being, “when will the gloves be off?”

Australia has moved towards a points-based immigration system. Previously open to over a hundred different skills, the new system homes in on those areas of greatest importance to the country. Those include medical, mining, and engineering skills. Canada has a similar policy. In 1967, a points system was introduced to determine immigrant eligibility with preference given to educated French and English speakers of working age, while the Immigration Act of 1976 officially made Canada a destination for migrants from all countries.

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ike many western countries, the UK has adverse demographic trends, particularly the projected increase in the number of retired citizens in relation to the working population. Coupled with projected increases in life expectancy, the age dependency ratio (number of pensioners per 1,000 people of working age) will increase from 300 (which has been a stable average since the 1970s) to almost 500 in 2051. The amount of money required to meet future pension liabilities is frighteningly high, and there is no easy way of finding it. We therefore have a problem that will require a range of measures to combat it, including encouraging economically beneficial labour into the country. The alternative to a viable place in the global market is managed decline – not an option we should be willing to contemplate. However, before we can debate immigration effectively, we ought to deal with some of the myths surrounding the subject. One of the most common is that immigration is primarily a problem relating to the European Union. The figures reveal that that is at best a partial truth. From 2005 to 2010, the United Kingdom gained 525,000 immigrants from the EU – 304,000 from the EU member states that joined the union in 2004. Contrast that with the 1.2 million migrants from outside the EU who remain in Britain from the same period, and you will see that EU immigration actually makes up less than a third of Britain’s total immigration figure. Despite the furore, Eastern Europeans make up barely 18 per cent

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UK immigration policy needs to be similarly rebalanced so that those who come to our country are usefully economically active. There is neither the public appetite nor an economic case for allowing immigrants to come to the UK who will simply absorb our national wealth rather than helping to create it. In short, I believe that we need to have what we might call an ‘open and shut’ immigration policy. That is, an approach that is open to those who are economically active and have the skills our economy requires but closed to those who will become dependent on the state or who possess skills we do not require for our economic well-being. There is no reason why the UK should not adopt a strict points system, along the Australian model to deal with the two thirds of our immigration which comes from outside the EU. It has the merits of clarity and transparency and, I believe, would be seen as fair and reasonable by the British people. But let us be very frank, if we are going to ensure that those with the necessary skills for the high end of our economy are more able to come to the UK, then the corollary will be that the numbers of those who come here as part of our social or cultural migration will need to be curtailed. We have more control over the majority of our immigration policy than most people believe. It is time to set out a credible narrative which will be equally understood by those who wish to come to this country as well as those already here. We will need to have policies which match economic need with social and cultural balance. We need to separate fact and fiction and we need, above all, to deal with the subject of immigration in a mature and reasonable way, refusing to cede it to the political margins.


“The prize is ours for the taking”

Because both Coalition ‘partners’ will at a particular moment in time have to present a fully-fledged alternative to the now defunct Coalition programme, and whilst each of these parties have been throwing up individual policies for ‘after the election’, we have to coin a phrase, ‘seen nothing yet’.

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he last party conference before any General Election (when they can be predicted) is always febrile and, often, extremely tense. We now have, of course, an unusual situation with a fixed-term Parliament and therefore a certainty of the date as well as the year. For the main parties, the policy process is in many ways easier. Because we, in the Labour Party, are a democratic party, and work both through the policy forum and conference itself, simply announcing policies out of the blue can only be achieved with some clever footwork and a great deal of behind-the-scenes persuasion. That means the key milestones (policy forum last July), this year’s conference in Manchester and, of course, the manifesto in the runup to the General Election, have to be choreographed very carefully to provide continuity and consistency but also to offer something fresh (or refreshed) to the electorate. The challenge has always been to join up policy. To achieve that, extremely good initiatives in their own right form part of a narrative which paints the bigger picture of what Labour is offering beyond 2015 and the kind of country we envisage in the years to come. This election is more difficult than most for a number of reasons. We have, of course, the aftermaths of the global meltdown and the way in which the Conservatives, aided and abetted by the Liberal Democrats, have rewritten history to try and pretend that it was the Labour Government which was responsible for the subprime mortgage collapse in the United States, for the fiasco of Lehmann Brothers and the meltdown of banks across Europe! Anyone with a brain knows that that is untrue but the


Preparing for that, as well as our own positive programme of hope for the future, is not just about tactics but about the way in which we deal with policy challenge. For those observing the way in which David Cameron and George Osborne have behaved, one can see easily that their often raison d’être is to put Labour on the defensive, to provide traps into which we might fall, and to use the power of government to paint us into a corner – not least in relation to further austerity measures and the future of the economy and public investment. All of that requires a sophisticated and politically mature approach. But that is easier said than done. Most of the press are vehemently against us and are determined to denigrate Ed Miliband and seek to divide the leadership even when people are going out of their way to be loyal and supportive. Anything that smacks of ‘thinking’ has, over recent months, been presented in that light. Given that there is no challenge to the leader (unique in recent times), it really is time for confidence. Each member of the Shadow Cabinet should be able to speak (of course, on message) but with the ability to build a profile by writing, broadcasting and speaking - saying ‘something’ which captures the imagination whilst not committing us to unaffordable wish lists. Joined-up thinking is all about ensuring that different policy initiatives tell a similar story on economic and social investment, on extending participative democracy and on the power of taking on vested interests. Not negatively in terms of resentment and envy, but, rather, unlocking talent, backing entrepreneurship and enterprise and speaking for the nation as a whole. If we speak as those whom we seek to win over speak, if we feel and think like those intelligent voters wise about the enormity of globalisation and the barriers to progress yet hopeful of change, they and we will be at one. The prize is ours for the taking.


First 101

CORRIDORS:

Keep bloodsports consigned to history...where they belong Chris Williamson, MP for Derby North

“Only a Labour Government will take positive action to address ethical issues”

Conservative government blocked Labour MP Kevin McNamara’s Wild Mammals Protection Bill. Five years later, Labour swept to a landslide victory in the General Election. At last it seemed we had a good chance of defeating the Tories’ refusal to budge. The Wild Mammals (Hunting with Dogs) Bill should have been passed, but the pro-bloodsports fraternity used every trick in the book to filibuster and frustrate the passage of the Bill. In 1999, then Home Secretary Jack Straw established an unnecessary and unjustified Government inquiry into hunting with dogs, chaired by Lord Burns. The committee was asked to examine, inter alia, the obvious: is hunting cruel? Meanwhile, the killing-fun-brigade carried on with impunity.

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t is nearly 40 years since I first joined the League Against Cruel Sports, and my passion for animal welfare has remained steadfast ever since.

I can vividly remember one of my first actions as a member of the League – it was to sign a one million-name petition calling for the abolition of hare coursing. Unfortunately, I also remember that the campaign was defeated. Not by argument or reason, and certainly not by any sense of natural justice. It was defeated because the parliamentary chicanery of the bloodsports fraternity blocked its path. And that is a frustration that myself and others who share my passion have felt repeatedly since then. For hare coursing in 1976, read fox hunting in 1992 and badger culling in 2013. Of course, there is a fundamental difference between the first two and the latter. Hare coursing and fox hunting are merciless killing for fun, while the latter has been undertaken courtesy of a dubious environmental ticket. Where they do have similarities is in their total lack of justification – a point backed in the case of badger culling by the overwhelming weight of scientific opinion which disputed the validity of the programme. Time and again, politics has got in the way of common sense, reason and what is fundamentally the right thing to do where animal welfare is concerned. For most of the period I have referred to, it has been the Conservative Party’s entrenched position on bloodsports that made it impossible to make serious headway. A ban on hare coursing and stag hunting was included in the Labour Party’s manifesto in 1979 – the same year that I joined the League Against Cruel Sports’ national executive. And with the Tories refusing to listen to reason, we focused on local authorities and successfully persuaded large numbers of councils to ban hunting with dogs on their land. But, the frustration continued nationally and, in 1992, the

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With the 2001 election success under our belts, we were determined to ensure the bloodsports fanatics would not frustrate civilising legislation yet again. In spite of overwhelming public support for the ban, the unelected House of Lords tried to prevent the legislation getting onto the statute book. However, the League and the Parliamentary Labour Party was in no mood to allow that tiny minority to use undemocratic tactics to hold sway once again. That resulted in the Commons invoking the Parliament Act to force the legislation through. With so many people struggling to make ends meet on low-paid part-time jobs, or without any security on zero hours contracts, it is easy to take our eye off the ball on issues like animal welfare. But time has shown us two things. Firstly, only a Labour Government will take positive action to address ethical issues like those I have detailed, even in the face of seemingly more important matters. And secondly, those of us who remain passionate in our disdain for cruel sports must remain vigilant. There has been sufficient evidence of hunt saboteurs being subjected to violence and intimidation in recent years to show that those who enjoy killing animals will not be easily dissuaded from setting aside their despicable pastime. Even today, we hear talk of many Conservative MPs favouring a repeal of the ban, for no reason more noble than a desire to retain favour with Tory voters in rural areas. There are not sufficient numbers in Parliament for that to happen now, and it is doubtful that will change any time soon as many firsttime Tory voters in 2010 have quickly realised that the Britain they see developing is very different to the one they were promised. But, so long as there is a pro-hunt lobby, we must remain as committed to our beliefs now as ever.


Snares: Cruel, indiscriminate, primitive – and legal. Despite overwhelming public opposition, the UK government and devolved administrations continue to expose animals to the torture of snaring. The time has come to ban these cruel and indiscriminate traps. OneKind animal charity is working for a ban on snares in all parts of the UK. Please support us by: • Ordering campaign postcards asking MPs to press for action in England. • Contacting OneKind for updates on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland • Reporting snare incidents on the dedicated SnareWatch website. If you agree that no animal should fall victim to the needless cruelty of snaring, please tell government NOW.

10 Queensferry Street Edinburgh EH2 4PG Tel: 0131 225 6039 email: [email protected] www.onekind.org Registered Charity No. SC041299

CRUEL: Any snare can leave a trapped animal thirsty, hungry, exposed and terrified. INDISCRIMINATE: Dogs, cats, badgers, deer and hares are regularly victims of snares. PRIMITIVE: Pathologists have repeatedly described the widespread suffering caused by these ancient traps, originally used in the Stone Age. For postcards (FREEPOST) and information, please contact [email protected] or call 0131 225 6039

www.snarewatch.org

No.1 in Europe

The University Business Incubator (UBI) Index has recently ranked SETsquared as the top university business incubator in Europe and second best globally.

No.2 Globally

Bournemouth University:

Bringing clarity to cyber security The Bournemouth University Cyber Security Unit (BUCSU) offers a unique approach to cyber security. Specialist consultancy and collaborative partnerships are underpinned by excellent research and we use this to enhance our education programmes. This fusion ensures our portfolio reflects the latest industry and research developments.

Research

Consultancy

BUCSU researchers work on cybercrime policing; homeland security; information assurance architecture; trust and risk management; security design; digital forensics; ethical hacking; human factors in security; cyber situational awareness and security engineering.

BUCSU works with a Regional Organised Crime Unit and one of the UK’s leading suppliers of integrated access control systems, among other organisations. Our consultancy services enhance and secure organisations through: developing working prototypes with built-in security; helping protect intellectual property, business processes and data; security testing; security awareness training.

Education Our newest programme is the MSc Cyber Security and Human Factors. Starting in January 2015, this industry based MSc, combines modular teaching and independent research. It has been designed to equip professionals with the skills and education required by most digitally enabled organisations.

www.bournemouth.ac.uk/bucsu

“

SETsquared is an outstanding business incubator that provides exceptional quality to its client companies and produces growth companies and high economic impact.” Dhruv Bhatli, Co-founder and Director of Research at UBI Index

www.setsquared.co.uk/ubi

@setsquared

I INDEX UB University Business Incubator of 2014

GLOBAL TOP 25

ADVERTORIAL

CORRIDORS:

Keeping Britain ahead in the global race Greg Clark, Minister for Universities and Science and MP for Tunbridge Wells

“The application rate for 18 year olds from disadvantaged areas is also at a record high”

Those are not just brilliant scientific endeavours in their own right – they are putting Britain centre stage, helping our businesses to expand and our cities grow. I will be attending conference in Birmingham this year with my new ministerial hat on, one that combines Universities, Science and Cities–and for me, the setting could not be more perfect. Birmingham, often referred to as the country’s second city, is a clear example of how the three portfolios intertwine. Our scientific institutions have incredible potential and in Birmingham, life sciences is a key asset that had potential to grow even further. That was something which was identified very early on by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership as part of their growth plan. Just one part of that plan is to support the £24 million Institute of Translational Medicine, funded through the City Deal. That is a joint project between the Queen Elizabeth hospital and the University of Birmingham, and will enable pharmaceutical firms to be co-located with scientists and academics and create over 2,000 life science jobs.

A

In addition, Greater Birmingham & Solihull’s growth deal, announced by the Prime Minister this July, will support a new Life Sciences Campus on the same site. s we gather in Birmingham for conference, thousands of new students are also travelling to the city for Freshers week.

Their stay at university promises to be an exciting time, full of opportunities. Universities are about ideas and providing students with the freedom to develop new research and techniques. And right here in Birmingham, that unique environment has allowed university scientists to make incredible advances. Researchers here have developed new ways to help children with autism learn to speak; they have made breakthroughs in the fight against hospital superbug MRSA; and they have made crucial progress in the treatment of leukaemia and other cancers.

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Those projects are good for the university, good for science and good for Birmingham - and also good for the UK’s life sciences industry which is one of the world leaders and key to our position in the global race. But that is not just about supporting our institutions – it is about supporting our young people, too. Because we can only truly succeed in the global race if we fully realise the potential that our country has to offer. Put simply, we are not going to be competitive as a country if those who have the intelligence and ability to go to university cannot go. I have recently talked about the “opportunity gap” that


Education has never been so exciting How can we ensure today’s students fulfil their potential? By harnessing innovative technology that enhances their learning experience, says Open University Vice-Chancellor Martin Bean.

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t The Open University our students are getting excited by an app. We call it OUAnywhere. Launched last year, it allows all our undergraduates instant access, via a mobile device, to everything they need for their studies. Described by one of its tens of thousands of users as ‘simple and brilliant’, OUAnywhere makes lugging textbooks and notebooks onto the bus or the plane a thing of the past. With your phone or your tablet in your hand, your entire course is at your fingertips, wherever you happen to be. We’re not the only ones who think it’s great – OUAnywhere won not one, but two prizes in this year’s Guardian University Awards, for Online Learning and for Student Experience. It took months of intensive development to get to the launch of the app – digitising all of our undergraduate materials, text and multimedia, and optimising them for mobile use. And we are still improving it, using analytics that capture student use and feedback to provide a better user experience. Why did we do it? Because we had noticed that more and more of our students were using The Open University’s online Virtual Learning Environment. If they were so keen to work online, why not make it even easier for them?

“Innovative technology is something that today’s students and prospective students, who have grown up in a digital world, expect”

Innovative technology is something that today’s students and prospective students, who have grown up in a digital world, expect. A survey by the NUS and HEFCE found that 78 per cent of students think ICT improves their learning experience, and that they want the latest technology to be a fundamental part of that experience, not just an add-on. This is something that we at The Open University understand very well. Since we launched, 45 years ago this month, innovation has been in our DNA. It’s not just something we talk about, it’s a value that we live.

Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University

That’s why we are leading the UK response to the growth of massive open online courses (MOOCs), bringing together some of the country’s leading universities and cultural organisations to create FutureLearn – the UK’s first at-scale provider of free courses capable of delivering quality educational experience to vast numbers of students around the world. But for all the technology and scale, what makes FutureLearn special, just like OUAnywhere, is the quality on offer. In the first post-course surveys, around 95 per cent of users said they will recommend FutureLearn to a friend. As with everything the OU does, FutureLearn’s key measure of success will be the quality of the overall student experience. In all forms of education – online, offline, traditional and technological – nothing matters more than the quality of teaching. This is why technology in itself is not some kind of magic bullet. You can’t turn a bad teacher into a good one simply by giving them an iPad. But innovative technology twinned with innovative pedagogy is a different matter entirely. If we can find new ways to make teaching and learning more engaging, more interactive, more personal and more rewarding, it won’t just be OUAnywhere that’s getting students excited.

CORRIDORS:

“We should be making the most of the brightest and the best, just as our competitors are”

PIONEERING

NEW MATERIALS

FOR INDUSTRY

still exists in Britain. There are thousands of young people across the country who could benefit from higher education and are not getting the chance to fulfil their potential. I want everyone who is capable of benefiting from college or university to have the chance to do so, just as I did. It is strongly in our national interest that we make full use of the talent that we have available in Britain - be that in sciences, the arts or any one of a wide range of subjects. We should be making the most of the brightest and the best, just as our competitors are.

and ability to compete internationally. As Lord Robbins said 50 years ago: higher education should be available to “all who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and who wish to do so”. Those words have never been more relevant - and they remain this government’s commitment to future generations.

Industry faces continuous pressure to deliver innovative, high-value products while using more efficient, sustainable and cost-effective processes. The creation of new functional materials for products and processes is fundamental to this necessary step-change in innovation. A revolutionary new facility, co-founded by the University of Liverpool and Unilever, will empower companies to respond to these challenges and reinvent concepts of advanced manufacturing. The Materials Innovation Factory – due to open in 2016 – will provide companies access to an unparalleled suite of cutting-edge equipment and expertise, enabling them to create new materials and commercial applications that will compete in a global marketplace. The facility builds on Liverpool’s world-leading materials chemistry research and sets a new paradigm for university-industry collaboration. It will significantly extend the UK research base, strengthen its impact and promote economic growth.

This Government has taken steps towards closing that gap by removing the cap of the number of university places so that no bright person who wants to study hard needs to be turned away. Recent statistics have shown that the application rate for 18 year olds increased to its highest ever level this academic year. And more importantly, the application rate for 18 year olds from disadvantaged areas is also at a record high.

BENEFITS INCLUDE ACCESS TO:

SERVICES

• A broad suite of state-of-the-art facilities

• Research (contract/collaborative)

• Private lab space and flexible, specialist workspaces

• Hiring/access to facilities and equipment

• A broad network of connections with both industry and academia

• Bespoke training and upskilling

• World-leading research expertise and technologies • Professional team to provide on-site technical support

• Consultancy • Research hotel – private laboratory accommodation for the duration of your research programme

That is promising and suggests we are moving towards fully realising the potential the country has to offer, but we cannot be complacent. Ensuring that higher education is open to all is key to the individual development of our children but also the development of our national economy

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www.liverpool.ac.uk/materials-innovation-factory

Developing excellence in STEM education building the future The National Science Learning Centre, 48 newly established school-centred Science Learning Partnerships across England and the National STEM Centre support schools across the UK in the teaching and learning of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. By helping teachers to provide world class teaching in STEM we open doors to the future for all young people. To achieve this aim, the network provides an exciting, innovative and comprehensive programme of high quality continuing professional development for primary, secondary, post-16 teachers and technicians.

For those wishing to embark on a professional career, the choice is no longer going to University or going out to work. Higher Apprenticeships can include professional and work-based University degrees that enable you to graduate 'on the job'. This includes the following programmes: BSc (Hons) Professional Aviation Pilot Practice BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Construction Site Management FdA Professional Practice in Construction Operations Management Higher Diploma Professional Practice in Leading and Managing Care Services

Joanna Parrott, Science teacher

Evidence of the network’s impact:

University Higher Apprenticeships the best of both worlds!

Middlesex University has world class expertise in professional and workbased learning and has now introduced a range of University qualifications as part of the Government's Higher Apprenticeship initiative.

“The whole experience of the National Science Learning Centre and Project ENTHUSE has been immensely valuable to me and my students, both in terms of keeping me up to date with subject developments, but also in inspiring them about science and where it can take them. I am immensely thankful to those companies and organisations who, through their support, enable this to happen.”

Impact on pupils: increased enjoyment of, and engagement in, science lessons and extra-curricular activities; increased knowledge of career opportunities in science.

Schools and teachers that engage most with the network will see improvements in pupil attainment, especially where there is sustained activity through more than one teacher and event.

NfER June 2013: Qualitative evaluation of the National Science Learning Centre

Department for Education and the Wellcome Trust May 2010: Evaluation of the Science Learning Centre Network

There was a statistically significant increase in the numbers of pupils achieving grades A*-C in GCSE sciences which can be associated with teacher training days at the National Science Learning Centre.

Teachers saw significant impacts of Science Learning Centre CPD on job satisfaction, taking on new responsibilities and moving into new areas of work. Secondary teachers also saw impacts on promotion.

National Audit Office November 2010: Educating the Next Generation of Scientists

Sheffield: CEIR 2012: The Impact of Science Learning Centre continuing professional development on teachers’ retention and careers

For further information: Recommendations from The Royal Society June 2014: Vision for science and mathematics education

www.mdx.ac.uk/wbl www.mdx.ac.uk/higherapprenticeships [email protected] or call 0208 411 5555

• Make subject-specific professional development a core requirement for teachers and technicians and link this to career progression • Invest over the long term in national infrastructures which provide access to subject-specific professional development for all STEM teachers and technicians

Support the schools in your constituency For further information visit: www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/supportyourschool Project ENTHUSE is a partnership supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Department for Education, AstraZeneca, AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust (renamed Primary Science Teaching Trust in 2013), BAE Systems, BP, General Electric Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Rolls-Royce, Vodafone and Vodafone Group Foundation.

ADVERTORIAL

CORRIDORS:

An aviation network fit to serve Britain Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport and MP for Scarborough and Whitby

“Heathrow handled an extra 2.4 million people”

Stansted. Together, the five airports offer direct flights at least once a week to over 360 destinations, which makes London the best connected city in Europe, and Britain one of the best connected countries in the world. However, our position as a leading global aviation hub, which is so fundamental to our long- term international competitiveness, will be threatened if we fail to plan for the future. The two runways at Heathrow – our only hub airport – are already full, while competitors like Frankfurt, Paris CDG and Amsterdam Schipol all have significant runway capacity in which to grow. That is why we set up an independent Airports Commission under Sir Howard Davies to identify and recommend the best options for developing our hub status. The Commission’s interim report, delivered at the end of last year, is a big step towards our ultimate goal – a long-term aviation plan that will meet Britain’s future capacity and connectivity needs.

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s an island nation, airports are crucial to Britain. They provide the global links on which businesses rely. They handle nearly 40 per cent of our exports and imports by value. They support our £130 billion tourism industry. And as major employers and business hubs in their own right, they are catalysts for growth across the country. So if we want Britain to be competitive, it is important that airports can flourish. Our airports are now at their busiest since 2008, with 3 per cent more people taking flights in 2013 compared to the previous year. Passenger numbers rose by more than 10 per cent at London City, Leeds/Bradford and Belfast, and by more than 5 per cent at Manchester, Edinburgh, and East Midlands. Heathrow handled an extra 2.4 million people. And Southend had its busiest year ever. We want to see that growth continue, as long as it is in the interests of passengers and meets our wider environmental commitments. With those objectives in mind, we have modernised the regulatory framework for the industry, and set a new structure for sustainable airport development through our Aviation Policy Framework. We will continue to improve surface access to airports through schemes like Crossrail, Thameslink and HS2. Those measures are helping airports across Britain to invest with confidence; for example, Edinburgh is spending £25 million to boost terminal capacity. Stansted is investing £80 million to transform its terminal building. And Birmingham is updating its runway to handle long-haul flights. Despite the growing importance of regional airports, Britain’s position as a global aviation hub relies, to a large degree, on the five main airports serving London – principally Heathrow, Gatwick, and

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But although the aviation capacity debate in the media is focused almost entirely on the issue of runways, there are other critical parts of the infrastructure which require modernisation - in particular, airspace control. That is an area where we are making real progress. Our airspace is some of the busiest and most complex in the world. And while air traffic control operator NATS is now operating from two state-of-the-art centres in Hampshire and Ayrshire, the airspace design system we use is well out of date. Although it is safe and robust, much of the structure was established before 1970, and its origins go back to the 1950s when the vast majority of flights were propeller-powered.

“It would be a mIssed opportunIty If we faIl to make best use of stansted” andrew Harrison Managing Director, London Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport sits at the heart of the London-Cambridge corridor, one of the most exciting economic regions in the world and home to a rapidly expanding cluster of businesses in digital and bio-medical science. These businesses generate over £160bn for the UK economy and with more knowledgebased industries moving in, the corridor is poised for significant growth. To support the international connectivity demands of these businesses, Stansted has ambitious plans under the new ownership of M.A.G. In just 18 months, the airport is half way through an £80m terminal transformation to improve the passenger experience, part of a £260m package over the next five years to make Stansted the best airport in London. Passenger numbers are on the rise too and new deals with our airlines will add 11m extra passengers by 2023. Stansted has a bright future with strong growth prospects. As the only airport in the congested south east with room to grow,


We must plan for the future, ensuring passengers and businesses have the transport infrastructure and connectivity to compete and grow – including making the most of the infrastructure we have. That is why we are currently consulting with a wide range of stakeholders on a masterplan to shape the future of Stansted. We have permission for 35m passengers a year but could provide additional capacity with low impacts and high benefits, supporting the UK’s growth ambitions in the most cost effective and sustainable way possible. In our view it would be wrong to jump to the delivery of a new runway as the one and only answer to the capacity constraints in the south east. The Airports Commission made some important recommendations on how to make best use of existing capacity because whatever scheme is eventually

adopted, it’s likely to be at least ten years away, while demand increases today. Stansted has capacity today so making the most efficient use of this has to be an urgent priority for Government. We must make every effort to use this before we ask people to give up their homes and expose thousands of new residents to aircraft noise. In the intervening period there is a huge opportunity for Stansted to make a significant contribution to meeting UK’s connectivity needs. This is why we see improvements to the rail service to the airport as being an immediate priority for the Government. The West Anglia Mainline desperately needs more track capacity. This would make a big difference to passengers and airlines. We are encouraging Government to bring forward a package of investment to improve rail journey times and reliability which will ultimately lay the foundations for major enhancement over the next five years. Improving the rail link not only benefits passengers and commuters but helps meet the Mayor of London’s vision to regenerate the Upper Lea Valley. London’s economy is moving east so it would be a missed opportunity and poor for passengers, business and competition if we fail to tackle head-on the critical issues of making best use of current capacity at Stansted.

So, to achieve greater efficiency and capacity in our airspace network, we must embrace the latest technology. To that end, the Civil Aviation Authority has been working with the industry on a Future Airspace Strategy. That is a flagship programme which provides the blueprint for a modern airspace system, overcoming not only the particular challenges we face in Britain, but also setting the standard for other countries to follow. The new strategy will help us manage our airspace far more effectively, separating aircraft by time rather than distance, and substantially increasing navigational accuracy. Airborne holding over London should be significantly reduced, cutting pollution, fuel usage and flight times. Longer term, it will be essential for the delivery of any new runways or improvements to airport capacity without any negative impact on other airports. Indeed, the Airports Commission in its interim report stressed the importance of the Future Airspace Strategy, particularly in the south east. After decades in which we have relied on an ageing infrastructure, we are today committed to a modern, fit for purpose, sustainable aviation network, with a growing airport sector at its heart.

it has a key role to play over the next decade in meeting increasing demand for travel but we need to remember this capacity is not infinite.

Aerial shot of Stansted Airport

Departures at Terminal 2 : The Queen’s Terminal

“The UK’s manufacturing base is not near Heathrow. So why do I have to fly from there?” William Wang, Managing Director of MG Motor UK.

Her future. It’s our destination.

Great airports for great cities

Will she be an engineer in Ottawa? A scientist in Addis Ababa?

Because as Britain’s only hub airport, we’re uniquely able to

An architect doing business in Seoul?

bring the potential of new global markets to the whole of the UK

We have no idea.

– and open up the potential of the UK to the world.

But Heathrow is here to make those possibilities happen.

Visit Heathrow.com/britainsheathrow to find out more about

We’re here to help the UK win the global race for jobs, growth

our vision for the future.

and prosperity.

Both hers – and the future of Britain.

www.balancedaviationdebate.com

#BritainsHeathrow

ADVERTORIAL

CORRIDORS:

Manufacturing is key to rebalancing the UK economy Katy Clark, a member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee and MP for North Ayrshire and Arran

“The UK fails to promote its businesses through procurement”

intervene to protect manufacturing, believing the market knows best. The last Government’s successful car scrappage scheme signified a break with that approach and the current Government appears to some degree to have accepted the ideological case for an active industrial policy. Policies such as the creation of a Green Investment Bank, targeted support to key sectors and technologies and the desire to use procurement to promote UK manufacturers potentially demonstrates greater willingness to intervene to promote the national interest.

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ne of the striking features of the cost of living crisis is the challenges facing those in work. Increasing numbers of working people face low pay, insecure work and a reduced safety net. In many parts of the country there is little sign of a recovery. But while the financial crisis of 2008 and the current Government’s policies have exacerbated the problems facing working people, many of the underlying causes have been ongoing for several decades. One such cause is the decline of UK manufacturing. Traditionally, manufacturing industries provided better paid, more secure forms of work than many service sector jobs. They also created a much more even distribution of well paid jobs, creating skilled jobs across the UK. In my own North Ayrshire and Arran constituency, thousands of manufacturing jobs have been destroyed over recent decades and very few other opportunities have come in their place. It is little wonder that former CBI head Sir Richard Lambert described manufacturing as ‘a force for social cohesion’. Manufacturing has been declining since the early 1970s, when manufacturing output represented over 30 per cent of total UK output. It has fallen to around 10 per cent today, well behind other European countries such as Italy, Switzerland and in particular Germany, where manufacturing accounts for roughly a quarter of its total economic output. A key reason for that decline is the laissez-faire approach of successive Governments who have been reluctant to


Unfortunately, those small steps fall well short of what is required. If we look at manufacturing in Germany, it is easy to identify a number of steps which could be taken to further manufacturing growth. That includes long-term planning, identifying future trends and allocating resources accordingly. The Labour Party rightly supports the creation of a genuine investment bank to support small and mediumsized manufacturing firms. That has been successful not only in Germany but in France, too. The Green Investment Bank is a good first step, although this has taken too long to be put into place and limiting this kind of support to green industries leaves many manufacturing firms unable to secure competitive loans. More apprenticeships have been created but there needs to be renewed focus on quality as well as quantity. While Ministers talk of using public-sector contracts to boost UK manufacturing, we need action. The UK fails to promote its businesses through procurement to the same extent as its European neighbours. That level of support is the bare minimum this Government should be contemplating. Another key feature of Germany’s manufacturing success is the prominent role of trade unions, both in their traditional collective bargaining role but also in helping companies to take strategic decisions. Sadly, our current Government continues to take a confrontational approach to unions. There is no negative link between union activity and labour market outcomes. Often, strong unions create more positive workplace environments. If the Prime Minister is genuine in his commitment to UK manufacturing and ensuring that those in work benefit from any recovery, then his attitude to trade unions needs to change. Last but far from least, we need to reskill our workforce. I come from a part of the world which has some of the worst “employability”. We need to equip our young people, in particular with the skills they need to compete, whether in manufacturing, science or construction, so that we are able to regenerate our communities and genuinely start rebalancing our economy.


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CORRIDORS:

A government out of touch with health and safety Jim Cunningham, MP for Coventry South

“I remember men blinded from flying machinery”

and for our children. The Government has slashed funding of the Health and Safety Executive and drastically reduced workplace inspections. It has made it much harder for workers to claim compensation if they are injured and actively blocked new initiatives from Europe. They have introduced the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism (SARAH) Bill, which seems to be nothing but a glorified press release – it is supposed to protect “heroes” from lawsuits, but, in fact, does no such thing. It has been widely panned for being pointless at best. More concerning still is the Government’s policy to exempt many self-employed workers from the Health and Safety at Work Act. It is a completely unnecessary and poorly thought-through policy that will create confusion and uncertainty over what duty of care is due in workplaces. Those are just a few of the Government’s attacks on health and safety that have left experts dumbfounded.

When the London Olympics went ahead without a single workrelated fatality – the first in recent history – I saw it as a sign of how far we have come and how we now have a level of workplace safety that is the envy of the world. And yet our Prime Minister has announced that he will “kill off the health and safety culture for good”. As somebody who has seen and advocated a steady improvement in workplace safety throughout my lifetime, I find the Prime Minister’s agenda indefensible. We hear of the “burden” of our health and safety system and the damaging cost of “red-tape” so often that this is almost taken for granted in public discussion. That is mystifying to me. The Government has held three reviews now into the “burden of our health and safety system”. But the reviews all found no evidence of excessive regulation nor a compensation culture. Lord Young even admitted that: “The problem of the compensation culture prevalent in society today is, however, one of perception rather than reality”. Attacks on health and safety culture are attacks on an easy target because of press focus on occasional poor interpretation of health and safety legislation. There is insufficient focus on the positive consequences of robust health and safety culture for us

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In the recent debate on the SARAH Bill, I questioned the Justice Secretary as to whether there are as many frivolous claims being made as he believes, given that it is now much harder to take someone to a tribunal. Indeed, workplace compensation claims have halved in the last decade. His reply was: “All I can suggest is that the hon. Gentleman find a moment or two in his day to watch daytime television and see the number of adverts for firms trying to attract people who will sue when something has gone wrong— “Have you had an accident? Come and launch a case.”“ Is that really the evidence-based policy our Government is putting forward? The Government cites the safety of our workplaces as the justification for cutting back on health and safety. The Justice Secretary spoke recently of “a country where things are safer than ever, where our workplaces are less risky than ever and where safety standards on our roads are higher than ever”. It is disturbing that the Justice Secretary cannot make the connection between that and the “health and safety culture” that he and the Prime Minister wish to destroy. Many advocates of reducing health and safety legislation have little or no experience of working life without such legislation and perhaps the naivety of their arguments is because they have the luxury of believing it is unnecessary. If the Government insists on cutting back our health and safety regulations, do not be misled into thinking it is because the evidence supports that conclusion. It is based on an ideology that always favours the employer and holds workers and unions in suspicion, that believes employers are benevolent and responsible, and that accidents and sickness only happen to the feckless. I believe it is repugnant.

Creating a healthy and sustainable future A strong economy needs a safe and healthy workforce to deliver profitable business growth and resilience. Responsible organisations invest in health and safety training across the entire workforce, including directors and managers. Well-trained staff save money, boost productivity and add competitive value. Britain’s health and safety system is envied all over the world. We think it’s one of the best. We make it our mission to help keep it that way. Talk to us about how health and safety training can protect your people, transform your organisation and secure your future. You can reach the IOSH training team on [email protected] and +44 (0)116 257 3163

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health

Politics First



www.iosh.co.uk

POL2392/040814/PDF

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hen I was 15 years old and working in a steel mill, it was common to see men suffering from the fatal “steelworkers’ disease” of steel dust in the lungs. I remember men (without goggles) blinded from flying machinery and splashed with corrosive paint stripper; and I remember broken feet as a result of dropped metal sheets and lack of safety boots.

CORRIDORS:

CORRIDORS:

Looking back at Liberal Democrat successes in government

Scotland: a beacon of progressive politics

Malcolm Bruce,

Jim Sheridan,

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Gordon

“We pursued and succeeded in the biggest pensions reform since Lloyd George”

a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North

principled group of working people, who stand up for what is right and fair.

Other core manifesto policy successes have been more satisfying to promote, particularly our flagship policy on income tax reform. By raising the income tax threshold to £10,500, we will have seen 3.2 million of the lowest earners taken out of income tax altogether and 25 million receiving an £800 tax cut by 2015 - cutting the income tax bill for the average family by a third.

Similar events have happened across Scotland throughout history and added to a popular tradition of trade unionism, that we continue to see today. A dark moment of industrial relations in Scotland was marked by the recent events at the Grangemouth refinery, where an employer was allowed to bully and threaten the workforce into submission, exploiting the lack of employment protection legislation which this Coalition government has encouraged. Worst still, he was rewarded with taxpayers money to do so. As through history, trade unionists stood up for their rights, but sadly the odds were stacked against them this time.

It has been important for the Liberal Democrats to represent all generations and communities in our society. That is why we pursued and succeeded in the biggest pensions reform since Lloyd George, restoring the link between state pensions and earnings alongside a triple-lock guarantee on pension increases, as well as giving pensioners more flexibility and control over their pension pots.

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he Liberal Democrats have been demonised and vilified, our leader has been subjected to the most vicious of criticism but the fact remains that we have taken some tough but necessary decisions and some good ones, and it is thanks to our resolution that the Liberal Democrats have played a key role in setting the economy on a stable footing. Even though it took a while to get there, independent experts say we have the strongest expanding economy in the western world. Economic recovery and stability were the key requirements from both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in agreeing to create a coalition Government and this was borne out by newspaper editorials at the time as well as the broader public mood. With such a restricting and significant remit for the new Government, the resulting Coalition Agreement may have surprised many, especially given the distinct Liberal Democrat voice throughout with many of our key, radical manifesto policies now on a Government’s agenda and with Liberal Democrat ministers implementing them. The party has been very aware of the dual role it has had to play. Just as important as promoting our key policies has been the need to negotiate difficult compromises by moderating and, even at times, restraining the more stringent and unfair or disproportionate cuts and reforms proposed by the Conservatives. It must be stressed that every difficult decision we as a party have taken has been with regard to ensuring the impact will be as fair as possible. Therefore with tuition fees, it was the Liberal Democrats who secured concessions in the terms of the repayment of loans while also determining and promoting alternatives for increased opportunities for young people, leading to the creation of over 1.5 million apprenticeships.

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At the other end, before children are even in school, we have secured shared parenting rights for parents to divide their maternity and paternity leave, as well as providing 15 hours of free childcare for three and four year olds. Once children reach school age, they can benefit from free school meals, ensuring a nutritious and healthy start to their education, which has also been boosted thanks to the pupil premium that the Liberal Democrats have given to schools to assist with disadvantaged pupils in primary and secondary schools. It was our Scottish Secretary of State who introduced the Scotland Act, devolving further powers to Scotland in line with the Calman Commission recommendations in order to lay the foundations for Scotland to remain a strong part of the UK. That was before he oversaw the Edinburgh Agreement which created the mechanism for the independence referendum to take place at all. Internationally, our ministers and MPs have been working to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation and protect the rights of women and girls in developing countries as well as continuing to pursue a legal commitment on 0.7 per cent GNI on international development spending. We have sought to promote our green values through the introduction of the Green Investment Bank and Green Deal as well as promoting sustainable energy policies such as the widespread building of zero carbon homes. There are too many achievements to mention here but by protecting civil liberties (removing the state DNA profiling of innocent people), improving consumer rights (overseeing the Consumer Rights Bill) and extending equality for all (introducing equal marriage), the Liberal Democrats have a lot to be proud of and have created a genuine platform to seek to form another radical, fair and stable Government after 2015.


“The Charleston drum became a protest call”

Despite the current government’s best efforts, trade union membership in Scotland has begun to increase. Around a third of Scots belong to a trade union and this figure would be higher if workers were allowed to join without fear of retribution from some of the more unscrupulous employers.

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cotland is, I believe, a politically progressive country. We seek fairness and justice whilst encouraging entrepreneurship. Some of the world’s leading academics, scientists and inventors originated from Scotland. Equally so in politics, the Labour Party has seen some of its best leaders in Scots, such as Keir Hardie, John Smith, Donald Dewar and Gordon Brown, to name a few. Today, of course, we have Johann Lamont MSP, potentially the first female First Minister in Scotland. But that progressive culture goes far beyond the political elite, and local people mark the tradition in unique ways. In my own constituency, we celebrate Sma’ Shot day, held every year in Paisley. The annual procession and family fun day celebrates the triumph of workers from Paisley’s famous cotton thread industry, when they rose up to protest against unfair deals they had with the “corks”. Those manufacturers refused to pay the weavers for the Sma’ Shot threads that were bound into the famous shawls, arguing that they were unseen in the garment. Weavers were forced to pay for them out of their own pocket, but not compensated through higher wages. The Charleston drum became a protest call, calling on the Buddies of Paisley to follow the marchers, and today it calls Paisley men, women and children once a year again to celebrate the moment when the corks backed down and agreed to pay weavers for the thread. Sma’ Shot Day is a proud reminder of our history as one of the most important towns in the weaving industry, but also as a


But that culture and tradition goes far beyond paid up union members. It can be seen in the huge support for the Labour Party in Scotland, founded by the unions and continuing to fight for working men and women to this day, led by our own leader Johann Lamont in Scotland and, despite the actions of some in the press, Ed Miliband, who hopefully will be our next Prime Minister in the UK. Of course, Scotland is not alone in progressive left of centre politics. There are many UK colleagues in Westminster who are prepared to defend our socialist values and principles, but we need more in my view. That is why I fully support my own union, Unite, in its policy of concentrating efforts and resources on candidates who share the same objectives and aspirations that working people have and will reflect their concerns if successfully elected. But while our labour tradition is linked to the trade union movement, we are failing to bring in the next generation of progressive workers. As companies shrink and industries decline, there are fewer people on the shop floor, meaning less collective bargaining and representation There is a lot of work to be done in connecting young people and their beliefs once again to the Labour and trade union movement. But I am confident that in Scotland, where we have a proud history of standing up for what is right and fair, be it in the workplace, our communities or on the international scene, our determination to succeed will continue to thrive and remain the base of our distinct cultural heritage. As we often say, the past we inherit, the future we build.


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ADVERTORIAL

CORRIDORS:

Sustaining Britain’s economic recovery Andrea Leadsom, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and MP for South Northamptonshire

“The new Prudential Regulatory Authority has licensed five new banks”

F40 SEEKS COMMITMENT TO FAIR FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS FROM ALL POLITICAL PARTIES

imaging is exactly the type of positive change we want. It will give customers the option of taking a photo of a cheque and paying it in using their mobile banking app, and it will speed up clearing times from six days to two or less - great news for SMEs who rely on cheques; and this will add to the existing choice of depositing cheques at bank branches, cash points and Post Offices and so on. Mobile payments, such as PayM and PINGIT, will take off, allowing parents, friends and businesses to easily transfer money between themselves. For SMEs, the new Business Banking Insight survey, allowing them to see which bank offers the best service for them across a range of products, and the requirement we are imposing on the big banks to share information on SMEs they reject for finance so alternative lenders can step in, will improve the face of competition and choice in SME banking.

In the longer-term, Britain’s economic prosperity will only be secured by equipping the UK to compete in the global race. As Economic Secretary to the Treasury, for me that means developing the regulatory and competitive environment for financial services to thrive in this country. UK financial services are a vital contributor to the British as well as EU economies, and they provide an essential function to customers and to businesses, themselves the lifeblood of our economy. But, for too long, our financial services sector has let us down - irresponsible risk taking, mis-selling, even deliberate distortion of markets and illegal behaviour. The Government is committed to turning that around and putting competition and customer choice at the forefront of our banking reforms. We are making progress; in the last 12 months, the new Prudential Regulatory Authority has licensed five new banks, and is currently talking to over 20 new applicants. By contrast, when Metro Bank got its license in 2010, it was the first new full banking license in 100 years! New competition means more focus on customer service. Here, technology will help to drive change and greater responsiveness to customer needs. The arrival of cheque

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Building stronger and safer banks which customers can trust is a key part of the government’s long-term economic plan. Across government, we are bedding in the reforms which will enable UK businesses and citizens to compete. We have reformed welfare to make work pay. Of course, a safety-net is essential, and we will always want to support those that need help, but there must also be real incentives and fair rewards for those that go out to work. And we have to ensure that we have the skills base and education that will enable British businesses to compete and create jobs for our children and grandchildren. Our far-reaching education reforms are creating a new wave of schools to ensure that each student has the opportunity to reach their potential, and this will be essential if we are to remain among the best in the world. The government has also taken important steps to help those parents that want to return to work to be able to do so. Far too often, the cost of childcare forces new parents to stay at home, even if they wanted to work. By introducing TaxFree Childcare, we will pay up to £2,000 per child, effectively refunding the basic rate of tax and helping those who want to work, to be able to. In the months that lead to the next General Election, voters will be looking to see which party can offer them the security we all need, and the prospect of a brighter future for us and those we love. I have never been more convinced that it is only the Conservative Party that offers a well thought out path to the future in a globally competitive world.


IVAN OULD, CHAIR OF F40 (and Lead Member for Children & Young People’s Services at Leicestershire County Council)

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ritain’s economy is beginning its recovery from the longest and deepest peacetime recession in history. That welcome news is the result of three factors: the government’s determination to sort out the public finances, monetary policy that has seen historically low interest rates and the effort of employers and employees in achieving the return of private sector growth. The Government’s Plan A is working, and it must surely be clear to all that any return to Labour’s borrow more, tax more and spend more policy would jeopardise the recovery.

THE FACT THAT 28 (OUT OF 34) F40 MEMBER AUTHORITIES ARE TO GAIN A TOTAL OF OME. £210.6M IS VERY WELCOME.

It is seventeen years since the first ‘fair funding for schools’ campaign meeting was held in Staffordshire. All those years ago, a group of dedicated individuals, who were fed up with the way in some schools were funded, met to consider how they could change the unfair funding formula. From small acorns grow large oak trees, as they say. It wasn’t long before the initial eight member authorities expanded as many more poorly funded local authorities, of all political persuasions, joined up and added their voice to the call for fair funding. Despite the injection of new money in to education in the last ten years, and the recently introduced changes to the funding system which helped to harmonise arrangements between academies and maintained schools, the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ has widened. The previous government introduced an element of additional funding for pockets of deprivation, which was very welcome, but our most significant break-through came in 2010 with the launch of the Schools’ White Paper which acknowledged for the first time the injustice of the existing arrangement. It stated: “We want all schools to be funded transparently, logically and equitably, in contrast to the opaque, anomalous and unfair school funding system which reflects the historic circumstances of local authorities rather than the specific needs of individual schools and pupils; and leads to similar schools, facing similar challenges, receiving very different levels of funding.” Then in June 2013, as part his Annual Spending Review, Chancellor George Osborne, provided the icing on the cake by announcing that “schools spending will be allocated in a fairer way than ever before. School funding across the country is not equally distributed but distributed on an historical basis with no logical reason. The result is that some schools get much more than others in the same circumstances. It’s unfair and we’re going to put it right.” The group was further encouraged in March this year when the government announced that extra funding of £350m will be made available in 2015-16 to begin the process of making the allocation system fairer. Following a short consultation on the proposal, the government decided to increase the extra funding to £390m…and confirmed the method of allocation. The fact that 28 (out of 34) f40 member authorities are to gain a total of £210.6m is very welcome. So now we have an acknowledgement that the existing formula is unfair and inequitable, and interim additional funding, which we view as a down-payment and first step towards a new and fairer allocation system. But this is by no means the end of the story. F40 will continue to push for the introduction of the promised new national funding formula. Whichever political party is successful in next May’s national election, we will expect a commitment that this important work will be continued. F40 believes that it has been patient and realistic…and that the many years of campaigning might finally be about to pay off. I want to place on record my own and f40’s thanks to the government, the many Members of Parliament that have vigorously argued our case, to local councillors and officers, governors and teaching staff and parents who have supported the campaign over so many years.

CORRIDORS:

CORRIDORS:

The power of development

Legal Aid and the findings of the Low Commission

Jim Murphy, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and MP for East Renfrewshire

“It needs to be underpinned by human rights”

Lord Colin Low, a Crossbench Peer

costing less in the long run.

power that keeps millions of the world’s poor from education and healthcare by backing innovative schemes to open access to all and we would battle the imbalance of political power by putting human rights at the centre of development.

Our strategy is to suggest ways of reducing preventable demand, simplifying the system and enabling it to work better, putting more weight on the advice end of the spectrum and suggesting ways in which it could work more efficiently.

Authoritarian and ‘rights free development’ can leave poor and vulnerable people worse off, forced from their land, exploited, and exposed to poisoning and pollution. ‘Rights respecting development’ can help prevent abuses associated with economic development.

The next UK and Welsh governments should develop national strategies for advice and legal support, preferably with all-party support, and there should be a Minister with responsibility for advice and legal support within the Ministry of Justice with a cross-departmental brief for leading the development of the strategy.

If development is going to be just, inclusive and sustainable, it needs to be underpinned by human rights. So, Labour are looking at new tough rules for the granting of UK aid.

T

he Department for International Development holds a special place in the heart of the Labour Party. After all, we set it up, we made it a world leader, and we brought about real change – not least through the 2005 Gleneagles Agreement to drop the debt and take steps to make poverty history. We are rightly proud of that record. But progressive politics is about constantly fighting to change things for the better. I did not get involved in politics to protect Labour achievements - and there is never a belated sense of gratitude from a public much more interested in what you are going to do rather than what you have done. I believe in a politics which builds on achievements, to go further. When we think of poverty, no access to education, no healthcare, modern day slavery, discrimination, conflict and corruption we know that these inequalities are wrong, but they are more consequence that cause. They are symptoms of the real driving force of inequity – a fundamental imbalance of power. So, my vision for development under Labour is of a DFID of renewed drive and purpose, with power at its heart. It is often said that there is no shortage of food in the world, only that it is unevenly distributed. The same is true of power. There is no shortage - it is just that there is too much in too few people’s hands. I want DFID to address those imbalances of economic, social and political power as its defining mission. So, we would help fight the imbalance of economic power by offering more support for poorer states to develop their tax systems. We would help take on the massive deficit of social

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Under those plans, Governments in receipt of direct UK aid would face an annual audit. As well as firm rules on transparency and corruption, we would insist on respect for human rights. A new unit at the heart of DFID would assess states against internationally agreed standards. Governments which fail to meet those standards - that break international law or breach the UN Charter or globally agreed covenants, for example - and show no sign of progression would face consequences and, in extreme cases, we would, of course, reserve the right to act immediately. Labour is developing a system of graduated withdrawal through which transgressors would see direct support reduced and eventually suspended if respect for human rights is not reinstalled. I know that there may be some sensitivities about that approach but at the outset I am clear that we will not act in a way which hurts those who need our help. We would ensure that poor people do not pay twice the price for bad governance by looking to keep the support in the country but out of governments hands, through working with multilateral agencies and NGOs so those in need do not lose out. Now, I know those are not all the answers. And I cannot pretend that the measures will change the world over night. But, they point to a determination to do some things differently. Development has the power to change and save lives. This generation could be the generation that eliminates aid dependency for good, lifts a billion people out of poverty and prevents half a million people a year from dying on their first day. But, it is much more than that. Not just big numbers but big change. Empowering the powerless. That is what we can do. That is what DFID is for. And that is what I will ensure DFID delivers.


“There should be a Minister with responsibility for advice and legal support”

Local authorities, or groups of local authorities, should coproduce or commission local advice and legal support plans with the local not-for-profit sector and commercial advice agencies. We estimate that a further £100 million a year is required to ensure a basic level of provision of information, advice and legal support on social welfare law.

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ith cuts of the order of £100 million a year in legal aid for issues of social welfare law, the Low Commission was set up by the Legal Action Group, with funding from a range of trusts and foundations, to come up with a strategy for the future of advice and legal support in this area. We were anxious to develop a fresh approach which, through measures to reduce the need for advice and legal support in the first place, developing more cost-effective approaches to service provision and drawing on a wider range of funding sources, ensured that people could still meet a lot of their needs through a greater emphasis on information and advice, while ensuring that there is at least some money available for legal help and representation. While legal help and representation should be approached in an integrated fashion, it seemed clear to us that the advice end of the spectrum was going to need to take more of the strain. Of course, the advice sector could benefit from some rationalisation. There is a general perception that it is too fragmented and could benefit from a greater spirit of collaboration. We would also like to see the national umbrella bodies, such as Citizens Advice and AdviceUK, working more closely together and sharing their resources and experience more widely. AdviceUK told us about a system based on what it calls “systems thinking” which can achieve savings of at least 30 per cent and sometimes, as in Nottingham, as much as 95 per cent. So, although it may seem like a Rolls-Royce service, it can end up


We are calling on the next UK Government to provide half of that by establishing a 10-year National Advice and Legal Support Fund for England and Wales of £50 million a year to be administered by the Big Lottery Fund. We aim to spread the load so that no part of government is asked to bear too great a burden. We therefore propose that the fund should be financed by the MOJ, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, as the main creator of the need for advice and legal support. Some 90 per cent of the fund should be used to fund local provision in line with local plans, with 10 per cent for national initiatives. The Big Lottery Fund should allocate the 90 per cent share of the national fund to local authority areas, based on indicators of need using joint strategic needs assessments and health and well-being strategies. Greater use needs to be made of new technology for the section of the population which is increasingly digitally literate. That will free up resources to enable more face-to-face, in-depth and intensive support to be targeted at those most in need. In addition to the current range of specialist lines, there should be a one-stop national helpline providing a comprehensive advice service to the general public and able to act as a safety net for those who have nowhere else to go. We believe that by investing in a wider range of information and advice, with some legal help and representation, many of the undesirable consequences of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act can be avoided and we will actually end up saving money.


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CORRIDORS:

A port of call for the UK economy Karen Lumley, a member of the Transport Select Committee and MP for Redditch

“Ports collectively employ some 117,000 people”

and efficient the infrastructure is inside the port gates, the simple fact is that if they are not accessible then we as a nation will struggle to compete. Constraints on road and rail networks, in particular, can limit the size of a port and its economic impact. The areas closest to ports are often the most congested, with long delays in the final few miles. The UK’s strategic road and rail networks must accommodate freight transport. The planning system is central to the future development of ports. Local stakeholders must prioritise improvements in port access as part of their strategic decisions. But a national strategy for ports is also essential to build on local and regional initiatives.

T

he current economic figures are looking good. The economy is above its pre-crisis peak and growing faster than any other major advanced economy. Furthermore, the deficit has been cut by a third. But to ensure the recovery continues, we must do more to rebalance our economy and secure a better future for every part of Britain. Ports are essential to the economic wellbeing of the UK. Throughout history, British sea ports have developed, thrived and changed, supporting the free movement of people and the trade in goods and commodities which is the basis for our national prosperity. Today, some 95 per cent of UK cargo movements by tonnage is waterborne and ports collectively employ some 117,000 people. I recently had the opportunity of visiting the London Gateway port in Thurrock, Essex, and was amazed to see the sheer scale of the project. The new deep-water port there is able to handle the biggest container ships in the world and is one of the most advanced, highly-automated ports in the world, currently employing 400 people - this figure is expected to rise to 12,000 people when fully developed. That is all thanks to inward investment of £1.5 billion from the Dubai-owned company DP World. On a recent trade visit to the United Arab Emirates, I was lucky enough to meet the company behind the project and hear about their plans. That huge investment shows just what potential there is in British ports. Unfortunately, port development is being held back by inadequate transport infrastructure. Ports cannot function effectively if hauliers and logistics firms struggle to get goods in and out of them, and, likewise, hauliers and logistics will be held back if our ports are not up to scratch. No matter how modern

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We are holding back our ports with unclear and, at times, unfair funding arrangements. Government policy on who should pay for transport infrastructure relating to ports is clear in principle but confused in practice and conceptually flawed. Some ports have contributed towards transport schemes to improve access, while others have not. The rationale for the differing treatment of different projects is not clear and leads the UK to compare unfavourably with some other EU countries where infrastructure outside of the dock gates is publicly funded. The role of the Department for Transport must be to act as an advocate for ports, helping the sector navigate complex arrangements for getting transport improvement schemes off the ground. They must do more to ensure that Local enterprise partnerships give proper consideration to port schemes. They should also be prepared to challenge decisions by LEPs and other local bodies where they fail to prioritise improvements in port access over other, less strategically important schemes. The Government is best placed to assess likely long-term developments in global trade and help ensure that the UK has appropriate port capacity to take advantage of such trends. Decisions on port access projects are likely to have employment implications, both in relation to the port itself and the logistics industry. The UK’s busiest ports are spread widely throughout the country, from Southampton to Clyde to Liverpool to Hartlepool, showing just how important they are to rebalancing our economy. The goods they bring in and ship out make vast sums of money for our economy, and keep many people in work. Without bringing our ports to the forefront of our infrastructural priorities, allowing them to compete with the likes of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp, we will forever find ourselves held back in our import, export and, ultimately, our economic capabilities.


CORRIDORS:

Applauding the government’s digital revolution Caroline Dinenage, a member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee and MP for Gosport

“Fully transferring to digital could save the country almost £2 billion a year”

The digital by default plan, as set out in the Government Digital Strategy, is a great start, but there is no reason why interactions within and between Government departments cannot be exclusively digital – with emails replacing the hundreds of thousands of letters that cross the country every day. The DVLA handles 50 million payments for vehicle tax every year, and yet only half of these are carried out online. Processing the 100,000 paper vehicle tax payments that come in every day costs a huge amount of time and money. A digital transaction is around 20 times cheaper than one by telephone, 30 times cheaper than a postal transaction and 50 times cheaper than a face-to-face transaction. Richard Sargeant in the Cabinet Office argues that fully transferring to digital could save the country almost £2 billion a year.

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mazon holds over a quarter of the entertainment market while approximately a third of new relationships now start online. As suggested in Policy Exchange’s Smaller, Better, Faster, Stronger, if properly harnessed, new technology can not only improve public services; it can fundamentally alter the way in which government operates. The internet can make government more open, more efficient and more accountable. Proper use of big data can improve policy-making in Whitehall and cut out pointless paperwork in everyday life. But as the series of calamitous IT projects under the previous Government demonstrated, we need to be clear in our objectives. And as the technology changes, we need to adapt to how we provide public services. There is no sense in using new technology to complete old processes; we need to continue with and extend the root and branch reform that this Government is delivering. When Martha Lane Fox started her review of the Government website Directgov, she found that a radical overhaul was needed to deliver a better service for citizens. Its replacement, GOV.UK, last year won the prestigious Design Museum Design of the Year Award and serves as a simple but highly effective portal for all Government services and information. We now need to see complete digitisation – both between Government and the individual and within Government departments. That does not mean excluding those without access to new technology; but making digital options so easy and convenient that those who can use them will always choose to do so. It also means making sure that as public services move online, no one gets left behind as well as putting safety nets in place to protect those often older and more vulnerable people who do not have access to the internet.

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Police behind desks? Not if we can help it. Bluelight Managed Mobility from O2 is designed to help police forces become more productive, efficient and visible. It covers everything from choosing the best devices, to managing, securing and controlling them.

The wealth of data which is now available can also help us learn what works and what does not. Across the public sector, information on inputs and outputs can be captured and analysed like never before. And that allows for personalisation; one of the main features of Amazon’s success has been its ability to provide personalised recommendations based on knowledge of purchase histories and product ratings. Why cannot public services also be rated, reviewed, improved and even personalised?

It equips police with everything they need to complete reports on the move, get quick and secure access to records and speed up justice with digital case files.

New technologies are not a panacea. As Rohan Silva, the Prime Minister’s former special adviser on technology, has pointed out, by 2010, the last Government was spending £25 billion a year on public sector IT – more per person than any other country in the world. Yet, the first class price tag delivered third class results.

More time on the beat. Improved efficiencies. Reduced costs.

Small firms were locked out of the procurement process; stifling innovation amongst British SMEs and landing Government with overpriced contracts. So, we need to be smart about how we use new technology and, as we do across Government, we need to open up the procurement process to small and medium sized firms. In her review of government digital activities, Martha Lane Fox stated that: “the acid test for Directgov is whether it can empower, and make life simpler for citizens and at the same time allow government to turn other things off.” That cuts to the core of what technology in the provision of public services is about: streamlining, updating and even reforming public services so that they are more responsive to peoples’ needs and more reflective of the times we live in.

01235 433 507 [email protected] http://po.st/O2Bluelight Bluelight Managed Mobility is available via the PSN

We need to continue the Government’s digital revolution and use new technology to deliver public services fit for the 21st century. Telefónica UK Limited Registered in England no. 1743099. Registered Office 260 Bath Road Slough SL1 4DX


CORRIDORS:

CORRIDORS:

The moral and financial case for caring for deaf people

More women in science means more money for the UK economy

Rosie Cooper,

Sarah Newton,

Vice-Chair of the All-Party Subject Group on Deafness and MP for West Lancashire

“By 2031, there will be 14.1 million in the UK with hearing loss”

Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party, a member of the Science and Technology Select Committee and MP for Truro and Falmouth

17 per cent of STEM professors being women, we needed to know what more could be done to enable more women to get the top university research posts.

Since 1994, government has delivered the Access to Work scheme, with grants available to provide practical support for disabled people to start or remain in employment; for example, accessing sign language interpreters.

We did not identify any new causes of poor gender diversity in STEM - the problems and the solutions have already been identified. Many of the problems encountered by women in STEM at university or in the workplace are the same for all women trying to combine caring with careers. The STEM women in industry I have interviewed point to good employment practice within their organisations which enable them to get on.

Access to Work has been an integral part of tackling barriers to work for deaf people and those with hearing loss. Figures show that 63 per cent of deaf people are in employment compared to 75 per cent of the population as a whole. The employment rate for people who state ‘difficulty in hearing’ as their main health issue is 64 per cent compared to 77 per cent for people with no health issues. Further to that, forty-one per cent of people who retired early said this was due to hearing loss.

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am a Member of Parliament because of my parents’ deafness. My father was born deaf and my mother went deaf when she was four years of age.

From the age of four, I have been my parents’ voice and ears. I was their advocate and their representative, which has led me to representing other people for the past 40 years. For all the progress which has been secured when it comes to equality for deaf people and those with hearing loss, I fear we could actually be starting to go backwards rather than continuing the march towards full integration. Today, deaf people and those with hearing loss are at the mercy of budget cuts and decisions taken by people who lack any awareness about the consequences of their decisions, including medical professionals. There are two current examples which highlight that point. North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group is considering not providing hearing aids on the NHS and the changes to Access to Work support, both of which will have a profound effect on millions of people with hearing loss and their families. North Staffordshire CCG is considering taking away hearing aids for those with mild or moderate hearing loss. Those are clinical terms that do not adequately reflect the actual impact of deafness and hearing loss on a person’s life. People with hearing loss are more likely to experience communication difficulties. That can lead to them becoming socially isolated and having mental and physical health problems. There is also a growing body of evidence linking hearing loss with dementia. Even people with mild and moderate hearing loss still rely on hearing aids to communicate and not to be isolated, to remain in work and to effectively manage their own health.

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As Action on Hearing Loss have reported, changes to Access to Work have seen budget limitations imposed and instances of Access to Work advisers who do not understand the needs of deaf professionals, which, combined, lead to inconsistent assessments of need, reduction in flexibility and levels of support leaving deaf people and those with hearing loss unable to do their job. For me, the human cost of those decisions is too high a price to pay. Equally, the economic cost of the decisions actually shows how ill-conceived and short-sighted North Staffordshire CCG and the government are. Each year, the UK economy loses £25 billion in output due to deafness and hearing loss. That is based on today’s figures of 10 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss, of which 3.7 million are of working age. This July, a Commission on Hearing Loss, on which I served, published its final report. By 2031, there will be 14.1 million in the UK with hearing loss – nearly 20 per cent of the entire population. Hearing loss is a growing social and economic problem. If we are not going to support deaf people and those with hearing loss because it is the right thing to do, then we should do it because it is the right financial decision. According to the British Deaf Association, for every £1 spent on Access to Work the government gets back £1.48. If people are not in work, there is no money being recouped, so taken together with the cost of welfare payments, increased use of social services and greater reliance on health services, it is a very short-sighted decision. There is a danger that putting a price on quality of life, health and wellbeing, independence, dignity and equality for deaf people and those with hearing loss will potentially result in costs that are greater than the savings. Everyone loses.


“STEM will account for £2 billion of this total amount”

As other sectors have made real progress, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to adopt a cohesive and comprehensive plan to deliver best employment practice. Those involved in recruitment and promotion processes should undertake unconscious bias training. That has proven a successful approach in leading organisations where women have been historically underrepresented.

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sk anyone to name five female scientists and most will struggle beyond Marie Curie. But why are women in science and engineering so hard to find? Many efforts have been made to increase the number of girls and women studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at school - and progress is being made. But, if we look from education to employment, we find that only 17 per cent of STEM professors are women and only 13 per cent of all STEM jobs are occupied by women. The Society of Biology has recently stated that “increasing women’s participation in the whole UK labour market could be worth between £15 billion and £23 billion.” That equates to 1.3-2.0 per cent of the UK’s GDP, and STEM will account for £2 billion of this total amount - a significant portion and considerable untapped potential. We already have a serious shortage of scientists and engineers and unless recent progress is accelerated, the UK will not be able to meet the requirement for an estimated one million new science, engineering and technology professionals by 2020. Currently, one in four employers are having difficulty in recruiting suitably qualified STEM employees. The Government has acknowledged that without recruiting more women into those fields, and crucially retaining them, there is a real risk to the UK’s economic long-term plan. That is not a new issue. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, of which I am a member, recently conducted an inquiry into how the problem could be addressed. I was concerned that the positive actions to encourage more girls into STEM at school would founder at the next stage. With only


The way STEM careers in HEIs are structured needs review. Most postgraduates spend the first few years of their careers in various short-term research positions, with transfers between HEIs and often forced relocation. That places a strain on family life for scientists of both genders. HEIs wanting to attract the best talent to their organisations are making progress in promoting improved gender balance by their signing up to the Athena SWAN Charter. That is a national scheme that recognises commitment to advancing women’s careers in STEM in higher education and research and requires positive action from all levels of the HEI. Those agreeing to the principles of the Charter can be nominated for awards which act as a kitemark of excellence throughout the sector. While that remains a voluntary scheme, there are currently 114 members who have signed up, and the Equality Challenge Unit has identified that organisations and even their working cultures are adapting. More women are successfully making the transition from postdoctoral researcher to their first academic post. That is a step in the right direction and proof that a voluntary approach can work. The scientific community has done what it always does: recognised a problem, identified what works and what does not, and is going where the evidence leads. Those funding science and technology research could give a very positive nudge by making the award of research funding to HEIs conditional on the achievement of an Athena SWAN award. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) already requires medical departments to have obtained a Silver Award prior to awarding funding. In that, they would be making a significant contribution to advancing knowledge and the UK’s long-term economic success.


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CORRIDORS:

The ongoing fight against malaria

Why is food a problem? Roger Williams, a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee and MP for Brecon and Radnorshire

Jeremy Lefroy, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases and MP for Stafford

“660,000 people are still dying every year”

“Many health NGOs are advocating a tax on sugar”

the private sector. Vaccines, too, are being tested, the most advanced to-date being RTS,S vaccine developed by GSK. Last year, with colleagues Richard Bacon MP and John Mann MP, I was able to visit two research centres involved in the work. They are led by outstanding Tanzanian scientists and their teams who work closely with colleagues in the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, the US, Norway and elsewhere. It was encouraging to see thatf international cooperation at work on a vital project with a strong emphasis on training Tanzanians.

Education Provision and the teaching of food preparation and cooking skills would be a way to strengthen the initial guidance in the primary schools. The cost to the National Health Service of diet related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes, could cripple the NHS. According to Public Health England, the country is facing a “devastating” type 2 diabetes epidemic and 10 per cent of the NHS’ budget has already been spent on it. Investment in health promotion would pay back, which would far outweigh the initial costs.

But without a renewed effort in the coming five years, the progress that has been made may stall. Deliveries of bednets have fallen recently in some countries, despite coverage being nowhere near sufficient in the countries where there is the greatest risk of being infected. Since a bednet has an effective life of perhaps three years, many of those delivered during the rapid increase in deliveries in the years until 2010 will already need to be replaced.

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o much has been achieved in the past decade in the fight against malaria. Yet we are now facing our biggest challenges.

An estimated 660,000 people are still dying every year from the disease, the vast majority being children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa. The tools which have served us so well – insecticide-treated bednets (LLIN) for prevention and Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) for cure – are both coming up against resistance by the mosquito and versatile malaria parasite. The money required to control and eventually eradicate malaria from the planet remains far greater than the money available, despite a huge increase in resources since 2001. In visits to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Rwanda this year, I have seen at first-hand how the work carried out in tackling malaria has improved the lives of millions of people. It is not only the deaths which have been prevented – each one a precious son, daughter, mother or father – but also the hundreds of millions of episodes which have not occurred, enabling people to work or go to school when they would not have done otherwise. By some estimates, malaria cuts around 1 per cent per annum from the Gross Domestic Product of a country in which it is seriously endemic. Certainly, some of the excellent economic growth seen in many sub-Saharan African countries in recent years can be attributed to better control of malaria and other debilitating or fatal diseases. New drugs are being developed through strong cooperation between development agencies, governments, charities and

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The threat of insecticide resistance needs also to be taken seriously. Improved nets with a combination of chemicals to counter resistance are available but their use is not widespread. A huge funding gap remains between what is needed to beat malaria and what is available; and this is despite very substantial increases in money coming via the Global Fund and directly from the US and UK governments. There are three major ways in which this gap can be filled: official development assistance (ODA) from governments, private individuals and companies, and domestic health spending by countries in which malaria is endemic. ODA is unlikely to rise substantially in traditional donor countries while economic growth remains weak – although we must continue to make the case, especially to those countries which have not yet met the UN target of giving 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income as ODA. Private individuals and companies can be encouraged to follow the example of the Gates Foundation and others who have given very substantially over the years. But it is domestic health spending which is the key. The governments of most endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa (where by far the greatest disease burden and number of deaths occur) have signed pledges such as the Abuja declaration to commit 15 per cent of their national budget to health. But few have achieved that. Their parliaments and people need to hold their governments to the pledge. In doing so, they will be able to maintain the progress they have made in fighting not only malaria but HIV/ AIDS, TB, pneumonia and the other diseases which cause such pain and suffering, and which continue to hold their economies back from greater growth.


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ntil recently, food and eating food were a virtue. Today, they are often seen as a vice.

Hunger was the problem, not food. For some people, hunger is still a real issue. But in the developed nations, people have never been more neurotic about food. Obesity, food intolerance, allergies, food fraud and certain food stuffs bad for cardiovascular health and cancer worry people. So, what is the role for Government in all of that? Should Government educate people and point them in the direction of a healthy diet or should Government intervene through taxing ‘dangerous’ food products? Most immediately, families on low incomes are often short of money to buy essential food, because of difficulties with the benefit system or a financial crisis in their lives. Paradoxically, at a time when food banks are increasing, we have a real problem with obesity, particularly with families on low incomes. I think the answer to that is definitely education and not taxation. Parenting skills which promote healthy diets for growing children are crucial. The message must be that diets based on fresh foods cooked at home are good for your pocket and your health. As young people grow up and become more independent, they have to make up their minds on their preferred diets. They need continuing advice to help them stay healthy. I believe education in secondary schools through the Personal and Social


While many of the national food and drink manufacturers have made strenuous efforts to reduce salt, sugar and saturated fats in their products, the process has not gone far enough. Many health NGOs are advocating a tax on sugar. I believe government should resist that (easy) option and continue to work with our food and drink industry to continue their good work on reduction of those dangerous nutrients. The exception to that is minimum pricing for alcohol, which has the dual benefits of cutting down on alcohol consumption and making our pubs more viable for sensible drinking. Giving detailed government advice on individual diets is very difficult as science seems to come up with conflicting information, but the general drift is becoming clearer. While a good mixed diet is essential to having the important nutrients and micro-nutrients, excessive consumption of high fat dairy products and processed meats should be cut down to smaller portions. But, of course, all food production is delivered at the expense of national ecosystems. While some forms of agriculture, such as eco-agriculture, have lesser impacts on our wildlife, they produce less food per acre. So, there is a trade-off between maximising food production and maintaining our important biodiversity, water and air quality. It is estimated that by 2050, the global population will have reached a total of 9.6 billion. According to a report produced by the WRI, the UN and the World Bank, the world would need 70 per cent more food, as measured by calories. So, we need to both produce food for the new mouths and ensure that the people on inadequate diets around the world have enough healthy food to live full and active lives. That will mean judicious use of new technologies to produce more food with less inputs and protecting our important natural resources. However, in the midst of all concerns, the real contribution that food makes to our lives should not be forgotten. It is not just a means to survival, but more than that. It is an integral part of our social and cultural enjoyment of life with our families and friends. Food is not just a vice, but is a virtue that can bring real value to everyone’s life.


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Boxing clever for young people

IMMING CHA SW R L O

Charlotte Leslie, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Boxing and MP for Bristol North West

“All sports have the capacity to inspire and reach out to people”

talk with pride about how club members whose friends joined the riots did not, thanks to the ethos of their boxing club. Why is that? Boxing has certainly retained a reputation as a gritty, unpretentious sport – boxers are often easier to relate to than the preened stars of football, and many successful boxers and local club coaches will come from similarly difficult backgrounds to budding youngsters. For many, the boxing club provides a family-like atmosphere, a home and gathering point for those who might otherwise be spending their evenings on the streets. It is also an incredibly tough sport, requiring hours of dedication to hone the necessary skills, and a great means of releasing frustration in a controlled way. Those are not occasional factors; they are evident in every boxing club I have visited. I was lucky enough to have exceptionally open-minded and supportive parents, and so when I was an angry and frustrated teenager, my mum took me boxing.

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“

erception is reality” – a truism, if ever there was one, in modern politics. In a world of 24 hour media, it matters far less what governments and politicians are actually doing or actually believe, and far more what they are seen to be doing or what the public think they believe. A truism it may be, but one that entails major problems for reality. If we allow ourselves to become obsessed with the way things look, we will forget what is right and wrong, and what works and does not work. In the world of sport, boxing provides a great example of that. On one level, I understand how perceptions of boxing put many people off it – instinctively, the sight of two people trying to land punches on each other is unappealing to many. But to accept that simple and narrow portrayal would be for perception to triumph over reality. A trip down to your local amateur boxing club will paint a very different picture. The young men and women who box there are not characterised by violence (though many of them may once have been) – the sport that they practise is all about control. Violent boxers do not win. And that is not merely about sport for sport’s sake. All sports have the capacity to inspire and reach out to people, especially the young, but boxing has a unique ability to influence some of the most hard to reach kids in the country. Go to boxing clubs in North London and you will find examples of those who were involved in gangs and the summer riots of 2011 finding their salvation in boxing. Other young boxers and coaches will also

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I remember well the difference that boxing made to my development and the hugely positive impact it had on many of my fellow boxers, who did not have such a stable family life and risked veering off the straight and narrow into drugs and crime. If the reality of boxing is so, then we simply cannot afford to allow it to be obscured by prejudiced and inaccurate perceptions. The financial and human cost of social breakdown to the UK is huge – truancy, anti-social behaviour, long-term unemployment, and prison are inordinately expensive. The reasons behind those ills are many and complex, and I do not claim that boxing is a silver bullet to solve them all, but we can scarcely afford to ignore the benefits of sport and boxing in playing a role in social recovery. Thankfully, perceptions are beginning to change. The success of British boxers (including, for the first time, women) at the 2012 Olympics and this year’s Commonwealth Games has brought boxing firmly into the mainstream of the UK’s sporting life. The All Party Parliamentary Group for Boxing, which I chair, will soon publish a report on the benefits of boxing, dispelling some of the long held myths and making recommendations to the Government and sport authorities on how they can better harness the power of boxing in turning around young people’s lives. Three years on from the appalling riots that swept our cities, we now have a great opportunity to utilise boxing to ensure that nothing like this happens again. If we look beyond easy perceptions and fully grasp reality, the rewards could be huge.


Are you taking school swimming seriously? The 2013 National School Swimming Census found that 51% of children aged seven to eleven could not swim 25 metres unaided, the minimum requirement at Key Stage 2 The revised national curriculum specifies that all schools must provide swimming instruction either in Key Stage 1 or 2

How you can help 1

Attend the ASA Parliamentary School Swimming Briefing • Find out this year’s 2014 School Swimming Census results • Give your support to the new ASA School Swimming Charter Hosted by Kate Hoey MP Wednesday 29th October, 9am to 11am Jubilee Room, House of Commons Register your attendance by email to [email protected]

2

Encourage primary schools in your area to sign up to the ASA School Swimming Charter at www.swimming.org/schoolswimming

Find out more Visit: www.swimming.org/schoolswimming Request a briefing paper: Email [email protected]

CORRIDORS:

The myths around betting shops Philip Davies, MP for Shipley and a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee

“Betting shops are an essential part of our local communities”

takeaways per square mile in the most deprived areas. Is money spent in pubs and takeaways really better for poorer people than spending their money in betting shops? The third myth is that the machines in betting shops are predominantly used by the poorest people. However, the most recent Health Survey showed that gambling prevalence was highest in the top quintiles of household income, with 6 per cent in the highest income quintile playing FOBTs, compared with 4 per cent in the lowest quintile. Again, the facts completely contradict the myths. In the official Health Survey, it was found that there were only two gambling activities which were engaged in more by poorer people than richer people – bingo and scratch cards. Why is it that there is a focus on betting shops and not on the actual two forms of gambling where the poorest people are more likely to play than the richest? That is all the more pertinent given that with scratch cards a person can start playing them when they are 16.

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f you were to believe everything you read in the newspapers, you could be forgiven for thinking that betting shops deliberately target the poorest in society and that rates of problem gambling were going through the roof. However, those are among many such myths doing the rounds at the moment, and it is important for public policy that people are aware of the facts and do not introduce knee-jerk reaction measures on the back of myths and lies. The first myth is that there has been a massive explosion in the number of betting shops in recent years. The number of betting offices peaked in the mid-1970s at around about 15,000. Today, there are around 8,500 and this figure has been pretty stable for the past decade. They have certainly become more prominent on the high street rather than on side streets – the financial crash allowed bookmakers to afford high street rents they previously could not afford - but there has not been an increase in the number. According to the Gambling Commission, there has also been a decline in the number of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) in the last couple of years so there is no great explosion in these, either. According to the Gambling Commission, 4 per cent of adults played on FOBTs in 2010 and this figure dropped to 3.4 per cent in 2011/12, and last year most bookmakers reported a decline in the money they were making from FOBTs. The second myth is that bookmakers are all congregated in poorer areas. There are two bookmakers per square mile in the most deprived areas which compares with 9 pubs and 11

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I believe the reason is that the concern for many of the campaigners is not about who is losing the money; it is about who is winning the money. That poorer people are losing much more money on scratch cards does not seem to worry people because the money is supposedly going to good causes. However, with FOBTs, the money is going to big companies like William Hill and therefore there is not as much public sympathy. Actually, if we are concerned about problem gambling, the focus should not be on who is making the money; the concern should be about who is losing the money. However, none of the arguments seem to be around that. The fourth myth is that the amount of problem gambling is going up. In fact, since FOBTs were introduced, the rate of problem gambling in the country has actually gone down – to around 0.5 per cent, according to the last survey (down from 0.9 per cent). If FOBTs were the cause of all problem gambling, one would think that problem gambling would have gone through the roof since they were introduced, and yet the reverse is true. The final myth is that FOBTs are described as the “crack cocaine of gambling”. They are only called that by their opponents, as oppose to by any sort of independent international observer. Bookmakers employ many people and finance horseracing in the UK. Betting shops are an essential part of our local communities. They deserve politicians who make decisions based on fact, rather than fiction.


ADVERTORIAL

A solution to the problem of faith schools Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education

“Dividing the children also means dividing the parents”

unthinkable to have hospitals with access limited to Jews, swimming pools only for Muslims and libraries just for Catholics. We would rightly object. Moreover, it is taking place in the very institutions which we like to think are preparing children for a better, fairer, more inclusive society. What sort of message are we giving young minds about an ‘us-and-them’ society when we separate them at the school gate? Dividing the children also means dividing the parents, who no longer meet at collection time or at parents’ evenings and sports days. Thus, faith schools cut huge swathes through society. The Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education calls upon all political parties to include the following five points in their manifesto, leading to legislation on faith in schools.

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he Birmingham schools which were recently criticised by Ofsted were not faith schools, but the exposure of their failings has caused major questions marks to be raised about the role of religion in education.

Firstly, to work towards ending the anomaly by which state-funded schools are legally able to distinguish between children on religious grounds in their admissions procedure. State discrimination is no longer acceptable.

If the Birmingham schools had been designated faith schools, then many of the practices condemned – such as limiting the curriculum to exclude lessons about sex education and to avoid the notion of evolution – would have been permitted.

Secondly, in the meantime, to bring all state schools in line with the system under which Free Schools operate, limiting the number of children that can be selected on the grounds of their faith to 50 per cent of the annual intake (This is not an ideal position but does at least introduce an element of consistency and eases the path towards the abolition of all religious discrimination in schools).

How can practices we find offensive in what are designated “community schools” suddenly be acceptable if they are labelled “faith schools”? Blinkering the horizons of children must be wrong wherever they learn. That applies also to the ability of faith schools to indoctrinate children in one faith, instead of equipping them to enter a multi-faith society and play a positive role within it. Equally damaging is the social segregation that occurs in faith schools and their ability to control admissions on grounds of religion. It is a legal form of discrimination that would not be tolerated in any other state-funded arena - it would be

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Thirdly, to close the legal loophole which currently allows schools to refuse to employ teachers on the basis of their faith, which is both morally objectionable and educationally counter-productive, restricting the range of teachers and narrowing the pupils’ perspectives.

I WAS TERRIFIED. ALL I HEARD WAS CANCER. BUT THANKS TO TEENAGE CANCER TRUST, I KNEW I WAS GOING TO BE OK. When Charlotte was diagnosed with cancer, we were able to give her expert care and support as she fought for her life. There are other young people, just like Charlotte, who are terrified right now and need our support too. As the only UK charity who does what we do, we need your help to be there for them.

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Fourthly, to recognise that the decision to remove the duty of Ofsted to inspect how schools promoted community cohesion was a mistake and should be re-instated. And fifthly, to ensure that all children learn about the full range of faiths and belief systems in Britain – not just one or none – by adding Religious Education to the National Curriculum.


This advert has been donated. *The Body Shop will match all donations up to a total of £20,000. The donation will cost £3 plus a text message at the standard rate. Teenage Cancer Trust (Registered Charity no: 1062559, SC039757) will receive 100% of every donation. Please ensure you have the bill payer’s permission before making this donation. Photo by Ashley Jouhar

ACHIEVING HIGH ATTAINMENT IN SCHOOLS base “The UK’s manufacturing is not near Heathrow. So why do I have to fly from there?”

In the run-up to next year’s general election there will be vital issues beyond the economy helping to determine how people will vote. And one such issue will be education.

ADVERTORIAL EDITORIAL

SUPPORTING TEACHERS THROUGH POWERFUL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Education, so critical to the standing of the UK economy, has experienced controversial reforms under the Coalition Government, sparking ongoing heated debates. Proponents of the changes believe Wang, Managing Director of reinvigorated MG Motor UK. that William the British schooling system has been and that, once again, there is an emphasis on children learning key subjects, such as English and Mathematics. However, opponents of the changes argue that confusion has been created in schools with teachers’ and headteachers’ opinions sidelined, including their concern over the recruitment of unqualified teachers. Politics First has invited Nicky Morgan, Tristram Hunt, David Ward and Margaret Jones to set out their respective views on the current standing of the UK’s education system and how children can be enabled to reach their full potential in schools and thus achieve high attainment...

Nicky Morgan MP Secretary of State for Education

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hThe driving force behind our plan for education is simple: we must ensure that every parent has the confidence to send their son or daughter to a good local school that they know will unlock their full potential. Whatever their chosen path, wherever they live and whatever their background, we want all young people to finish full-time education with the knowledge and qualifications they need to succeed in modern Britain. Our plan has made necessary a rapid and ambitious programme of reform. The pace at which that has developed has not always made life easy, and it is a testament to the professionalism, dedication and sheer hard work of our teachers that we have been able to achieve so much in such a short space of time. This September, pupils across England began studying a new national curriculum designed to ensure that every child learns the core knowledge in key subjects that universities and employers most value. The new curriculum sets higher standards and expectations in the basics of reading, writing and mathematics. At the same

Great airports for great cities www.balancedaviationdebate.com

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When children in our schools receive the most effective teaching, they progress faster. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds close the gap with their peers and all can experience a deeper enjoyment of school. While policy has focused on training 35,000 new teachers each year, we have overlooked the importance of ongoing support, development and training for more than 400,000 teachers already in the classroom. Launched by teachers in 2012, the Teacher Development Trust is the independent national charity for teachers’ professional development. Our mission is to improve educational outcomes for children by raising the quality of teachers’ professional development, raising awareness of its importance and building tools to help teachers transform their practice. Our recent research found that as many as 13,000 schools across the country are struggling to support staff in a sustainable, effective way. This is one factor behind levels of teacher morale and retention in England, which are very low by international comparison. A survey of 1,020 school leaders in England revealed that 53.4 per cent (the equivalent of 13,000 schools) found it harder to meet teachers’ development needs in the past twelve months because of financial pressures on the school. Some schools reported that no budget was available for teachers to access external support. Accountability measures are also limiting schools’ ability to develop teachers and leaders. Almost one in five secondary schools felt pressured to complete CPD in response to accountability measures such as Ofsted and league tables. In addition, the mechanisms for schools to compare and quality assure the external input they receive are poor. 67.4 per cent of school leaders select new CPD providers from those previously used by colleagues, leading to the dominance of “big names” that may not always be best suited to a school or teacher’s needs. While some are attempting a more systematic approach, teachers and school leaders highlighted the need for more support in making such decisions. These stubborn barriers are hindering teachers’ professional development and limiting its impact on student attainment and teaching quality. The Teacher Development Trust is calling for a system in which school leaders can prioritise staff development, teachers can engage meaningfully in CPD and every school or college is part of a national network of professional learning.

We are already supporting teachers and school leaders across the country to improve their approaches to professional development. Our National Teacher Enquiry Network is a partnership of schools and colleges developing world class, evidenceinformed professional learning, while the GoodCPDGuide, our online database of CPD resources, allows teachers to strategically find, compare and review external support. But further change is required. Our Annual Report 2014, released on 30th June at the Houses of Parliament, recommended the following changes to policy:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The creation of a national database of leading practice. Greater support for Teaching School Alliances in brokering support and partnerships for schools. A national communication drive to promote research findings around professional learning. Contributions towards an “incubator” organisation to prepare the ground for a new Royal College of Teaching. Discussions and funding around new professional career levels. Increased confidence and capacity at the Department for Education to support system-led improvement in professional learning. Preparations for a future personal entitlement to professional learning. Increased funding for research into effective professional development and knowledge-sharing.

In this way we can remove the barriers to effective and sustainable CPD, and unleash the potential of teachers to transform their practice and student outcomes for children in England. For further information on the Teacher Development Trust or to download the Annual Report, visit www.teacherdevelopmenttrust.org Visit the GoodCPDGuide at www.goodcpdguide.come and find out more about the National Teacher Enquiry Network at http://www.teacherdevelopmenttrust.org/teacher-enquiry-network/ Follow the Teacher Development Trust on Twitter @TeacherDevTrust

time, by making coding and computer science compulsory from age five, it will give more young people the skills they need to compete in a 21st century workforce.

to make the right choices for them. Schools also have an important role to play in providing the right environment for children to develop their individual talents.

And our reforms are already starting to produce results for older pupils. Grade inflation is finally under control, and more young people are choosing to study the subjects that will open doors for them in the future.

That is why I want to do more to support schools in ensuring that they not only give young people the skills and knowledge to succeed, but also the space to grow and develop into wellrounded adults.

As Minister for Women and Equalities, I am particularly pleased that the number of girls taking physics GCSE is at a record high, and more young women are choosing to study mathematics and science at A Level - the goal of our Your Life campaign - opening up a world of opportunity in increasingly important STEM careers.

That means more opportunities to take part in character-building extracurricular activities, and better access to high-quality careers advice to help young people make informed decisions about their future.

At the same time, we have given teachers more freedom in the classroom – including scrapping 21,000 pages of unnecessary guidance over the past four years, to free them from timeconsuming and bureaucratic paperwork. Over the coming months, I intend to go even further, and ensure we are doing everything we can to help teachers concentrate on what they do best: teaching and inspiring children to achieve. But helping young people to succeed in modern Britain is about more than just the time children spend learning in the classroom. This Government’s reforms to the adoption and care system, the groundbreaking improvements we have made to special educational needs provision, and the increased availability of high-quality childcare and early years education are designed to give every child the best chance at a happy and healthy future, and to ensure that families have the options they need

No country can afford to stand still when it comes to their education system, and we still have much to do. But the progress of the past four years means that now, more than ever, we have cause to be optimistic. As today’s young people leave school and embark of the next stage of their journey, we can be confident that more of them will enter adult life with the selfassurance, skills and drive to succeed in whatever comes next. I cannot wait to see what they achieve.

Tristram Hunt MP Shadow Secretary of State for Education

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mid the welter of anniversaries celebrated this summer, it is 70 years since Rab Butler’s 1944 Education Act received its royal assent. And it all began with a cat. After a night spent at Chequers, Butler was summoned to Winston Churchill’s bedroom at 10.45am to explain the education bill he had begun drafting. “I found him in bed, smoking a Corona, with a black cat curled up on his feet. He

began aggressively by claiming that the cat did more for the war effort than I did since it provided him with a hot water bottle and saved fuel and power. Didn’t I agree? I said not really, but that it was a very beautiful cat.” Churchill gave Butler only one request, pertaining to the history curriculum: “Tell the children that Wolfe won Quebec.” In fact, the 1944 act did much more than that. In policy terms, it meant universal education to 15, ending the dual system of religious and state schools, investing local government with much greater responsibility for education, and inaugurating the tripartite divide between grammar, secondary modern and technical schools. Yet, whilst few could begrudge 1944’s progressive aspirations, the truth is that its ‘One Nation’ ambition has never fully been realised in the post-war epoch. And worse than that, generations of English education reformers have learned the wrong lessons – in both theory and practice. First, in theoretical terms, the dream of the tripartite system seemed to embed something deep within our reform psyche which places a primacy on re-organising school structures at the expense of improving the quality of teaching. That despite all the contrary evidence which suggests teaching quality makes the biggest difference to our children’s learning outcomes. Second, in practice, Butler’s act never achieved its ambition of providing an excellent education system for both vocational and academic pupils. Even at their height, technical schools failed to cater for more than 2 per cent of all English students.

Cambridge assessment

ConferenCe 2014 Seventy years on, that is the historic wrong that the Labour party is determined to right. Because whether it was the 1944 act itself or a failure of implementation, the consequences are still with us: a shocking inequality in provision between technical and academic education; confusion over vocational qualifications; and hopeless levels of youth apprenticeships. So, as teachers and pupils return for a new school year, they should be in little doubt that the next general election will present a stark choice between the two major parties on education. Our new auto-pilot education secretary, Nicky Morgan, hopes to take education out of the spotlight, whilst surreptitiously cementing Michael Gove’s most damaging reforms. Another Tory-led administration would mean more unqualified teachers damaging learning; more money diverted away from areas of primary school place shortages and into pet free school projects; fewer apprenticeships for young people; no local oversight or accountability of our schools system; and zero strategy for young people who want to pursue technical and vocational pathways. The Labour party, by contrast, wants to finish the business of Butler. Alongside our ambition to deliver a world class teacher in every classroom and revolutionise the provision of continued professional development, we are committed to working with schools, businesses, further education colleges and universities to provide an education system focused on vocational excellence. From our plans for rigorous young apprenticeships, to requiring maths and English to 18, to a new generation of Institutes of Technical Education, Labour is determined not to repeat the mistakes of 1944. That approach begins with an appreciation that the narrow, exam-factory model of recent years is delivering neither a fulfilling school experience nor what the British economy requires. Instead, we must pursue Churchill’s demand for “a state of society where the advantages and privileges which hitherto have been enjoyed only by the few, shall be far more widely shared by the man and youth of the nation as a whole.” In 2015, only the Labour party can deliver that.

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David Ward MP

a member of the Education Select Committee

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or many young people from deprived backgrounds, life is about trying to catch up. Tragically, many give up at a young age, believing the odds are stacked too much against them. We hear so many times that we can help children escape their deprived backgrounds through high educational attainment but the truth is that it is through eliminating their deprivation that we can best help them realise their educational potential. By looking at all the correlations between non-school variables such as ethnicity, religion and gender on the one-hand and educational attainment on the other, we see it is the degree of a child’s affluence/deprivation that stands out as the most dominant determinant. We all know that school-variables such as additional resources and outstanding teaching can work magic in terms of boosting the life chances of even the most disadvantaged child; but we also know that the same child would be more likely to have a higher level of attainment if they had been born in a more affluent family. It is a fact that many children are already at a disadvantage and losing ground as they develop in the womb and therefore the additional support they need cannot begin soon enough.

The huge advantages which young people from even relatively comfortable backgrounds have over young people from deprived backgrounds gives schools serving deprived communities too much to do. The young person from the deprived community, especially if they are lucky enough to be bright and have a supportive home-life, may through the commitment of dedicated and passionate and skilful school staff do well in life. But far too many will not. That was brought home to myself and other members of the Education Select Committee on a recent visit to a school serving a deprived community where giving children arriving in the morning their first food of the day and changing the soiled clothes they arrived in, had to take place before teaching could begin. Governments, of course, know that is true and hence we have Children’s Centres, Free School Meals, the Pupil Premium and other measures. Those are all, unfortunately, necessary ameliorative initiatives to make up for a degree of inequality that should not exist. As the building work progresses, we must have our very best builders on our most difficult sites. We must find a way of incentivising our very best teachers and leaders to work in our most difficult schools. It will be hard to do because such schools are demanding and exact a cost on their staff. I will leave it to others to talk about the building blocks of grade inflation, Vocational Education, subject content, tuition fees, teacher training, parental involvement, the ‘middle tier’, governance, 21st century pedagogy, school readiness and many other school and non-school variables because I do not want to dilute my message. Those incredibly important factors in raising educational attainment are part of the construction process of an edifice that sits on a foundation of inequality. So, my solution to how we ‘create the conditions’ for high attainment? A new Secretary of State for Education who leaves education alone for five years whilst he or she commits themselves to reducing child poverty – then watch a splendid building grow.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

interpretation importance impact

There is no doubt that internationally-focused education is rising up the agenda of governments worldwide. But what exactly do we mean by an international education? How best can we prepare students for an increasingly interconnected world? The seventh Cambridge Assessment Conference will welcome over 140 education experts from across the UK and overseas to scrutinise the challenges and opportunities that education without borders creates. A must-attend event for professionals involved in the shaping and delivery of international education at school and policy levels. Confirmed speakers isabel nisbet Executive Director, A Level Content Advisory Board Jeremy Hodgen Professor of Mathematics Education, King’s College London sunny Varkey Founder and Executive Chairman, GEMS Education Group david Graddol Director, The English Company dr stephen spurr Headmaster, Westminster School david Barrs and Jill martin Headteachers, Anglo European School marc Tucker President and CEO, National Center on Education and the Economy, USA dr karin Zimmer researcher, German Institute for International Educational Research

15 october 2014 | downing College | Cambridge

Book your place: www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/conference2014 September/October 2014


Baroness Margaret Jones Shadow Spokesperson for Education in the House of Lords

world in reading and mathematics. So, rather than denigrating teachers and driving the race to the bottom by welcoming unqualified teachers into schools, Labour would do the opposite. We would expect Qualified Teacher Status to be the bare minimum for an established classroom teacher. Then, like any other high status profession, we would expect them to demonstrate a journey of continuous professional development in their career. That should include an appetite for learning the latest pedagogical and technical developments in teaching. It should also embrace the sharing of best practice with colleagues through teacher learning communities.

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hen the legacy of Michael Gove is finally written up, one thing will be clear: he failed to make the transition from outspoken journalist to political leader. Never having had experience of managing a large, complex organisation, nor a background in education, he simply did not learn the skills necessary to enthuse the people who were expected to deliver his change agenda on the frontline. That is one of the defining differences between Labour and the Coalition Government. We understand that you cannot have world class education without world class teachers. The surest way to improve our children’s attainment is by raising the standards of teaching and motivating them to demand the best of every pupil. Put at its most simple, research shows that if we were able to raise the performance of the least effective teachers, then England would rank in the top five education systems in the

We will nurture and facilitate those developments - learning from the success of the London Challenge which transformed London schools through an emphasis on openness and collaboration. The second defining difference between Labour and the Coalition is that we understand the different routes to learning and success. Academic excellence and a university degree can represent the height of achievement and a route out of poverty for many young people. But, for others, that direction leads to an unhappy experience in school and a lack of alternative routes to career fulfilment. So, if we are serious about delivering higher levels of attainment for all young people, our priority has to be to match the status of vocational excellence with academic achievement. It makes sense for individual young people as well as being essential for the UK’s future as a high wage, hi-tech, high innovation economy.

Indeed, the evidence shows that those European countries with the most effective vocational education systems also have the lowest levels of youth unemployment. That is why Labour proposes to introduce a new gold standard Technical Baccalaureate, on a par with the Academic qualifications, and underpinned by a requirement for all young people to study Maths and English to age 18 and undertake an extended project.

Better teaching

Finally, it is crucial that we address the educational attainment gap between rich and poor children which Demos revealed has widened under this government. The Social Mobility Commission has reported that the previous government’s ambition to end child poverty is now way off target, with two million children continuing to live in poverty.

World-leading practice

Great teachers aren’t born – they’re made. And we know how. The political leaders of high-performing education systems recognise this, and they take teacher education very seriously. These systems, including the oft-cited Singapore and Finland, rely on recruiting high-achievers and preparing them well through training that is rooted in universities’ research expertise. If we are to compete internationally on skills, teacher preparation matters. We need to benchmark ourselves against the best when setting our own teacher education policy.

Currently, our research shows that two thirds of Councils do not have enough quality places for the vulnerable two year olds in their area. In parallel, our ground-breaking network of Sure Start centres is sadly being dismantled, with 578 fewer centres than when this government came to power. That is why a priority of a future labour Government will be to tackle the link between a child’s background and their educational achievement. We will start by expanding free, quality childcare from 15 hours to 25 hours for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds. That will be supplemented by access to wraparound care from 8am to 6pm at their local primary school. Through those and other measures, we will create an education system in which teachers, parents and employers have confidence, and where every child can flourish and excel.

Professor Chris Husbands, Director of the Institute of Education, University of London (IOE), discusses the components of world-class teacher training

In our universities we have the research base and teacher training infrastructure to match the best. At the IOE we want to be at the forefront of developing world-class teachers for our schools – and we have the credentials: in the 2014 QS World University Rankings we take pole position for the quality and impact of our research in education; Ofsted has rated us as ‘Outstanding’ across the board for our Initial Teacher Training.

A profession, not a craft

Teaching is a complex, cognitively demanding role. We need our teachers to deploy sophisticated clinical thinking – to use their judgement to select the right teaching strategies, to use assessment to measure their impact on pupils’ learning, and to modify their practice to make further gains. This demands practical and technical skills. But it also requires theoretical understanding, so that teachers can judge why a particular approach is likely to work in a given context, not just simply administer it. These – and the development of first-rate analytical skills – are taken for granted elements of teacher preparation in top-performing jurisdictions.

A further feature is teachers’ engagement with research. This is a core part of teachers’ professional identity, and support for it is embedded strategically across these systems. As the recent review by the British Educational Research Association (Research and the Teaching Profession) confirms, the most effective teachers routinely utilise the lessons from education research to continually update their practice and renew their professionalism. Every learner deserves teaching that is informed by the latest relevant research. To make a comparison with another profession: medical schools are attached to universities, providing medical students with the chance to see the relationship between research and practice and to learn to understand the nature and importance of evidence. This is arguably the mark of a professional, and applies throughout a professional’s career.

Making it happen

All this requires training that joins together experiential learning at the ‘chalk face’ with insights from academic study and engagement with research. This is the ‘clinical model’ of teacher training and relies on close working between schools and universities. Partnership in the delivery of teacher training is, in fact, well-established in England. The basics are in place. To emulate the best teacher training internationally at scale, we need to retain the strongest research intensive universities and the best schools in teacher education, and strengthen and better integrate their respective roles. With these objectives in mind, the principle of supporting close, sustainable partnership has to be the starting point for future reforms to teacher education.

INTERVIEW: PAUL BURSTOW

Time to earn as you learn: the value of teengage apprenticeships Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park, explains to Marcus Papadopoulos about how apprenticeships are often overlooked as an alternative to university Q How important are apprenticeships today in the UK for people who have them? Apprenticeships are extremely important for the young people and, indeed, people of all ages who have them. Apprenticeships are becoming increasingly recognised as an alternative to university as they can and do result in very good careers and very good salaries. A major benefit of an apprenticeship, especially for women, is that you can be earning while you are learning, which, of course, is not something you can do if you are pursuing a degree. In addition to that, an apprenticeship gets someone through the door, so to speak, and, following on from this, it will equip the person with life-long skills through learning on the job. Finally, from a monetary perspective, it is evidently clear, through the figures available, that the lifetime earnings of someone who has had an apprenticeship, compared to somebody who has not, runs into thousands of pounds, hence an apprenticeship is hugely beneficial. Q Are you satisfied with the current relationship between schools, colleges, universities and businesses? I believe there is more to be done to ensure that education-providers really understand what business wants and these are, quite simply, the fundamentals – punctuality, the basics of literacy and numeracy and being an interesting employee. So, those attributes will often enable a person to obtain an apprenticeship. Q What are the benefits to a business of taking on an apprentice? An apprentice is clearly someone who

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is looking to have a long-term career, to develop their skills and to invest in themselves hence a business is potentially obtaining a very good employee. Further to that, a business has the opportunity to try out an apprentice. In short, I would contend that it is a win-win situation for any business.

The CII is the world’s largest professional body for insurance and financial services.

Of course, the best advocates for apprenticeship programmes are businesses which are already running them. In my constituency, for example, there are a number of medium-sized businesses running apprenticeship programmes and with great success, with Smith & Byford Limited being one such example of this. Q The Coalition Government has announced that there are now 1.8 million more apprenticeships. What is your response to that? And would you like the government to do more? The ambition of the government is to have about 2 million apprenticeships by the end of this parliament which, if achieved, would be a phenomenal figure. Apprenticeships have been a major feature of this government’s economic programme and there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of apprenticeships available to people of all ages. And I very much hope that that expansion of apprenticeship programmes can be sustained throughout the life of the next parliament to ensure that apprenticeships are not just something for young people but are seen to be a real benefit to people looking to change career mid-career and even to people in later life. Apprenticeships should be a priority for the government in the sense that government departments should be prepared to play their part in running and supporting apprenticeships and should be


Supporting tomorrow’s professionals today We understand how important it is to harness the talent of tomorrow to create a brighter future. That’s why we work with employers, schools and colleges to promote Apprenticeships.

a priority for continued funding through the National Apprenticeships Service. Q What have you been doing in your constituency to increase awareness of the importance of apprenticeships? I visit a lot of local businesses and ask them whether they offer apprenticeship programmes or whether they have considered offering them. If they either do not offer them or have not considered offering them, I try to persuade the business concerned of the benefits of having apprentices. Also, I help to network businesses, which run apprenticeship programmes, in order for them to talk to each other about their experiences of apprenticeships. Finally, I ran an apprenticeship event at the Holiday Inn last year in which we advertised it to schools and local businesses; both students and businesses were able to learn about the options available to them through the event. (Additional material by Nermin Moody)


[email protected] cii.co.uk/apprenticeships

ADVERTORIAL

The need for Westminster to keep its sight on eye care Professor Carrie MacEwen, President of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, discusses with Marcus Papadopoulos the existing provision in the NHS for eye health care

Govia is the UK’s busiest rail operator. Over one million people use our services every day. We operate Southern, Southeastern, which includes the country’s only domestic high speed service and London Midland, where award winning marketing has helped drive passenger growth. Our commitment

• Customer focus: we think like a passenger to improve our service to customers • Operational excellence: we manage complex networks every day efficiently and effectively • Partnership: we work collaboratively with partners such as Network Rail, the Department for Transport and Transport for London • Decentralisation: we run our rail franchises with empowered local managers responsible for delivery Govia is the alliance between Go-Ahead and Keolis. We combine 16 years of UK rail experience with world leading technology.

1

million

passengers every day

16

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UK rail experience

Q Are patients receiving the eye care they need from current eye health services provided by the NHS?

Q What is the role of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists in improving eye care services?

The answer to that question is both Yes and No. In many ways, the provision for eye care is extremely good, especially given that in the UK there are less than 1,500 consultant ophthalmologists. Not that long ago, patients were losing their sight. Today, state-of-the-art technology, a better understanding of diseases, improved surgical techniques and new medical treatments contribute to saving sight at an early stage. Cataract surgery is the most common surgical procedure performed in the UK with more than 300,000 cases carried out last year. That is a life-changing operation which improves quality of life and reduces risk of falls and depression and benefits other clinical and social care areas in the NHS.

As an independent charity, we pride ourselves on providing impartial and clinically-based evidence, putting patient care and safety at the heart of everything we do.

We are, however, a victim of our own success - the sheer volume of patients requiring, and benefiting from eye care, means there is a lack of capacity to meet the demand. There are now delays for follow up appointments that are putting patients’ vision at risk. Many patients have chronic conditions associated with longevity and diseases such as diabetes, which inevitably consume time and resources. Also, there are groups of people who are unable to easily access ophthalmic care, such as residents in nursing homes, those with mental health issues and in social deprivation. Overall, one in every ten patients who attend hospital as an outpatient will be coming to the eye department for assessment or treatment. There are 7.5 million people in the UK who attend the outpatient hospital eye service annually and 750,000 patients who undergo ophthalmic surgery. The numbers increase relentlessly yearon-year. So, I would say that capacity to meet the demand is the main weakness in provision for eye care in the UK.


The College is responsible for setting and maintaining standards in our specialty through education, training, professional examinations and provision of clinical guidelines. Consultant ophthalmologists have undergone at least 15 years of training before being considered for independent clinical practice.

Q How can the capacity issue be remedied? That is a complex challenge. All health professionals involved in eye care services already work well together, but more integration with communication systems that share patient information seamlessly are needed; as well as identifying the training needs of nurses, optometrists and orthoptists and continuing to develop ophthalmology-led guidelines, protocols and patient pathways. We also need data to be collected around the impact of inappropriate referrals, delayed follow up appointments and outcomes of treatment in the eye health service sector. That knowledge, together with staffing the right health professionals in the most appropriate locations, would enable us to deliver care in a much more efficient and cost effective fashion. It will help health departments and commissioning bodies make the right choices locally and nationally and reduce the number of patients who are referred unnecessarily to hospitals, freeing up valuable resources and funding.

So, ophthalmologists really are at the forefront of eye health services because of that extensive training and experience. They are the experts when it comes to developing the most efficient and cost effective routes to solve the capacity issue. Q What can politicians at Westminster do to support the need to increase capacity? We need to work directly with politicians to ensure that they fully understand the issues affecting NHS eye health services and what can be done to optimise the current resources to meet the needs of patients. There is an enormous amount of dedicated work that ophthalmologists and other health care professionals do already in the NHS to deliver excellent patient eye care. The demand on UK eye services has increased by nearly 30 per cent in the past 6 years and shows no sign of decreasing. We need politicians to take a broader view of eye care. I see the Royal College of Ophthalmologists as a bridge to all providers of eye care across the primarysecondary care interface. I would ask all political parties to pledge support to review eye health services as a priority within the NHS in order to optimise efficiency, funding and reduce preventable blindness.


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INTERVIEW: HP

ADVERTORIAL

Strengthening the UK defence sector and strengthening UK security

Potential for further inward investment is huge

Simon Fovargue, Vice President and General Manager, UK Defence, HP, explains to Marcus Papadopoulos how HP is enhancing the British military

David Workman, Director General of the Confederation of Paper Industries, tells Keith Richmond why companies are calling for a level playing field on carbon pricing, energy taxation and renewable subsidies

of terabytes of data every hour on the battlefield mean that we can no longer rely on humans alone to make sense of it; we need technology, such as analytics and visualisation.

Q How have you seen IT change the defence sector over the years and what is HP’s view of the future? HP has been involved in the UK defence sector for over 25 years and we have seen three significant changes. Firstly, we saw a great deal of commercial off the shelf based IT systems, along with the early IT outsourcing contracts for logistics and personnel during the 1990s. Secondly, the Ministry of Defence entered the era of ‘Network-Enabled Capability’ underpinned by some large outsourcing contracts such as ‘The Defence Information Infrastructure’. Those contracts provided common, enterprise-wide IT from barracks to battle space on land and at sea. And finally, today we see a move to a more user-centric IT environment, incorporating as many industry standard components as possible, where mobility, information exploitation and security are key. That will be a more agile and flexible IT environment with users able to access information when they need it and wherever they need it. In HP, we call this the new style of IT. Q The British military has long been one of the most active armed forces in the world but now has to operate under increasing financial restrictions. What impact do you think that will have on IT? The impact will manifest itself in a number of areas as the MoD will require new approaches in order to provide more capability under greater financial restriction. A new approach to user specifications and a greater use of industry standard components will go a long way to address that. Tailoring IT capabilities specifically for the mission and environment combined with a new approach to delivery using more agile processes will enable quicker and more efficient implementation. Q Increasingly, the British military is going

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As technology becomes more pervasive, every device provides an opportunity for a hacker to exploit. More importantly, the battle for the future is about making information harder to decode. Perhaps we are now entering the next Cold War through a data obfuscation arms race.

After a slump in the production of paper and board, in the immediate aftermath of the economic crisis, the picture is much improved, largely due to the commissioning of two new paper mills and investment in upgrading a number of existing factories, including the construction of two large combined heat and power plants. Recycling continues to grow, with the UK now recycling over 70% of paper waste; an increasing number of mills now use only recovered fibre as their raw material. The UK’s first carton and paper cup recycling plants have also opened recently. But it needs to be borne in mind that we only produce about one-third of the paper consumed in the UK, so the potential for further inward investment is huge!

Q Cyber has been called the “fifth theatre” of war. How can HP contribute to that critical area of capability?

What issues does the industry face now?

The Internet of Things and the proliferation of sensors, devices, robots and unmanned vehicles create more vulnerabilities. That will require significant thought and investment in the approach, training and capabilities required for spectrum warfare not only by the specialists and Joint Cyber Unit, but more generally.

to have to do more with less and with a greater reliance on industry, especially where there are skills gaps. How is HP going to assist with that? HP was an early signatory to the Armed Forces’ Covenant and the Corporate Covenant. The purpose is to ensure military personnel are not disadvantaged in the commercial work place and are given extra help where needed. HP already employs a significant number of reservists and veterans, and our employment terms and conditions, as well as our ways of working, are suited to support the aims of the Covenant. We also support the MoD reservists’ agenda, committing to targets, conducting recruiting and briefing sessions, as well as looking to sponsor relevant higher education courses and places. In recognition of that, the MoD recently awarded HP with its Gold Level Award under the MoD’s new Employer Recognition Scheme. Q What role will information play in the battlefield of the future? Information capability is the new battlefield. The huge volume of data, devices, sensors and autonomous platforms that collect, store, process and transfer thousands


A number of government departments and IT and defence suppliers have invested in cyber capabilities, with the MoD seen as one of the leaders in this area across government. However, cyber defence capabilities are costly and increasingly rely on automation to handle the millions, if not hundreds of billions, of security events that are now detected. HP believes there is a need to invest not just in network level defences on the edge, but also in the means to process, manage, disseminate and exploit the data that these systems generate in a way that is meaningful to the business. The answer lies not just in technology but also in people and process. HP has the capability to advise on appropriate solutions whilst drawing on a wide range of specialist and small medium enterprises.


Anything else?

How has the UK’s paper industry coped with the economic downturn since 2008?

In a nutshell, international competition, particularly from countries with lower energy and legislative compliance costs than the UK. We have witnessed an exceptional increase in regulation and legislation over the last decade, and it is getting worse. Over 2,300 new regulations and directives have emerged from Brussels over the last five years and the paper industry faces the daunting task of achieving 130 environmental targets by 2050. We are concerned about the widening gap in industrial energy costs between the UK and other European countries, and between Europe and the rest of the world. The other major issue concerns the cost and availability of our basic raw material – wood pulp. Increasing global demand from traditional wood-based industries,


together with an alarming increase in the use of wood as biomass fuel in power production, is putting severe strain on the world’s forests. Maintaining a secure, consistent and affordable source of fresh water could also become an issue in the coming years.

What measures should government introduce to enhance the industry’s competitiveness? We would like to see all political parties reiterate their support for energy intensive industries, such as paper, in their forthcoming manifestos. A radical plan is required to reduce the burden of the plethora of complex and often overlapping legislative measures we face. Specifically, we need an early repeal of the carbon price floor. At the very least, we need a commitment to retain and extend the current compensation package for EIIs. The carbon reduction commitment should be scrapped. And we need a level playing field on carbon pricing, energy taxation and renewable subsidies.

We need cost effective measures to decarbonise energy supply. It is no good setting arbitrary targets for specific technologies, together with strike prices, which will significantly increase the costs of energy. We need an energy mix that will produce low cost, secure supplies, even if that includes coal. A much more robust plan should be put in place for the environmentally responsible development of shale gas and other unconventional sources. Industrial energy efficiency targets should be set on the basis of each tonne of production and not by absolute caps. Much more support for the construction and operation of CHP plants needs to form a part of any future action plan. Carbon reduction targets should be accompanied by carbon consumption targets. It is pointless to claim success in achieving the former, if the latter continues to go up.

Why do you want an Office of Resource Management? We need a radical overhaul of waste policy in the UK, which recognises the important role that end-of-life materials play in resource security. An Office of Resource Management would support a policy designed around the concept of a circular society and, within this framework, we need measures to ensure that no recyclable material ends up being used as fuel for Energy from Waste plants.

• The Confederation of Paper Industries represents an industry with an aggregate annual turnover of £6.5 billion, 25,000 direct and more than 100,000 indirect employees. For further information, call 01793 889600, email: [email protected] or visit www.paper.org.uk


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INTERVIEW: SOCIETY AND COLLEGE OF RADIOGRAPHERS

Why professional titles are important What’s in a job title? Richard Evans, Chief Executive Officer of the Society and College of Radiographers, tells Keith Richmond that our health care workforce isn’t just about doctors and nurses departments, where diagnostic radiographers are an essential part of the team.

Q I thought radiographers were specialist doctors? Radiographers are allied health professionals, one of 12 distinct degree qualified professions regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council. Diagnostic radiographers obtain images for diagnosis and to guide clinical procedures. Therapeutic radiographers deliver doses of radiation to treat disease, particularly cancer.

The accurate interpretation of the x-ray and other images that are needed in emergency medicine is obviously essential if patients are to be effectively and efficiently treated. Research shows that health outcomes and service efficiency are significantly improved if interpretation is provided by a suitably qualified professional at the time of the examination.

Q So what is wrong with using the term doctors and nurses to describe people who work in the NHS? There are few phrases more likely to irritate and, by implication, undervalue and discourage, the majority of people who make up the workforce of the National Health Service. Doctors and nurses are only part of a much larger team that includes hundreds of roles essential to delivering modern health services. The NHS is about team working. Nurses and doctors are, of course, important; but if politicians and civil servants effectively ignore the other professions they will become increasingly demotivated and disaffected. Q Aren’t they being a bit over sensitive? Professional qualifications, and the titles that define them, matter to the people who have worked hard for them. The political class is obsessed with titles and the status that goes with them, so why should the rest of us be any different? It is not just the feelings of radiographers and other professions that are hurt by lazy terminology. By not acknowledging the contribution health professionals and others make affects patient services, too. It is all too easy for commissioners and service providers to focus on the medical and

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nursing priorities so that opportunities for innovative and productive working by others are missed. There is evidence that this is happening within national workforce planning, meaning that shortages of essential skills will get worse. In a period of severe financial constraint it makes sense to ensure we do all we can to ensure that decisions on resources are balanced and strategic. If changing language might help, let’s do it! Q This is all a bit politically correct, isn’t it? Professor John Appleby, Chief Economist at The King’s Fund, says there is a clear link between NHS staff morale and the quality of care provided. Morale is perceived by senior hospital managers to be the top challenge for their organisation. As well as retention of disaffected staff, there are concerns about recruitment. Who wants to join a profession, or a group of staff, who are not properly acknowledged or recognised? Q Are there instances when a lack of recognition of a role can really affect services to patients? A good example is in emergency


A radiologist, or suitably trained radiographer, producing hot reports is good practice available in some, but by no means all, emergency departments. It is accepted that providing hot reporting improves efficiency and leads to better clinical outcomes and yet, too often, nothing is done about implementation because of a lack of support in training radiographers to take on the role. Other AHPs, such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists, can also make significant contributions to emergency care teams but, like radiographers, are often overlooked in service planning and in commissioning. Q Will changing terminology really help? What is really required is for policy makers, commissioners and NHS trust boards to wake up to the potential that is being under-utilised in the non-medical and nursing portions of the workforce. Everyone should be asking “could we be using AHPs more efficiently?” before asking the question “do we have sufficient doctors and nurses?” Remembering to use a more generic term such as health care professionals is a small change but may help us begin to change a damaging culture that undervalues and under utilises a key part of our health workforce.


INTERVIEW: CII

How Britain benefits from professional and vocational education Daniel Pedley, Public Affairs Manager of the Chartered Insurance Institute, explains to Marcus Papadopoulos the importance of professional and vocational education to the UK Q There is an increasing public policy focus on vocational education. What do you believe the value of professional and vocational education is to society and the economy? As the leading professional body for insurance and financial services, the Chartered Insurance Institute is well positioned to understand the value of professional education as well as vocational education more widely. There are benefits in both economic and social terms; it prepares learners with knowledge and practical experience of a particular subject/discipline, both of which are highly prized by employers. As apprenticeships develop in more traditional professions, such as financial services, that type of education will play the role of social change agent - opening doors, as well as people’s minds, to jobs and sectors which might previously have not been available. Q What role do professional bodies have in that arena? And what expertise do bodies like the CII have in supporting vocational education and apprenticeships? Professional bodies play a key role in promoting vocational education, in particular apprenticeships. Through strong, long established links with firms and individual members, we are able to highlight the benefits that such education can bring, and then support those wishing to get involved. Myths and misunderstandings about apprenticeships still exist and so we work to dispel these. In doing so, we are able to demonstrate what apprenticeships have to offer (to employers of all sizes). Many professional bodies have long histories and therefore experience of providing their sectors with what they need. The current fashion for employerled apprenticeships is a model we recognise and are very familiar with. The


CII’s qualifications are designed, with the help of employers, to ensure relevance – and firms recognise their value. So, the inclusion of professional qualifications within insurance apprenticeships is a big part of the appeal to employers because they already understand it. Q Do you believe government understands the benefits of engaging with professional bodies? This government has recognised the role that professional bodies play, illustrated by their central role in the new apprenticeship system. However, there is still a little way to go with Whitehall’s understanding of the value professional bodies can contribute to the skills system. We come at no cost to the public purse but, through our Royal Charter, have a public interest remit that is at the heart of everything we do. Future policy should draw more on the expertise of professional bodies, which would, in turn, negate the need for quangos. Q Do you agree with the employer-led approach to skills development?

It is right that employers are at the heart of the creation of new apprenticeship standards and the skills system in general. After all, they are at the coalface and know what is required. However, the focus needs to be on the future as well as the present. Professional bodies are able to help bring a sector wide view. We are also able to engage with those employers who have not done so in the past or who are willing but unsure about how to go about it. It is vital we work towards broad representation. Q As well as working with firms, does the CII work to raise awareness of careers in insurance? The CII is active in promoting insurance careers in schools in order to enthuse the next generation of talent. It is vital that people realise the breadth of opportunities available across insurance and our “Discover Risk” initiative, which promotes insurance careers to those in education, is one way of ensuring this. Good quality careers information is vital and it is important that everyone plays their part: government, employers and sector bodies.


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INTERVIEW: BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY

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Helping us to eat more heathily

Ensuring a fair education for all

Professor Heather Hartwell, of Bournemouth University, discusses with Marcus Papadopoulos an EU-funded project which aims to promote healthy eating across Europe

Brett Wigdortz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Teach First, tells Keith Richmond about the huge potential for change in our education system

tempt people into trying something different.

Q. What is the VeggiEAT project? The VeggiEAT project aims to promote healthy eating throughout Europe and encourage more vegetable consumption across the lifespan, focusing on school children and the elderly.

Ultimately, I would like to go into a school in Birmingham, for example, and see something like sweetcorn mousse on the menu, which has been derived from our project, and then go to a care home in Italy and see that same sweetcorn mousse.

Within Europe, we do not eat enough fruit and vegetables and there are a multitude of associated health issues.

But also see that people are enjoying it – that it is selling well and being eaten - because then it is of benefit to industry, as well.

There has been a lot of individual intervention – five a day for example – but this is looking at it from the premise that we are all eating out more and so the food service industry needs to take more responsibility. We hope VeggiEAT will eventually inform government policy across Europe and put the food service industry at the forefront of healthy eating interventions – while also giving consumers foods they will enjoy. Bournemouth University is leading the project, working with Aalborg University in Denmark and the University of Florence alongside industry partners Bonduelle and the Institute Paul Bocuse. VeggiEAT is funded by the European Commission through a Marie-Curie Industry and Academia Partnerships and Pathways grant and is due to be completed in September 2017. Q. What research activities are taking place? VeggiEAT is currently focused on reaching schoolchildren and the elderly, in places like school canteens and luncheon clubs, to see how tastes and vegetable consumption change throughout the lifespan. We have a number of different research projects taking place, focused on finding innovative ways to get people excited about eating vegetables.

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Q. How are you hoping the VeggiEAT project will inform and influence government policy across Europe? French company Bonduelle, which produces and sells processed vegetables, is providing samples for tasting - to see whether different characteristics like size, sweetness and texture change people’s enjoyment of vegetables.

The outcomes of the research are expected to play a major part in contributing to the EU Consumer Policy strategy and to the Action Plan on Food and Nutrition Policy, by providing good evidence-based practice.

French food and hospitality training academy L’Institut Paul Bocuse will develop inventive new recipe ideas involving vegetables for consumers across Europe to taste and evaluate.

The health promotion message historically has been very individual – but very few people reach the recommended five a day of fruit or vegetables, so it is just setting the public out to fail and become disenchanted.

It is really important that that the work carried out in universities is not isolated from how industry works - we can suggest solutions, but unless they are going to work in a real-life context, they are never going to be useful. That is one of the strengths of this research.

We hope to put food service at the forefront of intervention with regard to health because you can reach a huge section of the population by looking at where groups of people eat. It is a much better use of government resources than trying to reach people individually.

Q. What do you hope to achieve? We are trying to promote a positive message around vegetables and look at ways to reach large numbers of the population. It is really about finding innovative ways of encouraging food service operators to provide new products, which will then


We also hope the VeggiEAT project will bring benefits for European vegetable manufacturers, adding essential knowledge regarding consumer behaviour and so strengthening European competitiveness. To find out more about VeggiEAT visit: www.veggieat.eu


Q What are the biggest challenges facing young people?

Q What is Teach First? Whilst the last decade has seen major improvements in the quality of many schools, a significant proportion of young people are still being held back. Nearly half of all children claiming free school meals fail to get a single pass above a D grade at GCSE. That is just not good enough. Teach First, established in 2002, was founded on the belief that it does not have to be that way. We train and support committed individuals to become inspirational classroom leaders in schools serving low-income communities across England and Wales. We have helped raise the status of the teaching profession to improve the results and performance of schools up and down the country. We have built a movement of leaders across education, and broader society, committed to working with others in the sector to try to ensure a fair education for all. Q What difference have you made over the last decade? I am most proud of the difference our teachers, along with their colleagues, are making to pupils every day. Last year, independent research showed that our teachers are helping to improve teenagers’ exam results and increase the performance of their schools.

I believe we could be on the edge of a truly world class education system. But we won’t get there until every young person, no matter their background, is given a fair chance. The new challenge is no longer just in our cities, but in coastal towns and rural areas, where few teachers are choosing to teach and many poorer children are falling behind. As a result, only one in three children from lowincome backgrounds are achieving the basic level of learning needed to start school. Q How can you address those issues?

never choose to teach in schools serving disadvantaged communities. Fast-forward 12 years and teaching in challenging schools is now the career choice for many of this country’s brightest minds. Teach First is ranked 2nd in The Times Top 100 graduate employers and, since 2003, we’ve been able to work with almost 1 million young people in over 1,000 schools serving the lowest-income communities. By 2018 we hope to have a movement of 10,000 people who will have completed our programme.

From next year we’ll be extending our reach to work with more schools in areas like the East of England and coastal Yorkshire. We know that if we want to close the gap between children from different backgrounds, we’ve got to start young. I also think there are big opportunities to learn from our expertise in training new teachers to support the wider profession. Beyond their own teacher, there’s no one more important to a child’s education than their head teacher. We already have 13 heads who are ambassadors of Teach First and starting to have some real success, so I’m really excited about the prospect of many more. Q But you cannot do it on your own?

Q What changes have you seen?

Most stay in teaching in low-income schools and a third of those are already in a middle or senior leadership position, a number we expect to grow substantially in the years to come. And many are also working at the heart of government and business to improve education and transforming corporate engagement with schools in this country.

When we started Teach First, I was told by the careers director at one of the country’s top universities that top graduates would

That’s huge potential for transformation change right across the whole education system.

Our roots lie in London, where we have placed more than 3,000 teachers in the most disadvantaged areas of the capital over the last ten years. We have helped play a fundamental part in the capital’s incredible transformation from the worst, to the country’s best, area for schools.


No, the challenges ahead are bigger than Teach First! It’s going to need schools, government, business and charities to work together. We’ve just launched the Fair Education Alliance which brings together 25 organisations committed to ensuring that how much your parents earn doesn’t dictate how well you do at school and in life. I’d love to see all parties, schools and the education community unite behind them.


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Engineering Britain’s economic recovery Sir Alan Rudge, President of the ERA Foundation, explains to Marcus Papadopoulos the critical importance of engineering to the UK economy

Q You are known as a strong advocate for manufacturing. Does the UK really need to stay in manufacturing when the service sector is so strong and returning to robust health? It has been suggested over recent decades that the UK is a post-industrial economy based on financial and business services. But it is time for a reality check. Recent ONS data shows that in 2013 the current account deficit was £71.1 billion; in 2013 there was a trade deficit in goods of £107.8 billion – the worst on record, with the largest share of the deficit related to finished manufactured goods. The UK has been in deficit for approximately 17 years now - and the deficit is becoming worse. Of course, we need a strong financial sector, not least to serve UK industry and citizens. But we need to return to a balanced economy with productive industry and especially manufacturing at its heart. The UK’s current account continues to be balanced by the sale of debt and assets. That cannot go on; eventually all the “family silver” will have gone unless the trade deficit is eliminated. There have been some great manufacturing success stories in recent years, and we should be proud of these. Engineering companies such as BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, GKN, JCB, JLR and others are world beaters. And we retain a strong pharmaceutical sector. It is not an issue of the quality of our industry – it is an issue of quantity; we simply do not have enough world beaters with manufacturing having been neglected for too long. Although manufacturing now constitutes only 11 per cent of GDP, down from over 25 per cent twenty years ago, we are still dependent upon it for half the nation’s exports. The UK was the world’s fourth largest manufacturing nation as

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recently as 1998, but it is now barely in the top ten. There is no disguising the damage done by decades of neglect of manufacturing by successive government administrations.

Q We are told that the UK has a strong research base. How wide is the gap between research and commercialisation in engineering? There is a very big gap and the gap is,


fundamentally speaking, not a weakness in engineering research capability; rather, it is about weakness in industry and financing between universities and applications in industry particularly the SME sector. A major concern for SMEs is patient finance to allow them to grow. In recent reports we have highlighted weaknesses of government policies and in the availability of finance for SMEs. The Government could do more in loan guarantees and providing special measures to allow SMEs to compete for Government contracts. SMEs are


ADVERTORIAL very important in the economy and are the main source of industrial job creation; they need to be nurtured and encouraged.

Q Are energy costs as critical for retaining manufacturing in the UK as you and others claim? In 2010, we carried out a survey of top industrialists asking them to identify the key parameters affecting their businesses. One of their principal concerns was the cost and security of supply of energy, which underpins all industrial activity. If the UK is to reverse its fortunes, urgent attention needs to be placed on reducing energy costs and securing supply. Energy production and security policies need to be drastically overhauled, with a key priority being a significant reduction of the green taxes that were introduced as part of the 2008 Climate Change Act and which have added significantly to industry’s fuel bills (with escalating increases over the coming years). The costs apportioned to environmental taxes puts the UK at a disadvantage compared with our major trading partners. 17.5 per cent of UK energy costs can be attributed to Green taxes, compared with 7.3 per cent in Germany and 5 per cent in France. The UK cannot continue to afford the escalating penalties of the 2008 Climate Change Act. Without competitive energy costs, industrial capacity will move to lower cost locations and this has already commenced with the loss of major high energy using industries. That loss of important industries will continue unless energy costs become more competitive.

Q Why do you advocate the development of shale as an energy source when the Government has already invested so heavily in green sources of energy, especially wind and solar? As coal-powered power stations are closed and the ageing nuclear stock is patched together until an overdue new generation of reactors is constructed, alternative energy sources must be found. Many believe the answer lies with wind farms and solar panels, and they have certainly received very generous support from Government. They are expensive to build and run, and would not be


competitive without high subsidies. More critically, they are intermittent generators incapable of providing a reliable source of base-load energy. There are increasing concerns about the reliability of wind turbines, which are difficult to service when off-shore. Shale gas, on the other hand, offers a secure and competitively priced supply of energy with significantly reduce CO2 emissions. The location of major shale gas reserves is reshaping world politics and the associated flow of wealth. As a consequence of its shale gas revolution, the US has reduced its energy costs by 40 per cent and is becoming a net energy exporter and revitalising its industrial base. No longer will middle-eastern oil or Russian gas shape geo-politics. Surveys have revealed trillions of cubic feet of shale gas lying beneath and around these islands. With access to that, the UK has the potential to secure its energy supply, revitalise and sustain its industries and thereby reduce the trade of goods deficit. Shale will be a game changer. We are in a very fortunate position, indeed, to have that valuable resource beneath our feet.

Q But is shale safe? There is genuine concern about pollution of water. For UK industry to compete globally, shale gas must be an important part of the energy mix. Fracking has been unfairly subjected to bad press, including accusations that it is responsible for public health problems, polluted water supplies and significant depletion of water resources. There were some early problems in the US which have now been overcome. In general, many of the aspersions have been found to be untrue or exaggerated; for example, groundwater contamination by fracking fluid is possible but very unlikely if proper procedures are followed. One can be sure that UK regulation will be robust and will deliver safe fracking.

Q Do we really want to have shale drilling despoiling this “green and pleasant land”? A completed fracking site will be no larger than a football pitch. With suitable

landscaping and painting of hardware, the impact can be minimised. From the Purbeck Hills, it is almost impossible to see the oil drilling on the shores of Poole Harbour because of careful landscaping. A shale site will certainly be very much less intrusive than a wind farm! Of course, we must do all we can to protect the environment. But poor nations cannot save anything. If we are to save the environment, we must first save the economy.

Q Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the UK’s energy and industrial futures? The current huge deficit in the UK’s Balance of Trade makes stimulation and re-growth of productive industry critical to our economic future. Energy costs and security of supply are crucial in that regard, with significant impact upon industry and the nation’s social stability. If we do not face up to our perilous financial position by reinvigorating industry and reducing energy costs, then I am pessimistic. But with its shale gas deposits, ‘Lucky Britain’ has the potential to lower its energy costs, improve energy security, revitalise industry and contribute directly and indirectly to reducing the trade deficit. That is an opportunity that must not be missed. If we can seize the opportunity, then I will be optimistic.

Q Finally, can you elaborate on how the ERA Foundation works with parliamentarians? We attend a number of different parliamentary committees and helped set up one on manufacturing, which is a cross-party committee with the aim of informing Westminster’s politicians about manufacturing. When one considers that there are very few people in the House of Commons who know about manufacturing or industry, it is imperative for there to be an education process for MPs about industry, what matters to it and what its needs are. We are always willing to speak to parliamentarians and give them the evidence we have gathered on the importance of engineering and productive industry to the future prosperity of the UK and the quality of life of its citizens.


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Caring for unpaid carers

Fighting against the scourge of malaria in the world

Thea Stein, Chief Executive of the Carers Trust, explains to Marcus Papadopoulos about the trying circumstances which unpaid carers experience on a daily basis Q How has the role of unpaid family carers changed in recent years?

Q What is your stance on the legislation covering unpaid family carers?

The role of unpaid family carers, of all ages, has become far more complicated and pressurised than ever before (and it should be remembered that a carer can be a child as well as an adult). If I was to sum up the new situation for unpaid carers in the UK, I would say that as the welfare state contracts, be it social care or health care, the need for the family to support the person they love and want to support becomes all the greater.

The Care Act 2014 is absolutely fantastic – it gives carers a right to an assessment, it gives carers a right to a personalised budget and it gives carers a right to breaks. But, we, at Carers Trust, question the level of funding which is currently available to support those rights and whether the budget really will allow for them to be implemented.

Q What sort of challenges are unpaid carers facing?

The role is massive. I constantly tell the NHS that supporting family carers not only makes moral sense but it also makes fiscal sense. If people who are being cared for stay out of hospital for longer and are on fewer medications, then the costs to the NHS will dramatically decrease.

The challenges can vary from one unpaid carer to another. A carer may have to stop working because their loved one requires constant care and companionship and their employer is either unwilling or unable to offer flexible working hours. In that situation, the carer’s life changes extraordinarily and, consequentially, their financial situation changes, too, and they can end up in poverty. The issue of being a full-time, 24/7 carer can be wrought with financial challenges and financial difficulties. What I can say with certainty is that for the vast majority of carers who undertake a significant role in caring for a loved one, the role brings with it a massive emotional burden, with mental health always being compromised; for example, through staying awake at night out of fear that the loved one will commit suicide. Further to that, caring has a significant physical health cost; for instance, through the constant lifting and handling of someone. So, in short, the challenges are significant and can vary. Q How are young carers and young adult carers effected? They are effected in a huge way. At Carers Trust, we define young carers as being between the ages of 5 and 17, and young

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Q What role can the NHS play?

adult carers as being between the ages of 18 to 24, and we believe that there are approximately 700,000 in the UK. That group is becoming more and more understood and known both to services and to society. Those young people have probably lived in a family set-up in which they have maintained a significant caring role for many years. So, we could be talking about an eleven year old child who is carrying out all the household chores (including the cooking) and is looking after their younger brother or sister; or we could be talking about a child who is looking after a parent who has a serious mental illness and is therefore worrying about them. Young carers often do not have anyone to talk to about what they are doing at home and often miss days from school, which, in turn, has a detrimental effect on their education. By the time a young carer approaches the age of 18 or 19, they cannot even contemplate going off to university because they have become conditioned to see their life as being at home, caring for their loved one.


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Q How is the Carers Trust contributing to all of this? In every possible way. We give interviews to the media, such as this one. We work at a policy level advising the Department of Health as a strategic partner, and we work with the Department for Education to ensure that the measure of relevant frameworks are appropriate for carers. We also provide services on the internet whereby we offer advice to carers on a whole host of issues. On top of that, we support and facilitate a network of 176 partners across the UK which provide local services - from respite care to emergency care, to ensure that carers receive all necessary support. Furthermore, we carry out a lot of work with parliamentarians from three main parties. It is fair to say that the issue of unpaid carers is an issue understood by many but not all at Westminster What parliamentarians need to understand is that they all have unpaid carers in their constituencies. Understanding the impact of unpaid carers, what they are doing and how the NHS and social care services would collapse if they stopped, is hugely significant.


Dr David Reddy, Chief Executive Officer of Medicines for Malaria Venture, tells Marcus Papadopoulos about the new drugs which are fighting malaria Q What is the role of Medicines for Malaria Venture? Medicines for Malaria Venture is a leading product development partnership in the field of anti-malarial drug research and development. Its mission is to reduce the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and facilitating delivery of new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs. Its vision is a world in which innovative medicines will cure and protect the vulnerable and underserved populations at risk of malaria, and ultimately help to eradicate this terrible disease. Q What progress has MMV made in developing new affordable anti-malarial drugs? MMV and its partners have delivered four new products since foundation in 1999. One of those, Coartem Dispersible (artemether-lumefantrine with Novartis), has been specifically tailored to meet the needs of young children with malaria, who sadly bear the brunt of the malaria burden. A second, injectable artesunate (with Guilin Pharmaceutical), is a life-saving medicine that treats those suffering from a severe and often deadly form of malaria. Two artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) (Pyramax; pyronaridine-artesunate, with Shin Poong, and Eurartesim; dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine with Sigma Tau) have also been developed. Together with previously available ACTs, those new additions provide policy-makers and doctors with a choice from which to select the best medicines for their patients. In addition to that, with the largest portfolio of anti-malarial R&D projects ever assembled, of over 65 projects, MMV has seven new drugs in clinical development addressing unmet medical needs in malaria, including critical new medicines for children and relapsing malaria, and drugs which could support the elimination/eradication agenda. Q How can that progress be sustained? Together with our partners, MMV will sustain the progress providing we meet


our fundraising goals. Our 13 current funders are a lifeline and include governments, private companies and philanthropic foundations. The UK Department for International Development, for example, has been a long-term supporter of MMV. Their commitment to malaria elimination/ eradication equals ours and their belief in MMV’s ability to contribute to the eradication agenda drives us from one success to the next, taking us closer to realising our vision. We strive to sustain and grow our funding support. Further to that, MMV’s success in research and access and product management comes not only from its internal science and access expertise but also from an extensive partnership network of over 300 pharmaceutical, academic and endemic-country partners in 50 countries. Their contribution is invaluable. Q What new anti-malarials are expected over the next decade? And how would those target malaria eradication? Several new anti-malarials are expected to reach the market over the next decade. In the short-term, there are two childfriendly formulations of the recently approved ACTs, Pyramax and Eurartesim (mentioned above). We are working with partners on a child-friendly formulation of a preventive drug regimen to protect children in areas of high seasonal malaria in the Sahel sub-region of Africa. We are also working on the prequalification of rectal artesunate, a pre-referral form of treatment that has important life-saving potential for children threatened by severe malaria. For the medium and long-term, we are developing a first and next-generation, single-dose therapy which can cure all forms of malaria, provide some protection from subsequent infections and block its transmission to others. That is an ambitious target, yet one that the global malaria community believes is critical to make eradication feasible. A front-runner compound in our portfolio, OZ439, has shown great potential as a

single-dose cure against the blood stage of malaria parasites. It is set to enter Phase IIB trials with a partner drug in 2014. There is also encouraging data to suggest that the compound may be efficacious against potential artemisinin-resistant strains of malaria. Tafenoquine, in development with GSK, is our lead contender for a radical cure of relapsing P. vivax malaria and it, too, shows potential as a single-dose cure. Tafenoquine has recently received Breakthrough designation from the US Food and Drug Administration and entered Phase III trials in April 2014 and, if successful, could become the only new drug in 60 years approved to cure relapsing malaria. Q How can we ensure sustained investment into new tools to continue the fight against the disease? There are conflicting pulls on overseas development funding and it is essential that we raise awareness about the urgent needs of malaria control and eradication to governments, companies with a strong sense of corporate social responsibility, and philanthropists who have a view of the future similar to ours. Thankfully, our partnership network is self-motivated and as keen as MMV to work towards a malaria free world.


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INTERVIEW: CUADRILLA

INTERVIEW: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

Drilling for the future

Crossing the Valley of Death

Francis Egan, Chief Executive of Cuadrilla, explains to Marcus Papadopoulos why shale gas is a viable option for the United Kingdom

Don Spalinger, Director of Research & Innovation Services at the University of Southampton, explains to Keith Richmond how academia might have discovered an ICURe for Britain’s economic ills

gas industry has the potential to bring significant capital investment, community benefits and employment opportunities for local people, as well as for the northwest and national economies.

Q Who are Cuadrilla? Cuadrilla Resources is a British energy exploration company which was formed in 2007, bringing together experts to explore for and recover hydrocarbons (natural gas and oil) from so called “unconventional” sources; for example, shale rock.

Local communities will receive £100,000 for every exploration well site that is hydraulically fractured in addition to one per cent of revenues from future shale gas production.

Currently, our main focus within the UK is exploration work within our 1,200km2 exploration licence area in the Lancashire Bowland basin. We also operate a number of other exploration licences in Sussex, Holland and Poland.

That could equate to over £1 billion over a 20 to 30 year production timescale in Cuadrilla’s Bowland Basin licence area alone.

Earlier this summer, we applied for planning permission to drill, hydraulically fracture and test the flow of natural gas on two proposed shalesites in Lancashire. If approved, those are likely to be the first tests of shale gas flow rates within the UK.

Tens of thousands of new jobs, across a wide range of different professions, could also be created. Various studies have confirmed that with estimates ranging from 25,000 through to 100,000 jobs, both in north-west England, where they are really needed, and across the whole country.

Q How does Cuadrilla assess shale gas and its possible impact on the UK’s energy sector? Together with continued investment in nuclear and renewable energy sources, we believe that shale gas represents the best opportunity we have to secure the UK’s electricity and heating demands from indigenous sources. That would have the much needed benefits of reducing reliance on imported coal and gas, reducing the UK’s carbon emissions while maintaining competitiveness and economic growth. The British Geological Survey has assessed that there is 1,300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas contained within the shale rock deepunderneath the ground in northern England alone. If we can extract just 10 per cent of that gas, we would meet the UK’s current gas demands for more than 40 years. It is important to note that that is not just about electricity generation - two-thirds of the UK’s gas requirements are used for heating our homes, firing our cookers and fuelling UK industry. Q Are there any steps which Cuadrilla would like the Government to take in the energy sector? Within the UK, there is widespread political support for shale gas exploration.

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All three main political parties have expressed support for a properly regulated shale gas industry and a report earlier this year by the cross-party House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee stated that the appraisal and development of the UK’s shale gas and oil resources is a national priority. As the UK shale industry develops, we would like to see ongoing political support to streamline the regulations which companies like Cuadrilla must follow before commencing exploratory work. The UK’s regulatory environment for oil and gas exploration and production is highly regarded internationally as one of the most stringent in the world. However, we agree with the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee that there is scope for making the system more efficient without compromising its effectiveness. Q How can the development of a shale gas industry benefit the UK? There is widespread acceptance that the development of a British shale


Shale gas could also make a big difference to the UK’s finances. The accountancy firm Deloitte predicts that tax income from our shrinking North Sea oil and gas fields will fall by £7.5 billion to £3.7 billion by 2018. The sooner our industry gets going with exploring for shale gas, the sooner it can provide cash to the government through taxes which could help the nation pay for vital public services, like the National Health Service and schools. Q What is next for shale gas in the UK? It is still relatively early days in this country, but the technology has been around for more than fifty years. That explains why the United States has recently seen big reductions in their gas prices and carbon emissions. We do not know yet if the same thing can happen here and more broadly in Europe. We need to start drilling a small number of exploratory wells to measure how much gas can be safely extracted before we can say for sure. Drilling and testing the flow of gas from those shale wells in a safe and responsible way is our immediate focus. Watch this space for more news!


Q What is the role of universities in driving economic growth? Research and science are at the fountainhead of the UK’s growth and future prosperity. The UK currently spends around 1.7% of GDP on research and development, compared to double that figure for many other developed and developing countries. The UK must increase its expenditure on R&D, which means government must increase the science budget to enable more fundamental research that creates new knowledge, and increase innovation funding to facilitate the conversion of the scientific research into technologies that create new business opportunities. Companies must also increase their R&D expenditure to convert those opportunities into new products and services that will generate economic growth. Universities are the primary organisations that undertake scientific research and collaborate with industry to drive the innovation that creates products and services. At the University of Southampton we are working with industry to create new products and continually improve the services that drive economic growth. Q The Valley of Death is often cited as the major obstacle to realising value from academic research. How do we get through the Valley of Death?

that those researchers that want to be entrepreneurial lack the skills and support to do so; and that companies that spin out of universities are seen as high risk and struggle to raise the financing to build the company. Q What can you do about that? We are about to embark on a new approach that will address most of these system failures. In co-operation with the SETsquared Partnership of which Southampton is a member, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and the Technology Strategy Board, we are going to pilot a new concept called Innovation and Commercialisation of University Research. ICURe focuses on research activities being undertaken in universities which are producing results that show commercial potential and then quickly go into the marketplace and validate that there is a market for the products or services that utilise the results of that research. We are not going to try and turn senior academics into entrepreneurs, but rather focus on post-doctorate and post-graduate researchers who do not see academia as their career, but would rather pursue the commercialisation of the research on which they have been working, becoming an entrepreneurial lead for the commercialisation. Q How does it work?

I have spent most of my life taking new innovations across the Valley of Death! The House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee’s inquiry, Bridging the Valley of Death, concluded that there were a number of system failures to be overcome. They reported that research funding tends to stop before the idea is commercially validated; that most researchers are not entrepreneurs;


ICURe starts by creating a three person team, consisting of the entrepreneurial lead and the senior academic of the research team, along with a business mentor from the relevant industrial sector. There is a three to six month activity of the team undertaking an intense market assessment to validate the commercial viability of the research results, with the entrepreneurial lead talking with over

100 potential customers. If the product or service gains market validation, a start up team will begin pulling a business plan together. Commercialisation staff from SETsquared universities, along with SETsquared incubators, will work with each team so that they can be fast tracked into creating a start-up company. TSB will be engaged in the process to provide support and guidance as appropriate for funding the early stages of the company. We believe the ICURe pilot will confirm that this approach will dramatically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of crossing the Valley of Death. Q SETsquared incubators are good, aren’t they? Yes. The 2014 UBI index of university business incubators assessed 800 university incubators, and benchmarked the best 300, from 67 countries, and SETsquared was ranked second globally after Rice University in Houston. The SETsquared Partnership consists of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Surrey, and Southampton and, in 10 years, more than 1,000 high tech start-ups have been supported in their early stages, and £1 billion of investment has been secured by them.


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INTERVIEW: HEATHROW AIRPORT

Confronting a major challenge to the NHS: hearing loss

Making the connection – securing the UK’s economic future in the world

Colin Campbell, Director of Professional Services and NHS at Specsavers Hearcare, tells Marcus Papadopoulos about how best to approach age-related hearing loss in the UK

Andrew Macmillan, Director of Strategy at Heathrow Airport, discusses with Marcus Papadopoulos how Heathrow can play a bigger role in helping Britain win the global race and succeed as a centre for business and trade

Q What is the economic impact of agerelated hearing loss? In 2010-11, NHS England spent £450 million managing hearing problems, a figure that will inevitably increase as the population ages. There are also longterm costs that need to be considered as comorbidities begin to develop.

A hub airport is a different type of airport. What a hub airport does is provide direct long-haul connections for the benefit of the country where it is based. There are only a few such airports around the world. For the UK, that hub airport is Heathrow. Four out of five long-haul flights in the UK arrive at and depart from Heathrow Airport. The economics of a hub airport allow a direct flight to take place which would not have been commercially viable otherwise.

So, for example, age-related hearing loss increases the risk of depression, dementia and falls. Treating depression costs the NHS more than £520 million a year: £237 million for hospital care, £230 million for antidepressants, £46 million for doctors’ time and £9 million for outpatients’ appointments. Preventing depression by addressing hearing loss, as well as other risk factors, will help reduce the clinical and economic burden imposed by depression. Q What do you think are the main patient and commissioner benefits of a community-based adult hearing service and what differences do they make to commissioners’ population groups? For patients, community-based hearing care services provide greater accessibility and flexible appointment times. Also, importantly, the stigma of wearing hearing aids is removed, which is often associated with treatment in a medical setting. Typically, our patients do not see hearing loss as an illness, so treatment in a community setting is welcomed. Furthermore, with walk-in access to unlimited aftercare, patients are more likely to adapt to, and continue to use, their new hearing aids, rather than abandon them out of frustration or a lack of access to immediate aftercare. Q How has the commissioning of community-based hearing services been going? All areas are performing particularly well with high numbers of GPs referring patients. Commissioning groups are very committed to delivering patient care where patients want it and, crucially, improving outcomes which are reflected in the communications they carry out at both GP and patient level.

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benefits are felt across the UK. In fact, some of our biggest supporters are in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East where they rely on domestic connections to the UK hub to connect to long haul markets.

Q What is a hub airport and who are Heathrow Airport’s competitors?

We have found that once they have information on the nature of age-related hearing loss, GPs are open to change to improve patient service. GPs recognising that age-related hearing loss is a condition that will come to us all rather than an acute or chronic illness has led them to view this as much less contentious than many of the other changes happening across our NHS – this a condition that is best solved outside of the hospital. Q What has been challenging? Why do you think some CCGs are still reluctant to commission community-based hearing services? This is more difficult to answer as, on the face of it, the benefits of communitybased hearing care appear hard to ignore. Patients prefer a localised non-medical service to access hearing services and GPs recognise that a non-medical intervention which patients can access in a high street setting, with unlimited access to aftercare, does improve outcomes. However, we are aware that in a period when one of the most complex organisations in the world is undergoing the most significant restructure since its inception, CCGs have had to prioritise other services. It is our job, and the job of organisations such as the National


Community Hearing Association to ensure that commissioning adult hearing services provides a quick win for CCGs, for GPs and, most importantly, for patients and the local community. Q What four key points would you make to commissioners to help them offer the best service possible for their population groups? Firstly, consult with patients and look at what the deliverables are for patient outcomes. Secondly, take a look at the service you are providing and ask yourself what is the opportunity to meet saving requirements, while still driving quality outcomes upwards. Thirdly, read the Hear and Now report, which explores the economic, physical and psychological impact of age-related hearing loss and challenge yourselves and your providers to ensure you are making as many savings and efficiencies as possible in other areas, as well as audilogy, which will ultimately benefit your patients. And finally, commissioning age-related services in the community is relatively simple and a straightforward process which can deliver real savings and real benefits to the local community.


As to who Heathrow’s competitors are, these are Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt airports and, to a lesser degree, Dubai and Istanbul. Those nations understand the value that hosting a hub brings for them. You can see the competition very clearly in the way the Chief Executive Officer of Schiphol airport expressed his gratitude to how the UK Government has avoided taking a decision on airport capacity for so long. That has meant more business for his airport, more direct international flights from Schiphol and thereby more business for the Dutch economy. Q Why do long-haul flights matter to the UK? They matter because they provide direct connections to those countries in the world whose economies are already becoming the new global economic centres. Economists forecast that two-thirds of future global economic growth will be in Asia and the Americas for the next generation. And the Chinese economy will soon be the largest in the world. Britain needs to be directly connected to those places to thrive. Long-haul flights will boost Britain’s trade, leading to more investment and more tourism which, in turn, will benefit the British economy and create jobs. If the UK


Q How could Heathrow expansion spread growth across the UK?

does not increase the capacity for longhaul flights, this will have a detrimental effect on the British economy. We see this now with Chinese firms choosing to set up, invest and create jobs in France due to the number of direct flights between China and Paris. For 300 years, Britain has had the world’s leading international port or, more recently, airport. This year, we will lose that crown to Dubai because Heathrow, our only hub airport, is full. That is why we back the Airports Commission – so a positive decision can be made for the future of UK PLC. Q What would be the impact of Heathrow expansion for the UK economy? We believe that there is at least £100 billion of value to the UK economy in terms of expanding Heathrow. In practical terms, that means 120,000 new jobs – jobs at the airport, jobs in the local area, and jobs up and down the country because employment, in various sectors, is created through investment and tourism. Heathrow is intent on connecting the whole country, making sure that the

Connections to the world, and in particular the growing economies in Asia and the Americas, drives economic growth and jobs in the UK. Given that, it is essential that the whole of the UK is linked to the hub. That can be through improved rail access, such as HS2. It can be through air links to connect major British airports to Heathrow, such as Liverpool and Inverness. Those links are hugely important to manufacturing as well as service sectors such as tourism. Then there is the impacts of work across Heathrow’s supply chain and the aerospace and aviation sectors. Q What advice would you give to the three main parties on airport expansion? Firstly, that airport expansion is not just about a runway; it is about the UK’s economic future. It is about future generations having the capacity to connect Britain to the rest of the world to maximise Britain’s economic potential. It is about our ambition in the global race. And secondly, there is an urgent need to act on airport expansion. Britain is rapidly being overtaken by other countries which understand very clearly that their future economic prosperity depends to a great extent on increasing their aviation links. Finally, that political consensus is important. We want to invest £16 billion of private money into making Heathrow a national asset that the country can be proud of. But politicians need to unlock that funding by giving investors the certainty they need to write the cheques.


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INTERVIEW: MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY

INTERVIEW: HS2 ACTION ALLIANCE

A degree that costs less to deliver

A railway on the road to nowhere

Dr Darryll Bravenboer, Head of Academic Development at the Institute for Work Based Learning, Middlesex University, makes the case to Marcus Papadopoulos for learning while you’re earning in the modern world

Hilary Wharf, director of the pressure group HS2 Action Alliance, argues to Marcus Papadopoulos that the proposed new high speed rail route is taking Britain down the wrong track

Q What is the purpose of Middlesex University’s Institute for Work Based Learning? We work with a broad range of employers, professional bodies and industry sector organisations to develop higher education programmes that enable people to gain a university degree and other qualifications through professional and work-based learning. This is based on the simple idea that when people work they normally learn at the same time and some or all of this learning may be at higher education level. Our approach to higher education means that this learning can count directly towards gaining a degree. The programmes we deliver can be at undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral level, which can include working with senior people such as executives of transnational companies, diplomats and other leaders in their professional fields. Q What have you been doing to develop higher apprenticeships? Middlesex University was one of only two universities to lead government funded higher apprenticeship development projects. In addition to working with employers and sector bodies such as the Construction Industry Training Board to develop professional higher education programmes for construction managers, we have also been busy developing programmes for pilots, care managers and retail managers. We have been working closely with the University Vocational Awards Council and the National Apprenticeship Service to dispel the mistaken idea that higher apprenticeships are an alternative to higher education. For some time now higher apprenticeships have been able to include full university degrees and even masters qualifications and the higher apprenticeships Middlesex has developed are based on university degrees designed to integrate knowledge, understanding and skills with the professional competence that industry requires.

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with speed means its route devastates some of our most sensitive ecological sites – ancient woodland, sites of special scientific interest, areas of outstanding natural beauty and green belt. That feels like a lot to lose for such disputed benefits.

Q Who are you? What is the HS2 Action Alliance and what is its aim? We are a national group making the case against HS2 and pushing for proper environmental protection and compensation. We are backed by thousands of registered supporters from across the country and over 100 community and action groups which are affiliates of HS2AA. In many ways it’s the Big Society in action.

Q If it’s so flawed why is HS2 such a government priority? Fundamentally HS2 is not a transport project or an economic project – it’s a political project.

Q Why do you think HS2 is a bad deal for Britain?

Q Can you give me a couple of case studies? I can pick two I am particularly proud of. We have been working with Halifax to enable 1,000 branch managers and area directors to gain undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. The programmes we have developed are highly innovative in that they are based on university recognition of a Halifax in-company workforce development programme. By building on the in-company programme we have made it clear that Halifax are the experts in knowing what their employees need to know, understand and do. What has been really exciting has been how our expertise in developing reflective professional practice through supporting business-focused projects has changed the culture at Halifax so that reflective learning and collaboration has become an established part of the way Halifax managers operate. Q And the other? The second example is our work to open up opportunities for more people to become professional pilots. Being a professional airline pilot requires such a high level of knowledge, understanding and skill that people normally think pilots must be graduate educated. However, this has not necessarily been the case. The training to gain a Civil Aviation Authority licence has not previously been


recognised for the purposes of gaining a degree and nor has the further training that pilots must undertake to actually fly specific aircraft or work for specific airlines. And the cost of raining can be around £100k. By developing a degree that fully integrates and recognises the required CAA training as well as post-licence development in work, Middlesex has revolutionised the way that pilots can become licensed and qualified at the same time. Q What steps would you like to see the party which forms the next government take in work-based learning? Changes in higher apprenticeship funding to enable equal support for employers where they see value in using university qualifications is welcome but this is still confused by the either/or language used to talk about university education and higher apprenticeships. I think we need one system that can support people who want to engage with higher education and I think it would make economic sense to actually prioritise, in terms of public support, those people who sought to gain their qualifications through their work. This would reduce the size of the student loans book as degrees delivered through professional and work-based learning cost less to deliver.


Politicians believe their electoral fortunes in marginal seats in the north-west of England and the West Midlands will be boosted by HS2 but it is actually unpopular in many marginal seats.

In simple terms, its economics are dire; environmentally it’s highly damaging; and it’s an investment in obsolescence. It doesn’t make sense for a country as small and densely populated as ours, with already good connections to London. It’s a project with massive costs and unproven benefits. Q But isn’t HS2 vital for restoring the economic performance of our regional cities? However much government wish it were otherwise HS2 isn’t the answer to regional development. Instead, it is a line that will pull people and economic activity south, towards London. Academic evidence and the experience of other countries which have invested heavily in high speed rail show it is dominant capital cities which are the winners. In France, despite its TGV programme, some 82% of its top companies (the CAC 40) are based in Paris. If you think transport connectivity is the magic bullet then Doncaster, with its excellent connections, should be a beacon of prosperity – but sadly it’s not.


Q How do you know that?

Q Patrick McLoughlin, the Secretary of State for Transport, says HS2 is essential because Britain’s railways are operating at full capacity? Again, the government’s view sits uneasily with the facts. Long distance services on the West Coast main line are far from full and Euston is the second least busy London terminus. Capacity problems on our railways are on short distance commuter services – which should be the priority for funding. Q Surely high speed rail is part of a low carbon, environmentally sound future? HS2’s environmental credentials are negligible. HS2 Ltd predicts only 1% of HS2’s passengers will come from air and 4% from cars. The rest, 95%, are people transferring from less polluting conventional trains or making totally new journeys. Ultra fast trains like HS2 are simply not green. The government’s obsession

We commissioned a poll with ComRes, which showed that 52% of Britons oppose HS2 and 28% say they would be less likely to vote Conservative at the next election because of the party’s support for HS2. And 19% said they would be more likely to vote Labour if Labour dropped its support for HS2. Q But with both main political parties publicly committed to the project, and with backing from big business, what realistic chance is there of it being cancelled? Every chance. Every independent body which has looked at this scheme thinks it has major flaws. And we believe that common sense can yet prevail. Money in the next Parliament will be tight. A project that costs a lot but contributes little will be vulnerable. Over 60% of the current government’s planned spending cuts will need to be implemented in the next term. In the context of making serious cuts it would be irresponsible to press ahead with HS2.


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Reaching out to society’s vulnerable Peter Bailey, Chief Executive Officer of CrossReach, discusses with Marcus Papadopoulos how his charity adapts to the ever-changing social care needs of society Q What does CrossReach do?

I think of myself as well educated, I listen to Radio4 all the time. I had never heard of a PSA test until I had one after passing blood in my urine. Why isn’t this test better advertised?

CrossReach is part of the Church of Scotland and is a charity delivering social care and support. We have more than 70 services supporting thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds across Scotland. Q The Scottish Government’s Self-directed Support Act commenced this April. What has that meant for social care in Scotland? Underlying its provisions is the philosophy that every person should have choice and control over their own life. Society has a duty to ensure everyone can participate on an equal basis; however, in the past, people needing day-to-day support have too often had limited power to choose how their support is delivered. Limited control means a lack of opportunities to make decisions, and therefore unequal access to the benefits of community. The Self-directed Support Act transfers power from local authorities and supportproviders to individuals. Rather than being seen as passive ‘service users’, people can demand to be treated as active and powerful citizens. Q How has CrossReach responded? At CrossReach, we welcome that positive change. Throughout our 145-year history, we have had many opportunities to adapt and innovate as the needs and demands of society have changed. The Self-directed Support Act gives us a fresh impetus to offer new services to the communities we work in. For the individual, control over the design and delivery of support opens up a world of possibilities – from simple things like being able to choose what time your support worker comes to see you, to the freedom to attend a community art class or cinema club rather than a traditional support service – the power to choose enriches our lives. The people we work with at CrossReach have found that

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Andrew was given a diagnosis of advanced, metastatic prostate cancer at 62 years of age. Here he asks Karen Moore his Clinical Nurse Specialist some searching questions;

gaining control over the support they receive is a liberating, life-changing experience. However, the power to choose is only half the story. Gaining control, but having limited options to exercise that control, is not true choice. To make the benefits of choice in social care a reality, we need a wide range of options to choose from. Indeed, new ideas are vital in making choice real – more of the same will not satisfy the aspirations of people who are directing their own support. Organisations like CrossReach – as part of the innovative, creative Third Sector –therefore have a crucial role to play in the success of the Self-directed Support Act and social care in general. Q So, how will you satisfy people’s aspirations? In a changing society, we have had to innovate to survive. CrossReach, along with the sector we work in, has learned to be flexible, adaptable, and to respond positively to change. From the establishment of the Deaconess Hospital in Edinburgh in 1891, through to the continued development of our creative arts projects for people who have dementia today, CrossReach has a heritage of innovation.


Of primary importance is that the Selfdirected Support Act benefits the people who use it. But it is also a fantastic opportunity for support providers like CrossReach, because the choice it demands is a fresh spur to be creative and innovative in the work we do. As support providers in the Third Sector, we must continue to be pioneers, not for the sake of our own survival but so we can play a part in offering the diversity of choice necessary for everyone to participate equally in their communities. Q Does the Third Sector have an influential enough voice at national government level? Because they commission a lot of our work, we are often focused on communicating with local rather than national government, and our sector tends to invest more energy in community relationships than in political engagement. That is an area that we, in CrossReach, need to develop. Our sector must do more to highlight the essential work we do, and make politicians aware of its enormous benefit to society. We work on the frontline with some of society’s most vulnerable people – we must ensure our experience and expertise has an impact on policy-makers so that our work can be as effective as possible.


One of the challenges is increasing the awareness of Prostate cancer. It is less commonly publicised than other cancers such as breast cancer which remains high profile and has been driven by women’s groups for many years. Unfortunately prostate cancer is not perceived to be a priority in health terms, and with men being less proactive and demanding in regard to their health care needs than women, prostate cancer awareness campaigns have suffered.

When I was referred to you I had been visiting my GP for more than 6 years with all of the symptoms listed on a patient leaflet you gave me. He never mentioned prostate cancer as a possibility. Should he have offered me a PSA test back then? Unfortunately there are still confusion and mixed messages about prostate cancer and PSA testing. The belief that men live and die with the disease rather than die of the disease deters GP’s and the general public from proactively investigating prostate cancer. Prostate cancer was known as a condition affecting elderly men and although this remains true to a point, there are increasing numbers of men in their 50’ and 60’s being diagnosed with the disease. It is this group of men who are more likely to benefit from early investigation and treatment.

Why is Stoke-on-Trent top of the table for late presentation of prostate cancer? Late diagnosis is a problem. Many years ago; when there was no widely available evidence to support screening or PSA testing, a more cautious approach was advocated to GPs. There have been attempts to update these messages but they remain mixed and subject to misinterpretation. In the early days of PSA testing, people in other parts of the country pushed more heavily for screening so attitudes of GPs to PSA were set differently. While there remains no obligation by health care professionals to initiate the PSA blood test it remains reliant on proactive GP’s and local groups to raise awareness and understanding.

‘My GP said he didn’t believe in the PSA test. Now I am faced with a drastically shortened life expectancy than if I had been referred sooner’

INTERVIEW: BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT

Blueprint for the future – the strategic importance of Birmingham Airport Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive of Birmingham Airport, talks to Marcus Papadopoulos about how he sees the future of British aviation and the role that the UK’s long-haul airports can play in rebalancing the economy Q What is your message to the Airports Commission?

direct flights from Beijing, to enable us to support flights to all global destinations.

It is great to see that the three big party conferences this year are at major regional cities: Labour in Manchester, the Liberal Democrats in Glasgow and the Conservatives in our home city of Birmingham.

As the Prime Minister announced when he visited us this April, that will help to create 8,000 new jobs at and around Birmingham Airport. Q What do you see as the future of British aviation?

That will rightly draw attention to the importance of our great cities, and their central role in rebalancing the UK economy. Long-haul airports are central to the economies of our great cities, and aviation policy needs to reflect that. Lord Heseltine’s report No Stone Unturned and Lord Adonis’ report Mending the Fractured Economy highlight the growing attention that issue is receiving. Furthermore, the Chancellor’s announcements on high-speed rail identified the importance of our regional cities in the economic recovery. That debate is one which we truly welcome.

What the country needs is a network of great airports for our great cities. We believe that only such a network of national long-haul airports will bring about the kind of economic activity around our country that Britain deserves. Q What does Birmingham Airport have to offer?

Q What are your plans for the party conferences?

Located right in the centre of the country, we offer excellent connectivity for our region and beyond. There are 35 million people living within two hours of Birmingham Airport, which is more than any other long-haul airport, and this includes more than seven million people in the radius of Heathrow.

This year we are working with Transport Times at the Labour and Conservative conferences to debate how important infrastructure is for rebalancing our economy. Whilst the Airports Commission process has engaged our region and, indeed, the whole aviation industry, we are keen to ensure that the debate is grounded in a proper understanding of what our cities need to succeed.

Q Are you feeling the recovery? We feel like we have been through the tough patch. The recession was obviously very hard for the whole country, and people are still feeling it in their pockets, but we are delighted that we are now serving more passengers than we were in 2008, and growing our route network. We are also very proud to be central to a business community which has, over the last year, been home to more foreign direct investment projects than any other English region. That and other successes mean there has been a 98 per cent increase in the number of jobs in Greater Birmingham and Solihill in the last 12 months – again, more than any other English region.

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As we grow our long-haul connectivity, we are providing a real choice for those who would rather avoid the high prices, congested roads and terminals of Heathrow and fly to and from an airport with some of the best punctuality times in the country. With HS2, we will be Britain’s most easily accessible airport – and just over half an hour from London. Q You have just extended your runway. What has changed for your customers? We have just invested £200 million in the airport. The centre-piece of that is our newly extended runway, which has already had


Ed Miliband has called on cities and towns to come together and plan for their futures, and David Cameron has called for the economy to be rebalanced for a nation-wide recovery. For us, that means working with our partners in the region, as well as with other city regions, to ensure we are positioned to lead the country’s infrastructure plans for the future. Our region is leading the way on advanced manufacturing and is the only to have a positive balance of trade for China. That means we need to ensure that the Midlands and beyond is well-connected, and best placed to take advantage of tourism and investment opportunities from around the world.


INTERVIEW: IOSH

Why professional titles are important Jan Chmiel, Chief Executive of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, talks to Marcus Papadopoulos about the challenges of creating a healthy and sustainable future, 40 years on from the ground-breaking Health and Safety at Work Act Q Can you outline what the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health does?

millions of pounds and increasing their competitive edge.

IOSH is the Chartered body for health and safety professionals and an ILOrecognised NGO. We have more than 44,000 members in over 100 countries.

Although Britain has taken some positive steps to prevent work-related cancer through asbestos awareness, there are around 8,000 work-related cancer deaths each year and 13,500 new cases. So, we would like Government to go further, leading the world through new research and the first national occupational carcinogen exposure database.

Our members work at operational and strategic levels in all employment sectors and sizes of organisation, helping employers and workers to upskill and providing practical risk management advice. We also provide many free resources for employers and start-up businesses.

We would also like recognition that good engineering and design are at the heart of socially responsible business and Government. That getting it right saves billions (such as the Thames Barrier), while getting it wrong leads to death, injury and huge financial losses (such as the Piper Alpha disaster).

Q Health and safety can sometimes be misunderstood. Are there any misconceptions which you would like to clarify? The biggest misconception to emerge in recent years is that health and safety is a burden and holds businesses back. Nothing could be further from the truth. Britain’s health and safety system is envied and often copied across the world. That is because it is risk-based and proportionate, so businesses only need to do what is reasonable to control their risk. Government review after review has endorsed our system as fit for purpose and identified that it is not the law that is the problem, but people’s misperception about what is required. Q What are the biggest challenges and opportunities ahead? In global terms, Britain has a good health and safety record and our Health and Safety at Work Act has stood the test of time. Yet still, in 2012-13, there were 148 workers killed and 19,707 major injuries to employees. Additionally, around 1.1 million people suffered an illness they put down to work and 13,000 died from occupational diseases, including cancers. Overall, around 27 million working days were lost to health and safety failures, with all the attendant costs to our economy. So, we must do far more to upskill people to tackle the health challenges, while continuing to work to improve safety. For


And Britain needs a well-trained and competitive workforce. With growing globalisation and trends to extend working lives, it is essential that leaders and workers are adequately trained to manage health and safety risks, ensure positive working environments and look ahead. health, it is about preventing work-related illness, supporting those with health conditions stay in (or return to) work and actively improving health and wellbeing. In our rapidly changing world of work, we need greater recognition that good health and safety not only saves lives but also helps businesses save money, boosts productivity and relieves demands on the NHS and social security system – increasingly crucial given Britain’s ageing population, obesity and sedentary lifestyles. Q What would you like the next Government to do? Firstly, we would like Government to acknowledge the national losses from health and safety failure. As well as the human toll, it is estimated to cost Britain around £13.8 billion per year and double if work-related cancer deaths are included. And then we need Government to showcase businesses which are getting it right through strong health and safety leadership and competency – savings

Q Do you have any closing thoughts about a sustainable future? Our global economy means we have long, complex and sometimes unregulated supply chains that cross national and economic boundaries, so it is vital to build on Britain’s strong history of corporate social responsibility. Government should encourage organisations to go beyond legal minimums on health and safety and reporting for supply chains. That way, businesses can contribute more to, and benefit more from, sustainable communities and economies, providing transparency and accountability. Britain leads the world in science, engineering, health and safety and CSR. Harnessed together, I believe that can create an absolutely unbeatable combination for a healthy and sustainable future. IOSH is working hard with others to help make that happen.

Find out more at www.iosh.co.uk


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INTERVIEW: RNIB

ADVERTORIAL

Ending avoidable blindness

Helping revitalise Britain’s high streets

Fazilet Hadi, Managing Director of RNIB Engagement, talks with Marcus Papadopoulos about how the RNIB is playing a major role in highlighting to government the urgent need to address sight loss

Patrick Troy, Chief Executive of the British Parking Association, explains to Keith Richmond why the BPA has parked its van on the party conference forecourt

practical and emotional support, helping to integrate health and social care services. They also help to free up clinicians’ time so they can focus on treating patients. We regularly hear that patient do not want to be given leaflets as a substitute for high quality communication and face-to-face time with a professional. At present, over 70 per cent of eye clinics in the UK do not have a Sight Loss Adviser in place, which is why RNIB is calling for all clinics to have access to one.

Q Why should eye care be a priority in the NHS? Every 15 minutes, somebody in the UK starts to lose their sight. Approximately two million people are currently living with significant sight loss in the UK and this figure is predicted to double to four million by 2050. Despite those shocking statistics, vision does not have a high profile within the NHS. Eye care has changed so much over the past five years. An unprecedented number of new treatments have been developed, saving the sight of thousands of people who would previously have gone blind. That is enormously welcome and must be celebrated. However, despite all those advances, over 50 per cent of sight loss is avoidable. That is why stopping people losing their sight unnecessarily is a key priority for RNIB and should be a key priority for the NHS. Q If half of sight loss is avoidable, why are people still losing their sight from treatable conditions? There are a number of reasons including the shocking fact that eye clinics are simply too busy to keep up with demand. Long acting treatments are many years away and demand for services is increasing, so something must be done to avert the looming capacity crisis. Hospital staff are being asked to do ever more with the same resources and, despite raising alarm bells, they are not being heard. Patients are, of course, incredibly grateful to the hard working NHS staff who work long hours, under intense pressure, in order to save their sight. Many patients describe the service they receive as “marvellous” and “first class”. However, they also express concerns about

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cancelled and delayed appointments, over-subscribed clinics, long waits to see a professional at each appointment and rushed consultations. Q What needs to be done to prevent those problems and stop people going blind needlessly? An overhaul of eye care services is urgently needed to ensure they can meet demand now and in the future. NHS England should instruct all CCGs to produce local eye care commissioning plans by March 2015. Those should be co-commissioned with Local Eye Health Networks, front line staff working in local eye clinics, patients and the public, and other stakeholders in each area. Patient feedback must inform commissioning decisions and providers must adhere to national standards and guidelines to reduce the postcode lottery for eye care which patients currently face. Sight Loss Advisers (Eye Clinic Liaison Officers) are an obvious solution to the capacity problem. ECLOs work closely with medical and nursing staff in the eye clinic and have the time to dedicate to patients following their consultation. They help patients understand their condition, its treatment and connect them to further


All adults newly certified as sight-impaired or severely sight-impaired should also receive rehabilitation and social care from their adult social services department. There should be a timely offer of rehabilitation, which should be available free of charge and independent of an adult’s eligibility for longterm care.

Q What impact will recent government proposals have on the parking profession? The government has proposed a series of changes to the way local authorities carry out their parking management and enforcement responsibilities. These have been driven by a concern in the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure that parking management plays its role in revitalising Britain’s high streets. This is an objective that the parking profession takes very seriously, and there is some excellent best practice up and down the country demonstrating how parking can make our high streets more attractive. Q So what’s the problem?

Q What is RNIB doing to ensure people have support when they are diagnosed with a sight condition? RNIB has always been at the forefront of supporting people with sight loss as well as their families. We campaign to ensure that patients have timely access to diagnosis, new treatments on the NHS and support at the time of sight loss. Those are central tenets of our new strategy We also provide an advice and support service which includes eye health information, personalised assessment, emotional support, helpline, welfare rights and advocacy. Q What can politicians do to ensure patients have support when they are diagnosed with a sight condition? We want politicians to support our campaign and ensure nobody is facing blindness alone. RNIB believes that every eye clinic across England should have access to a Sight Loss Adviser. Please visit our stand at the party conferences and find out how you can help people with sight loss in your constituency.


Unfortunately, the government’s approach has been negative in criticising local authorities for using their parking management and enforcement responsibilities to deter customers from high streets, something the parking profession rejects. The BPA, along with the Association of Town & City Management, undertook a research exercise two years ago to assess the link between parking and the high street. There have been subsequent studies, too, by London councils and by Erasmus University in Rotterdam, as these issues apply across the continent, too. This research shows that visitors to the high street do not consider price to be a significant determinant of whether or not they make a visit. Most people consider accessibility and convenience far more important. They also consider safety (both personal and of their vehicle) as of higher importance than the price of parking. This is not to say that price is not important and that local authority


providers should not consider the needs of visitors to town and city centres when it comes to structuring tariffs in their car parks. Indeed, they should take account of concerns by motorists of unnecessarily high charges. Government proposals have been piecemeal. They have focused unremittingly on the use of CCTV by local authorities for parking enforcement purposes, when CCTV can only be used to ease congestion and improve road safety. One of the areas completely missed by government was the importance of CCTV in protecting children’s lives outside schools by enforcing school clearways, a principal driver for the development of CCTV by local authorities for use on the public highway. Q What success has the BPA had in lobbying government? The BPA, along with a number of other organisations, including the Local Government Association, has persuaded government that there is a case for better managing CCTV rather than simply banning it. The case has been made for limiting the use of CCTV to specific purposes linked to easing congestion and improving road safety. Q Isn’t local authority parking enforcement all about raising revenue? It can never be about revenue-raising. This would be unlawful. Local authorities operate under the Traffic Management Act 2004 which makes it clear that they can only use their powers for specific purposes relating to the movement of traffic. The use of their powers for the generation of revenue is unlawful. Q What is the BPA position? Conscious of the criticism, the BPA developed some years ago a model contract to be used by local authorities when they outsource enforcement to the

private sector. This ensures the service provider is incentivised only in relation to achieving compliance with parking controls and not in relation to any activity which could be associated with revenue raising (eg bonuses for enforcement officers). Q Is everyone on board? Unfortunately, as in any profession, there are always one or two members who let the side down, and there have been instances where it would appear local authorities have misunderstood their powers. In such circumstances they risk High Court action (as has happened in relation to a North London borough) and/ or other legal action, including by the District Auditor. Q What are you doing at the party conferences? The BPA wants to promote the parking sector as a profession. To get our message across to those who make the laws, to help them understand that those working in the parking sector recognise the importance of the motorist and the customer in establishing a professional service.


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INTERVIEW: ABDO

INTERVIEW: ABDO

Political will and foresight is imperative Peter Black, President of ABDO, talks to Marcus Papadopoulos about the challenges facing high street opticians and hospital ophthalmology services as unprecedented demand from an ageing population pushes the current system towards breaking point Q What is ABDO? The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) represents the interests of dispensing opticians, contact lens opticians and low vision opticians in the UK. It is the awarding body for professional - level 6 and level 7 - ophthalmic dispensing qualifications in the UK and throughout the world. Additionally, ABDO is the largest provider of statutory Continuing Education and Training (CET) to opticians in the UK.

When I came to office, my board and I identified three areas of immediate strategic importance: research, CET and promotion of the profession to the public. Q Why is research important?

However, changing policy in eye healthcare and re-designing services are unlikely without a solid evidence base. Having only recently become a graduate profession, we identified research as being important going forward and have worked hard to begin to turn this round. The new ABDO Research Fund has just been approved and is already supporting the first ever PhD in ophthalmic dispensing. We expect to have a Masters’ degree programme

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The relationship is similar to that between a GP and a pharmacist. The optometrist checks the health of the eyes and measures any prescription for glasses. The dispensing optician (DO) dispenses that prescription – advising on frames and lenses, taking the necessary measurements, and adjusting the glasses to fit. All opticians can give general eye care advice, explain eye conditions and treatments, and reassure patients. We are importantly qualified to recognise and refer sight threatening eye disease. Many DOs help visually impaired patients with low vision aids and DOs with further qualifications can also prescribe and fit contact lenses. Q How have you gone about promoting the profession?

Q What are your priorities during your term as ABDO President?

Dispensing opticians, alongside optometrists, are in an ideal position to help relieve the current pressure being experienced in the Hospital Eye Service.

Q So, what is the difference between an optometrist and a dispensing optician?

available from 2015 in collaboration with Canterbury Christ Church University. Q What challenges does CET present the Association? The new system of Continuing Education and Training is particularly welcome as, by imposing compulsory interactive (‘face-to-face’) CET on registered opticians, for the first time the General Optical Council has made a real difference to standards and the risks associated with isolated practice in the post-Shipman era. Our main challenge is to try and achieve parity with optometrists who obtain an individual CET grant


of nearly £600, and benefit from a centrally administered DOCET fund of around half a million pounds, whereas my members do not get a penny despite having the same obligations. Q Why do you feel it is necessary to promote your profession? Despite ophthalmic opticians changing their name to optometrist over 25 years ago, few people understand the difference between an optometrist and a dispensing optician, and fewer still realise the person dispensing their spectacles might be a level 6 qualified registered dispensing optician, but might equally be an unqualified unregistered dispensing assistant.


We were delighted to be selected by ITN to be their eye health partner for their news channel www. healthcarenews.itn.co.uk which also includes primary care, social care, dentistry and pharmacy. The short films centre on thought leadership, innovation and best practice. ABDO has concentrated principally on regulated dispensing – this is dispensing to children and visually impaired adults. The star of the show is Maisie, a delightful five year old with Down’s syndrome who is helping us develop our CET programme on paediatric dispensing. Find out more at http://www.healthcarenews. itn.co.uk/Eye%20Health/Best%20 Practice/141152/ Q Politically, what are the big issues facing eye health care at the moment? Unprecedented demand for eye care services, and a fundamentally unfair GOS contract outside of Scotland, propels the current system towards breaking point. The growing older population, new treatments and preventions and rapid technological change, means eye care is now a major challenge to the NHS. Opticians in the UK, although


willing and able, are currently hampered in rising to this challenge by a system based on the Opticians Act 1989, which is inadequate for the purposes of a 21st century eye care sector seeking to: prevent poor eye health and sight loss; promote good eye health and sight; improve eye health and care services; and facilitate equitable access to effective, timely, integrated services and support for independent living. Q What is wrong with the current system? The 1980s saw the substantial deregulation of the work of dispensing opticians and wholesale change in the sector. The new competitive environment did some good – today, the UK is the cheapest place for spectacles anywhere in the EU. Access to spectacles and clear vision to study, work and live is an important public health outcome, yet even today one million people in the UK are functionally sight impaired simply because they need glasses. Ready-made reading glasses brought clear near vision to millions of people, but this may have come at a cost. The UK has unprecedented levels of sight loss, and if things do not change, this is set to rise from two million to four million by 2050. Q If you could change one thing about the current system, what would this be? Political will is needed to embrace ‘hospitals without walls’, allow efficient and cost effective commissioning, akin to the Scottish system, to engage community

optometric practices in the provision of preventative and timely eye care interventions including diagnosis and treatment of eye disease, low vision services, eye casualty, eye care advice and eye health promotion. Only then might we make some headway in stopping preventable sight loss doubling over the next 35 years. At the heart of the matter however, is a fundamentally unfair GOS contract in all areas of the UK except Scotland. Currently, optical practices are paid around £21 for an optometrist to deliver a comprehensive eye examination that costs between £35 and £60 to deliver. That means opticians are entirely dependent on the sale of spectacles to subsidise the delivery of NHS healthcare – not only is this unfair to spectacle wearers who are arguably paying over the odds – it also means opticians will not willingly attract patients who do not wear glasses but might still be at risk of sight threatening eye disease. The current GOS contract means opticians cannot compete with unregistered sellers, especially online retailers, who do not have to provide eye care services or live with the unfair cross-subsidy of NHS patients. According to GfK, optical practices are closing at the rate of two per week – 500 practices closed between 2008 and 2013, and the rate is only accelerating in 2014. That is reducing equitable access to eye health care as practices are being lost from deprived and rural areas, rather than the high streets and shopping malls that have plenty of affluent private patients capable of subsidising the 70 per cent of the population entitled to an NHS sight test under General Ophthalmic Services. It is time for change!


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ADVERTORIAL

Supporting science in our schools Yvonne Baker, Director of the National Science Learning Centre, explains to Marcus Papadopoulos the current state of science teaching in the UK

Q There is a shortage of scientists and engineers in the UK, but are there really the jobs out there for young people?

Q How can we ensure teachers, schools and colleges continue to access the help they need?

STEM employers across many sectors highlight difficulties finding skilled staff. All forecasts indicate the need for numerical, scientific and technology skills will only increase.

A UK STEM support infrastructure, sustained by governments and funders, was established in the early ‘noughties’ in response to concerns around STEM skills. That includes the National Science Learning Centre, National Science Learning Network, Science Learning Partnerships, National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, National STEM Centre and the STEM Ambassadors programme, all of which have become significant presences in STEM education.

Q The UK’s ranking in science TIMSS and PISA has been falling. Is that a reflection on the quality of teachers in the UK? TIMSS and PISA are important indicators of a country’s performance compared to others in aspects of science and maths education, but certainly do not tell the whole story. We cannot ignore them but must think about what we can learn and act on. Ensuring that science teachers have access to high impact, subject-specific Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is crucial, just as for law or medicine. Teachers need to keep up-to-date with developments in science to retain their enthusiasm and inspire their pupils. The National Science Learning Centre and aptly named Project ENTHUSE work with around 3,000 science teachers and technicians each year from early years to post-16. That is built upon through the network of 48 newly established schoolled Science Learning Partnerships across England, SSERC in Scotland, Techniquest in Wales and NILB in Northern Ireland. We have independent evidence showing teachers who work with us impact positively on pupils’ achievement in STEM subjects. Importantly, engagement with CPD also impacts positively on teachers’ job satisfaction and retention, both important factors in ensuring a great science education for all.

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Q What are the biggest challenges for science teaching over the next few years? Along with attracting, developing and, perhaps most importantly, retaining talented teachers who can communicate the excitement of STEM subjects, I think the biggest challenges are breaking down some of the stereotypes that persist. We need to encourage more girls into physics and engineering - there are signs for optimism; the University Technical Colleges could bring change and the ‘Your Life’ campaign is spreading the word that STEM careers are for everyone. Careers advice needs improvement, particularly around informing young people and their influencers better about work-based as well as university routes, and we must recognise the influence subject teachers have. Though Project ENTHUSE, we have introduced a Teacher Industrial Partnership Scheme. Teachers spend two weeks with a STEM employer, learning about the breadth of career opportunities.


Ninety-nine per cent of secondary schools and 38 per cent of primary schools have at least one teacher registered with the National STEM Centre eLibrary. The National Science Learning Network has worked with 99 per cent of secondary schools since its creation in 2004. Statistics show an on-going increase of pupils in England choosing STEM A levels or separate sciences at GCSE since these programmes were introduced. However, risks remain. Changes in school accountability, although broadly welcome, mean that some schools may be planning to reduce the offer to pupils of separate sciences at GCSE rather than increase it. The newly established Science Learning Partnerships need long-term support from government and others, in both funding and policy, to achieve their full potential. The Royal Society highlighted these concerns in their recent ‘Vision for Science and Mathematics Education’, recommending that subject-specific CPD should be made a core requirement for teachers and technicians, linked to career progression. As a nation, we must continue to invest in the infrastructures which provide high impact support.


It would take only one cross-party commitment in Westminster to end 50 years of dithering on expanding airports. We believe it’s time to…

SIGNATORIES: Sir Adrian Montague, 3i Group; Martin Gilbert, Aberdeen Asset Management PLC; Dr Eamonn Butler, Adam Smith Institute; Richard Robinson, AECOM; Rupert Soames OBE, Aggreko; David Partridge, Argent (Property Development) Services LLP; Surinder Arora, Arora Holdings LTD; Andy Clarke, Asda Stores LTD & Leeds and Partners; George Weston, Associated British Foods PLC; Heather Lishman, Association of British Professional Conference Organisers; Chris Crowley, Association of Corporate Travel Executives; David Tonkin, Atkins; Tony Pidgley CBE, Berkeley Group; Harold Paisner, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP; Bob Rothenberg, Blick Rothenberg LLP; Dale Keller, Board of Airline Representatives in the UK; Andrew Caplan, Boots UK; Jim McAuslan, British Airline Pilots’ Association; John Longworth, British Chambers of Commerce; Ufi Ibrahim, British Hospitality Association; Peter Quantrill, British International Freight Association; Richard Fursland CBE, BritishAmerican Business & British-American Business Council; Ross Ballingall, Brookfield Multiplex; Michael Hirst OBE, Business Visits and Events Partnership; Hugh Seaborn, Cadogan; Sir George Iacobescu CBE, Canary Wharf Group; Stephen Hubbard, CBRE; Ben Rogers, Centre for London; Tim Knox, Centre for Policy Studies; James Rowntree, CH2M HILL; Ron Gourlay, Chelsea Football Club; Stephen Phillips, ChinaBritain Business Council; Maurice Thompson, Citi; Mark Boleat, City of London Corporation; Professor Paul Curran, City University London; Des Gunewardena, D & D London; Angus Knowles-Cutler, Deloitte; John Burns, Derwent London; John Allan CBE, Dixons Retail PLC; Chris Rumfitt, Edelman; Inderneel Singh, Edwardian Group London; Denise Rossiter, Essex Chambers of Commerce; Richard Banks, European Land and Property LTD; Anthony Arter, Eversheds LLP; Kevin Murphy, ExCeL; Mike Cherry, Federation of Small Businesses; Theo de Pencier, Freight Transport Association; Sue Brown, FTI Consulting; Hugh Bullock, Gerald Eve LLP; Mike Turner CBE, GKN PLC & Babcock International Group PLC; Gordon Clark, Global Blue; Toby Courtauld, Great Portland Estates PLC; Tamara Ingram OBE, Grey Group; Mark Preston, Grosvenor; Paul Wait, Guild of Travel Management Companies; Michael Ward, Harrods; Joseph Wan, Harvey Nichols; Sarah Porter, Heart of London Business Alliance; Richard Sunderland, Heavenly; Jonathan Scott, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP; Nicholas Cheffings, Hogan Lovells International LLP; Nicola Shaw, HS1 Limited; Brian Robertson, HSBC Bank PLC; Michael Spencer, ICAP PLC; Michael Izza, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; Simon Walker, Institute of Directors; Andrew Murphy, John Lewis Partnership; Guy Grainger, Jones Lang LaSalle; George Kessler CBE, Kesslers International; Professor Sir Rick Trainor KBE, King’s College London; Robert Noel, Land Securities Group PLC; Tony Langham, Lansons Communications; Simon Hipperson, Lend Lease; Robert Elliott, Linklaters LLP; Sir Winfried Bischoff, Lloyds Banking Group; David Joy, London & Continental Railways; Colin Stanbridge, London Chamber of Commerce; Baroness Jo Valentine, London First; Professor Malcolm Gillies, London Higher; Mark Reynolds, Mace; John Morgan, Morgan Sindall Group PLC; James Fennell, Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners; Steve Holliday, National Grid PLC; Richard Dickinson, New West End Company; Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, Next; Sir Andrew Cahn, Nomura International PLC; Francis Salway, Open For Business Champions; Adrian Shooter CBE, Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership; Richard Everitt, Port of London Authority; Mark Bensted OBE, Powerday PLC; Ray Auvray, Prospects; John Rhodes, Quod; John Spencer, Regus; Graham Chipchase, Rexam; Professor Paul Webley, School of Oriental and African Studies; David Sleath, Segro PLC; Paul Kelly, Selfridges; Jon Pike, Sinclair Knight Merz; David McAlpine, Sir Robert McAlpine LTD; Sue Rimmer OBE, South Thames College; Philip Gawith, StockWell Group; John Synnuck, Swan Housing Association; Michael Tobin, TelecityGroup PLC; Tim Hancock, Terence O’Rourke LTD; Victor Chavez, Thales UK; Chris Grigg, The British Land Company PLC; Mike Nichols, The Nichols Group; Rebecca Kane, The O2; Bill Moore CBE, The Portman Estate; Daniel Levy, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club; Ric Lewis, Tristan Capital Partners; Ian Coulter, Tughans Solicitors & CBI Northern Ireland; Gary Forster, Turley Associates; Vincent Clancy, Turner & Townsend; David Levin, UBM PLC; Professor Michael Arthur, UCL; Basil Scarsella, UK Power Networks; Andrew Ridley-Barker, VINCI Construction UK; John Burton OBE, Westfield Group; Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP.

@LetBritainFly

letbritainfly.com

The above named signatories have signed the Let Britain Fly founding statement. A full version is available at www.letbritainfly.com Advert published with the kind support of Aberdeen Asset Management, Canary Wharf Group, City of London Corporation, Harrods, Selfridges, SEGRO and Radisson Edwardian.

INTERVIEW: CAMBRIDGE ASSESSMENT

ADVERTORIAL

Time to allow education to breathe

When the name of the game is blame

Simon Lebus, Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment, tells Marcus Papadopoulos about the overriding need for stability in the education sector

Irene Curtis, President of the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales, reveals to Keith Richmond why it’s time to rethink the blame culture and acknowledge the difference between wrongdoing and genuine mistakes

recognise that changes in education make their impact over a very long period of time and hence no one should expect to see the full impact of these changes for several years yet.

Q Can you describe the work of Cambridge Assessment? Established over 150 years ago, Cambridge Assessment is the department of the University of Cambridge which is responsible for owning and operating three exams boards and these consist of Oxford and Cambridge Royal Society for Arts Examinations, Cambridge International Exams and Cambridge English Language Assessment.

Q Which areas do you believe the next government should focus on?

Q How would you appraise Michael Gove’s tenure as Education Secretary? And what is your opinion of Tristram Hunt as Shadow Education Secretary? Through my job, I have been exposed to numerous Education Secretaries and, of course, one of the most important observations to make about Michael Gove is that he was Education Secretary for a much longer period of time than his predecessors hence he did have time to understand his brief and introduce some wide-ranging changes to education. Clearly, under Mr Gove, there was a lot of focus on the institutional and organisational arrangements around schools as well as a focus on examinations - re-evaluating how the examination system was operating with the aim being to eventually create a more content driven style of qualification with an emphasis on leader qualifications. So, Mr Gove wanted to restore features to the education system which existed some ten or twenty years ago. As for Tristram Hunt, he has not been in the role for very long. However, during the time that he has been shadow education secretary, he has made numerous pronouncements about maintaining standards in schools and introducing regional standards commissioners together with re-introducing AS-Levels. Should Mr Hunt become Education Secretary after the 2015 general election, I suspect that while there may be some changes, Mr

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Gove’s reforms of the last four years will not be reversed. And I believe that would be prudent as the education sector desperately needs stability. Q Are there any steps which you would like to see the government take in regard to GCSEs and A-Levels? There is a lot of change in the pipeline with most of the syllabuses being revised, such as the grading system for GCSEs. I believe it is necessary for there to be time and space for those changes to take shape as we are now in a situation where the entire examinations system is in a process of major change from now until about 2018. Q What advice would you offer to whoever forms the government after next year’s general election? So far as the examinations sector specifically is concerned, there has been a lot of focus on general qualifications and school qualifications and there is still a sense that there is much to do about skills-based qualifications and employment qualifications. Further to that, I can only reiterate that the system requires time and space to absorb all the changes which have occurred over the last four years and to


In the area of qualifications, there has been a lot of talk about obtaining the appropriate qualifications in mathematics and thereby increasing the competence of young people in mathematics. Now, I believe that there is a significant amount of work to be carried out in that area. Furthermore, there should be a focus on the opportunities arising for mathematics education out of computerisation – computerised mathematics should be introduced into the curriculum. Q And lastly, can you describe how Cambridge Assessment works with parliamentarians. Qualifications is a complex area and there are many more qualifications out there than people realise – we have approximately 70 syllabuses for GCSEs and A-Levels. In addition to that, there are lots of technical, complex questions over comparability between subjects. So, we maintain a dialogue with politicians at Westminster to ensure that they have a good degree of understanding and insight of the technical challenges concerning how the qualifications system operates but also how this interacts with education because the reality today is that examinations have a huge impact on how the act of learning is carried out within schools and other institutions and it is important that politicians understand the nature of this impact - both in terms of power and its limitations. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency among governments to use qualifications as an easy lever to administer changes in the education system and this can have unintended consequences.


Q What’s driven your concern about a blame culture in policing? In recent years there has been an increase in scrutiny of policing and police actions, which I welcome. As a service we should be open, transparent and accountable. But within this culture officers, including those in senior leadership positions, need to be allowed to make genuine mistakes without the fear of disciplinary action. Q Is it really a blame culture, or are officers simply not doing their jobs properly? In any job, people will make mistakes or get things wrong. That’s human nature. More importantly, it’s a really important part of how people learn and get better at their jobs and find ways to improve the way things are done. Police officers are drawn from the communities they serve and they join because they want to serve the public and make a difference. They are often called upon to deal with situations where there is no obvious right or wrong solution and it is easy then to criticise what might have been said or done at the time. Police officers are not superhuman so, of course, on occasion, mistakes will be made. But a culture of blame where the reaction and response to an error is out of all proportion to that error helps no one. Q Is it an issue in the service? The evidence from our members suggests it is an issue, and one that is growing. There are examples of officers being served notices for gross misconduct (where they are likely to lose their job) in cases that ultimately result in them receiving advice for something they said which might have been clumsy but certainly wasn’t malicious. We’re trying to improve policing, and we’re asking officers to do more with less. This means we need the senior operational leaders in policing, my members in the superintending ranks, to think differently, be more creative with problem solving, even take risks where


this is appropriate. So we cannot allow a culture to perpetuate where people are afraid to do this for fear of the consequences if they get something wrong. Those difficult decisions, that new way of thinking that we need if we are to continue to police effectively in a changed landscape, postreform, simply will not happen in a climate of blame. Q Does this mean serious mistakes will go unpunished? I’m not suggesting backing off from disciplinary measures where they are the right way to deal with a serious issue. We need to differentiate between the occasions – which are still, thankfully, few – of corrupt behaviour, and genuine errors made in the course of carrying out a difficult, demanding and sometimes dangerous job. There is no place in the police service for the former and that is what the disciplinary process is rightly in place for. What I am calling for is a greater acceptance of the latter and for the public and others who scrutinise policing to understand the difference and acknowledge that, as in all walks of life, mistakes do happen from time to time.

Q Can you have one without the other? Yes I believe so, but you need everyone to commit to it. The aviation industry has achieved this by developing a culture of learning rather than blame when something goes wrong. This encourages pilots to report incidents and admit mistakes that might prevent a tragedy in the future. We should think about what the culture of blame does to an officer’s mindset and the way they approach the job. I think genuine errors, made with the right intentions, should not cause a blight on a person’s career or even end that career. Q How do you want to see this addressed in the Home Office review? Disciplinary procedures should be for wrongdoing, not necessarily for doing the wrong thing. It would be great if the review could consider how the service can move towards a culture of learning, so that officers can better serve the public by being given space to make mistakes from which they can then learn.


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ADVERTORIAL

ADVERTORIAL

I can see clearly what the problem is

Amazing things are happening

Tony Rucinski, Chief Executive of the Macular Society, explains to Keith Richmond his plan to cure – to sort, not just support – half of all the blindness in Britain

Alison Seabrooke, Chief Executive of the Community Development Foundation, tells Keith Richmond how you can catalyse community action with small sums of money

Q How are you going to sort blindness?

Q Why did you start working with communities?

Imagine if we could cure over half of all the blindness in the UK. Well, we could cure it, but we don’t. We choose to focus mainly on support instead. My vision is to change society by curing half of all sight loss. For the first time, this aspiration is real and achievable. I am the new Chief Executive of the Macular Society, and I am registered blind myself through macular dystrophy. Broadly speaking, my new role is simply to cure half of all the blindness in Britain.

Like a lot of people who start out helping in their community it began when I had children. I was a young mum who wanted somewhere I could socialise with my children so I became involved in a local parent and toddler group. We needed better premises so I, and other mums in the area, took a shared interest in making a run-down 1920s village hall fit for purpose. We found out about a local grant scheme, I wrote my first application, and never looked back! I went on to raise funds to build a purpose built community facility that today still serves the community in Riccall, North Yorkshire.

Q What sort of blindness? When you look at something, the sight in clear focus is the bit of your vision that lands on a tiny 3mm part of the retina at the back of your eye called the macula. Diseases of the macula account for more than half of all sight loss in the developed world. In the UK alone 600,000 people are living with the most common form, age-related macular degeneration and 200 more are added each day. The Macular Society has the largest membership of any sight loss organisation, 17,000 so far. Our 300 local groups, run by 1,500 volunteers, help our staff deliver some of the most life-changing services on the planet. But the best thing we could do for our members, for me personally, and for hundreds of thousands out there like us, is give sight back. All the researchers and senior clinicians I talk to tell me that only money stands between where we are today and the eradication of macular disease. Recent advances in genetic research, stem cell therapies and implants have, for the first time, reached a stage where the leading researchers are able to express such confidence. But we need investment in research. Q Aren’t millions of pounds already being invested? The annual UK investment in eye research is around £30 million – that’s

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Q Do you think it’s important that those making decisions about communities should follow a similar path? for all eye conditions. Small and medium size charities, like the Macular Society, fund around 20% of that. The enormous Wellcome Trust funds another 20% and the rest is from government-funded organisations such as the National Institute for Health Research. But the NIHR spends only 0.9% of its budget on eye research. Compare that with what we spend supporting people with AMD. Q How much is spent on AMD? The NHS spends around £270 million a year treating wet AMD (the only treatable form). Drug costs are the third highest in the NHS. Most people have untreatable dry AMD and gradually lose their sight. There are huge knock-on costs to society in terms of benefit claims, the cost of social care and other health needs resulting from blindness such as depression, falls and burns. The two best known sight-loss charities in the UK have a turnover of around £120 million and £80 million respectively. It may surprise you to learn that of the £1 billion they will spend on (albeit great) support in the


next five years, none of this money will go towards medical research to develop cures. Unbelievably, the Macular Society is the only patient organisation in the UK funding medical research into AMD. Overall we are spending around 10 times as much on support as we are spending on research. Isn’t it time we addressed such an obvious imbalance? Q Surely people need the support and treatment they are getting. Are you calling for less support for blind people? No, of course not. If anything, more. But we must address the lack of research or we will be wasting billions of pounds on blindness which could be cured. Official figures estimate that we will need to find money to support 4 million people with sight loss by 2050. But I ask you; would you rather just support them, or would you rather invest now to reduce that figure by more than half? I ask Parliamentarians and policy makers to help me do that. You are the people who can give me, and hundreds of thousands like me, not just support – but sight.


No, not necessarily but it is important to be realistic and grounded when making decisions about investment and support for communities. You have to consider how communities actually operate out of the policy bubble. By that I mean understanding how people come together, the triggers for community action and paying attention to what communities are saying. Only then can you craft policy and develop ideas that communities will run with. A lot of community activity comes out of issues or problems in an area and we shouldn’t shy away from recognising this. This can bring people together and trigger something far bigger than solving the issue at hand. Q What are the key issues that you think the government should be focusing on in the run-up to the general election? The run-up to any election is a time to really look ahead and plan for the future. We must remember, however, that communities don’t think in four year cycles and, for the most part, aren’t interested in pre- or post-election promises, they want to see positive changes in their community. It is


more important than ever that deprived communities in the country get extra support. To tackle worklessness, improve local economies and help people take pride in where they live, we need to help mobilise these hard to reach communities. Q How can you reach these deprived communities? Small grant programmes like Community First, which we run for the Office for Civil Society, are a good example of how small sums of money can have an amazing impact and catalyse community action. A four year, £30 million grant programme, it offers small grants from £250-£2,500 to community groups in 600 of the most deprived wards in the country. In three years, we have generated nearly 4 million volunteer hours. Communities must match what they are given in grants with cash raised or volunteer time or support in kind. The ripple effect has been huge. So far £16.7 million worth of grants has generated £70 million worth of match. We’re really proud to have delivered such a successful programme

and look forward to more government-led programmes like this. Q Can such small sums really make a difference? Surely the groups will need more support after the grant has been spent? We are seeing, time and again, that great things happen from small beginnings. We funded a community group recently in Gloucester who ran a gardening project. Just the other day they called to thank us for what they saw as their start up grant of £2,500. The two young men involved in the project credited Community First as being the catalyst that turned their lives around. They now have enough experience to be part of an adult education course and are studying for an NVQ to teach woodwork which they hope will get them into full time employment. They continue to volunteer in their community on garden projects. We are encouraged by the resilience we see in these deprived communities. With a little bit of help from the government amazing things are happening all over the country.


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ADVERTORIAL

An integral subject for children and young people Joe Hayman, Chief Executive of the PSHE Association, tells Marcus Papadopoulos about a crucial opportunity to improve the lives of children and young people Q How do pupils and parents feel about PSHE?

Q What is PSHE education? PSHE education is Personal, Social, Health and Economic education. It is the part of the curriculum which helps school pupils to develop the skills and attributes which best prepare them for the challenges, opportunities and responsibilities of life. It teaches children how to keep themselves healthy and safe, to form strong relationships - whether in their personal lives or future careers - and gives them the employability skills they need to thrive in the jobs market.

There Is clear evidence that both children and parents want this focus in the curriculum to complement and support academic learning. YouGov research commissioned by the PSHE Association this May shows that 90 per cent of parents agree that children and young people should receive lessons that prepare them for life and work alongside academic study, while half a million young people were involved in making “a curriculum which prepares us for life” the UK Youth Parliament’s priority campaign in England in 2014.

PSHE education is a crucially important subject, which is why we are calling on Parliamentarians to support a Bill to make it compulsory in schools.

Q What would you like to see Parliament do?

Q Why is it so important? Today’s school pupils are growing up in one of the most diverse countries in the world where old certainties like ‘a job for life’ no longer exist and in which children and young people may expect to live longer but not necessarily healthier or more financially-secure lives than their parents. They need not just qualifications but also the skills and aptitudes to thrive in a fastchanging environment that offers huge opportunities but few guarantees. Without an education system that acknowledges the links between such skills and attributes, good health, academic success and future employment, our economy and our society will suffer and pupils will lose out. Q What is the evidence? There is strong evidence showing the potential of PSHE education to have an impact not just on pupils’ health and wellbeing, but also on their future academic and employment success.

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A recent British Medical Journal editorial noted that “education and health are synergistic… students in better health do better academically”, citing countries such as Finland, Singapore and Sweden which have great academic success and place a greater emphasis on pupil health. That ‘synergistic’ relationship was reinforced when the Chief Medical Officer referred to PSHE education as a “bridge between education and public health” in her most recent annual report. A series of reports in recent years have also emphasised the importance to pupils’ life chances of the skills and attributes which PSHE education seeks to develop. A 2011 Demos report noted that “soft skills” such as communication, teamwork and application are as important as academic ability in predicting earnings at age 30, while the CBI and British Chamber of Commerce have just this year called for schools to do more to help pupils to develop these skills.


Parliamentarians from all parties have an immediate opportunity to help realise the potential of PSHE education. Caroline Lucas MP has tabled a Bill to make the subject a compulsory part of the curriculum. MPs from across the political spectrum have indicated their support for the subject and we are calling for a free vote and sufficient Parliamentary time for the Bill’s second reading this October. That would enable MPs from all sides to put their support into action and make compulsory PSHE education a reality. We know that there is commitment across the political spectrum to ensuring that schools help children to stay healthy and safe and to thrive in their future careers. PSHE can help to achieve that aim but this potential can only be realised when the subject is taught by trained teachers and given sufficient time in school timetables – and that is why we are calling on MPs to support Caroline Lucas’ Bill.


NOW IS THE TIME TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, the mental health charity

It’s a crucial time for the cause of mental health. The spotlight is firmly on us and mental health is being talked about like never before. At a policy level we are seeing positive change at a pace we haven’t seen for many years, yet growing pressures on the NHS and other services mean that many people with mental health problems just aren’t getting the help they need. It’s difficult to celebrate the positive steps that have been taken when our infoline and local Minds are being inundated with people struggling to cope. The recent sad news of Robin Williams’ death gave many people the courage to speak out about their own mental health problems and countless radio stations open their phone lines and provided a platform for frank discussion about depression, suicide and the daily struggle that some of us face. Meanwhile, the fierce public backlash when some parts of the tabloid press reported gratuitous detail about his suicide sent a clear signal that some media outlets are well out of step with the public mood. Thanks to programmes like Time to Change, an antistigma campaign that Mind runs with Rethink Mental Illness, public attitudes are clearly changing. We were also reminded, however, of how far we have yet to go. I have lost count of the number of times I was asked how such a happy, extroverted man such as Williams, who had a great job and a loving family could possibly have struggled so much he felt the need to end his life. We still seem unwilling to accept that mental health doesn’t discriminate and that a person has no more control over depression or bipolar disorder than they would a heart condition or a broken leg. Mind’s message on the day we learned of Williams’ death

was that it’s ok to speak out. But many of our supporters, angry and frustrated at the current state of mental health services, pointed out that speaking out doesn’t necessary mean you get the help you need. We know that the NHS is under significant pressure but funding for mental health services has been cut for three consecutive years, and more severely than other parts of the NHS. After years of chronic underinvestment, there just isn’t any room for belt-tightening – the impact of these cuts falls squarely on patient care, meaning longer waits for therapy and a crisis care system that doesn’t respond with same urgency we expect for a physical health emergency. There isn’t a parliamentary candidate in the country for whom mental health isn’t relevant. We all have mental health, just like we all have physical health, and in each and every constituency one in four people will be experiencing a mental health problem. We need to see mental health given the same priority as physical health and, while the main parties all agree and are committed to this principle, we have yet to see real change on the ground. We need to see maximum waiting times like those for physical health, such as access to talking therapies within 28 days. We need to see safe, speedy access to urgent care in a crisis and an end to bed shortages and the use of police cells for people who are acutely unwell. Ultimately, uncomfortable and unrealistic as it may seem in the current climate, we need to see investment in mental health services to bring them up to a basic standard. Whoever forms our next government must take mental health seriously and give it the priority it so urgently needs.

ADVERTORIAL

INTERVIEW: SOCIETY FOR GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY

Talking about mental illnesses

Remedying the surge of new bacteria

David Pink, Chief Executive of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, discusses with Marcus Papadopoulos the need to ensure that mental health provision is a high priority at Westminster

Professor Nigel Brown, President of the Society for General Microbiology, tells Marcus Papadopoulos of the urgent need to develop new antibiotics to counter ever-increasingly resistant bacteria

and how. But the evidence is there that psychological therapies can help people who are in distress.

Q What is psychotherapy and what does the UK Council for Psychotherapy do? Psychotherapy is an established form of talking therapy which can help people come to terms with how they feel. At times of crisis, at times when people have suffered a loss, or when people are seriously rethinking their direction in life, psychotherapy can be an invaluable tool. Psychotherapists listen to and work with people to help them manage often powerful feelings of conflict and torment.

Q What is CBT? Is that what you stand for? CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It is a type of psychotherapy which has become very popular in recent years. CBT focuses on the here and now, and practical ways to help people improve their mood. For conditions like anxiety, it tends to help people in about 50 per cent of cases. CBT is one important type of therapy, but not the only one. UKCP has a range of practitioners from different schools of psychotherapy.

The UK Council for Psychotherapy is the national registration body for psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors in the UK. Our mission is twofold: to ensure the profession is wellregulated and to ensure more people can access good quality psychotherapeutic support. Q Do you think it is time for there to be statutory regulation for psychotherapists and counsellors? UKCP believes in regulation. That is what we were set up to do, and have continued to do for over 20 years. Under the Coalition Government, a governmentapproved voluntary registration scheme has been established. The thinking here is that this is a proportionate response to the risks involved. Realistically, it is the only form of regulation on the table at the present time. We have worked with the Professional Standards Authority to develop the registration scheme and now we need to give it time to see how it works in practice. Ultimately, though, it is for legislators to decide on legislation. Q What are some of the pressing issues for the therapy profession at the moment? They are as follows: improving access to good quality psychotherapy services; making treatment options available if

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patients do not benefit from current NHS therapy services; protecting the public from the risks of so-called “gay conversion therapy”; and stimulating debate about current approaches to mental ill-health and wellbeing. Q Some people are sceptical about whether counselling and psychotherapy are effective. Is therapy a modern indulgence or a scientific treatment? Psychotherapy has long been recognised as a highly effective form of treatment. Even the NHS’s rationing agency, NICE, recommends several types of psychotherapy as first-line treatment options. Interestingly, given the choice, three quarters of patients say they prefer talking treatments to medication for mental health issues. Of course, we need to use all tools at our disposal to help people in need. But the idea that psychotherapy and counselling should not play a part in that mix, or is a modern indulgence, is just wrong. We need much more research into what works for whom,


While we support the advancement of all forms of therapy, we remain concerned that the focus on CBT means other approaches which may suit some people better are being overlooked. Many patients struggle to access any form of therapy on the NHS. And, if CBT does not work for them, further support is so rarely available. It really is a scandal. Q Why do you lobby and engage at events such as the party conferences? The mental health lobby is gaining in voice, and we are a key part of that. Historically, mental health has been a stigmatised issue, and while that is beginning to change, there is still a long way to go. Being present at conferences is one more way in which we ensure that mental health remains at the forefront of the minds of our political leaders, and helps people become more comfortable with discussing the vital issues which we all face. We are here with our colleagues at the British Psychoanalytic Council and the We Need to Talk coalition, ensuring mental health is not relegated to the margins despite constrained financial times.


new drugs. In the past 30 years, only two new classes of antibiotics have been developed. Researchers are working hard to find new sources of antibiotics, modifying existing drugs to make them more efficient, or looking to develop ‘anti-infectives’, chemicals synthesised in a laboratory that can be used to kill bacteria.

Q Can you describe your professional background. My area of research expertise was bacterial genetics, focusing on antimicrobial metals including copper, which can be used in hospital handles and surfaces to prevent infection. Previously, I have worked as Director of Science and Technology at the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council and recently as Vice-Principal at the University of Edinburgh.

The Society for General Microbiology is bringing together experts from different areas of microbiology and working with other societies like the Royal Society of Chemistry to help form collaborations between scientific disciplines.

Currently, I am President of the Society for General Microbiology, the largest learned microbiological society in Europe. The Society was founded in 1945 with Alexander Fleming as its first president. We publish five research journals and organise conferences to bring together microbiologists from across the globe.

It is important that the wider public is aware of the issue hence we work with our members to take the message to the media, to schools and to other public groups. Q How much does it cost to bring a new drug to market?

Q How does microbiology impact on our daily lives? Microbiology is the study of small organisms of all descriptions, typically bacteria, viruses and fungi. People know the obvious things that microbes are involved in, such as the making of bread and beer, but what is perhaps not so well known is that they have a vital role in agriculture. Microorganisms help keep the soil healthy, allowing plants to grow. Of course, we also know that many microbes are capable of causing disease. Ebola, caused by a virus, has been in the news a lot recently, as has food poisoning caused by Campylobacter bacteria that can be caught from eating incorrectly cooked chicken. Q There has been a lot of talk about antibiotic resistance in the media. Is it as much of a problem as has been suggested? We have had effective antibiotics since the 1940s, and these are used routinely in both medicine and farming to treat disease in humans and animals. The problem we are facing is that bacteria are becoming


increasingly resistant to those drugs. Some bacteria are fantastically promiscuous and share sections of their DNA with their neighbours. That sharing is one of the ways that antibiotic resistance is able to spread. Antibiotic resistances can accumulate, leading to organisms that are resistant to multiple drugs. I could say that my career in antibiotic research is defined by gonorrhoea: when I started out as a researcher, gonorrhoea resistant to penicillin had just documented. Now, almost 40 years later, there are strains of the disease that are resistant to almost every antibiotic we have available. We anticipate that the remaining drugs will become useless in the next 5-10 years and the disease will become untreatable without new antibiotics. Q What can be done to prevent that situation occurring? We really have to ensure that we have an infrastructure in place to let us discover

It costs millions of dollars to develop a new antibiotic, with most of the costs associated with Stage II and Stage III clinical trials. One of the major issues facing antibiotic development is that the drugs are typically used over a short period of time, perhaps a week, giving much less return to drug companies than long-term, lifestyle drugs like statins. Q What can parliamentarians do to help with the problem of antibiotic resistance? Currently, looking for new antibiotics happens in SMEs, but these companies cannot bear the cost of large-scale clinical trials. We need to stimulate the research environment and ensure that funding is appropriately allocated to the research councils, but also to look for tax incentives so that companies can benefit from undertaking research in this area. In the longer-term, if we are faced with a dire emergency: we need to investigate how we can fast-track potential drugs through the later stages of clinical trials.


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PLAIN PACKAGING

ADVERTORIAL

Politicians must listen more carefully to the glass and glazing industry Nigel Rees, Group Chief Executive of the Glass and Glazing Federation, tells Marcus Papadopoulos about the multiple campaigns his organisation is involved in on behalf of the Glass and Glazing Industry Q Following the latest DECC statistics on the Green Deal and ECO, how does the Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF) feel about the Government’s drive towards increasing energy efficiency in the UK building stock? The statistics clearly show that the Green Deal has done little for the glass and glazing industry. The scheme’s slow uptake underlines the GGF’s original concerns; it is over-complicated, there are already better consumer finance deals and the homeowner incentives have not worked effectively for all measures. For trade, the Government has failed to encourage companies to become Green Deal Certified Installers due to the cost, time and effort that companies incur with no guarantee of more work. Q In view of that, what would you suggest to the Government, or any future Government, to help homeowners save on fuel bills and make properties more energy efficient? Whether it is the Green Deal or an alternative scheme, the Government must address the issue of the energy efficiency of buildings. That is not just to help homeowners and companies save money but also to help them reduce their carbon emissions. Approximately 80 per cent of domestic properties in the UK do not have energy efficient glazing and over 20 per cent of a property’s heat is lost through inferior glazing. To make any scheme work, the GGF advocates a whole house approach and homeowner incentives to encourage installation of energy efficient glazing to replace pre-2002 double and single glazed windows. In addition to that, the Government has to make qualification for the carrying out of energy efficient work easier for bona fide companies. It is counter-productive to force hardworking companies, mostly SMEs, to continually prove themselves at a cost that

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many simply cannot afford. Q How is your campaign to Cut the VAT on home improvement, maintenance and repair work developing?

Running parallel to that campaign, we are also urging the Government to reduce the VAT on Energy Efficient Glazing to bring it into parity with other energy saving products that have a 5 per cent VAT rating. We will continue to lobby for those changes because reducing the VAT has significant long- term gains, not only for economic growth and job creation, but also for carbon reduction, as many contemporary home improvements will include the installation of energy efficient products. Q With regards to the GGF Fire Safety Campaign, how important is it for the Government to act on the issues around Fire Safety in buildings? It is vitally important. It makes no sense to have a certification for domestic glazing yet public buildings such as hospitals and schools – where the risk and potential loss of life is higher – can currently have fire resistant glazing installed by an untrained and unqualified installer with no certification. We are lobbying Government to introduce


Australia introduced plain packaging in December 2012. Since then the black market has grown to record levels, costing Australian taxpayers more than AUD$1billion. Australia now faces the biggest WTO challenge in history. It has not cut smoking rates and Australian politicians are now calling for the law to be repealed.

“It won’t stop people smoking. We know that.” Dr James Cant, Head of the British Lung Foundation (Scotland) – 2014

“It is reasonable for other countries to wait until the evidence has been gathered by the piloting of this initiative.” Paul Glasziou, Professor of EvidenceBased Medicine at Bond University on Australia’s Gold Coast, interviewed for The Lancet - 2014

Australia - Booming black market

The campaign is one we have been working on for several years with a coalition of other trade bodies and related organisations. Earlier this year, we sponsored an independent research report conducted by Experian. The report was launched at a House of Commons Reception this March and highlighted that a VAT rate reduction on housing renovation and repair could boost the UK economy by more than £15 billion from 2015 to 2020. That reduction could also create more than 95,000 jobs and save 240,000 tonnes of CO2 from thousands of homes.

Does hurt. Doesn’t work.

The black market in Australia has reached record levels with new illicit ‘brands’ outselling major legal brands. Authorities have had to quadruple fines for selling illicit tobacco to tackle the problem. • Illicit market grown by 12.7% – now representing 13.9% of the entire tobacco market (KPMG - 2014) - an 18% increase • Seizures have more than doubled from 82 million illegal cigarettes to 200 million (Australian Customs and Border Protection Service - 2013) • 151% increase in the sale of new illegal branded packs. (KPMG - 2014)

Australia - Taxpayers & the Economy Hit a compulsory certification scheme for the installation of Fire Resistant Glazing. Q Which other campaigns are the GGF working on for the party conferences and the forthcoming 2015 election?

The Australian Treasury are now losing AUS$1.1billion to the illicit trade in tobacco. Australia is also facing the world’s largest trading dispute via the WTO. Small retailers are being undercut by illegal ‘pop-up’ shops selling tobacco without any regard to the buyer’s age. • AUS$1.1billion of tax revenue lost to the black market (KPMG - 2014) • Australia faces the biggest ever WTO challenge from 5 countries (WTO 2014)

“It would be unwise to push for wider implementation of the policy unless and until the evidence base itself is substantially strengthened.” Dr Neil McKeganey, Director of the Drugs Misuse Research Centre in Glasgow - 2014

“Governments that inherit bad policy should have the courage to stick to their original convictions and review legislation that clearly isn’t working.” David Leyonhjelm is the Australian Liberal Democrats’ Senator-elect for New South Wales - 2014 Australia’s Gold Coast, interviewed for The Lancet - 2014

What would it mean for UK black market? A booming black market in the UK that is already growing faster than anywhere else in Europe. • Young people are a key target for black market traders with almost half of tobacco consumed by 14 -17 year olds already illicit (ASH - 2011) • Plain packs could cause an increase of over 30% in illicit trade (Cebr - 2013)

What would it mean for the UK economy? Risk the recovery by costing the Treasury billions, threatening jobs and hurting the UK economy. • UK is already losing 2.9BN in tax revenue to the illicit trade, and Cebr calculate a 27% increase if plain packaging is introduced. (HMRC - 2013) • 30,000 jobs in small retailers at stake (Cebr - 2013)

• Small shops losing up to AUS$15,000 a week (Roy Morgan Research - 2013)

The Consumer Rights Bill is due to be enacted in October 2015 and we are working with BIS to ensure it does not adversely affect our Members and has no major impact on our industry. We are also still working with DEFRA to find a way to cut the red tape caused by the Government transferring ownership of private sewers and lateral drains from homeowners to private water companies. That has caused delays and additional costs to homeowners wanting to install conservatories in their homes. Q Finally, is the GGF looking forward to the party conferences and next year’s general election? The next 12 months should be interesting. No matter who is running the country, we will ensure the issues affecting the Glass and


Australia - No Cut in Smoking Since Australia introduced plain packaging smoking rates have stopped falling with some studies even showing a small increase. • The quantity of legal tobacco sold actually rose by 59 million cigarettes in the first year after plain packaging (KPMG - 2014)

What would it mean for UK smoking rates? Evidence from Australia shows that plain packaging will not lead to a reduction in smoking.

• No change in smoking prevalence (London Economics - 2013) • No evidence of a drop in youth smoking (Ashok Kaul and Michael Wolf, University of Zurich - 2014)

The UK Should Wait Australia will commence a review of the impact of plain packaging legislation at the end of 2014.

PROVEN ALTERNATIVES THAT WORK Education has been shown to be key in preventing children from taking up smoking. In Germany the ‘Be Smart Don’t Start’ programme has seen youth smoking rates halved in a decade, and amongst 12 - 16 year olds rates have fallen by almost two thirds. (Be Smart Don’t Start | German School Based Anti Smoking)

Department of History, Université de Montréal

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FEATURES:

Are we locked into

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Anglo-Russian relations: the Bear, the Lion and the Great Game that has been played for over 100 years Professor Michael Jabara Carley,

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FEATURES:

London’s Russophobia is nothing new

this everlasting cycle of hostility?

They are not really fascists, say the US and British governments, but there are none so blind as those who will not see. Apply the “duck rule”: if they look like fascists, talk like fascists and act like fascists, they probably are fascists.

in the 1930s, “Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia?” Conservative Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was sure he could work with Adolf Hitler. The Munich agreement in 1938 was his crowning achievement, so he thought for a few months, encouraged by the bouquets of flowers left at his front door.

The February putsch in Kiev led to the reunification of the Crimea with Russia. It provoked massacres in Odessa, Mariupol, Donetsk and many other places in south-eastern Ukraine, perpetrated by the Right Sector and their fascist militias. Let us call a spade, a spade.

Well, then, thought Iosef Stalin: if Chamberlain can conclude the Munich accord, I can do him one better, was the attitude of the Soviet leader. That was the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact. Tit for tat, it was, but no more successful than British policy had been. Britain and the USSR were forced together to face a mortal common danger during World War II. The enemy of my enemy is my ally is a good principle of statecraft but even during World War II it was not always easy to apply. After the Soviet victory at Moscow in December 1941, senior Foreign Office officials worried that the Red Army might defeat Nazi Germany single-handedly. Better for us, they said, that there should be a stalemate until we are stronger.

S

ince 1917, Anglo-Soviet and Russian relations have been strained or hostile. That makes nearly 100 years, with the partial exception, and I emphasise the word partial, of World War II. Between 1917 and 1920, the British government spent more than £100 million on attempting to strangle Soviet Russia at birth. British and other Allied troops were sent to Russia and shot at Bolsheviks on sight. It turned out to a bad idea. “The complete failure of a ridiculous adventure”, opined one French officer. In the early 1920s, Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George tried to change course, pursuing a pragmatic policy toward Moscow based on mutually profitable trade relations. The Conservative party, driven by its “Die-Hard” wing, was against him and wanted a confrontation with the USSR. Russians are not like us, said the Tories, referring to them as brutish “Orientals” and arguing that their hold on “civilisation” was only “skin deep”. British hostility continued during the 1930s, driven by anticommunism. “You know the Tories,” said one contemporary observer, even as the threat of fascism began to destabilise European security. “Who is enemy no. 1” was the big question

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And Winston Churchill was quick to mistrust the USSR. “Barbarians”, he said the Russians were, even as the Red Army bore the main weight of the war against Nazi forces. Churchill delayed a second front as long as he could. And as Soviet victories mounted, so did Churchill’s disquiet. No sooner was there victory in Europe than the Anglo-Soviet alliance deteriorated. In May 1945, two weeks after Nazi Germany capitulated, the War Office Joint Planning Staff produced the top secret “Operation Unthinkable,” a contingency plan for war with the USSR. Fighting with Japan was not yet over but already the old hostility was re-emerging. It was the beginning of the post-1945 Cold War which went on with ups and downs for more than forty years.

and employment for British workers? Yes, it does, not to mention investment possibilities. One power, the United States, looks upon those developments with increasing disquiet. Russian integration into Europe might lead to a more multi-polar world and Europe could regain some of the political independence it lost after World War II. NATO might play a less important role and, eventually, be disbanded, for, after all, a Russia integrated into Europe would represent no threat at all. For the US, that is unacceptable; it means the end of American world domination.

After the collapse and dismemberment of the USSR in 1991, it should have been bygones be bygones. As long as there was a weak and ineffectual leader in the Kremlin (Boris Yeltsin), that seemed a reasonable position because, after all, the west and NATO could do what they wanted.

Almost from the beginning of Putin’s presidency, Western mainstream media began demonising him. Read back issues of the Guardian or Independent, for example, not to mention the British yellow press. Putin is the ex-KGB man, with hammers and sickles in his eyes. He is slowly morphing into a new Stalin.

Why NATO you might ask? With the end of the USSR, surely it should have disappeared. However, not only did NATO not disappear but, contrary to promises made to Moscow, it expanded right up to Russia’s western frontiers.

The Ukraine crisis, which erupted this February with the overthrow of the democratically elected Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, has enhanced the West’s negative perceptions of the Russian leader.

In 2000, Vladimir Putin became Russian president. He offered the west security cooperation and trade and investment. It would be profitable for both sides, Putin said, and lead to Russian political and economic integration with the rest of Europe. It was a good plan and started to work, too. With Germany alone, Russia does nearly €76.5 billion in annual trade. Trade with the UK is not as rich but, even so, amounts annually to US$13 billion. Does trade serve British national interests? Does it provide contracts for British firms

Putin is blamed for the Ukraine mess, a new Hitler he is, but everyone knows that the US and European Union were behind the putsch. The new regime’s strongest support came from so-called “Right Sector” paramilitary forces and the Svoboda party, both of which claim spiritual and political descendence from World War II Ukrainian fascists. Stepan Bandera, the Nazi collaborator, is their greatest forebear.



Open war broke out after the Lugansk and Donetsk regions held referendums and declared independence or a form of strong autonomy from Kiev. That fighting is fierce and its outcome is, at this writing, uncertain. Then, this July, Malaysian Air flight 17 crashed near Donetsk. Before any investigation whatsoever, the British and US governments indicted Putin and the anti-fascist resistance in Novorossiia (south-eastern Ukraine). The British press turned completely yellow, and blamed everything on Putin and Russia. Headlines were shocking. “Putin’s Killed my Son”, shrieked the Daily Mail. The Russian general staff released satellite and radar data contradicting the unfounded accusations of the US and British governments and the Kiev junta. Shortly thereafter, the US began to climb down from its accusations against Russia. Damage had, nevertheless, been done. The US and Britain are leading the charge for renewed Russian isolation and containment. Is that a wise policy? Can it be justified, apart from the British government’s loyalty to its US “special relationship”? Do the UK and EU have an interest or not in good political and economic relations with Russia? Clearly they do, as Lloyd George argued long ago in similar circumstances. It is a natural relationship, “a perfect fit”, says one observer. Why would the British government pursue policies contrary to that “perfect fit” and British national interests? Of course, London’s Russophobia is nothing new. British hostility toward Russia has endured for nearly 100 years or longer if one looks back into the nineteenth-century. The more things change, the more they stay the same, you might think. But are we locked into this everlasting cycle of hostility? Is it not time for reflection about British foreign policy and British national interests before something irreparable occurs? Pragmatism and common sense should not be dirty words even if, for nearly 100 years, they have had insufficient influence on British policy toward Russia. Professor Michael Jabara Carley is the author of Silent Conflict: A Hidden History of Early Soviet-Western Relations


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Sir Harold Atcherley, a veteran of the Malaysian campaign of World War Two

Feelings of hatred are displayed more by those who have never been directly involved

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The Burma-Thailand Railway: reflections of a survivor

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FEATURES:

Putting the public first and not shying away from doing so Steve White, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales

Death from cholera was so quick that, sometimes, men who had been out working a day or two before, were themselves cremated 24 hours later.

When I was stationed out of Bristol 13 years ago as an armed response officer, we did not have the potential of having to travel 100 miles to get to a call out. We used to put out two armed response vehicles, a minimum of three double-crewed motorway cars, usually several motorbikes and an unmarked car. In a relatively short space of time, so much has changed. The officers in Tri-Force have a markedly vast area to police with much less resources.

One’s feet hung down uselessly from the ankle and we found that by tying one end of a length of liana (that cordlike jungle plant growing up trees) round our big toes and the other above the knee, our feet could be held up to enable us to hobble to work, which we were forced to do, unless the Japanese recognised that we were incapable of standing up. Operations, mostly amputations, were performed without anaesthetic – we had none, doctors using sharpened table knives and a saw borrowed from the Japanese engineers. Medical supplies were non-existent and banana leaves being used for dressings.

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ast year marked the 70th anniversary of the completion of the Burma-Thailand Railway.

Some 100,000 British, Indian and Australian troops were captured when Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in February 1942. Their loss had been rendered inevitable by the British government’s failure to provide essential armaments and its widespread ignorance of Japanese preparations for war. The building of the Burma-Thailand Railway cost the lives of 15,000 POWs and 100,000 civilian workers. Of the original 1,700 who had started work near the Burma-Thailand border at Son Kurai, 1,300 were dead by the time the line was completed. By the end of the war, I was one of only 200 survivors.

The dropping of the two atom bombs saved not only the lives of all prisoners but hundreds of thousands more, not least civilians in Japan, where starvation was rife. There were, of course, many civilised men in the Japanese army who did whatever they could to help us. Feelings of hatred are displayed more by those who have never been directly involved, led by politicians and the media. There are good and bad people in every country and every walk of life. Hatred only damages those who hate, and is too often aimed at whole groups or nations.

A typical working day was never less than 14 and often 18 hours. We worked, ate and slept in huts without roofs under incessant monsoon rain for the first few weeks on an inadequate ration of rancid rice full of maggots and a small quantity of onion stew. Clothing rotted and footwear wore out, so that most of us went barefoot. There was a dramatic increase in cases of jungle ulcers, caused by cuts from razor sharp bamboo splinters. Those ulcers quickly became sceptic and often extended from knee to foot with the bone exposed. They could only be treated by applying maggots, or scraping them with spoons, to clean out the rotting flesh. Many victims did not survive.

When Japanese troops were marched out of Singapore as prisoners at the end of the war, one of our soldiers said to his friends: “Poor sods; now it’s their turn.” That did not reveal any hatred of the Japanese and I found this to be true of the vast majority.

Our main task at Sonkurai was to build a three span timber bridge. The only tools we were given were chungkols, pickaxes, saws and axes. There were no mechanical aides to help us with heavier work, but there were elephants for pulling sections of tree trunks down to the saw mill by the river.

They are far less nationalistic than my generation, and with ever faster communication systems at their fingertips, they are better equipped to improve the quality of government than any previous generation.

We had to cremate the dead; one lot of bodies being burned on several fires and others awaiting their turn nearby - up to 14 per day.

Prisoner of Japan: A Personal War Diary by Sir Harold Atcherley is published by Memoirs Publishing

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The British ignorance of history and of the world in which we live is as strong today as it was a century ago, and one is at a loss to know what can be done to change the way in which we are governed. I believe the younger generation has the capacity to start the process.


We will not shy away from challenging poor decisions

geographic spread of the area of responsibility is equivalent to the size of Belgium. While that places immense pressure on all the police officers involved, greater still is the potential impact it may have on the public.

Many diseases were the cause of death, but common to all were exhaustion through overwork and starvation. Beriberi was one of the more lasting diseases, which caused paralysis in the limbs.

Should the allies have attempted to regain control of South-East Asia by force, the Japanese would have massacred all POWs. We were to be taken by truck to the beaches of Singapore and machine gunned.

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FEATURES:

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ollaboration between police forces is often flouted as a political solution when it comes to making efficiency savings for police forces, but does this really benefit the public or is it merely a quick fix to save money? I suppose the simple answer to that complex question is that it depends on how it is done. Since becoming Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales in May this year, I have been determined to engage with all our membership to ensure that I am best placed to represent them in my conversations with parliamentarians and other external stakeholders. I came to office as Chairman acutely aware that criticism of the Police Federation during the past year will not only have undermined public and political confidence in our organisation, but also the confidence of our members, too. While the internal reform programme we are implementing will make strides to assist rebuilding trust through being more open, transparent and accountable, I recognised the importance of directly engaging with the hard-working police officers across England and Wales. With that in mind, I am travelling around the country meeting officers from different forces, hearing first-hand the challenges and pressures they face every day, the impact of increasing demands and fewer officers and the innovative solutions they have to deliver the very best possible service to their local communities. This August, I worked a late shift in Bristol with Tri-Force specialist operations where I saw first-hand many things – but specifically force collaboration in practice. Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire police have merged their armed response and roads policing operations. That is no small task considering that the


Those police officers cope admirably and do a remarkable job, considering the role is one with tremendous pressure and very little, if any, downtime between dealing with one incident and the next. Many officers are in the same situation and, despite their continued best efforts and those of their chief constables, service levels are simply not where they were and, importantly, not where they should be. With such drastic measures to cuts costs comes greater demand and increased pressure. The transition to Tri-Force has not been easy, with an uncoordinated approach to the merging of IT and radio systems and with such a vast geographical area to cover, contact with senior managers is few and far between. I appreciate that cuts to the policing budget means chief constables are under pressure to make huge savings, but I do question whether this sticking plaster solution will prove beneficial for the public in the long-term. The Police Federation has long called for a holistic review of policing and the criminal justice system. Piecemeal reform to frontline services may deliver quick savings but the long- term cost to the public seems to be ignored by those enforcing the changes. As part of the reform of the Police Federation of England and Wales, we have adopted a new core purpose. While I have always believed we act in the interests of the public as well as the interests of our members, this is now enshrined in our new core purpose and is a key driver for our organisation. That means we will not be quiet if we believe cuts will have a detrimental impact to the level and quality of service the public receives from their local police; we will not shy away from challenging poor decisions and bad policy at a national and local level; and we will strive to ensure that our professional world-class British police service remains politically independent. In the interest of the public, those are attributes I am sure everyone would sign up to.


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Image:_Ra_/iStock/Thinkstock

SIGNAL CRIMES

Social Reactions to Crime, Disorder, and Control

Martin Innes How do individuals, communities, and institutions react to crime, disorder, and social control events? How do such incidents shape the contours of social order and the make-up of society? Why do some crimes and disorders matter more than others in influencing how we think, feel, and act about our security? Signal Crimes brings together the key insights and findings from a ten-year programme of fieldwork investigating the concept of a ‘signal crime’: an incident that changes how people think, feel and behave about their safety due to it functioning as a signal of the presence of wider risks and threats. JUNE 2014 | 224 PAGES HARDBACK | 978-0-19-968446-5 | £65.00 PAPERBACK | 978-0-19-968447-2 | £29.99 “One of the most eagerly anticipated criminological publications [...] Signal Crimes makes a persuasive case for rethinking much of our approach to crime and social order.” Professor Tim Newburn, London School of Economics and Political Science

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[email protected] 020 7685 2400 www.sgm.ac.uk

Nigel Nelson

Nelson’s Column

Technology brings control and convenience – and lower costs too

Keeping an eye on The People

Beards and sandals gathering, hoping, to enter No 10

Ian Peters, Managing Director of British Gas Residential Energy, explains why British Gas is investing so much in the latest energy technology

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So you would have seen me standing at the gates of the conference centre in Birmingham sizing up footwear like an ageing shoeshine boy touting for trade. And as the legs of hundreds of delegates passed me by, I spotted only one pair of sandals between them! This year, in Glasgow, I would be surprised to see any. Being in government has given Lib Dem delegates a new swagger to their step. By 2011, the blokes had thrown off their traditional scruffball chic and most looked like they had stepped straight out of a Whitehall office in their sharp blue suits and shiny black shoes – as, indeed, many of them had. Those suits may not be quite so well-pressed after a few more turns round the Whitehall block. The Lib Dems may be down at heel about their poll ratings and still do flip-flops on policies like the bedroom tax. But it would be cobblers to think that they are getting more uncomfortable about being in government. They will stick a few more stilettos into the Tories as the General Election approaches, but coalition government still fits the Lib Dems as snugly as a pair of slippers. The question for Nick Clegg is how to keep it that way because

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it’s going to take a lot of tap dancing. He needs to woo Labour without totally kicking David Cameron into touch.

The Lib Dems are about to be saved by the first-pastthe-post they detest

And in Glasgow, Mr Clegg must persuade the party faithful to walk this middle-ground, too. So, first, he must convince them there is some good news on the horizon as they trail UKIP in the polls. Mr Clegg cannot spin the local and European election results as anything other than the disasters they were, yet even on that dismal showing the Lib Dems will still return up to 30 MPs to Westminster at the General Election. I hope that irony is not lost on delegates. The Lib Dems were almost wiped out by the proportional representation system they champion and now they are about to be saved by the first-past-the-post they detest. Take the way people actually voted along with what they are currently telling pollsters about their voting intentions and the most likely outcome in May next year is a minority


Or does it? Nearly every Labour MP I have spoken to over the summer is urging Ed Miliband not to do any deals with the Lib Dems. They see another route to an overall majority. Their reasoning is that if Lib Dem MPs brought Ed down, he could go to the country and win a proper mandate. His message would be a repeat of Ted Heath’s 1974 slogan: “Who governs?”

But for people in Britain today, this is exactly the sort of energy bill they receive – unitemised. Your bill only tells you how many units you’ve used, and the amount you owe. We want to change that. We are replacing traditional meters with smart meters that communicate directly with British Gas’ computer systems. We recently installed our 1 millionth domestic smart meter – with another 400,000 in businesses.

It is a strategy of sorts, and it might even work. As Politics First went to press, we still do not know the outcome of Scotland’s referendum. If Alex Salmond is leading a soonto-be independent Scotland as you read this, then Ed Miliband’s forthcoming premiership faces the added pressure of losing 41 Labour MPs north of the border in 2016.

But why does this matter? 9 out of 10 of our smart meter customers tell us they are taking steps to manage their energy use. This is because they can see in real time - thanks to the smart display in the home, and soon to be their smartphone - how much they’re using in pounds and pence. They understand their bills, work out when energy is being wasted and see where their money is going.

Will that mean another General Election only 16 months after the previous one? Or will Scottish Labour MPs continue to be MPs but without any constituencies to represent? One senior Whitehall source even suggested to me that next year’s UK General Election might not be run in Scotland at all. No one in Whitehall or Westminster seems to have any answers.

It isn’t about switching things off that you want or need. It’s about cutting waste: the appliance left on standby, the hot water set to run 24 hours a day, or the heating left on when the house is empty.

Frankly, I don’t believe that. I suspect there are constitutionalists in smoke-free rooms secretly hammering out a solution over diet Coke and sandwiches as I write. I put the question directly to the Labour leader at his summer party. “What will you do, Ed?” “We’ll win the referendum,” he said. It’s a strategy. Of sorts. If there’s a No vote, then Scotland will hardly get a mention during this party conference season. If it’s aYes, they’ll be talking of little else.


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At the 2010 conference four months after the party had been propelled into government, there were still some sandals around, and even a few beards. In 2011, I conducted a controlled experiment to see how much had changed. I reckoned that if you want to know how Lib Dems are feeling, you don’t look at their faces but start at their feet.

Labour government. That should be reason enough for champagne in the Lib Dem conference hotels as that must surely mean another coalition.

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et’s play the word association game. I’ll say Liberal Democrat and you say the first thing which comes into your head. Beards, perhaps. Or sandals. That was the old image of the Lib Dems – a well-meaning pressure group who dressed all year round as if they were going to Stonehenge for summer solstice.

Every month, I receive an itemised mobile phone bill. It tells me how much I owe, but also details every call or text message sent. You may think that this is nothing very remarkable – in fact, the idea of receiving an unitemised phone bill may seem strange.

Smart meters also mean an end to people knocking at the door to take meter readings – the new meters do this automatically and ensure all your bills are accurate. No more estimated bills! They also allow us to offer ‘time of use’ tariffs, which have an off-peak and peak rate - a bit like telephone calls. We’re trialing these right now, meaning you can run your dishwasher or washing machine at cheaper times (when there’s less demand, and it’s cheaper to supply energy). We also want smart meters to be available to everyone, regardless of how they pay their bill. We’re about to start trialing smart pre-payment meters, bringing all the benefits of smart to these customers, as well as enabling them to top up from their home or on the move. Eventually it will also bring down prices for these customers.

I’m often asked why an energy company cares so much about reducing the amount of the product that our customers use. The answer is simple – I want to win and retain business by helping customers use less. I can’t pretend that the electricity and gas I supply to my customers is any different to what my competitors supply. It’s the same. We invest in technology so that we’re competing on service as well as price. Customers want innovative products that will help them understand and control their energy use. Our mission is simple – to be the energy company that is the best at putting customers in control, making their lives convenient and comfortable, and helping them to save money. Energy technology has the ability to do all these things; that’s why we’re so committed to it at British Gas.

In time, we will also be able to send customers fully itemised bills – just like your phone bill! As well as helping customers understand their bills it is important that we put them in control of their energy use. Incredibly, 71% of people are missing some controls from their boiler. That’s where products like our Hive Active Heating come in. Hive is a smart thermostat that lets you switch your heating and hot water on and off from a smartphone wherever you are in the world. You never have to heat an empty house again.

mission is simple “Our – to be the energy company that is the best at putting customers in control

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