UK government backs law that gives all workers the legal right to request a predictable working pattern
Law will combat ‘one-sided flexibility’, where workers are often on standby for work that never comes
TODAY (Friday 3 February), the government supported Blackpool South MP Scott Benton’s Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill, which will bring forward huge changes for tens of millions of workers across the UK.
The move, which would apply to all workers and employees including agency workers, comes after a review found many workers on zero hours contracts experience ‘one-sided flexibility’.
This means people across the country are currently left waiting, unable to get on with their lives in case of being called up at the last minute for a shift. With a more predictable working pattern, workers will have a guarantee of when they are required to work, with hours that work for them.
If a worker’s existing working pattern lacks certainty in terms of the hours they work, the times they work or if it is a fixed term contract for less than 12 months, they will be able to make a formal application to change their working pattern to make it more predictable.
Labour Markets Minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “Hard working staff on zero hours contracts across the country put their lives on hold to make themselves readily available for shifts that may never actually come.
“Employers having one-sided flexibility over their staff is unfair and unreasonable. This Bill will ensure workers can request more predictable working patterns where they want them, so they can get on with their daily lives.”
Blackpool South MP Scott Benton said: “A significant number of my constituents experience unpredictable work. Being able to ask their employers to consider requests for a more predictable working pattern such as working on set days, or for a permanent contract, will help them to work more predictable hours and provide more reliably for their families in some cases, and help with their work-life balance in other situations.
“This Bill gives people a right to ask their employers to consider requests and will be welcomed by thousands of people.”
The move comes as part of a package of policies this government is supporting to further workers’ rights across the country, such as:
supporting parents of babies who need neonatal additional care with paid neonatal care leave
requiring employers to ensure that all tips, gratuities, and service charges received must be paid to workers in full
offering pregnant women and new parents greater protection against redundancy
entitling unpaid carers to a period of unpaid leave to support those most in need
providing millions of employees with a day one right to request flexible working, and a greater say over when, where, and how they work
These policies will increase workforce participation, protect vulnerable workers, and level the playing field, ensuring unscrupulous businesses don’t have a competitive advantage.
This package builds on the strengths of our flexible and dynamic labour market and gives businesses the confidence to create jobs and invest in their workforce, allowing them to generate long-term prosperity and economic growth.
50 leading civil liberties organisations and rights groups slam the government’s strikes bill
The TUC has welcomed an open letter penned by 50 civil liberties organisations and rights groups slamming the government’s new anti-strikes bill as an attack on the fundamental right to strike.
The organisations including Liberty, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and many more said the Bill will allow “a further significant and unjustified intrusion by the state into the freedom of association and assembly.”
The groups also warn of the “enormous scope” the legislation would give ministers to decide key provisions, including the minimum service levels, without proper parliamentary scrutiny.
The Bill was back in parliament yesterday for its third reading.
The TUC has launched a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to discover why the government published the Bill without a required impact assessment.
Previous government advice – published in the Autumn – warned that minimum service levels in transport could poison industrial relations, and lead to more frequent industrial action.
Despite this warning, the Conservatives are now proposing to extend minimum service levels to a range of other sectors including – health, education, fire, border security and nuclear decommissioning.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Ministers are launching a brazen attack on the right to strike – a fundamental British liberty.
“This draconian legislation would mean that when workers democratically vote to strike, they can be forced to work and sacked if they don’t comply.
“It is little wonder that civil liberties organisations up and down the country are lining up to condemn this spiteful Bill.
“It is undemocratic, unworkable and almost certainly illegal. And crucially it will likely poison industrial relations and exacerbate disputes rather than help resolve them.”
On the need for ministers to come clean about the true scope of the Bill, Paul Nowak added: “Instead of levelling with the public about the bill’s draconian nature, ministers are railroading it through without proper scrutiny or consultation.
“With inflation running at over 10%, the last thing working people need is for ministers to make it harder to secure better pay and conditions.
“It is shameful that parliamentarians are being forced to vote blindly on such far-reaching new laws. We urge MPs from all parties to vote against this nasty Bill.”
We are writing to you as organisations concerned with the protection of civil liberties in this country to urge you to reconsider the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill.
The right to strike is a fundamental liberty.
In Great Britain it is already highly constrained by detailed rules concerning balloting, notice periods and picketing.
We believe the proposals for minimum service levels during industrial action will unfairly constrain the activities of trade unions and their members by allowing a further significant and unjustified intrusion by the state into the freedom of association and assembly.
The government has produced no evidence that such draconian measures are necessary. Voluntary life-and-limb cover has long been a feature of industrial action by essential workers.
This Bill has the potential to cause significant damage to fair and effective industrial relations in this country by making it harder to resolve disputes. Indeed the government itself has acknowledged that minimum service levels risk leading to an increased frequency of strikes.
We are also concerned by the lack of detail in the Bill, and the enormous scope it gives you and your successors as Secretary of State to decide key provisions, including the minimum service levels themselves, free from proper Parliamentary scrutiny.
In particular, the vast power given to Ministers to amend or revoke primary legislation, including Acts that do not even exist yet, is an extraordinary denial of the duty of our elected representatives to legislate on our behalf.
The Bill will expand the power of Ministers over Parliament and employers over workers, undermine rights protections, and inject uncertainty and precarity into the lives of millions of people who may now face dismissal for going on strike.
We urge you to reconsider these plans for an unwarranted curtailment of freedom of assembly and association
Martha Spurrier, Director, Liberty
Justine Forster, CEO, Advocacy Focus
Robert Rae, Co-Director, Art27 Scotland
Clive Parry, England Director, Association for Real Change
D ame Sara Llewellin, Chief Executive, Barrow Cadbury Trust
Silkie Carlo, Director, Big Brother Watch
Rosalind Stevens, Project Manager, Civil Society Alliance
Brian Gormally, Director, Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ)
Isobel Ingham-Barrow, CEO, Community Policy Forum
Megan Thomas, Policy and Research Officer, Disability Wales
Ele Hicks, Engagement, Research, and Policy and Influencing Manager, Diverse Cymru
Andrea Simon, Director, End Violence Against Women Coalition
Clare Moody, Co-CEO, Equally Ours
Kyle Taylor, Founder, Fair Vote UK
Peter Wieltschnig, Policy & Networks Officer, Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)
Clare Lyons, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
Nick Dearden, Director, Global Justice Now
John Gaskell, Chair, Grassroots for Europe
Areeba Hamid & Will McCallum, Co-Executive Directors, Greenpeace UK
Declan Owens, Co-Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Kevin Hanratty, Director, Human Rights Consortium Northern Ireland
Mhairi Snowden, Director, Human Rights Consortium Scotland
Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director, Human Rights Watch
Deborah Coles, Executive Director, INQUEST
Zehrah Hasan, Advocacy Director, The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI)
Jess McQuail, Director, Just Fair
Nimrod Ben-Cnaan, Head of Policy and Profile, Law Centres Network
Barry Gale, Group Leader, Mental Health Rights Scotland
Fizza Qureshi, CEO, Migrants’ Rights Network
Zara Mohammed, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain
Kevin Blowe, Campaigns Coordinator, Netpol
Mark Kieran, CEO, Open Britain
Kate Flannery, Secretary, Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
”These factors, however, cannot mitigate my overall judgement that Mr Zahawi’s conduct as a Minister has fallen below the high standards that, as Prime Minister, you rightly expect from those who serve in your government.“
LETTER from Sir Laurie Magnus to the Prime Minister, 29 January 2023:
Letter from the Prime Minister to Nadhim Zahawi, 29th January 2023:
Thank you for that welcome, thank you all for joining us at Bloomberg.
From the way we communicate and collaborate, to the way we buy and sell goods and services, digital technology has transformed nearly every aspect of our economic lives.
How do I know that?
Because I too, just like Matt asked ChatGPT to craft the opening lines of this speech.
Who needs politicians when you have AI?
Like other countries, the UK has been dealing with economic headwinds caused by a decade of black swan events: a financial crisis, a pandemic and then an international energy crisis.
And my party understands better than others the importance of low taxes in creating incentives and fostering the animal spirits that spur economic growth.
But another Conservative insight is that risk taking by individuals and businesses can only happen when governments provide economic and financial stability.
So the best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation.
And the plan I set out in the Autumn Statement tackles that root cause of instability in the British economy.
The Prime Minister talked about halving inflation as one of his five key priorities and doing so is the only sustainable way to restore industrial harmony.
But today I want to talk about his second priority, to grow the economy. (In case you weren’t sure, I have them on the screen behind me.)
We want to be one of the most prosperous countries in Europe and today I’m going to outline the 4 pillars of our plan to get there.
Just as our plan to halve inflation requires patience and discipline, so too will our plan for prosperity and growth.
But it’s also going to need something else which is in rather short supply – Optimism, but we can get there.
Just this month columnists from both left and the right have talked about an “existential crisis,” “Britain teetering on the edge” and that “all we can hope for…is that things don’t get worse.”
I welcome the debate – but Chancellors, too, are allowed their say.
And I say simply this: declinism about Britain is just wrong.
It has always been wrong in the past – and it is wrong today.
Some of the gloom is based on statistics that do not reflect the whole picture.
Like every G7 country, our growth was slower in the years after the financial crisis than before it.
But since 2010, the UK has grown faster than France, Japan and Italy. Not at the bottom, but right in the middle of the pack.
Since the Brexit referendum, we have grown at about the same rate as Germany.
Yes we have not yet returned to pre-pandemic employment or output levels.,
But an economy that contracted 20% in a pandemic still has nearly the lowest unemployment for half a century.
And while our public sector continues to recover more slowly than we would like from the pandemic – strengthening the case for reform – our private sector has grown 7.5% in the last year.
Yes inflation has risen – but is still lower than in 14 EU countries, with interest rates rising more slowly than in the US or Canada.
And yes we have to improve our productivity. But output per hour worked is higher than pre-pandemic.
And last week a survey of business leaders by PWC said the UK was the third-most attractive country for CEOs expanding their businesses.
Economists and journalists know you can spend a long time arguing the toss on statistics,
But the strongest grounds for optimism comes not from debating this or that way of analysing data points but from our long term prospects: because when it comes to the innovation industries that will shape and define this century the UK is powerfully positioned to play a leading role.
Let’s just look at some of them.
In digital technology, as we heard from Michelle, we have become only the third economy in the world with a trillion-dollar sector.
We have created more unicorns than France and Germany combined with eight UK cities now home to two or more unicorns.
The London / Oxford / Cambridge triangle has the largest number of tech businesses in the world outside San Francisco and New York.
PWC say that UK GDP will be up to 10% higher in 2030 because of AI alone. Fintech attracted more funding last year than anywhere in the world outside the US.
Or life sciences, where we have the largest sector in Europe. And a brilliant advocate with our superb Science Minister George Freeman.
We produced one of the world’s first Covid vaccines, estimated to have saved more than 6 million lives worldwide.
We identified the treatment most widely used to save lives in hospitals, saving more than a million lives across the globe.
We are behind only the US and China in terms of high-quality life science papers published, and every one of the world’s top 25 biopharmaceutical firms has operations in the UK.
Another big growth area is our green and clean energy sector.
The UK is a world leader here, with the largest offshore wind farm in the world. Last year we were able to generate an incredible 40% of our electricity from renewables. But on one day, a rather windy December 30th, we actually got 60% of our electricity from renewables – mainly wind.
McKinsey estimate that the global market opportunity for UK green industries could be worth more than £1 trillion between now and 2030.
And we are proceeding with the new plant at Sizewell C, led by our excellent Business Secretary who also spoke very wisely and surprisingly classically earlier on.
I could also talk about our creative industries which employ over two million people and grew at twice the rate of the UK economy in the last decade.
They have made the UK the world’s largest exporter of unscripted TV formats and help give us a top three spot in the Portland Soft Power index.
Or our advanced manufacturing sector, key to exports, where we produce around half of the world’s large civil aircraft wings and its biggest aeroengines as well as around half of the world’s Formula One Grand Prix cars.
The golden thread running through the industries where the Britain does best is innovation.
Amongst the world’s largest economies, the Global Innovation Index ranks us fourth globally.
Those innovation industries now account for around a quarter of our output. They have been responsible for nearly all our productivity growth since 1997.
And they’re also the reason that all of you are here.
In the audience we have leaders from Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Google, the world’s largest tech companies all with major operations in the UK.
We have Monzo and Revolut, shining examples from our world-beating fintech sector.
And we have founders and CEOs from some of our most exciting UK technology companies, like Proximie and Matillion.
You are all vital for Britain’s economic future, but Britain is vital for your future too.
So I want to ask all of you to help our country achieve something that is both ambitious and strategic.
I want you to ask you to help turn the UK into the world’s next Silicon Valley.
What do I mean by that?
If anyone is thinking of starting or investing in an innovation or technology-centred business, I want them to do it here [in the UK].
I want the world’s tech entrepreneurs, life science innovators, and green tech companies to come to the UK because it offers the best possible place to make their visions happen.
And if you do, we will put at your service not just British ingenuity – but British universities to fuel your innovation, Britain’s financial sector to fund it and a British government that will back you to the hilt.
Our universities are ranked second globally for their quality and include three of the world’s top ten.
In order to support the ground-breaking work they do in so many new fields the government has protected our £20 billion research budget, now at the highest level in history.
And as you look for funding to expand, we offer one of the world’s top two financial hubs and the world’s largest net exporter of financial services.
The capability of the City of London combined with the research strengths of our universities makes our aspiration to be a technology superpower not just ambitious but achievable – and today I am here to say the government is determined to make it happen.
But like any business embracing new opportunities, we should also be straight about our weaknesses.
Structural issues like poor productivity, skills gaps, low business investment and the over-concentration of wealth in the South-East have led to uneven and lower growth. Real incomes have not risen by as much as they could as a result.
Confidence in the future though, starts with honesty about the present.
We want to be one of the most prosperous countries in Europe, so today I set out our plan to address those issues.
That plan, our plan for growth, is necessitated, energised and made possible by Brexit.
The desire to move to a high wage, high skill economy is one shared on all sides of that debate.
And we need to make Brexit a catalyst for the bold choices that we’ll take advantage of the nimbleness and flexibilities that it makes possible.
This is a plan for growth and not a series of measures or announcements, which will have to wait for budgets and autumn statements in the years ahead.
But this plan is a framework against which individual policies will be assessed and taken forward.
I set out that plan, those priorities under four pillars. They build on the “People, Capital, Ideas” themes set out by the Prime Minister last year in his Mais Lecture and as such are the pillars essential for any modern, innovation-led economy.
For ease of memory the 4 pillars all happen to start with the letter ‘E’ . The Four ‘E’s of economic growth and prosperity. And they are Enterprise, Education, Employment and Everywhere.
So let’s start with the first ‘E’ which is enterprise. If we are to be Europe’s most prosperous economy, we need to have quite simply, its most dynamic and productive companies.
There is a wide range of literature citing the importance of entrepreneurship on business dynamism, whereby more productive firms enter and grow and less productive firms shrink.
But I don’t just believe the theory, I have put it into practice.
I set up and ran my own business for 14 years. It was one of the best decisions I ever made – and I actually owe it to Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson.
Because by the time I got to university and was thinking about my career options, they had changed attitudes towards entrepreneurship. Had they not, I would have probably ended up in the City or the Civil Service.
Instead I took a different route to end up at the Treasury – less the Fast Stream, more the Long Way Round.
Like thousands of others setting up on their own, I learned to take calculated risks, live with uncertainty and work through failures (of which there were many).
Every big business was a start-up once – and we will not build the world’s next Silicon Valley unless we nurture battalions of dynamic new challenger businesses.
Today, we are already ranked by the World Bank as the best place to do business amongst large European nations and second only to America in the G7.
And the result of that pro-business climate is that since 2010 we have created more than a million new businesses in this country.
But the question I want to ask is how are we going to generate the next million?
Firstly, we need lower taxes. In Britain, even after recent tax rises, we have one of the lowest levels of business tax as a proportion of GDP amongst major countries.
But we should be explicit: high taxes directly affect the incentives which determine decisions by entrepreneurs, investors or larger companies about whether to pursue their ambitions in Britain.
With volatile markets and high inflation, sound money must come first.
But our ambition should be to have nothing less than the most competitive tax regime of any major country.
That means restraint on spending – and in case anyone is in any doubt about who will actually deliver that restraint to make a lower tax economy possible, I gently point out that in the three weeks since Labour promised no big government chequebook they have made £45 billion of unfunded spending commitments.
But it isn’t just about lower taxes. We also need a more positive attitude to risk taking.
Let’s start with one of the most public risks taken this year. Richard Branson, his team and the UK Space Agency deserve massive credit for getting LauncherOne off the ground in Cornwall.
The mission may not have succeeded this time, but what we learn from it will make future success more likely.
We should heed the words of Thomas Edison who said: “I have not failed 10,000 times – I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
Edison was American – and our attitude to risk in this country can still be too cautious compared to our US friends.
But we are capable of smart risking in this country: at the start of the pandemic we bought over 350 million doses of vaccine without knowing if they would actually work – and ended up with one of the fastest and most effective vaccine programmes in the world.
We also need, if we are going to deliver those competitive enterprises, smarter regulation.
Brexit is an opportunity not just to change regulations but also to work with our experienced, effective and independent regulators to create an economic environment which is more innovation friendly and more growth focused.
Our Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, is currently reviewing how the UK can better regulate emerging technologies in high growth sectors and the government is identifying where to reform the laws we inherited from the EU.
In the digital space Patrick is working with the brilliant , Matt Clifford – who we heard from earlier- and our amazing Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan, both of whom gave excellent speeches.
Before we conclude those findings, we want to hear from you. That why we’ve invited you this morning – and we will repeat the process for green industries, life sciences, creative industries and advanced manufacturing.
Finally when it comes to the ‘E’ of Enterprise there is a critical need for easier access to capital, particularly scale ups.
I am supporting important changes to the pensions regulatory charge cap and I have used the regulatory flexibility provided by Brexit to change the Solvency II regulations which will begin to be implemented in the coming months.
Alongside other measures announced in the Edinburgh reforms, this could unlock over one hundred billion pounds of additional investment into the UK’s most productive growth industries.
But there is much more to be done and I want to harness the ideas and the expertise in this room to turn the ‘E’ of enterprise into an enterprise culture built on low taxes, reward for risk, access to capital and smarter regulation.
The next ‘E’ is Education.
This is an area where we have made dramatic progress in recent years thanks to the work of successive Conservative education ministers.
The UK has risen nearly 10 places in the global school league tables for maths and reading since 2015 alone.
Our teachers and lecturers are some of the best in the world.
And as the Prime Minister has said, having a good education system is the best economic, moral, and social policy any country can have.
That is why the Autumn Statement we gave schools an extra £2.3 billion of funding and why the Prime Minister recently prioritised the teaching of maths until 18.
But there is much to improve. We don’t do nearly as well for the 50% of school leavers who do not go to university as we do for those who do.
We have around 9 million adults with low basic literacy or numeracy skills, over 100,000 people leaving school every year unable to reach the required standard in English and maths.
That matters.
We are becoming an adaptive economy in which people are likely to have to train for not one but several jobs in their working lives.
Not having basic skills in reading and maths makes that difficult, sometimes impossible.
And equally important is what happens beyond school.
We have made progress with T-levels, boot camps and apprenticeships and Sir Michael Barber is advising the government on further improvements to the implementation of our reform agenda and we want to ensure our young people have the skills they would get in Switzerland or Singapore.
If we want to reduce dependence on migration and become a high skill economy, the ‘E’ of education will be essential – and that means ensuring opportunity is as open to those who do not go to university as to those who do.
So, Silicon Valley enterprises; Finnish and Singaporean education and skills; let me now turn to the third ‘E’ which is Employment.
If companies cannot employ the staff they need, they cannot grow.
High employment levels have long been a strength of our economic model.
Since 2010, the UK has seen a record employment rate, the lowest unemployment rate in nearly fifty years and labour market participation at an all-time high.
Partly thanks to the coalition reforms of a decade ago we are at 76% ,employment levels higher than Canada, the US, France or Italy.
But the pandemic has exposed weaknesses in our model. Total employment is nearly 300,000 people lower than pre-pandemic with around one fifth of working-age adults economically inactive.
Excluding students that amounts to 6.6 million people – an enormous and shocking waste of talent and potential.
Of that 6.6 million people, around 1.4 million people want to work. But a further five million do not.
It is time for a fundamental programme of reforms to support people with long-term conditions or mental illness to overcome the barriers and prejudices that prevent them working.
We will never harness the full potential of our country unless we unlock it for each and every one of our citizens.
Nor will we fix our productivity puzzle unless everyone who can participate does.
So to those who retired early after the pandemic or haven’t found the right role after furlough, I say: ‘Britain needs you’ and we will look at the conditions necessary to make work worth your while.
That is why employment is such a vital third ‘E.’
Enterprise, Education and Employment – three key components for long term prosperity.
I conclude with my final ‘E’ – Everywhere. That means ensuring the benefits of economic development are felt not just in London and the South-East but across the whole of the UK.
It is socially divisive if young people feel the only way to make a decent living is to head south. But it is also economically damaging.
If our second cities were the productive powerhouses we see in the other major countries, our GDP would be nearly 5% higher – making us second only to the United States and Germany for GDP per head.
That is why levelling up matters. And why last week it was so exciting to see the progress being made.
Since February 2020, when the levelling up agenda really got underway ,70% of new employed jobs have been created outside of London and the South-East.
Thanks to our powerhouse regions we remain one of the top 10 manufacturers globally, and the same is starting to happen with new industries: whether fintech in Bristol, gaming in Dundee or clean energy in Teesside.
Every region has seen pay grow faster than London since 2010, which shows that our approach to regional growth is working.
But there is much more to do, and whilst government grants can play a galvanising role they are not the whole answer.
We also need the connectivity that comes from better infrastructure.
That is why in the Autumn Statement we protected key projects like HS2, East West Rail and core Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Digital connectivity matters as well. Under Michelle’s leadership, full-fibre broadband now available to more than 40% of all homes in the UK.
Last year four million more premises got access, with the biggest increases in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
But the ‘E’ of Everywhere has to be about local wealth creation as much as about local infrastructure.
So this year we will announce investment zones, mini-Canary Wharfs, supporting each one of our growth industries, and each one focused in high potential but underperforming areas, in line with our mission to level up.
They will be focused on our research strengths and executed in partnership with local government, with advantageous fiscal treatment to attract new investment.
We will shortly start a process to identify exactly where they will go.
But spreading opportunity everywhere needs local decision making alongside local infrastructure and local enterprise.
So we must also give civic entrepreneurs the ability to find and fund their own solutions without having to bang down a Whitehall door.
Shortly over 50% of the population of England will be covered by a devolution deal and two thirds covered by a unitary authority and that’s a very important part of that.
But we need to move more decisively towards fiscal devolution so that fantastic local leaders like Ben Houchen and Andy Street have the tools they need to deliver for their communities.
Four ‘E’s – Enterprise, Education, Employment and Everywhere – four ‘E’s to unlock our national potential to be one of Europe’s most exciting, most innovative and most prosperous economies.
Bill Gates is supposed to have said people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten.
When it comes to the British economy, we are certainly not going to fall into that trap.
We will remember the essential foundation on which long term prosperity depends, namely the sounds money that comes from bringing down inflation. But right now, starts our longer-term journey into growth and prosperity.
World-beating enterprises to make Britain the world’s next Silicon Valley.
An education system where world-class skills sit alongside world-class degrees.
Employment opportunities that tap into the potential of every single person so businesses can build the motivated teams they need.
And as talent is spread everywhere, so we will make sure opportunities are as well.
Yes there are many structural challenges to address. And working our four pillars we will do just that. Never forgetting though the combination of bold ingenuity and quiet confidence that defines our national character.
Ladies and gentlemen, being a technology entrepreneur changed my life.
Being a technology superpower can change our country’s destiny.
UK Ambassador Neil Bush marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and stresses the need to stand against antisemitism in all its forms:
Thank you Mr Chair, thank you Ambassador Ann Bernes, for your introductory comments, and your work as President of International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
Tomorrow we will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to remember and honour the lives of the six million Jewish men, women and children as well as, Roma, Sinti and others who lost their lives at the hands of the Nazi regime during World War II. This was one of the darkest moments in human history.
The UK’s theme for this year highlights the role of “ordinary people” – as perpetrators, victims, and rescuers. These people actively had choices to make – whether or not to perpetrate genocide; whether or not to stand by and actively ignore what was going on around them.
There were those who took a stand against hatred, by coming forward to help those in need – whether by hiding people, providing food, or helping people to escape. They were ordinary people too… doing extraordinary things. It remains an extraordinary and uplifting fact that ordinary people in Denmark managed to save almost all of their countries Jewish populations.
They were hidden in churches, hospitals and family homes, and spirited to coastal towns, from where they were taken to safety in Sweden. Sadly, there were also many who stood by silently and did nothing.
We will soon reach a point when the march of time means that the Holocaust will no longer be part of our living history. With that comes a growing concern about the rise of Holocaust denial and distortion – recasting history to erase the devastating horrors faced by the Jewish people. We have a duty to remember them and keep their testimony alive for future generations.
Holocaust distortion feeds the despicable scourge of antisemitism, which has no place in any society. We must continue to stand against it in all its forms, and to reject any attempts to deny the facts of the Holocaust. History is too important to be politicised.
We will continue to drive international efforts to promote Holocaust education, and counter Holocaust denial and distortion when the UK takes the Chairpersonship of IHRA in March 2024. To ensure we never forget the horrors, or forget the hard lessons we learnt – the UK has committed to building a new national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London, expected to open in 2027.
As we mark this poignant day, Mr Chair and the six million people who were not saved during World War II – let us reflect. Let us remember. And let us never forget.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will set out a long-term plan for prosperity made possible by Brexit.
Hunt will make the case against “declinism”, with the UK growing faster than France, Japan and Italy since 2010.
He will also confirm post-Brexit reforms to unlock £100bn of private investment this decade will be implemented in the coming months.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt will today set out his approach to tackle poor productivity and boost growth, using the new freedoms won by Brexit as a catalyst.
Following the Prime Minister New Year address outlining his five priorities which include growing the economy, halving inflation and getting debt down – the Chancellor will speak about how this will be accomplished.
Delivering the speech at Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London, Mr Hunt will caution against an attitude of “declinism” about Britain and set out the case for optimism as the UK aims to play a leading role in Europe and across the world in the industries of tomorrow. Since 2010 the UK economy has grown faster than France, Italy and Japan, and since the EU referendum the UK economy has grown at around the same rate as Germany.
The Chancellor will also confirm that post-Brexit reforms to Solvency II will be implemented in the coming months, which could unlock £100 billion of additional investment into the UK’s most productive assets this decade – such as clean energy and UK infrastructure.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to say: “Our plan for the years that follow is long term prosperity based on British genius and British hard work.
“[And] world-beating enterprises to make Britain the world’s next Silicon Valley.”
The Chancellor will also caution against declinism, with the UK aiming to play a leading global role:
“Declinism about Britain was wrong in the past – and it is wrong today.
“Some of the gloom is based on statistics that do not reflect the whole picture.
“Like every G7 country, our growth was slower in the years after the financial crisis than the years before it. But since 2010, the UK has grown faster than France, Japan and Italy. Since the Brexit referendum, we have grown at about the same rate as Germany.
“If we look further ahead, the case for declinism becomes weaker still. The UK is poised to play a leading role in Europe and across the world in the growth sectors which will define this century.”
The Chancellor will focus on key growth industries, including Digital Technology, Green Industries, Life Sciences, Advanced Manufacturing and Creative Industries – areas where Britain has a competitive advantage to build on further.
Mr Hunt will also set out some of the challenges the UK faces, including poor productivity, and set out a plan to long-term prosperity, using the UK’s new-found Brexit freedoms to support growth and entrepreneurship.
In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor set out the government’s strategy for boosting growth by investing in our people, in the infrastructure that connects our country, by creating the right environment for business investment, and by supporting our world-leading financial services companies and innovators.
To further support investment across our economy, the Chancellor also announced a decision to proceed with reforms to Solvency II – an EU Directive that governs the amount of funds British insurers are required to hold in reserve. The Association of British Insurers suggest the Chancellor’s reforms are expected to unlock up to £100 billion of private investment this decade into UK infrastructure and clean energy, such as nuclear power.
And in December, the Chancellor went further and announced the Edinburgh Reforms – a package of reforms to drive growth and competitiveness in the UK’s financial services sector, while retaining our commitment to high international standards. This included the publication of our ambitious plan for repealing and reforming EU law for financial services.
The Chancellor is also expected to say: “Confidence in the future starts with honesty about the present, and we should not shy away from the biggest challenge we face which is our poor productivity. Our plan for long term prosperity tackles that challenge head on.
“It is a plan necessitated, energised and made possible by Brexit which will succeed if it becomes a catalyst for the bold choices we need to take.
“Our plan for growth is a plan built on the freedoms which Brexit provides. It is a plan to raise productivity. It is a plan to use the proceeds of growth to support our public services at home, to support businesses in the new low carbon economy and to support democracy abroad. It is the right course for our country and the role in the world to which we aspire.”
With a UK tech sector worth one trillion dollars the Chancellor will call on other businesses to consider the UK as a place for investment by tech entrepreneurs, life science innovators and energy companies.
The UK is an attractive location for tech investment; the recently announced digital markets regime aims to open the UK’s digital markets up to greater competition and spur increased innovation across the sector. The regime is an alternative to the EU’s Digital Markets Act – the UK’s proposals are widely regarded as more proportionate, targeted and flexible than the EU’s.
This month PwC surveyed more than 4,400 top chief executives in 35 countries and found that the UK has risen the joint third most important country to invest, behind only the US and China and equal with Germany.
The government will introduce new passport fees for all applications on 2nd February 2023, the first time in 5 years that the cost of applying for a passport has increased.
The proposals, which are subject to Parliamentary scrutiny, will include the following:
the fee for a standard online application made from within the UK will rise from £75.50 to £82.50 for adults and £49 to £53.50 for children
postal applications will increase from £85 to £93 for adults and £58.50 to £64 for children
priority service fees are being aligned so all customers will pay the same
the fee for a standard online application when applying from overseas for a UK passport will rise from £86.00 to £94.00 for adults and £56 to £61.00 for children
overseas standard paper applications will increase from £95.50 to £104.50 for adults and £65.50 to £71.50 for children
The new fees will help the Home Office move towards a system that meets its costs through those who use it, reducing reliance on funding from general taxation. The government does not make any profit from the cost of passport applications.
The fees will also contribute to the cost of processing passport applications, consular support overseas, including for lost or stolen passports, and the cost of processing British citizens at UK borders. The increase will also help enable the government to continue improving its services.
The new fees include those newly applying or renewing their passport.
Since January last year, over 95% of standard applications have been processed within 10 weeks and customers are advised that they should apply in good time before travelling. Apply online for a UK passport.
Passport fees are reviewed in line with His Majesty’s Treasury guidance Managing public money.
The Government response to the Women and Equalities Committee report on menopause and the workplace is a “missed opportunity to protect vast numbers of talented and experienced women from leaving the workforce.”
Published today, the UK Government’s response rejects five of the Committee’s recommendations outright, including the recommendation to consult on making menopause a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 and pilot a specific menopause leave policy.
In a letter to Health Minister Maria Caulfield, the Chair of the Committee Caroline Nokes expressed concern that the Government has “ignored the significant evidence base” for equality law reform and called on the Government to review its position.
The Committee also highlights the low cost but high impact opportunities for model workplace menopause policies and menopause leave, which the Government has dismissed.
In the letter, the Committee highlighted it was “extremely disappointing that the Menopause Taskforce has not met since prior to the summer recess, and that the industry roundtable on HRT supplies has been delayed a number of times.”
The Committee’s report, published in July 2022, argued that the overlooked impact of menopause is causing the UK economy to ‘haemorrhage talent’.
It also argued that the current law does not sufficiently protect women experiencing menopause and does not offer proper redress to those who suffer menopause related discrimination, with evidence that many women have to demonstrate their menopausal symptoms amount to a disability to get redress.
Though the Government said it has accepted, partly accepted or accepted in principle six of the recommendations, it comes under criticism from the Committee for not actually committing to any new work in response to the report.
Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP, said: “This belated response to our report is a missed opportunity to protect vast numbers of talented and experienced women from leaving the workforce, and leaves me unconvinced that menopause is a Government priority.
“For too long women have faced stigma, shame and dismissive attitudes when it comes to menopause. The evidence to our inquiry was crystal clear that urgent action was needed across healthcare and work settings to properly address women’s needs, yet Government progress has been glacial and its response complacent.
“Its refusal to even consult on reforming equalities law doesn’t make sense and we urge it to look again.”
The Business and Energy Secretary is today calling on suppliers to do more to protect vulnerable energy users
Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps backs consumers as offensive launched to crack down on rogue energy suppliers
Energy suppliers told they must stop the practice of forced fitting prepayment meters as the answer to families struggling to pay bills, following a huge surge in cases
The Business Secretary asks suppliers to share data on the number of warrants they have requested for this purpose to name and shame worst offenders
Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps has pledged to crack down on the mistreatment of energy users by suppliers, following reports showing some are doing nowhere near enough to support vulnerable customers.
He has written to energy suppliers calling on them to stop the harmful and anxiety inducing practice of forcibly moving consumers over to prepayment meters without taking every step to support consumers in difficulty.
The Business Secretary is asking suppliers to voluntarily commit to stopping this practice and holding their feet to the fire by demanding they share the number of warrants they’ve applied for in recent months.
He wants to see much greater efforts from suppliers to help consumers in payment difficulties before leaping to the extreme of forced prepayment switching, such as offers of additional credit, debt forgiveness or tools such as debt advice. In his letter, he has asked suppliers to discuss possible further action they can take to support customers and avoid forced fitting.
This action is part of a drive to increase transparency around prepayment meter installations, to track down the worst culprits and find out which energy companies are trigger happy in applying for them.
Courts are being overwhelmed with applications for warrants as they continue to mount, with reports that huge batches are being approved in a matter of minutes. The Business Secretary is working with Ofgem and the Secretary of State for Justice to ensure that the process by which suppliers bring these cases to court is fair, transparent and supports vulnerable customers.
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Grant Shapps, said: “Suppliers are clearly jumping the gun and moving at risk customers onto prepayment meters before offering them the support they are entitled to – I simply cannot believe that every possible alternative has been exhausted in all these cases.
“I am deeply concerned to see reports of customers being switched to prepayment meters against their will, with some disconnected from supply – and quite literally left in the dark.
“Rather than immediately reaching for a new way to extract money out of customers, I want suppliers to stop this practice and lend a more sympathetic ear, offering the kind of forbearance and support that a vulnerable customer struggling to pay should be able to expect.”
This follows reports that the number of customers switched to prepayment meters has soared in recent months, and in many cases unwillingly and without the offer of support. In some instances, this has led to vulnerable customers having their gas and electricity supplies cut off with little or no notice.
Prepayment meters allow customers to pay for gas and electricity on a pay-as-you-go basis and serve an important function by helping the avoidance of debt and court action. A moratorium on forced prepayment switching could lead to an increase in bailiff action and so the Government wishes to avoid going down this route.
Under Ofgem rules forced switching to prepayment must only ever be a last resort but, with the nation battling with energy prices, more have struggled to pay their bills and been forced installations and self-disconnection.
In recognition of this, some energy suppliers are already taking steps to support consumers such as by pausing remote switching of smart meters to prepayment mode or providing additional credit to customers struggling to pay.
The Business Secretary wants all suppliers to step up this kind of support to avoid resorting to forced fitting.
Minister for Energy and Climate Graham Stuart said: “Switching users onto a prepayment plan should only ever be a very last resort and suppliers have a duty to exhaust all other avenues. It cannot be right that, at a time when consumers need compassionate treatment more than ever, so many are being let down in this way.
“The Government will continue to do all we can to ensure families and households stay warm this winter and we’re taking urgent action to bring about greater transparency when it comes to bad energy supplier practice.”
Concerns were also raised around the low number of vouchers being redeemed under the Government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme – meaning many vulnerable households had not had cash knocked off their energy bills.
Suppliers are urged to make every attempt to make sure this happens, with the Government to publish a list of supplier redemption rates – showing who is meeting their responsibilities and who needs to do more.
The Business Secretary is worried about the low uptake of customers on traditional meters in prepayment mode and has demanded more transparent reporting of voucher redemption rates.
He has encouraged traditional meter replacement with smart meters as they are able to receive government support payments automatically and detect self-disconnection.
Mr Shapps has written to Ofgem to ask that they do more to make sure suppliers protect vulnerable consumers. This includes revisiting their approach to enforcing supplier compliance, as well as the urgent publication of recent investigations outcomes into vulnerable customers.
The Minister for Energy and Climate Graham Stuart has asked energy suppliers, Ofgem, Energy UK and Citizens Advice to meet with him at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to discuss matters further next week.
The five-point plan to tackle bad behaviour by energy suppliers comprises the following actions:
A call for suppliers to voluntarily stop the practice of forced prepayment switching as the answer to households struggling to pay bills and make greater effort to help the most vulnerable.
Request of the release of supplier data on the number of warrant applications they have made to forcibly enter homes to install meters.
Urgent publication of a list of supplier redemption rates for the Energy Bills Support Scheme vouchers – showing who is meeting their responsibilities and who needs to do more.
The launch of a Government public information campaign reminding and informing eligible consumers to redeem their Energy Bills Support Scheme vouchers and how to do so. This will be through both advertising and direct communication channels, targeting the most vulnerable and those most likely not to have redeemed vouchers.
Coordination with Ofgem ensure they take a more robust approach to the protection of vulnerable customers and conduct a review to make sure suppliers are complying with rules.
The five-point plan forms part of a wider effort to ensure that energy users are protected at this challenging time and the Government is exploring longer term measures to address this.
R&D tax relief reform set to simplify the system and help grow the economy Clearer information about how much relief business will receive to be offered up front, helping them budget for R&D
Follows £20 billion investment in R&D from government at Autumn Statement and the Chancellor’s pledge to understand how to provide further support for R&D intensive SMEs
The Government has launched a consultation to simplify the UK’s R&D tax relief system, drive innovation and grow the economy.
The 8-week consultation, which runs from 13 January to 13 March 2023, sets out proposals on how a single scheme could be designed and implemented. This would replace the two R&D tax relief schemes currently in place – the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) and the small and medium enterprises (SME) R&D relief.
A scheme modelled on the current RDEC for SMEs would also give decision makers in smaller companies clearer information, which will help them set budgets for R&D. In contrast, for those claiming SME tax relief in the current setup, the exact amount of money their firm will receive can only be known with certainty at the end of accounting period.
This is part of the government’s ongoing R&D tax reliefs review, and follows changes announced at Autumn Statement 2022 where the generosities of the two R&D tax schemes were broadly aligned, with the Chancellor pledging to work with industry to understand how to provide further support for R&D intensive SMEs.
The UK’s R&D tax reliefs have an important role to play in encouraging more businesses to invest in R&D, helping them to grow and create the technologies, products and services which reshape lives and livelihoods.
Government spending on R&D plays a crucial role in stimulating private sector investment which is why it is increasing investment to £20 billion a year by 2024-25 – the largest ever increase in a Spending Review period.
Victoria Atkins MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We are focussed on growing the economy – with thriving businesses bringing more jobs, higher pay and more tax revenue to fund our precious public services.
“Getting R&D tax relief right and fit for the future sits at the heart of making sure the UK remains a competitive location for cutting edge research – helping new firms grow.
“I welcome views on the option to simplify the scheme, especially from those who have experience of the existing tax reliefs.”
The UK is unusual in having two schemes and moving to a single measure would simplify the R&D tax system in line with the government’s overall plans for tax simplification.
The government would like to hear from a wide range of sources including individuals, companies, representative and professional bodies, and especially invites comments from research and development intensive businesses and those representing them.
The government recognises the reform to the rates creates challenges for some R&D intensive SMEs and those in the life sciences sector in particular and believes there is merit to the case for further support. Any further changes will be announced in the usual way, at a future fiscal event.
If implemented, the new scheme is expected to be in place from 1 April 2024.
