More than 100 Ministers, international sports organisations and experts from around the world will meet in London today to reaffirm the global commitment to tackling corruption in sport.

Delegates at the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) will discuss how to manage conflicts of interest in awarding major sporting events to ensure the process is fair and transparent.

They will also develop tools to prevent corruption around procurement at sports events and the way infrastructure contracts are awarded.

Today’s summit represents a strengthening of the international commitment to protect sport from the corrosive effects of corruption.

It is the first high-level IPACS meeting since the partnership was launched at the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Forum on Sport Integrity last year. The partnership’s mission is to bring international sports organisations, governments and inter-governmental organisation together “to strengthen and support efforts to eliminate corruption and promote a culture of good governance in and around sport”.

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

We are proud to support the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport and today’s event is another important step in the ongoing fight to eliminate corruption from sport. Every fan and athlete should have faith that contracts are fairly awarded, events are given to the strongest bid and the highest standards of governance are being upheld.

Our Sporting Future strategy sets out a commitment to tackle corruption in sport and, working alongside our international partners and UK Sport, I am pleased to see that significant progress is being made through IPACS.

Co-ordinated by a Core Group of partners including the Council of Europe, the IOC, the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), the UK Government, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), IPACS consists of a Steering Committee composed of governments, sports organisations and inter-governmental organisations.

Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, said:

The IOC remains committed to fight corruption in sport at all levels. Integrity entails credibility, and corruption threatens the very credibility of sports organisations as well as competitions. We know we cannot win this fight alone, but need the support of governments when it comes to anti-corruption legislation and law enforcement.

That is the value of IPACS, a very pragmatic partnership which can get together quickly and offer effective solutions on pressing topics. The high-level support IPACS received today is invaluable and will further strengthen our team efforts.

Gabriella Battaini Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said:

Match-fixing, illegal betting, bad governance, insider information, conflicts of interest, and the use of clubs as shell companies: the Council of Europe covers all these aspects through the Macolin Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, signed today by the UK Minister of Sport, as well as through the Council of Europe anti-corruption body, GRECO.

We are ready to develop further an inclusive co-operation framework with states and other international stakeholders to be put at the service of our IPACS partners. Because, when it comes to corruption in sport, there must be a change of gear. We must enable national governments, international organisations and sporting bodies to demonstrate their capacity to take on this problem in a spirit of unity, determination and effectiveness. IPACS was founded for precisely this purpose – and together we will meet the challenge”.

Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, Deputy Secretary-General-elect of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said:

IPACS is further evidence that corruption can be defeated only through collective partnerships and actions. The OECD’s experience in the fight against all forms of corruption serve as the basis of our engagement with IPACS. Fighting corruption in sport is fighting corruption globally.

Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said:

In all of our efforts to combat corruption and organized crime, UNODC emphasizes the need for multi-stakeholder approaches which can set international standards and build capacities, while harnessing the expertise and experience of all actors.

IPACS, of which UNODC is a core member, is a great example of such an initiative. Together we can promote integrity, stop criminals from exploiting sport for illicit gain and harness the power of sport as a force for development and peace.

Attendees at the three-day summit include representatives from the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the British Olympic Association and British Paralympic Association, Interpol and the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Yesterday (5 December) delegates reiterated their full commitment to upholding and implementing internationally recognised standards of integrity and anti-corruption in sport through engagement and collaboration with IPACS.

The next meeting of IPACS will take place by mid-2019, with the aim of discussing potential new focus areas for the Partnership and reporting on progress achieved since the 2018 High Level event.

Notes to editor:

• Corruption is not unique to sport. But the selection and organisation of major sporting events, the rapid commercialisation – and huge business interests and value – of sport, and the behaviours and structures that govern it carry high risks of corruption.
• As the custodians of sport, many international sports organisations have increasingly recognised the need for greater transparency and have taken active steps to reform and strengthen how they are structured and function, in line with major reform agendas such as the Olympic Agenda 2020.
• IPACS responds to efforts and calls by governments and other public authorities around the world to intensify the fight against corruption in sport. These include, amongst others, the commitment made by leaders at the 2016 London Anti-Corruption Summit; the adoption of resolution 7/8 on corruption in sport by the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in November 2017; the resolutions adopted at the 14th and 15th Council of Europe Conferences of Ministers responsible for Sport in Budapest 2016 and Tbilisi 2018; and calls made by G20 leaders in the 2018 Hamburg Leaders Communiqué and – most recently – the 2019 Buenos Aires Leaders Communiqué.

The sweeping review of the rail industry, announced by the Transport Secretary in September, has moved significantly forward with the launch of the call for evidence today (6 December 2018).

Keith Williams, independent chair of the Rail Review and former British Airways chief executive, is inviting evidence from a wide range of stakeholders in all parts of the country, including passenger representatives, businesses, leading thinkers and investors, and local and devolved bodies and governments.

He is travelling across the country visiting cities, towns and regions that depend on rail connections, listening and gathering information that will help inform a transformation of the rail industry to benefit passengers and support a stronger, fairer economy.

Keith Williams said:

Creating a railway for the 21st Century passenger is at the core of this review.

We’re launching a call for evidence and want to hear from passengers, the industry, leading thinkers and investors – and also the cities, towns and regions who depend on their rail connections.

Next year, after forensic investigations and conversations with people across the country, we will deliver a white paper with ambitious proposals for change.

The review will consider ambitious recommendations for rail reform, building on the government’s franchising strategy and bringing track and train closer together to reduce disruption and improve accountability. It will also consider regional partnerships and how we can use innovation to improve services and value for money for passengers.

The government will publish a white paper on the review’s recommendations, with the implementation of reforms planned to start from 2020.

The businesses have come forward in the 6 months since the launch of the Education and Employment Strategy, which set out a series of measures to boost prisoners’ skills while in custody and improve their chances of securing work on release.

Reoffending costs the taxpayer £15 billion each year and evidence shows that ex-offenders in employment are up to 9 percentage points less likely to commit further crime.

A major focus of the strategy is to encourage a culture change within companies so that they see beyond an offender’s conviction to their potential as an employee.

The interested businesses span a range of sectors, including construction and retail, and they could join employers such as Virgin Trains, DHL and Recycling Lives which are among more than 300 around the UK already seeing the benefits of employing those with a criminal record.

Having registered their interest, the businesses will now work with the Ministry of Justice to explore how to take forward their relationship with prisons.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said:

I passionately believe that building up offenders’ skills and helping them into work encourages offenders turn their backs on crime, benefitting them and society as a whole.

I am delighted that so many businesses are recognising the value of giving ex-offenders a second chance and a job — their interest sends a clear message to offenders that if they work hard and behave well in prison then real opportunities await them.

I would encourage more businesses to consider getting involved in our New Futures Network and help ex-offenders into work.

Andy Milner, CEO of Amey, said:

At Amey, we believe in hiring the best people for the job, no matter what their background or history. For us, hiring ex-offenders is not only the right thing to do but it also makes good business sense.

There is a growing skills gap within our industry and within our prison population there is a pool of highly motivated people learning new skills such as engineering, carpentry and plumbing who just need someone to believe in them to help change their lives.

The ‘Passport into Employment’ programme we have in place as part of our prisons maintenance contract together with our waste recycling partnership with Recycling Lives is helping to support men and women to transform their lives and demonstrates our commitment to rehabilitating ex-offenders.

Other achievements since the strategy was launched include:

• Prisons in Yorkshire have secured a £250,000 investment to start a construction academy at HMP Leeds – to equip offenders with valuable skills ahead of release.
• A new body, the New Futures Network, has been established to build partnerships between prisons and employers – filling skills gaps in companies by providing job opportunities for men and women on release from custody.
• More than 160 education providers have signed up to deliver education in prisons, after a new system was put in place. Governors will be running competitions to bring in these new providers from April.

The new construction academy in Yorkshire will offer fully accredited qualifications to prisoners and will be funded by a £250,000 grant.

Offenders who graduate from the academy will help plug the skills gap in the sector – 44% of small and medium house-building businesses claim the shortage of skilled workers is reducing their ability to construct more homes.

The innovative new academy, based at HMP Leeds, is due to open in February 2019 and will benefit 168 participants across 7 prisons in the region each year.

Since the launch of the Education and Employment Strategy in May, a new body, the New Futures Network, has been established to work with employers to generate training and job opportunities.

It has already begun work in 3 areas – Yorkshire, Tees and Wear and Wales – and will be rolled out across England and Wales in 2019.

The Network, launched in October this year, will follow up with the 120-plus businesses and broker partnerships to create more prison workshops, paid placements for serving prisoners and jobs on release.

In November a new system was put in place providing governors with access to education providers from across the country. This has already attracted more than 160 education bodies, businesses and charities, providing courses ranging from construction to life skills and money management.

Notes to editors

• The project to establish the new construction academy will be delivered in partnership with the charity Bounce Back, which already works with HMP Brixton to train prisoners for construction.
• The academy is due to open in February 2019, with prisoners working to get the building itself ready prior to that.
• All skills training will be structured to take into account the average length of stay, average length of sentence, the need for continuity of learning, teaching of soft skills and tailoring the experience to the meet the needs of industry to ensure the best possible opportunity of employment outcomes post release.
• The launch of the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System has given governors direct access to a wide variety of educational providers, charities and businesses, to commission services for their prisons. So far more than 160 have signed up. They will be able to begin delivering courses from next April.

A new Sector Deal between the aerospace industry and government will be announced in a speech today by Business Secretary Clark.

More than 100 Ministers, international sports organisations and experts from around the world will meet in London today to reaffirm the global commitment to tackling corruption in sport.