Good evening.

It is a pleasure to be here tonight to mark the start of UK-India Week 2018.

In the past 3 decades, India has undergone a truly remarkable transformation.

Through free trade and economic openness, the country has been transformed into one of the most dynamic and fast-growing economies on earth.

This week is an excellent example of the commercial power of modern India – representatives of many of the world’s leading companies, gathered to exchange ideas and best practice, and to build the personal relationships that so often translate into business success.

India and the UK are countries that are looking to our respective and joint futures with optimism, and a willingness to embrace the opportunities of globalisation.

This week is, if you like, a symbol of the friendship that exists between the world’s oldest democracy, and the largest.

Yet before we set out our ambitions for a mutually prosperous future, it is worth reflecting on the existing strength of the UK-India trading relationship.

India and the UK are, in PM Modi’s own words, an “unbeatable combination.”

Both countries have a shared interest in each other’s prosperity, generating jobs, developing skills, and enhancing the competitiveness of the 2 economies.

Our vibrant business communities are instrumental in maintaining and strengthening the partnership between our 2 countries, building upon strong ties encompassing trade and culture.

Bilateral trade between the 2 countries has grown rapidly over the last 10 years, and reached some £18 billion in 2017.

The rate of growth reached a remarkable 15% in the first 3 quarters of 2017, compared to the same period in 2016. It is a trend we should work to continue.

Our commercial links span a wide variety of sectors, from life sciences and medical technology, to food and drink, energy, defence and culture.

Our trade in services includes not only IT and professional services – but significant trade in financial services, with the City of London playing a key role in raising capital to support India’s infrastructure growth.

I was delighted to open the London Stock Exchange last year with Finance Minister Jaitley. Over 80% of masala bond issuances to date have taken place in London, to a value of more than $3.9 billion.

We also have exceptionally strong investment links. The UK has been the largest G20 investor in India over the last ten years, more than any other EU country. There are over 270 British companies operating there, employing nearly 800,000 people.

The CBI estimates that UK companies are creating one in every 20 jobs in India’s organised private sector. This includes well known investors such as Vodafone, BP, HSBC, Standard Chartered, G4S and Unilever – but also new entrants such as Dyson, who plan to launch their products in India in 2018.

Earlier this year I welcomed the steps taken by Prime Minister Modi to further liberalise FDI policy, especially for single brand retailers.

The UK also welcomes the steps that Minister Prabhu and his team are taking to improve the ease of doing business in India – leading to a 30 point jump in the World Bank’s index this year. The UK is proud of its partnership with India on the ease of doing business, including co-hosting a national conference in 2016.

With a vote of confidence in the unshakeable strength of the UK economy, India is also the source of significant investment and jobs in the UK.

In 2016, approximately 800 Indian companies were operating in the UK, accounting for around 110,000 jobs and recording combined revenues of £47.5 billion.

In the same year India established 127 new investment projects in the UK, adding 4,000 new jobs and safeguarding more jobs than any other country.

What is particularly pleasing is the size and range of Indian investors who already consider the UK their home.

This includes well-known companies such as Tata Sons, owners of TCS and Jaguar Land Rover, Wipro, Infosys and Genpact alongside many others.

This government is putting its money where its mouth is in response to India’s technology investment demands.

In 2016, I was delighted to attend the UK-India Tech Summit in Delhi, along with the Prime Minister.

And last November, with the support of the Indian High Commission and UKIBC, DIT ran the India-UK ‘Future Tech month’ where more than 60 of India’s most innovative tech companies and buyers criss-crossed the UK’s regional tech and manufacturing centres of excellence set out in the Industrial Strategy.

This was followed in February by the UK-India Createch Summit in Mumbai, an event which produced £58 million worth of new commercial deals.

And, later this year, I look forward to travelling to India for the next UK-India Joint Economic Trade Committee and taking further steps to deliver the bilateral trade liberalisation that our businesses require.

Clearly, the commercial relationship between India and the UK is going from strength to strength.

We are of course here at the Taj Hotel this evening to celebrate the strength of this partnership.

But we are also here to look to the future and lay out our ambitions for a trading partnership that has the potential to shape the global economy.

In particular, as we leave the European Union, there is the opportunity for both countries to enhance this partnership – opening up new sectors for business and minimising barriers to trade.

For the first time in more than 4 decades, the United Kingdom will be able to fully determine its own economic destiny, through an independent trade policy.

In practice, this will mean championing global free trade, and strengthening the commercial relationships that already flourish between the UK and our allies and significant trading partners.

India, of course, is foremost among these.

That is why we plan to increase our engagement with India.

In particular, we aim to strengthen our partnerships in the areas of energy, smart cities and financial services, whilst at the same time addressing the critical issue of skills.

And it is to help achieve this joint prosperity, that – at the 11th meeting of the India-UK JETCO in Delhi at the end of 2016 – we agreed to set up a new Joint Working Group on Trade.

We tasked this working group with identifying practical ways to broaden and deepen the trade relationship between both countries, both now and as we leave the EU.

Key to this has been the UK-India Joint Trade Review, announced in January.

Officials from both countries are in the process of agreeing a sectoral roadmap, focusing on 3 sectors – life sciences, information technology, and food and drink – where there is real progress to be made on removing non-tariff barriers to trade.

These are, of course, only 3 industries. But they are only the start of the liberalisation of UK-India trade, which will create vast opportunities across each and every industry. It is hugely encouraging the way that the Indian government and especially Minister Prabhu have supported and encouraged this initiative.

But to achieve a step-change in our trading relationship, your role – the role of business – will continue to be crucial.

I would like to issue a call to you, as those businesses who already have a lot invested in the UK-India relationship, to get in touch with the Department for International Trade.

We want to understand not only the challenges that you face in increasing trade and investment – but also to work with you to overcome them. More importantly we want to know the opportunities you identify so that we can help you maximise the possibilities.

Your ideas today can become our policy tomorrow so take this chance to let us know what you believe the challenges and opportunities to be.

And by working together to meet these challenges, as governments, as business communities, and as people, we can build a brighter, more prosperous future for India, the UK and the world.

Thank you.

This afternoon the Prime Minister hosted social enterprise CEOs and leaders from a range of sectors including education, health, transport and housing for a roundtable in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister began the meeting by thanking Lord John Bird for suggesting the roundtable. She then set out her vision for a society that focuses on the responsibilities we have to one another and where all sectors, not just the state, play their part in tackling the challenges facing the country, whether in housing, education, markets or the workplace. The Prime Minister then highlighted the work of over 70,000 social enterprises doing good across the country and asked guests for thoughts on how to build on that success.

Culture Minister Tracey Crouch then spoke about the upcoming 10-year Civil Society Strategy, and highlighted the crucial role of social enterprises in delivering the Prime Minister’s vision for a more inclusive economy.

The guests discussed procurement, and how the government can protect and expand the role social enterprises can and should play in the public service economy. There was agreement that the Social Value Act has done much to support the growth of social enterprises, but that it was necessary to take steps to strengthen it and to make sure that the public sector maximises its potential.

Guests welcomed today’s announcement of increased funding for the NHS, and the Prime Minister underlined the importance for the social enterprise sector of working with NHS leaders to develop more integrated care strategies as part of the ten-year plan for the NHS.

Guests then discussed community housing, with the Prime Minister highlighting her particular focus on tackling homelessness and rough-sleeping. Guests underlined the particular value that local expertise can add in terms of delivering outcomes for communities. On this point, the Prime Minister added that her conversations with the Grenfell community following last year’s tragedy had brought home to her the importance of listening to tenants and ensuring that their views are taken into account.

The Prime Minister concluded the meeting by thanking guests for their insights, and there was agreement that the government would continue to support and engage social enterprises to deliver an economy that works for everyone.

• NHS will receive an average 3.4 per cent a year real-terms increase in funding over the next 5 years
• increased funding will support a new 10-year long-term plan the NHS will bring forward
• the long-term plan will help the NHS tackle waste and improve services.

The NHS will receive increased funding of £20.5bn in real terms per year by the end of the 5 years compared to today – an average 3.4% per year overall – in a move to secure the future of the health service as it approaches its 70th birthday, the Prime Minister announced today.

The increase will mean the NHS can regain core performance and lay the foundations for service improvements. The funding will be front-loaded with increases of 3.6% in the first 2 years, which means £4.1 billion extra next year.

This long-term funding commitment means the NHS has the financial security to develop a 10-year plan. The plan will be developed by the NHS, working closely with government and be published later this year. The priorities include:

• getting back on the path to delivering agreed performance standards – locking in and further building on the recent progress made in the safety and quality of care
• transforming cancer care so that patient outcomes move towards the very best in Europe
• better access to mental health services, to help achieve the government’s commitment to parity of esteem between mental and physical health
• better integration of health and social care, so that care does not suffer when patients are moved between systems
• focusing on the prevention of ill-health, so people live longer, healthier lives

It will be essential that every pound in the NHS budget is spent wisely. The government will set the NHS 5 financial tests to show how the NHS will do its part to put the service onto a more sustainable footing:

• improving productivity and efficiency
• eliminating provider deficits
• reducing unwarranted variation in the system so people get the consistently high standards of care wherever they live
• getting much better at managing demand effectively
• making better use of capital investment

Health and Social Care Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said:

This historic long-term funding boost recognises the superhuman efforts made by staff over the last few years to maintain services in the face of rapidly growing demand. But it also presents a big opportunity for the NHS to write an entirely new chapter in its history.

The British public love their health service fiercely, and undoubtedly want it to be the top priority for their hard-earned tax contributions.

The debate over Brexit can be divisive, but that famous campaign promise can now unite us all: the British public voted for £350m a week for the NHS, and that – and more – is exactly what this government will deliver.

In addition to a 5-year revenue settlement, the government will also:

• come forward with proposals to reform social care later this year
• ensure that adult social care doesn’t impose additional pressure on the NHS
• consider any proposals from the NHS for legislative changes that will help it to improve patient care and productivity
• consider proposals from the NHS for a multi-year capital plan to support transformation and a multi-year funding plan for clinical training places
• ensure that public health helps people live longer, healthier lives

The government is able to invest in the NHS because it has taken difficult but necessary decisions to get the nation’s finances back in order and because it is confident it will secure a good Brexit deal that supports our economy.

The Prime Minister explained that some of the extra funding will come from the money the government will no longer spend on the annual membership subscription to the European Union after Britain has left and as well as that taxpayers will also need to contribute a bit more in a fair and balanced way.

The government will listen to views about how to do this and the Chancellor will set out further details in due course.

Ends

With permission Mr Speaker, I will make a statement about the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of a new long-term funding plan for the NHS.

The NHS was built on the principle that good healthcare should be available for everyone, whatever their background and whatever their needs. Seventy years on, it remains this country’s most valued public service, an institution that is there for every family, everywhere, at the best of times and at the worst.

So no one in this House underestimates the importance of putting the NHS on a steady financial footing – not just for the sake of their constituents but also for their own families and loved ones. This is why I am proud that yesterday this government announced its commitment to a long-term funding settlement.

From vaccinations to IVF to radiotherapy to next-generation immunotherapies, the NHS has always been at the forefront of excellence in medicine but as only the sixth universal healthcare system in the world it has also come to symbolise equity both at home and abroad.

Despite pressures in recent years, the Commonwealth Fund rates the NHS as the best healthcare system in the world, cancer survival rates are at a record high, stroke mortality is improving faster than almost anywhere else in the OECD and heart disease mortality rates continue to fall. All this thanks to NHS staff who continue to work tirelessly, day in day out, to make it the world-class service it truly is.

But alongside advances in medicine, demographic pressures pose a potentially existential threat to the NHS as we know it. With over-75s expected to increase by 1.5 million in the next 10 years, these pressures, far from reducing, will intensify. So in March the Prime Minister made the bold decision to commit to a 10-year plan for the NHS backed up by a multi-year funding settlement.

Since then I have been working closely with the Prime Minister and Chancellor, and can today announce that the NHS will receive an increase of £20.5 billion a year in real terms by 2023 to 2024, an average of 3.4% per year growth over the next 5 years. The funding will be front-loaded with increases of 3.6% in the first 2 years, which means £4 billion extra next year in real terms, with an additional £1.25 billion cash to cope with specific pension pressures.

Others talk about their commitment to the NHS but this settlement makes clear it is this government which delivers. Details of this settlement will shortly be placed in the Library of the House.

This intervention is only possible because of difficult decisions taken by the government, opposed by many, to get our nation’s finances back in order and get our national debt falling. Some of the new investment in the NHS will be paid for by us no longer having to send annual membership subscriptions to the EU after we have left. But the commitment that the government is making goes further and we will all need to make a greater contribution through the tax system in a way that is fair and balanced. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister has said we will listen to views about how we do this and my right honourable friend the Chancellor will set out the detail in due course.

I want to pay particular tribute to the Chancellor who in all our discussions has never questioned the need for additional resources for the NHS and the priority attached to it by the government. His careful stewardship of the economy, alongside that of George Osborne before him, is what makes today’s announcement possible.

The British public also want to know every pound in the NHS budget is spent wisely. So it is critical to the success of this plan that the whole NHS improves productivity and efficiency; eliminates provider deficits; reduces unwarranted variation in the system so people get the consistently high standards of care wherever they live; gets better at managing demand effectively and makes more effective use of capital investment.

We have set the NHS 5 key financial tests to show how the NHS will do its part to put the service onto a more sustainable footing, and I will be expecting them to give this work the utmost priority. These tests will be a key part of the long-term plan.

But Mr Speaker this is more than just a plan to get finances back on track – in its 70th year we also want our NHS to make strides towards being the safest, highest quality healthcare system in the world.

That means making a number of improvements to the treatment and care currently offered including getting back on track to delivering agreed performance standards; locking in and further building on the recent progress made in the safety and quality of care; and transforming the care offered to our most frail and vulnerable patients so we prioritise prevention as much as cure.

It also means transforming our cancer care, where despite record survival rates we still lag behind France and Germany. There is no family in this country that has not been touched by cancer so the whole House will want to know how the NHS intends to make our cancer treatment and care amongst the very best in Europe.

And many of our constituents worry about the mental health of their loved ones, families and friends. Again, I am proud of this government’s record here: investing more in mental health than ever before and legislating for true parity, as part of one of the biggest expansions in mental health provision in the Europe. So a critical part of the plan will be to decide what next steps will enable us to claim not just that we aspire to parity of provision with mental health but that we are actually delivering it.

Mr Speaker for our most vulnerable citizens with both health and care needs we also recognise that NHS and social care provision are 2 sides of the same coin. It is not possible to have a plan for one sector without having a plan for the other – indeed we have been clear with the NHS that a key plank of their plan must be the full integration of the 2 services.

As part of the NHS plan we will review the current functioning and structure of the Better Care Fund to make sure it supports this. Whilst the long term funding profile of the social care system will not be settled until the spending review, we will publish the social care green paper ahead of that.

However because we want to integrate plans for social care with the new NHS plan it does not make sense to publish it before the NHS plan has even been drafted so we now intend to publish the social care green paper in the autumn around the same time as the NHS plan.

Finally, Mr Speaker, there are 2 further elements crucial to putting the NHS on a sustainable footing. Alongside the 10-year plan we will also publish a long-term workforce plan recognising that there can be no transformation without the right number of staff, in the right settings and with the right skills. This applies to both new and existing staff. As part of this we will consider a multi-year funding plan for clinical training to support this aim. Similarly, we know that capital funding is critical for building NHS services of the future and again we will consider proposals from the NHS for a multi-year capital plan to support the transformation plans outlined in the long-term plan.

Mr Speaker, given the national economic situation yesterday’s announcement is bold and ambitious. For the first time national leaders of the NHS will develop a plan for the next decade which is clinically-led, listens to the views of patients and the public and is backed by five years of core funding. We want to give the NHS the space, certainty and funds to deliver a comprehensive, long term plan to transform health and care and ensure that our children and grandchildren benefit from the same ground-breaking health service in the next 70 years as we all have in the first 70.

That is this government’s commitment to the NHS and I commend this statement to the House.

Following the creation of a digital model of the river, and testing options in the model, a team from Leeds City Council, Environment Agency, and consultants WSP have now come up with four options that they would like the community’s views on.

Residents and business owners can come and talk to the team at:

• The Core Otley, Unit 11 Orchard Gate, Otley LS21 3NX on Thursday 21 June between 4–7pm

The shortlist of options and supplementary works on show include using flood defence walls, flood defence embankments, maintenance including vegetation clearance and riverbank realignment.

Otley suffered flooding on three occasions between November and December 2015, which saw 74 properties affected. In the Autumn Statement 2016, Government announced £2 million to invest in a scheme to reduce the risk of flooding to homes and businesses.

The scheme is being led by Leeds City Council working closely with the Environment Agency.

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Judith Blake said:

We are very pleased to now share with people the progress we and the Environment Agency have made on the plans for flood prevention measures for Otley with these shortlisted options we are now considering and developing further. These measures are all deliverable and would make a real difference in providing reassurance to local residents and businesses against the threat posed by flooding, so we would encourage as many people as possible to come and see what we have in mind and tell us what they think.

John Woods, flood risk management advisor at the Environment Agency said:

After much work we are now approaching a really crucial stage in the project to select a final option for Otley. We’d encourage anyone with an interest in the scheme to look at the potential options and come along to discuss their views with the team. Residents views are really important in helping us to reach a preferred option for the town.

The Otley Flood Alleviation Scheme is one of several schemes that is adopting a catchment-wide approach. This means the entire River Wharfe catchment area is being considered to help reduce flood risk. This approach looks at a combination of natural processes and engineered options to help slow the flow and catch water further up the catchment so that flood peaks are reduced further downstream.

After the drop-in event, a preferred option will be chosen and developed into the outline design phase, where the community will get another chance to comment on the proposals.

The team is aiming to submit a planning application in winter 2018 and subject to planning approval, construction on site will start by autumn 2019.

For those who can’t make it to the drop-in, the shortlist of options are also available to view online here and if anyone has any comments they can be sent by email to FRM@leeds.gov.uk