In The News
News about Policy Exchange publications, staff and policy concepts.
Recent News
UK Digital Identity
This week DCMS set out a new UK digital identity and attributes trust framework to make it easier and quicker for people to verify their identities using modern technology. The framework is in line with recommendations made in Policy Exchange’s 2020 report Verified, which featured a foreword from Matt Warman MP, Minister for Digital Infrastructure.
Online Harms Bill reflects Policy Exchange proposals
A new Online Harms Bill, unveiled this week, includes measures that will force social media companies to delete harmful content or face fines of up to 10 per cent of their turnover and adopt a new code of conduct to protect children on the internet. The legislation builds on recommendations made in Policy Exchange’s 2017 report, The New Netwar, which called for ministers to “put in place a system of financial penalties, administered by the independent regulator, to force company compliance” and urged the adoption of a “more stringent codes of conduct”.
Policy win with MOD’s new Office of Net Assessment
In a recent speech the Defence Secretary, Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP, announced the creation of a “Secretary of State’s Office of Net Assessment and Challenge (SONAC)” encompassing war gaming, doctrine, red teaming and external academic analysis. Standing up a UK Office of Net Assessment reporting directly to the Defence Secretary – modelled on the Pentagon’s ONA – was the main recommendation of Policy Exchange’s 2018 report, A Question of Power: Towards Better UK Strategy Through Net Assessment, authored by Gabriel Elefteriu, with a Foreword by General Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, former Chief of the Defence Staff. The draft report’s reviewers included Air Marshal Ed Stringer, Director General of the UK Defence Academy and Joint Force Development who will now oversee the establishment of SONAC; and Professor John Bew, the Prime Minister’s Special Adviser for Foreign Affairs who is leading a No10 taskforce on the Government’s Integrated Review.
Sir Stephen Laws invited to help review the Human Rights Act
Policy Exchange congratulates Sir Stephen Laws KCB, QC (Hon), Senior Research Fellow in our Judicial Power Project and former First Parliamentary Counsel, on his appointment to serve on the independent panel to review the Human Rights Act 1998. The panel, chaired by Sir Peter Gross, former Lord Justice of Appeal, is to consider the Act’s operation over the past twenty years and the case for structural reform. In a lecture on the day of the panel’s announcement, Sir Peter referred to Policy Exchange’s work on Supreme Court reform, noting the foreword written by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, former Chief Justice of England and Wales. Sir Stephen’s many publications for Policy Exchange on constitutional matters include this jointly authored submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Read details of the announcement here.
Saving a lost decade
A new Policy Exchange report published this week, Saving a lost decade, argues that ministers must become directly accountable for tackling the inequalities that have been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper, authored by Richard Sloggett, Health and Social Care Lead, uses modelling to show that the Government is on course to miss a key manifesto pledge to increase healthy life years by five by 2035. Read the report and Foreword by Rt Hon Damian Green MP and Lord Filkin CBE here.
The report featured in The Financial Times, with the recommendations endorsed by Steve Brine MP, former Public Health Minister, during a debate in the House of Commons, which can be viewed here.
David Goodhart joins the EHRC
Policy Exchange congratulates David Goodhart, our Head of Demography, Immigration & Integration, on his appointment as a Commissioner on the board of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. David will sit on the board for a period of four years. This welcome appointment follows the announcement that Baroness Falkner of Margravine has been nominated to serve as the new Chair of the EHRC. David is the author of Head, Hand, Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21st Centuryand has recently edited a Policy Exchange report on the technical skills revolution, The Training We Need Now. Read details of the announcement here.
Policy Exchange hosts the Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lecture
Policy Exchange was delighted to welcome Matthew Pottinger, Deputy National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, for the first of two Colin Cramphorn Memorial Lectures this year. He delivered his lecture, titled “The Importance of Being Candid: On China’s Relationship with the Rest of the World”, in Mandarin, speaking of a “new consensus” in the US, which bridges political divides and unites the whole of society, on the threat posed China’s “technologically enhanced totalitarianism”. Watch the speech here.
Policy Exchange welcomes Defence Secretary and Chief of the Defence Staff
Policy Exchange welcomed the Secretary of State for Defence, Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP, to introduce a keynote speech by General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, on The Integrated Operating Concept.
In this major speech at an important juncture for UK defence, the Chief of the Defence Staff presented a new approach to the utility of armed force and integration of space, cyber and information, alongside the maritime, land and air domains. When speaking of the new concept he said, ‘this Integrated Operating Concept places a premium on operating, it also places a premium on adaptability – the ability to adapt to war fight.’
The event was chaired by General David Petraeus. You can watch the event here
Building a better healthcare system
The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked fundamental questions about our health and social care system. Is the current NHS accountability structure the right one for responding to global pandemics? What is the most effective way of protecting and funding those requiring social care? How can we lock in the technological gains from the pandemic? And how should we build hospitals that better serve the needs of the UK population in the 21st century?
Matt Hancock sets out vision for public health
Policy Exchange was delighted to welcome Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for a major speech on the future of public health on 18th August.
The Health Secretary, who gave the first speech by a Cabinet minister after the election at Policy Exchange in December, outlined plans for the establishment of a new body – the National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP). T
