DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well the chorus of criticism over the international response to Ebola has intensified this weekend.  The charity Oxfam has called it slow and inadequate and that the response from some countries is costing lives.  So where do Britain’s actions sit and are we doing enough?  Well the International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, joins me now and a very good morning to you Ms Greening.  Let me ask you, just detail for us first of all what precisely is Britain doing in terms of money and personnel and is there more to come?

JUSTINE GREENING: In terms of money we have already committed £125 million.  What that’s delivering on the ground is 700 treatment beds, that’s tripling the capacity that Sierra Leone currently has to treat Ebola patients.  As we’ve seen recently the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, Argos, now on its way there with military to help us continue building those treatment beds, overseeing that, Merlin helicopters that can make sure we can get round the country easily but increasingly also work on the ground in communities.  We know if we are going to stop and really combat the spread of Ebola we have to get to patients early, we have to treat them early and that means community care in particular so now working on the ground with communities to provide faster care and alongside that also improving how burials take place.  A lot of the infections are transmitted when members of families are burying their dead relatives so making sure that we have dedicated teams who are – it’s a difficult job but collecting bodies and then burying them securely so that we can stop that from spreading the infection and of course, finally, working both with the government in Sierra Leone to help their healthcare system deal with this but also NGOs who are on the ground as well providing support, helping them to scale up.

DM: We’ll talk about what Oxfam said in a moment or two but first just on the money, you said £125 million which I believe is second only to the United States in terms of money put in.  We know that the Prime Minister wants more action from our European partners, that they’re not doing enough.

JUSTINE GREENING: I think they do need to do more and that will be the message the Prime Minister takes to the European Council next week.  We’re seeing some initial commitments from countries like Germany for example, France is leading the efforts in Guinea but we need a much, much broader international response both here in Europe and more broadly internationally.  That was a very clear message that came out of the World Bank meetings last week, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and  also President Jun Kim of the World Bank.  It really is time for the international community to really take a stand, get involved with this and join countries like the US and the UK in particular who are leading efforts on the ground.  

DM: So let me put it this way, are the alarm bells really going off in the UK because we’ve got that this morning from Oxfam, as I say, saying this has the possibility of turning into the definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation.  We have to wake up and they are talking about putting more troops on the ground to deal with this.

JUSTINE GREENING: They are very much directing their comments at countries that aren’t doing the sort of work that the UK is already putting in place in Sierra Leone and they’re right to say that we  have a choice, either we stop Ebola now or it will simply continue to infect more and more people.  We’re seeing infection rates still at too high a level for us to bring it under control so if we want to combat it, it makes sense to combat it immediately rather than waiting one or two months, that’s been the UK’s message from the word go but that does mean more support more broadly from the international community and that includes right here in Europe.

DM: And from your perspective, your position from your department, motivation is important here as well.  Is the interest, the increased self-interest coming from countries like the United Kingdom now when we’ve seen cases in particular in Spain and in the United States and the threat to the UK or would you rather see the focus as being, look, we have to support this region, this region is already on the ground, on the floor when it comes to its economy and it is getting further devastated, we have to help them because of that reason?

JUSTINE GREENING: Well there are lots of reasons why we should be supporting West Africa but Britain is a country that leads the world really in terms of how much international development we do but it makes sense.  First of all it makes sense because actually many of those West African economies are doing pretty well, Sierra Leone has really come on in leaps and bounds over the last decade, it makes sense to work with them to help them continue developing.  We see countries like Nigeria which had stronger healthcare systems in place, much better able to clamp down on Ebola when they saw the first few cases but it is also in our interests.  We shouldn’t underestimate that ultimately if we don’t combat Ebola it does pose a risk more broadly internationally.  I think the cases we saw in the States, in Spain, were a wake-up call to people here in Europe that actually we do need to be taking action here to make sure we have the necessary precautions in place, we’ll brought Will Pooley back and had him successfully treated with no further infections and …

DM: And now he’s gone back.

JUSTINE GREENING: He’s gone back to continue playing a role which is amazing but we brought in place screening, the PM will also be talking with other European partners about what they can do to minimise the risk but we do need to recognise that we can’t subcontract ourselves from what’s going on in the rest of the world.  It makes sense for us to respond to these sorts of emergencies when they happen but more than that, be actually working to help countries develop in the first place so that they are better able in the future to take care of these sorts of crises when they get hit by them.  

DM: Well there is one dimension about mentioning Nigeria, I’ve been looking at some of the statistics and it is oft said about the NHS and just the sheer number of people it employs and senior figures within the NHS have admitted themselves that the NHS does drain medical expertise out of countries that could probably do with it themselves.  Nigeria, as you talked about, dealing very successfully so far with Ebola in a relatively rich country, one of the richest in Africa – there are over 5000 workers trained by Nigeria who work in the NHS.  Presumably that applies on a lesser scale to Sierra Leone and Liberia and so many other countries who could probably do with aid coming in that form.

JUSTINE GREENING: There are people from all over the world who come to work in the UK NHS.  One of the things we’ve done to support Sierra Leone has been to ask medics and clinical staff in the UK if people are prepared to go out and be part of the healthcare support that we can provide, not just in terms of the facilities that we’re helping to set up.  We’ve had an amazing response to that but including, you’re right, from the Sierra Leone diaspora, West African diaspora, they’re part of that and I think we should be really proud actually of the response that the UK has put in place and the response of people like Will Pooley, healthcare workers and our military and indeed my own staff in International Development, the Foreign Office, who are out there on the ground trying to do their bit to help Sierra Leone combat this and then the work that we’re doing more broadly across the region to try and help ensure that West Africa as a whole tackles Ebola and combats its spread.

DM: Can I just ask you, as you sit in on those Emergency Committee Meetings, at Cabinets within your own department,  I think the phrase is as you kind of war-game this, what is your projection of how many cases of Ebola that just might occur within the United Kingdom?

JUSTINE GREENING: Well Dame Sally Davis is our Chief Medical Officer here in the UK, she said we can expect a handful of cases  over the next few months. We’re well prepared to deal with those, the NHS only last weekend did a sort of test of all of its procedures to make sure that they work in practice so I think we have got good processes in place as we saw when Will Pooley came back.  We understand the level of care that’s required and the protocols that need to be in place to manage any further infection control so I think we can be confident of that.  On top of that we are reducing the risk as far as we can by screening people who are coming back here into the UK.  It’s worth pointing out that we don’t have any direct flights from the affected countries but we are having people travel indirectly so screening is in place to reduce the risks that people might come to the UK who could subsequently develop the disease.  It is also fair to point out that we are the only country in Europe doing that and that’s one of the reasons why we want other European countries to look at their screening procedures but the final point I would make is that the risk to the UK remains low.  We are well prepared but the risk remains low and in the meantime the most effective thing we can do is the work that we are doing with Sierra Leone to help them combat Ebola there.

DM: There is another dimension to that screening which you mentioned there which comes out of a Demos report we’re reporting in other news on Sky News today about the number of illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom, we have got to accept there are many, many of them here and they are afraid because of immigration policies, they are afraid of reporting to the NHS and registering with doctors or even walking in to an NHS clinic, 90% of them not registered.  That presumably is a source of threat not just from Ebola but from other not very nice conditions, would you like to see them registered and treated on the NHS dealing with the reality that they are here or should we continue to say that you can’t have treatment on the NHS?

JUSTINE GREENING: The NHS has always been open and free to people at the point they come for advice.

DM: Including illegal immigrants?

JUSTINE GREENING: Well people will go to walk-in centres, they don’t have to necessarily get initial care through GPs but the important thing is that whatever the infectious disease, actually the UK is incredibly well prepared to deal with a whole range of infectious diseases, not just Ebola and it is using those protocols that we have been able to develop the protocols we’ve now got in place for Ebola so we’re well prepared.  Obviously people need to make sure that if they have a fever, if they have any concerns particularly – and most importantly – if they have come back from the effected region, that they present to make sure they are healthy and we can treat them.  

DM: Can I just ask you on another issue about free movement of peoples, of course much discussion about what happens to those people coming to this country from within the European Union and we have just heard from the outgoing president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barosso, talking about Mr Cameron, we’re reading a lot about it today, talking about renegotiating the free movement of peoples within the European Union and he has said quite bluntly the free movement of people within the EU is non-negotiable, it’s a fundamental principle.  The Prime Minister is going nowhere on this.

JUSTINE GREENING: I don't think that’s true at all actually.  The free movement of labour was never meant to be a totally unqualified principle irrespective of how ineffective it might have worked on the ground so we’ve been really clear that although we have managed to bring non-EU migration levels down to the lowest level since the 90s, we do need to see action taken in relation to immigration that’s within the EU and that means taking a fundamental look at some of the rules that allow unrestricted immigration in a way that we just don’t think is sensible or effective.

DM: So what specifically might that be?  We are hearing straws in the wind ideas being floated about restricting the number of National Insurance numbers given out or something like that.

JUSTINE GREENING: I think that the government is looking at a whole range of ways in which we could see the European policy around migration work more effectively but also what we can do right here in the UK as well so we have already announced taking away out of work benefits for the first three months from migrants, also housing benefit, stricter checks on people who are on out of work benefits after six months.  So if they are not really actually looking like they are going to get work and there are no prospects of work then …

DM: That’s what we already know but what more?

JUSTINE GREENING: This is the question that we’re now looking at now.  We’ve taken a whole range of steps here in the UK which we believe we can take to restrict inward EU migration but the question is more broadly how can we ensure that the EU as a whole enables us to have more control over the numbers of people arriving in the UK in a way that I think isn’t just good for the UK but will be more sensible for policy across the EU generally.

DM: Last question, just on Ched Evans, the footballer who has been released from prison after serving a sentence for rape.  Do you feel it would be appropriate now he has done his time for him to get his job back with Sheffield United?

JUSTINE GREENING: Well Ched Evans is going through an appeal, I think given that there’s a legal process that is still ongoing it’s not appropriate for me to get involved and comment on that.  Suffice to say that obviously rape is …

DM: Well he wants it put before the CCRC, the Criminal Cases Review Commission but he is a convicted rapist.  He’s done his time, should he be able to have his job back?

JUSTINE GREENING: I don't think given that he is continuing to pursue this case that it is appropriate for me to get involved with that.  I think that’s a legal matter and I think therefore we should allow that process to continue.

DM: But it’s not a legal matter, I mean with respect this is not subject to ongoing criminal proceedings, he has served his sentence and does he deserve his job back?

JUSTINE GREENING: I have been really clear, I think he is entitled to go through the process he’s going through, I think we need to allow that to take place and in terms of whether he is allowed to play football that is a matter ultimately for his football club.

DM: Okay, Secretary of State, thank you very much indeed.  Justine Greening there.