Scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) have developed a cyber card game which helps staff identify and learn about some of the key open source techniques a cyber aggressor might use to gain insight, access and control over industrial and commercial infrastructures.

Extensive testing of the game and positive stakeholder feedback has shown a very rapid initial learning curve compared to conventional training alone and this contributed to the game winning the 2018 Dstl ‘Innovator of the Year’ award.

The UK government and commercial sectors face a growing challenge in the form of cyber-attacks and information warfare from criminals and state actors. Such attacks take various forms and are often very sophisticated, meaning they may go unnoticed. Training staff to recognise and counter common information warfare attack strategies can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive

The key benefits of Dstl’s cyber card game are that it:

• Provides a rapid upskilling in understanding high level, open-source cyber-attack techniques and enhances learning on possible defensive strategies
• Offers a more enjoyable approach to cyber training – staff have the option to continue playing in their own time
• Is adaptable across a range of audiences and knowledge levels- the game can be tailored to various scenarios, ranging from a rapid two hour session for corporate management through to an extended campaign for cyber professionals
• Avoids using classified information, and therefore does not need security clearance to play

The cyber card game is available for license on a non-exclusive basis through Dstl’s Easy Access IP (EAIP) licencing framework. The EAIP framework allows companies to develop Dstl’s work at no cost, facilitating commercialisation of products that will benefit the economy and society.

Dstl has signed their first cyber card game licencing agreement with Coruscant Productions LLC who plan to develop and market the cyber card game training approach further.

The lead scientist who developed the game at Dstl said:

It is exciting to see the cyber card game being developed externally for the benefit of both security and commercial environments.

Tomas Owen, founder of Coruscant Productions added:

We are delighted to have the opportunity to license such unique intellectual property from Dstl. The cyber card game fundamentally alters the way cyber is thought about, taught and employed.

We’re proud to be chosen as the first licensee, and look forward to working with cyber training providers across the world with the goal of ensuring all organisations are better able to understand and defend against cyber criminals and digital attacks.

For more information, visit Dstl’s Easy Access IP page

Helen Pitcher has been appointed as Chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) from 1 November 2018 for 3 years. Helen will initially commence as a Commissioner, on a Chair Designate basis from 1 October 2018.

CCRC’s role is to investigate and review cases where it is alleged that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred in relation to conviction, sentence or both. Publicly appointed Commissioners are the Commission’s decision makers, playing a central role in casework by being directly responsible for deciding whether or not particular convictions or sentences should be referred to the courts.

Appointments to CCRC are made by Her Majesty the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

Appointments and re-appointments to CCRC are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. This appointment has been made in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Helen Pitcher is an experienced Board member, Chairman, Board facilitator and Coach. She works across the range of Professional Service firms, FTSE 100, Private Equity and Family firms. In addition to her Advanced Boardroom Excellence role which consults on Board effectiveness, other Board roles are:

• Chairman Pladis (United Biscuits, Godiva, Ülker Bisküvi)
• Chairman of KidsOut a National Children’s Charity
• President of INSEAD Directors Network Board (IDN)
• Board member CIPD
• Chairman of a number of Committees across these Boards (Audit, Remuneration, Nominations)

Helen is on the Advisory Board for Leeds University Law Faculty and was also Chairman of the Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel for 8 years until February 2017.

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice has appointed Dr Anja Lansbergen-Mills as a barrister member of the committee from 12 October 2018 for 3 years.

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) is a non-departmental public body which makes rules of court, for the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the County Court. CPRC is chaired by the Master of the Rolls and comprises 16 members – 8 judicial (of which 6 are appointed by the Lord Chief Justice) and 8 non-judicial (appointed by the Lord Chancellor in consultation with the Master of the Rolls).

Biography

Dr Lansbergen-Mills practices in commercial and chancery work and is a tenant at Exchange Chambers. She is a committee member of both the Northern Chancery Bar Association and the Northern Circuit Commercial Bar Association. Dr Lansbergen-Mills works to promote social mobility and diversity at the Bar, to which end she has participated in a ‘Law Futures Day’ organised by the Social Mobility Foundation and in the ‘Pathways to Law’ initiative developed by the College of Law and the Sutton Trust (delivered by Eversheds Sutherland as ‘Eversheds Unlocked’). She is helping to organise the Chancery Bar Association’s forthcoming ‘Women at the Chancery Bar’ conference and has spoken as a panellist in a discussion of the experience of women in the legal sector. Before she was called to the Bar Dr Lansbergen-Mills completed a PhD at the University of Edinburgh School of Law, during which time she was employed by the University in various research posts and taught law EU Law to both undergraduate and master’s students.

Dr Anja Lansbergen-Mills has declared no political activity.

The sale of an £860 million equity release mortgage portfolio, owned by Bradford & Bingley (B&B) and NRAM Limited (formerly part of Northern Rock), has been authorised by the Chancellor.

These mortgages were acquired by the taxpayer during the financial crisis and their sale simplifies the books of both B&B and NRAM, bringing the government closer to the final wind-down of these companies. It also marks a milestone in the plan to recover taxpayers’ money – ten years on.

Following a highly competitive auction, these mortgages will be sold to Rothesay Life, a Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority regulated firm.

There will be no changes to the terms and conditions of the mortgages sold. Borrowers do not need to take any action.

UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), the holding company for B&B and NRAM, will also at the same time terminate interest rate swaps, which hedge the risk of changes in interest rates, held against these mortgages. These swaps were taken out by B&B and Northern Rock more than 10 years ago when the loans were issued, in line with good risk management practice. Due to the fall in long term interest rates, there is a substantial cost for terminating the swaps which is expected to exceed the profit on the sale of the loans, resulting in a net overall accounting loss on the two transactions.

The assets will be sold for a price above their book value. Proceeds from this sale will be used to pay down the national debt. However, given the unwinding of the swaps, national debt will be reduced by an amount which is less than the sale proceeds. These figures are subject to an adjustment mechanism and will be known when the transaction completes in the next few weeks, and subsequently disclosed to Parliament.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said:

We’re continuing to recover the money the taxpayer committed during the financial crash, and the sale of these loans moves us one step closer. The proceeds of this sale will go towards reducing our national debt.

B&B’s and NRAM Limited’s closed loan books are managed by UKAR on behalf of the taxpayer. Following this transaction, UKAR now owns c.£13 billion worth of assets, down from £21 billion in September 2017 and from £116 billion in 2010.

As a result of this transaction UKAR expects to repay approximately £1 billion of the government loan which is made up of a number of components in addition to the actual sales proceeds. Following repayment, UKAR will have repaid 94% of its loans from the government.

The UK’s Minister for Women and Equalities, the Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP, and Founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Michael R. Bloomberg, today announced a new partnership between the UK Government and Bloomberg L.P. to improve reporting and transparency around gender equality in the workplace.

Speaking at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, Mordaunt and Bloomberg outlined a shared commitment to incorporate six data points from the UK Government’s gender pay gap metrics into the global reporting framework of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI).

UK Minister for Women and Equalities, Penny Mordaunt said:

This partnership with Bloomberg shows the growing global commitment to transparency and gender equality at work. Some of our biggest UK companies like Barclays, BT, Deloitte and Sky have already taken action, showing that gender equality is not just a moral imperative, it is good business.

Every human endeavour depends upon inclusion. So that we can all thrive in the workplace, no matter who we are.

Founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Michael R. Bloomberg said:

I want to thank the U.K. for its partnership and great work ensuring women and men have equal opportunities. This index highlights companies that are leading the way in addressing gender disparities – and what steps they are taking to do that – which can set an example for others.

Since 2016, the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index has provided investors with standardized, comparable data on a range of social factors related to gender equality in the workplace. The 2018 GEI includes 104 companies headquartered in 24 countries and regions.

Companies that have demonstrated their support of the GEI and a commitment to disclosure include: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Ford Motor Company, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Mastercard, Pearson and Unilever.

Eligible companies are scored based on data available in public filings and additional information collected through 67 questions as part of the GEI survey, a comprehensive overview of company statistics, employee policies, external engagement and gender-conscious product offerings.

Beginning in 2019, the GEI survey will incorporate six data points from the UK Government’s pay gap methodology, including the percentage of men and women in each quartile of payroll, and median and mean gender pay gap. First implemented in 2017, the introduction of new rules mandated organizations of a certain size to disclose employee pay statistics. Initial results illustrate the scale of the challenge, with 3 in 4 company reports indicating men are paid more than women.

In addition, Bloomberg L.P and the UK Government will work together to:

• Improve transparency on a global scale and build consensus with companies around the key metrics and drivers of gender equality in an organization;
• Create a clear measure for investors, consumers and employees to evaluate gender equality;
• Improve transparency of gender equality data on a global scale;
• Promote and expand membership of the Gender-Equality Index as an instrumental tool to transform economic gender equality.

Kiersten Barnet, Manager, Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, said:

This partnership is an encouraging step towards higher levels of gender equality disclosure and accountability. While gender pay is just one of the issues to overcome in the fight for parity, offering employers a standardized framework to measure their progress reduces the burden of reporting and creates a common global language for discussing gender equality.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Director and Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas, said:

Gender equality is at the heart of BNP Paribas’ company engagement strategy. All the management team at BNP Paribas is fully committed to fighting gender bias. Large companies can contribute to a better world by taking HR decisions that push the boundaries. They can also have a strong influence through their business decisions. Data is essential to help them measure and accelerate their progress in gender equality.

David Solomon, President and COO of Goldman Sachs, said:

A diverse workforce across all dimensions is essential to our ability to best serve our clients. We are committed to increasing the representation of women at every level of the firm and are pleased to support the UK Government and Bloomberg’s joint mission to encourage greater transparency around gender equality in the workplace, and to help us measure our progress.

Notes to Editors

Contacts

Veronika Henze, Bloomberg: +1-646-324-1596; vhenze@bloomberg.net

Jill Watanabe, Bloomberg: +1-212-617-1610; jwatanabe11@bloomberg.net

Natalie Harland, Bloomberg UK: +44-20-35258820; nharland1@bloomberg.net

Alice Booth, Government Equalities Office Press Office: +44 7384 521 405; Alice.booth@geo.gov.uk

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg’s enterprise solutions build on the company’s core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively.

About Mandatory UK Gender Pay Gap Reporting

The UK Government introduced world leading, mandatory gender pay gap reporting for large employers in 2017. The requirements provide an unparalleled level of transparency. Organisations with 250 or more employees need to publish 14 separate data points on gender pay differences each year. The first year of reporting saw an unprecedented level of compliance and 100% of organisations in scope have reported. Reporting on such a wide range of measures helps employers to understand the causes of the gender pay differences in their own workforces and encourages them to take action.

Live gender pay gap data, for the more than 10,000 employers that have reported, is easily accessible via the Government’s gender pay gap reporting website. The reporting website has been highly acclaimed for the transparency it provides and has attracted interest from across the globe.