Recruitment Vacancy – Executive Officer in Application Management

News story

Details of a recruitment vacancy in our Application Management team.

This exciting and interesting role puts you at the heart of the VMD’s work in the authorisation of applications for veterinary medicinal products. You will be part of a team that links with scientific disciplines and has frontline interactions with the pharmaceutical industry and with regulators from other global jurisdictions.

Job Title

Executive Officer in Application Management

Grade

Salary & Pension

£27,963 – £29,806 per annum with Pension Scheme

Annual Leave entitlement

Commencing at 25 days

Role

You will be responsible for overseeing the progression of application procedures subject to published standards targets for licensing work as set out in the VMD Business Plan, and meeting and contributing to objectives set out in the Authorisations Work Plan.

The job holder is a primary contact for members of the pharmaceutical industry and involves communicating with internal assessors, other global country national regulatory body representatives and the pharmaceutical industry.

How to apply

You must make your application via Civil Service Jobs – GOV.UK where you will find a full job description including salary details.

Closing Date

9 August 2022

Published 13 July 2022

Forestry Commission introduces further controls to tackle bark beetle tree pest

Woodland managers, landowners and the forestry industry are today being urged to increase their vigilance to the risk of the tree pest Ips typographus – also known as the larger eight-toothed European spruce bark beetle – following new findings of the insect by the Forestry Commission on spruce trees in Kent, Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex. The new findings were made following routine plant health surveillance activities carried out by the Forestry Commission.

A robust management programme is in place to manage the outbreak sites and prevent potential spread of the pest, in line with the eradication action taken to manage outbreaks of Ips typographus found in 2021. To combat further potential spread, an extension to the existing demarcated area is being introduced to cover parts of Hampshire. Within the demarcated area, the movement of susceptible tree material such as spruce wood, bark and branches is restricted.

The south-east of England in particular is vulnerable to the arrival of the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle because it can naturally be blown over from Europe. An extensive network of pheromone traps has been positioned across the south-east to monitor for potential incursions of the pest from the continent and to identify suspect sites. In the long-term, the Forestry Commission are encouraging landowners in the affected regions to remove stressed or weakened spruce and replant with other species to limit potential spread of Ips typographus.

Jane Hull, Forestry Commission Area Director for the South East and London, said:

The enhanced plant health enforcement actions announced today will prevent this potentially damaging pest from becoming established, protect the forestry sector, and ensure our vital spruce are retained within the landscape.

Nicola Spence, the UK’s Chief Plant Health Officer, said:

The eight-toothed spruce bark beetle poses no threat to human health, but can have a serious impact on spruce tree species and the forestry industry.

We are taking swift and robust action to limit the spread of the outbreaks as part of our well-established biosecurity protocol used for tree pests and diseases. Any sightings should be reported to the Forestry Commission via its TreeAlert online portal.

Grants are available through the Tree Health Pilot to support woodland managers with spruce trees affected by, or at risk of, the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle. The grants can pay back the costs of felling trees; protective measures like fencing and netting; installing infrastructure and access aids, such as temporary road surfaces, to improve access to trees; and restocking and capital items to replace the trees with different species that are more likely to withstand pests, diseases and climate change.

Today’s announcement follows the introduction of controls in December last year requiring woodland managers to provide written notification to the Forestry Commission if they intended to fell susceptible spruce material, or kill any trees of the genus Picea A. Dietr over three metres in height, within the demarcated area. Prohibitions on susceptible material being left in situ in the demarcated area following felling, without written authorisation from an inspector, were also implemented. These built on existing restrictions on the movement of susceptible materials out of or within the demarcated area.

A notice extending the existing demarcated area will come into force on Wednesday 20 July 2022.

Head of drug-dealing organised crime gang will spend longer in prison

News story

Umar Hamid will spend longer in prison for drug-dealing offences

A Blackburn man who headed an organised crime group will spend longer in prison after his case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the then Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC MP.

Umar Hamid, 31, was the head of an organised crime group that was responsible for the supply of Class A and B drugs over a period of approximately 16 months from 2018-2020 in and around Blackburn, Lancashire. The group ran two drug dealing networks, with one concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine whilst the other dealt in the sale of drugs including cocaine, MDMA and ketamine.

On 13 April 2022, Hamid was convicted of conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs. He was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months’ imprisonment at Preston Crown Court for his role in running the gang.

The Court ruled that Hamid would serve this sentence concurrently with an existing sentence of 17 year’s imprisonment with a 5-year extended licence for unrelated offences, which would mean he would not serve any extra time in prison.

The then Solicitor General disagreed with this approach and believed that Hamid’s drug dealing offences were serious enough to warrant an extended total prison sentence. As a result, the sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

On 13 July the Court of Appeal found Hamid’s original sentence to be unduly lenient and imposed a new consecutive sentence of 6 years’ imprisonment, which means that Hamid will now have to serve an extra 6 years in prison. Therefore, his total sentence length is now 23 years’ imprisonment with a 5-year extended licence.

Speaking after the hearing, the now Solicitor General Edward Timpson CBE MP said:

Supplying illegal, dangerous drugs on this scale is a serious crime that ruins lives. I welcome the decision of the Court today to impose a sentence that better reflects the gravity of Umar Hamid’s offending.

Published 13 July 2022

IPO announces new board appointments

Adam’s appointment will take affect from 1 September 2022, and follows the forthcoming departure of current Chief Executive Tim Moss, who is joining the Welsh Government as Chief Operating Officer and Director General.

Adam will assume responsibilities over the next few months while open competition to find a permanent appointment to the role concludes.

Adam joined the Intellectual Property Office in 2009 as Head of International Coordination in the Copyright and Enforcement Directorate. He then took up the role of Deputy Director of International Policy in July 2013, and the role of Director in September 2017.

Adam has previously worked for the UK government on defence policy matters and has extensive experience dealing with policy issues in the EU, UN and NATO as well as undertaking bilateral negotiations.

Commenting on his appointment, Adam said:

I’m delighted to have been appointed Interim CEO. Together with my colleagues on the Executive Board we are looking forward to providing continuity of leadership to ensure we continue as a great place to work for our people and ensure excellent delivery for our customers.

The IPO has also been carrying out further recruitment exercises and implementing some organisational design changes.

Andy Bartlett has been appointed as Deputy CEO and Director of Services.

This role is responsible for delivering all current services to customers, IT and our One IPO transformation programme, to deliver the IP office of the future.

Andy will continue to drive the ambitious work already underway to create a truly customer focused organisation, transforming our customers’ experience of accessing and managing their IP rights in a more streamlined and efficient way

The IPO also confirms appointments in the following roles, completing the organisational design process:

Chris Mills, Director, Rights Policy and Enforcement at the IPO

In this role, Chris will be responsible for all areas of domestic IP rights policy and legislation including patents, trade marks, designs and copyright, in addition to continuing to lead on IP enforcement issues. The role will help support UK innovation through IP, including specific oversight of policy areas currently under development through consultative exercises, such as AI, Designs, and music streaming.

He will also jointly lead the Policy Group with the interim Director of Business and International Policy, when this post is backfilled following Adam’s appointment as interim CEO.

Pippa Hall as Director of Strategy:

The Strategy Directorate will coordinate the IPO’s strategic direction, ensuring progress towards corporate priorities, and alignment with wider Government initiatives.

Pippa will work with the services and policy functions to support initiatives across the organisation. She will coordinate and have oversight of wider strategies and business plans within the IPO, to ensure alignment and deliver the IPO’s overall corporate strategy, corporate plan, and priorities.

Sian- Nia Davies as Chief Data and Technology Officer:

Sian-Nia will lead on the creation of a world leading technology platform to provide businesses and citizens with the tools they need to harness the power of IP. Reporting to the Deputy CEO and Director of Services, Sian-Nia will ensure that the IPO’s tech capability continues to support its strategic ambitions.

She will lead on the exploitation of new technologies including ML and AI – together with more established tech – to deliver a user centred service central to the One IPO transformation journey.

These new appointments are made in addition to the following existing board roles, which complete the redesigned board structure:

Neil Hartley as Director of Finance

As Director of Finance, Neil remains responsible for financial strategy, operations and systems, accounts and financial reporting, budgets, controls and procurement.

Penny Phillpotts as Director of People and Place:

As Director of People and Place, Penny remains responsible for all Human Resources, Organisational Design and Estates matters. The responsibility includes further embedding equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the organisation, supporting innovation by helping make the IPO a brilliant place to work.

The IPO’s Chief Executive Tim Moss said:

It is testament to the strong leadership across the IPO that the organisation has clear succession planning in place, and we can seamlessly move from one state to another. I have full confidence that the Executive Board will provide continuity of leadership and they, and our wider senior leaders, have the technical expertise required to match our ambition to the best IP office in the world.

Our new board look forward to opportunities to meet with stakeholders in the coming weeks and months, and to continuing the IPO’s long standing relationships with partner organisations and their members.

Joint Statement of support for Ukraine’s application before the International Court of Justice against Russia

We reiterate our support for Ukraine’s Application instituting proceedings against the Russian Federation before the International Court of Justice under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which seeks to establish that Russia has no lawful basis to take military action in Ukraine on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations of genocide.

We reiterate the importance of these proceedings and urge, again, Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine, as ordered by the Court in its Order on Provisional Measures of 16 March 2022.

As the Court has repeatedly stated, its orders on provisional measures are legally binding on the Parties to the dispute. Therefore, failure to comply with the Court’s 16 March 2022 Order constitutes a further breach, by Russia, of its international obligations.

We take note of the public statement of 1st July 2022, according to which Ukraine announced that it had submitted its Memorial to the Court.

We welcome once again Ukraine’s efforts to ensure that international law is respected and that the Court can fulfill its fundamental function of promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes.

The Genocide Convention embodies the solemn pledge to prevent the crime of genocide and hold those responsible to account. As the International Court of Justice itself stated in its advisory opinion of 28 May 1951 on reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the object of the Convention “on the one hand is to safeguard the very existence of certain human groups and on the other to confirm and endorse the most elementary principles of morality.

It is in the interest of all States Parties to the Genocide Convention, and more broadly of the international community as a whole, that the Convention not be misused or abused. That is why the signatories of the present declaration which are Parties to the Genocide Convention intend to intervene in these proceedings.

In light of the serious questions raised in this case, and in view of the far-reaching consequences of the judgment that the Court will render, it is important that the States Parties to this Convention be able to share with the International Court of Justice their interpretation of some of its essential provisions.

In closing, we reiterate that Russia must be held accountable for its actions. In this regard, we consider that Russia’s violations of international law engage its international responsibility, and that the losses and damage suffered by Ukraine as a result of Russia’s violations of international law require full and urgent reparation by Russia, in accordance with the law of State responsibility.

We once again call upon the international community to explore all options to support Ukraine in its proceedings before the ICJ.

A joint statement on behalf of: Albania; Andorra; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Canada; Croatia; Cyprus ; Czech Republic ; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Marshall Islands; Moldova; Monaco; Montenegro; Netherlands; New Zealand; North Macedonia; Norway; Palau; Poland; Portugal; Romania; San Marino; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; the United Kingdom; the United States, and the European Union.