Dr June Raine will become interim Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) from 20 September 2019. She replaces the current Chief Executive, Dr Ian Hudson, who steps down after 18 years with the Agency, six of them as Chief Executive Officer.

Dr Raine has extensive experience and knowledge of the Agency’s work, gained in a number of different licensing and post-licensing roles, and has been Director of the Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines (VRMM) division since 2006. Her extensive experience includes chairing the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) on behalf of the European Medicines Agency for six years.

Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said:

“Dr Raine has spent her professional career in the Agency and its predecessor bodies. She is recognised as one of the leading experts in the field of medicines safety, playing a central role in the Agency’s work. I am delighted that she has agreed to act as interim chief executive of the Agency for the coming months.

“I would like to recognise the very substantial contribution that Dr Hudson has made to public health in the UK, in Europe, and globally, throughout his 18 years with the Agency, including the last six years as Chief Executive.”

Dr June Raine commented:

“I am proud to be asked to lead the Agency at this time and am looking forward to working with colleagues across the health and care sector to protect and promote public health, in the UK and internationally.”

Outgoing Chief Executive Dr Ian Hudson said:

“It has been a pleasure and privilege to have worked with so many able and committed people over the past 18 years. Our Agency makes a real difference to the health of millions of people in the UK, Europe and beyond, and it has been an honour to make a contribution to this work.”

Dr June Raine – biography

Dr Raine qualified in medicine at Oxford University, and undertook postgraduate research leading to an MSc in pharmacology. After general medical posts, her interest in medicine safety led to a career in medicines regulation. She joined the then Medicines Division of the Department of Health in 1985, moving to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency when it was formed in 2003.

Dr Raine worked in several medicines licensing and post-licensing areas, including medical devices, and became Director of the Agency’s Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines division in 2006. She was chair of the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) on behalf of the European Medicines Agency from 2012 to 2018.

The decision follows a detailed review of the evidence and responses provided to a public consultation which indicate that removing the close season would pose a risk to coarse fish in some locations.

The close season for coarse fishing on rivers was introduced in 1878 and is in force from 15 March to 15 June. It aims to reduce risks to spawning fish caused by angling.

The review also showed that amending the start and end dates of the close season would increase protection for some fish that spawn later but would increase risks for those that spawn early.

Support among anglers for retaining a close season and removing it is finely balanced. The 8 week public consultation received 13,680 responses with 38.8% of anglers supporting retaining the current close season; 9.2% support retaining a close season, but changing the dates to 15 April to 30 June; and 49.8% support removing the close season altogether. 2.2% were undecided or didn’t respond.

The responders were invited to provide evidence to support their view and the Environment Agency has assessed that evidence, alongside other considerations, and determined that there is not a case for changing the current close season.

In addition to the evidence supplied through the consultation, the experience of the Environment Agency’s own fish farm at Calverton has shown that some species, notably Chub and Barbel, form large spawning aggregations that can be very sensitive to disturbance. Where disturbed, spawning females may reabsorb their eggs and defer spawning to the following season rather than spawning elsewhere or later.

Kevin Austin, Deputy Director of Fisheries at the Environment Agency said:

“We are really grateful to the people who took the time to respond to the consultation. We have analysed the many comments from the 13,680 responses to understand the evidence and opinions around the close season. Given the limited further evidence on risks to coarse and other fish stocks, we have decided to retain the close season.”

“We would also like to thank the joint Angling Trust/Institute of Fisheries Management study group for its work to collate, analyse and interpret the available evidence on the close season. This enabled an informed public debate. While the group concluded a more risk-based approach may be possible, our priority is to find the right balance between angling and protecting fish stocks. The current close season is risk-based and maintains protection for the majority of coarse fish.

“We recognise that some anglers will be disappointed in this outcome, while others will welcome it. This reflects a shared passion for fishing.

“We will continue, working with partners, to consider any new information on the close season as and when it becomes available.”

The winner of this pan-India initiative will have the unique opportunity to head a diplomatic mission for a day – overseeing the UK’s largest overseas network, leading daily briefings, and getting involved in a wide range of work, including interacting with important stakeholders and the media. The competition is being run to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October.

To apply, record a one-minute video about why gender equality is important and who your biggest inspiration is on the issue. The video must be shared on either Twitter, Facebook or Instagram by tagging @UKinIndia and using the hashtag #DayoftheGirl. The deadline to apply is 10 September, 2019.

Sir Dominic Asquith, High Commissioner to India, said: “I am delighted to announce the High Commissioner for a Day competition for the third year running to mark the International Day of the Girl Child. Improving the lives of girls and women is one of the UK’s top priorities globally. The competition is an important opportunity to talk about our world shapers and game-changers, our future leaders – our young women.

The UK and India are working together as a global Force for Good and we share with India the importance of promoting the cause of gender equality. We want to celebrate this day by demonstrating to young women that anything is possible, and by giving them a platform to talk about this important issue. I look forward to sharing the day with this year’s winner and learning from her.”

Sharing her experience, last year’s winner, Esha Bahal, said: “Acting as British High Commissioner for a day has been a great and really unique experience. I’ve learnt about the breadth and depth of UK-India relations – and had the opportunity to highlight the importance of gender equality and inclusivity, issues which are of great importance to me.”

[Would you like to be British High Commissioner for a Day?] (https://youtu.be/bGxWBXDpemo)

Further Information:

• The International Day of the Girl Child has been observed since 2012. It is marked around the world as an opportunity to highlight the need to promote girls’ rights and highlight gender inequalities that remain between girls and boys. It is a UN observance that is annually held on October 11.

• The 2018 winner, Esha Bahal, has now graduated from Amity University, Noida and is pursuing her Master’s Degree whilst continuing her work supporting the LGBT community.

• The 2017 winner, Rudrali Patil, has recently finished a Masters in International Law from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and is looking forward to continuing her work on women’s empowerment on her return to India.

Terms and Conditions:

• A jury at the British High Commission will select the winner, who will be announced on UKinIndia social media channels by 20 September.
• Only one entry per participant will be accepted. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified.
• By applying to the competition, participants transfer the copyright ownership of videos to the British High Commission, New Delhi. BHC may use these videos to produce content for future communication on its social media channels.
• Participants are reminded not to share personal details in their video, post or tweet. BHC is not responsible for the data that participants make public on these platforms.
• BHC’s decision on participants and selection of the winner is final. No correspondence relating to the above will be entertained.

For media queries, please contact:

Mail to: Ashwamegh Banerjee

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Following a consultation, we will inspect using our new education inspection framework (EIF) from September 2019.

The new framework sets out how we will inspect:

• state schools
• further education and skills providers
• non-association independent schools
• registered early years settings

Changes to inspections

Inspection will focus on the real substance of education, the curriculum.

Inspectors will spend less time looking at test data, and more time looking at what is taught and how it is taught. They will consider how a nursery, school, college or other education provider achieves its results.

We want to make sure that good results flow from teaching a broad, rich curriculum and reflect real learning, not just intensive preparation for a test.

We will be grading schools and other providers on the areas that matter most to parents:

• the quality of education
• behaviour and attitudes
• personal development
• leadership and management

What inspections will include

Inspectors will look at how a school contributes to pupils’ broader development, including their character, citizenship and resilience. They will also look at how the school manages behaviour, low-level disruption and bullying, so that parents can be assured that the school is one in which pupils are safe and able to learn.

Inspectors will check that school leaders are behaving with integrity by putting children’s interests first. This includes checking that schools do not enter pupils for qualifications that are inappropriate for the child but that may have a positive impact on the school’s published performance data.

Inspectors will also check that schools are not removing pupils from the school’s roll without a formal, permanent exclusion when this is not in the child’s best interests. We refer to this as ‘off-rolling’.

Inspection reports

We want to give parents clear and helpful information. This is to reassure parents about the education children are receiving now, as well as informing choices about their children’s future education.

Our reports will be shorter and clearer. They will tell parents what it’s like to be a child in that school, what the school is doing well and what it could be doing better.

We will keep our current grading system of:

• outstanding
• good
• requires improvement
• inadequate

It is not just about exam results.

Reports will tell you what behaviour is like at the school, how it tackles bullying, and whether children are learning the things they need to learn to get ahead in life.

We hope the changes we are making will help parents to make informed decisions about their children’s education.

A recruitment campaign in the North of England has seen a record number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates appointed to become Parole Board members.

Following an extensive outreach campaign 53 independent members will join the Board, 48% of whom are from a BAME background.

In separate campaigns, 3 retired judges and 20 psychologists, including 17% from a BAME background, were also appointed from across England and Wales for their specialist skills.

The Board has been calling for a more diverse membership that better reflects the community it serves and brings a mix of perspectives and experience to decision making. It was highlighted in the review undertaken by David Lammy MP that a lack of diversity can impact on confidence and trust in the Criminal Justice System.

Prior to this campaign, fewer than 5% of the Board’s members identified as being from a BAME background. These appointments triple the number and will bring the Board’s BAME diversity to nearly 13%.

Commenting on the success of this campaign, Caroline Corby, Chair of the Parole Board said:

“I am delighted that we have taken significant steps to improve the diversity of our membership. It is vital that we represent the community that we serve to continue to increase public confidence in our decision making.

“This campaign was only the first step and we hope to continue to build on our success when we next recruit, anticipated to be in the Midlands in 2020.”

The role of Parole Board members is to keep the public safe by making impartial, risk-based decisions about the release of prisoners, who have served the punishment part of their sentence. Members will only release someone when they assess that it is safe to do so and when they are satisfied that effective risk management arrangements are in place.

Members come from a variety of backgrounds and are independent public appointees that are selected through a rigorous recruitment process. Once appointed, they will receive extensive training and mentoring to ensure they are properly equipped to make these challenging decisions.

• All diversity data held on Parole Board Members is held by the Public Appointments Team, which is part of the Ministry of Justice.

• For more information on this press notice, please contact the Communications Team on 0203 880 0809 or comms@paroleboard.gov.uk.

• If someone is interested in applying to be a member of the Parole Board in the future, have a look at the Parole Board recruitment page or write to workwithus@paroleboard.gov.uk to express your interest.

• The work to improve the Parole Board’s diversity will continue into future recruitment campaigns. Organisations and charities are invited to contact the Parole Board at workwithus@paroleboard.gov.uk to share their ideas and expertise for how the next campaign can be even better.