Minister James Cleverly has signed papers which will enable The National Archives to launch two new services to aid legal certainty once we leave the EU and to ensure legislation is accessible to the public.

The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 required The National Archives to make all EU legislation relevant to our exit available online. The National Archives have now produced two services to host this crucial information. The first is a comprehensive archive of EU law which will be captured through to exit day, allowing members of the public to search for EU legislation, treaties, international agreements and case law.

The second strand of work is the addition of EU legislation to legislation.gov.uk, all pieces of EU law were uploaded to the website including a timeline of the changes so far. The service makes it easy for people to find out how EU legislation is being changed by the UK.

Minister James Cleverly said:

The government is making sure that the UK is ready to leave the EU in good order. That’s exactly what The National Archives is doing with this monumental piece of work.

This resource provides an invaluable legal reference which gives certainty, and clarity to the public, and especially to businesses who are making preparations for Brexit.

Jeff James, Chief Executive, Keeper of Public Records and Queen’s Printer, The National Archives said:

Our aim is to ensure we have both a comprehensive, permanent record of the law at EU exit, and, with legislation.gov.uk to provide an ongoing service now and for the future. As legislation changes over time, legislation.gov.uk offers great value, aiding legal certainty for all those who are seeking to understand what the law is and will be post exit.

All of the secondary legislation can be found here

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The first appeal for a development of 110 homes was submitted on 25 January 2019 and started on 4 February 2019. Following a three day inquiry held in May 2019 and a site visit, the Inspector, Stephen Normington BSc DipTP MRICS MRTPI FIQ FIHE allowed the appeal on 19 June 2019, twenty one weeks after the appeal was started.

The second appeal was for a development of 25 homes. The appeal was submitted on 15 February 2019 and started on 21 February 2019. A three day Inquiry began on 11 June and following a site visit, the Inspector Jennifer Vyse DipTP Dip PBM MRTPI issued her decision allowing the appeal on 2 July, just under 19 weeks after the appeal was started.

The Rosewell Report, published in February this year, made 22 recommendations to improve the planning appeal inquiry process. The Planning Inspectorate immediately began work on developing an action plan to implement those recommendations. Following a short pilot, and with the cooperation of the parties, the new method of processing inquiries was expanded to include all appeals dealt with by inquiries.

Sarah Richards, Chief Executive for the Planning Inspectorate, said:

“This much improved handling time is very good news. I would like to thank everyone involved in the appeal process for their help and cooperation in implementing Bridget Rosewell’s recommendations.”

“We are working hard to improve our service to customers across all our case work, and the recommendations from the Rosewell Review contribute to this. Very soon customers will begin to see improvements in other areas of our work, including easier on-line submission of appeals. Our recent recruitment of additional Planning Inspectors and Appeal Planning Officers, together with our new IT systems, will also result in improved handling times this year.”

The Planning Inspectorate deals, on average, with more than 15,000 planning appeals every year. Around 2% are handled through the inquiry process. The time taken to decide appeals is important as is ensuring all parties to an appeal have the opportunity to give their views. Planning Inspectors, who are independent and impartial, will ensure that everyone has an opportunity to submit evidence which they rely on to make the right and fair decision.

ENDS

Journalists wanting further information should contact the Planning Inspectorate Press Office, on: 0303 444 5004 or 0303 444 5005 or email: pressoffice@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

The Government-funded company is moving to take a more controlling role in asset management as part of its commitment to enhancing the way England’s motorways and major A-roads are maintained, improved and operated.

The innovative new system – Progressive Asset Delivery (PAD) – comes after more than a year’s planning and was rolled out in the Midlands and the South East on Monday (1 July).

PAD will provide a link between the traditional Asset Support Contracts and the Asset Delivery model that puts Highways England in direct control of asset management, maintenance and other services.

The three-year contracts have been awarded to Kier as an extension to the existing ASC arrangements that have been performing at a high level across the Midlands and the South East.

The new arrangements will see the smooth transition of services into Highways England’s direct control with the continued support of the supplier.

This safety net offered by Kier will ensure it is ‘business as usual’ while allowing the business to explore new and more efficient ways of working as it moves towards Asset Delivery.

It will also ensure Highways England can maintain excellent levels of customer service, delivery and safety as it makes the transition.

PAD has been introduced to Highways England’s Area 3 – Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and part of Buckinghamshire – and Area 9 – West Midlands, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and part of North Gloucestershire.

As part of the changes, Highways England will welcome almost 120 new colleagues into the business from Kier.

The new contracts target 13 business objectives which include setting up regional operations centres as Highways England-controlled single deployment organisations responsible for incident and congestion management.

Also such areas as asset data collection, non-technical inspections, planning and managing technology assets, customer and stakeholder engagement.

Midlands Divisional Director Catherine Brookes said:

This is a huge change to how we will provide our services in the West Midlands. We are taking the controlling role in asset management and investment decisions but also continuing to build on the great collaborative relationships developed over the past five years in our contract with Kier and the wider supply chain.

We see this as a journey and will be working hard to learn and develop our capabilities and the right approach for future delivery. The progressive nature of this contractual arrangement will allow us to gradually develop and enhance our delivery approach over the three-year period.

Area 3 Divisional Director Nicola Bell said:

The transition to Progressive Asset Delivery marks a significant milestone for us in the South East and is a real testament to the commitment and determination of the team in Kier and Highways England who have worked collaboratively to make it happen.

Collaboration is essential to our approach and we look forward to working with our supply chain to share skills and knowledge over the coming months.

Kier Highways Executive Director Dave Wright said:

We have a long history of working in Area 3 and Area 9 and we are proud to have assisted Highways England in mobilising this next contract – Progressive Asset Delivery.

As the first service provider to support the client in this way, we would like to thank our teams for working so hard in such a short space of time to achieve a shared goal. This is the true definition of collaboration.

We are also extremely proud to be mobilising the new Area 9 Technology Maintenance Contract which is a highly specialised field and we look forward to the next three years working alongside our colleagues in Highways England.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has already carried out a significant body of work in digital markets. This includes assessing various mergers involving digital companies, conducting market studies – such as its digital comparison tools work – and enforcing competition and consumer law in numerous sectors. To date this has included industries as varied as online reviews, price comparison websites, hotel booking websites, cloud storage, social media influencers and online gambling.

The strategy, launched today, builds on the recent package of reforms unveiled earlier this year on behalf of the CMA by Chairman Andrew Tyrie, which aims to make the UK competition regime fit for the digital age.

The strategy explains how the CMA intends to respond to recommendations made by the Furman Report for greater regulation of digital markets; sets out how the CMA will continue to use its existing merger and enforcement tools effectively, while adapting them where needed to meet the challenges of the digital age; and also makes clear how the CMA will use its increasing expertise in digital markets to shed light on how they work, and so help people make informed judgements on how to get the best out of them.

New challenges in these global digital markets demand the very highest levels of international cooperation, as all authorities consider the need for new approaches. The CMA has already coordinated joint cross-border work on consumer enforcement and has frequently engaged with counterpart competition authorities abroad on enforcement in digital cases. As part of its digital strategy, the CMA will now play a key role in securing high levels of cooperation.

An important element of the strategy is today’s opening of a market study into online platforms. This will examine the major online platforms such as Facebook and Google which are funded by digital advertising. It will consider the sources of any market power, the way they collect and use personal data, and whether competition in digital advertising is producing good outcomes for consumers.

If the CMA finds evidence that there are problems as part of this, it could make detailed recommendations to government which build on the broad proposals from the Furman Report.

CMA Chairman, Andrew Tyrie said:

It is our job to ensure that companies innovate and compete. And every bit as much, it’s our job to ensure that consumers are protected from detriment. Implementation of the Furman Report should help a lot. As part of the work announced today, we will be advising Government on how aspects of Furman can most effectively be implemented.

Much about these fast-changing markets is a closed book to most people. The work we do will open them up to greater scrutiny, and should give Parliament and the public a better grip on what global online platforms are doing.

These are global markets, so we should and will work more closely than before with authorities around the world, as we all consider new approaches to the challenges posed by them.

CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said:

The CMA has already made great strides in our efforts to protect people online, including securing a victory for holidaymakers using hotel booking sites and cracking down on social media influencers who are not upfront with their followers about being paid to promote a product.

The market study will help us further lift the lid on how major online platforms work, especially how they collect and use personal data, how they monetise their content through digital advertising, and what this means for competition. The findings from this work will be used to influence the direction of policy and regulation in the digital sector.

Most of the UK population uses the internet, with 97% of internet users accessing search engines to look for things online, and around 70% of UK adults having a social media account. While people enjoy many of these sites for free, revenue from digital advertising provides one of the main ways in which online firms can provide their services without charge.

The market study will examine concerns about how online platforms are using people’s personal data, including whether making this data available to advertisers in return for payment is producing good outcomes for consumers. The CMA will examine whether people have the skills, knowledge and control over how information about them is collected and used, so they can decide whether or not to share it in the first place.

Linked to this, the CMA will consider concerns about the market power of certain sites and examine whether the control they have over people’s data is making it harder for rivals to compete for business, to the detriment of consumers.

Find out more on the online platforms and digital advertising market study page and on the digital markets strategy page.

Notes to editors

1. The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. For CMA updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

2. Media queries should be directed to: press@cma.gov.uk or 020 3738 6460.