The Institute for Apprenticeships (the Institute) has today announced that Sir Gerry Berragan has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the Institute and will take up the post from 27 November.

The Institute for Apprenticeships (the Institute) has today announced that Sir Gerry Berragan has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the Institute and will take up the post from 27 November. The Institute is a crown, non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Education (DfE). The Institute ensures high-quality apprenticeship standards and advises government on funding for each standard. Sir Gerry will replace Peter Lauener, the current Chief Executive, who has held the post since the launch of the Institute on 1 April 2017. Sir Gerry has been involved in leadership and training for 36 years, throughout his Army career, giving him experience of running big, complex organisations, consisting of both military people and civil servants. He led the army’s training provision which had 13,000 people on an apprenticeship at any one time – making the army the largest apprenticeships provider in the country.

Antony Jenkins, Chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships said:

As a member of the Institute’s Board Sir Gerry has already been instrumental in the set–up of the organisation and in developing its strategy and values so that it can deliver to the high expectations we and others set for the Institute. Sir Gerry has extensive experience of leadership and management, as well as an in depth knowledge of apprenticeships and the positive impact they can have. I am very pleased to be able to appoint him and look forward to working closely with him on the challenges ahead.

Rt. Hon Anne Milton MP, Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, Minister for Women said:

I’m delighted that Sir Gerry has been appointed. He will drive the Institute to meet the challenges ahead, and I look forward to working closely with him. Having met Sir Gerry, I know that he will make sure that high quality apprenticeships, available for everyone, will be at the heart of the Institute’s work.

Sir Gerry Berragan said:

I am honoured to have been appointed as Chief Executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships. I was closely involved in delivering high quality apprenticeships during my Army career and I have been an Institute Board member from the outset earlier this year, so I understand the challenge. I look forward to working with employers to deliver high quality apprenticeships to meet their needs, whilst providing excellent opportunities for people and employers across the country.

The Chief Executive is responsible for the leadership and day-to-day management of the Institute. The Chief Executive is also Accounting Officer for the Institute’s budget and is accountable to the DfE’s Principal Accounting Officer, and to Parliament for the stewardship of these funds.

The most up-to-date HM Land Registry sales figures available for England show the number of completed house sales in July 2017 fell by 17.1% to 64,592 compared with 77,919 in July 2016.

The most up-to-date HM Land Registry sales figures available for London show the number of completed house sales in July 2017 fell by 24.5% to 6,639 compared with 8,794 in July 2016.

The UK Property Transaction Statistics show that the number of seasonally adjusted transactions on UK properties with a value of £40,000 or greater has increased by 4.6% between September 2016 and September 2017. However, comparing September 2017 with August 2017, the number of seasonally adjusted property transactions has decreased by 1.8%.

The Bank of England Agents’ summary of business conditions reported that supply and demand appeared to be broadly in balance across the overall market. Demand had proved more resilient in the new-build sector and the help to buy scheme was regarded as crucial to sustaining demand among first-time buyers.

Looking more closely at regional levels of the UK, the largest annual growth was in the North West at 7.3% up from 5% in August 2017. The slowest annual growth was in London at 2.5%. This is the 10th consecutive month where the growth in London house prices has remained below the UK average. See the economic statement.

In the past 12 months in my role as SME Rep, I’ve been keen to ensure that smaller businesses do not overlook government as a customer or wrongly fear it will be too difficult to access that market. Online webinars, regional events, supplier guides and contract advice have all been aimed at encouraging SMEs to consider supplying the public sector and government buyers to look at SMEs as new and reliable suppliers.

But which smaller suppliers have been successful? Without knowing anything about the businesses that have been successful, there has been a slight air of mystery. Well not anymore, a list of the top 100 SME suppliers to central government has been published.

Not only that, but several are now sharing their stories and offering top tips for suppliers considering bidding.

These stories show how with some understanding of the public sector process – which we look at on our Government is Open for Business site and especially in the supplier guide – SMEs can successfully bid for, and win, public sector contracts.

Moving forward we have a renewed focus on connecting small businesses with government’s largest suppliers so SMEs can win government work, without being the lead bidder. This work will also consider how large contractors can quickly identify a quality supply chain that can help them fulfil contracts.

I hope this will inspire new businesses to ‘go for government’ and existing suppliers to keep aiming high, even if they haven’t yet had the successes they’d hoped for – the opportunities are there.

Don’t forget… I’m hosting a ‘Meet the Buyer’ event in Leeds, at the Town Hall on the 24th November – an opportunity for small businesses to hear direct from government buyers as to what they’re after, and an insight into future pipelines.

Plus, we continue the programme of regular webinars where guests are government buyers or entrepreneurs who have successfully sold to the public sector, and small businesses, from anywhere, can tune in for free.

So much is happening but there is still plenty to do!

A group of independent Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) panel members has investigated how bringing together the UK’s largest grocery retailer and the UK’s largest grocery wholesaler would affect competition. It examined evidence from Tesco and Booker, as well as evidence from more than 65 wholesalers, suppliers and retail chains and a survey of hundreds of retailers.

The CMA found that Tesco as a retailer and Booker as a wholesaler – supplying to caterers, independent and symbol group retailers including Premier, Londis and Budgens – do not compete head-to-head in most of their activities. In particular, Tesco does not supply the catering sector to which Booker makes over 30% of its sales.

The group, recognising that Tesco’s shops nevertheless compete with Booker-supplied shops, considered the impact of the merger in every local area where a Tesco and a Booker-supplied shop are both present (over 12,000 shops). It did this to examine whether, in any of these areas, it might be profitable for the merged company to raise prices or reduce service levels either in retail or wholesale. The CMA has provisionally concluded that the level of competition in the grocery wholesale and retail markets would be sufficient to defeat such a strategy.

A number of competing wholesalers expressed concern that Booker would benefit from improved suppliers’ terms after the merger, making it difficult for them to continue to compete. They argued that as a result, in the longer term, Booker might be able to raise prices to the shops that it supplies.

The CMA found that it was likely Booker would be able to negotiate better terms from a number of its suppliers for some of its groceries, and that it was likely to pass on some of the benefits of these savings to the shops that it supplies. This might increase competition in the wholesale market, as well as reducing prices for shoppers. However, the CMA also concluded that the wholesale market would remain competitive in the longer term, noting that Booker’s share of the UK grocery wholesaling market – at less than 20% – was not sufficient to justify the longer-term concerns.

Simon Polito, Chair of the inquiry group, said:

Millions of people use their local supermarket or convenience store to buy their groceries or essentials. Strong competition in the market ensures that shoppers can choose the best deal for them.

Our investigation has found that existing competition is sufficiently strong in both the wholesale and retail grocery sectors to ensure that the merger between Tesco and Booker will not lead to higher prices or a reduced service for supermarket and convenience shoppers.

The CMA opened its phase 1 investigation into the merger in May. At the end of June, the companies requested a ‘fast track’ referral to the next stage of the investigation.

This is a provisional decision and the CMA is now inviting further comment and evidence before coming to a final view.

Notes for editors

1. Tesco operates more than 3,000 stores across the UK. Booker supplies services to over 5,000 ‘symbol’ stores as well as to thousands of independent retailers and caterers.

2. A ‘symbol’ store is an independent grocery retailer operating under a brand owned by a wholesaler. The retailer is usually required to purchase some of its wholesale supplies from the brand owner, in return for use of the brand and other supporting services. Booker’s symbol group brands are Premier, Londis, Budgens and Family Shopper.

3. The provisional findings also found that Booker operates a very small number of shops. In the areas where Tesco and Booker compete, the CMA has found that existing competition is likely to prevent prices from going up.

4. 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 @CMAgovuk, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn.

5. All the CMA’s functions in phase 2 merger inquiries are performed by inquiry groups chosen from the CMA’s independent panel members. The appointed inquiry group is the decision-maker on phase 2 inquiries. The CMA’s panel members come from a variety of backgrounds, including economics, law, accountancy and/or business. The membership of an inquiry group usually reflects a mix of expertise and experience (including industry experience).

6. Media enquiries to the CMA should be directed to press@cma.gsi.gov.uk or 020 3738 6337.

The Museums Action Plan will help England’s museums and galleries to thrive and grow.

The review asks Arts Council England (ACE) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to show how they will deliver nine key priorities that will enable museums to diversify audiences, contribute to the identity of their local area and become more accessible.

Led by creative industry entrepreneur Neil Mendoza on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the review also recommends that DCMS and its sponsored museums and galleries develop a partnership framework to improve how they work with museums across England, particularly in sharing expertise and ensuring the national collection is accessible to people throughout the country.

The review has identified 16 different sources of public funding and support that have been granted regularly to the museum sector over the last 10 years. This includes investment from central government, local authorities and the National Lottery as well as VAT refunds and the acceptance in Lieu and Cultural Gifts Scheme.

The nine key priorities that the Mendoza Review recommends that DCMS, ACE and HLF include in the Museums Action Plan are:

• Helping adapt to today’s funding environment

• Improving curation and management of collections so that they are accessible to the public

• Growing and diversifying audiences

• Ensuring museums contribute to the priorities of the local area

• Delivering cultural education

• Developing future leaders

• Diversifying the workforce of museums

• Increasing digital capacity and using digital technology to create innovative and engaging exhibition content

• Work internationally

Neil Mendoza, author of The Mendoza Review: an independent review of museums in England, said:

England has a world-class museum sector. Museums play a vital role in the cultural life of the country. Museums sit at the heart of our towns, cities and communities. They are also our most successful tourist attractions. Their curators care for collections for all of us now and for future generations.

National and local government are both deeply involved in this important sector. This review sets out a series of recommendations to government and its key strategic and funding agencies (like Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund) requiring them to work closely together to help our museums flourish.

John Glen, Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism said:

I welcome this report from Neil Mendoza and want to thank him for his work. I am pleased that it has found such a successful and dynamic sector, and we can be proud that the UK boasts so many world-class museums.

The Museums Action Plan will provide additional leadership and expertise to local and regional museums to help them grow and thrive, increase audiences and ensure a sustainable future for this important sector.

The Mendoza Review found evidence of a “strong, dynamic” sector that is responding well to an increasingly competitive visitor market, with museums becoming more entrepreneurial and seeking other forms of income through cafes, shops and educational services.

More than half of England’s adults visited a museum last year and the sector now employs around 33,000 people. England is also home to three of the world’s most visited museums.

The review received over 1,500 responses from museums and members of the public describing what museums mean to them. Arts Council England (ACE) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) worked closely with the review team, commissioning data and research to inform the review and will be responsible for taking many of the recommendations forward.