News story: MHRA response to the final report of the Mesh Oversight Group

Patient safety is our highest priority and we sympathise with women who have suffered complications after surgery.

We are committed to helping address the serious concerns raised by some patients. We have undertaken work to assess the findings of studies undertaken by the clinical community over many years, as well as considering the feedback from all sources in that time.

What we continue to see is that evidence supports the use of these devices in the UK for treatment of the distressing conditions of incontinence and organ prolapse in appropriate circumstances. This is supported by the greater proportion of the clinical community and patients.

In common with other medical device regulators worldwide, none of whom have removed these devices from the market, we are not aware of a robust body of evidence which would lead to the conclusion these devices are unsafe if used as intended.

We actively encourage patients and healthcare professionals to report complications associated with these implants through the Yellow Card Scheme.

The final report of the NHS England-led Mesh Working Group can be found on the NHS England website.

Press release: Change of Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Iraq

2014 – present Muscat, Her Majesty’s Ambassador 2014 UK Special Envoy for Syria 2012 – 2013 UK Special Envoy to the Syrian opposition 2012 Shrivenham, Higher Command and Staff Course 2010 – 2011 Sana’a, Her Majesty’s Ambassador 2009 – 2010 Baghdad, Deputy Head of Mission 2007 – 2009 Dubai, British Government Arabic Spokesman 2005 – 2007 FCO, Deputy Head, Security Policy Group 2004 – 2005 FCO, Deputy Head (Political), Iraq Group 2003 Baghdad, Deputy Head, British Office 2002 – 2003 Cabinet Office (secondment), Iraq Analyst, Assessments Staff 1999 – 2002 Special Unpaid Leave (Academic Sabbatical) 1996 – 1999 Riyadh, First Secretary (Economic) 1993 – 1996 Khartoum, Second Secretary (Political, Press and Public Affairs) 1991 – 1993 London and Cairo, Full-time Arabic Language training 1990 – 1991 FCO, Assistant Desk Officer Iran, Middle East Department 1989 Joined FCO

News story: Local Authority workshops announced

The Surveillance Camera Commissioner is delighted to announce that a series of half day workshops on compliance with the surveillance camera code of practice will be held this autumn in a number of locations across England and Wales.

These free workshops are targeted at Local Authorities and we invite CCTV managers and their managers, compliance officers, data protection officers, community safety managers and officers to register for one of these events. As well as any one else who has responsibility for all forms of surveillance including CCTV, body worn video, automatic number plate recognition and unmanned aerial vehicles.

We will be looking at the importance of the self assessment tool, third party certification, single point of contact and developing registers of all surveillance systems used within local authorities.

This will be a great opportunity to meet the commissioner and ask him any questions you may have on complying with the code.

A detailed agenda for the events will be available nearer the time.

Cardiff

Wednesday, 27 September 2017, 9:30 to 14:00

Willcox House, Dunleavy Drive, Cardiff, CF11 0BA

London (to be confirmed)

Wednesday, 11 October 2017, 9:30 to 14:00

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, Frogmore, London, SW18 1JA

Nottingham

Wednesday, 18 October 2017, 9:30 to 14:00

The Woodlands, Norton Street, Radford, Nottingham, NG7 3NA

Liverpool

Wednesday, 8 November 2017, 9:30 to 14:00

Queen Mary Room, The Cunard Building, Water Street, Liverpool, L3 1QX

Leeds

Wednesday, 26 November 2017, 9:30 to 14:00

Civic Hall, Millennium Square, Calverley Street, Leeds, LS1 1UR

News story: Andrea Coscelli named CEO of Competition and Markets Authority

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, has appointed Andrea Coscelli as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Dr Coscelli has held the position of Acting CEO since July 2016, taking on the role from the previous incumbent, Alex Chisholm.

The CMA is the UK’s independent competition authority. It has responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law, with the aim of making markets work well for consumers, businesses and the economy.

Dr Coscelli has been an Executive Director at the CMA since 2013. Prior to joining the CMA, Dr Coscelli was the Director of Economic Analysis at Ofcom, the regulatory and competition authority of the telecommunications, postal and broadcasting industries. He was previously a Vice President at Charles River Associates where he represented many different businesses on competition and regulation matters in various European countries.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark said:

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Andrea Coscelli as CEO of the Competition and Markets Authority. Dr Coscelli is a recognised expert in competition and regulation, and commands respect in the business, and regulatory and academic community. I have no doubt he will make good use of his experience to further the CMA’s position as a world-respected regulatory and enforcement body.

I want to congratulate Dr Coscelli on his success in the role of Acting CEO, and I look forward to working closely with him in the coming years.

Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive Officer of the Competition and Markets Authority, said:

I am honoured to have been chosen to lead the organisation through the next phase of its development. The CMA has a central role to play in helping ensure people get a good deal from businesses. The role of markets is under public scrutiny and we will be actively engaging in that debate. As a core part of our role we will aim to connect right across the UK’s nations and regions to fully understand the challenges different groups of consumers and businesses face, and how we can help them.

We must also help ensure the continuing waves of exciting innovation in products and services fully benefit consumers and growth in the economy. As part of this, we need to ensure we intervene in markets in a timely and effective way, and only when necessary.

The coming years bring significant opportunities and challenges, in particular shaping and resourcing our regime for when the UK exits the EU. We enter this new phase from a strong base, with a skilled staff and well established ways of working.

David Currie, Competition and Markets Authority Chairman, said:

I and the CMA Board are delighted at Andrea’s appointment as Chief Executive. He has been outstanding in his role as Acting CEO over the past year, as the CMA has greatly increased competition and consumer enforcement, and was a key member of the senior team during the organisation’s successful formation. We have every confidence in his leadership as the CMA steps up to the major opportunities and challenges that the next few years will bring.

The CMA has responsibility for:

investigating mergers which could restrict competition
conducting market studies and investigations in markets where there may be competition and consumer problems
investigating where there may be breaches of UK or EU prohibitions against anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominant positions
bringing criminal proceedings against individuals who commit the cartel offence
enforcing consumer protection legislation to tackle practices and market conditions that make it difficult for consumers to exercise choice
co-operating with sector regulators and encouraging them to use their competition powers
considering regulatory references and appeals.

Its responsibilities are supported by a range of powers which are based on the Enterprise and Regulatory Act 2013.

News story: Unique careers at Dstl

At the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) our work covers a huge range of technical areas from biology and chemistry to engineering and analysis.

Dstl staff work on some of the most unique and exciting challenges for the defence community. From our apprentices who learn their craft whilst working on everything from military vehicles to specialist electronics, to our scientists who develop and assess medical countermeasures to protect the UK and its armed forces against the threat of chemical or biological attack.

Using the very latest in science and technology (S&T) to protect the UK, the variety of work that we undertake is huge. We’ve put together this short video to showcase some of our work and provide an insight into what our incredible people do every day.

Dstl careers video

The challenges we face are constantly evolving and Dstl is always looking for innovative and talented people to join our team.

Our roles are varied and we are looking for talent from across all science, technology, engineering and maths backgrounds as well as project managers, procurement and professional administrators. You could be supporting our work in these capabilities.