Following an open competition, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced that Bernadette Conroy has been selected as the preferred candidate for the post of Chair of the Regulator of Social Housing.

Bernadette Conroy is an experienced Chair and Non-Executive Director (NED) operating across a number of sectors. These include financial services regulation, where she is a NED for the Financial Conduct Authority and housing, where she is Chair of Network Homes. She is also the Independent Chair of the Buildings and Estates Committee of Cambridge University with responsibility for the development and maintenance of the University’s estate and its capital build programme and a NED for Milton Keynes Development Partnerships. Prior to taking on a non-executive portfolio, Bernadette held a number of executive roles in financial services, latterly as Global Head of Strategy and Planning for HSBC Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets. She has an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University and an MBA from INSEAD. In 2020, Bernadette received the Sunday Times Not for Profit Non-Executive Director of the Year award.

Pre-appointment scrutiny by the select committee will follow at its sitting on 21 March. Following this, the committee will publish their recommendations, which the government will consider before deciding whether to finalise the appointment.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is one of DLUHC’s (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) key arm’s length bodies. It seeks to promote a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. The RSH is also responsible for regulation of consumer standards, ensuring that existing tenants are provided with homes that are safe, and that landlords deliver good services.

The Charter for social housing residents: social housing white paper, published in November 2020, recognised the fundamental role of effective regulation in protecting and empowering social housing tenants, ensuring that landlords are effectively held to account to deliver the services expected of them.

It set out the government’s commitment to significantly expand the Regulator of Social Housing, legislating to remove the ‘serious detriment’ test (where there is evidence of a standards breach at organisational level) and introduce a new, proactive approach to regulation of consumer issues such as quality of homes, landlord services and transparency, while maintaining robust economic regulation of the sector. Regulation of the social rented sector will also support delivery of the commitment made in the Levelling Up White Paper to reduce non-decency in the rented sectors by 50%.

The Panel for the campaign was made up of:

• Lord Gary Porter, Panel Chair, Departmental Non-Executive Director
• Tracey Waltho, Director General Housing and Planning, Departmental official
• Debbie Gillatt, Senior Independent Panel Member

The British High Commissioner, Alex Ellis, will host a reception in New Delhi to mark Commonwealth Day with High Commissioners of member nations, representatives from Commonwealth Accredited Organisations, Commonwealth Scholars, and youth associations. Commonwealth Day 2022 is being observed around the world on 14 March.

The UK is currently Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth, and the UK’s diplomatic network in India will celebrate the strength of Commonwealth ties in India with a series of events across the country. Planned events include a youth café and model Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for students In Hyderabad, a friendly beach volleyball match in Puri, a special event for the defence community in Delhi, and various other receptions. This year’s Commonwealth Day also holds special significance for the UK, as we celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – a testament to the strength and longevity of the Commonwealth.

The British High Commission will also highlight the spirit of the Commonwealth together with Indian athletes like PV Sindhu and Neeraj Chopra. The sports personalities will celebrate the incredible living bridge between both nations in India’s 75th year of Independence on social media. Sport is a unifying force and will be on full display at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham later this year.

Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India, said:

The Commonwealth brings together a third of the world’s population, supporting democracy, international peace and security, and the rule of law. Commonwealth Day is an opportunity to celebrate these close bonds in India and beyond, and to reflect on what we have achieved and can achieve together.

The Commonwealth is a unique association of 54 equal member states, and 2.4 billion people spanning six continents, and accounting for a third of the World Trade Organisation, a quarter of the G20, and a fifth of all global trade. India is a founding member of the modern Commonwealth, and home to nearly 60% of Commonwealth citizens. As a leading member, India provides impressive support to Commonwealth members, including through funding to the Commonwealth Small States offices in New York and Geneva, training for officials from Commonwealth governments, and in 2019 held the first Commonwealth cricket camp.

Further information

Commonwealth Day is celebrated on the second Monday of March every year.

The UK hosted the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2018 in London, and is Chair-in-Office until the next summit in Rwanda in June. The theme for CHOGM 2022 is ‘Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming.’

The CHOGM was due to have been held in Kigali in June 2020 but has been postponed twice due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Watch the videos from Indian athletes celebrating the living bridge between the UK and India and their links to the Commonwealth on Twitter: @UKinIndia

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will take place from 28 July to 8 August 2022 and will be the first major multi-sport event to award more medals to women than men.

The Commonwealth Charter can be found here.

Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Boris Johnson have made an historic commitment to strengthen work between the UK and India over the next decade with the 2030 Roadmap for future relations.

For media queries, please contact:

Media queries: BHCMediaDelhi@fco.gov.uk

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The first community projects to be awarded funding from the Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) Community Investment Funding (CIF) have been announced. A BMX ‘Pump Track’ at Seascale, the Beckermet Reading and Recreation Rooms and Seascale Cricket Club have received confirmation that they will receive a total of over £65,000 from the up to £1million a year funding which is made available to benefit local communities engaged in discussions about hosting a GDF. A range of other projects for Community Investment Funding are also currently being discussed in West Cumbria.

The Mid Copeland GDF Community Partnership in Cumbria, which formed in November 2021, is the first community to benefit from this funding which is for initiatives that support the local economy, improve community well-being, or enhance the local environment. Anyone can apply to the Community Partnership for grant funding for projects that benefit people living in the area it covers.

GDF Community Partnerships have also formed in South Copeland and in Allerdale, Cumbria, with discussions beginning in Theddlethorpe, Lincolnshire, through a GDF Working Group. The formation of these groups signifies real progress in the nationwide search for a suitable host site for a GDF. These groups also provide a vital platform for long-term community engagement, local investment funding, and investigations into site suitability.

Seascale Parish Councillor Lizzie Mawson applied for the funding to revamp the local BMX Pump Track in Seascale which received £47,801. She said:

It’s absolutely wonderful to have the funding for this local facility – the children come from far and wide to use it. This grant will enable us to do much needed work before the track falls into disrepair. I would encourage others to apply, there are no end of projects which could be done in our area.

Seascale BMX pump track GDF Programme funding

Simon Hughes, Director of Community Engagement and Siting at Nuclear Waste Services, said:

I am delighted to see the Mid Copeland GDF Community Partnership approving funding for local projects that will have a positive impact on the lives of people in the area for years to come. In forming a GDF Community Partnership, we have made up to £1million of funding available every year, for local initiatives which ensure local people and organisations enjoy immediate tangible benefits from participating in discussions about the potential for them to host a GDF.

It’s been a privilege to join early discussions with people in communities across the country about geological disposal. I’m looking forward to continuing these discussions and seeing more Community Partnerships realise the benefits of engaging in the process.

Beckermet Reading and Recreation Rooms received £9,576 to draw up refurbishment plans and Seascale Cricket Club were awarded £8,122 for an electronic scoreboard.

The GDF Programme is making available £1million of community investment funding for each Community Partnership, as set out in Government policy. A Community Partnership will consider the grant applications, make awards and develop locally specific funding priorities.

GDF Community Partnerships increase public engagement in the GDF programme, and along with triggering community investment funding, help communities create a long-term vision for themselves, which could include better transport links, broadband, education, healthcare facilities or environmental initiatives. The search for a suitable site in England or Wales is a nationwide process based on community consent and includes detailed site investigations over a number of years.

Find out more from the Mid Copeland GDF Community Partnership.

• Export bar is to allow time for a UK gallery or institution to acquire the manuscript
• Worth £214,200, the extensive and important manuscript can help us understand how music was shared in the 17th century

An early 17th century manuscript of Italian and French lute music is at risk of leaving the country unless a UK buyer can be found.

Worth over £200,000, the manuscript is described as one of the most extensive and important sources of lute music of the early 17th century, containing 89 unidentified pieces that had never been seen before.

Instrumental music was hugely popular during the period with many in the middle class keen to enjoy musical performances. Creating anthologies was a valuable way to preserve and share music by composers who didn’t have enough pieces to publish volumes of their own.

The rich and cosmopolitan anthology will contribute to people’s understanding of how cultures flourished across national boundaries, despite the hardships and restrictions of the Thirty Years War.

Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

Lute music is a vital part of our artistic heritage and there is much this anthology can teach us.

This fascinating manuscript could be described as a 17th century streaming platform thanks to its ability to allow music by brilliant composers to be shared across Europe.

I hope a buyer comes forward to save the piece for the nation.

The Minister’s decision follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (the Committee). The committee agreed the manuscript was vital to understanding how music spread throughout Europe during the 17th century, as well as how it was produced and replicated.

Committee Member Peter Barber said:

Little research has recently been done into this large and handsomely bound manuscript album of early lute music. Fascinating and evocative, it includes work, among many others, both by the English composer John Dowland and by a brother of Galileo. The volume promises to shed much light on the circulation of music, particularly lute music, the role of music-making, and the dance, in western Europe while the Thirty Years War was raging in the early and mid-seventeenth century. One third of the music, amounting to 89 pieces, is not to be found anywhere else. Thoroughly pan-European, the volume was assembled by a German, mainly written out in the French style and contains music from many lands.

The volume also has research value because of its association with the musical instrument-maker Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940). Dolmetsch was the leading figure associated with the early twentieth-century revival of the performance of early music using instruments of the time. The album formed part of the collection that he assembled and his annotations suggest that he particularly valued it. Dolmetsch lived most of his life in, and was particularly associated with, England, where the largest remaining part of his music collection is still to be found. The album’s research value might therefore be more fully exploited, if it were to remain in the United Kingdom.

The Committee made its recommendation on the grounds the manuscript’s departure from the UK would be a misfortune because it is of outstanding significance for the study of 17th century lute music.

The decision on the export licence application for the manuscript will be deferred until 13 June 2022 inclusive. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a consideration period of 15 business days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the manuscript at the recommended price of £214,200. The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for three months.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the manuscript should contact the RCEWA on 0845 300 6200.

2. Details of the manuscript are as follows: A manuscript (ca. 15 x 18 cm) of 285 leaves containing some 320 lute pieces in French lute tablature. The contents were likely compiled and inscribed by or for its owner in the first half of the 17th century in South Germany / Austria.
   The paper is generally in good condition, with no tears, and only minimal staining. The watermarks have been studied to a certain extent and a crown surmounting a double-headed eagle over a shield enclosing the letters MB[?] can be recognised.
   It is suggested that the binding is the work of the Federnelkenmeister (‘carnation master’) from Cologne, who was active up to 1619. Two clasps with later straps have been added later.

3. Provenance: c.1905 at a Zurichbookseller’s shop (in his 1935 work Par la révolution, la paix ,Romain Rolland describes seeing the volume there thirty years earlier); Max Kalbeck (1850-1921), acquired 1895 from Antiquariat L. Liepmannssohn, Berlin: see RISM B VII, and also J. Wolf, Handbuch der Notationskunde (1919), vol.2, p.109; thereafter owned by Arnold Dolmetsch(1858-1940) and thence by descent.

4. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by the Arts Council, which advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.

5. Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. Its strategic vision in Let’s Create is that, by 2030, England should be a country in which the creativity of everyone is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. ACE invests public money from the government and the National Lottery to support the sector and deliver the vision.

6. Following the Covid-19 crisis , ACE developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90 per cent coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. It is also one of the bodies administering the government’s unprecedented £1.96 billion Culture Recovery Fund.