Politics

The Home Office has extended Tony Porter’s contract for a further 3 years.

Mr Porter, who previously held roles in business and law enforcement, including as Temporary Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police and Vice President Head of Physical Security Intelligence at Barclays Bank, took up the role as Surveillance Camera Commissioner in March 2014.

He was originally appointed for a 3 year term ending on 10 March 2017. The Home Secretary and Permanent Secretary have now extended Mr Porter’s term from 3 to 6 years with his contract now expiring on 10 March 2020.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

The role of the Surveillance Camera Commissioner in providing oversight and compliance with the surveillance code of practice is a vital one in our modern society.

Tony has done an excellent job over the last three years and I am pleased to be able to extend his contract to allow him to continue his important work through to 2020.

Mr Porter said:

I’m delighted to have my commission extended for a further 3 years. With the help of my advisory council and many others I’ve been able to raise standards across surveillance camera users and protect individuals’ right to privacy through tools such as self-assessment and third party certification. There’s still much important work to do though and I’ll be launching my national surveillance camera strategy for England and Wales later in the year setting out my vision up until 2020.

The commissioner is responsible for:

• encouraging compliance with the surveillance camera code of practice
• providing advice on the effective, appropriate, proportionate and transparent use of surveillance camera systems
• providing advice on operational and technical standards
• reviewing how the code of practice is working and advising the government where any changes may be necessary

Mr Porter joined Greater Manchester Police in 1982 and went on to hold numerous senior policing roles including command of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit and Temporary Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police.

He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2008 for distinguished service to policing.

The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson spoke to media ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

We will be doing a bit on Libya this morning. Talking about the needs to unify the east and the west of the country, build on the Libya political agreement, seeing what we can do there to be more creative. Whilst of course, at the same time, addressing the refugee crisis, the migration crisis. As you know at Valletta, the Malta Summit, Britain pledged another £30 million to help tackle that crisis. Proving once again, as I never tire of telling you, that we may be leaving the EU but we are not leaving Europe. We remain absolutely committed to that joint endeavour.

We’ll be talking about Ukraine as well, talking about the recent upsurge in violence. Everybody is very concerned about that. The causes, as you know, aren’t quite clear. There’s a bit of murkiness about who initiated that. But the UK will be insisting there is no case for relaxation of the sanctions and every case for keeping up the pressure on Russia.

I’m sure there’ll be discussions on Syria, the Middle East Peace Process and much else besides.

Further information

The EMA Veterinary Committee has concluded that the benefit:risk balance for veterinary medicines containing zinc oxide is negative and that this class of products should be withdrawn.

Previous news story regarding the European referral outcome

The deadline for submission of responses is: 11:59pm 21 February

The EMA’s Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products (CVMP) concluded in December 2016 that veterinary medicines containing zinc oxide, used to prevent post weaning diarrhoea in piglets, should be withdrawn from the market. This recommendation was based on a conclusion that the risk these products were considered to present to the environment has not been outweighed by the demonstrated benefits.

The CVMP have now been requested to re-examine this conclusion; their final position is expected in March.

The CVMP provide scientific advice to the EU Commission on the benefits and risks relating to authorised veterinary medicines. It is for the EU Commission to decide what action to take as a result.

EU Member States have now been invited by the EU Commission to provide written comments by,13 March 2017, regarding a proposed transitional period before the withdrawal of these products is implemented.

The comments from the Member States should propose a duration for this transitional period, supported by concrete evidence. The EU Commission has also requested information on measures that have already been taken at a national level to reduce the use of zinc oxide and the use of antibiotics in pig production, for example through changes to animal husbandry practices or use of alternatives, including vaccines.

Your views

The VMD therefore invites any interested parties to submit relevant evidence via our proforma (MS Word Document, 17.2KB) to postmaster@vmd.defra.gsi.gov.uk.

Submissions should:

• be concise
• be written in English
• be limited to 2000 words, excluding references; submissions must reference the source of any data provided (provide weblinks to any data that are already in the public domain)
• be specific to proposals for the duration of a transitional period
• be supported by evidence related to:
  • the impact of product withdrawal on pig health and welfare and/or pig productivity
  • husbandry and/or production system changes that will be necessary to mitigate this impact, and the economic cost of these changes
  • effective alternatives to zinc oxide, either currently available or in development