11 January 2008
The former head of communications watchdog Ofcom, Stephen Carter, has been appointed chief of strategy and principal adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Carter, currently chief executive of communications firm Brunswick Group, will earn a salary of £137,000 and be based at Number 10. Awarded a CBE just over a year ago for services to the communications industry, he left Ofcom for Brunswick in October 2006. 'It is an honour to be asked to work with the prime minister and the Downing Street team and I will do my utmost to make a difference to effective government,' he said.
Ruth Marks, currently director of the Royal National Institute of Blind People in Wales, has been appointed commissioner for older people in Wales — the first such post in the UK. She will take up her role in April. As well as looking after the interests of older people as a whole, the commissioner will be able to examine the effects that public bodies such as the NHS and the Welsh Assembly have on them. Marks said: 'Wales proportionately has more older people than other parts of the UK. The numbers are set to increase and that's why I think it's so important Wales is leading the way. Some older people may be struggling financially, others are unable to access the services they need, and many are isolated and lonely.'
The Local Government Association is urging the government to reconsider taking away council powers to deal with public health hazards. The Health and Social Care Bill, currently passing through Parliament, would ask courts to rule before councils are given the go-ahead to deal with outbreaks of contamination and infection. David Rogers, chair of the LGA's community wellbeing board, said: 'The clean-up services councils provide are being hampered by burgeoning bureaucracy and red tape.'
The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, badly damaged by fire on January 2, was partially reopened to patients this week. Chemotherapy patients were being treated and outpatients seen by clinical teams. Others will continue to be treated at alternative hospitals. A Royal Marsden spokeswoman said the damage, to the hospital roof, two wards and five operating theatres, was 'not as bad as first suspected'.
Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of Sheffield City Council, is expected to take up his post as head of the new Homes and Communities Agency in March. He will initially take responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of the agency, and will then become its first chief executive when it begins operating on April 1, 2009. He said: 'I am delighted to be taking on this uniquely challenging and demanding post at the centre of the government's agenda. It is vitally important that everyone has access to a decent home at a price they can afford, in a place where they want to live and work.' The agency will combine the work of English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and the housing and regeneration delivery functions of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
The Commons justice select committee has recommended that reckless or repeated breaches of data security should become a criminal offence. In a report published at the end of December, it called the Revenue & Customs' loss of 25 million people's personal details 'truly shocking'. The MPs also found there was a 'widespread problem' and 'systemic failings' in the government's handling of personal data. Its Liberal Democrat chair, Alan Beith, said: 'The evidence we have had points to further hidden problems. It is frankly incredible, for example, that the measures [Revenue & Customs] has put in place were not already standard procedure.'
PFjan2008
