Political Updates 18 March 2019

This week’s Political Updates covers moves and changes at all levels of government. 

  UK Government

Sarah Newton MP has resigned as Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions (more info).

Paul Masterson MP has resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Scotland Office.

Sarah Healey has been appointed Permanent Secretary for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, replacing Sue Owen who retires at the end of March (more info).

Dr Michael Brady has been appointed National Adviser for LGBT Health in the NHS (more info).

Catherine Meads, S Chelvan, Ellen Murray, James Morton, Jayne Ozanne, Lewis Turner, Marcel Varney, Paul Dillane, Paul Martin, Paul Roberts, Ruth Hunt and Stevie-Jade Hardy have been appointed to the LGBT Health in the NHS Advisory Panel (more info).

Colonel Peter Thomas McCarthy DL has been appointed as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Renfrewshire, to succeed Mr Guy Clark, FCSI, JP who is due to retire on 28th March 2019 (more info).

Marianne Waite, Heather Smith, Ed Warner, Patrick Stephenson, Paul Smyth have been appointed disability champions (more info).

Tony Juniper CBE has been appointed Chair of Natural England (more info).

Shonaig Macpherson has been appointed Lead Non-Executive Director for the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland (more info).

Robert Chatterton Dickson has been appointed British High Commissioner to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (more info).

Dame Fiona Caldicott has been appointed as the first statutory National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care (more info).

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent has been named as the first Chief Midwifery Officer

Emma Howard Boyd has been reappointed Chair of the Environment Agency. Howard Boyd’s second term will run from 19 September 2019 until 18 September 2022 (more info).

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia was appointed as an external member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) in January 2019. She will now join the FPC in April 2020, rather than April 2019. Martin Taylor has agreed to continue in his role on the FPC until Dame Jayne-Anne starts in 2020 (more info).

Sir Hayden Phillips has been reappointed Chair of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art for a for a term of three years commencing on 17 March 2019. Christopher Rowell and Peter Barber have also been reappointed as Committee members, each for a term of four years commencing respectively on 10 April 2019 and 1 August (more info).

Simon Peyton Jones has been appointed chair of new National Centre for Computing Education (more info).

Anna Lowe has been appointed Youth Engagement Trustee on the Tate Museum Board (more info).

The new membership of the Education Workforce Council has been confirmed as the following:

• Direct Appointments
  • Reappointed: Angela Jardine, Kevin Pascoe, Berni Tyler
  • New Appointments: Dr Gwawr Taylor, Anne Pitman, Rosemary Lait
• Nominated Appointments
  • Reappointed: Paul Croke (Colegau Cymru), Clare Jones (National Education Union – National Union Teachers section), Jane Setchfield (National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers)
  • New Appointments: David Williams (Principal Youth Officers Group), Kelly Edwards (National Training Federation for Wales), Eithne Hughes (Association of School and College Leaders), Stephen Drowley (Education Training Standards Board), Ian Roberts (Association Education Directors Wales)

House of Commons

Johnathan Edwards MP has replaced Liz Saville-Roberts MP as a member of the Welsh Affairs Committee (more info).

Gareth Snell MP has replaced Dan Carden MP as a member of the Procedure Committee.

National Assembly for Wales

Janet Finch-Saunders AM has been elected as Chair of the Petitions Committee.

Conservatives

Nick Boles MP has resigned from the Grantham and Stamford Conservative Association, his local constituency association.

Emma Lewell-Buck MP has resigned as Shadow Education Minister.

Justin Madders MP has resigned as Shadow Business Minister.

Stephanie Peacock MP has resigned as a Whip.

Ruth Smeeth MP has resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Deputy Leader Tom Watson.

Yvonne Fovargue MP has resigned as Shadow Housing Minister.

Vince Cable MP has announced he will step down as Leader of the Liberal Democrats after the local elections in May.

David Steel has been suspended from the party (more info).

European Parliament

This week, the European Parliament is in Brussels for Committee and Group sessions.