Political Updates 21st August 2017

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

  Government Departments

• Graham Mather has been appointed has Non-Executive Director on the board of Ofcom at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
• Sarah Wilkinson will replace Rob Shaw as Chief Executive of NHS Digital at the Department of Health.
• Duncan Wingham was appointed as Executive Chair Designate at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Conservative Party

• Rob Semple and Andrew Sharpe have been elected Chair and President of the National Conservative Convention. Tom Spillar, Pamela Hall and James Pearson have been elected as Vice-Presidents. 

• The House of Commons is in recess. The House will return on Tuesday 5th September.

•  The House of Lords is in recess. The House will return on Tuesday 5th September.

Devolved Institutions

 Scottish Parliament

• The Scottish parliament is in recess until Tuesday 5 September.
• Neil Taylor has been appointed as Director of the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland.
• Ian Gordon has been appointed as a Reviewer of the Judicial Complaints Reviewer. 

 Welsh Assembly

• The Welsh Assembly is in recess until Monday 18 September.

Northern Irish Assembly

• Gabriel Cooney has had his appointment as Chair of the Historic Monuments Council at the Department for Communities extended, whilst William Darby, Kate Laverty and Sarah Witchell have had their memberships extended.
• Geraldine Donaghy has had her appointment as Commissioner of the Charity Commission at the Department for Communities extended.

• The European Parliament returns from recess today. During this week, MEPs will undertake activities outside the Parliament. They work either in their constituency in their home country, where they have the opportunity to interact with their electorate, or in Parliamentary delegations, responsible for maintaining relations with non-EU countries.