Day: December 11, 2017

New medicines and vaccines, for diseases such as malaria and HIV, may be introduced for the first time in LMIC’s where there are weak or no regulatory systems in place for effective safety monitoring. These new treatments have been developed with urgent public health needs in mind and therefore the need to gather and analyse information quickly on their safety and effectiveness is important.

The healthcare and regulatory systems in these settings may often lack the tools, training and capacity to operate a robust safety monitoring system. Whilst great progress has been made with many of LMIC’s now involved as members of the World Health Organization Program for International Drug Monitoring, the experience in collecting, assessing and acting on adverse reaction data, and risk management planning is limited.

Without an effective system, public health programs are at risk and patients may be affected, should they suffer from adverse drug reactions (ADRs) which are not promptly identified and treated. This can consequently undermine the program and result in a loss of trust in the product or a vaccine. Ultimately, this may lead to lower uptake and therefore, the disease not being effectively treated.

WHO and the Gates Foundation have launched ‘Project Smart Safety Surveillance’ (also known as Project 3-S) to help LMIC’s identify, assess, and adequately manage the risks associated with new products. MHRA will be joining this initiative to bring regulatory expertise to the project. This will be for a three-year period where it is intended to run three pilot exercises in different LMIC settings.

Dr Ian Hudson, Chief Executive Officer at MHRA said:

We are delighted to be involved in such an important global initiative. New drugs and vaccines are being brought to the market for the first time in public health programmes in settings where the safety monitoring and regulatory systems need strengthening. The expertise we can bring to the project will help national safety monitoring centres identify risks and benefits early and take appropriate regulatory action to support global heath.

Dr Dan Hartman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said:

The Triple S project is vitally important to the success of public health programmes to combat some of the world’s major diseases. When a new medicine or vaccine is being used it is critical that potential risks are identified early and well understood. The involvement of MHRA in this project will ensure scientific and regulatory expertise are developed within the national centres.

The Regulator of Social Housing reports that Suffolk Housing Society Limited’s grading is currently under review.

The regulator notifies that a provider’s grading is under review when its compliant grade (G1 and G2 for governance, V1 or V2 for viability) is being investigated in relation to an issue which may result in a downgrade to a non-compliant grade (G3 or G4 for governance, V3 or V4 for viability). The outcome of the investigation will be confirmed in an updated regulatory judgement once completed.

Suffolk Housing Society Limited’s current grade is G1/V1 and the regulator is currently investigating a matter which may impact on Suffolk’s compliance with the governance element of the Governance and Viability Standard.

The GUR list is available on the website.

Further information

The regulatory framework can also be found on the website.

The Homes and Communities Agency is the single, national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England, and is the regulator of social housing providers. As regulator, its purpose is to promote a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It will do this by undertaking robust economic regulation, as enshrined in legislation, focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer.

For more information visit the HCA website or follow us on Twitter.

Our media enquiries page has contact details for journalists.

For general queries to the HCA, please email mail@homesandcommunities.co.uk or call 0300 1234 500.

The government has announced today [11 December 2017] that 90% of councils are now part of a programme that will create 44,000 new jobs and release land for 25,000 new homes.

As part of today’s funding announcement, 56 council-led partnerships will receive £8.7 million funding to improve public services, stimulate economic growth and free up land for thousands of new homes.

The new funding has been allocated from the One Public Estate (OPE) programme, a partnership between the Cabinet Office and the Local Government Association.

This initiative gives partnerships the support and funding to help them to use publicly-owned land and buildings more efficiently, benefiting communities across the country.

One Public Estate is giving local authorities – and their public sector partners – access to £8.7 million of funding as well as practical support and expertise, to help them develop and deliver ambitious property programmes to benefit their communities. Launched in 2013, the programme has grown from 12 areas to support over 90% of councils with the new projects announced today.

By 2020, partnerships on the programme are expected to deliver £615 million in capital receipts, £158 million running costs savings, create 44,000 new jobs and release land for 25,000 new homes.

Caroline Nokes, the Minister for Government Resilience and Efficiency, said:

When I launched this application round in August I hoped that new funding and the obvious benefits of the programme would grab the attention of councils and boost the numbers getting involved. I’m delighted to see that we now have over 90% of councils on board, up from around three quarters previously. People in many more communities will feel the benefits of new housing, better public services and efficiencies as a result.

Cllr Nick Forbes, Senior Vice Chair of the LGA, said:

Councils play a crucial role in their communities. With the right funding and support they can help transform them and ensure that they are enjoyable and prosperous places to live. One Public Estate is a good example of providing coordinated backing for councils and I am glad that so many of them are taking part in this important initiative. I look forward to this programme’s results.