Day: June 27, 2018

From today (27 June) an expert panel will begin accepting applications from senior clinicians to prescribe cannabis-based medicines.

Announced in Parliament last week by the Policing Minister, the panel will be led by the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr Michael McBride.

The panel, who will meet for the first time this week, will assess individual applications for the prescription of cannabis-based products based upon set criteria to ensure the treatment is safe. These applications must be made by senior clinicians who are on the General Medical Council’s register with an active licence to practice.

The process has been designed to be swift and accessible. Once the panel has made its recommendation to Ministers, it will be for the Home Office or the Department of Health in Northern Ireland to determine whether to issue a licence and any application can expect to receive a final decision within two to four weeks.

The Government is also committed to reviewing the fees paid for licences that are awarded as a result of the advice of the expert panel.

Policing Minister, Nick Hurd said:

I completely sympathise with the families who have been facing desperate situations to find treatment and we have taken action, creating an expert panel to review individual medicinal cannabis licence applications.

Clinicians must be at the heart of the process to provide the reassurance that prescribing unlicensed and potentially untested products is in the best interests of the patient.

I look forward to receiving the expert panel’s recommendations in the knowledge that these families will be prescribed the most appropriate course of treatment, firmly based on medical evidence. We have been clear that we will continue to push hard against any unnecessary bureaucracy in the system.

Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland Dr Michael McBride said:

The establishment of this Panel means that applications from patients’ doctors to prescribe, supply and provide access to cannabis-related medicines can now be considered and endorsed on the basis of best clinical practice in order to ensure safe and appropriate care for patients.

The Government also committed today to urgently reviewing the fees paid for licences that are awarded as a result of the advice of the expert panel. In the meantime, for applications for a licence made by the NHS, neither individual patients nor their families will be asked to make any financial contribution towards the cost of any licence that may be issued.

Last week the Home Secretary also announced a two-part review looking at the scheduling of cannabis, which will be carried out by Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies and the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs. The expert panel is an interim measure whilst the review is ongoing.

The Home Secretary received part one of the review today [27 June] and will commission part two from the ACMD within the next few days. If this review identifies significant medicinal and therapeutic benefits, then the intention would be to reschedule medicinal cannabis and related products for therapeutic use.

Notes to editors:

Clinical applications can be made on GOV.UK.

Applications must be made by senior clinicians who are on the General Medical Council’s relevant specialist register with an active licence to practice

The panel will assess applications against several criteria. They are:

• Whether there is evidence from a patient’s own case that they have benefited from a cannabis-based medicine; or,
• Whether there is evidence from existing clinical trials which indicate that a patient will benefit from a cannabis-based medicine; or,
• Whether the clinician considers there is an otherwise unmet special clinical need that could be addressed through use of a cannabis-based medicine by the patient.

The governments of France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States are deeply concerned about the announcement that the Ras Lanuf and Sidra oil fields and facilities will be transferred to the control of an entity other than the legitimate National Oil Corporation. Libya’s oil facilities, production, and revenues belong to the Libyan people. These vital Libyan resources must remain under the exclusive control of the legitimate National Oil Corporation and the sole oversight of the Government of National Accord (GNA), as outlined in UN Security Council Resolutions 2259 (2015), 2278 (2016), and 2362 (2017). UN Security Council Resolution 2362 (2017) condemns attempts to illicitly export petroleum, including crude oil and refined petroleum products, from Libya by parallel institutions which are not acting under the authority of the GNA.

Any attempts to circumvent the UN Security Council’s Libya sanctions regime will cause deep harm to Libya’s economy, exacerbate its humanitarian crisis, and undermine its broader stability. The international community will hold those who undermine Libya’s peace, security, and stability to account. We call for all armed actors to cease hostilities and withdraw immediately from oil installations without conditions before further damage occurs. In September 2016, the LNA supported the legitimate National Oil Corporation’s work to rebuild Libya’s oil sector for the benefit of the Libyan people. This action served Libya’s national interest. The legitimate National Oil Corporation must be allowed again to take up unhindered work on behalf of the Libyan people, to repair infrastructure damaged after the attack by forces under the direction of Ibrahim Jadhran, and to restore the oil exports and production disrupted by that attack.

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The special session of the Conference of States Parties in The Hague has today agreed that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will immediately start work to help identify those responsible for chemical attacks in Syria. This is very important because it fills a crucial gap left when the United Nations Security Council was prevented from renewing its own investigation in November.

This initiative has been led by the UK, and championed by the Foreign Secretary, who spoke at the special session on Tuesday and personally lobbied Ministers from 25 countries as part of the diplomatic effort. 82 countries voted in support of the proposal tabled by the UK at the Conference of States Parties.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

Chemical weapons are an affront to human dignity and have no place in the 21st century. The international community has quite rightly come together today to strengthen the ban on chemical weapons and prevent impunity for their use.

The UK has led the diplomatic efforts to secure this action. We look forward to working with all countries who are members of the Chemical Weapons Convention to implement the decisions taken today, and we will continue to push back on any efforts to undermine the ban on these vile weapons.

Notes to Editors:

• Following the vote today, 27 June 2018, the OPCW’s work to uphold the ban on chemical weapons has been enhanced. It can now support countries in meeting their obligations to uphold the chemical weapons convention and arrangements have been made to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks in Syria, filling the gap left after the ending of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism mandate in November 2017.

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The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Mrs Justice Nicola Davies, Mrs Justice Rose and Mrs Justice Simler as Lady Justices of Appeal and the following as Lord Justices of Appeal: Mr Justice Baker, Mr Justice Green, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave and Mr Justice Males.

These appointments will fill current and forthcoming vacancies in the Court of Appeal.

Further information

These appointments are to be made in light of the appointment of Sir Andrew McFarlane as the President of the Family Division, forthcoming appointments to the Supreme Court and retirements from the Court of Appeal.

The appointment of Lord and Lady Justices of the Court of Appeal are made by Her Majesty The Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor following the recommendation of an independent selection panel.

Notes for Editors

The selection panel was chaired by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon. The other panel members were Sir Terence Etherton, the Master of the Rolls; Lord Kakkar, the Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission; and two lay Commissioners of the Judicial Appointments Commission: Dame Valerie Strachan and Mr Andrew Kennon.

In accordance with section 79 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 as amended by the Crime and Courts Act 2013, the panel determined the selection process to be followed. In accordance with s10(3) of the Senior Courts Act 1981, the selection exercise was open to applicants that satisfied the judicial eligibility condition on a 7 year basis or were Judges of the High Court.

Biographical notes

Sir Jonathan Baker: Called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1978 and took Silk in 2001. He was appointed a Recorder in 2000 and a High Court Judge in the Family Division in 2009. He was the Family Division Liaison Judge on the Western Circuit from 2011 until 2017. He was appointed as the Senior Family Liaison Judge in October 2017.

Dame Nicola Davies DBE: Called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1976 and took Silk in 1992; she was made a Bencher in 2001. She was appointed a Recorder in 1998 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 2003. She was appointed a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division in 2010. In 2012 she was appointed a Senior Liaison Judge for Diversity. She was Chair of the Equal Treatment Advisory Committee of the Judicial College in 2012 and Chair of the Lord Chancellor’s Standing Committee for the Welsh Language 2016-2017. She was appointed as a Presiding Judge of the Wales Circuit in 2014.

Sir Charles Haddon-Cave: Called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1978 (and Hong Kong in 1980) and took Silk in 1999; he was made a Bencher in 2003. He was appointed a Recorder in 2000. He conducted the Nimrod Inquiry from 2007 to 2009. He was appointed a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division in 2011. He was Chair of the Advocacy Training Council 2007-2011, Master of Education at Gray’s Inn 2012-2016, Chair of the Judicial College International Committee 2013-2017 and a member of the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee since 2018. He was a Presiding Judge for the Midland Circuit from 2014 until 2017. He was appointed Judge in Charge of the Terrorist List in 2017.

Sir Nicholas Green: Called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1986 and took Silk in 1998. He was appointed a Recorder in 2004. He was Chairman of the Bar Council in 2010 and Chairman of the Advocacy Training Council 2011-2015. He was appointed a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division in 2013. He was appointed as a Presiding Judge for the South Eastern Circuit in 2017.

Sir Stephen Males: Called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1978 and took Silk in 1998. He was made a Bencher in 2007. He was appointed a Recorder in 2000 and authorised as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Administrative Court and Commercial Court in 2008. He was appointed a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division in 2012. He was appointed a Presiding Judge for the North Eastern Circuit in 2015.

Dame Vivien Rose DBE: Called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1984. After ten years in private practice as a barrister she joined the Government Legal Service in 1996. She worked as an advisory lawyer in HM Treasury until the end of 2001; was promoted to the Senior Civil Service as a legal advisor in the Ministry of Defence and between 2005 and 2008 she worked as Deputy Counsel in the Office of Counsel to Speaker of the House of Commons. She was appointed a chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2005 and as a judge of the Charities Tribunal (later the First-tier Tribunal (Charities)) in 2008. She sat as a Recorder between 2010 and 2013. She was appointed a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division in 2013 and became President of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) in 2015.

Dame Ingrid Simler DBE: Called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1987 and took Silk in 2006. She was appointed a Recorder in 2002 and was authorised to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge. She was appointed a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division in 2013 and she became President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in 2016.

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Lady Justice Arden DBE, Lord Justice Kitchin and Lord Justice Sales to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom as Justices.

Lady Justice Arden DBE and Lord Justice Kitchin will join the Supreme Court on 1 October 2018, followed by Lord Justice Sales on 11 January 2019.

The appointments follow the retirement of Lord Mance, former Deputy President of the Court, in June 2018, and comes as Lord Hughes and Lord Sumption are due to retire in August and December 2018 respectively.

• immediate action on safety and living conditions
• greater resource from national teams to improve safety and reduce violence and self-harm
• living conditions improved with further refurbishments to take place
• commitment to further long-term measures as part of action plan

The Justice Secretary today (27 June 2018) published a strategy to drive up standards at HMP Exeter following an Urgent Notification by the prisons inspectorate. Ministers set up the Urgent Notification system last year to ensure that immediate action could be taken to rectify serious issues identified by inspectors.

A team of specialists, including former prison Governors and Senior Civil Servants from around the country, is working with the prison to transform its safety strategy and address the drivers of violence and self-harm.

Living conditions were immediately re-assessed and cells that were identified as not fit for purpose have been taken out of use for repairs. Faulty cell bells at the time of the inspection have already been identified and repaired – with new processes put in place to ensure swifter staff responses to them.

The prison is making particular improvements to support vulnerable prisoners in their first night and early days in custody and an updated safety strategy will be put in place by the end of July. This includes creating an additional constant supervision cell to closely monitor those assessed to be at an acute risk of suicide or self-harm.

The national drugs taskforce is also supporting a full analysis to identify what more can be done to tackle drugs entering the prison.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said:

We created the Urgent Notification process for HMIP to flag serious concerns early so that we can grip them quickly and start turning the prison around.

We are delivering swift improvements at Exeter while looking at how we raise and maintain standards in the long-term.

Safe and decent living conditions are basics we need to get right and we are now refreshing the prison’s safety strategy, taking action to reduce violence and carrying out repairs. This will ensure that staff at Exeter can focus on getting prisoner’s lives back on track.

The action plan published today also outlines:

• Extra money has been provided to the prison to address maintenance concerns, including replacing broken windows, repairing observation panels and repairing leaking toilets, sinks and privacy screens for toilets.
• Prisoner cells will be refurbished and receive new toilet seats, fittings and guard rails for beds.
• Key workers will be assigned to prisoners to help staff manage violent offenders and better understand the causes of violence.
• Improved measures to stem the flow of drugs into the prison.
• Additional managerial support to the prison Governor to deliver progress against recommendations made by inspectors.

The Secretary of State’s full action plan can be found on GOV.UK. It also sets out how Exeter’s progress over the coming year will be regularly reviewed.

The final inspection report for HMP Exeter will be published by HM Chief Inspector later this year.