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The local Better Regulation Office is established and board members are appointed

15 May 2007
CAB/037/07

Hilary Armstrong, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, today announced the appointment of seven Board Members and Graham Russell, as Chief Executive of the newly established Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO), effective from 1 September 2007. The appointees will work with recently appointed Chairman Clive Grace.

LBRO is a key plank in the Government's efforts to make regulation simpler and more effective because local authorities are the largest enforcers of regulation in the United Kingdom - inspecting more premises and enforcing more areas of law than any other.

The LBRO will help drive up the performance in this area by working to deliver significant reductions in the burdens of regulation on compliant businesses and helping local authorities focus on the rogue businesses most likely to be breaking regulations. Its remit will initially cover local authority trading standards and environmental health services.

Hilary Armstrong said:

“I am very pleased to announce the appointment of the Board Members and the Chief Executive to the Local Better Regulation Office. The success of this new organisation will depend on the drive, dynamism and creativity of these senior staff and I am confident they can do it. They have the wealth of experience and skill between them that can deliver substantial benefits for business, local authorities, consumers and the economy.”

Chair of LBRO, Clive Grace said:

“I am delighted that Graham Russell has agreed to join us to shape and lead the organisation as its founding Chief Executive. He brings huge experience and ability in local authority regulation. But much more than that, he brings flair, passion, and imagination, and a determination to make LBRO succeed. I am looking forward to working with the Board Members and Graham enormously, and to forging a key partnership to underpin real achievement in driving better and less regulation for business, for consumers, and for prosperity.”

As a result of LBRO's work compliant businesses will benefit from a regulatory regime that is less burdensome, more consistent, more coordinated and better targeted. Local authorities will benefit from clarity on central government priorities alongside the freedom to pursue local priorities and target their resources more effectively, and will firmly embed the principles of Hampton and better regulation within their behaviour. As a result of the lighter touch regulatory approaches for compliant businesses, consumers will benefit from safer and fairer markets. This will also enable the more effective targeting of local authority resources to deal with rogue businesses.

The Board Member appointments were made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments'. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees' political activity to be made public. No Board Members have declared any political activity. The Board Member appointments are remunerated at £25,000 for up to 40 days per year and will run from September 2007 to September 2009 and 2010.

Notes to editors

  1. The LBRO was established as a Cabinet Office owned company limited by guarantee on 4 May 2007.
  2. The Board Members are:
    1. Robin Dahlberg is a founder Board Member of the Security Industry Authority and a Lay Member of the Advisory Panel for the Planning Inspectorate, an advisory Non-Departmental Public Body. In April 2007, he was appointed as a Commissioner with the Health and Safety Commission.
    2. Uday Dholakia is a Senior Partner at Global Consulting and has several decades experience working within local and central government and the private sector.
    3. Michael Gibson holds a number of Board appointments including the Scottish Executive Health Department and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute. He has a number of executive appointments including Director of Cantray Estates and was awarded a CBE in 2006 for his services to food safety in Scotland.
    4. Ann Hemingway CBE holds a number of non executive roles including as a Director of the Department for Transport, which she has held since October 2003. She was founding Board Member and subsequent Chair of the Advisory Committee for Wales of the Food Standards Agency from 2000-2006.
    5. Robert Leak is the current Chief Executive of London Borough of Enfield and former Deputy Chief Executive of London Borough of Lambeth. Prior to this he held a number of Director level roles within the retail sector including with World Duty Free Europe.
    6. Rebecca Marsh is a Commissioner with the Independent Police Complaints Commission. She has held a number of Board and operational positions in small businesses during her career and also has extensive experience of local government, having worked for Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council in economic development and housing.
    7. David Thurston is a legal services consultant and a Justice of the Peace and until 2005, was former head of legal services for Sainsbury's. He has worked extensively with the British Retail Consortium and the Confederation of British Industry. David started his career as a Trading Standards Officer.
  3. The Chief Executive is Graham Russell. Graham's extensive local authority regulatory services career spans twenty one years and his most recent post was Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety, Staffordshire County Council.
  4. The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill and the Compliance Code are out for public consultation until Wednesday 15 August 2007. Comments on the Bill can be submitted on-line at www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/
    enforcement_sanctions_bill     Alternatively, sent to resbill@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk or RES Bill Team, Better Regulation Executive, 5th floor, 22 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2WH. Comments on the Compliance Code can be submitted to compliancecode.consultation@
    cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk     or alternatively sent to the Compliance Code Team, 5th floor, 22 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2WH.
  5. LBRO is being established as a company limited by guarantee before being converted to a statutory corporation. It formally became a company on May 4. The company number is 6237580. The intention is that the draft Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill, subject to Parliamentary passage, will convert it into a statutory Non-Departmental Public Body during 2009.
  6. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the establishment of LBRO in the 2005 Pre-Budget Report. In the 2006 Pre Budget Report he set out further detail about LBRO in "Implementing Hampton: from enforcement to compliance" [External website]
  7. The Board Member appointments were made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments' (OCPA) Code of Practice. [External website PDF]
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