Nick Hoffman most recently led McKinsey and Company’s UK Insurance and Asset Management Practice. He worked as a Partner of the management consulting firm for 12 years, in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US, and focused on large transformations and growth strategy. Previously he worked at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia to develop a new wing of the museum. Nick is a former Chairman of the Trustees of the Gilbert Collection, and still serves as a Trustee. He has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University.

This role is not remunerated These appointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Nick Hoffman has made no such declarations.

Consultation starts Monday 3 June. Giving opportunity for comment on the Shoreline Management Plan Policy of ‘hold the line’ and keep pace with climate change

The Regulator of Social Housing has launched a 12-week consultation today (7 May 2019) on a revised Rent Standard that will come into effect from 1 April 2020.

The consultation is as a result of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Direction to RSH, which was published in February 2019, following the Government’s consultation in autumn 2018.

The Regulator is also required to have regard to the Government’s Policy Statement on rents, which was published alongside the Direction.

The key elements of the Direction are:

• For RSH to also regulate rents charged by social housing stock-owning local authorities (LA registered providers) – aligning the regulation of council rents with that of private registered providers

• To restrict rent increases on social rent and affordable rent properties by up to CPI+1% annually from 2020 for a period of at least five years – striking a balance between the interests of landlords, tenants and taxpayers

Fiona MacGregor, Chief Executive of RSH said:

This consultation focuses on whether we have appropriately reflected the Government’s Direction to us. The Direction itself has previously been consulted on by Government. Our aim is to ensure that the setting and management of rents is clear and easy to understand for all registered providers of social housing.

The long-term rent settlement should help provide a stable financial environment for the social housing sector to make the best possible use of its resources in supporting the delivery of new homes and effectively managing and maintaining properties, while protecting the interests of social housing tenants.

The consultation will remain open until 30 July 2019.

Further information

1. The current Rent Standard issued in 2015, can be found on the Regulatory Standards page.

2. The Government’s consultation Rents for social housing from 2020-21 – is on the MHCLG website.

3. The Regulator of Social Housing promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.

4. For press office contact details, see our Media enquiries page. For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.

The Regulator is proposing to replace the existing 2015 Rent Standard for registered providers of social housing.

Businesses can apply for a share of up to £40 million take part in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

The programme helps promote competitiveness and turn academic thinking into commercial products and services.

The government announced in its 2018 Budget that £25 million will be committed to expand the KTP scheme. This will create more than 200 places for additional graduates and academics within innovative companies throughout the coming years.

Creating viable products and services

KTPs offer funding and support to pair UK businesses and graduates to work on innovative projects.

Businesses can either build on an existing relationship or begin a new partnership with a university, college or research and technology organisation, working with a Knowledge Transfer Advisor to set this up.

Projects can focus on any technology or industry area, and last between 1 to 3 years.

KTP applications must:

• focus on a specific project
• set out the nature and goals of the project
• give details of who will take part
• establish what the graduate will be expected to deliver

Best of the best

The KTP Best of the Best awards returned after a 5-year hiatus to celebrate some of the most innovative and exceptional outcomes from the KTP programme.

5 awards were given, celebrating engineering excellence, business impact and future innovation among others. These were in sectors as diverse as the creation of new polymers and tunnel monitoring using AI and deep learning to more comfortable footwear in the workplace and satellite systems with new threat detection systems.

Programme information

• applications for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are open throughout the year
• the deadline for applications for this round is 29 May 2019. If an application misses a deadline it will automatically be entered into the next round
• projects can last between 1 to 3 years
• businesses and not-for-profit organisations of any size can apply
• the size of the grant and own contribution can vary. Typically:
  • small and medium-sized businesses can contribute around £35,000 per year, or around one-third of the project costs
  • large businesses contribute about £55,000 per year, or half of the project costs