The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has therefore today confirmed that it will be cancelling its Phase 2 merger investigation.

Illumina, Inc. (Illumina) and Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc (PacBio) are both global suppliers of Next-Generation DNA sequencing systems to organisations across the world, including UK universities, laboratories and research institutes. DNA sequencing systems are vital to the study of genetic variation in humans and other species, for purposes such as essential disease research and drug development.

The CMA launched a Phase 2 inquiry in July 2019 after initial competition concerns led to the proposed merger being referred to a group of independent CMA panel members for an in-depth investigation.

The CMA provisionally found in October 2019 that the merger would result in a significant loss of competition between the 2 companies, with few alternative providers of DNA sequencing systems remaining. The CMA was also concerned that the loss of PacBio as an independent competitor would lead to a reduction in overall levels of innovation in the market. The CMA had proposed that blocking the merger would be the only way of addressing these concerns.

The deal was also being investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission, and the 2 authorities have cooperated closely throughout their respective investigations.

Illumina and PacBio have now decided not to continue with the deal. More information is available on the Illumina / PacBio case page.

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The Energy Emergencies Executive Committee (E3C) has today (3 January) unveiled government-backed plans to strengthen Great Britain’s power network and make it more resilient to outages in future.

Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom has confirmed that the action plan from today’s report will be implemented in full, to help prevent and manage future power disruption events, ensuring Britain continues to have one of the world’s most reliable electricity systems in the world by:

• assessing the need for improvements to the governance, monitoring and enforcement processes for large and smaller generators
• reviewing the pros and cons of requiring National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) to hold additional back-up generation
• supporting essential services owners and operators to put in place more robust business continuity plans
• rolling out new communications processes to ensure the general public receives regular updates during any future disruptions

Today’s E3C report was requested by Ms Leadsom following the power outage of 9 August, which affected over 1 million customers across Great Britain. The report focuses on the areas of highest impact before, during and after the incident.

Power was restored to disconnected customers within 45 minutes, but the knock-on impact to essential services such as rail were felt for several days after.

Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom said:

The disruption caused to people and businesses by the power cut in August was unacceptable. However, customers can be confident that we have one of the most robust energy systems in the world and today’s report will help us reduce the risks of it happening again and ensure our energy sector is better prepared in the future.

Great Britain has a diverse energy supply and a strong security of supply, which has helped towards halving the number of power outages since 1990. As the UK works to eradicate its contribution to climate change by 2050, the actions in this report will form part of a wider package of work already underway across government and industry to ensure the UK’s energy system remains resilient as we transition to clean and affordable energy.

The E3C is made up of representatives from across industry and government including BEIS, Ofgem, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), Distribution and transmission network operators, generators and suppliers and gas distribution network operators.

The E3C will take the actions set out in this report, along with the findings from Ofgem’s investigation, to drive forward changes across the sector. The committee will provide quarterly updates to government and Ofgem.

Alongside the E3C report, Ofgem has today published the conclusions of its own investigations into the incident last August, focusing on lessons learnt for the energy sector and voluntary payments totalling £10.5 million for companies involved in the power outages.

The Ofgem report focuses on the performance of the ESO, National Grid Electricity Transmission, Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) in England and Wales and the 2 generators involved. The Office of Rail and Road has also published findings into the impact on train services.

1. Read the final E3C report.

2. The E3C is a partnership between government, the regulator and industry, which co-ordinates resilience planning across the energy industry. It facilitates a joined-up approach to emergency response and recovery, identifying risks and processes to manage the impact of emergencies affecting the supply of gas and/or electricity to consumers in Great Britain.

3. The power outages were due to the loss of a mix of generation including an offshore wind farm operated by Hornsea One and a gas power station operated by RWE.

4. Ofgem’s State of the Energy Market 2019 report states that the number of power interruptions has fallen by around 50% since 1990, whilst the length of those interruptions has fallen by around 60%

5. The 10 recommendations proposed by the E3C report are as follows:

• Action 1: The E3C, in collaboration with the relevant trade associations and generators, to disseminate lessons learnt to the wider electricity connected generation community
• Action 2: The ESO, in consultation with large generators and transmission owners, should review and improve compliance testing and modelling processes for new and modified generation connections, particularly for complex systems
• Action 3: The E3C, in collaboration with relevant trade associations and the DCRP, to review embedded generators’ understanding of, and compliance with, the Distribution Code; and assess whether the current governance, monitoring and enforcement processes are fit for purpose
• Action 4: The ESO and DNOs through the Energy Networks Association (ENA), should review the timescales for the Accelerated Loss of Mains Change Programme, and consider widening its scope to include distributed generation that unexpectedly disconnected or de-loaded on 9 August
• Action 5: The ESO, in consultation with industry, should undertake a review of the Security and Quality of Supply Standard (SQSS) requirements for holding reserve, response and system inertia
• Action 6: The E3C, through the DNOs and the ENA, to undertake a fundamental review of the Low Frequency Demand Disconnection (LFDD) scheme including its application and administration by the DNOs, and present options for short- and long-term improvements
• Action 7: E3C to scope and define what an essential service is, and better understand their capacity to deal effectively with power disruptions
• Action 8: E3C to develop and deliver guidance for essential services owners/operators, to support contingency, continuity and resilience planning
• Action 9: E3C, through the Communications Task Group (CTG), to develop and test a comprehensive communications strategy for use by industry and government
• Action 10: E3C, through the CTG, to develop and test revised operational protocols and frameworks for communications between wider industry during incident response scenarios

Thousands more children will be able to learn instruments and play in orchestras or choirs thanks to a further £80million investment by the Government in music hubs.

Alongside this investment, charities that help young people learn about different styles of music are also set to receive a further £1 million next year to support the next generation of musicians.

Pupils will also have more opportunities to put their film making skills to the test, explore museums or take to the stage, as a series of other cultural education programmes receive an additional £4 million funding boost next year.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb has announced this multi-million-pound package today (Friday 3 January) alongside a manifesto commitment to offer an ‘arts premium’ to secondary schools to allow young people to learn creative skills and widen their horizons.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

Music, arts and culture play an essential role in enriching pupils’ education, and we want to give as many young people as possible the opportunity to learn an instrument or perform in a choir or a band.

Our continued investment will play an important role in helping young people widen their horizons and access all the opportunities that learning a musical instrument can provide – whether that be playing for pleasure or performing.

The curriculum schemes that will receive a total of £85 million for 2020/21 are as follows:

• Music Education Hubs
• In Harmony
• National Youth Music Organisations (NYMOs) and Music for Youth; and
• Cultural education (Heritage Schools, BFI Film Academy, Museums and Schools, ACE Bridge Network, National Youth Dance Company, Saturday Art and Design Clubs).

Music education hubs, which are organisations that give pupils access to instruments and support whole classes to play together, have transformed the teaching of music in schools through subsidised instrument lessons and ensembles.

These hubs have been supported by £300million between 2016 and 2020, which forms part of an overall investment of £500million in the arts during that period, making it the second highest funded element of the curriculum behind PE.

Hannah Fouracre, Director Music Education, Arts Council England said:

We’re delighted that this funding from the Department for Education has been confirmed.

These programmes support a creative, diverse and inclusive music education for children and young people across England.

More than 100 councils across England have been awarded a share of over £4 million to crack down on criminal landlords and letting agents, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP has announced today (3 January 2020). 

The majority of landlords provide decent homes for their tenants, but a small minority persist in breaking the law, making tenants’ lives a misery by offering inadequate or unsafe housing. 

The new funding will be used by councils to take enforcement action against these landlords, and advise tenants of their housing rights.

This action will continue the government’s ongoing work to make the private rented sector fairer and stamp out criminal practices for good. 

Among the councils to benefit from the funding are: 

• 21 councils across Yorkshire and Humberside – to train over 100 enforcement officers across the region to ensure standards are being met by landlords
• Northampton – to create a ‘Special Operations Unit’ to enforce against the very worst landlords responsible for over 100 homes in the town
• Thurrock – to work with the care service to ensure the most vulnerable young tenants are in decent, well-maintained homes
• Greenwich – to trial new technology to identify particularly cold homes to ensure renters are warm over the winter period

Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

This government will deliver a better deal for renters. It’s completely unacceptable that a minority of unscrupulous landlords continue to break the law and provide homes which fall short of the standards we rightly expect – making lives difficult for hard-working tenants who just want to get on with their lives.

Everyone deserves to live in a home that is safe and secure and the funding announced today will strengthen councils’ powers to crack down on poor landlords and drive up standards in the private rented sector for renters across the country.

Councils already have strong powers to force landlords to make necessary improvements to a property through use of a range of measures, including civil penalties and banning orders for the worst offenders. 

The grants will support a range of projects to enable councils to make the best use of these powers. This will include trialling innovative ideas, sharing best practice and targeted enforcement where we know landlords shirk their responsibilities. 

Today’s announcement demonstrates government’s commitment to helping good landlords to thrive, and hard-working tenants across the country get the homes they deserve – creating a housing market that works for everyone. 

This government has committed to delivering a fairer deal for renters and empower them whilst also giving greater peace of mind.

We will end no fault evictions, so that landlords can’t remove tenants without good reason, and introduce Lifetime Rental Deposits so renters don’t have to save up for a new deposit while their money is tied up in an old one.

There are more than 4.5 million households in the private rented sector in England, with recent statistics showing that 82% of private renters are satisfied with their accommodation.

The fund will help councils take on the most common challenges that stand in the way of tackling poor standards in the private rented sector, including:

• encouraging positive landlord/tenant/local authority relationships, particularly with vulnerable groups such as care leavers
• the need for better information – on housing stock, and on landlords and agents operating in their areas
• data sharing between authorities and agencies – identifying and bringing together different data sets to enable better enforcement targeting which protects the most vulnerable tenants
• internal ‘ways of working’ – improving housing-specific legal expertise, in-house communication between teams, and tools and strategies to effectively implement policy
• innovative software – for enforcement officers to record their findings, gather evidence and streamline the enforcement process

A summary of funding for PRS Innovation and Enforcement Grant projects can be viewed here: