OPSS intervenes on dangerous Glen Dimplex gas cookers

News story

OPSS intervenes on more than 66,000 dangerous Belling, New World and Stoves gas cookers which pose a carbon monoxide poisoning risk.

Picture montage of different product types.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has intervened to ensure that more than 66,000 dangerous Belling, New World and Stoves gas cookers which pose a carbon monoxide poisoning risk will be made safe through a modification programme.

Parent company Glen Dimplex Home Appliances (GDHA) has agreed to visit every home containing the affected cookers, to implement a technical modification to the appliance so that operation of the gas grill is safe. The company is required to contact all affected users. Information about the models and consumer advice are available on the company’s websites:

Belling

Stoves

OPSS analysed product safety data which revealed certain models of Glen Dimplex gas cookers with a separate gas grill have an inherent carbon monoxide risk putting consumers in danger. Affected cookers do not comply with the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 and the Gas Appliances (Enforcement) and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2018.

Until their cookers are made safe, GDHA and OPSS are advising those using the affected models to ensure they always leave the grill door open when in operation.

Office for Product Safety and Standards Chief Executive Graham Russell said:

“The government’s top priority is to ensure the safety of the British public. Glen Dimplex has agreed to undertake this modification programme following our investigation. OPSS will monitor the programme to ensure it is carried out successfully. Until their products are made safe, we would urge users to ensure the door is always kept open when the grill is in operation.”

Details on the cooker models affected by the safety issue can be found on the Government’s own Product Safety Report for the modification programme

Published 2 November 2022



100 most notable UK IP cases added to WIPO global database

Initially, the 100 most notable UK IP cases will be added, with provision for the database to be regularly updated.

By making information about judicial decisions more accessible across jurisdictions worldwide, the WIPO database aims strengthen and inform courts’ decision-making processes in IP cases. It also helps identify where national approaches to common IP questions converge or contrast, making it a powerful tool for research and policy development and a valuable resource for attorneys.

The UK’s membership comes at a time when demand for its judicial expertise continues to grow internationally, with the UK recently enjoying success deploying senior IP judges to China to share best practice and insights with counterparts.

It is hoped that the UK’s participation in the WIPO Lex-Judgments database will be a highly pragmatic tool to help spread UK practice and expertise with global partners, while also helping to manage demand on UK judges’ time for international engagements.

The initiative is supported by the Right Honourable Lord Justice Birss (Lord Justice of Appeal), and the Honourable Justice Meade (High Court Judge, Chancery Division).

The Intellectual Property Office’s interim CEO Adam Williams said:

This is a fantastic moment in the UK’s IP timeline. Our IP courts have a global reputation for delivering high-quality judgments, that establish precedent or persuasive interpretation of IP law. Our presence in WIPO’s Lex-Judgments database will showcase important UK IP judgments to a multilateral audience.  This will help highlight and share UK best practice, providing insight into how UK courts tackle complex disputes.

We hope that alongside those from other WIPO members, the UK’s contributions will provide assistance and guidance, helping to support a stable and well-functioning global IP system.

Marco Aleman, WIPO Assistant Director General, IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector said.

WIPO Lex-Judgments supports cross-border awareness of the leading issues in IP disputes in a rapidly evolving global innovation landscape.

Thanks to this agreement with the UK Intellectual Property Office and The National Archives, we are further expanding this resource to 28 jurisdictions and over 1,000 freely accessible judgments, allowing judges, lawyers, students and others to better understand the latest jurisprudential developments in key IP issues.

You can access the WIPO Lex-Judgments database.

  • the UK’s membership follows the signing of an MoU between WIPO and the UK IPO in Geneva that will govern the sharing of UK judgments data with WIPO
  • the initial list of 100 most notable judgments was compiled by The Honourable Mr Justice Meade (High Court Judge, Chancery Division). The initiative is also supported by the Right Honourable Lord Justice Birss (Lord Justice of Appeal)
  • UK Court judgments are not routinely stored on a government owned database. The IPO has worked successfully with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to influence the development of a new national database, which provides an appropriate resource to share judgments with WIPO
  • the new database of all England & Wales court judgments was launched alongside www.legislation.gov.uk on the 19th April 2022. This is a critical step towards a more open, transparent and equitable system that demonstrates HMG’s data-driven reforms. It also demonstrates the positive impact of the IPO on wider HMG services


Recruitment for Safety Assessor

News story

Details of a permanent vacancy for the Human and Environmental Safety Team.

Lecturn

This exciting and interesting job puts you at the heart of the VMD’s work in contributing to assuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of pharmaceutical veterinary medicinal products.

Job Title

Safety Assessor in the Human and Environmental Safety Team

Grade

SSO

Salary & Pension

£40,262 – £44,724 per annum with Pension Scheme

Annual Leave Entitlement

Commencing at 25 days

Role

You will be responsible for the assessment of user, consumer and/or environmental safety data for applications for:

  • new marketing authorisations for pharmaceutical veterinary medicinal products
  • Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for active substances
  • variations to existing marketing authorisations and MRLs
  • safety aspects of animal test certificates to conduct clinical field trials.

How to apply

You must make your application via Safety Assessor in the Human and Environmental Safety Team – Civil Service Jobs – GOV.UK where you will find a full job description including salary details.

Closing Date

28 November 2022

Published 2 November 2022



Accident involving a helicopter near Ruthin, North Wales, 1 November 2022

News story

The AAIB has sent a team to Ruthin, North Wales.

An accident near Ruthin, North Wales involving a helicopter has been notified to the AAIB. An investigation has been launched and a team of inspectors are at the accident site.

Click here for more information about how we investigate.

Published 2 November 2022



Submitting a planning appeal has changed for an additional 69 local authority areas – find out where

News story

We have expanded the number of local planning authority (LPA) areas that can use the new service to submit appeals.

Appeal a planning decision made: easier, faster and more cost effective

Last month we announced a change in how to submit planning appeals for 30 LPA areas and we have now expanded this number to include an additional 69 LPA areas. See the end of this article for the full list of LPA areas.

What is the new service?

We are designing a new planning appeals service to be easier, faster and more cost effective. The first part of these improvements focuses on the appeal submission form, and we have now introduced a new form for submitting full planning (s78) and householder appeals in some local authority areas of England. This builds on the smaller pilot we ran earlier this year.

In the coming months we will be adding additional LPAs and new features to the service.

The video below explains how to appeal a planning decision using the beta service.

https://youtu.be/elPmdK6Wr4c

What’s changed?

For now, people submitting appeals for householder or full planning decisions (s78) in the regions mentioned below are eligible to use the new submission form.

The main difference will be a simpler, more intuitive appeal submission process, using standardised government formats, which are familiar across government services. Eligible users will be able to start their appeal on GOV.UK instead of the Appeals Casework Portal (ACP).

The submission form includes built in guidance as well as validation to ensure appeals are submitted with all the correct information.

Over the coming weeks we will make a change so that eligible appeals are redirected from the ACP to the correct start page on GOV.UK. We have also asked LPAs in the participating regions to update hyperlinks in their planning decision notices where permission is refused.

What’s coming up next?

We will soon be releasing the final comments submission process for cases submitted via the new service. We continue to work on the design and development of other case types, such as appeals for listed building consent and enforcement. We are also improving the design of the LPA questionnaire and statement submission process.

Which regions are included?

East Midlands

  • Bolsover District Council
  • Chesterfield Borough Council
  • North Northamptonshire Council

East of England

  • Central Bedfordshire Council
  • East Suffolk Council
  • Harlow Council
  • South Norfolk Council
  • Uttlesford District Council

London

  • Barnet London Borough Council
  • Brent London Borough Council
  • Bromley London Borough Council
  • Camden London Borough Council
  • Croydon London Borough Council
  • Enfield London Borough Council
  • Havering London Borough Council
  • Hillingdon London Borough Council
  • Islington London Borough Council
  • Kensington and Chelsea Royal London Borough Council
  • Lambeth London Borough Council
  • Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation
  • The City of London Corporation

North East

  • Darlington Borough Council
  • Durham County Council
  • Gateshead Council
  • Hartlepool Borough Council
  • Middlesbrough Council
  • Newcastle City Council
  • North Tyneside Council
  • Northumberland County Council
  • Northumberland National Park Authority
  • Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
  • South Tyneside Council
  • Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
  • Sunderland City Council

North West

  • Barrow-in-Furness Borough Council
  • Cheshire East Council
  • Cheshire West and Chester Council
  • Ribble Valley Borough Council
  • Sefton Council
  • Wirral Council

South East

  • Ashford Borough Council
  • Buckinghamshire Council
  • Crawley Borough Council
  • Dartford Borough Council
  • Folkestone and Hythe District Council
  • Gosport Borough Council
  • Isle of Wight Council
  • Milton Keynes City Council
  • New Forest District Council
  • New Forest National Park Authority
  • Oxford City Council
  • Reading Borough Council
  • Rushmoor Borough Council
  • Sevenoaks District Council
  • Slough Borough Council
  • Southampton City Council
  • Swale Borough Council
  • Thanet District Council
  • Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
  • Wealden District Council
  • West Berkshire Council

South West

  • Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council
  • Bristol City Council
  • Cheltenham Borough Council
  • Cornwall Council
  • Cotswold District Council
  • Council of the Isles of Scilly
  • Dartmoor National Park Authority
  • Dorset Council
  • East Devon District Council
  • Exeter City Council
  • Exmoor National Park Authority
  • Forest of Dean District Council
  • Gloucester City Council
  • Mendip District Council
  • Mid Devon District Council
  • North Devon Council
  • North Somerset Council
  • Plymouth City Council
  • Sedgemoor District Council
  • Somerset West and Taunton Council
  • South Gloucestershire Council
  • South Somerset District Council
  • Swindon Borough Council
  • West Devon Borough Council
  • Wiltshire Council

West Midlands

  • Birmingham City Council
  • Cannock Chase District Council
  • Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
  • Redditch Borough Council
  • South Derbyshire District Council
  • Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
  • Tamworth Borough Council
  • Walsall Council

Yorkshire and the Humber

  • City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
  • East Riding of Yorkshire Council
  • Harrogate Borough Council
  • Kirklees Council
  • Leeds City Council
  • North East Lincolnshire Council
  • Wakefield Council

Published 2 November 2022