Post-ministerial jobs watchdog closes as part of UK government ethics shake-up

Post-ministerial jobs watchdog closes as part of UK government ethics shake-up

Exclusive: Acoba’s functions split between two regulators and new Ethics and Integrity Commission to oversee others The much-criticised watchdog that scrutinises the jobs UK ministers can take after leaving office will be formally scrapped on Monday as part of a wider shake-up of the ethics structure in government. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), described by critics as fundamentally toothless, has been closed, a Cabinet Office announcement said, with its functions taken over by two existing regulators. Continue reading...

Woman, 53, becomes UK’s longest survivor of heart and lung transplant

Woman, 53, becomes UK’s longest survivor of heart and lung transplant

Katie Mitchell had procedure at 15 after being diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome, a rare congenital disease At the age of 15, medics feared Katie Mitchell was coming to the end of her life after suffering irreversible lung damage and heart failure from a rare congenital disease. But she defied the odds thanks to a heart and lung transplant, and at the age of 53 she has become the UK’s longest-surviving recipient of such a procedure. Continue reading...