Whitehall watchers are raising eyebrows at the “independent” panel picking Ofcom’s next Chairman. Panel chair Emran Mian, now DSIT Permanent Secretary, was previously Director General at the then-Department for Communities and Local Government (now MHCLG). At the time he was working cheek-by-jowl with Ofcom boss Melanie Dawes, who was running the department as Permanent Secretary. Familiar faces…
Fiona Cannon – another panel member – worked with Dawes’ husband Benedict Brogan at Lloyds Banking Group. She even thanked him in her book ‘The Agility Mindset’ for his “observations and stories.” Meanwhile, Dr Alison Walker-Fraser, a veteran of government appointment panels, previously sat on the panel that waved through Ofcom’s former Principal Economist Stephen Gibson onto the Regulatory Policy Committee. That’s the same body that scrutinises policies in areas Ofcom regulates. Panel looking more like a reunion of friends than a body determined to shake up a failing regulator…

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