Competition and Markets Authority - Chair
- Body
- Competition and Markets Authority
- Appointing Department
- Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Sector
- Business, Finance & Skills
- Location
- London
- Number of Vacancies
- 1
- Remuneration
- £106,666 per annum
- Time Requirements
- Approximately 2 days per week
Campaign Timeline
-
Competition Launched
14/12/2021
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Closed for Applications
18/01/2022 at 12:00
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Panel Sift
End January 2022
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Shortlisting outcomes
w/c 21 February 2022
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Staff Engagement Exercise
Early March
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Fireside chats
Early March
-
Final Interview Date
w/c 14/03/2022
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Announcement of preferred candidate
31 May 2022
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Pre-Appointment Scrutiny Hearing
28 June 2022
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Announcement
May 2022
Assessment Panel
- Panel Member
- Niall Mackenzie
- Panel Role
- Panel Chair
- Positions
- Director, Consumer and Competition Policy, BEIS Departmental Official
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- Panel Member
- Philip Duffy
- Positions
- Director General, Growth and Productivity, HM Treasury Other Panel Member
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- Panel Member
- Jaee Samant
- Positions
- Director General, Public Safety, Home Office Other Panel Member
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- Panel Member
- Gerard Lyons
- Positions
- Senior Independent Panel Member
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Vacancy Description
The Competition and Markets Authority
- The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator of the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-competitive activities.
- The CMA works to promote competition for the benefit of consumers, both within and outside the UK. Its aim is to make markets work well for consumers, businesses and the economy, with a strong consumer protection role. In order to meet these responsibilities, it operates with flexibility and transparency.
- The CMA’s current primary activities are to operate the antitrust, mergers and market regimes; provide advice and guidance to businesses to help them understand and comply with competition law; promote consumer protection; assess challenges to sector regulators’ decisions; and resolve disputes relating to licence and price modification proposals.
The Role
- The new Chair will lead an effective Board, setting the strategy for the organisation to meet new challenges including supporting the UK economy to grow post-coronavirus pandemic and taking more, and more complex, cases previously heard by the European Commission.
- The Non-Executive Chair, together with the Non-Executive members of the Board, will bring appropriate challenge to the decisions made by the executive in running the organisation. The Chair must work effectively with the CMA’s Chief Executive, executive team, Non-Executive members, and the CMA’s panel of independent competition and consumer experts. In doing so, the Chair will need to gain and retain the confidence of a wide range of stakeholders including Government, business, consumer groups, competition specialists and other international competition authorities.
- The CMA Board currently consists of a Chair, five Non-Executive members and other members including the CMA Chief Executive and Executive Directors. Two of the Non-Executive members are also members of the CMA’s independent decision-making Panel.
- The Board establishes the overall strategic direction of the CMA within the policy framework laid down under the Act. The Board ensures that the CMA as a statutory body fulfils its statutory duties and functions. It considers the opinions and reports of the CMA Accounting Officer and oversees the appropriate use of public funds.
Key Responsibilities
- Providing effective leadership and strategic direction to form a cohesive and focused Board – enabling a high standard of discussion and debate and facilitating collaborative working;
- Maintaining an open and productive relationship with the Chief Executive and the executive team, providing appropriate challenge and support in achieving the objectives of the CMA;
- Working effectively with the Chair of the CMA Panel and Inquiry Chairs, recognising that the Panel must make its decisions independently of the Board;
- Enabling the Board to take consistent, proportionate and fair decisions, ensuring that the Board has the information necessary to perform its tasks, including relevant views from Ministers and other stakeholders;
- Working with the Chief Executive to influence, and collaborate with, key stakeholders, including Ministers, business, voluntary and community bodies and regulators, making the case for sound competition and consumer protection practices;
- Steering the organisation towards one which has the capability to oversee firms operating in digital and tech markets and the operational and technical challenges which that presents;
- Ensuring the Board is guided by and sets high standards of propriety for the organisation, including the efficient and effective use of staff and resources; and
- Ensuring appropriate evaluation of the performance of the Board and individual members, working with the Board and Senior Independent Member to ensure it has an appropriate and diverse range of skills, and that workloads are effectively managed.
Person Specification
Essential criteria:
- Excellent influencing and communication skills, including the ability to represent the UK at the highest levels domestically and internationally, experience of building strong relationships at all levels, commanding trust and confidence.
- Experience of effective Board level leadership in a business, regulatory, policy organisation or similar and the ability to lead the CMA through a period of change.
- Demonstrable understanding of the way markets work, including digital markets, developed through practical experience including through business, regulation or policy development.
- Excellent analytical, judgement and sound decision-making skills.
- The ability to inspire passion, dedication, pace and innovation, ensuring the development, sustainability and high performance of the Board as a whole and of individual members.
Desirable criteria:
- Although direct experience of competition or consumer issues would be welcome, we encourage applications from individuals with any relevant experience and background, including but not limited to competition, consumer, regulation, digital, retail, financial services or other environments.
Additional Information
This is a Public Appointment, made by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The post holder would be an office holder and not be an employee of the Department or the Competition and Markets Authority.
Successful candidate/s will be encouraged to take up their appointment as soon as possible, following the successful completion of pre-appointment checks and security clearance at Security Check (SC) level.