The Regulatory Role of the Actuary

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.D. Daykin

ABSTRACTThe actuary has played a role in regulation in the United Kingdom since 1819. More recently, in 1974, the Appointed Actuary system was introduced for life insurance companies, backed by strong professional guidance. Derivatives of the Appointed Actuary concept have been implemented in a number of other countries. Meanwhile, in the UK, defined benefit occupational pension schemes are now required to appoint a Scheme Actuary, who has a statutory whistle-blowing role under the Pensions Act 1995. A number of statutory roles for pension actuaries were in place prior to this. In general insurance, Lloyd's syndicates are now required to obtain an actuarial opinion on the end of year provisions, as part of the Lloyd's market regulatory structure, and friendly societies must obtain an actuarial opinion on their technical provisions once every three years. This paper reviews some of the different regulatory roles of the actuary in the UK, draws some comparisons with the situation in other countries, considers the strengths and weaknesses of the present situation and invites debate and discussion on the way forward in order to optimise the contribution which the profession can make to the public interest in the field of regulation.

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-297
Author(s):  
R.J. Fairhurst ◽  
Captain D. Antrobus

The easy availability of small aircraft for charter, has been accompanied by increasing willingness on the part of insurance companies to pay the costs for the use of these air ambulances. Operators of aircraft in the United Kingdom and Europe were becoming increasingly worried about the moral, medical and legal implications of carrying seriously ill or injured passengers. In late 1980 the UK Air Taxi Operators Association (ATOA) began to formulate Guidelines for air ambulance operations, and in 1981 these were incorporated into the studies of the same subject by the International Business Aircraft Association (IBAA), Europe. This paper presents the Guidelines adopted by the ATOA and ratified by IBAA Europe. The Guidelines are designed not to hamper the development of aeormedical rescue, but to bring it within a proper medical aeronautical framework for the safety of the patients, and medical and aircraft crews.During the last 30 years development of the international travel market in Europe has resulted in many patients becoming ill or suffering injuries many miles from their own home. In the past these people would have remained in a local hospital and received treatment by the locally available facilities. There has been a revolution in the technology of medical transport, providing skills and equipment which allows the most seriously injured people to be transported over long distances. The public demand has pressed insurance companies to offer as part of travel packages the possiblity of medical repatriation. The number of new serious medical cases abroad reported to Europ Assistance in London, rose from 736 in 1978 to a projected 3,500 in 1983.


2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172098090
Author(s):  
James Weinberg

Trust between representatives and citizens is regarded as central to effective governance in times of peace and uncertainty. This article tests that assumption by engaging elite and mass perspectives to provide a 360-degree appraisal of vertical and horizontal policy coordination in a crisis scenario. Specifically, a multi-dimensional conception of political trust, anchored in psychological studies of interpersonal relations, is operationalised in the context of the United Kingdom’s response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Detailed analysis of data collected from 1045 members of the public and more than 250 elected politicians suggests that particular facets of political trust and distrust may have contributed to levels of mass behavioural compliance and elite policy support in the UK at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. These findings help to evaluate policy success during a unique and challenging moment while contributing theoretically and methodologically to broader studies of political trust and governance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr.Agnes Ogada

Purpose: The objective of the study was to investigate the duplicity in regulation and its effect on performance of the financial sector in Kenya. The specific objectives were; to review and identify regulation duplication/competition in existing regulatory framework for the financial sector in Kenya; to describe how regulatory effectiveness has been measured in empirical literature; to assess whether the current regulatory structure has affected the performance of the financial sector in Kenya and lastly to suggest potential ways of enhancing regulatory effectiveness in Kenya. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study found out that financial sector in Kenya and other developing economies have reported losses on a large scale due to under regulation and regulator duplicity. Some of these have become insolvent, or have had to be taken over or rescued by their governments. A single market regulator clearly has its own advantages over multiple regulators. But it is more suitable for well-developed and mature markets which are smaller in size, like the UK. The study also found out that Kenya’s economy and political arena are not mature enough to handle a single financial market regulator. In this light it can be asserted that even mature economies such as the United States still have multiple regulators. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Adherence to principles of open government, including transparency and participation in the regulatory process to ensure that regulation serves the public interest and is informed by the legitimate needs of those interested in and affected by regulation. Governments should ensure that regulations are comprehensible and clear and that parties can easily understand their rights and obligations. Organizations should create personalized technology systems that create a demand adaptation of ICT at every level of the organizational operations


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Michael Garrett ◽  
Joshua Paul White ◽  
Simon Dennis ◽  
Stephan Lewandowsky ◽  
Cheng-Ta Yang ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are introducing digital passports that allow citizens to return to normal activities if they were previously infected with (immunity passport) or vaccinated against (vaccination passport) SARS-CoV-2. To be effective, policy decision makers must know whether immunity and vaccination passports will be widely accepted by the public, and under what conditions? This study focuses attention on immunity passports, as these may prove useful in countries both with and without an existing COVID-19 vaccination program, however, our general findings also extend to vaccination passports. OBJECTIVE We aimed to assess attitudes towards the introduction of immunity passports in six countries, and determine what social, personal, and contextual factors predicted their support. METHODS We collected online representative samples across six countries – Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom – from April to May of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and assessed attitudes and support for the introduction of immunity passports. RESULTS Immunity passport support was moderate-to-low, ranging from 51% in the UK and Germany, 47% in Australia and Spain, 46% in Taiwan, and 22% in Japan. Bayesian generalized linear mixed effects modelling controlling assessed predictive factors for immunity passport support across countries. International results showed neoliberal world views, personal concern and perceived virus severity, the fairness of immunity passports, and willingness to become infected to gain an immunity passport, were all predictive factors of immunity passport support. By contrast, gender (woman), immunity passport concern, and risk of harm to society predicted a decrease in support for immunity passports. Minor differences in predictive factors were found between countries and results were modelled separately to provide national accounts of these data. CONCLUSIONS Our research suggests that support for immunity passports is predicted by the personal benefits and social risks they confer. These findings generalized across six countries and may also prove informative for the introduction of vaccination passports, helping policy makers to introduce effective COVID-19 passport policies in these six countries and around the world.


2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 387-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Bennett ◽  
Helen Gabriel

Presents the results of an empirical investigation into whether the attribution by members of the public of an unfavourable reputational trait (e.g. dishonesty) to a company covaries with other traits ascribed to the same enterprise. Additionally it examines whether people aggregate successive pieces of unfavourable information received about a business to form a continuously worsening impression of it; or whether they mentally average bad news, so that successive adverse items can actually improve the overall impression – provided the later messages are not as damaging as the earlier ones. The study is based on the UK pensions mis‐selling scandal, which generated severe, long‐term media criticism of the large UK insurance companies. Hence it analyses a unique reputational management situation in that the firms involved are subject to continuous and intense scrutiny, protracted and hostile media coverage, periodic public censure by regulatory authorities, and interference in day‐to‐day management by government agencies. The proposition that pensions are an “avoidance product” is also explored.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 624-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Eason ◽  
P. Barker ◽  
G. Foroughi ◽  
J. Harsant ◽  
D. Hunter ◽  
...  

AbstractThe UK has seen a significant transition from Defined Benefit (“DB”) to Defined Contribution (“DC”) for occupational pension saving. The planned automatic enrolment program starting in 2012 is expected to increase the use of DC. The main features of DC are that investment risk falls onto the individual during the pre-retirement phase and that there are no guarantees as to investment returns or the level of pension. In July 2012, Steve Webb, the Pensions Minister, challenged industry to think hard about meeting the need for more certainty about pension savings in DC plans and to consider providing an affordable ‘Money Safe’ guarantee where the member would get back at least the nominal value of their contributions (individual, employer and tax relief). This paper explores whether this is viable for the mass market.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Michael Garrett ◽  
Joshua Paul White ◽  
Simon Dennis ◽  
Stephan Lewandowsky ◽  
Cheng-Ta ◽  
...  

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are introducing digital passports that allow citizens to return to normal activities if they were previously infected with (immunity passport) or vaccinated against (vaccination passport) SARS-CoV-2. To be effective, policy decision makers must know whether immunity and vaccination passports will be widely accepted by the public, and under what conditions? We collected representative samples across six countries – Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom – during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to assess attitudes towards the introduction of immunity passports. Immunity passport support was moderate-to-low, ranging from 51% in the UK and Germany, down to 22% in Japan. Bayesian generalized linear mixed effects modelling controlling for each country showed neoliberal world views, personal concern and perceived virus severity, the fairness of immunity passports, and willingness to become infected to gain an immunity passport, were all predictive factors of immunity passport support. By contrast, gender (woman), immunity passport concern, and risk of harm to society predicted a decrease in support for immunity passports. Minor differences in predictive factors were found between countries. These findings will help policy makers introduce effective immunity passport policies in these six countries and around the world.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nada Karrar ◽  
Shahriar Kabir Khan ◽  
Sinduja Manohar ◽  
Paola Quattroni ◽  
David Seymour ◽  
...  

Transparency of how health and social care data is used by researchers is crucial to building public trust. We define 'data use registers' as a public record of data an organisation has shared with other individuals or organisations for the purpose of research, innovation and service evaluation, and are used by some data custodians across the United Kingdom to increase transparency of data use. They typically contain information about the type of data being shared, the purpose, date of approval and name of organisation or individual using (or receiving) the data. However, information published lacks standardisation across organisations. Registers do not yet have a consistent approach and are often incomplete, updated infrequently and not accessible to the public. In this paper, we present an empirical analysis of existing data use registers in the UK and investigate accessibility, content, format and frequency of updates across health data organisations. This analysis will inform future recommendations for a data use register standard that will be published by the UK Health Data Research Alliance.


Author(s):  
Nancy Loucks ◽  
Tânia Loureiro

This chapter explores the current debate in Scotland into the attempt to introduce Child & Family Impact Assessments (C&FIA) at key stages in the criminal justice process. It compares this to current international practice in taking the impact of a parent’s imprisonment on children into account, then questions what further improvements could be made. Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Scotland has fallen short of incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law. However, the Children & Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 places a duty on the public sector to report what they are doing to realise the rights set out in the UNCRC, and discussion of full incorporation remains live (arguably more so than in other parts of the UK). Scotland thus seems to be teetering on the edge of significant positive change regarding support for children with imprisoned parents.


2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
William K. Townend ◽  
Christopher Cheeseman ◽  
Jen Edgar ◽  
Terry Tudor

Since the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom in 1948 there have been significant changes in the way waste materials produced by healthcare facilities have been managed due to a number of environmental, legal and social drivers. This paper reviews the key changes in legislation and healthcare waste management that have occurred in the UK between 1948 and the present time. It investigates reasons for the changes and how the problems associated with healthcare wastes have been addressed. The reaction of the public to offensive disposal practices taking place locally required political action by the UK government and subsequently by the European legislature. The relatively new UK industry of hazardous healthcare waste management has developed rapidly over the past 25 years in response to significant changes in healthcare practices. The growth in knowledge and appreciation of environmental issues has also been fundamental to the development of this industry. Legislation emanating from Europe is now responsible for driving change to UK healthcare waste management. This paper examines the drivers that have caused the healthcare waste management to move forward in the 60 years since the NHS was formed. It demonstrates that the situation has moved from a position where there was no overall strategy to the current situation where there is a strong regulatory framework but still no national strategy. The reasons for this situation are examined and based upon the experience gained; suggestions are made for the benefit of countries with systems for healthcare waste management still in the early stages of development or without any provisions at all.


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