The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is setting up a digital hub in Leeds to capitalise on the city’s expertise in digital health and its “strong academic base”.
The hub will be located in the Wellington Place office development, which already hosts NHS Digital and staff from HM Revenue and Customs, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Transport.
MHRA, which is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, said it would recruit for around 30 permanent roles focused on digital delivery, software development and data science, “with the ambition for further expansion” in future phases.
The agency said the digital hub was part of a broader strategy to enhance regulatory agility, strengthen digital capabilities, and deliver better outcomes for patients, the public and industry. It will also support the Places for Growth programme’s drive to rebalance civil service job opportunities away from the capital.
Cabinet Office data released last week showed Leeds is the second-biggest beneficiary of Places for Growth role relocations after Manchester. It has gained 2,253 civil service jobs over the course of the programme’s five-year run to date against Manchester’s 2,358.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said Leeds was already leading the way in digital health and the MHRA hub would bolster the situation.
“Driving forward digital transformations like these through our Plan for Change will mean scientists get data for research quicker, inspectors can develop tech to spot problems quicker, and patients get better results,” he said.
“As a healthcare innovation powerhouse, Leeds is the perfect place to bring together the MHRA’s regulatory expertise with a thriving tech community, world-class universities, and strong NHS presence.”
Newly-appointed MHRA chief executive Lawrence Tallon said the Leeds hub would play a “vital role” in shaping the future of regulation.
“We want regulation of health technologies to move at the pace of innovation,” he said. “By establishing an MHRA hub in Leeds, we’re strengthening our ability to collaborate with partners across the North of England – bringing regulatory expertise closer to the people, organisations and innovations we serve.”
MHRA said the roles being created in Leeds would sit within the agency’s Digital and Technology Group.