Breakfast Briefing with Dame Melanie Dawes, Chief Executive, Ofcom
Author WIG Date 18 Apr 2024
A recording of the WIG Breakfast Briefing with Dame Melanie Dawes, Chief Executive, Ofcom
On 26 October, the Online Safety Act received Royal Assent, establishing a zero-tolerance approach to protecting children and adults from online harm. As such, we are delighted to welcome Dame Melanie Dawes, Chief Executive at Ofcom, the regulator for online safety in the UK, to share her insights into the new role of the regulator in an ever-changing media landscape.
By attending on the day, you will:
- Explore how Ofcom has built the capabilities to work effectively with online services to ensure they meet their duties to protect their users
- Discuss how Ofcom is engaging with organisations from across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to create a safer online experience for all
- Gain insight into priority areas for Dame Melanie and her team considering the fast pace of change in the media and communications sector
Closed captions and transcripts are available.
Please note the Q&A is not included in this recording.
To access this resource you must be a WIG member and logged in to our website.
You can register or log-in here.
Speaker at the Event
Dame Melanie Dawes joined Ofcom as an Executive Board Member and Chief Executive on 2 March 2020.
Prior to joining Ofcom, Melanie was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (2015-2020). She has held senior roles across the Civil Service, working in partnership across the public and private sectors. She became the overall Champion for Diversity and Inclusion in the Civil Service in 2019.
She started her career as an economist and spent 15 years at the Treasury, including as Europe Director. She was Director General of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat at the Cabinet Office between 2011 and 2015, and prior to that she served on the Board of HMRC as Head of Business Tax. She was Director General for Business Tax from November 2007, which involved responsibility for all the business taxes and duties as well as leadership of the department’s relationships with big business. From 2009, she also led the development of HMRC’s overall strategy as a department.
She has held non-executive roles including with the consumer body Which? and is a trustee of the Patchwork Foundation, which promotes the participation of under-represented young people in democracy.