A control assembly (1) for manipulating the movement of an endoscopic instrument (6), the control assembly comprising: an endoscopic instrument mounting arrangement (3,4) adapted to receive an endoscopic instrument (6) and offer only three independent degrees of freedom of movement of an endoscopic instrument (6) received by the arrangement, each degree of freedom of movement being about or along a respective axis three driving arrangements each being configured to drive the endoscopic instrument (6) in only one of the degrees of freedom of movement and three independent control elements (16,17,18) configured to receive user input, such that the actuation of each of the three independent control elements (16,17,18) regulates one of three corresponding control signals which each control a respective one of the driving arrangements independently of the other two driving arrangements in accordance with the user input.
