This Order increases from two to three million the maximum number of potential members of a credit union under section 1(B)(3)(a) of the Credit Unions Act 1979 (c.34) where the common bond for qualification for membership relates to locality.
Link: The Credit Unions Act 1979 (Locality Common Bond Conditions) Order 2017
Source: Legislation .gov.uk
Following the announcement of a verdict in the Chennai Six case, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:
Since I became Foreign Secretary, this case has been a top priority for everybody at the Foreign Office and today’s verdict is fantastic news.
The FCO has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to reunite these men with their families. The importance the UK government places on their case cannot be understated.
The men, their families and their supporters, who have campaigned unrelentingly, must be overjoyed. I share their delight and I hope they can return home as soon as possible.
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Link: Press release: Foreign Secretary statement on Chennai Six verdict
Source: Gov Press Releases
Business Secretary Greg Clark has today published the UK government’s modern Industrial Strategy, with a plan to boost productivity and the earning power of people and businesses throughout Northern Ireland and the whole of the UK.
The White Paper outlines a plan to drive growth across the whole of the UK, build on the strengths of places, boost skills, improve productivity, boost people’s earning power and upgrade infrastructure.
The Strategy includes flagship Sector Deal agreements with a number of Northern Ireland’s most important sectors – automotive, construction, Life Sciences and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Northern Ireland has a world-leading reputation in a number of key sectors including construction and automotive, as well as future industries such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and life sciences and the government has confirmed these sectors will be the first to benefit from these new strategic and long-term partnerships with government, backed by private sector co-investment. Work will continue with other sectors on transformative sector deals.
With a clear ambition of boosting productivity and economic growth, the Industrial Strategy contains a number of policy measures to benefit Northern Ireland:
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire said:
“Championing the unique strengths of Northern Ireland, the new Industrial Strategy launched today clearly demonstrates the UK Government’s commitment to boost earning power, drive growth and offer opportunities across the country. It is a further example of the UK Government building an economy that is fit for the future.
“Building on the extra £660 million set out for Northern Ireland in the Chancellor’s budget, businesses, innovators, people and places throughout Northern Ireland will benefit from the Industrial Strategy’s removal of barriers to innovation and growth, as well as from its preparation for the opportunities and grand challenges of the coming decades.
“Thanks to New Sector Deals and investment in R&D, we will support the industries of the future – such as life sciences, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cyber security – where Northern Ireland is at the cutting-edge and has the potential to lead the world.
“Over the coming weeks, as we look to restore the Executive, I will continue to explore how to maximise the positive impact this Strategy will have in Northern Ireland, to build a better, more productive and more prosperous UK economy.”
Business Secretary Greg Clark said:
“Our new, ambitious Industrial Strategy will build on the UK’s strengths, boost productivity and earning power and will ensure we are one of the most competitive places in the world to start and grow a business.
“We recognise no two economies within the UK are the same – for Northern Ireland, strengths include construction, life sciences and emerging sectors like AI. But we also recognise that our Industrial Strategy is not something that is done to business, it is done with, and indeed, by business.
“This strategy is about firms from across the UK coming together and working with Government to build a better, more productive and more prosperous UK economy – fit for the future.”
The Strategy outlines how the Government is allocating the second wave of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, matching innovation excellence held by businesses and universities across the UK.
A number of the Challenge areas set to receive significant Government funding will offer significant opportunities for Northern Ireland’s businesses and universities including:
Link: Press release: New Industrial Strategy to boost NI earning power and innovation
Source: Gov Press Releases
This Order further amends the Town and Country Planning (Operation Stack) Special Development Order 2015 to provide that the planning permission granted by that Order ceases at the end of 31st December 2019 rather than the end of 31st December 2017.
Link: The Town and Country Planning (Operation Stack) Special Development (Amendment) Order 2017
Source: Legislation .gov.uk
Regulation 2 of these Regulations prescribes additional information to be provided by operators of local bus services to a franchising authority in connection with that authority’s functions under the Transport Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”). That information relates to the fixed and variable costs involved in operating the local services in the franchising authority’s area and to the vehicles used by the operator in providing those local services, including information about the age of those vehicles and about relevant requirements concerning emissions and types of fuel or power.
Link: The Franchising Schemes and Enhanced Partnership Plans and Schemes (Provision of Information) Regulations 2017
Source: Legislation .gov.uk
These Regulations make provision about the pension protection to be provided to certain employees of bus operators who transfer to a new employer under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”) following the making of a franchising scheme or an enhanced partnership scheme.
Link: The Franchising Schemes and Enhanced Partnership Schemes (Pension Protection) (England) Regulations 2017
Source: Legislation .gov.uk
These Regulations make provision about the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”) to employees of bus operators who are affected by the making of a franchising scheme or an enhanced partnership scheme.
Link: The Franchising Schemes and Enhanced Partnership Schemes (Application of TUPE) (England) Regulations 2017
Source: Legislation .gov.uk
Business Secretary Greg Clark has today (Monday 27 November) launched the government’s ambitious Industrial Strategy, setting out a long-term vision for how Britain can build on its economic strengths, address its productivity performance, embrace technological change and boast the earning power of people across the UK.
Wales has a world-leading reputation in the aerospace, steel, technology and life science sectors and through the Industrial Strategy the UK Government will build on these strengths and create new opportunities.
With a clear ambition of boosting productivity and economic growth, the Industrial Strategy contains a number of announcements set to benefit Wales including:
Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns has marked the launch of the Industrial Strategy at the Airbus Campus in Newport, a company helping to put the UK at the forefront of the Artificial Intelligence and data revolution.
This Industrial Strategy delivers on the conversations we have had with businesses and employees right across Wales.
From the growth corridors which will facilitate more cross-border working, to the commitments to exploring city and growth deals to cover every part of the country, this is a strategy that plays to our economic strengths and address some of the big challenges we face.
Wales also stands to benefit from the major investments in infrastructure and research, including the place based innovation fund and the sector deals for artificial intelligence, life sciences and construction– areas where we hold particular expertise across the length and breadth of Wales.
This is the start of an exciting, long-term partnership with industry, academia, civil society and business. Together, we can make Wales a world leader in the areas we choose to compete in and play a key role in driving productivity and prosperity across the whole of the UK.
Our new, ambitious Industrial Strategy will build on the UK’s strengths, boost productivity and earning power and will ensure we are one of the most competitive places in the world to start and grow a business.
We recognise no two economies within the UK are the same – for Wales, strengths include aerospace, agriculture and food and drink. But we also recognise that our Industrial Strategy is not something that is done to business, it is done with, and indeed, by business. This strategy is about firms from across the UK coming together and working with government to build a better, more productive UK economy – fit for the future.
Wales is world renowned for its steel industry and the UK has a good track record in steel innovation based on both strong industrial heritage and outstanding research and development and the Steel Science Centre forms part of the £1.3bn Swansea Bay City Region Deal.
The government has been working closely with the steel industry to map the current capability of the sector and discuss a series of proposals developed since the publication of Building our Industrial Strategy. The government will aim to identify opportunities for steel markets and build on these innovation assets across the UK and will continue to engage with industry, as well as with the unions, the devolved administrations and other partners to develop a commercially sustainable proposition in a competitive global market.
Link: Press release: Wales to get boost from UK Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy
Source: Gov Press Releases
Metro Options Limited (Metro Options) was wound up by the Manchester District Registry on 13 November 2017.
The compant traded from the website www.metrooptions.com between July 2015 to December 2016, after which time the company was abandoned, with the website not being accessible thereafter.
The website and company sales representatives offered members of the public the opportunity to conduct binary options trading, which is a form of fixed-odds betting on movements in financial markets. The website made various investment return claims, none of which were founded, including:
Those customers who contacted the police, via Action Fraud, complained that they were unable to obtain any refunds of deposits or supposed investment returns, and that the company effectively ceased to communicate with them after requests for refunds or investment returns were made. Those parties reported losses of £350,000. Customers had been requested to pay their monies into at least eight known bank accounts, none of those which were company bank accounts.
Metro Options also falsely claimed to have had an established trading presence at its Canary Wharf registered office, at 5 Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9GE. In fact the company had never had any registered office presence at that location, a matter that HH Judge Bird found to be a serious deficiency in its own right during the winding up hearing.
The initial director of the company, Kyle Snoxell, who resigned as a director on the same day as his appointment (on 29 June 2015) informed investigators that although he was involved in the setting up of the company, he decided at that time that upfront costs and problems encountered with an unnamed Bulgarian based company who were to provide technology and support services, were a barrier to continue with the company. A Miklos Attila was appointed company director on the day Mr Snoxell resigned. Mr Attila could not be traced by the investigators.
Cheryl Lambert, a Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
The Insolvency Service will take action against companies that make unfounded and misleading statements in order to induce members of the public to invest money.
Metro Options Limited (Company number 09661759) was incorporated on 29 June 2015. Its registered office is at 5 Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9GE, a multi occupancy building. The building services operator for 5 Harbour Exchange have no record of that company or any of its officers having had any presence at that location.
The petition to wind up the company was presented in the Manchester District Registry on 15 September 2017, under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended.
All enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London, SW1P 2HT. Telephone: 0207 637 1110, Email: piu.or@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.
Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Further information about live company investigations is available.
The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.
Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.
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Link: Press release: Insolvency Service investigation leads to another binary options company being shut down
Source: Gov Press Releases
At around 01:03 hrs on the morning of Tuesday 28 February 2017, a passenger train travelling towards London Euston station nearly struck a track worker in the vicinity of Camden Junction South. The train was travelling at about 47 mph (76 km/h) at the time and the track worker managed to get clear of the line before the train passed him. About four minutes later, the same train was involved in another near miss with a second track worker some 510 metres further up the line towards London. In this case, the track worker was unable to get clear of the line, but the train stopped just before reaching him. There was no injury or significant delay as a consequence of the incidents.
The incidents occurred because the signaller authorised track workers to go onto a line over which he had just routed a train, having overlooked the fact that engineering work was taking place on that line. This was caused by a loss of information during the processes for implementing the engineering work. In turn, this was due to the layout and formatting of documentation associated with the work, as well as the nature and implementation of local processes at the signalling centre. The signaller was also possibly affected by fatigue, and the RAIB observed that, although not causal to the incidents, Network Rail’s management of fatigue risk for signallers is not in accordance with current good practice.
One underlying factor was associated with processes and methods for managing and communicating information regarding engineering work in modern, multi-panel signalling centres. A second was that the processes for setting up such work still require people to be present on track, exposing them to risk in the transition period before protection is fully implemented.
The RAIB has made three recommendations and identified two learning points. The recommendations are all addressed to Network Rail and concern improved processes and documentation for supporting the implementation of engineering work, and reducing the exposure of track workers to risk arising from the need to be on the track. The learning points highlight the need for safety-critical staff to be appropriately prepared and fit for duty, and for track workers to be alert to the risks on the railway, even when they believe that they are working under protection.
Link: Press release: Report 16/2017: Track worker near miss incidents at Camden Junction South
Source: Gov Press Releases
