Day: August 29, 2018

As the UK leaves the European Union, the City of London will play an even greater role in financing the fastest-growing economies across Africa and the world, the Prime Minister will say today in Nigeria.

She will visit securities exchange company FMDQ in Lagos which is playing a central role in developing, driving and diversifying Nigeria’s booming financial market.

UK-Nigeria trade was worth £4.2 billion last year and British companies including British Airways, GSK, Shell, Diageo, Unilever and Standard Chartered have successful and long-established operations in Nigeria, many of which date back to the 1930s.

111 African companies have already come to the UK to list on the London Stock Exchange, to raise money in one of the world’s leading financial centres. Today Theresa May will welcome the commitment from manufacturer Dangote Cement to list on the LSE as she meets Chairman Aliko Dangote.

Also today, oil and gas company Seplat Petroleum is committing to list its $350 million eurobond programme on the London Stock Exchange.

To encourage even deeper collaboration on capital markets between London and Lagos, the Prime Minister will also announce the launch of a new initiative to further support Nigeria’s capital markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Britain is a leading global hub for FinTech which contributes over £5 billion to the UK economy every year and Lagos is at the forefront of FinTech innovation in Africa. The first UK-Africa FinTech partnership will use the UK’s unique expertise to support African entrepreneurs, improve access to financial services for consumers and encourage new investment.

Nigerian entrepreneurs will be connected with UK FinTech investors and business mentors to get the finance and advice they need to start and grow their companies, while a dedicated fund worth up to £2 million will support Nigerian innovators as they turn their ideas into successful businesses.

To support African entrepreneurs and help British companies enter this rapidly expanding market the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will work with regulators in Africa to share the UK’s successful experience of developing regulation and policies that encourage innovation and protect consumers. The FCA will also explore new mechanisms to help financial innovators try out new ideas.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Already the finance and business links between Lagos and London are bringing enormous benefits to businesses and people in the UK and in Nigeria and today’s announcements deepen this burgeoning partnership even further.

London is a world leading financial centre and as the UK leaves the European Union, it will play an even greater role in financing the fastest-growing economies across Africa and the world

While in Lagos the Prime Minister will also announce:

• the launch of a 12 month skill sharing programme – Legal Services are GREAT – which will see UK legal professionals working with their Nigerian counterparts to support and build the country’s legal industry, sharing knowledge, skills and experience in areas such as infrastructure and science, and providing advice on issues like cross-border transactions. The UK legal system’s reputation for transparency, certainty and predictability will help increase investor confidence in Nigeria’s business environment while creating new business opportunities for UK law firms and chambers
• the creation of new Innovation Partnerships in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, bringing together British and African expertise to address global challenges and provide tailored support to businesses across the continent to help them connect, grow and trade
• a new programme to help innovative companies in northern Nigeria attract investment and scale up their businesses – helping 3 million people earn more money and creating 100,000 new jobs – almost half of which will go to women

The UK Government is supporting trade between the two countries, including with up to £750 million available for British businesses who want to export to Nigeria through UK Export Finance.

• British expertise to help small UK and African energy businesses grow
• Two thirds of sub-Saharan African population has no access to electricity

UK aid is supporting the growth of innovative solar technology companies which are providing clean energy to off-grid households in Africa, Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin announced today (Wednesday 29th August) as she accompanied the Prime Minister on a visit to Nigeria. This will improve the lives of over 11 million people while boosting UK business opportunities.

Approximately two-thirds of the population across sub-Saharan Africa have no access to electricity. Innovative off-grid technology such as pay-as-you-go household solar systems can provide this much-needed modern energy.

This technology empowers women by reducing their need to travel for energy, helps children study in the evening, boosts small businesses which can operate more efficiently with reliable power, and reduces the need to use dangerous, polluting fuel sources such as kerosene.

To boost opportunities for businesses in this growing market, UK aid, through the Department for International Development, is:

• supporting early stage businesses in Africa to design innovative household solar technologies and break into new markets through the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund. This programme will help up to 1.5 million poor people in sub-Saharan Africa access clean, affordable modern energy by 2022, with a focus on women and children;
• using British expertise to help governments break down barriers to the growth of solar companies in Africa and lay the groundwork in 14 partner sub-Saharan African countries for innovative solar companies to grow, increasing access to modern, clean energy for 10 million people; and
• scaling up its support to the Energise Africa impact investment platform, to help 1,500 new UK small investors provide the critical finance needed to connect 125,000 more African people to affordable, reliable and clean solar energy.

Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin said:

Africa’s solar industry is vibrant and exciting, full of potential to transform the lives of millions of people who are still living off the grid.

By sharing British expertise we’re allowing this industry to flourish, helping the poorest to access clean, sustainable energy, while also opening up opportunities for UK business and investment. This is a win for African countries and a win for the UK.

The innovative solar sector is vibrant and booming in some areas of Africa, but the growth of companies is often restricted by market barriers such as a lack of access to finance and business support, high tariffs on essential components, lack of infrastructure for mobile payments, and lack of appropriate disposal facilities.

Enabling these companies to grow is not only benefitting some of the poorest households with life-changing access to energy, but creating jobs and boosting local economies to trigger long-term sustainable economic development.

Strengthening the solar market in Africa is opening up opportunities for the UK’s own pioneering solar industry to access the untapped potential offered by African markets. Proven examples of this include Sollatek, a Slough-based firm which, working in partnership in Africa and with investment via Energise Africa, has become one of the leading providers of specialist solar electronic equipment in East Africa.

Notes to Editors

• A new round of the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF, £16 million) is being launched, providing grants, loans and business development support to small businesses creating innovative household solar products and appliances in five sub-Saharan African countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Somalia, Senegal and Ethiopia).
• This will help up to 1.5 million poor people in sub-Saharan Africa access clean, affordable modern energy by 2022, with a focus on women and children.
• Support to DFID’s Clean Energy Technical Assistance Facility (£15.5 million) will work across 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria and Kenya, to create a regulatory environment in which solar companies can flourish, increasing access to modern energy for 10 million poor people, with a focus on women and children.
• An additional £1.6 million of capital to the Energise Africa platform will work alongside partners such as Virgin Unite to crowd investment from 1,500 new small UK investors, and connect at least 125,000 more people to clean, reliable energy – allowing the programme to reach a total of 325,000 people.
• In addition to household systems, the programme will also help provide power to schools, hospitals, and farmers – boosting vital services and economies. The funding can be returned and used over and again, which means its impact will grow further for many years to come, maximising value for money for the UK taxpayer.
• Energise Africa to date has raised £4.8 million from 1,000 investors to help more than 195,000 people in Arica access affordable solar energy.

In 2016, Peppino Fiori was jailed for 12 months for the importation and sale of dangerous steroids and unlicensed erectile dysfunction medicines from his home address in Surrey.

Following a further investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, it was discovered that Fiori continued to import and possess with intent to sell, unlicensed drugs, coordinating his illegal business from a rented storage unit whilst on bail.

Despite receiving numerous warnings from MHRA as early as 2013, Fiori chose to ignore these and was sentenced again last week to 12 months immediate custody for reoffending.
This man’s illegal activity posed a serious health risk to the public. These medicines are potent and can cause serious side effects.

Approximately 60,640 doses of unlicensed medicine were seized including 2,200 doses of generic Tramadol, a powerful class C drug. It is thought that Fiori’s hoard was valued at more than £60,000.

MHRA Head of Enforcement, Alastair Jeffrey, said:

Selling medicines outside of the regulated supply chain is a serious criminal offence. These criminals are motivated by greed and have no concern about your safety or welfare.

Unlicensed medicines can be dangerous as their contents are unknown and untested. Chances are they simply will not work, but they may contain dangerous ingredients. The consequences for your health can be devastating.

If you need advice or treatment for a condition, visit your GP. Make sure you obtain medical products from legitimate high street outlets or online retailers displaying the distance selling logo.

MHRA is currently running the #FakeMeds campaign to warn people against buying potentially dangerous or useless unlicensed medicines sold by illegal online suppliers. Visit www.gov.uk/fakemeds for tips on buying medicines safely online and how to avoid unscrupulous sites.

• a former director of an employment agency sentenced today in a Bristol court must pay compensation to 2 workers and fines totalling £5,154 after a government prosecution and has been banned from being a director for 5 years
• the former director of Cotterell and Gifford employment agency pleaded guilty to 4 charges including withholding wages and failing to give information to workers
• the prosecution comes after the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate launched an investigation based on a worker complaint

A director has been ordered to pay wages and expenses totalling £5,145 at a hearing at Bristol Magistrates’ Court today (29 August 2018). The prosecution comes after an investigation by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate – a government body that enforces rights on behalf of agency workers.

National Recruitment Limited, trading as Cotterell and Gifford, withheld wages to 2 workers for work they did in December 2015 and February 2016. The director was also guilty of failing to provide the right information to his workers when they started their jobs. He has been disqualified from being a director for 5 years.

Kelly Tolhurst, Small Business Minister, said:

Workers deserve to be paid for the work they do. We take complaints from workers seriously and will take action against employers that wilfully ignores the law and exploits workers.

We’re going further to enhance and protect the rights of all workers. In our Good Work plan we have set out new plans to make agency workers more aware of their rights and give them the right to request a more predictable contract.

The government has recently consulted through the Good Work plan on how best to deliver on its commitment to:

• provide all 1.2 million agency workers with a clear breakdown of who pays them and any costs or charges deducted from their wages
• consider repealing laws allowing agencies to employ workers on cheaper rates
• enforce vulnerable workers’ holiday and sick pay for the first time
• give workers a list of day-one rights including holiday and sick pay entitlements
• introduce a new right for all workers to request a more stable contract to provide greater financial security for those on flexible contracts
• introduce a new naming scheme for employers who fail to pay employment tribunal awards to quadruple employment tribunal fines for employers showing malice, spite or gross oversight to £20,000 and considering increasing penalties for employers who have previously lost similar cases

Anyone with a complaint or query about an employment agency or about the law applying to agencies should contact the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate by email at eas@beis.gov.uk, by the online form on GOV.UK – or contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100.

Notes for editors

1. The Insolvency Service brought charges against Nicholas Brown on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy under regulation 12 and regulation 14 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (as amended) and Section 5(2) of the Employment Agencies Act 1973 (as amended).
2. It is a criminal offence for an employment business to withhold from a work-seeker any payment due to that work-seeker for work that they have carried out whilst supplied to a hirer by the employment business.
3. Information about the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the regulations can be accessed through GOV.UK.

More children than ever before are now living with a working adult, new data from April to June shows, as the number of UK households without a regular income from work fell to 1.27 million – a record low.

As the UK employment rate rose to 75.6% in the 3 months to June, the number of households where no one earns a regular wage fell by 964,000 since 2010.

An all-time high of around 9 in 10 children now live in a home where at least one adult works, taking tens of thousands of children out of poverty as the number of children in workless households fell by 29,000 in the last year.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey has said:

One of the best ways to tackle poverty and give children a better chance in life, is to have a working adult in the house. It gives them a role-model to learn from and brings financial security to the home.

Since 2010 1.45 million more children now live in a household where all the adults work. 75% of children from workless families moved out of poverty when their parents entered into full-time work. Since 2010, we’ve seen 300,000 fewer children living in absolute poverty.

Getting a job means more than just a wage, it’s a way out of poverty and welfare dependency.

The government is committed to building a stronger, fairer economy that works for everyone. Since 2010 an average of 1,000 people have gained work every day, supporting people from every part of the UK and every section of society to take control of their lives and build themselves a better future.

Today’s data follows new research this month from the Resolution Foundation which found that the majority of new jobs created since 2008/2009 were taken by the poorest third of UK households.

As more households now benefit from work, there are now one million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared with 2010, including 300,000 fewer children.

The government is committed to building a stronger, fairer economy and that is why we are improving the welfare system through Universal Credit, helping people stay in work longer through the Fuller Working Lives strategy and tackling inequalities in employment as highlighted by the Race Disparity Audit.

More about the statistics

The number of children in households with all adults in work has increased by 177,000 in the last year.

Since 2010 there are 1.45 million more children living in a home with all adults in work.

637,000 fewer children are living in workless households since 2010.

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The firms – Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play – have formally agreed to remove terms and conditions which stopped players getting hold of their own money in one go.

With growing numbers of people choosing to play games and gamble online, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating the £4.9billion sector after finding that a number of firms use unfair practices and terms and conditions.

Until now, players using Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play could be made to withdraw their money in instalments over an extended period, which could lead some to gamble again where they might otherwise make a withdrawal.

The companies have also agreed to stop using unfair terms which meant they could confiscate money from players’ accounts because they had not logged in for a certain amount of time.

In addition, Progress Play has agreed not to confiscate players’ money if they do not meet their identity check rules within a specific timeframe. Whilst companies need to be able to make appropriate and proportionate identity checks to help prevent money laundering and fraud, they cannot justify confiscating someone’s money simply because they do not provide information within a specific time frame.

The CMA has been working in collaboration with the sector regulator, the Gambling Commission, to improve terms and conditions for players online and to help ensure firms do not break consumer protection law.

The changes being made by these companies today are supported by the Gambling Commission, which expects firms across the sector to apply the same standards to make online gambling fairer for players. Firms that do not make any necessary changes to their terms may face regulatory action.

George Lusty, Senior Director for Consumer Protection at the CMA, said:

People choosing to gamble online should be able to walk away with their own money whenever they want to.

Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play are the first to commit to scrap their unfair withdrawal rules, but we expect companies across the sector to follow suit so no-one gets caught out with unfair terms and conditions when gambling online.

Paul Hope, Executive Director, Gambling Commission said:

We support the outcome of the CMA’s investigation, and we’re pleased that both of the operators involved have committed to making changes that will make it fairer and simpler for customers to withdraw funds from their online gambling accounts.

Gambling firms should not be placing unreasonable restrictions on when and how consumers can take money out of their accounts.

We now expect all online operators to review the findings published by the CMA today and ensure they update their own practices.

Notes for editors

1. The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law.
2. The companies which have provided undertakings are; Progress Play Limited, Jumpman Gaming Limited.
3. The key pieces of consumer protection legislation relevant to the CMA’s investigation are the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA). The CPRs prohibit certain unfair commercial practices – in particular misleading acts or omissions, but also behaviour that is contrary to the requirements of professional diligence. Amongst other things, the CRA prohibits unfair contract terms in consumer contracts and requires that terms be transparent.
4. The CMA opened an investigation into the gambling sector’s compliance with consumer protection law in October 2016 after hearing about a range of concerns that suggested some operators were not treating their customers fairly.
5. This investigation led to the CMA announcing in June 2017 a new line of enquiry to look further into obstacles that people face when they try to withdraw their money after depositing funds and gaming or betting online (whether as part of a promotion or not).
6. The provision of these formal commitments (‘undertakings’) by the two operators is not an admission of a breach of the law. Nor does the CMA’s view amount to a binding ruling – ultimately only a court can rule that a particular term or practice infringes the law.
7. The CMA acknowledges the cooperation of Progress Play Limited and Jumpman Gaming Limited throughout the investigation.
8. The Gambling Commission reports that in 2016-17 the online gambling sector was worth £4.9 billion (Gross Gambling Yield) and accounted for 34% of all gambling. It also reports that there are over 28 million active accounts for licensed facilities in Great Britain and that just over 9 million people had gambled online in the 4 weeks up to 30 September 2017.
9. The CMA has produced a ‘60-second summary’ to help all gambling operators review their practices and ensure their terms and conditions are in line with consumer protection law. It has also produced ‘advice for gamblers’ and a short video guide for consumers.
10. If you are a member of the public with a query please email general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk or call 02037376000.
11. Media enquiries to the CMA should be directed to press@cma.gov.uk or 020 3738 6798. Media enquiries to the Gambling Commission should be directed to Nikita Jan njan@gamblingcommission.gov.uk or 0121 230 6700.