Day: November 2, 2018

As part of the government’s ongoing drive to clean up our seas, new proposals launched today (2 November 2018) will cut red tape and make it easier for divers to remove litter from the seabed.

Until now, a marine licence may be required for divers who retrieve litter or abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear – known as ‘ghost gear’ – during the course of a dive.

Now, in a consultation launched today by Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey, divers will be exempt from the current requirement to have a marine licence – streamlining the existing regime and helping to tackle the 640,000 tonnes of ghost gear lost in our oceans each year.

The consultation also brings clarity to boat users who do not require a licence to collect litter or ghost gear from the ocean’s surface.

Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said:

Diving communities play an important role in protecting our marine environment and tackling the litter and ghost gear that blights our oceans.

We want to make it easier for divers and other sea users to play their part, which is why we are looking at how we can cut red tape while still maintaining the highest protections for our precious marine life.

The proposals to tackle marine litter form part of a wider consultation on changes to the marine licensing system, designed to simplify the current rules and reduce unnecessary burdens on divers.

Existing marine licencing rules were introduced in 2011 to ensure activities such as construction and dredging are only permitted when they have taken into account environmental impact.

However, in recognition of the environmental benefits that marine litter retrieval can bring, the licensing rules have now been reviewed to allow divers to use equipment such as a lifting bag, a vessel or an aircraft to remove marine litter – while ensuring they still uphold the highest protections for habitats, protected species and items of archaeological or historical interest.

Chair of the British Sub-Aqua Club Alex Warzynski said:

As divers we see first-hand the damage to the marine environment done by abandoned and lost fishing gear along with other marine litter, and anything that Defra can do to make it easy for divers to clean up without fear of doing the wrong thing will help.

The new proposals will also allow harbour authorities to remove all marine litter as previously they have only been able to remove objects that present an immediate risk of obstruction or danger to navigation.

The UK Government joined the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) in 2017, a consortium founded by World Animal Protection to collectively address the fishing litter issue.

Today’s announcement is the latest step in the government’s ongoing plan to tackle marine litter in our oceans. This includes a world-leading ban on microbeads which harm marine life, and plans to ban the sale of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds and introduce a deposit return scheme to drive up the recycling of drinks bottles and cans, subject to consultation.

The government also launched the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance (CCOA) earlier this year which has seen member states join together in the fight against plastic pollution.

As one part of CCOA, the Commonwealth Litter programme will support six countries across the Commonwealth to develop their own national litter action plans focusing on plastics entering the oceans.

The consultation opens on 2 November and runs for 6 weeks.

The signing of the Parliamentary Order by Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry last night (1 November 2018) formally confirmed the ground-breaking North of Tyne deal – an unprecedented transfer of devolved power and investment funding from Westminster to the North East.

Encompassing the area north of the Tyne river, the deal includes the 3 North of Tyne authorities – Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

Expected to generate £1.1 billion for the local economy, 10,000 new jobs, and drive over £2.1 billion in private sector investment, the landmark deal will provide a major economic boost for a key region within the Northern Powerhouse. It also includes:

• Over £600 million of government funding (£20 million a year for 30 years) to drive forward investment in digital skills, science and rural growth.
• The creation of a new North of Tyne Combined Authority and a directly-elected North of Tyne Mayor with the election planned for May 2019.
• A new Inclusive Growth Board to take forward skills and employment reforms across the area, including a pioneering North of Tyne Education Improvement Challenge to drive excellence in schools across North of Tyne.

Northern Powerhouse Minister, Jake Berry MP, said:

This deal represents over £600 million of investment into the North of Tyne and a landmark moment for devolution in the Northern Powerhouse with a new, directly elected mayor who will be a strong champion for the region.

The North of Tyne devolution deal is further proof that we’re witnessing a new golden era for the North East as the combined authority uses this unprecedented investment to improve public services, create new jobs and new economic opportunities.

We’re transferring funding and decision making away from Westminster and placing them directly into the hands of local people, allowing them to have a real say over their future.

The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Robert Jenrick MP, said:

The creation today of the North of Tyne Combined Authority is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work by local leaders.

The deal delivers £600 million of new government investment for the region over the next 30 years to fund key local priorities.

This move will put more power into the hands of local communities, with the people of Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland voting next May for a new directly-elected mayor to lead this vital work.

Councillor Nick Forbes, Leader of Newcastle City Council, said:

Today marks a significant day in the north’s devolution journey. We’ve begun the work of uniting behind a single voice and taking control of our future.

We still have much more to do in bringing further powers and decision making back to people here, but this devolution deal marks a big step forward in our plans to create more and better jobs across Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

Now we need to get on with the task at hand, investing in our region and showing the nation and beyond why this is such a great place to live, work and visit.

North Tyneside’s Elected Mayor, Norma Redfearn CBE, said:

This is a historic day for the region. The North of Tyne area already boasts one of the fastest growing economies and job rates anywhere in the UK and this will offer us greater opportunities to grow and develop.

We have shown that we are big enough and bold enough to carve our own destiny and devolution puts us in a very strong position to build on our strengths and achieve great things for all of our businesses and residents long into the future.

Councillor Peter Jackson, Leader of Northumberland County Council, said:

So much work has gone into securing the best deal for the North of Tyne and I’m delighted we can now move forward with the real business of driving the region’s economic growth.

We’re working on a number of exciting and transformative schemes which will benefit millions of people in the region now, as well as future generations, and we are all excited by the opportunities that lie ahead.

An inaugural cabinet meeting at Morpeth Town Hall will assign cabinet roles and responsibilities, set the budget for 2018 to 2019, and agree a timetable for the selection of an interim mayor to support the North of Tyne Combined Authority ahead of an election in May 2019.

The cabinet will also sign-off the North of Tyne’s economic vision, titled Home of Ambition, a statement which will underpin and guide the authority’s ambitions and investment priorities for years to come.

Further information

At Budget 2017, following Cabinet agreement, the government announced it was ‘minded to’ agree a devolution deal with the 3 councils north of the Tyne (Newcastle City Council, North Tyneside Council and Northumberland County Council) providing a mayoral combined authority was established and the councils took the statutory steps for the proposed devolution of powers.

The Parliamentary Order for the North of Tyne Devolution Deal was laid on the 24 July 2018. The approval of the North of Tyne motion in the House of Lords on Thursday (1 November) and the signing of the order by Northern Powerhouse Minister, Jake Berry MP, preceded the creation of the new North of Tyne Combined Authority.

The Combined Authority will have wide-ranging powers including control over housing policy – a policy area in which the 3 councils have already made significant progress. The new North of Tyne Housing and Land Board, chaired by Sir Edward Lister, held its inaugural meeting on Friday 6 July in Newcastle to discuss how to rapidly accelerating house-building in the North of Tyne. The 3 North of Tyne councils committed to an increase in a rate of delivery from 1,800 to 3,000 new homes per year up to 2032, helping to provide much-needed homes more quickly.

The decision to launch a statutory consultation follows a review by the Adjudicator, Paul Newby and Fiona Dickie, Deputy Pubs Code Adjudicator over how pub companies regulated by the Pubs Code disclose the quantity of alcohol on which duty has been paid and how they calculate the saleable volume of draught products supplied under their tied agreements. These calculations can affect both achievable turnover and expected profit margins, and they are therefore important factors for tenants when considering the fairness of their tied rent.

The consultation, which will run until 11 January 2019, sets out proposed guidance in relation to pub companies’ statutory obligations to accurately account when proposing a new tied rent for both the duty paid on alcohol that will be supplied under the tenancy and the volume of draught beer and cider that will be saleable after allowing for waste. In particular, the PCA will be expecting pub companies to account for sediment and operational waste separately.

Paul Newby said: “This issue of compliance has been discussed at length with the pub companies and the PCA’s approach will not come as a surprise. Fiona Dickie and I have decided to launch a consultation because these cover complex and technical areas of the Pubs Code and we want to ensure that all industry stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on what we are proposing.”

Fiona Dickie said: “Historically, all pub companies have dealt with waste in different ways. The Pubs Code requires them to give tied tenants a clear explanation of how waste is calculated, and this consultation sets out our proposals for delivering fairness for tenants by ensuring greater consistency and transparency in the way these calculations are set out.”

The consultation also sets out proposed guidance on how the PCA will expect pub companies to ensure that all their tied tenants have access to training on cellar management and dispensing best practice, as well as to ongoing cellar management support, so that they can realise the levels of business on which their rent is based.

Business Development Managers employed by the regulated pub companies should also be trained to understand and explain to tenants how waste has been calculated.

The PCA is working towards publishing statutory guidance for the industry during Spring of next year.

Note to editors:

The detailed consultation can be read here where responses can be submitted online.
Or responses can be sent to:

Email: office@pubscodeadjudicator.gov.uk

Essex and London Properties Limited (ELP), was incorporated on 15 April 2005, with a registered office in Sidcup, Kent.

The company claimed to purchase properties with the intention of selling them on at a profit or getting rental income for investors.

Potential investors were approached directly or via intermediary platforms, who received 35% of the invested amounts and offered partnerships in a Limited Partnership scheme.

Investors were enticed to invest by offers of an 8% annual return paid quarterly if the money was held for three years or 12% if the money was held for one year.

Over an 18-month period, more than 800 people invested in the company anywhere between £5,000 to over £100,000. Essex Police, which has an ongoing investigation, calculates that to date, £18.9m has been obtained from creditors and investors.

The reality was that ELP only purchased a single property; a house in Harwich for £147,000 which is less than 1% of the overall amount of money collected from investors.

Despite this insignificant ‘property investment’, the company gave information to investors claiming it had purchased numerous properties that had rapidly increased in value and falsified Land Registry documents showing the company owned more property than it did.

Investors made payments through a number of escrow agencies. Insolvency Service investigators examined the income and expenditure of statements made by one of these agencies and found that existing investors received their interest payments, not from any meaningful return on their investment but from payments made by new investors. The company was in essence operating a Ponzi scheme.

As a result of the investigation by Company Investigations of the Insolvency Service, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy issued the petition to wind up the company.

On 27 September 2018, the High Court heard the petition against the company which was unopposed and ordered the company into liquidation.

During the investigation, investors were approached by various recovery room businesses offering to recover the amounts, possibly in excess of the initial sums invested, in exchange of an advance fee. One business falsely claimed to be authorised by the Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service.

Any approach in this way to investors should be ignored. Only communications from the Official Receiver, whose details are listed below, should be responded to. The Official Receiver has not authorised any third party to act on his behalf, especially in regards to recovering investor’s losses.

In January 2018, the company placed itself into voluntary liquidation, claiming to have debts of over £11 million. The creditors, comprised mainly of the investors in the company, initially approved of the liquidation but later supported the Secretary of State’s petition.

Judge Barber as part of her judgement said that on the evidence, this was a case “crying out for a public interest winding up”.

David Hill, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service said:

The company persuaded members of the public to part with substantial sums of money to invest in property. Only one property was purchased and the money raised from the public in reality was used to benefit those running the company.

As so often is the case, if an investment scheme appears to be too good to be true, it probably is.
There is an ongoing investigation into those individuals controlling Essex and London Properties Limited by Essex Police, who are liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service with a view to prosecuting a number of suspects.

All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to: Paul Warner, Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London SW1P 2HT or PIU.OR@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.

All criminal enquiries concerning the company should be addressed to Essex Police at Essex Police Headquarters, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 6DA or operation.grapevine.essex.and.london@essex.pnn.police.uk

Notes to editors

The registered office of Essex and London Properties Limited is 142-148 Main Road, Sidcup, Kent, DA14 6NZ. It was incorporated on 15 April 2005.

The petition was presented under s124A of the Insolvency Act 1986.

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 & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Further information about live company investigations is available here.

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 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.

Contact Press Office

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

• Twitter
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David Cooper, 55, from Blyth, Northumberland, was a director of CFM Transport Ltd (CFMT), based in Chester Le Street, Tyne and Wear.

Mr Cooper was a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) mechanic and driver for around 30 years before seeing an opportunity to move into the road haulage business, incorporated CFMT and began trading in 2011.

The business grew and expanded into European markets and on advice, set up two further companies, CFM Cargo Logistics Ltd and CFM Continental Ltd.

In early 2015, however, one of the company’s vehicles was involved in an accident abroad and while waiting for the insurance claim to be settled and the companies’ petroleum tax refund entitlements, Mr Cooper submitted false VAT claims in order to keep the companies afloat.

Mr Cooper’s wrongdoing was discovered and with the prospect of criminal proceedings for tax-related fraud, he opted to cease trading.

Following the end of the liquidation process, the Insolvency Service looked in to Mr Cooper’s role in the collapse of the companies. Those investigations revealed that Mr Cooper had knowingly created and submitted false returns in order to claim VAT to which the company was not entitled.

On 8 October, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from David Cooper, after he admitted knowingly creating and submitting false returns to reclaim Value Added Tax to which the company was not entitled. His ban is effective from 29 October 2018 and lasts for 11 years.

Robert Clarke, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, commented:

The public can be assured that where there have been abuses of public finance provisions which result in losses of this type, the Insolvency Service will investigate the conduct of the parties involved and take action to remove the privilege of limited liability trading for a lengthy period.

Directors have a firm duty to ensure they deal properly with tax matters and pay what is due. Mr Cooper has paid the price for failing to do that, as he cannot now carry on in business other than at his own risk.

In a separate investigation, Mr Cooper was convicted of “being knowingly concerned in fraudulent evasion of VAT”, totalling £148,228 and on 15 June 2017 he was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months.

Notes to editors

David Cooper is of Blyth, Northumberland and his date of birth is June 1963.

CFM Transport (Company Reg no: 07828520)

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

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.

Contact Press Office

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube