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Sunil Kumar Ralhan (37) appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on 5 October 2018 and in addition to the court-ordered disqualification for 7 years, the company director received a 9-month prison sentence.

The court heard that Sunil Ralhan was the sole director of Travelogue Ltd from November 2014, having bought the travel agency from its former director.

However, the company was placed in liquidation in May 2015 after it failed to recover payments from travel agents based abroad who had bought tickets through Travelogue. The travel agency was later dissolved in February 2017.

Independent insolvency practitioners were appointed to take charge of liquidating the company but Sunil Ralhan had failed to keep adequate accounting records, while also failing to share them with the insolvency practitioners and later, investigators from the Insolvency Service.

Failure to deliver information requested by the liquidator while winding up a company is evidence of misconduct and in Sunil Ralhan’s case, it would have helped explain a deficiency in the liquidation of close to £380,000 that was owed primarily to a single creditor of Travelogue.

Glenn Wicks, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

“As the director of the company, albeit on behalf of others, this man was responsible for keeping books and records. By not providing them he covered up what was almost certainly a fraud and that is why he received this imprisonment.”

At an earlier hearing, Sunil Ralhan accepted that he failed to keep accounting records that were sufficient to show and explain the transactions of the company.

Notes to editors

Sunil Ralhan is from Birmingham and was born in August 1981.

Travelogue Limited (company no. 07705471) was incorporated on 14 July 2011.

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

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 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

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Today (Thursday, 25 October), the Prime Minister has confirmed the appointments of Lord Bew as Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and Lord Evans of Weardale as the Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

The appointments follow open recruitment exercises, including pre-appointment scrutiny by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Lord Bew

Lord Bew is the current Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Professor of Irish Politics at Queen’s University Belfast and former historical adviser to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. He was appointed as a crossbench peer in 2007 following his contributions to the Belfast Agreement.

The Minister for Implementation, Oliver Dowden MP, welcomed Lord Bew’s appointment:

Lord Bew has demonstrated his dedication to ensuring diversity in appointments in his post as Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. I welcome his clear commitment to the principle that the membership of the House of Lords should better reflect the nation.

The Minister also took the opportunity to thank Lord Bew’s predecessor, Lord Kakkar:

Lord Kakkar’s steady handling of the Commission has been vital to the continued integrity of the appointments process. His advice and approach have been hugely valued.

The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) has two main functions:

• to recommend individuals for appointment as non-party-political life peers
• to vet nominations for life peers, including those nominated by the UK political parties, to ensure the highest standards of propriety

The Commission’s Chair is appointed for a non-renewable, five-year term of office. More information about the Commission can be found on the House of Lords Appointments Commission website.

Lord Evans of Weardale

Lord Evans of Weardale is the new Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, to fill the position left vacant by Lord Bew. Lord Evans spent 33 years in the UK Security Service, six as Director General, when he was a senior advisor to the UK government on national security policy and a member of the Prime Minister’s National Security Council. Lord Evans was appointed as a crossbench peer for his contribution to public service in 2014.

Minister Dowden also welcomed Lord Evans’ appointment:

The Committee on Standards in Public Life contributes to the maintenance of the diversity, integrity, and vibrancy of representative democracy in the UK. Lord Evans has demonstrated all the skills necessary for this sensitive post, including the highest integrity and an understanding of the issues of standards in public life.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life is an advisory non-departmental public body. Its purpose is to examine areas of concern about the standards of conduct of public office holders, advise the Prime Minister accordingly, and to promote the highest standards of conduct in public life. More information about the Committee can be found on the Committee on Standards in Public Life GOV.UK page.

The Committee has eight members:

• a chair and four independent members are appointed by the Prime Minister, following open competition for a non-renewable, five year term of office
• three members are appointed on the recommendation of the leaders of the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats

Both roles were advertised on the Centre for Public Appointments website, which sets out further details of the appointments.

Public Health England (PHE) has launched a new return on investment (ROI) tool to help local commissioners decide the best approach to preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD) within their populations.

CVD costs the NHS £7.4 billion each year and is one of the leading causes of death and disability in England, with deprived communities at greatest risk. Reducing the burden of CVD on local populations is an important step to helping people stay in work, boosting the local economy and lowering the future demand on health and social care settings.

The majority of CVD is preventable through identifying and managing risk earlier. The ROI tool shows the health and cost impacts of using different interventions to treat people at high risk of CVD, helping commissioners decide how their budget is best spent to improve local health outcomes. It also shows the effectiveness of different approaches to detecting and managing people with high risk conditions.

Professor Jamie Waterall, National Lead for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Public Health England, said:

We’re seeing the number of people with long-term conditions, such as diabetes, continue to rise which means prevention should be high on the agenda for the NHS. That is why this new tool is hugely useful in helping decision-makers make better choices about CVD prevention, based on the best evidence of what works. It will help commissioners plan effective CVD prevention strategies and make the most of their budgets to help more people live healthier, longer lives.

The ROI tool is the latest from PHE’s health economists underlining why investment in prevention is important to both the long term health of the population and the long term sustainability of the NHS. Assessments can be made at national, local authority, clinical commissioning group, or sustainability and transformation partnerships level.

Publication of the ROI tool coincides with a new Global Burden of Disease study highlighting the importance of national and local policies targeting prevention to tackle premature mortality. The study supports calls for renewed efforts to run systematic programmes to reduce chronic disease risk factors, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The ROI tool lets users see predicted impacts of different interventions in terms of costs saved and the number of CVD events and premature deaths prevented. Analysis shows that optimising the use of statins and hypertensives could bring some of the most considerable cost-savings. The tool also highlights the importance of identifying risk earlier, with the earlier identification of diabetes predicted to provide the highest long-term benefits in terms of CVD events prevented and costs saved.

PHE commissioned the University of Sheffield to develop the tool, following an evidence review and in consultation with an expert steering group.

Dr. Matt Kearney, GP and National Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at NHS England, said:

Heart attacks and strokes are life-changing events for sufferers and their families, and the NHS long term plan will set out a strategy for cardiovascular disease prevention and care. Thankfully these conditions are highly preventable and minimising their impact is not just good for patients but also benefits taxpayers who fund the NHS.

This return on investment tool will show health professionals in each part of the country how heart problems and strokes could be prevented, and how much health service resource could be freed up for reinvestment if we increase detection and treatment of high-risk conditions like atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Professor Brian Ferguson, Chief Economist at Public Health England, said:

This is a great addition to the suite of tools we’ve produced to support commissioners in local systems. It’s the first one that allows users to consider combinations of interventions, and so better reflects the reality of complex care needs. The results demonstrate that investing at scale in the most cost-effective preventative activities can deliver significant health benefits.

The tool and the accompanying report can be accessed online.

Commissioners can read further PHE advice on how to make the most of their budgets.

To find out more about the CVD ROI tool contact PHE’s Health Economics team.

Background

1. Interventions were chosen for inclusion in the tool if they were recommended by NICE for individuals without pre-existing CVD and if there was high quality and recent effectiveness evidence available. Selected detection interventions included NHS Health Checks, annual review in people with a pre-existing condition, cascade testing for FH and opportunistic detection. Selected management interventions included pharmacological interventions (antihypertensives, lipid modification therapy, anticoagulants and blood glucose lowering), lifestyle interventions (NHS diabetes prevention programme (DPP), diabetes structured education, weight management, smoking cessation, nutritional advice for CKD) and interventions that improve adherence to pharmacological interventions (blood pressure self-monitoring, insulin pump and medicines use review). A series of additional reviews were carried out to inform other intervention parameters including costs and duration of effect.
2. The tool was developed with input from a tool user group who provided information about local priorities for CVD and their requirements for a CVD prevention ROI tool. The tool design enables users to see the potential benefits of either improving detection and/or management of one or more high-risk conditions, or of improving the usage of one or more of the key interventions for people at risk of CVD. The tool is designed to include both the direct costs and benefits of implementing chosen scenarios and the indirect consequences, for example the increased cost of management that will occur as a response to increased diagnosis of high risk conditions.
3. The University of Sheffield developed the ROI tool based on a modification of an existing type 2 diabetes prevention model (The School for Public Health Research (SPHR) Diabetes Prevention Model), which has been previously used as the basis of a PHE tool to model the ROI of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.
4. The tool includes demographic information about local populations, so that the outcomes are area-specific. Users can select localities of interest from the full range of CCGs, STPs and local authorities in England, or for the whole of England.
5. Primary prevention of CVD is not considered by the tool. However there is the functionality for users to assess the impact of additional interventions that are happening in their local area if they have information on effectiveness of the intervention.
6. Uncertainty analysis is not included in the tool, but it is important to note that there will be some uncertainty around estimates.
7. The tool lets users see the benefits of interventions around 6 CVD high risk conditions, identified by the NHS RightCare Optimal Pathway as currently underdiagnosed and insufficiently managed despite a range of available interventions, and therefore representing targets for improvement:

• high blood pressure
• atrial fibrillation (AF)
• high cholesterol/high CVD risk including familial hypercholesterolemia (FH)
• diabetes (type 2 and type 1)
• non-diabetic hyperglycaemia
• chronic kidney disease (CKD)

Latest statistics from Public Health England (PHE) show that a case of chlamydia or gonorrhoea is diagnosed in a young person every 4 minutes in England. There were over 144,000 diagnoses of these sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in people aged 15 to 24 in 2017.

PHE’s ‘Protect Against STIs’ campaign highlights the increased likelihood of contracting a life-changing STI if people have sex without a condom. The impact of having an STI is significant, particularly if left untreated as they can cause major health issues, including pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, swollen or painful testicles, and reactive arthritis. In pregnant women, STIs can lead to higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.

The majority of STIs (like chlamydia) are symptomless, and gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and at risk of becoming untreatable in the future. PHE’s campaign, therefore, encourages condom use, as prevention is better than cure.

Rates of STIs in England remain high across England, and there has been a significant year-on-year increase in certain cases like gonorrhoea (22% increase from 2016 to 2017).

In 2017, there were approximately 420,000 diagnoses of STIs in England and of those, chlamydia accounted for nearly half of them (200,000 diagnosis of chlamydia and over 44,000 diagnoses of gonorrhoea).

A large proportion of these STI diagnoses are amongst young people aged 15 to 24, who account for 63% of chlamydia diagnoses and 37% of gonorrhoea diagnoses.

In a bid to get the nation’s young adults talking about and having safe sex, TV personality Sam Thompson (who appears in Made in Chelsea and Celebs Go Dating) hits the streets to find out young people’s attitudes to sexual health and condom use.

In the first of 2 new films, Sam Thompson and Dr Sara Kayat visit a Further Education College to speak to young people about how much they know about sexual health.

Sam then heads to Warwick with Dr Joe Peterson Camp, to meet a number of students to talk to them about their own experiences of sexual health and uncover their attitude towards condoms.

Dr Hamish Mohammed, Consultant STI Scientist at Public Health England, said:

Young people are more likely to be diagnosed with an STI than people aged 25 and older. STIs present a real threat to young people, and without using condoms, young people are putting themselves and their partners at risk of getting an STI.

Sam Thompson said:

I’m on a mission to encourage young people across the country to use condoms, with the help of Dr Sara and Dr Joe. We’re not talking about safe sex or normalising the use of condoms enough, and finding out all the facts about STIs has taught me so much, which I want to let everyone know about too, so we can limit the spread of STIs.

The most shocking thing I’ve learned is that some STIs are symptomless and that some are actually becoming harder to treat – that’s scary. The best thing I’ve learned is that if you’re under the age of 25, you can get condoms for free by just looking online for a free condom finder; I’m spreading that message far and wide.

There’s really no excuse for people not to use condoms and we should all feel empowered to use them and to see condoms as a normal part of a healthy sex life.

TV Doctor and GP, Dr Sara Kayat, said:

Rates of STIs remain high in young people, and we want to make sure people know that the best way to protect themselves from getting an STI, is to use a condom.

Often STIs don’t have any symptoms, with 4 in 10 cases of chlamydia in women and around half of the cases in men symptomless, and they can have serious consequences.

You can easily contract an STI or pass one on without even knowing it, so – as I tell my patients – make sure you use a condom.

The campaign launches on 25 October with a nationwide social media, digital audio, Out of Home advertising & PR campaign targeted at 16 to 24 year olds. It is being supported by a range of partners, including the Family Planning Association (FPA) and British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH).

Background

1. The films created by Sam Thompson, along with campaign advertising and images can be downloaded here.
2. Dr Joe Peterson Camp is a doctor at Homerton Hospital in its Sexual Health and HIV Service.
3. Dr Sara Kayat is a GP at Grays Inn Road Medical Practice. Her main areas of expertise are Sexual and Reproductive Health, as well as surgical specialties like ENT and Orthopaedics.
4. The FPA is supporting the ‘Protect against STIs’ campaign by helping to deliver sexual health information and support to key audiences via their Sexwise website.

Legislation creating the powers the UK needs to operate as an independent coastal state after leaving the EU is being introduced into Parliament today (25 October 2018).

For the first time since 1973, the Fisheries Bill will enable the UK to control who may fish in our waters and on what terms.

The Bill also gives the UK the power to implement new deals negotiated with the EU and with other coastal states and manage fisheries more effectively and sustainably in future.

At its heart the Bill delivers on the UK government’s commitment to sustainable fishing and marine conservation as set out in the 25-Year Environment Plan by:

• Controlling access – by ending current automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in UK waters. In future, access to fish in UK waters will be a matter for the UK to negotiate and we will decide on the terms – foreign vessels would have to follow our rules.

• Setting fishing opportunities – by proposing powers to ensure that the UK can set its own fishing quota and days at sea, which it will negotiate as an independent coastal State. As now, the UK government will consult the Devolved Administrations.

• Protecting the marine environment – by ensuring fisheries management decisions are taken strategically for the benefit of the whole marine environment. The Bill extends powers to the Marine Management Organisation and the Devolved Administrations to protect our seas.

We do not yet know the outcome of the UK’s negotiations to withdraw from the EU or on a future economic partnership, but we have been clear that market access for fisheries products is separate to the question of fishing opportunities and access to waters. The Bill will give us the powers to implement the result of those negotiations.

The new legislation also proposes ways in which the UK government and the Devolved Administrations will work together to adopt common approaches to fisheries management in certain areas – including preserving UK vessels’ right to fish across the four zones of UK waters and creating a consistent approach to managing access of foreign vessels.

The four fisheries Administrations will set out in a joint statement how they will work together to achieve the Bill’s sustainability objectives.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

This new Fisheries Bill will allow us to create a sustainable, profitable fishing industry for all of the UK. It will regenerate coastal communities, take back control of our waters and, through better conservation measures, allow our precious marine environment to thrive.

The Common Fisheries Policy has damaged the UK’s fishing industry and our precious fish stocks. The Bill will deliver a sustainable fishing industry, with healthy seas and a fair deal for UK fishermen.

The Bill also provides powers to reform fisheries rules. To ensure legal continuity, the EU (Withdrawal) Act transferred Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) rules into UK law. This Bill allows government to amend fisheries legislation to respond to scientific advice and innovation quickly – something the CFP failed to do – and to meet our international obligations.

In addition, the Fisheries Bill introduces powers to create new schemes in England to help seize the opportunities of Brexit.

These include:

• a new scheme to help the fishing industry comply with the landing obligation to end the wasteful discarding of fish, and

• powers to tender additional English quota.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has arrived in Switzerland for the first bilateral visit by the UK’s most senior diplomat since 1996.

Both the UK and Switzerland are renegotiating their relations with the EU, with both seeking to protect national sovereignty whilst holding high ambitions for close co-operation with the EU across a broad range of areas.

The UK and Switzerland enjoy close ties through trade, culture and shared values, and work closely together to tackle many global challenges of the present day.

The Foreign Secretary said:

Both the UK and Switzerland are proud, independently-minded nations, but we both understand the value of having a deep and close relationship with the EU.

While our own EU exit negotiations progress, we are also working hard with our friends in Switzerland to ensure our bilateral relations continue to flourish for many years to come.

Trade between our two countries is worth more than £30 billion a year; together we host all of the ‘top 10’ universities in Europe; and we continue to unite in tackling many global issues, including modern slavery and cyber crime.

This visit will allow me to continue important discussions with the President and Foreign Minister on the huge potential for greater co-operation between two great European nations.

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Secretary on Twitter @Jeremy_Hunt and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show demand for British services continues to grow, as exports swelled to £286 billion in the year to 2018 Q2.

The data indicates UK service exports to the world rose by almost £19 billion – an increase of 6.9% compared to the same time last year.

Figures released today (24 October 2018) reflect an increase in exports to important trading partners including USA, Australia and South Korea.

The latest services surplus in the year to 2018 Q2 has also reached a new high, increasing to £117 billion – up 11.3% on last year. Other main points from today’s release include:

• Service exports to Non-EU countries have increased by 4.5% to 167 billion. A fast-growing contributor was South Korea where the total value of exports in services increased to £2.4 billion.
• The USA remains the UK’s top services destination, with exports increasing to £59 billion, accounting for 20.6% of total exports.

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox MP said:

Today’s trade figures show demand for UK services overseas continues to soar. Overall services exports have risen to £286 billion – up 6.9% on this time last year, while the trade services surplus has also increased to £117 billion.

There is clear appetite for British services further afield, as the US and Far East offer some of the greatest growth prospects of the 21st century. As we formulate an independent trade policy for the first time in more than 4 decades, my international economic department will continue to make sure British companies are not only seizing these opportunities, but also thriving from them.

The news comes after the launch of the government’s Export Strategy, which sets out a new ambition to increase exports as a proportion of UK GDP to 35%, making the UK one of the G7’s most successful exporters.

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The Prime Minister spoke to King Salman today (24 October) to reiterate the UK’s grave concerns about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The Prime Minister said the current explanation lacks credibility so there remains an urgent need to establish exactly what happened. She strongly urged Saudi Arabia to cooperate with the Turkish investigation and to be transparent about the results. It is important that the full facts are established.

The Prime Minister also reiterated that all individuals bearing responsibility for the killing of Mr Khashoggi must be properly held to account.

She said the Home Secretary is taking action against all suspects in the murder of Mr Khashoggi to prevent them entering the UK. If these individuals have visas, they are being revoked.

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

Prime Minister Theresa May met with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš this afternoon in Downing Street for bilateral talks. The visit came as the Czech Republic celebrated its independence centenary, marking the foundation of Czechoslovakia.

The two Prime Ministers reflected on the strength of the bilateral relationship and the importance that this continues after the UK leaves the EU. They noted their close cooperation on defence and security matters, and on trade. Prime Minister May thanked Prime Minister Babiš for his support following Salisbury and offered her condolences on the death of a Czech soldier in Afghanistan on Monday.

Prime Minister May offered an update on Brexit negotiations, outlining work being done to finalise the withdrawal agreement and agree an ambitious future partnership.