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Ali Cakirgoz, 61 of Waltham Abbey, is subject to a disqualification order which prevents him from acting as a director for 12 years.

Total Engine Replacement Limited was incorporated in February 2015, advertising replacement engines on numerous websites that were all registered to the company.

But Trading Standards and the Insolvency Service began to receive complaints from customers who said they hadn’t received their products and couldn’t get hold of anyone at Total Engine Replacement.

The Insolvency Service carried out an initial investigation into the company’s activities before gathering enough evidence to place Total Engine Replacement into compulsory liquidation in September 2016 after a petition was presented by the Secretary of State.

Investigators found that despite accepting payments from their customers, Total Engine Replacement failed to deliver any of the products they had promised. Customers who then attempted to complain were left frustrated as the company left emails unanswered and disconnected telephone numbers.

In little over a year, Total Engine Replacement failed to provide goods to the value of at least £58,000 to around 58 customers.

The director, Ali Cakirgoz, did not co-operate with the enquiries and when asked, failed to maintain adequate accounting records. This meant investigators were unable to establish exactly how much money was received, where the money was paid into and what were the company’s current levels of assets and liabilities.

Following the disqualification, Ali Cakirgoz is now prevented from acting, directly or indirectly, as a director of a company having allowed Total Engine Replacement to trade with a lack of commercial probity and failing to maintain adequate accounting records.

Irshard Mohammed, Investigation Supervisor with the Insolvency Service, said:

Ali Cakirgoz had a total lack of regard for his customers. But thankfully his bogus sales activities finally caught up with him and we have been able to put the brakes on his deceitful activities.

Both the winding-up proceedings and the subsequent disqualification action show that we will use the full weight of our powers to take firm action against both companies and individuals that operate in such an unscrupulous way.

Notes to editors

Total Engine Replacement Limited (CRO No. 094600350) was incorporated on 26 February 2015 and was registered at 10-12 Marshgate Lane, Marshgate İndustrial Estate, London E15 2NH.

Details of Ali Cakirgoz’s disqualification undertaking

On 6 April 2018 the Court made a Disqualification Order against Mr Cakirgoz, effective from 27 April 2018, for a period of 12 years. The matters of unfitness which Mr Cakirgoz did not defend in the disqualification proceedings were that:

• During the period between February 2015 and October 2015 Mr Cakirgoz caused and/or allowed the company to trade with a lack of commercial probity in that it failed to provide goods to the value of at least £58,065 paid for by at least 58 customers
  • Engines were marketed for sale through a number of similarly named websites and orders taken either over the phone or by email
  • Quotes were provided and sales invoice raised in the name of the company
  • Quotes were provided and sales invoices raised in the names of unconnected 3rd party companies
  • The engines were not delivered as promised and customers were unable to contact the company as their websites were taken down, email addresses unanswered and telephone numbers disconnected
  • The company was not registered at the registered office address
  • Between 26 February 2015 and 28 October 2015, at least 59 complaints totalling £58,065 were made to Action Fraud by customers who had not received the goods that they had paid for
• Mr Cakirgoz failed to maintain, preserve and/or deliver up adequate accounting records for the period February 2015 to October 2015 and as a result it has not been possible to fully ascertain:
  • How much money has actually been received by the company and the full details of all of its customers
  • Which bank accounts the funds have been paid into
  • What has happened to the known funds of £86,691 paid to the company
  • What the current position with regards Assets & Liabilities is

Disqualification

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 (England and Wales)

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, 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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Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7596 6187 or 020 7637 6498

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Schools in the North of England will benefit from a £6 million investment to improve maths teaching across the region and help increase pupils’ confidence in mathematics, School Standards Minister Nick Gibb has confirmed today (16 May).

To mark the first National Numeracy Day, Mr Gibb has confirmed that £1.75 million of funding will be used to create two new ‘Hubs’ in Central Lancashire and Cheshire to help spread best teaching practice and improve local pupils’ knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of mathematics.

The remaining funding will support the expansion of a south Asian ‘mastery’ approach to teaching maths in the region. Some of the leading performers in maths in the world, including Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong use this teaching style.

The announcement today is part of the government’s plans to raise academic standards across the country, helping more people to secure a good job, an apprenticeship or go on to further study or training.

There are already almost 387,000 more children in good or outstanding schools in the North of England than in 2010 and 87 per cent of schools in this region were rated as good or outstanding at their last inspection.

Minister for School Standards Nick Gibb said:

Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers, standards are rising in our schools and the proportion of primary school pupils reaching the expected standards in reading, writing and maths went up 8 percentage points last year. We have also introduced a more rigorous maths curriculum and now have record numbers studying maths at A level.

But poor numeracy still costs the UK a staggering £20 billion every year and we want more pupils to feel confident using numbers as it can open up a wide range of options for future study, training and work.

Thanks to a £74 million investment there are already over 2,500 schools across the country involved in the Teaching for Mastery approach, and today’s announcement will help ensure more children in the north have access to a world-class maths education.

Maths is one of the most in-demand skills in the labour market and it is already the most popular subject at A level, with almost 25% of students choosing to study it. The government is determined, through its modern Industrial Strategy, to increase the number of people understanding and studying maths, helping them to secure good jobs and boosting the UK economy.

The ‘Maths Hubs’ in Central Lancashire and Cheshire will initially be led by three schools in each region and will help to ensure more teachers in the area have the knowledge and skills to provide high quality maths teaching. School recruitment for involvement is now open and the programme aims to start running this Autumn.
Today’s announcement is supported by a £70 million investment to boost school performance in the north as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy. It also builds on a number of other measures to improve numeracy across the country, including:

• An increased emphasis on Teaching for Mastery, to ensure pupils master the basics of mathematics from an early age. Thanks to a £74 million investment there are already over 2,500 schools across the country involved in the Teaching for Mastery approach, and the additional funding announced in Autumn 2017 will expand the Teaching for Mastery programme to reach 11,000 primary and secondary schools in total by 2023;
• Introducing a new multiplication tables check for Year 4 to help ensure every child knows their times tables by heart, a fundamental skill for more complex mathematics;
• Allowing universities in England to apply to open specialist 16-19 Maths Schools to help more young people learn from the best mathematicians in the country. This is backed by £350,000 of funding each year to support outreach work with local schools and colleges, sharing their specialist skills;
• Fully funding maths up to GCSE level, so that adults of every age and background can take a course to get the skills they need for everyday life;
• Updating Functional Skills maths qualifications to improve their quality as well as their recognition amongst employers; and
• Embedding English and maths across all major strands of technical education, including traineeships, apprenticeships and future T levels.

National Numeracy Day is set to be an annual celebration of the importance of numbers in everyday life and will help to reframe attitudes to numeracy. The day aims to bring together individuals, employers, educators and supporters from across the UK to help improve numeracy levels.

The government will also create Assistant Maths Hub Leads in 17 regions across the Northern Powerhouse regions, which will see Maths Hubs recruit respected school leaders in low engagement areas for one year – tasked with developing better partnerships between local schools and their Maths Hub.

The educational attainment for children in areas that have faced long-term challenges is also being improved through the Department for Education’s 12 Opportunity Areas – five of which are in the north.

Find out more about the Maths Hubs here

• new research shows UK life sciences sector is soaring with record turnover of over £70 billion and SMEs accounting for 82% of businesses and 24% of all UK life sciences employment
• in 2017, the UK received the highest level of life science foreign direct investment projects in Europe – the highest in 7 years
• the new Council follows on from the transformative Life Sciences Sector Deal, part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, which drew substantial investment from 25 global companies

The inaugural meeting of the new UK Life Sciences Council takes place today (16 May 2018). Business Secretary Greg Clark and Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt will chair the Council, which will also be attended by a range of industry experts, including Pascal Soriot from AstraZenca who will co-chair, J&J, MSD and ABPI. The main objective of the Council is to ensure the UK continues to be a global leader in life sciences.

This comes as new research published today shows the UK continues to have one of the most productive health and life sciences sectors in the world. Health and life sciences are worth over £70 billion to the economy and provide jobs for almost 241,000 people across the country. The group will focus on progress in delivering the modern Industrial Strategy’s Life Sciences Sector Deal, launched in 2017, which will support the sector to develop and launch the next generation of medicines, technologies and diagnostics and provide better care and treatments for millions of patients.

The fourth annual Life Science Competitiveness Indicators report also shows that the UK continues to attract significant private equity investment, with over £660 million invested in 67 UK projects in 2016. The UK also accounts for 12% of total life sciences academic citations and 18% of the most-cited publications, the 2nd highest share above China, Germany and Canada.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

I welcome the first meeting of the new Life Sciences Council today, which will drive research, development and innovation in this thriving sector far into the future. Further advancing the UK’s global leadership in life sciences is a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy – our plan for high-quality jobs and growth across the whole country.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

From Edward Jenner developing the first successful small pox vaccine to Rosalind Franklin providing breakthrough research on the structure of DNA, UK life sciences have changed the world for the better.

We are extraordinarily well placed to play a leading role in this revolution in the life sciences. Our universities and research institutes rank among the best in the world, nurturing and attracting some of the most inventive people on earth.

Record turnover and foreign direct investment is a vote of confidence in the UK which we will build on as we work towards making Britain the best place in the world to develop and launch innovative medicines, technologies and diagnostics to help people live longer, healthier and happier lives.

Pascal Soriot, industry co-chair of the Council, said:

I am pleased to co-chair the new Life Sciences Council at an exciting but challenging time for the UK industry. With all the uncertainties of Brexit and patient access to medical innovations, the successful implementation of an ambitious industrial strategy is critical to ensure Britain remains a pioneer in life sciences and the sector continues to drive economic growth.

With 2 Secretaries of State and industry leaders representing medical devices, biotech as well as pharmaceuticals, the new Life Sciences Council brings together expertise across UK life sciences to provide the strategic direction needed to thrive in the competitive global environment.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, said:

The UK continues to be a highly attractive destination for inward investment and global talent. With more than 5,000 life sciences companies and a strong culture of scientific innovation, our offer to the world as a global partner for investment and trade is clear.

As the UK’s international economic department, the Department for International Trade promotes investment and export opportunities. We invite healthcare and life sciences innovators to work with us, driving growth in every part of the country.

Health Minister Lord O’Shaughnessy said:

The UK has always been at the forefront of scientific innovation and research, developing ground-breaking treatments that can transform patients’ lives.

The world-leading 100,000 Genomes Project, and the NHS Genomic Medicine Service that launches this autumn, are fantastic examples of our ambition to pioneer the most advanced approaches to healthcare in this country.

As part of the Life Sciences Sector Deal, which brought together significant commitments and investments into the UK by 25 global organisations from across the sector, the government has worked closely with industry to deliver its strategic vision and in the last 6 months has launched major projects, including:

• allocating £30 million from a £100 million study to sequence the UK Biobank, providing a unique resource to identify new drug therapies and redefine the gold standard for genome sequencing
• announcing the world’s first study to establish centres of excellence in digital pathology and medical imaging in the NHS, which when set up will, using the digital images generated, help develop artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for more accurate diagnosis of diseases, potentially improving NHS efficiencies
• in the process of creating up to 5 Digital Innovation Hubs across the UK, which will support the development of algorithms and machine learning for real-world studies and clinical trials. Being delivered by Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK (HDRUK), the Hubs will enhance the UK’s global competitiveness in clinical trials and creating a unique business environment
• investing £65 million through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to establish three advanced therapy treatment centres across the country, which will support medicine manufacturing and provide industry with access to cutting-edge technology to commercialise and develop innovations at scale

The modern Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. It sets out how we are building a Britain fit for the future – how we will help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the UK with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure.

The Industrial Strategy committed to increased government investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 and 3% over the longer term – delivering an estimated increase of £80 billion over the next 10 years. The Life Sciences Sector Deal set out plans for the Health Research Authority to speed up approvals for clinical trials.

Additional quotes:

ABPI CEO, Mike Thompson said:

Global pharmaceutical companies are excited about UK science, our world leading Universities and unique research centres like the Crick Institute.

The Life Sciences Council signals our joint commitment to implementing the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy to ensure the UK becomes a home for even more global companies to research, develop, manufacture and launch the next generation of medicines and vaccines.

Michelle Brennan, EMEA Company Group Chair, Johnson & Johnson Medical Device Companies said:

I am delighted to be joining the Life Sciences Council, supporting the implementation of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy in collaboration with our government partners. The Strategy is key to the UK remaining an attractive place for the Life Sciences industry to invest and to ensure that patients continue to benefit from the latest medical innovations. The NHS has an important role to play in the success of the strategy, with the potential to become an early adopter of new technologies and an engine for innovation and research. Johnson & Johnson is committed to working in partnership with both the NHS and government to make their ambition a reality.

Phil Thomson, President, Global Affairs, GSK said:

Bringing government, the NHS and industry together through the Council is an important step in ensuring the UK remains globally competitive in life sciences. We must all continue to work together through the Brexit negotiations to ensure the supply of medicines, regulatory alignment and the needs of patients remain priorities.

Notes to editors

Full list of Council attendees

Government

• Greg Clark, Business Secretary
• Jeremy Hunt, Health and Social Care Secretary
• Liam Fox, International Trade Secretary
• Lord O’Shaughnessy, Parliament Under Secretary of State for Health
• Simon Stevens, NHS England
• Kristen Mcleod, Office for Life Sciences
• Steve Oldfield, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• Sir Mark Walport, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
• Matthew Speers, Department for International Trade (DIT)
• Gareth Davies, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
• Professor Chris Whitty, Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC)

Industry

• Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca
• Jean-Christophe Tellier, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of UCB
• Mike Thompson, Chief Executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)
• Philip Thomson, President of GSK
• Peter Ellingworth, Chief Executive of Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI)
• Dr Roger Perlmutter, Executive Vice President of Merck & Co
• Michelle Brennan, President of Johnson & Johnson Group
• John Young, Group President of Pfizer Innovative Health
• Steve Bates, CEO of the UK BioIndustry Association
• Jackie Hunter, CEO of Benevolent AI
• Professor Sir John Bell, Life Sciences Champion
• Professor Jeremy Farrar, Director of The Wellcome Trust
• Haruo Naito, Director, Representative Corporate Officer and CEO of Eisai Co

The minister has signed the order which relaxes licensing hours for licenced premises in relation to a ‘celebration period’.

Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability Victoria Atkins said:

The government’s decision to extend the licensing hours to mark the Royal Wedding has received overwhelming support.

I know that people across the country will be celebrating this memorable occasion and this extension will help us to raise a toast to the happy couple.

Parliamentarians approved the government’s plans to extend licensing hours on the nights of Friday 18 and Saturday 19 May until 1am the following mornings, after debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords, to allow the country to celebrate the wedding of HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Since the Licensing Act was introduced in 2003, licensing hours have been extended for a number of significant occasions including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations in 2016.

President Erdogan, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Downing Street today.

The UK-Turkey relationship is indispensable.

The issues we have discussed underline just how important it is that we work ever more closely together to make our people safer and more prosperous.

I’d like to start by addressing the troubling situation in Gaza and the West Bank, which President Erdogan and I have discussed today.

The loss of life we have seen is tragic and extremely concerning.

Such violence is destructive to peace efforts and we call on all sides to show restraint.

There is an urgent need to establish the facts of what happened yesterday through an independent and transparent investigation, including why such a volume of live fire was used and what role Hamas played in events.

Palestinians have the right to protest, but these protests must be peaceful. We are concerned that extremist elements are seeking to hijack legitimate protests to further their own objectives.

And while we do not question the right of Israel to defend its borders, the use of live fire and the resulting loss of life is deeply troubling. We urge Israel to show restraint.

It is in everyone’s interests for peace and stability to prevail in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The discussions we have had today have covered the breadth and depth of our relationship.

Allow me to say a few words on each of the key topics we’ve discussed.

Firstly, we are NATO allies and remain firmly committed to the Alliance as the best way of guaranteeing our collective security.

Since my visit to Ankara in January last year, both Turkey and the UK have suffered grievous attacks by terrorists.

As Daesh is defeated militarily, we are aware of the risk of foreign fighters dispersing from Syria and Iraq.

To counter this we have today agreed to take concrete steps towards measures that will formalise our information sharing.

Our intent is to agree that when Turkish authorities return a British Citizen suspected of terrorist offences to Britain, they will do so with vital evidence such as media taken from mobile devices and transcripts of interviews.

This will support our efforts to secure the convictions of those who seek to do us harm.

We have also reaffirmed our commitment to deepen co-operation between the Home Office and the Turkish Ministry of the Interior.

This commitment means that we will look at how our police, border, customs and coastguard agencies can share information more easily in order to tackle the terrorists and organised criminals involved in money laundering, drug smuggling and people and arms trafficking.

Turkey is on the frontline of many vital issues for the UK, particularly in Syria where it is an important member of the Global Coalition Against Daesh.

Today President Erdogan and I have reaffirmed our commitment to defeating Daesh and the need for a political settlement to end the war and provide stability for all of Syria, Turkey and the wider region.

We also agreed on the need to ensure humanitarian access in Syria and on the importance of compliance with International Humanitarian Law and the protection of civilians by all sides.

We reiterated our condemnation of the terrible chemical weapons attacks in Douma and on the streets of Salisbury.

While clearly the two incidents differ in order of magnitude, they are part of a pattern of disregard for the global norms that prohibit the use of chemical weapons.

Today President Erdogan and I agreed on the importance of restoring the international norm that the use of chemical weapons is abhorrent and can never be acceptable.

I underlined once again the UK position that the Salisbury attack was not just an act of attempted murder in Salisbury – nor just an act against the UK by Russia.

It was an affront to the rules based system on which we all depend.

The conflict in Syria has led to the displacement of millions of people, both within Syria and beyond.

I pay tribute to Turkey’s extraordinary generosity in hosting more than three and a half million Syrian refugees and educating more than 600,000 Syrian children.

We recognise the enormous effort that the Turkish authorities are making to give those refugees the help they need.

In total the UK has committed more than £750 million both bilaterally and through the EU budget to the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, in order to support those efforts.

During this visit the UK and Turkey have agreed high-level talks between our countries to explore ways in which we can work together to build capacity in the region and reduce the flow of migrants.

The importance of the UK-Turkey partnership is also demonstrated by our growing trade relationship.

Trade between the UK and Turkey has increased by more than 50 per cent over the past decade and is now worth more than £15 billion.

We continue to build on this and look to our future trade relationship once the UK leaves the EU.

During my visit to Ankara in 2017, we agreed to establish a trade working group to explore ways to liberalise and increase trade between the UK and Turkey.

Our officials continue to work together to build a solid foundation on which our relationship can flourish.

During my visit to Turkey, BAE Systems and TAI also agreed to collaborate on the pre-design phase of Turkey’s new TFX fighter jet, which resulted in a contract worth more than £100 million being signed in August 2017.

This was the start of a deep and enduring defence partnership, including a new and unique government-to-government agreement that set a new framework for co-operation and dialogue, including between our defence ministries and air forces.

And today we can discuss the next phase of this project, Rolls Royce’s bid to co-design the engine for the TFX fighter jet. This would support the development of aerospace engineering capability and jobs in the UK and Turkey and we look forward to continuing discussions.

Finally, the UK stood with the Turkish people when its democracy came under attack in July 2016.

It is right that those who sought to overthrow the democratically elected government are brought to justice.

But it is also important that in the defence of democracy – which has been facing extraordinary pressures from the failed coup, instability across the border from Syria and from Kurdish terrorism – Turkey does not lose sight of the values it is seeking to defend.

That is why today I have underlined to President Erdogan that we want to see democratic values and international human rights obligations upheld.

Throughout this process and in the face of the shared challenges ahead, the UK will remain a true friend to Turkey.

So President Erdogan once again thank you for your visit and for such productive talks.

Sir Alan Duncan said:

Crimea is part of Ukraine, and its annexation by Russia is a breach of international law.

The opening of this bridge represents yet another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and a further example of Russia’s reckless behaviour. We continue to work with partners to oppose the annexation, including by maintaining a robust package of sanctions.

The UK also remains deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Crimea, where we have seen the systematic persecution of minority groups and of those who voice their opposition to Russia’s illegal annexation of the territory. We call again for Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners held in Crimea and in Russia, and to allow unrestrained access for international human rights monitoring bodies to the peninsula.

Further information

• Follow Sir Alan Duncan on Twitter @AlanDuncanMP
• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook
• Follow the Foreign Office on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, said:

This Government is committed to delivering a United Kingdom that works for everyone and so I welcome today’s Labour Market Statistics, which show a continued strength in the Northern Ireland economy.

The unemployment rate is down to its lowest ever level of 3.1% from over 8% in the wake of the recession and, crucially, the employment rate is up to one of the highest rates on record at 69.7%.

More than 15,000 new jobs were created over the last year, meaning more people with the security of a regular pay packet to provide for themselves and their families.