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UK food and drink exports are continuing to smash records, with new figures revealing exports reached £10.6 billion in the first six months of 2018.

Demonstrating a clear global desire for British taste, quality and high standards, UK food and drink businesses are now selling their products to over 200 global markets.

UK seasonal favourites are also in demand abroad – in the first half of the year 64 million litres of ice cream and over 500 tonnes of strawberries were shipped to foreign shores.

Traditional barbeque produce, such as sausages and cuts of beef have risen by 48% and 17% respectively. This is due in part to new meat export markets opening in recent years – and will be bolstered further in the future by the recent announcement that China will lift their BSE ban on British beef, which is estimated to generate £250 million in the first five years alone. Taiwan will also soon be importing UK pork for the first time – worth an estimated £50 million over five years to the UK’s industry.

Iconic British produce such as whisky, worth £2 billion, beer worth £235 million, and smoked salmon worth £308 million are also being snapped up from international supermarket shelves.

Food Minister George Eustice said:

Consumers across the globe know British produce is delicious. They also know it is high in quality and backed by high standards of animal welfare. This is why we are continuing to see a huge growth in the worldwide demand for the best of what British farmers and food producers have to offer.

This world-leading industry already boosts our economy by over £110 billion each year, and leaving the EU will give our food and drink producers an unparalleled opportunity to tap into more markets and take advantage of the UK’s position as a truly global nation.

A team of the Government’s leading trade experts are on hand to provide guidance to UK businesses as they enter into overseas markets for the first time or consider expanding their current global customer base.

This is complemented by the government’s Food is GREAT campaign, which highlights the success of current exporters and showcases the UK’s top quality food and drink.

One ice cream company who has benefitted from this government guidance is Somerset-based firm Granny Gothards, whose range of over 125 flavours includes British inspired tastes such as clotted cream, blackberry and apple, and whisky and marmalade. Established in 2012, the business now exports to Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai and has recently branched out into China.

Founder of the firm Amanda Stansfield said:

After the success of our ice creams in Dubai it seems an ideal time to now establish our brand in China. Seeking expert advice is key for any business looking to export produce to China.

The support from government trade advisers has been vital in navigating this process.
Sheffield-based ice cream makers Yee Kwan have also been successful at branching out into exporting. Inspired by the tastes of East Asia – with current flavours including black sesame seed, matcha green tea and chocolate miso – the company exports to 10 European countries via their supply with Wagamama, as well as Kuwait. They will soon be working with a Chinese distributor, with orders expected next year.

Founder Yee Kwan said:

After we’d realised the potential to sell our products overseas, we began working with government advisers, who supported us in exhibiting at the International Food & Drink Event in London.

We’ve found that there’s loads of support to help us navigate exporting challenges – if we can do it, so can you!

• £51m of extra funding for high-tech hub in Wales
• Backing for British expertise at 40-year high
• Latest GDP figures confirm economy continues to grow

Britain’s world-leading researchers and entrepreneurs in Wales will benefit from an additional £51 million to create the technologies of tomorrow, the Chancellor announced today.

Philip Hammond will expand successful ‘catapult centres’ which are fuelling innovation across the country, including in Wales, as part of the UK’s ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy. This new funding backs Britain’s brightest talent – supporting work in high-tech labs, cutting-edge factories and advanced training centres.

So far this has helped create hundreds of new products, services and inventions, including a portable pollution sensor that parents can attach to a child’s buggy, cellular therapies to fight cancer and improve recovery of stroke victims, LED treatment for blindness, and more-efficient wings for aeroplanes.

The Chancellor made the announcement on the day GDP figures showed the UK economy has grown by 0.4%.

The funding will go to the Compound Semiconductor Catapult in Cardiff, which will open its Innovation Centre in early 2019.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said:

We are backing innovative British companies to grow and create jobs, as we build an economy fit for the future.

Today’s £51 million investment for Wales will support innovators across the country to create the technologies of the future and the better, highly-paid jobs we all want to see.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

This investment in the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult cements Wales’ reputation as a leader in advanced electronics. Bringing together academics and businesses to develop new technologies will support areas of our daily lives from the next generation 5G mobile network to improving scanning at airport security.

Our investment in this technology will help Welsh businesses exploit a hugely lucrative global market and ensure that Wales continues to lead the world in science and innovation, creating vital new jobs along the way.

The UK has a reputation for innovation and is building on this strength with the largest investment in research and development in 40 years. This is part of our balanced approach, getting debt falling while investing to create more opportunities for the high-skilled, well-paid jobs of the future.

The catapult network supports sectors and technologies that are going to be in high demand in the years ahead. It brings together the best of UK business, science and engineering to work side by side in research and development to ‘catapult’ products from ideas to market. It helps remove barriers to growth, which often can include access to finance, inadequate facilities or skills shortages.

ENDS

Plastic granulate, sold as an alternative surface for equestrian centres, could place Yorkshire’s horses and riders at risk, present a pollution hazard and lead to owners falling foul of the law.

Plastic granulate is a waste material derived from the recycling of cable sheathing and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). It’s being marketed by some waste producers and brokers as a base material for horse maneges and track surfaces. However, there is no legal route available for its use for this purpose except in accordance with an Environmental Permit.

Furthermore, the plastics contained within this material can contain Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP’s), phthalates and lead stearate. Weathering can cause leaching of these toxic substances into the wider environment, potentially causing contamination to land and groundwater. Some plastic granulate may even be cross-contaminated with non-plastic elements such as metal fragments and glass, making surfaces where it’s used potentially harmful for horses and riders.

Environment Agency officer, Greg Deakin said:

We’re determined to eliminate avoidable waste and crack down on plastics as part of the government’s 25-year environmental plan.

We’re therefore urging those with equestrian facilities to carefully consider the use of this material. It might be offered free of charge or for a small delivery fee, but it is an offence under the Environmental Permitting Regulations to use this waste without appropriate environmental controls.

If you’re found to have plastic granulate waste deposited on your land without the appropriate Environmental Permit awarded by the Environment Agency, you could be fined and be liable for the cost of its disposal.

Producers or brokers of plastic granulate have a legal duty of care to ensure plastic granulate is disposed of at a permitted facility. If you are approached and offered this material and you do not have an appropriate Environmental Permit, please let us know on 03708 506 506 and ask to speak to your local waste team. Alternatively you can email the details to enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Shaun Harkin, 48 from Coventry, was the sole director of Easyleads Limited, a company that generated sales leads for other businesses through telephone marketing calls advertising their clients’ services and products.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) first received complaints about automated calls from numbers used by Easyleads between October 2015 and July 2016.

Having previously advised Shaun Harkin in connection with a former company he ran about the regulations preventing unsolicited marketing calls to people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), the ICO warned him in January 2017 of their investigation into the new complaints.

Despite this warning, Shaun Harkin allowed Easyleads to start a brand new advertising campaign using automated calls and this resulted in the ICO receiving further complaints about Easyleads sales practices between January and June 2017.

By September 2017, the ICO notified Shaun Harkin they were issuing a £260,000 fine against Easyleads for making unsolicited marketing calls to people without their specific consent and failing to include a company name and contact details in the recorded message.

However, Easyleads failed to pay the debt and that led the ICO in February 2018 to issue a petition to the court to wind up the company.

Following the court ordering the shut down of Easyleads in March 2018, further investigations by the Insolvency Service found that the company had made around 16 million automated marketing calls to members of the public.

And more than 550 complaints were made to the ICO about Easyleads. Many were from people who said they received multiple calls, while others complained about being called in the early hours of the morning and in particular, there was a spike of calls over the May 2017 bank holiday weekend.

In June 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Shaun Harkin in which he did not dispute that between October 2015 and June 2017 he failed to ensure that Easyleads Limited complied with its statutory obligations to prevent calls being made to people registered with the TPS.

Effective from 13 July 2018, Shaun Harkin is now banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company for six years.

Andy Curry, who headed up the investigation team at the ICO, said:

Easyleads plagued people with calls and we brought them to account by fining them £260,000. When they failed to pay, we refused to give up.

Now Shaun Harkin has been put out of action for six years. We still have work to do but this ban sends a message to others that they will not get away with making nuisance calls.

David Brooks, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Telephone marketing is a legitimate business endeavor but there are strict rules in place to protect those who do not want to be disturbed by nuisance sales calls.

This is a serious case where Shaun Harkin knowingly allowed the company to make unsolicited calls contrary to regulations and caused a great deal of distress for many people. The six-year ban reflects the seriousness of these actions and together with the ICO, we want to ensure this serves as a warning to others that we will seek redress should your conduct fall below accepted commercial standards.

Notes to editors

Shaun Harkin is of Coventry and his date of birth is 6 May 1970

Company Easyleads Limited (Company Reg no. 09811848)

On 22 June 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Shaun Harkin, after he did not dispute that between 22 October 2015 and 30 June 2017 he failed to ensure that Easyleads Limited complied with its statutory obligations under The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 to ensure that unsolicited marketing calls were not made to members of the public registered with the Telephone Preference Service who had not consented to such calls.

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 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

Rushan Ahmed, 31 of Walsall, was the sole director of the company Four Brothers (Derby) Ltd and ran Moza Derby, an Indian Restaurant located on the Nottingham Road in Derby.

Following a visit from Derby City Council Food Safety Inspectors in February 2015, the restaurant was given a food hygiene rating of 1 and in July 2015 this was amended to zero as no action was taken to put things right.

Despite the low hygiene rating awarded to the restaurant, in the same year Rushan Ahmed placed three adverts in a local magazine, C & C of Oakwood, where he highlighted that the restaurant held a 5-star rating.

This resulted in the council’s trading standards team taking Four Brothers to court in April 2016, where Rushan Ahmed pleaded guilty to the charge that the company engaged in unfair commercial practices.

The company was fined £3,171, while Rushan Ahmed received a personal fine of £1,271, but as the restaurant was not making any profit, Rushan Ahmed decided to cease trading in September 2016.

After the main company – Four Brothers – closed down, the Insolvency Service looked into the conduct of Rushan Ahmed and on 28 June 2018 a disqualification order was made by District Judge John Preston Musgrave at Birmingham County Court against Rushan Ahmed for 5 years.

The judge also ordered that Rushan Ahmed pay costs of £4,231.62 and effective from 19 July 2018, Rushan Ahmed cannot directly or indirectly be involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Cllr Matthew Holmes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Public Protection said:

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme serves 2 important purposes. The first is to help consumers choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving information about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways, hotels and other places you eat, as well as supermarkets and other food shops. The second is to encourage businesses to work hard to improve hygiene standards and promote greater food safety.

This case shows that we will take action to protect consumers and the integrity of the scheme where businesses seek to gain an unfair advantage by misleadingly claiming a higher rating.

Dave Elliott of the Insolvency Service said:

A zero food hygiene rating should have rung alarm bells for Rushan Ahmed and forced him to get his house in order. But he decided to publish a bogus 5-star hygiene rating designed to draw in business by making a false representation for commercial gain.

This ban should serve as a warning to other directors tempted to engage in unfair commercial practices and if you abuse your duties you could be investigated by the Insolvency Service and lose the privilege of being a company director.

Notes to editors

Rushan Ahmed is of Walsall and his date of birth is 30/01/1987. Company Four Brothers (Derby) Ltd (Company Reg no. 08524899).

The order was pronounced by DJ Musgrave in the Birmingham court. Ms Parsons appeared for the Insolvency Service and no one appeared for or on behalf of the defendant.

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 7673 6498

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued Barclays with legal directions requiring it to put appropriate systems and procedures in place to prevent a similar incident from happening again in the future.

Following an investigation into payment protection insurance (PPI) by the Competition Commission in 2011, one of the measures introduced in an Order was that customers should receive an annual reminder from their provider setting out clearly how much they had paid in, and their right to cancel the policy.

In the period from October 2016 – October 2017, Barclays failed to provide a reminder to 2,265 Littlewoods credit card PPI customers. It attributed the breach to a technical problem in transferring the customers to its computer system.

Following that breach, Barclays wrote to all affected customers, providing a reminder of their right to cancel the policy and the offer of a refund. From this communication, it has so far paid out almost £336,000 in refunds to customers.

This is not the first time Barclays has breached the Order, having reported several substantive breaches to the CMA in 2015 for not providing annual reminders to almost 10,000 PPI customers.

Adam Land, the CMA’s Senior Director of Remedies, Business and Financial Analysis, said:

The annual reminder is an important measure so customers know they still have a PPI policy and how much it is costing them each year, as well as their right to cancel or switch.

This is Barclays’ second breach of the PPI order. As a result, we are issuing legal directions which can be enforced by a Court, to ensure they comply with the order.

We now require assurances from Barclays they have now put adequate systems in place to prevent a similar breach from occurring again.

Notes to 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. For CMA updates, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
3. Barclays is in breach of the Payment Protection Insurance Market Investigation Order 2011 (the PPI Order). One of the requirements of the order is that all PPI customers would receive an annual reminder from their provider setting out information including how much they had paid into their policy.
4. Directions are a formal enforcement instrument, which can be used to ensure that an Enterprise Act 2002 remedy imposed by the CMA, in this case the PPI Order, is complied with fully.
5. Barclays notified the CMA of the breach in March 2018.
6. The CMA does not currently have the power to impose financial penalties for breaches of this kind. The CMA has called for such powers in order to increase incentives for businesses to comply with market and merger remedies and to rectify any breaches quickly.
7. Media enquiries should be directed to 020 3738 6460 or press@cma.gov.uk.

The MOD has been made aware of a possible phishing fraud. Targets of the fraud have received emails purporting to originate within the MOD attempting to make contact or seeking money.

Anyone who receives suspicious emails that might match this profile should take the following action:

• Not to respond to the suspicious communication, or cease all further correspondence if they have already responded
• Report it to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre which can be contacted at www.actionfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040.