The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2018

This instrument amends Part I of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) (“the 1996 Act”), to confer the right to an itemised pay statement and associated enforcement provisions upon all workers. Presently, employers are required to provide an itemised pay statement to ‘employees’ only, a particular class of worker that works under an employment contract.

Link: The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2018
Source: Legislation .gov.uk

Press release: UK increases commitment to protect oceans from plastics and fight illegal wildlife trade

The UK is stepping up its support to fight global environmental challenges, with a greater focus on protecting the world’s oceans and tackling the illegal wildlife trade, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove have announced today (Thursday 26th April).

At the Global Environment Facility conference in Stockholm, the UK joined 29 other international donors to recommit for a further four years to help developing countries tackle global environmental degradation.

Following pressure from the UK, this year’s Global Environment Facility replenishment will result in more funding to protect the marine environment, including from plastic waste pollution, and to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.

With this seventh round of support, the GEF is planning to protect around 600 million hectares of land and marine habitats – an area equivalent to 24 times the size of the UK – and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1600 million metric tonnes – the equivalent of an average car driving 4 million miles.

The UK’s commitment of up to £250 million over the next four years is an increase on the last pledge of £210 million from 2014-2018, and maintains the UK’s leadership on tackling environmental challenges that threaten global stability and security. Twenty per cent of the UK’s support is also conditional on GEF making continual improvements to achieve maximum impact.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

The world’s poorest communities are often the worst affected by environmental change. Extreme climates cause devastating drought and hunger, while deforestation and pollution destroy people’s livelihoods and health.

The UK’s long-running partnership with the Global Environment Facility has already achieved great change – cutting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting land – and now, we’re working with our international partners to do more so that together we can clean our oceans of plastic waste and fight the illegal wildlife trade.

This will help developing nations, but, as we are all affected by the environment, it is a win for us in the UK too.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

Environmental challenges do not respect borders. It is only through co-ordinated international action that we can clean up our oceans and protect wildlife. Our funding to the Global Environment Facility makes a vital difference.

The 25 Year Environment Plan demonstrates a commitment to global leadership. It makes clear our priorities of ending the illegal trade in wildlife and reducing plastic waste. These efforts will prevent damage to our seas and the wider natural environment.

Notes to editors

  • The UK Government – through the Department for International Development (DFID) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) – has pledged £250 million to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for its seventh replenishment.
  • The UK’s commitment of up to £250m over 2018-2022 is an increase on the last pledge of £210m for the 2014-2018 replenishment, and maintains the UK’s leadership on tackling global environmental challenges and our position as the fourth largest contributor to the fund.
  • To incentivise GEF to achieve the targets, we are making 20% of our overall replenishment funding contingent on GEF’s continual improvement and achieving maximum impact.
  • The UK has sought and successfully achieved a substantial increase in GEF funding for a range of priority topics, including:
    • an increase for the Global Wildlife Programme tackling the illegal wildlife trade;
    • increases for managing chemicals and waste – including plastic;
    • an increase for international waters in recognition of pressures on the marine environment.
  • The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was set up in 1991, and supports developing countries to tackle major environmental challenges including wildlife loss, land degradation, deforestation, chemical pollution, marine and freshwater degradation, and climate change.
  • Since its inception in 1991 the Global Environment Fund has successfully protected 860 million hectares of land – an area larger than Brazil – and contributed to 2.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions through 760 climate change protection projects.

General media queries

Follow the DFID Media office on Twitter – @DFID_Press

Link: Press release: UK increases commitment to protect oceans from plastics and fight illegal wildlife trade
Source: Gov Press Releases

Press release: ‘Smart’ safety advice for commercial drivers

In a pioneering move, the government company responsible for the country’s motorways and major A roads has joined forces with the Freight Transport Association (FTA) to offer bespoke safety training for drivers who travel on smart motorways.

Aimed at commercial and haulage drivers, the course has been designed to provide practical, relevant training.

The eight hour, single day course covers the past, present and future of smart motorways, the different signals on the network, driver behaviour and the role of traffic officers.

A key aspect of the course is that it now integrates into the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (Driver CPC), the standard qualification for which all professional bus, coach and lorry drivers must complete 35 hours of training every five years.

Senior Partnership Manager at Highways England, Wayne Carey said:

Hauliers are among the most frequent users of smart motorways so we want to ensure we are providing as much support as we can to ensure those journeys are as safe as possible.

Smart motorways reduce congestion, improve journey time reliability and add much needed capacity to some of the most congested sections of motorway and we are delighted with the take up to date of this course.

We urge any haulier who wants to sharpen up their skills to sign up.

Pertemps, one of the leading training providers has agreed to offer the training, and Müller is one of the first organisations to take it on.

Jen Cowie, Logistic Support and Development Manager at Müller said:

It’s essential that our drivers are fully equipped to deal with their surroundings. We are delighted to be working with Highways England on this training, from concept to delivery, and we continue to work together closely, which not only benefits the business, but the overall road network.

National Trainer Manager at Pertemps Driver Training, Andy Smart said:

It is clear to us that smart motorways are the future in the UK and their use has undoubtedly reduced congestion and improved safety on some of the busiest roads.

As an employer of over 7000 drivers nationwide we are actively working with and supporting Highways England to promote the benefits of smart motorways within the haulage industry.

Malcolm Bingham, Head of Road Network Management Policy at the Freight Transport Association (FTA) said:

FTA is conscious that hauliers would appreciate more advice about driving on smart motorways. That is why FTA has worked in partnership with Highways England to produce the training module which is now approved for use on the Driver CPC course programme.

This is the right way forward – providing drivers with true guidance on how to use the network and not adding confusion about which parts of the road they can use and when. That has been borne out by driver feedback on the pilot courses we have run.

It also demonstrates the need to respect the Red X signs set up when there is a problem on the network and provides assurance that these lanes are vital tool in keeping drivers safe in emergency situations.

Any company which wishes to enrol their drivers on the training should email: SPTC_Driver_Education_Course@highwaysengland.co.uk

Highways England’s call to hauliers comes alongside a number of other initiatives related to commercial vehicle safety launched at this year’s Commercial Vehicle Show.

One of these is the commercial vehicle incident prevention programme, which focuses on safer people and aims to reduce the number of commercial vehicle related incidents.

As part of this comes the use of virtual reality to reduce the risk of commercial vehicle drivers being involved in incidents as they travel up and down the country.

Other examples include:

  • a joint initiative with police using HGV cabs to target dangerously driven vehicles (one of the cabs with police representatives will be at the Show);
  • the installation of sophisticated tyre/vehicle measurement (tyre pressure, tyre tread depth, vehicle weight, axles heat) technology at key locations;
  • initiatives with the Health & Safety Executive and the police to improve load security; and interventions to reduce diesel spillages which damage the carriageway and cause long delays.
  • development of truck stop apps in Polish and Romanian (they can also be seen at the Commercial Vehicle Show).

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

Link: Press release: ‘Smart’ safety advice for commercial drivers
Source: Gov Press Releases

Press release: Almost ¾ of insider frauds at charities enabled by excessive trust and lack of challenge from others within the charity

The Charity Commission, the regulator of charities in England and Wales, has published the findings of a study which has found that cultural factors, such as placing excessive trust or responsibility in individuals, or the lack of internal challenge and oversight, contributed to 70% of insider frauds within a sample of charities analysed by the Commission.

The Commission is therefore urging all charities to foster a culture where staff, trustees and volunteers are reminded of the need to challenge any concerning behaviour and not turn a blind eye when internal processes aren’t followed.

The findings follow a number of high profile cases of insider fraud in charities recently, including Birmingham Dogs Home, where the former chief-executive stole £900,000 from the charity. The head of finance at NSA Afan was jailed earlier this week for spending almost £54,000 of the charity’s money for her own personal gain.

Michelle Russell, Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement at the Charity Commission, said:

Today’s report has confirmed what we already suspected from our casework in this area. The crucial lesson for charities isn’t about introducing lengthy counter-fraud policies. It’s about changing people’s behaviours and encouraging staff and all those involved in charities to be vigilant and speak out when things don’t seem right. This must be demonstrated by everyone in an organisation to be truly effective.

The vast majority of charity workers do incredible work but, as we’ve seen in some troubling cases recently, sadly charities aren’t immune to fraud. A dangerous combination of a lack of accountability and controls not being consistently applied can make any charity – big or small – vulnerable, and create opportunities for fraudsters that will have devastating effects.

Everybody has a part to play in the fight against charity fraud to ensure the public’s generous donations reach those who need them most.

The Commission issued a 6 week long call for information to help charities better understand the risks and causes of insider fraud, and therefore how to better protect their valuable assets. The Commission received over 50 responses, with a third of responding charities having an income of over £1million. The study also identified that 19% of frauds reported to the authorities resulted in a prosecution, 38% recovered part or all of the money/assets taken, and 76% of the frauds prompted media coverage.

The Commission has published advice for charities on improving their resilience to fraud, as well as a number of anonymised case studies alongside the report. These demonstrate cases of poor or non-application of financial controls, low fraud awareness, and excessive trust or lack of challenge.

Previous analysis by the Commission found that a third of frauds committed at charities and reported to the Commission were suspected to have been committed by charity staff, trustees or volunteers.

Anyone who suspects fraud in a charity, should make a report to the police, the charity in question and to the Commission, via RSI@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk.

Ends

Notes to editors

  1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see the about us page on GOV.UK.
  2. Search for charities on our check charity tool.

Press office

Link: Press release: Almost ¾ of insider frauds at charities enabled by excessive trust and lack of challenge from others within the charity
Source: Gov Press Releases