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Drivers on a 5-mile stretch of the M62 near Rochdale can now benefit from wider lanes, helping to improve the flow of traffic on one of the busiest motorways in the region.

Temporary narrow lanes have been removed between junctions 18 and 20, marking the start of a phased opening of the North West’s first smart motorway scheme to tackle congestion and improve journey times.

The Highways England project will use new technology to provide better information to drivers and variable speed limits to keep traffic moving at a steady speed. Extra lanes will also be opened on the M62 before the Christmas getaway, increasing capacity on the stretch of motorway between Greater Manchester and Yorkshire by a third.

Jon Stokes, Senior Project Manager at Highways England, said:

I’m pleased we’ve been able to remove the temporary narrow lanes on the M62 – benefiting the 180,000 drivers who use the route every day. Nearly 600 people are currently working to complete the smart motorway and we will open each section along the route as soon as possible.

When the smart motorway is complete, drivers will be able to travel in an extra lane on the M62 and variable speed limits will help to keep traffic flowing – tackling the stop/start conditions and tailbacks caused by sudden braking.

Overnight closures will continue to take place between junctions 18 and 20 on the M62 to carry out resurfacing work and to commission the new smart motorway technology.

The closures will be in place between 10pm and 6am, Sunday to Thursday, and between 9pm and 10am on Friday and Saturday nights. Overnight closures will also continue on sections of the M60 for major construction work on the smart motorway.

The scheme is Highways England’s most complex smart motorway project, affecting the second busiest motorway in the country and covering 13 junctions – an average of one junction every 1.4 miles.

The full scheme stretches between junction 8 of the M60 near Sale and junction 20 of the M62 near Rochdale. The next stage of the phased opening will see the removal of the temporary narrow lanes between junctions 8 and 10 on the M60 later in the autumn.

The new technology will be tested to ensure the 100 traffic sensors which have been installed along the 17-mile route are working effectively, before the new electronic variable speed limit signs are switched on from junctions 8 to 10 on the M60 and junctions 18 to 20 on the M62 by the end of the year.

The temporary narrow lanes are due to be removed between junctions 15 and 18 on the M60 in early 2018, and from the final section of roadworks – on a 5 mile stretch of the M60 between junctions 10 and 15 – in spring 2018. The new variable speed limit signs are due to be switched on between junctions 10 and 18 by summer 2018.

When the smart motorway is complete, traffic sensors will automatically monitor the flow of traffic and adjust the speed limit accordingly. A total of 50 CCTV cameras will also provide 100% coverage of the route, and allow Highways England’s traffic officers and the emergency services to respond quickly to incidents.

More details are available on the scheme website.

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.

Haitham Sabrah of London and Jihad El Saleh of Sierra Leone have been disqualified from acting as directors following an Insolvency Service investigation.

They acted as directors for Fly Salone Airlines Limited which operated flights from London to Sierra Leone. The company traded for four months, from 11 December 2015 to 17 March 2016. On entering liquidation, £2,072,180 remained outstanding to the company’s creditors.

The directors were disqualified for failing to keep sufficient business records to identify whether payments from the company from 2 February 2016 to 17 March 2016, totaling £170,913, were genuine company expenditure.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted an undertaking from Haitham Sabrah effective from 8 September, and Jihad El Saleh effective from 28 September.

Commenting on the disqualification, Martin Gitner, Deputy Chief Investigator of Insolvent Investigations, Midlands & West at the Insolvency Service, said:

Directors have a duty to ensure proper accounting records are maintained, preserved and, following insolvency, delivered up to the insolvency practitioner.

By failing to do this, the public can not be sure that all funds received by the company were used for legitimate purposes.

The Insolvency Service will take action against directors who do not take their obligations seriously and abuse their position of trust.

Notes to editors

Fly Salone Airlines Limited (Company No. 09738343) was incorporated on 18 August 2015.

Mr Sabrah’s date of birth is 17 November 1969 and he resides in London. He was appointed as a director on 18 August 2015.

Mr El Saleh’s date of birth is 29 November 1967 and he resides in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He was appointed as a director on 18 August 2015.

On 18 August 2017, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Haitham Sabrah for a period of 7 years effective from 8 September 2017.

The matters of unfitness, were that he failed to ensure that Fly Salone Airlines Limited maintained or preserved, or in the alternative, failed to deliver up sufficient accounting records on behalf of Fly Salone Airlines Limited for the period 2 February 2016 to 17 March 2016. As a result it has not been possible to ascertain or verify:

• whether payments made to him, totalling £116,470 relate to genuine company expenditure
• whether payments made to third parties in the last week of trading, between 11 March 2016 and 17 March 2016, totalling £54,443 relate to genuine company expenditure

On liquidation, £2,072,180 remained outstanding to creditors and the company had no assets.

On 7 September 2017, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Jihad El Saleh for a period of 7 years effective from 28 September 2017.

The matters of unfitness, which Mr El Saleh did not dispute in the Disqualification Undertaking, were that he failed to ensure that Fly Salone Airlines Limited maintained or preserved, or in the alternative, failed to deliver up sufficient accounting records on behalf of Fly Salone Airlines Limited for the period 2 February 2016 to 17 March 2016. As a result it has not been possible to ascertain or verify:

• whether payments made to Haitham Sabrah totalling £116,470 relate to genuine company expenditure
• whether payments made to third parties in the last week of trading, between 11 March 2016 and 17 March
  2016, totalling £54,443 relate to genuine company expenditure

On liquidation, £2,072,180 remained outstanding to creditors and the company had no assets.

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, 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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Commenting on today’s labour market statistics for Scotland, Scottish Secretary David Mundell said:

It is encouraging to see an increase in employment, which remains close to record levels.

But the rise in unemployment is disappointing and shows we must remain focused on boosting Scotland’s economy.

Growth in Scotland lags behinds the rest of the UK and I’d urge the Scottish Government to use their considerable economic levers more effectively.

The statistics can be accessed on the ONS website.

Further information

• Employment in Scotland increased by 35,000 over the quarter, and increased by 40,000 over the year to stand at 2,655,000.

• The Scots employment rate increased over the quarter to stand at 75.3 per cent. The rate is now at a near record high and is above the UK average of 75.1 per cent.

• Unemployment in Scotland increased by 9,000 over the quarter and is down 15,000 over the year. The level now stands at 113,000.

• At 4.1 per cent, the Scots unemployment rate is below that for the UK as a whole.

• Economic activity increased by 44,000 over the quarter and now stands at 2,767,000. The economic activity rate increased over the quarter to stand at 78.5 per cent.

• In September 2017, the number of people out of work and claiming out-of-work benefit – Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Universal Credit (UC) – was 80,500, up 500 over the month. The claimant count level is now 700 higher compared to one year ago.

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, also show that there are now 32.10 million people in work, 317,000 more than last year.

These figures have been driven by increases in full-time and permanent work, and in the last year there are 20,000 fewer people relying on zero hour contracts.

The female employment rate is also at a near record 70.7%, with over 15 million women in work. However, mothers aged between 16 and 49 are still less likely to be in employment than women without dependent children of the same age.

One area of focus for the government is therefore getting more women into work, and in the process boosting their pay income.

Minister for Employment, Damian Hinds said:

Our economy is helping to create full time, permanent jobs which are giving people across the UK the chance of securing a reliable income.

We’ve boosted the income for people on the lowest pay by increasing the National Living Wage and delivered the fastest pay rise for the lowest earners in 20 years.

That’s great progress and we’re determined to help more people flourish in the world of work.

For example we’ve launched our new returnship programme to help more women get into good jobs after taking time out, and to keep their career progressing.

Nancy Wood, 34, is an Associate at BuroHappold who has returned to work after 10 months out. She helps to lead the BuroHappold Engineering Sustainability and Building Physics team in London. She is looking to further her career in sustainability consultancy and has attended a returners course organised by WISE, an organisation set up to achieve a better gender balance in science, technology and engineering.

Nancy said:

I went on the returnship programme to help reignite my career. I’m ambitious, and after 10 months out I have valued learning how to successfully balance work and home life.

The course was extremely helpful and provided some really useful techniques. I already feel more confident in my ability and empowered to do my job well, and have set a clear career path to help me achieve my ambitions.

Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that time out of the labour market has a substantial impact on women’s salaries. On returning to work, women earn around 2% less on average for every year spent out of paid work.

According to research by PwC, addressing the career break penalty could provide a £1.7 billion boost to our annual economic output.

In the 2017 Spring Budget £5 million was allocated to increase the number of schemes in the public and private sector for people returning to work after a career break caring for children or family members.

Today’s employment figures also show:

• there are a near record 783,000 vacancies in the economy at any one time
• the number of people in employment has increased by over 3 million since 2010
• the UK has the 3rd highest employment rate in the G7
• the number of workers aged 50 and over has reached a record 9.97 million
• youth unemployment has fallen by over 40% since 2010
• the proportion of young people who are unemployed and not in full time education remains below 5%

As part of the government’s response to the recent Race Disparity Audit, the Department for Work and Pensions will target 20 hotspots where ethnic minority people are more likely to be unemployed. Measures in these areas could include mentoring schemes to help those in ethnic minorities into work, and traineeships for 16 to 24 year olds, offering English, maths and vocational training alongside work placements.

Separate figures out today show 1.4 million claims have been made to Universal Credit. There are 610,000 people on Universal Credit, with 37% in employment.

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Universal Credit customer telephone lines will be the first to become Freephone in November.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Gauke said:

We know that many people prefer to use online services and the vast majority of claims to Universal Credit are made online.

Everyone can check their statement and engage with their work coach through their online account and we have free wifi and computers in all our jobcentres.

Our work coaches support anyone who needs extra help with their online account but we want to make the process as burden free as possible, including for people who use our telephone service. That’s why we are making all our customer phone lines free to use.

The department will inform customers and partners of new Freephone numbers in advance of these changes.

Freephone numbers will be rolled out to all remaining DWP customer phone services by the end of the year. Further details will be released in due course.

Universal Credit

Most claims to Universal Credit full service are made online (99%).

Applications for Universal Credit are made online and claimants then arrange their first appointment with their work coach over the phone. Currently this call is charged at local rates which are set by providers and are free for many people as part of their call package. If someone is concerned about the cost, they can request a free call back.

Universal Credit claimants can update any changes in circumstances, check on their payments and rearrange appointments 24 hours a day through their online journal.

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The Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns is calling on the Welsh Government to ake measures to protect tenants in Wales from unjust fees and rogue landlords and agents.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

Getting set up in a private tenancy can be eye-wateringly expensive. Not only must new tenants find thousands of pounds upfront for deposits and rent in advance – they also have to pay fees to letting agents for a range of administrative costs which can often run into the hundreds of pounds.

This has been going on for far too long and, today, the UK Government is taking a stand by giving tenants in England more power to challenge extortionate fees and poor treatment.

Wales must not get left behind. It is time that the Welsh Government followed the example being set in England and move quickly to protect tenants in Wales from unjust fees and rogue landlords.

Read more about the measures unveiled by the UK Government here

Plans for new measures to help create a fairer property management system that works for everyone have today (18 October 2017) been announced by the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.

With over 4.2 million leasehold homes in the country and service charges reaching between £2.5 billion and £3.5 billion a year, the Communities Secretary will say the government is determined to fix the problems in the property management industry, drive down costs and protect consumers from the small minority of rogue agents.

The problem isn’t just for leaseholders, but for some of the 4.5 million tenants in the rental sector too – with overcharged costs for repairs and services often passed down to tenants.

Since 2010, government has taken action to require all letting and management agents to belong to a redress scheme, and we have introduced a range of tougher measures to target rogue landlords and agents in the private rented sector.

As part of this new call for evidence, government is seeking views on:

• whether regulatory overhaul of the sector is needed
• measures to protect consumers from unfair costs and overpriced service charges
• ways to place more power in the hands of consumers by giving leaseholders more say over their agent

It will ask if a new independent regulatory body is needed – and if separate bodies should be established, for both leasehold and private rented management, and letting agents.

While the sector is partly self regulated – through professional bodies such as the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) and ARLA Propertymark (formally Association of Residential Letting Agents) which have a code of conduct, other property agents operate outside of any system and can provide a poor deal for consumers.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:

This is supposed to be the age of the empowered consumer – yet in property management, we’re still living in the past.

Today we are showing our determination to give power back to consumers so they have the service they expect and deserve, as part of my drive to deliver transparency and fairness for the growing number of renters and leaseholders.

Our proposed changes to regulate the industry will give landlords, renters and leaseholders the confidence they need to know that their agents must comply with the rules.

Research by consumer group Which? shows that unfair practices can lead to as much as £700 million of unnecessary service charges being paid each year, and others such as the All Party Parliamentary Group on leaseholds believe the total could be as much as £1.4 billion.

The government will consider changing the law so that all letting and management agents, across both the private rented and leasehold sectors, must be qualified and regulated in order to practice.

Measures to be considered as part of the call for evidence include:

• how consumers can be empowered in the market, including whether leaseholder tenants should have a greater say over the appointment of managing agents
• how transparency can be increased in the system so that tenants and leaseholders know what they are being charged for and why
• ensuring fairness and openness around relations between freeholders and agents
• looking at what qualifications are needed by agents to practice and how regulation can be improved

This piece of work is part of wider government action to bring power back to the tenant and leaseholder.

In summer 2017, government launched a consultation setting out radical proposals to cut out unfair abuses of leasehold to deliver a fairer, more transparent system for homebuyers. Plans include banning new build homes being sold as leasehold as well as restricting ground rents to as low as zero.

Earlier this month the Secretary of State also announced measures to help make sure tenants are more secure in their homes; requiring all letting agents to be regulated; and consulting with the judiciary on the case for a new Housing Court – a specialist court with the aim to save time and money resolving housing disputes.

Government has also confirmed it will legislate to ban letting fees so that tenants aren’t hit by unfair charges.

Further information

Anecdotal evidence of poor management includes:

• a group of leaseholders charged ten times the market rate to have a new fire escape fitted – with the £30,000 contract handed to the freeholder’s brother
• one landlord charged £500 by his agent for repairing a shower door
• a London-based property agent who tried to charge a leaseholder almost £5,000 to transfer ownership of a parking space to other leaseholders

The call for evidence will last for 6 weeks from Wednesday 18 October 2017.

The proposals relate to England only.

Managing agents are a person or company appointed by the owner (or someone operating on their behalf) to manage that property and their role may include for instance repairs and maintenance. Managing agents operate in both the private rented sector and the leasehold sector.