Category: Gov Press Releases

Business Secretary Greg Clark and Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for the Economy Richard Leese have today (30 October) set out progress towards a Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy, one of the UK’s first Local Industrial Strategies.

Developed in collaboration with regional partners, the Local Industrial Strategy for Greater Manchester will harness the regions distinctive strengths and build on them in areas like health research and advanced materials to unlock growth and boost people’s earning power across the region’s cities and places.

Once launched, the Local Industrial Strategy will capitalise on Greater Manchester’s long and established history of entrepreneurship and enterprise, its devolved health and social care budget of £6 billion per annum and its position as home to one of the largest graduate pools in Europe.

The progress statement published today showcases the work that has been done so far by local leaders in the Northern Powerhouse who are working with the government and businesses to identify economic opportunities that the region can seize in the years to come.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

To unlock the potential of areas up and down the country it is essential that key decisions and resources are taken from Westminster and given to our great cities, towns and their supporting regions.

The Local Industrial Strategy we are developing will embody the unique spirit of Greater Manchester with a long-term plan to build on its exceptional strengths in areas including technology and research and ensure it is at the forefront of growing industries like clean growth and AI.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

To allow Greater Manchester to thrive and drive productivity and prosperity we need to make sure there are good jobs, a skilled workforce and businesses are supported, and this is what the plan is about.

We want to use the strategy to build on Greater Manchester’s unique legacy of industrial ambition and creativity to create a thriving, digitally-enabled green city. We want to work with businesses on the strategy to create an innovative plan that improves the lives of everyone who lives and works here.

Government committed to Local Industrial Strategies as part of its Industrial Strategy White Paper, building on the strong foundations of our city, growth and devolution deals to work in partnership with local leaders to drive productivity. All parts of England are now working to develop them by early 2020.

Northern Powerhouse Minister, Jake Berry MP, said:

It’s great to see such progress being made in the Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy. With government working closely together with businesses, local leaders and partners, we’re in a great position to boost economic growth and productivity across Greater Manchester and the whole of the Northern Powerhouse.

Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for the Economy, Richard Leese, said:

The Local Industrial Strategy is a unique opportunity to spread the benefits of prosperity across the city-region and we want to use this to deliver inclusive growth and quality employment.

We have a proven track record in Greater Manchester of collaboration and innovation and using the opportunities of devolution to drive change and the Local Industrial Strategy is another way for us to do this. We want to make sure we put together the right plan for Greater Manchester and will be working with businesses, voluntary sectors and residents on it.

Once launched, the Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy will provide a long-term plan for alignment of local and national decision making to increase productivity and deliver an economy that works for all.

This will include setting out how the health innovation sector and Greater Manchester’s unique devolution deal will drive the UK’s response to the Ageing Society Grand Challenge, and Greater Manchester’s efforts to meet the Clean Growth Grand Challenge following the Mayor’s Green Summit earlier this year.

The progress statement follows the government having confirmed that £3 million will be invested to help strengthen digital skills in Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas. The funding announced in the Budget will see the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) team up with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) for the pilot project.

Employers and training providers will identify which digital skills are in short supply in the local area and design a targeted approach that can help people prepare to move into digital roles.

Greater Manchester is the largest digital cluster outside of London in the UK with almost 8,000 digital businesses employing more than 80,0000 people.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP welcomed Homes England Strategic Plan published today (30 October 2018) describing the vision as pivotal to helping deliver the homes that communities need.

Since their launch in January, Homes England has a remit to adopt a more commercial approach to acquiring, preparing, managing and developing land in areas of high demand.

Their strategic plan sets out how they will use these powers together with their expertise and significant government investment to drive forward key programmes and play a major role in making the housing market work for everyone.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

This government is committed to delivering 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s and help more people get on the housing ladder. Homes England is at the heart of these plans.

I welcome their comprehensive vision that sets out how through their powers and expertise they will maximise government investment to deliver the homes communities need.

The plan, which runs up to 2022/23, outlines Homes England’s ambitious new mission and the steps the national housing agency will take, in partnership with all parts of the housing industry sector, to respond to the long-term housing challenges facing the country.

The new plan sets out far-reaching delivery objectives:

• Unlock public and private land where the market will not, to get more homes built where they are needed
• Ensure a range of investment products are available to support housebuilding and infrastructure, including more affordable housing and homes for rent, where the market is not acting
• Improve construction productivity
• Create a more resilient and competitive market by supporting smaller builders and new entrants, and promoting better design and higher quality homes
• Offer expert support for priority locations, helping to create and deliver more ambitious plans to get more homes built
• Effectively deliver home ownership products, providing an industry standard service to consumers

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

This government is committed to delivering 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s and help more people get on the housing ladder. Homes England is at the heart of these plans.

I welcome their comprehensive vision that sets out how through their powers and expertise they will maximise Government investment to deliver the homes communities need.

Sir Edward Lister, Homes England Chairman, said:

Ultimately, we need to disrupt the housing market. Homes England plans to be bold, creative and think big. We hope the whole of the housing sector – big and small, up and down the country – will join us for the next five years and beyond.

Nick Walkley, Homes England Chief Executive, said:

The new Homes England is all about making homes happen – and our new 5-year plan sets out our ambitious new approach. We are committing to boosting housing supply, productivity, innovation, quality, skills and modern methods of construction to help make a more diverse and resilient market. In return, we are calling for partners and the wider industry who share our ambition to challenge traditional norms and build better homes faster.

Homes England is already making significant progress. High-profile deals forged in recent months include: major land acquisitions in Sussex and Plymouth; a £1bn lending alliance with Barclays to support smaller builders; a new joint venture with Kier’s residential arm; and infrastructure-led developments at Ebbsfleet and Northstowe.

The five-year Strategic Plan follows the Budget announcement yesterday of seven more strategic partnerships with housing associations, which will deliver an additional 13,475 affordable homes by March 2022.

The new partnerships will secure a total of £653m in funding from the Affordable Homes Programme, delivered through Homes England, including homes for social rent in areas of high affordability pressures.

This is in addition to the first eight strategic partnership deals announced in early July, bringing the total number of additional affordable homes that will be delivered to 27,755.

Ends

For further media information please contact: Homes England press office on 0207 393 2201 or Patsy Cusworth on 0796772328 patsy.cusworth@homesengland.gov.uk.

Notes to Editors:

Homes England Five Year Strategic Plan

• The five-year strategic plan is available on GOV.UK

Strategic Partnerships

• The housing associations involved in the second wave of strategic partnerships are: Platform Housing Group; Guinness and Stonewater partnership; Optivo; Southern Housing Group; Orbit; Thirteen and Vivid.

About Homes England

• Homes England is the Government’s housing accelerator. We have the appetite, influence, expertise and resources to drive positive market change. By releasing more land to developers who want to make a difference, and investing in places of greatest need, to deliver new homes. Homes England welcomes partners who share their ambition to challenge the traditional norms and build better homes faster.

For more information visit Homes England on GOV.UK.

The Treasury will also fund the cost of building a new prison at Glen Parva in Leicestershire. This significant investment will allow us to get started on construction sooner since planning permission was granted in the summer.

The new Glen Parva will accommodate around 1,680 prisoners which, along with an equivalently-sized new prison at Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, is an important step towards delivering on our commitment to building up to 10,000 decent new prison places.

An extra £30 million will be spent on prisons this financial year on top of the £40 million we announced over the summer. The money will go towards further improvements to safety, security and decency on top of those already announced such as the roll-out of body scanners and phone-blocking technology.

There is also a further £15 million to spend this year on the maintenance and security of our court buildings. Spending more this year in our courts will ensure that our ageing estate remains fit for the 21st century as we invest £1 billion in modernising services and moving more online making them easier to use, more efficient and saving taxpayers’ money.

Another £6.5 million will be invested across the wider justice system, including a further £1.5 million for the Parole Board to boost its operational capacity.

Commenting on the Budget, the Secretary of State for Justice David Gauke said:

I am pleased that the Treasury has given us this extra £52 million which will help address the acute problems facing our prisons and begin to improve the conditions of some of our courts. We have also secured a cash boost for the Parole Board to support its operations, especially the extra work associated with our transparency reforms.

This budget means that since July, we are directing an additional £70 million to tackling drugs and violence, and improving the basic conditions of our prisons. Treasury’s commitment to funding a new prison at Glen Parva is an important step to getting this built as soon as possible and will ease the pressure on our prisons.

The Budget also committed to funding a review by the Law Commission into simplifying the rules around marriage ceremonies in England and Wales and propose options for a simpler and fairer system to give couples greater choice and reduce prices in a notoriously expensive market. It will look at reducing unnecessary red tape supporting small and medium-sized businesses in the hospitality sector, like hotels and pubs, to host weddings and boost their income.

Notes to editors

• The Treasury have committed to providing the capital funding to build the new prison at Glen Parva. While we cannot comment at this stage on the anticipated cost, the newest prison in the estate, HMP Berwyn in North Wales, cost £250 million when it was built in 2015/16.
• The Ministry’s Spending Review 2015 settlement set the department on a course to reduce spend by 11% between 2015/16 and 2019/20. The figures on the Ministry of Justice from yesterday’s announcement of next year’s settlement are not new.
• We are continuing to engage with HM Treasury on ensuring that the justice system has sufficient funding in both the short and medium term, ahead of the Spending Review in 2019. The department continues to work to ensure that the department’s finances are set on a long term sustainable footing.

The UK Foreign Office Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon is in Indonesia today (30 October) following his attendance at the ‘Our Ocean’ Conference.

Lord Ahmad led a UK delegation to the fifth ‘Our Ocean’ Conference yesterday (29 October) which aims to tackle the challenges facing the oceans, including: marine protection, marine pollution, climate change, sustainable fisheries, the blue economy and maritime security.

While in Jakarta today, Lord Ahmad has hosted an inter-faith roundtable, visited an Islamic School which has been working with the British Council to promote diversity and held bilateral meetings with the Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs AM Fachir, parliamentarians and experts on Countering Violent Extremism.

Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon said:

The Our Oceans Conference is a crucial initiative that seeks to protect the World’s oceans and seas, critical global assets that we have all taken for granted for far too long.

In Jakarta, I have learnt how Indonesia is seeking to protect its extraordinary bio-diversity whilst balancing the needs of a developing economy and a large population spread over its vast archipelago of islands. I also discussed how “unity in diversity” in a place of extraordinary ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity can be nurtured whilst fighting divisive sectarian ideology and practice.

I explored how ongoing UK government support to Indonesia can assist in addressing these complex challenges. I also look forward to continuing the conversation around our post-Brexit relationship with ASEAN and its members, and to deepening the UK’s ties with one of the world’s most dynamic and vibrant regions.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon @tariqahmadbt
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An imam who sexually assaulted a young child over a period of 7 years had his sentence increased today after it was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

Mohammed Ghani, 65, was a respected imam in the local community who used professional visits to the victim’s home as an opportunity to carry out a campaign of sexual abuse. This resulted in lasting emotional repercussions for the victim.

Ghani was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in August, where he was given 2 years imprisonment. Today, after the Solicitor General’s referral, the Court of Appeal increased his sentence to 5 years imprisonment.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“Ghani abused his position of authority and subjected a vulnerable child to a campaign of sexual assaults. I hope that the Court of Appeal’s decision today brings the victim and their family some comfort.”

High Quality Books Ltd, formerly known as Printed Books Limited, and We Print Books Ltd, formerly known as Offset Printers Limited, were wound up in the public interest in the Manchester District Registry on 18 October 2018. The Official Receiver has now been appointed as the Liquidator.

The two London-based publishers operated numerous websites offering printing services, specialising in small print runs. One of their key targets were self-publishers, who were attracted to the competitive rates.

However, the Insolvency Service received complaints about the printers and following enquiries, found evidence of wrongdoing.

Investigators found that after an order was placed, the printers demanded advanced payment of at least 50% before the job started. The companies would then claim they completed the jobs in-house but investigators found that no printing facilities were either owned or operated by them.

Instead, the print jobs were sub-contracted and mainly to suppliers in Eastern Europe who were not always paid and often failed to dispatch the work as a result.

When customers did complain to the printers they were referred to the companies’ Terms & Conditions. However, some customers claimed they had never seen these before and the T&Cs were heavily biased towards the companies.

Where complaints were accepted, refunds were often sporadic and did not cover the full amount. Investigators only found one example where a full refund was made.

Investigators also found that on many occasions, customers would initially start to contract with one company before receiving responses from the other, confusing customers as to who they were dealing with.

The Insolvency Service was unable at any point to determine the full extent of the printers’ trading activities as the companies failed to fully co-operate throughout the investigation. The names of the printers were also changed to High Quality Books Ltd and We Print Books Ltd respectively just two days before the courts shut them down.

District Judge Khan found in his judgement that both companies had traded with a lack of transparency, as well as a lack of commercial probity in that they made misrepresentations to customers, failed to handle customer data appropriately and failed to maintain and/or deliver up accounting records or co-operate with investigators.

Irshard Mohammed, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Through the courts, thankfully we have been able to put a stop to these rogue printers. They used deceitful tactics to attract customers, demanded up-front payments and when customers complained having failed to receive their orders, the printers either blamed the customer or hid behind their Terms & Conditions.

These winding-up proceedings should serve as a clear warning to dishonest companies that we will use the full weight of our powers and shut down businesses that operate unscrupulously.

High Quality Books Ltd was previously known as Printed Books Limited, Litho Printing Ltd, Paper Press Limited and UK Print Ltd.

We Print Books Ltd was previously known as Offset Printers Limited and Ink Paper Ltd.

All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit North, PO Box 16663, Birmingham, B2 2JP. Email: piu.north@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk or farouk.vawda@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.

Notes to Editors

High Quality Books Limited (company registration number 09303495) was incorporated on 10 November 2014, originally under the name UK Print Limited. The company’s registered office is at 3 Shortlands, London W6 8DA and previously 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ.

Offset Printers Limited (company registration number 10503706) was incorporated on 30 November 2016, originally under the name Ink Paper Limited. The company’s registered office is at 3 Shortlands, London W6 8DA and previously 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ.

The petitions to wind-up both High Quality Books Limited and We Print Books Limited were presented under s124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 on 30 August 2018. The companies were wound up on 18 October 2018 and the Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Further information about live company investigations is available here.

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.

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
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The UK supports the below EEAS statement issued on 26 October on the revision by the Chinese authorities of the ‘Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification’.

Statement by the EEAS Spokesperson on the situation in Xinjiang:

The revision by the Chinese authorities of the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification” highlights the deteriorating human rights situation in Xinjiang. There are credible reports of mass detentions in political “re-education camps” affecting Uighurs and other minorities; of mass surveillance; of restrictions on travel; and of Uighurs abroad allegedly being returned to China involuntarily.

These revisions run counter to the recommendations provided by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which call on China to change its policy in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

In this context, the EU expects China to respect freedom of religion or belief, and freedom of expression, as well as the rights of persons belonging to ethnic or national minorities, as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.

Further information

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

Sir Oliver Letwin’s report said new rules would require developers to build a wider range of properties with different designs and tenures, to speed up build out rates.

In his interim report, he said he could not find “any evidence” that major developers are “holding land as a purely speculative activity” – and their business models instead rely on selling houses.

Instead, having too many identical properties on large sites – and the limits on how quickly these can be sold – is the fundamental reason behind the slow build out rate.

The government will now consider the report into the build out rate of large sites before deciding on next steps.

Last year over 217,000 new homes were delivered – the highest number on all but one of the last 30 years. Sir Oliver recommends that by adopting the measures in his report it will help government towards their target of delivering 300,000 homes a year.

In his final report, he calls for:

• new planning rules which require homebuilders to offer a range of different types of properties on big sites, so they can be completed more quickly without “flooding” the market with a large number of identical properties
• a new National Expert Committee to be set up to advise councils on the different types of properties that should be offered on large sites; they would also handle appeals where there is a dispute between developers and local authorities
• incentives for homebuilders to change plans for existing sites so they start offering a variety of property types immediately
• councils to be given a more muscular role in guiding major homebuilding projects – and the power to purchase undeveloped land for 10 times its existing use value; this would make it viable for more affordable housing to be built

Rt. Hon. Sir Oliver Letwin MP said:

I found that the main reason developers are slow to complete building on large sites is that there is only a limited demand each year for the highly uniform properties they are building on those sites.

My final report sets out some policy levers that government can use to increase the variety of homes on sites, so they can be built out more quickly.

The government has confirmed that Help to Buy equity loan funding will not be made conditional on large sites that already have planning permission adopting the proposed new diversity requirements. The government will honour any funding commitments made to sites with existing outline planning permission, regardless of any new planning policy on differentiation.

A full response to other aspects of the report will be made next year.

Secretary of State for Communities, Rt. Hon. James Brokenshire MP, said:

There is no mission more urgent than making our housing market work, and building the homes our country needs.

Sir Oliver has found that it takes 15 years to complete building on some of the largest sites, which is far too long.

It is clear action is needed so developers work with us as partners to deliver 300,000 properties a year by the mid 2020s. We will consider the recommendations in Sir Oliver’s report to determine next steps to ensure we build the homes our country needs.

New planning rules for large sites

The government’s planning rulebook already encourages housing developments to have a mix of property types, and councils are encouraged to divide up large sites to speed up the delivery of homes.

Sir Oliver recommends the government goes further and adopts a new set of planning rules for large sites. This would require developers to offer a range of property types.

The changes could be brought in quickly through a written ministerial statement and secondary legislation, before a change to the law goes through Parliament.

A national expert committee would arbitrate where councils dispute whether developers are offering the right range of properties. They would also be able to offer expert advice, and councils would be expected to consult the committee before approving any large site application in an area of high housing demand.

Bigger role for councils

Councils should be given the power to designate particular sites as ones which can only be developed as “large sites” – so developers have to follow the new planning rules.

Sir Oliver says the result of his recommendations for more diversity will mean landowners receiving less for their land.

To encourage more building, Sir Oliver recommends councils are given new powers to set up development companies.

Changes to take effect quickly

Sir Oliver recommends that developers are given financial incentives to offer a range of property types quickly.

He suggests there are conditions put on government funding for house developers or purchasers, if they do not voluntarily follow the new planning rules after 2021.

Once master plans have been produced, the developer may choose to sell off all or part of the site to developers.