Category: Gov Press Releases

We’ve installed 175 of the airport-runway-style LED road studs to help mark out lanes at one of England’s busiest motorway junctions – used by over 90,000 vehicles every day.

The innovative studs are visible up to 900 metres away – far greater than traditional reflective road studs – and have been proven to help stop drivers drifting between lanes, reducing the risk of collisions.

The smart studs have been introduced as part of a £3 million project to improve journeys and safety at Switch Island in Merseyside, where the M57, M58 and three A roads all join together.

Cables under the road surface connect the studs to traffic lights through a nearby controller unit, allowing them to be automatically switched on when traffic lights change to green.

We’ve already installed the LED studs at Hindhead Tunnel in Surrey to guide drivers through the tunnel but the Switch Island scheme is the first time they have been linked to traffic lights at a motorway junction.

Project Manager Phil Tyrrell said:

We’re carrying out a major project to improve journeys and safety at Switch Island and are pleased we’ve now reached the stage where our new smart road lights can be switched on.

We’ve found that some drivers can start drifting between lanes when they travel through the junction and the new LED road studs are a great way of guiding drivers and helping them stay in the correct lane, avoiding the risk of a collision.

We’re keen to use new ideas to improve safety at Highways England and the new smart studs will benefit the tens of thousands of drivers who travel through Switch Island every day.

Construction work on the Switch Island scheme, which is being funded by the government’s £220 million congestion relief programme, is due to be completed this winter.

The project is designed to improve the flow of traffic and enhance safety, following 49 collisions at the junction in two years – an average of one every fortnight.

As part of the Switch Island scheme, new traffic lights are being installed at a height of over five metres – higher than HGVs and double-decker buses – so that drivers approaching the junction can clearly see when the lights are changing.

Other improvements include changes to the road layout and lane markings, new barriers between carriageways and coloured high friction surfaces. Four new overhead gantries will also display signs over each lane so drivers know which lane they should be in.

And a new 400 metre shared cycle path has been created through the junction, which links up with the existing cycle path alongside the A5036 Dunnings Bridge Road.

The smart road studs which have been installed at Switch Island were designed by Oxfordshire-based company Clearview Intelligence.

Andy Salotti, Clearview’s Director of Solutions, said:

This is the first time a project involving dynamic delineation has ever been introduced at a major motorway junction on the strategic road network in England. The LED road studs which illuminate in synchronisation with the green traffic signals will provide drivers with clear and enhanced lane guidance through the complex junction. This solution will reduce the potential of drivers drifting out of their lane, therefore reducing the number of incidents at a key interchange and the subsequent congestion and increased driver frustration which is caused by such road traffic collisions.

We are proud to have worked with Highways England and Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald on such a high-profile scheme where our aim was to provide an innovative solution on time and within budget which would help increase the safety and wellbeing of the drivers using the network and meet with Highways England’s three imperatives of safety, customer service and delivery.

Get more details on the Switch Island improvement scheme.

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.

People on blood thinners who use the CoaguChek device to test their blood clotting function are being urged to check their test strips, following an alert by the manufacturer Roche.

CoaguChek XS PT Test, CoaguChek PT Test and CoaguChek XS PT PST test strips may give inaccurate International Normalised Ratio (INR) results, a measurement of how long it takes the blood to clot. This could mean you over or under-dose with anticoagulant medication, which in the short term can cause problems such as blood clots or an increased risk of bleeding.

It is advised anyone whose reading on their test strip is above 4.5 INR should discuss their results with a healthcare professional.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is urging users to check the lot numbers of their test strips against the lot numbers listed below. It is estimated that more than 125,000 packs have been affected.

Affected products

Product No	Lot No (first 6 digits as below)
CoaguChek XS PT Test PST	from 272167xx up to 334498xx
CoaguChek XS PT Test	from 272167xx up to 334498xx
CoaguChek PT Test	from 272167xx up to 334498xx

John Wilkinson, MHRA’s Director of Medical Devices said:

“If you’re worried about your readings when using these test strips, we’d recommend speaking to your GP, anticoagulant clinic or a pharmacist as soon as possible.

“Patient safety is our highest priority and we strongly encourage anyone to report any issues with this product, or more generally with any medical device, to our Yellow Card Scheme.”

Business Secretary Greg Clark has appointed Andy Haldane to be Chair of the Industrial Strategy Council, an independent body set up to assess the government’s progress on the commitments made in its modern Industrial Strategy.

Mr Haldane is the Chief Economist of the Bank of England where he is responsible for research and statistics as well as being a member of the Monetary Policy Committee.

The Council will meet for the first time at the beginning of November. Mr Haldane will be joined by senior individuals from business, academia and civil society from all corners of the UK.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

We are getting on with delivering the modern Industrial Strategy with record levels of investment in R&D, the fastest growth in infrastructure spending in the G7, the biggest shakeup to technical education in a generation and Sector Deals to put the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future.

The Industrial Strategy Council has an important role to play holding the government to account by monitoring its success delivering the Industrial Strategy and its impact on the economy.

I am delighted that Andy Haldane has taken on this important role which will give the Council authority and independence, as well as the benefit of his thought leadership in this area.

Chief Economist of the Bank of England Andy Haldane said:

The Industrial Strategy is one of the most critical strands of work taking place across government and has the potential to raise living standards across the whole of the UK, boost people’s earning powers and put the UK at the forefront of future industries internationally.

I am delighted and honoured to take the role of Chair of the Industrial Strategy Council and look forward to working with leading business men and women, investors, economists, and academics to provide impartial and independent evaluations of the government’s progress in delivering on the Industrial Strategy.

Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney said:

Productivity is an important determinant of the Monetary Policy Committee’s forecasts for economic growth and inflation. Understanding the impact of the government’s policies on the outlook for productivity is therefore of great importance to the Bank’s work. Andy’s new role will help both to deepen that understanding and, consistent with our remit, to support the government’s objectives for growth and employment.

The work programme of the Council will be developed by the Chair and its members and its remit will include reviewing the impact of the Industrial Strategy to date and its contribution to UK economic growth, as well as recommending a series of success measures for the implementation of the Industrial Strategy White Paper.

It will also provide advice on delivery against these measures and their contribution to UK economic growth and ways to improve the measurement of success, particularly in terms of productivity and the better use of data across government.

The Council will publish a regular public report assessing progress on implementation of the Industrial Strategy against success measures and on ways to improve measurement and evaluation.

It will meet 3 to 4 times a year and it will agree its annual work programme and priorities with BEIS and HMT. The Chair will meet annually with the Business Secretary and the Chancellor to discuss its work programme and progress.

Plans to convene an Industrial Strategy Council were announced in the Industrial Strategy White Paper and is a result of the Green Paper consultation, in which many businesses, universities and other stakeholders proposed that the Industrial Strategy needs to have clear measures of success, and an ongoing mechanism to evaluate progress.

Notes to editors

• Andy Haldane is chairing the Industrial Strategy Council in a personal capacity during his term of office. It is not an institutional responsibility of the Bank of England.
• Andy Haldane will not be receiving a salary for this role.

A man from Middlesex has been prosecuted after being caught on film dumping waste on private land in Romford.

Brian Christopher Stokes, of Lyncroft Avenue, Pinner, was charged with dumping waste without an environmental permit, contrary to section 33 (1) (a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

At Barkingside magistrates’ court on Friday 5 October, district judge Gary Lucie sentenced Stokes to 100 hours’ unpaid work, ordering him to pay costs of £1,500, and an £85 victim surcharge.

The court heard Stokes was captured on CCTV controlled by Havering Borough Council, arriving on private land at the old Decathlon site in Angel Way, Romford, Essex, on 14 July 2016. Stokes was filmed driving a white dumper truck to the rear of the site, emptying the contents, described as “building materials in heavy duty bags,” from the truck to the land. He’d previously removed the vehicle’s number plates.

Enforcement officers from Havering Council passed the CCTV footage to the Environment Agency and Metropolitan Police. On 21 July 2016, police officers attended a different location in Romford. The same vehicle used by Stokes a week earlier was seen being driven onto this site. Officers identified Stokes as the driver.

District judge Lucie heard the Angel Way site, went from “being completely clear to being full to the brim of waste,” although Stokes was only responsible for some of the waste dumped there.

Simon Graham-Harrison, who brought the case against Stokes for the Environment Agency, said:

Stokes’s actions showed a blatant disregard for the environment. In cases like this, where the actions of individuals threaten to undermine legitimate waste businesses, we have no hesitation in prosecuting those involved.

To ensure that the right waste gets to the right place, we encourage the public and businesses to check that their waste carrier is registered on www.gov.uk, and to ask to see a copy of the waste transfer note for the waste. If possible, take a photo of the note on your phone.

Stokes pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

A list of registered waste-carriers can be checked online here.

Dr Alastair McPhail CMG OBE has been appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Her Majesty’s Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti and Permanent Representative to the African Union in succession to Ms Susanna Moorehead. Dr McPhail will take up his appointment in January 2019.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full name: Dr Alastair McPhail CMG OBE

Married to: Jo McPhail

Children: Two sons

2018	FCO, Director of Communication
2017 to 2018	FCO, FCO Co-ordinator, UK-France Summit
2014 to 2017	Jerusalem, Consul General
2013	Full time language training (Arabic)
2011 to 2013	Juba, Consul General, then Her Majesty’s Ambassador
2009 to 2010	FCO, Deputy Director, Estates Change
2009	Bamako, UK Special Envoy to Mali and Head, Crisis Management Team
2006 to 2009	Rome, Minister/Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission
2005	Full-time language training (Italian)
2004 to 2005	FCO, UK Special Representative for Sudan
2002 to 2004	FCO, Head, Sudan Unit
2000 to 2002	FCO, Head, Egypt, Libya and Sudan Section, Near East and North Africa Department1
1996 to 2000	Ankara, First Secretary (Political/Military)
1995 to 1996	Full-time language training (Arabic and part-time Turkish)
1994 to 1995	FCO, Nuclear Weapons Desk Officer, Security Policy Department

Further information

• Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice and Facebook

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David Andrew Marsden (62), from Exeter, was the director of finance company First Capital Factors Limited (FCF). Incorporated in 2009, FCF offered recourse factoring facilities for small and medium businesses where they would buy a company’s invoices to provide them with advanced finance.

To be able to purchase their clients’ invoices, FCF secured funding from other companies. However, one of FCF’s funders spotted irregularities within FCF’s portfolio and sought advice from a business advisory firm in August 2016, who agreed that these concerns within FCF’s loan book.

The funder used its statutory right as a fixed charge holder to appoint an administrator and following further enquiries, it was discovered that David Marsden instructed a number of his clients to produce false invoices, before he submitted them to FCF’s funders to secure illegitimate funds.

FCF operated a back-to-back receivables finance facility, where FCF would assign debts to the funder in exchange for 65% funding. Using this method, David Marsden fraudulently secured close to £4.3 million before transferring money from FCF to other companies he was connected with in order to avoid paying his creditors.

On 18 September 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from David Marsden, after he admitted acting in collusion with certain clients to defraud a back to back receivables finance provider.

Effective from 9 October 2018, Andrew Marsden is now banned for 10 years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Martin Gitner, Deputy Head of Insolvent Investigations for the Insolvency Service, said:

All the evidence pointed to Andrew Marsden orchestrating the scheme and he clearly controlled all the companies he colluded with to raise millions of pounds worth of false invoices.

His substantial ban will protect other creditors from suffering losses and improve standards in the marketplace. It should also act as a deterrent to others who may be tempted to misuse invoice finance facilities in order to secure illegitimate funds.

Notes to editors

David Andrew Marsden is from Exeter and his date of birth is July 1954.

First Capital Factors Limited (Company Reg no. 07011294) was incorporated in September 2009.

On 18 September 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from David Andrew Marsden, after he admitted acting in collusion with certain client entities to defraud a back to back receivables finance provider.

The fraud was principally conducted by instructing the colluding FCF clients to raise invoices which could be notified to the Back to Back Receivables Finance provider and against which an advance could be requested. As a result, FCF had access to funds in the sum of at least £4,281,000 to which it was not entitled, which can be attributed to funds advanced against the false invoices raised under the direction of Mr Marsden.

His ban is effective from 9 October 2018 and lasts for 10 years.

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:

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The Department for International Development today (Sunday 7th October) launches a major push to find new ways of tackling the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) – providing an additional £6 million to protect some of the world’s most iconic and endangered species including rhinos, elephants and pangolins.

The fresh support will be welcomed by the Prime Minister, who will open the landmark IWT Conference being held in London on 11-12 October, the largest conference ever to be held on this issue.

The illegal wildlife trade threatens species with extinction, fosters corruption, threatens stability and the basic security of societies.

The additional new funding for the IWT Challenge Fund, managed by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), will help support the development of cross-border “Green Corridors” for wildlife, by supporting actions that will bring economic and security benefits for communities.

Through efforts to tackle the trade, UK aid is creating sustainable, alternative jobs and working with vulnerable communities, for example, to harness tourism as a driver of economic growth.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

The Illegal Wildlife Trade threatens to make some of the planet’s most extraordinary species extinct. It also destroys the livelihoods of some of the world’s poorest people, robbing communities of the great economic benefits of wildlife, including tourism.

UK aid is giving fresh life to projects, whose aim is to protect these species and secure the futures of communities. This is a win for those communities and a win for animal lovers across the world. None of us want to see these majestic animals dying out.

Since 2014, Defra’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund has been supporting a range of projects around the world that combat the illegal wildlife trade. This includes addressing the factors which drive demand for the illegal trade. It also includes supporting action to improve law enforcement and bring criminals to justice and to provide alternative jobs for those involved in the trade.

Environment Secretary, Michael Gove said:

Environmental challenges do not respect borders, and require coordinated international action.

Our Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund is driving change to combat this despicable criminality and highlights our global leadership in protecting wildlife in its natural environment. The fund’s priorities reflect our commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan to work with other nations to stamp out this vile trade.

I look forward to the UK welcoming more than 80 nations next week at the fourth international Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in London. This will be the biggest conference ever on tackling the illegal trade and provides a golden opportunity to work together on this vital issue.

The Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund also supports projects which mobilise the private sector, who will be critical in driving economic growth and economic opportunities like nature-tourism that both protect wildlife and reduce poverty.

Projects the Challenge Fund is currently supporting include:

• Saving Pangolins by Reducing Demand in South East Asia: This project, led by WildAid will dissuade South East Asian consumers, including in Vietnam, from purchasing pangolin products by debunking the false medicinal value of their scales and making the consumption of pangolin meat socially unacceptable.
• Developing law enforcement capability in Malawi to combat wildlife crime: This project, led by RSPCA International with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife in Malawi, is training Malawian officials and supporting them in investigating and prosecuting wildlife crime. This includes establishing a national database on wildlife crime to allow better and more accurate intelligence gathering.
• Counter Poaching Training Programme for Sub-Saharan Africa: This project, led by the Tusk Trust, aims to reduce poaching of rhinos and elephants by significantly improving law enforcement capacity in wildlife protection zones. Training is being provided to rangers, including proven tracking tactics. The project is also providing training in information gathering and analysis to improve coordination of national and international efforts to disrupt poaching and trafficking.

Notes to editors

IWT Challenge Fund

The IWT Challenge Fund contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly to: Goal 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development); Goal 15 (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reserve land degradation and halt biodiversity loss); and Goal 12 (sustainable consumption and production).

Through the IWT Challenge Fund, the UK has so far funded 61 projects with £18.5m to combat the illegal wildlife trade by addressing demand reduction, strengthening enforcement and criminal justice, and providing alternative livelihoods. This includes £4.5 million for 14 new Challenge Fund projects announced in July:

The Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund supports projects looking to tackle IWT through the following actions:

• sustainable livelihoods and economic development, especially by: supporting alternatives to engaging in the illegal wildlife trade; encouraging community-led wildlife conservation, including retention of benefits within local communities; and addressing the challenges of human-wildlife conflict.

• strengthening law enforcement, especially by: addressing corruption; building capacity to prevent illicit financial flows from the illegal wildlife trade; and improving law enforcement and border control in key source, transit and destination countries.

• ensuring effective legal frameworks, especially by: working to ensure that other governments have effective legislation in place; improving judicial prosecution processes in IWT cases; and ensuring there are strong penalties in place for IWT.

• reducing demand for IWT products by: using evidence-based interventions to reduce demand for IWT products; working with businesses to keep IWT products out of the supply chain; establishing partnerships between source, transit and destination countries.

Further information can be found here

IWT Conference

With over 1,000 delegates, the IWT Conference will be the largest of its kind ever to be held. 84 countries have confirmed that they will be sending delegations, spanning Africa, 26; Americas, 14; Asia and Oceania, 17; Europe, 23 and the Middle East, 4.

The conference will focus on three themes:

1. Tackling IWT as a serious organised crime: strengthening end to end law enforcement.
2. Building coalitions: engaging the private sector, NGOs and academia; harnessing technology and innovation.
3. Closing markets for illegally traded wildlife products: building on the Chinese ivory trade ban.

Wider DFID support

DFID funds a range of activities intended to both tackle the illegal wildlife trade, and to conserve nature and wildlife, including by reducing poverty, strengthening borders and creating green corridors.

£150m for the Global Environment Facility from 2018 to 2022 (as well as £100m from Defra) – this includes the world’s biggest fund on tackling IWT, the Global Wildlife Programme, of which the UK has contributed $17m (approximate £13m) during the same period.

The Geospatial Commission will invest £5 million to help unlock the value of geospatial data held by its six expert Partner Bodies – the British Geological Survey, Coal Authority, HM Land Registry, Ordnance Survey, UK Hydrographic Office and the Valuation Office Agency.

Location information, or geospatial data, is changing the way we see the world and live our lives – from helping us to avoid traffic jams to easily finding local services or deciding where to buy a house: through cutting edge analysis of GPS, satellite photography and historical data.

David Lidington, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said:

Our modern Industrial Strategy will secure Britain’s position as a world-leader in digital innovation and this government is committed to providing more opportunities for tech businesses – including small firms – to thrive, as well as access public procurement opportunities.

Through emerging technologies, our Geospatial and GovTech funding will elevate British companies onto a global market and help to deliver new services to improve people’s lives.

The work of the Geospatial Commission, supported by £40 million of new funding in each of the next two years, will drive the move to use this data more productively – unlocking up to £11 billion of extra value for the economy every year.

Geospatial data is an increasingly valuable tool for businesses and public sector organisations, helping them to make better decisions. That could range from tackling crime hotspots or finding the quickest routes for emergency services to deciding where best to locate supply chains.

By improving the quality of key publicly held data and making it easier to access and use, the government will enable the private sector to develop new innovations and applications.

The announcement comes days before the launch on 9th October of the next round of the £20 million GovTech Catalyst programme, in which public sector organisations are invited to submit challenges they think might be solved by innovative use of emerging technologies. Both the government’s Geospatial and GovTech funding is aimed at driving forward Britain as a digital and data leader.

Foreign & Commonwealth Minister for Asia and The Pacific Mark Field makes his first official visit to Maldives today (7 October).

During his trip to Malé, he will meet with President-Elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to congratulate him on his victory in last month’s elections, and discuss ways in which we can work together in support of shared values and interests.

He will also hold talks with Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim and politicians from across the political spectrum.

The Minister will also meet with leading Maldivian lawyers and hear from civil society representatives how the UK has supported efforts to enhance democracy and human rights in Maldives.

Commenting on his visit, Minister Field said:

I am delighted to be making my first visit to Maldives, especially at such an important moment in the country’s history.

I am looking forward to discussing with a range of Maldivians, including President-Elect Solih, how the UK can support Maldives on its journey to consolidate and strengthen its democracy.

Further information

• Follow Foreign Office Minister Mark Field @MarkFieldUK
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