Category: Gov Press Releases

The Charity Commission has today announced the appointment of an interim manager to Capricorn Animal Rescue and Sanctuary (inc. Aston, Hawarden Animal Aid) due to continued concerns about the governance and management of the charity.

Interim managers are appointed to take over the running of a charity where the Commission has identified misconduct or mismanagement, or there is a need to protect the charity’s property.

The Commission opened a statutory inquiry into Capricorn Animal Rescue and Sanctuary on 9 February 2017 to examine regulatory concerns about the governance of the charity, potential unauthorised trustee benefit, and whether the trustees have properly exercised their responsibilities under charity law – particularly their duty to account for the charity’s funds.

The Commission made an order under Section 76 (3)(g) of the Charities Act 2011 on 30 July 2018 to appoint Guy Hollander of Mazars as interim manager to the exclusion of the trustees.

He will take on full control of the day-to-day management and administration of the charity from the current trustee until the Commission makes a further order.

Harvey Grenville, Head of Investigations and Enforcement at the Charity Commission said:

We are not satisfied that the current governance procedures and practices are working properly, or are likely to be rectified by the trustees. A decision by the Charity Commission to appoint an interim manager is not taken lightly and reflects the seriousness of our regulatory concerns.

Part of the interim manager’s duties will be to establish the viability of the charity and determine the most appropriate option regarding its future.

The Commission’s investigation continues.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. This appointment is a temporary and protective power that will be reviewed at regular intervals. It will continue until the Commission makes a further Order for its variation or discharge.
2. The Commission is aware that the charity has been the subject of concerns from members of the public relating to the welfare of animals in the charity’s care; this does not fall within the Commission’s remit and concerns on this matter should be directed to the RSPCA. Their 24-hour cruelty and advice line can be reached at 0300 1234 999.
3. It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries are available on GOV.UK.
4. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. For more information see the about us page on GOV.UK.
5. Search for charities on our online register.

Ms Claire Evans OBE has been appointed British High Commissioner to Belize in succession to Mr Peter Hughes OBE. Ms Evans will take up her appointment in October 2018.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full name: Claire Elizabeth Evans

2012 to present	FCO, Deputy Director, Protocol Directorate
2008 to 2012	Doha, Deputy Head of Mission
2003 to 2007	Dubai, Deputy Consul General and Director of Trade and Investment
2000 to 2002	FCO, Deputy Head, Human Resources Operations (Americas, Africa and Middle East), Personnel Department
1998 to 1999	FCO, Deputy Head, Recruitment Section
1996 to 1998	FCO, Desk Officer, UK/Russia Bilateral Desk, Eastern Department
1992 to 1995	Islamabad, Third Secretary (Commercial)
1989 to 1992	Jakarta, Deputy Head of Management
1988 to 1989	FCO, Executive Assistant, Secretary of State Private Office
1987 to 1988	FCO, Executive Assistant, Personnel Services

Further information

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

At Leeds Crown Court [Tuesday 31 July] former company director Jonathan France was sentenced to 10 years, as well as being disqualified as a company director for 12 years.

Also at court were his accomplices Jody Firth and Graham Myles Schofield having assisted Jonathan France carry out his dishonest activities.

Jody Firth was sentenced for 5 years and 4 months, while Graham Myles Schofield received a sentence of 2 years and 6 months. Jody Firth was also disqualified as a company director for 5 years and Graham Schofield was banned from running companies for 3 years.

Jonathan France was first disqualified from being a director of limited companies for 14 years in 2004 for his role in the mismanagement of Eric France and Son (Metals) Limited which went into insolvency. He was then declared bankrupt in November 2008 as he was unable to pay more than £7million owed after the collapse of his sole-trader businesses Embassy Racing and EFS Group.

Being bankrupt and disqualified should have limited his ability to directly or indirectly run a company but Jonathan France ignored these restrictions and continued to run companies. He also diverted millions of pounds from the company accounts to a combination of other business and personal accounts so that he could buy a house, luxury items and a fleet of cars.

And with the help of Graham Myles Schofield, he misled the Trustees managing his affairs that he had no assets to pay back his debts. Just under £7 million has since been recovered by the Trustee in bankruptcy.

Deputy Chief Investigation Officer, John Fitzsimmons, of the Insolvency Service, said:

Jonathan France is a fraudster and lied in order to cover up his true activities and fund his opulent lifestyle. But it wasn’t just him who carried out the deception as he was supported along the way by Schofield and Firth, two racing colleagues who were well aware of France’s bankruptcy.

We will always seek to tackle those who flagrantly disregard and cynically abuse the insolvency regime, which is there to protect creditors. After a substantial investigation we are pleased to see that France, Schofield and Firth have received significant prison terms.

Only months before he was made bankrupt in 2008 on the grounds that he had no money to pay his debts, Jonathan France deliberately transferred close to £180,000 worth of money and assets out of his personal estate to avoid paying his creditors.

France’s money and assets went to Graham Myles Schofield and Jody Firth, friends he had made through motor-racing. Assets moved by France included two classic cars worth £27,000 to Graham Myles Schofield and Jody Firth, as well as a further £152,607 was transferred to bank accounts controlled by Graham Myles Schofield.

Jonathan France then began a sustained campaign to continue running companies despite having restrictions placed on him. With Schofield, he also engineered false and misleading explanations to the Trustees and the Official Receiver about a substantial amount of possessions.

Between 2008 and 2013, Jonathan France managed and controlled JKL (Wakefield) Ltd before the company went into insolvent liquidation. The company bought and sold metals and listed Jody Firth as the company director but not Jonathan France.

And Jonathan France repeated the same tactic when Graham Myles Schofield had his name down as the official director for two racing companies effectively controlled by Jonathan France. WFR Ltd and WFR Holdings Ltd ran between 2011 and 2014 before also going into liquidation.

While managing JKL (Wakefield), Jonathan France diverted more than £6 million from the company accounts to a combination of other business and personal accounts.

Items bought from the £6 million included a 5-bedroom house in Huddersfield through a Discretionary Settlement Trust, while just under £200,000 was spent on furniture and £70,000 was used to buy fine wines.

And around £1.8 million was also used to purchase a fleet of high-end vehicles and personalised number plates, including three Aston Martins, two Ferraris, as well as a Rolls Royce and McLaren.

Jonathan France achieved the deception by falsifying company cheques, invoices and other paperwork to make it appear as if payments had been to bona fides creditors of the company when in fact they were made to purchase the cars and luxury goods.

After Jonathan France repeatedly failed to properly disclose his property to the Trustees, he was twice privately examined at Huddersfield County Court in 2012. At court, Jonathan France repeatedly and falsely argued that he had sold various items of jewellery, including two Rolexes and a platinum ring, as well as a number of paintings to a colleague for £250,000.

Jonathan France pleaded guilty to four counts of fraudulently transferring property, three counts of acting as a director while bankrupt, as well as one count each for failing to disclose property to the Official Receiver or Trustee, perjury, fraudulent trading, false accounting and money laundering.

Jody Firth pleaded guilty to helping Jonathan France run a company despite being a bankrupt, while both Jody Firth and Graham Schofield pleaded guilty to money laundering.

Notes to editors

The defendants

Jonathan Dean France aged 46 of Wakefield

Graham Myles Schofield aged 53 of Mirfield, West Yorkshire

Jody Dean Firth aged 36 of Wakefield

The Insolvency Service (England and Wales)

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 Enforcement teams contribute 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.

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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Fire doors from five suppliers have now been identified as failing to meet requisite fire performance standard following an on-going investigation by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

This highlights broader potential failings within the industry and the Government is taking immediate action to address this.

MHCLG began investigating the fire door industry after it was found that a glazed, composite fire door from Grenfell Tower manufactured by Manse Masterdor failed a 30 minute fire resistance test after approximately 15 minutes. Issues were subsequently identified with doors produced by Masterdor Limited (the successor business to Manse Masterdor). Investigations have continued and in the last few days doors from 3 additional manufacturers have failed fire resistance testing when tested on both sides.

MHCLG is writing to all building control bodies highlighting the need to check that existing building regulations guidance on new fire door installations is followed. The guidance sets out the tests which should be performed – including testing doors on both sides – in order to meet building regulations requirements.

The Secretary of State for Communities has instructed major fire door suppliers to meet this week and agree a clear plan of action to tackle the failings which have been identified, with weekly reports on progress.

The government’s Independent Expert Panel and the National Fire Chiefs Council have advised that the additional risk to public safety is low, as even when not meeting full resistance standards fire doors will provide some protection from the spread of fire and are part of layered fire protection systems within buildings.

Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

While the department’s investigations are on-going, I now have enough evidence to suggest that there is a broader issue across the fire door market. That is why I am calling on suppliers to meet this week and provide reassurance that they are gripping this issue properly.

I want to see a clear plan of action to rectify existing problems and ensure such failures are not repeated in the future. Whilst our Expert Panel assures me the risk remains low I want to assure the public that the government is doing everything it can to ensure construction products are of the highest safety standards and accurately tested and marketed.

The Secretary of State has also asked National Trading Standards to oversee local investigations which are taking place. MHCLG will also work with third party certification bodies to develop minimum standards of assurance to provide building owners with greater confidence in the fire doors they purchase.

The products which have failed government tests to date were glazed and unglazed doors supplied by Manse Masterdor and Masterdor Limited and glazed composite doors supplied by Specialist Building Products Limited, trading as Permadoor; Solar Windows Limited; and Birtley Group Limited, trading as Bowater by Birtley. All doors that are known to have failed to meet the necessary standards have been withdrawn from the market and the department has informed local trading standards of its findings. Each manufacturer has co-operated fully with the government’s investigations, which are continuing.

Further information

What is the safety advice for residents?

• The National Fire Chiefs Council has advised that the additional risk to public safety is low.
• In the event of a fire people should follow existing fire procedures for the building.
• Residents should also test their smoke alarms regularly to ensure they work and ensure that their flat front door is fitted with a working self-closing device.
• All doors provide essential protection in a fire if they are properly closed.
• Fire safety advice for residents is available at: www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/High–Rise-Safety-for-Residents

In figures released in the second calendar year after the EU referendum, exports to non-EU countries amounted to around £342 billion in 2017, showing the worldwide demand for British goods and services remains. Exports to EU countries were around £274 billion in 2017.

The fastest growing export market for the UK since 2010 was Oman, with exports increasing by 354% to £3 billion. This was followed by Macedonia (FYROM) with UK trade growing by 318% to £1 billion and then Kazakhstan which was up by 210% to £2 billion.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox MP said:

British goods remain in global demand as exports to non-EU countries continue to grow in markets such as Oman. It shows the confidence the world has in our goods and is important as 90% of global trade will come from outside EU.

As an international economic department, we have a dynamic and experienced team who will negotiate free trade deals and make a success of Brexit. We’re also supporting UK businesses in exporting more and talking to international businesses on why we should be the top destination for investment through our GREAT campaign.

Today’s figures also reveal in 2017:

• overall exports of goods rose by 13% to £339 billion
• overall exports of services rose by 7% to £277 billion
• the USA remains the UK’s top export market, buying over £112 billion worth of goods and services in 2017, an increase of 8% since 2016

The news is promising as separate ONS figures show that UK exports overall rose by 5% in the year to end May 2018. Our world-leading services sector recorded a trade surplus of £111 billion in the same period, with services exports totalling £279 billion in the year to May 2018.

The UK also attracted more than 2,000 foreign direct investment projects in financial year 2017 to 2018.

Background

• ONS Pink Book
• fastest growing markets only include countries with more than £1 billion in value in 2017 and excludes Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar

Japanese Cabinet Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has welcomed the UK’s recent announcement that it is looking to seek potential accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), saying Japan would “spare no efforts to support the UK” in a meeting with Dr Liam Fox, international trade secretary, this morning.

Dr Liam Fox met Motegi, who is responsible for CPTPP, as part of a visit to Japan, the UK’s closest partner in Asia.

The UK and Japan are like-minded advocates for global free trade, and building on our existing relationship with Japan is a key element of delivering the UK’s first independent trade policy for over 40 years as we leave the European Union.

This is Dr Fox’s first visit to Asia following his launch of a consultation on potentially joining CPTPP, and his welcoming this month’s signature of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Japan accounts for nearly half of the CPTPP’s GDP, and is the UK’s fifth largest trading partner with total trade worth £28 billion, up by nearly 15% in 2017.

Dr Fox is also beating the drum for British businesses based in Japan, meeting a range of business leaders and the British Chambers of Commerce Japan. Further, he is highlighting the value of Japanese investment in the UK, in light of the huge and job-creating investments made in the last year by the likes of Hitachi, Toyota and Mitsubishi Corp.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox said:

As we set our own trade policy for the first time in over 40 years, the government is determined to break new ground by putting the UK at the heart of the world’s fastest growing regions, like Asia.

That’s why I’m visiting Japan, our fifth largest trading partner, and meeting Prime Minister Abe and colleagues, British businesses and Japanese investors to take our trading relationship to the next level and deliver a new framework for free and open UK-Japan trade. These talks are vital in putting the country at the heart of the Asia-Pacific, a region that will be the engine of global growth in the twenty-first century.

Dr Fox welcomed the recent EU-Japan EPA with Theresa May and Prime Minister Abe agreeing to work quickly to establish a new partnership between Japan and the UK based on the final terms of the agreement. Ensuring certainty to businesses in both countries is something they have made clear is a top priority.

The 11 members of CPTPP accounted for £82 billion of UK trade in 2016, more than the Netherlands, France or China. The economies of existing members are diverse, spanning a region which is a driving force of global economic growth.

Sellafield Ltd’s new Social Impact Strategy outlines five objectives which will help local leaders to secure inward investment and diversify the local economy, as reprocessing at the site nears completion.

Head of Corporate Affairs, Jamie Reed, said:

Sellafield Ltd’s primary purpose is to clean up the Sellafield site.

As this mission accelerates and reprocessing comes to an end, we are looking towards what the future of our business will be. Given the reliance of the local economy upon Sellafield, what we do will inevitably shape the future of the local economy in a significant way.

The long-standing economic challenges facing West Cumbria are understood by all of us who live and work here – and one of the biggest is over-reliance on the nuclear industry.

This isn’t purely Sellafield’s problem to fix – but we know that we have a role to play. The unprecedented changes we are now seeing at Sellafield present our business and the local community with new opportunities.

To help identify opportunities to strengthen the local economy Sellafield Ltd is launching a Development Advisory Board, which Jamie will chair. The board will bring together local leaders, trade unions and other businesses.

Jamie added:

By working together we can leverage the investment that government makes on the site – currently over £2bn a year – to create sustainable growth by both diversifying the economy and reducing West Cumbria’s reliance on Sellafield.

Achieving this is the biggest challenge facing the economy of West Cumbria, and that’s why I took this job on.

Nuclear will always play a big role, but as we continue to make progress on cleaning up the site, we can shape a future that offers new economic opportunities beyond the nuclear industry. Sustainability is the key — that’s why we have become engaged on projects like the Heathrow Hub, the Bus Station in Whitehaven, and why we’ve become leaders on the Northern Powerhouse agenda.

Sellafield Ltd’s strategy is underpinned by data provided by Oxford Economics, which illustrates the economic impact of Sellafield (see web-links in notes to editors).

Copeland Borough Council’s Mayor, Mike Starkie, has welcomed the new strategy. He said:

Our relationship with Sellafield is strong — they understand the challenges the area faces and have a crucial role to play in helping us to overcome them.

As the site gets safer and cleaner over the decades to come, we know that direct employment will reduce, but by acting now and working together we can make sure that we provide alternatives.

Copeland has many of the same problems of large rural boroughs — being able to work with Sellafield Ltd gives us a huge opportunity to overcome them.

Work from the strategy has already started — Sellafield Ltd announced earlier this year that it was investing £2.6m in an ambitious project to convert Whitehaven’s derelict bus station into a hub for start-up businesses. This follows a £10.6m investment from Sellafield Ltd and £14.5m investment from NDA unlocking a total investment of over £30m in the new Whitehaven Campus, opening later this year.

Mike added:

The bus station is especially significant as it will help to establish growth in non-nuclear businesses coming into the area.

We have find growth industries, like digital, so that we can move away from relying completely on nuclear.

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison said:

Copeland has hosted Sellafield for many years and the community has given a great deal of support to the nuclear industry over those years.

Despite high salaries our infrastructure needs desperate improvement and there are areas of deprivation which must be tackled.

My desire is to see the Sellafield Social Impact Strategy make a real positive difference to the lives of our residents which will leave a long lasting legacy that will cascade to future generations.

Workington MP Sue Hayman said:

Sellafield has been an important strategic asset for the UK since the 1950s, and West Cumbria continues to provide a national service in managing the majority of the UK’s nuclear legacy. As that work progresses, however, there will naturally be fewer direct employment opportunities. I’m pleased to be working with Sellafield Ltd on projects like the Heathrow Hub, to ensure that the region can enjoy a sustainable future beyond the nuclear industry.

Jo Lappin, Chief Executive of the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

We very much welcome the launch of the Social Impact Strategy, which focuses on addressing some of the major issues that we have identified in our work with partners on developing Cumbria’s Local Industrial Strategy (LIS). The LIS has two fundamental priorities, improving business productivity and achieving inclusive growth, and diversifying West Cumbria’s business base provides an important opportunity to help achieve both of these priorities.

Cumbria LEP will work in partnership with Sellafield Ltd and local businesses and organisations to make sure that our Local Industrial Strategy is fully informed by the Social Impact Strategy and that we work together to deliver the shared ambition of both these strategies to create growth and prosperity for our businesses and people.

Cumbria County Council’s Economic Development and Property Portfolio Holder, David Southward, said:

The challenges we face here are well understood within the local community – they mirror the challenges that lots of rural areas face. We welcome the strategy and look forward to working with Sellafield Ltd and collaborating with other organisations across the county.

Steve Nicholson, spokesperson for the Sellafield Workers’ Campaign said:

As representatives of the current Sellafield workforce we have a duty to look after the futures of our members, and also a responsibility to hold decision makers to account.

Although we need to broaden our horizons, there is much more to be done regarding nuclear in the UK and West Cumbria is pivotal to these aims. We campaign so that our members’ children and grandchildren can have a positive future, inside or outside of the Sellafield gates. Nobody is going to do it for us.

Notes for Editors:

Sellafield Ltd invests £10m each year directly into projects in the local area. This is specific funding, via the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which is ring-fenced for Social Impact.

Recent investments include:

• Whitehaven Campus – £10.6m
• North Shore Bus Station Project – £2.6m
• Allerdale Social Fund – £500k
• Copeland Social Fund – £500k
• Well Whitehaven – £350k
• Beacon – £325k
• West Cumbria Works – £205k

Sellafield Ltd’s Social Impact Strategy contains a vision, objectives and outcomes linked to the businesses’ Corporate Strategy, to provide tax-payers and communities close to the site with a socio-economic growth return on their investment at Sellafield.

The five objectives within the Social Impact Strategy are based on United Nations’ sustainability goals.

They are:

• Resilient Economies
• Thriving Communities
• Social Value Chains
• Sustainable Incomes
• Collective Impact

Oxford Economics report highlights:

• SL provides 58.7% of all jobs in Copeland (directly & indirectly)
• Average salary over £43,000 (UK average £34,451)
• 1 SL job sustains 3 in the rest of the economy
• Copeland benefits from 55.9% of SL wage bill (£264m)
• Allerdale benefits from 25.8% of SL wage bill (25.8%)
• The economic outlook for Cumbria is challenging

Sellafield Social Impact Strategy

Oxford Economic Report