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Samir joins UKEF from the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he most recently was the Managing Director for credit for large corporates, and previously led the bank’s credit functions for industrials and corporates in Asia Pacific. He has an extensive background in risk management in the banking sector, with more than 25 years’ experience across numerous geographies and sectors.

UKEF’s Chief Risk Officer is responsible for enterprise-wide risk management, including UKEF’s portfolio of up to £50 billion – safeguarding taxpayers’ money while at the same time ensuring that UKEF is able to offer the best support possible to its customers and their overseas buyers.

Louis Taylor, UKEF’s Chief Executive Officer, welcomed Samir to UKEF, saying:

I am very pleased to welcome Samir, who brings a wealth of experience to the role of UK Export Finance’s Chief Risk Officer. The government’s Export Strategy, due to be published in coming weeks, puts UKEF at its heart, and Samir will play a critical role, helping us provide world-class support for the UK’s world-class exporters at the same time as ensuring that taxpayers’ money is rigorously safeguarded.

Samir Parkash, Chief Risk Officer at UKEF, added:

I am delighted to be joining UK Export Finance at a time when the work of the department has never been more important – UKEF’s support can be transformative for its customers, and for the UK’s economy, jobs and prosperity. I look forward to playing my part, ensuring that UKEF continues to deliver for the UK’s export community.

Samir succeeds David Havelock, Chief Risk Officer at UKEF for more than 12 years, who retired at the end of March. David was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours in recognition of his contribution to the UK’s export economy.

Background

UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency and a government department, working alongside the Department for International Trade as an integral part of its strategy and operations.

Our mission is to ensure that no viable UK export should fail for want of finance or insurance from the private market. We provide finance and insurance to help exporters win, fulfil and ensure they get paid for export contracts.

We have supported exports in the aerospace, construction, oil and gas, mining and metals, petrochemicals, telecommunications, and transport sectors.

Our regional network of export finance managers support UK businesses to export. Our range of products includes:

• Bond insurance policy
• Bond support scheme
• Buyer & supplier credit financing facility
• Direct lending facility
• Export insurance policy
• Export refinancing facility
• Export working capital scheme
• Letter of credit guarantee scheme

Our country cover positions outline our current cover policy and risk appetite for each country

Steel & Alloy’s new £27 million Popes Lane manufacturing site in Oldbury has been opened by the UK’s Minister for Investment Graham Stuart.

The new site provides another boost to the area with an initial 60 jobs being created, a number that could double based on further development at the site.

Popes Lane is situated at the heart of the Midlands’ motor industry, with products rolling off the assembly line destined for the likes of JLR, Honda and Nissan, and is seen by ministers as a strong vote of confidence in the region as the UK departs the European Union.

The new factory offers further good news for the Midlands, which attracted 225 FDI projects last year, creating more than 8,300 new jobs.

Minister for Investment, Graham Stuart, said:

A thriving Midlands Engine is essential to our national economic success and it is fantastic to see foreign investment boosting a long-standing UK company here in the Black Country.

The Midlands sits at the heart of the UK with key transport links as the M1, M6 and West Coast Mainline running through it. The Department for International Trade was set up by Theresa May to boost export, promote investment and reduce barriers to trade.

As an international economic department, we will continue to use our sector specialists, regional exporters and staff in 108 countries to attract investment to the Midlands and support higher growth and better paying jobs.

Steel and Alloy Managing Director, Mark Cooper, said:

The significant investment in Popes Lane, a state of the art steel processing centre, is an investment in the future of the automotive Industry in the Midlands. This will allow Steel & Alloy to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers and the industry as a whole for years to come.

Sandwell Council leader Councillor Steve Eling said it was an important day for Sandwell when Steel & Alloy acquired the site for such a significant development.

He said:

It is encouraging to see such an important development in Oldbury and we welcome the investment and new jobs the highly-successful company brings to the borough.

It is further confirmation that Sandwell and the Black Country remains at the heart of quality UK manufacturing.

Sandwell welcomes businesses wishing to expand and grow and we offer whatever assistance we can to assist them to invest in our borough.

We were able to support Steel & Alloy through the Growth and Spatial Planning Team and we are delighted that they have been able to construct a new modern factory in our area.

Popes Lane is the latest in a series of 40 global sites developed by Gonvarri Steel Services, the group which Steel and Alloy is a part of, that are strategically located close to the automotive industry which relies on the group’s products.

The government sees the Midlands Engine as a key driver of the UK economy, with the more than 775,000 businesses accounting for 21.6% of all England’s exports in 2016.

Further information

In the 2015 Autumn Statement £5 million was set aside over 4 years for trade and investment promotion in the Midlands Engine.

Activities

• The Midlands Engine investment hub in Birmingham was launched in March 2017 and runs until 31 March 2019. Its priority is developing an FDI offer for the region, focusing on capital investment opportunities and particular sectors.
• Local partners have been supported to create sector-based investment offers and attend events to promote the most significant sectors in the Midlands: automotive, rail, life sciences, cyber security, advanced materials, and tech.
• Local partners have also been supported to exhibit at the MIPIM property show in Cannes on a pan-Midlands basis. In March 2018, the Midlands Pavilion was used to launch DIT’s updated Midlands Engine investment portfolio showcasing 24 projects worth over £11 billion.
• Trade missions for Midlands businesses in key sectors have taken place to China (2), USA (2), Germany, UAE and Ireland. Further Midlands trade missions are being planned to USA (Boston & Maryland), Japan, Germany, China, UAE (Dubai) and India.
• A specific Midlands Engine China engagement strategy (covering both Trade and Investment) has been created.
• A network of Export Champions has been created – Midlands business leaders who have a track record of export success.

Newly released footage shows how two New Forest ponies had gone the wrong neigh and ended up horsing around on the A31 eastbound in Hampshire at around 9.15am. Traffic officers worked with Hampshire Police as the two equines headed down the mane road, before they turned onto the M27. A rolling road block was put out on the M27 by police and Highways England closed the A36 slip road before an agister helped to get the ponies trough the road at 10.40am.

By then the ponies has travelled a furlong way down the three roads, and despite being saddled with the task of getting them off the road, it was a canter for Highways England traffic officer Michael Maidment who has been trained for situations like this.

Usually we’re dealing with crashes or cars that have broken down, so it is different to be called out to deal with this type of horseplay.

When my partner and I got there we worked with our partners in the police to shoe them off the motorway, as the only studs we want on our roads are the ones between lanes.

There was quite a bit to do with closing the different roads and directing the ponies to safety, so our voices were a bit horse afterwards but fortunately the ponies were unhurt and were still stable to get home after we’d reined them in.

New Forest ponies on the M27

A spokesperson for Hampshire Police said:

We would like to thank the agister, Highways England’s traffic officers and the members of the public for their assistance in dealing with this incident.

Highways England provides up-to-date traffic information via its website, local and national radio travel bulletins, electronic road signs and mobile platforms.

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.

The footage shows two 28-metre-long beams – each weighing ten tonnes – being lifted into place on the bridges, at the Saddlebow interchange in Kings Lynn.

The work to repair the bridges after they were damaged when they were struck by an over-height vehicle, started last October. The bridges at the Saddlebow interchange to the south of the town are being repaired as part of a wider £18 million package of work to maintain the A47 in Norfolk, which consists of around 70 different schemes.

Highways England project manager Ajith Nair said:

We’re very grateful for drivers for their patience while we completed this vital work. This footage shows the amount and the scale of the work we’ve been doing, and will help drivers to realise how busy we’ve been and why the roads over the bridges needed to be closed while we were repairing them.

Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Highways England, and this work we have been doing on Saddlebow Bridge and elsewhere on the A47 will improve both safety and journey quality for drivers.

A47 Saddlebow bridge repairs at King’s Lynn

The £3.1 million work on the bridges began last October, and was completed in May. Work was slightly delayed by the recent cold snap and the unexpected discovery of a crack on one of the bridge decks which requires further repair work, as well as Highways England’s commitment to keep the A47 open over the Easter weekend.

The works mainly involved jacking the bridge, hydro demolition of the bridge deck, removal of the steel edge beam, replacing the damaged beams on each bridge, and concreting the deck.

Both the bridges carrying the A148 over the A47 at the Saddlebow interchange have been closed throughout the project. During the closures, drivers were diverted via the nearby A47 Pullover roundabout (when heading westbound) and A47 Hardwick interchange (eastbound). There were also several overnight and weekend closures beneath the interchange, whereby drivers were diverted to exit at Saddlebow and go ‘up and over’ the closure.

While the closures were in place, Highways England also completed resurfacing of the four slip roads and the junction roundabout itself.

This wider £18 million package of work has included resurfacing, bridge strengthening, replacing street lights, repairing drainage along with safety improvements and renewing signs and road markings at key locations along the road.

Now completed, the width restrictions previously in place on the A148 over the bridge have been removed, while drivers will also see improvements to the road signs and markings approaching the roundabout and a smoother surface across it.

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.

The Elite Bargains and Political Deals research indicates that greater focus on the politics of conflicts, and those who control power and resources on the ground, is crucial to reducing violence.

The Minister for the Middle East and for International Development Alistair Burt said:

“This research report sets out to answer two of the most difficult questions in foreign policy today: How can we help reduce levels of violent conflict? And how do we deal with the often unsavoury groups and individuals that sustain them?

Today, thousands are suffering in seemingly intractable conflicts across the world. We must do what we can to reduce their plight and minimise the dangers that conflict and instability pose to our own national security.

We need to keep reviewing our approach in light of experience, and that is what this report seeks to do.”

The report is the result of 18 months of research by cross-government and independent academics and was launched on 14 June at Chatham House.

The study seeks to provide a more robust evidence base for the UK’s approach to stabilisation and to help policymakers provide more effective interventions in conflict contexts. Lessons from global conflicts, past and present, are identified in the report.

Further information

The Stabilisation Unit is an agile, cross-government unit that provides advice and expertise to prevent and de-escalate conflict and meet national security challenges in high-risk environments.

Follow Minister Burt on Twitter @AlistairBurtUK

Media enquiries

For journalists, email r-burley@dfid.gov.uk

The tax gap for 2016 to 2017 is 5.7%, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) confirmed today.

Had the tax gap remained at its 2005/06 level the UK would have lost £71 billion in revenue destined for public services.

The tax gap is the difference between the tax that should be paid to HMRC and the actual tax that has been paid. Keeping the tax gap consistently low is a result of HMRC’s work to help customers get things right from the start, and the department’s sustained efforts to tackle evasion and avoidance.

The tax gap trend shows a long-term decline – it has reduced from 7.3% in 2005 to 2006 to an estimated 5.7% in 2016 to 2017, or £33 billion. This is the same percentage tax gap as for 2015 to 2016, which has been revised down from last year’s estimate of 6%.

Mel Stride, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

These really positive figures show that the tax gap is the lowest in the last 5 years, which reflects the hard work that HMRC and I have been doing to ensure we support businesses to pay the right tax at the right time and clamp down on tax evasion and avoidance.

Collecting taxes is essential for funding our vital public services such as the NHS – indeed, had the tax gap remained at its 2005/06 level the UK would have lost £71 billion in revenue destined for public services, enough to build 200 hospitals.

Key findings from the Measuring the Tax Gap publication include:

• small businesses made up the largest proportion of unpaid tax by customer group at £13.7 billion;
• taxpayer errors and failure to take reasonable care made up £9.2 billion of unpaid taxes by behaviour, while criminal attacks made up £5.4 billion;
• income Tax, National Insurance Contributions, and Capital Gains Tax made up the largest proportion of the tax gap by tax type at £7.9 billion for 2016 to 2017, equivalent to 16.4% of Self Assessment liabilities;
• the VAT gap showed a declining trend over time, falling from 12.5% in 2005 to 2006 to 8.9% in 2016 to 2017.

Jon Thompson, HMRC’s Chief Executive, said:

The UK is the only country in the world to regularly publish their tax gap in detail and at 5.7%, it remains at its lowest for five years. I am pleased that the downward trend shows HMRC and HM Treasury’s continued hard work to tackle evasion and avoidance is working.

HMRC is also working hard to help taxpayers get their tax right by offering support and investing in digital services to improve businesses’ record keeping and reduce errors.

HMRC is working with small businesses to help them get their tax right first time around. The department aims to make sure the tax system is not a barrier to setting up, running and growing a business; which is why the department offers businesses support and provides information, to help businesses start up, sustain and grow.

HMRC is continuing to roll-out Making Tax Digital (MTD) for businesses. Once fully operational, MTD will help to reduce the tax gap by helping to prevent error and failure to take reasonable care. Digital record keeping combined with a modern, more automated tax system will help businesses get their affairs right the first time.

Notes for Editors

1. Measuring the Tax Gap 2018 can be found here
2. Since 2010, HMRC has secured and protected over £175 billion in additional tax revenue as a result of actions to tackle tax evasion, tax avoidance, and non-compliance.
3. HMRC has been measuring the tax gap annually since 2005 to 2006.
4. HMRC is the only revenue authority in the world that measures and publishes the tax gap in this level of detail, covering both direct and indirect taxes, every year. It publishes the tax gap because the department believes it’s important to be transparent in their work.
5. Follow HMRC’s Press Office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice
6. HMRC’s Flickr channel