Pulse.Assent

• Business Secretary welcomes announcement during visit to Vauxhall’s Luton plant, where next generation Vivaro to be produced from 2019
• move ensures plant’s long-term future, with a commitment from the company to invest further in the plant and safeguard 1,400 jobs
• agreement secured in part thanks to £9 million of government funding alongside local support and underlines success of UK’s landmark Industrial Strategy Automotive Sector Deal

The UK’s world-leading auto sector received a further vote of confidence today (Wednesday 4 April) as PSA announced it will produce the next generation Vauxhall Vivaro at its Luton site from 2019. The announcement is testament to the plant’s highly-skilled workforce and will ensure manufacturing remains in the UK for years to come.

Business Secretary Greg Clark welcomed the decision during a visit to the plant in Bedfordshire today alongside PSA group Chief Executive Carlos Tavares, leader of Luton Borough Council Hazel Simmons and Union leaders.

As part of the announcement, Vauxhall has committed to invest further in the plant, supplementing £9 million of government funding to install a new manufacturing platform. The deal has been aided by a range of support from local government, including help with recruitment, skills and efficient energy.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Vauxhall’s decision to invest in the United Kingdom is testament to the world-renowned expertise of the British automotive industry and workforce.

Through our modern Industrial Strategy, we are investing in the technological developments of tomorrow – ensuring we remain the natural choice for innovative firms to prosper.

The platform will allow the Luton plant to produce the next generation of Vivaro vans, with the aim of increasing existing output from around 70,000 vehicles per year to 100,000. The platform will also optimise manufacturing processes allowing the plant to bid for future vehicle lines as they become available.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

Today’s decision is a vote of confidence in Vauxhall’s high skilled workforce and the UK’s world leading automotive sector. This investment in upgrading the production platform will safeguard and grow jobs, ensuring the future of the Luton plant well into the next decade and help ensure the plant is well positioned for future Vauxhall models to be made in the UK.

We have been clear in our commitment to the automotive sector which is why, through the Industrial Strategy, we established a landmark Automotive Sector Deal that will see us working with industry to put the UK at the forefront of new technologies.

Through our ambitious Industrial Strategy the government is building on our existing strengths. Our landmark Sector Deal in January between government and the automotive industry was a vital moment in establishing the UK’s leadership in meeting the Future of Mobility and Clean Growth Grand Challenges. Today’s announcement will help secure the jobs of more than 1,400 people in Luton and builds on the firm’s strong association with the town for more than a century.

SMMT CEO Mike Hawes said:

This announcement is great news for the UK automotive sector and, especially, the Luton plant. The UK continues to be a centre of excellence for vehicle production thanks to our engineering expertise, high levels of productivity and a collaborative relationship with government which has enabled us to build a robust industrial strategy and a sector deal.

We will continue to work with policy makers to ensure the UK remains as competitive as possible now and in the future so we can continue to build on our long heritage in vehicle manufacturing.

The UK’s automotive sector continues to thrive with the UK currently the fourth largest European car producer with the highest productivity among Europe’s automotive producing nations. The sector generates £14.6 billion, representing 8.2% of the UK’s total manufacturing gross value added. The sector deal lays the framework for further UK investment in our world-class automotive industry such as Toyota’s announcement in February that they will build the next generation Auris at their Burnaston plant in Derby.

The UK’s Industrial Strategy is a long term plan to build a Britain fit for the future through a stronger, fairer economy. Through this we will help businesses to create better, higher-paying jobs – setting a path for Britain to lead in the high-tech, highly-skilled industries of the future.

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a new statutory inquiry into The Islamic Educational Society of Blackburn (526572). The inquiry was opened on 26 February 2018.

The charity’s object is to advance education in the Islamic community of Blackburn.
On 15 February 2017 the charity was included in a class inquiry which the Commission opened to examine charities that had repeatedly defaulted on their accounting obligations.
The charity submitted the outstanding documents to the Commission in May 2017 and, as a result, ceased to be a part of the class inquiry. However, despite receiving regulatory advice and being reminded to meet their legal duties, the trustees again failed to file the statutory accounting information on time for the financial year ending 31 December 2016.

As a result of the further failure of the trustees to fulfill their legal reporting obligations the Commission has now opened a new inquiry.

In addition to obtaining the overdue accounting information the inquiry will seek to ensure that the trustees comply with their legal duties to file future account submissions within the statutory deadlines and examine broader aspects of the charity’s administration and management to ensure it is being properly managed by the trustees.

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 by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see the about us page on GOV.UK.
2. Search for charities on our check charity tool.
3. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.

Paul Winskill (54) started Premier Asphalt Limited in 1985 and provided construction services for commercial buildings and roadworks across the country.

But the company ran into trading difficulties and after more than 30 years, Premier Asphalt entered into administration on 19 February 2016.

The administrators appointed to close the company reported to the Insolvency Service that the directors of Premier Asphalt had not fully co-operated with them and failed to explain why the company had paid out more than £1m in the two weeks prior to their appointment.

The Insolvency Service’s investigation found that prior to entering into administration, a winding up petition was served on Premier Asphalt on 3 February 2016 as a trade creditor was owed more than £300,000.

But to avoid paying his debts, Winskill immediately transferred £1,044,794 to three other businesses, which were later discovered to be operated by Winskill although he wasn’t the appointed director.

On 8 February 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Winskill, after he admitted transferring more than £1 million to the detriment of the company’s general body of creditors. His ban is effective from 1 March 2018 and lasts for eight years.

Robert Clarke, Head of Insolvent Investigations North at the Insolvency Service, said:

Following extensive enquiries, we discovered not only had Winksill transferred more than a million pounds out of the company to avoid paying his creditors what they were owed, but the money was moved to other companies which we found that he was also running.

Directors who put their own personal financial interests above those of creditors damage confidence in doing business and are corrosive to the health of the local economy. This ban should serve as a warning to other directors tempted to help themselves first, you have a duty to your creditors and if you neglect this duty you could be investigated by the Insolvency Service and lose the privilege of limited liability trading.

Notes to editors

Premier Asphalt Limited (CRO No. 01922245) was incorporated on 13 June 1985 and latterly traded from Hanson Road Business Park, Hanson Trading Estate, Aintree, Liverpool, L9 7JN.

Mr Winskill had been a director of the company before 13 October 1991 and remained appointed until the company went into Administration on 19 February 2016 with an estimated deficiency of £6,102,275.

On 8 February 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a Disqualification Undertaking from Mr Winskill, effective from 1 March 2018, for a period of 8 years. The matters of unfitness, which Mr Winskill did not dispute in the Disqualification Undertaking, were that:

On 04 and 05 February 2016, at a time when Premier Asphalt Ltd was insolvent, I caused the company to make payments to three associated parties totalling £1,044,794 which were to the detriment of the company’s general body of creditors.

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

In addition that person cannot act as an insolvency practitioner and there are many other restrictions are placed on disqualified directors by other regulations.

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings. Further information on director disqualifications and restrictions is available.

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 authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, 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.

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