Pulse.Assent

Work is soon to start on two smart motorway upgrades on the M6 at junctions 2 near Coventry to junctions 4 near Coleshill and on the M6 between junctions 13 at Stafford to 15 near Stoke on Trent.

Once complete they will add over 30 miles of new lanes to the strategic road network, increasing capacity by a third, and introducing new technology to tackle congestion and keep drivers informed.

These schemes are part of six schemes in the Midlands reaching major milestones between January and June this year.

Other key milestones on schemes in the Midlands include:

• the Preferred Route Announcement to ease three bottlenecks on the A38 in Derbyshire
• a consultation on the improvement of the M42 junction 6 near Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre (NEC)
• a public information event about the A45/A6 Chowns Mill roundabout upgrade
• the Preferred Route Announcement to upgrade the A46/ A428 at Binley, Coventry

The upgrades are funded by the Government’s £15bn investment in motorways and main A roads and being delivered by Highways England.

Highways England chief executive Jim O’Sullivan said:

These upgrades in the Midlands, will improve millions of journeys. Each of these milestones in the Midlands is evidence of Highways England delivering major infrastructure upgrades for the whole country.

April will mark three years since Highways England embarked on delivering the Government’s Road Investment Strategy, the biggest investment in the country’s major roads since the 1970s.

Nationwide, almost 40 projects will hit key milestones in the first half of this year, joining the 18 major projects that have already opened to traffic since April 2015 and 16 others currently under construction.

Completed schemes in the Midlands include the opening last year of the strategically important Catthorpe Interchange at the M1/M6/A14.

This interchange is providing direct access between these roads and removing the queuing associated with the two very small local roundabouts, previously used by over 45,000 vehicles per day.

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.

Highways England is today urging people interested in making a real difference to road journeys across England to ‘sign up’ to become one of the dozens of apprentices the company plans to recruit this year.

The Government company, which manages England’s motorways and major trunk roads, is responsible for some of the country’s biggest construction projects.

Over the next few months it will take on up to 75 apprentices, with places made available through its website.
Today, during National Apprenticeship Week, it urged people interested in building a road network for the future to sign up for alerts.

This year’s Highways England apprentice of the year, project manager Amelia Kirwan aged 19, said:

I urge anyone in my position to see what Highways England has to offer.

The opportunities available to me are huge. Highways England supports my learning and I am able to explore different areas of a varied sector. Our roads are an important part of everyone’s day-to-day lives and are heavily relied upon and therefore my role is really important.

Completing my apprenticeship will result in me achieving a Diploma in Project Management that is recognised worldwide – the possibilities are endless!

Highways England’s apprenticeship scheme supports the government goals to create 30,000 apprenticeships in road and rail by 2020.

New recruits will be helping to play a part in modernising England’s strategic road network by developing and delivering technically advanced projects. These include schemes such as the A303 Stonehenge improvements and The Lower Thames Crossing.

The company currently offers apprenticeships in business administration, IT, electrical engineering and civil engineering and Human Resources. It is planning to extend the list to include accounts, quantity surveying, transport planning and project management.

San Johal, Highways England Human Resources Director said:

This is a great time to join our team. We are investing in the next generation, and our apprenticeships are open to all and are a real alternative to traditional routes like university.

With the UK needing an extra 20,000 engineering graduates a year, Highways England is taking part in the Year of Engineering. This national campaign is all about showing young people what an engineer is, and what they can achieve.

For Highways England we need a continuing pipeline of young engineers to help deliver the massive investment planned for our motorways and major A-roads, benefitting the economy and improving people’s lives.

Each apprentice’s line manager at Highways England has been specifically chosen to teach and integrate the company policies and procedures, and to ensure that the apprentice has easy access to secondment and promotion opportunities. Every apprentice has a mentor and is supported to develop their career within the company.

Highways England continues to develop strong relationships with schools and colleges as part of a wider ‘early talent’ recruitment plan, to encourage children to continue the study of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects, helping to inspire the engineers and construction professionals of tomorrow.

To find out more, and sign up for e-mail alerts or apply for an apprenticeship visit Highways England’s careers homepage

Schools and parents are also encouraged to log into The Big Assembly this Thursday 8 March, to join the thousands of people being online at the same time gaining career advice.

Further case studies are also available.

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.

What is happening?

The Parole Board is moving to a modern IT platform to help support its work going forward.

What does this mean?

This means that is necessary for the Parole Board to change all of its phone numbers and email addresses.

When will this happen?

The new phone numbers and email addresses will be active from 12 March 2018.

How will I contact the Parole Board?

Here are the new general enquiries and press enquiries contact details that you can use to contact the Parole Board from 12 March 2018:

What about writing to the Chair or CEO?

Here are the new email addresses to contact the CEO or Chair of the Parole Board:

Things to remember:

• Monday 12 March 2018 is the first day the new numbers and email addresses will be used.
• All phone numbers are brand new
• All email addresses will end with @paroleboard.gov.uk

Time is running out for anyone with offshore assets before tougher penalties kick in, as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes proposals to allow more time to investigate when someone hasn’t declared the right amount of tax.

The new, tougher penalties take effect from 1 October 2018 and HMRC’s advice is that anyone with overseas assets needs to put their cards on the table quickly or risk much bigger fines. As is always the case, HMRC will prosecute the most serious cases of tax evasion.

The Director General for Customer Strategy and Tax Design at HMRC, David Richardson, said:

Everyone has to pay their tax, and the vast majority of people and businesses already do. It’s on their behalf that we’re cracking down on offshore tax cheats.

These new penalties are part of the government’s drive to ensure there are no safe havens for taxpayers that seek to evade paying tax. HMRC already holds a vast amount of data on offshore assets, and this is growing all the time.

The majority of taxpayers with offshore assets already disclose them in line with UK law so have nothing to worry about, but time is running out for the minority of tax dodgers.

The government recognises that some people may not realise that they must declare their overseas income to HMRC if, for example, they have worked overseas or are receiving income from a rental property outside the UK.

HMRC has recently published a consultation on the implementation of a new minimum time limit of 12 years, announced at the Autumn Budget 2017, for HMRC to assess offshore tax.

Further information

1. Further guidance on making a disclosure.
2. Technical guidance on the Requirement to Correct for agents