The Ministry of Defence has announced today that Britain’s military will increase the number of Commonwealth recruits to 1350 per year, that will be introduced over several years.

The move builds on the long-held links Britain’s military has with Commonwealth countries, where recruits from across the globe have bravely served in a variety of roles, in many conflicts.

The importance of the Commonwealth to the military is underlined by the fact that Britain already employs some 4500 Commonwealth citizens in the Armed Forces.

Minister for the Armed Forces Mark Lancaster said

As an outward-looking nation, Britain has always counted on the dedicated service of our friends from the Commonwealth to keep this country safe.

From Australia to Jamaica, to Fiji and South Africa, Commonwealth recruits are already playing a key role in our Armed Forces.

So we’re stepping up the numbers of recruits from the Commonwealth, knowing that they will bring key skills and dedicated service to our military.

Their different perspectives will also help us to enhance our cultural understanding, giving us an operational advantage over our adversaries.

Of the 1350 new annual recruits, the Army is expecting to hire around 1000 personnel, with the Navy and the RAF expecting to recruit around 300 and 50 respectively.

The MOD previously had a five-year residency in the UK requirement, in order to allow Commonwealth personnel to qualify for recruitment into the Armed Forces. Today’s announcement removes this requirement.

As part of the phased approach, those who have already applied for Army roles but been on hold due to the limited numbers we were able to accept each year, will be given priority. The Royal Navy and RAF will begin recruitment procedures immediately, with Army applications opening in early 2019.

All roles and ranks will be open to Commonwealth citizens, from all Commonwealth countries who are aged 18 or over.

In 2016 the five year residency requirement was waived to allow for 200 Commonwealth citizens with specialist skills apply for a limited number of roles.

In recent years, the Armed Forces has had more than 7500 Commonwealth citizens in its ranks, with a wide variety of countries represented, including Fiji, Ghana, South Africa, Jamaica, Australia and St Vincent.

The Charity Commission has appointed an interim manager to Grove Mountain (1162684) due to continued concerns over the management of the charity.

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

The Commission opened a statutory inquiry into Grove Mountain on 11 August 2017 to examine regulatory concerns including the financial management at the charity, specifically whether: the charity has been operating for exclusively charitable purposes, adequate financial controls have been applied and if the trustees have complied with their legal duties to ensure that the charity is administered, governed and managed appropriately.

The Commission is concerned that two of the trustees, who have been in office since the inquiry was opened, were responsible for the misconduct and/or mismanagement and exposed the charity’s property to undue risk. They also failed to comply with directions issued during the course of the inquiry.

The Commission has therefore made an order under Section 76(3)(g) of the Charities Act 2011 to appoint Adam Stephens of Smith & Williamson LLP to the role of interim manager. The appointment was made on 19 October 2018.

The interim manager takes on full control of the administration and management of the charity to the exclusion of the trustees until the Commission makes a further order. His duties include taking any steps necessary to secure the property of the charity and considering the future viability of the charity.

The Commission’s inquiry 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. It is the Charity 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.
3. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. For more information see the about us page on GOV.UK.

The man, who had been angling in the area, was walking along the beach when he came across approximately 50 grey seals and their young pups, who quickly became agitated and turned aggressive.

In order to avoid them he scrambled up the cliff face and became trapped about three quarters of the way up.

Realising his predicament, the man did exactly the right thing and called the emergency services using his mobile.

Four Coastguard Rescue Teams from Dunbar, Berwick, North Berwick and Eyemouth and Eyemouth RNLI all weather lifeboat were sent to the location, alongside police Scotland.

They quickly located the man, and using their rope rescue techniques, they were able to lower a coastguard rescue officer 75ft to safely extract the casualty from the cliff face and onto the waiting lifeboat below. The RNLI lifeboat quickly nipped in amid the seals and put onboard the angler and the cliff technician before taking them to Eyemouth harbour.

Thankfully, despite the man’s ordeal, he is uninjured and only suffering from minor cold exposure.

Senior coastguard operations officer Jonathan Mustard said: “Anyone who encounters a seal or a colony of seals on the beach or coastline is advised to move away at the first sign of agitation. Aggressive seals are not a common occurrence and in this case they may have been protecting or defending their natural habitat and their young. Remember to take a fully charged mobile when walking on the coast and call 999 and ask for the coastguard if you get into difficulty.’