Working with professional bodies including the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the National Association of Estate Agents and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the government aims to help estate agents spot the signs of money laundering and reinforce their legal and moral obligations to report suspicious activity.

Money laundering in the UK potentially runs to hundreds of billions of pounds per year, according to the National Crime Agency’s National Strategic Assessment 2018.

The campaign, called Flag It Up, has been targeting solicitors since 2014 and accountants since 2015, and is now expanding for the first time into the property sector with support from HMRC, which supervises estate agents under the money laundering regulations.

Ben Wallace, Minister for National Security and Economic Crime, said:

Criminals who seek to use this country as a place to launder money should be in no doubt that they have nowhere to hide. Estate agents are a crucial line of defence against them and that’s why they’re under a legal – and moral – obligation to file a report when they spot something amiss.

It’s wrong to think of money laundering as a victimless crime. Those with dirty cash to clean don’t just sit on it – they reinvest it in serious organised crime, from drug importation to child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and even terrorism.

The campaign, which is being promoted through social media, digital advertising and at industry conferences, urges estate agents to file a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to the National Crime Agency when they spot signs such as a client being evasive or contradictory about the source of a large sum of money or using many different bank accounts.

Over the period April 2017 to March 2018, estate agents submitted just 710 suspicious activity reports compared with accountants submitting 5,036 and independent legal professionals submitting 2,660.

Estate agents could be prevented from trading or even face prosecution if they fail to comply with money laundering regulations. This could result in unlimited fines or a prison term of up to 2 years.

Simon York, Director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said:

HMRC is determined to crack down on money laundering, and as the supervisor of estate agents under money laundering regulations, works closely with the sector to help them tackle this crime.

The extension of the Flag It Up campaign to the property industry will help bolster our efforts and sends a clear message from both the Government and the sector that the door is closing on money laundering.

Mark Hayward, Chief Executive of NAEA Propertymark, a professional body for estate agents, said:

Both small and large estate agencies are susceptible to criminal activity. Houses bought with laundered money often sit empty, taking homes away from the market that could be used for families and having a further negative impact on the wider community.

By partnering with the campaign, we are pleased to see the Government engaging with the sector to support estate agents in their legal anti-money laundering obligations.

Flag It Up complements other action taken by the government to target dirty money such as the Criminal Finances Act and tools like Unexplained Wealth Orders and Account Freezing Orders.

An innovative safety initiative that enables LLW Repository Ltd (LLWR) to measure its performance across a range of workplace criteria was in the spotlight at a major event that brought together representatives from across the nuclear industry.

The ‘Perfect Day’ initiative, borrowed from framework contract partner NSG and adapted to meet the needs of LLWR, attracted plenty of interest at the NDA’s Safety, Health and Wellbeing Day at Energus, in west Cumbria.

A wealth of information on Perfect Day featured in a ‘Sharing Zone’, where NDA sites that had developed successful initiatives were invited to share information.

Gary Cunningham, Deputy Head of Site, hosted LLWR’s exhibition and was impressed with the high level of interest from across the industry.

“All discussions around the Perfect Day were really positive, everyone commented that it was a really good initiative that addressed the wider issues other than just focussing on high level numbers regarding accidents and injuries,” Gary said.

“I was surprised by the level of interest shown in our work management (schedule adherence) criteria aspect of the Perfect Day. Several of the other NDA sites thought that this was an excellent addition and were impressed with our performance improvement in this area since the start of the initiative.

“Several of them commented that this was an area for them that needed improvement and they were very interested in our planning and delivery processes. They suggested that they would be in touch with us in future to get more details, so watch this space.”

Perfect Day employs a metric that enables LLWR to measure its safety performance against a set of criteria. These are Safety, Quality, Environmental Stewardship, Security, Stakeholder Relations, Schedule Adherence, Standards and Expectations.

A Perfect Day is achieved only if everything goes to plan, no harm is suffered, actions are closed out on time and stakeholders are not given any reason to be unhappy with LLWR.

A running total of Perfect Days achieved in the year to date is presented on LLWR’s intranet, so the workforce can gauge progress. LLWR Perfect Day rate this year is running at around 70%.

Gary added: “To round the day off the NDA senior executive managers reviewed the day and summarised the event and outputs. In his closing thoughts David Peattie (Chief Executive Officer) mentioned LLWR’s Perfect Day a couple of times in a positive context, again hopefully giving an indication of the message that we are being recognised for what we are doing in this area.”

After making the shortlist announced in September, Penny Brookes, Carolyn Stothard and Petra Oyston progressed to the final three for their respective categories. The awards recognise exceptional women, men and teams in UK defence and this year, organisers have received over 300 nominations from across the defence community, including the Armed Forces, the MOD civil service and the defence industry.

Penny is a finalist in the Most Collaborative Award category, highlighting individuals who can demonstrate that creating a collaborative working arrangement within their organisation or working with another one creating a positive effect.

Her nominator said:

Penny has built an international research team that is delivering cutting-edge forensic techniques to benefit defence and security. She is quick to give credit to others; members of her team frequently receive awards and are asked to be plenary speakers at conferences. Penny’s role as the conductor of this diverse orchestra is often missed, and she deserves wider recognition.

Reflecting on her nomination, Penny said:

I’m really proud to be nominated for this award. Although this falls within the category for individual awards, this award is for all of my colleagues (women and men) who research and develop forensic techniques. We are a diverse project team of over forty staff across five divisions of Dstl engaging across government, with UK academia, commercial partners and international partners within Australia, New Zealand and the US.

Petra has made the final three in the Innovation Award category, for excellence in innovation that has multiplied the effect of the UK defence mission.

Commenting on her award and work Petra, said:

Dstl is a science and technology organisation, and innovation is at the heart of what we do. I work with so many motivated, talented people, doing rewarding innovative research that makes a real difference to our Armed Forces, and so being nominated for this award is just so amazing and really reflects the team effort. I have been leading an effort evaluating synthetic biology and the opportunities this technology creates for defence capability. Using the power of biology we have overcome some of the challenges that have held back progress in improved and affordable armour materials in recent years.

Carolyn is included as a finalist in the Unsung Heroines category, celebrating those women, who, on an enduring basis, have improved the ‘lot’ of people in defence, essential to an organisation’s output but never seeking recognition for what they do. Described as “caring, understanding and sensitive”, Carolyn is a dedicated line-manager, mentor and mediator and has supported many with mental health difficulties and neurodevelopmental conditions. She improves people’s lives while developing a productive and inclusive working environment.

Carolyn said:

I am both surprised and genuinely delighted to be nominated for this award. I am proud to be able to raise the profile of women in Dstl, and the many and varied roles they undertake. I am simply a representative of all the many unsung heroines within the organisation. I consider myself to be extremely lucky to work for Dstl, which delivers such interesting, and important work – and moreover having the opportunity to work with some exceptional individuals.

Congratulations also go to Debra Carr, who made the shortlist for the Most Collaborative award and Michelle Nelson, who was shortlisted in the Outstanding Contribution award category.

The awards dinner takes place on Tuesday 6th November, when the winners of each category will be announced in the presence of the Secretary of State for Defence, The Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP.

Fa’afetei i le talia o le tala ula atu a lenei ofisa ma le malo Peretania.

It is a great honour to be representing the Government and people of the United Kingdom here in Samoa, and a delight to be hosting you, friends and colleagues, at a reception in Villa Vailima, this most beautiful of places.

And it is wonderful, just for one day, to fly the UK flag above this house. Many of you commented on it as you arrived – and joked that we had already found our new Residence in Samoa! But actually that flag is an antique: it flew over the British Consulate in 1800, and then, later, over this same building during the NZ Administration of New Zealand. But I promise that we will remove it at the end of today!

I came here to this house in March, during my first visit to Samoa when I presented my credentials. And I could see at once why Robert Louis Stevenson loved it so much that he made it his home: the climate is certainly kinder than that of his native Scotland! And in fact, when I looked around in March I found a small personal connection of my own to this place: a portrait upstairs of Robert Louis Stevenson, painted by my great great grandfather, the artist William Blake Richmond.

Of course, Robert Louis Stevenson wasn’t the only person to fall in love with this country – with the “sacred centre of the universe” – and make it his home. There were, of course, British missionaries, before and after him, who made their lives here. John Williams of the London Missionary Society was, of course, one of the most notable – and it was the work of missionaries that perhaps set the tone for the friendship between our two countries.

Because although we are on opposite ends of the world, we share strong historical connections, and many similarities. We have a great deal in common:

• We are both island nations;

• We are both nations with long seafaring traditions

• our nations are built on the shared value of democracy, the rule of law, free speech and social equity

• we have a common legal tradition and common language;

• we are both part of the Commonwealth of Nations;

• and we share a commitment to tackle the existential threat that is climate change, and to protect and preserve our oceans.

This year the UK hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and Her Majesty the Queen was pleased to welcome Prime Minister Tuilaepa to London. And that was one of many occasions – most recently perhaps at the UN General Assembly – that has seen the Prime Minister of Samoa use his voice on the world stage to champion the importance of urgent action on climate change. That is a shared priority for the UK and Samoa, and one on which we will continue to coordinate closely. As indeed is protecting our Oceans, and tackling plastic pollution: so I am delighted that Samoa is joining the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance, which aims to reduce plastic pollution of our seas. On that note, the small gift bags that we have produced for the evening are eco-friendly, minimising our impact on the environment.

Samoa is a leader in the Pacific, it has convening power (whether that is hosting PIF, or indeed the Pacific games, which we are all looking forward to!) and it also had the courage to confront and tackle the challenges it faces.

And when I returned from my visit to Samoa in March this year, I advocated strongly, to London, for the UK to increase its presence in Apia. And – fortuitously – conversations were happening at the same time about how and where we should increase our diplomatic presence around the world.

So I am delighted that the UK will be opening a British High Commission in Apia next year. Our high-level relationship to date has been coordinated by High Commissioners, like me, who are based in Wellington, and with the support of Honorary Consuls like the fabulous Brenda, who is here tonight. But the time is right to increase our diplomatic presence in Samoa, to take the relationship and co-operation to the next level.

So part of the reason for my visit this week has been to consult widely, across Samoan Government, civil society, business, and with the Diplomatic Community, on how the UK should focus its increased presence – and where there is the greatest complementarity of interests. So it has been a privilege to meet with many of you and hear your thoughts in the course of that consultation.

And I have not come alone – as you can see! So I would like if I might to introduce my team who have come with me this week, and are working with me as we work to further strengthen the UK -Samoa relationship.

They are: Vinay Talwar, Tony McLeod, Tom Lord, and Jackie Vaimoso.

They are all working to prepare the ground for our future presence. But it will not happen straight away, and there is a lot to be done. So in the meantime, I very much value and enjoy the role of British High Commissioner to Samoa, and I will be returning, at least two more times, before I (reluctantly) hand the honour over to the new High Commissioner to Samoa!

La manuia le po. Soifua. Thank you.