News story: Crime news: CRM14 eForms and CRM4 grant letters

Crime news: CRM14 eForms and CRM4 grant letters – GOV.UK

Update on improvement work to our application and billing processes.

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Enhancements to application and billing processes originally due to be introduced on 20 March 2018 have been delayed to make improvements to our service.

This will allow us to make sure that the changes to applications and billing for criminal legal aid work are rolled out as smoothly as possible.

As recently announced in our GOV.UK article on 15 March 2018 these improvements will affect:

  • CRM14 eForm applications
  • CRM4 grant letters

We remain committed to making these changes which will help to reduce the number of rejected applications. They will also save time and money for both providers and the Legal Aid Agency.

Keep an eye on GOV.UK for an announcement shortly about the new release date.

Published 22 March 2018



Press release: Dame Shirley Pearce DBE joins the Committee on Standards in Public Life

The Prime Minister has appointed Dame Shirley Pearce as a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life following an open competition.

Shirley has held senior executive and non-executive roles in higher education, health and policing. She is currently Chair of Governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science, a member of the Higher Education Quality Assurance Panel for the Ministry of Education in Singapore and a Trustee for the Royal Anniversary Trust.

In 2013 Shirley was appointed by the Home Secretary as the inaugural Chair of the College of Policing (the first professional body for policing) where she oversaw the introduction of the first Code of Ethics for policing based on the Nolan Principles. She was also a Board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Healthcare Commission and Health Education England.

She was Vice Chancellor of Loughborough University from 2006 – 2012, where she delivered a new strategy for the university which saw a significant increase in turnover, closer working with industry partners and research success in the Research Excellence Framework alongside a top rated student experience.

Earlier in her academic career she held appointments at University College London (UCL) and the University of East Anglia (UEA) where she established a new medical school with an innovative curriculum and a focus on primary care and inter-professional learning.

In 2005, Shirley was awarded a CBE for services to education in the National Health Service and in 2014 was appointed DBE for services to Higher Education.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life advises the Prime Minister on ethical standards across the whole of public life in the UK. It monitors and reports on issues relating to the standards of conduct of all public office holders.

Shirley takes up the post effective immediately for a five-year term. Her appointment was made after open competition in line with the Cabinet Office Governance Code regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

The Committee is currently conducting a short review of MPs’ outside interests and an inquiry into ethical standards in local government.

Notes to editors

  1. Interview requests and media enquiries should go to Maggie O’Boyle on 07880 740627.
  2. Dame Shirley Pearce replaces Sheila Drew Smith OBE, whose term ended on 16 February 2018.
  3. The other members of the Committee are: Lord (Paul) Bew, Chairman, Rt Hon Dame Margaret Beckett DBE MP, Simon Hart MP, Dr Jane Martin CBE, Jane Ramsey, Monisha Shah, and Rt Hon Lord (Andrew) Stunell OBE.


News story: Aircraft Accident Report AAR 1/2018 – G-WNSR, 28 December 2016



Press release: Dalí’s Lobster Telephone at risk of leaving the UK

Lobster Telephone (White Aphrodisiac), by Salvador Dalí and Edward James.

Arts Minister Michael Ellis has placed a temporary export bar on Lobster Telephone (White Aphrodisiac), by Salvador Dalí and Edward James, to provide an opportunity to keep it in the country.

The sculpture is the last known example of the hand-painted white design in the UK. It is at risk of being exported unless a buyer can be found to match the asking price of £853,047 plus VAT.

Lobster Telephone was a collaboration between Dalí, one of the 20th century’s most influential artists, and his patron, English poet Edward James, who was known for his promotion of the Surrealist movement.

In total, eleven Lobster Telephones were commissioned by James in 1938. Of these, seven were hand-painted white and four were painted red. Each telephone was slightly different, meaning that each is unique.

The inspiration for the iconic piece came in 1936 when Dalí, James and others were eating lobsters and one of the discarded shells landed on a telephone.

Edward James owned one of the finest private collections of surrealist work – including both versions of the Lobster Telephone – at Monkton, his country house in West Sussex. Today, the majority of the white versions are in museums abroad, including public collections in Rotterdam, Florida, Johannesburg, Minneapolis and Lisbon.

Arts Minister Michael Ellis said:

Salvador Dali was one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century. This iconic work was created in the UK, and I want it to remain here.

It is important that we keep world-class art in this country and I hope a buyer can be found to save it for the nation.

The decision to defer the export licence follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), administered by The Arts Council.

RCEWA member Richard Calvocoressi said:

With its suggestion of both eroticism and menace, pleasure and pain, Lobster Telephone (White Aphrodisiac) is a classic surrealist conceit, recalling the ‘trap’ sculptures of Giacometti’s surrealist phase. It also anticipates by half a century the confrontational but also playful sculptures made of manufactured and natural found objects by artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. Its importance cannot be overestimated.

The RCEWA noted that this ‘white on white’ Lobster Telephone was distinctly different from the red and black versions. It made its recommendation on the grounds of the sculpture’s close connection with our history and national life – especially James’s role as a patron and collector – its outstanding aesthetic importance and its significance for the study of the history of Surrealism, taste and design in the UK.

The decision on the export licence application for the sculpture will be deferred until 21 June 2018. This may be extended until 21 September 2018 if a serious intention to raise funds to purchase it is made at the recommended price of £853,047.23 (plus VAT of £29,000).

Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the sculpture should contact the RCEWA on 0845 300 6200.

An image of the work can be downloaded via our flickr site.

ENDS

For media information contact: Faye Jackson, Communications Officer, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Tel: 0207 211 6263 Email: faye.jackson@culture.gov.uk

Notes to editors

  1. Details of the sculpture are as follows: Salvador Dalí (1904-89) and Edward James (1907-84) Lobster Telephone (White Aphrodisiac), 1938 Painted plaster, metal and Bakelite found object (telephone) 19 x 31.7 x 16 cm
  2. Provenance: Made for Edward James by Green & Abbott in 1938. The Edward James Foundation, West Dean, West Sussex.
  3. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by The Arts Council, which advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.
  4. The Arts Council champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. It supports a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. www.artscouncil.org.uk.


Speech: Chancellor’s speech: International FinTech Conference

Thank you, it’s great to be here for the second year running…

…and to welcome so many brilliant fintech leaders, entrepreneurs and investors from around the world.

When I look around this room I see the great strength of the British fintech community.

A community that is full of countless stories of incredible vision, groundbreaking innovation, and tireless hard work.

One such is the story of Ismail Ahmed.

Ismail began his life in Somaliland, in northern Somalia.

In 1991, civil war engulfed Ismail’s hometown. His family, like so many others, lost everything. They became refugees in Ethiopia.

Ismail eventually made his way to the UK and became an economics student at the University of London.

He worked hard putting himself through university – and even as he was working, he would send money home to his family.

Every few weeks, he would trek across London to visit a money transfer agent, pay an exorbitant fee, and sent a very modest sum of money home.

During this time, Ismail thought a lot about money transfer systems and how to make payments cheaper and more efficient.

And in 2010, he founded a little company you may have heard of, called WorldRemit.

From its base here in London, WorldRemit raised $220m from investors to make sending money abroad as easy as sending an instant message.

Today, millions of people use WorldRemit to transfer money quickly and affordably in more than 140 countries – and Ismail is one of the world’s leading fintech entrepreneurs.

The reason I’m sharing his story isn’t just because he deserves enormous respect or recognition, or because he makes many of us look like terrible underachievers.

It’s because this is a story that exemplifies Britain’s FinTech experience – and a story that is being repeated over and over again across Britain’s fintech industry.

So much so that today, Britain is the global capital of fintech.

Fintech contributes nearly $7 billion to the UK economy each year;

London is home to 17 of the top 50 international fintech firms;

And last year investment in UK fintech more than doubled…

…and UK firms attracted almost four times more funding than Germany…

…and more than France, Ireland and Sweden combined.

And I am pleased to welcome great examples of this success today:

Citi have announced London as the destination for their next Innovation Lab.

Next month NatWest will launch new fintech accelerators in London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Manchester.

Level 39 will soon expand into a 100,000 square foot building in Canary Wharf – making it one of the largest FinTech hubs in the world.

Augmentum have created a £100m fund for fintech investment, here in the UK.

And just last week Estonia’s LHV Bank announced it was opening a UK branch to serve the finch industry – a great sign of confidence that cross-European collaboration and investment will continue and grow beyond Brexit.

But none this progress can be taken for granted.

The very nature of this industry means that it moves incredibly quickly and is fiercely competitive.

So let me restate my commitment and determination to ensure Britain remains the best place in the world to set up and grow a Fintech business…

…and to continuously build upon our unique strengths to offer the most attractive home for global fintech leaders.

Of course, we’ve been working on these strengths for quite some time.

In 1649, we were the first country to issue permanent banknotes…

…you might say the Bank of England is the original fintech unicorn.

We were the first to lay telegraph cables under the ocean…

…and by connecting France in the 1850s, and then the United States, we built the essential infrastructure for a global financial system.

We had the first ATM in the world, installed in 1967 – two full years before the United States caught up…

…in fairness, I should say they were busy landing on the moon that year…

…but, if you want to get on…

…you have to be able to multi-task.

And while the British inventor, Tim Berners-Lee is rightly credited with unlocking the digital revolution by inventing the World Wide Web…

…it was a much earlier British pioneer who kickstarted the computer age.

In 1823, Charles Babbage asked the then Chancellor of the Exchequer for £1,700 to build his ‘Difference Engine,’…

…the first advanced mechanical computer – apparently sold it to the then Chancellor on the basis that it would cut down on the amount of paperwork officials did.

Mr. Babbage, can I say I’d like that money back.

And while we are at it, his collaborator Ada Lovelace, can probably claim to have pre-empted our Women in Finance initiative by nearly 200 years.

And now, on top of these deep historical foundations…

…we have built the best modern ecosystem in the world for innovation.

We are home to the English language, the global language of business. Our legal system is the jurisdiction of choice for international commerce.

Our world-class universities have pioneered many of the breakthrough discoveries powering today’s digital revolution – with more Nobel Prizes than any country outside the United States.

And British cultural products and talent inspire huge global audiences – as witnessed by the 30 British Oscar nominations this year.

All of that makes London a Fintech-friendly pluriculture.

And when it comes to innovation, Britain is a workshop for the world – the innovation leader for Europe.

We have the greatest tech hub in Europe, Tech City.

We are home to more than a third of all Europe’s billion-dollar tech firms – with a record £8.26 billion invested in UK startups last year.

London is home to more than 250,000 software developers – more than anywhere in Europe – and the UK is Europe’s top destination for tech talent.

Every hour, a new tech business is founded in the UK.

And my ambition is to see that become every half-hour.

And my message to everyone in this room today is that…

…when it comes to building the Fintech companies of the future…

…you need never doubt that you are among friends in Britain.

Our doors will always be open to the innovators and inventors.

And we will keep working to support you – and ensure Britain remains the best place in the world for fintech.

First, we are committed to building the most pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory environment in the world for fintech.

We’ve introduced new rules on open banking….

…and I’m delighted to see products here today made possible by this initiative.

We legislated to require big banks to share credit information on small and medium-sized businesses…

…helping more entrepreneurs to get the funding they need to grow…

…and helping to provide access to alternative funding sources.

The FCA’s world-leading ‘regulatory sandbox,’ allows firms to test and refine their products with consumers in a safe environment.

And I know it’s a great idea…

…because multiple other countries around the world have already copied it.

But there’s more to do.

So today I’m proud to launch our new strategy for the fintech sector.

As part of which, I’m pleased to announce that the FCA and Bank of England will take the first steps towards automating regulatory compliance…

…reducing costs for financial services firms, and removing a key barrier for fintechs as they enter financial services markets.

A new code of industry standards will make it easier and cheaper for fintechs to partner with established financial service providers…

…both boosting the ability of banks to offer new services, and helping fintechs to find a ready market for their products.

And we’re appointing new envoys to England, Wales and Northern Ireland to promote the adoption of fintech by regional banks and building societies, complementing the work of the existing Scottish envoys.

Secondly, we’re driving our global collaboration in fintech.

Before today we had signed four FinTech Bridges with Singapore, China, Korea, and Hong Kong…

…committing governments and regulators to collaborate on supporting growth and investment in fintech across markets.

And today, I am delighted to announce that the Australian Treasurer, Scott Morrison and I have just signed an agreement for a new FinTech Bridge between the UK and Australia.

This is our most ambitious collaboration to date, bringing together regulators, policy-makers and private sector leaders to collaborate on growing our respective fintech markets in tandem.

But our strategy is about more than sector specific interventions.

It is about championing the UK’s position as a pro-business, pro-innovation environment…

…about making it easier for knowledge intensive scale-up businesses to raise the funding they need…

…in short, about creating the best possible ecosystem for Fintech to thrive.

Last Autumn I announced the launch of an action plan to unlock over £20 billion of finance for high-growth innovative firms in the fintech sector and beyond.

And today I can set out some next steps:

From April, changes to the Enterprise Investment Scheme will take effect, significantly increasing investment in high-growth and knowledge-intensive firms.

And earlier this month, we published consultations on further extensions to this scheme and to Entrepreneurs Relief.

Alongside greater investment by individuals, greater institutional investment in venture funding is needed.

So alongside changes to tax relief, the British Business Bank will launch a new £500m programme in May that will invest in a series of funds to encourage co-investment by leading institutional investors in those businesses.

Later this year, the British Business Bank will launch a new ‘British Patient Capital’ investment fund– which will co-invest with the private sector to unlock £7.5 billion of public and private investment.

UK pension funds have relatively low allocations to patient capital and we are determined to fix that. The Pensions Regulator will clarify guidance on how trustees can invest in illiquid assets such as venture capital.

And as part of our plan to get the best Brexit deal for jobs, business and prosperity…

…we are discussing with the EU our future relationship with the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund…

…and we will keep the financing needs of high growth businesses under continuous review as we leave the EU, and if necessary, we will use the British Business Bank to provide an alternative to the EIF, which has done great work in supporting the industry.

Britain is, and will remain, a great place to do business.

It is the global capital for Finance, Fintech, and a major hub of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies…

…and my priority as Chancellor is to go on pushing us to do even better.

We will go on creating the conditions and providing the resources that have allowed pioneers from Charles Babbage to Ismail Ahmed to succeed.

Because fintech offers the chance to connect the world…

…to deliver financial services and innovations that can drive widespread growth and prosperity…

…create millions of jobs, and build stronger, fairer, faster financial services that serve the common interests of all the peoples of this interconnected planet.

My commitment to you is that Britain will continue to drive this agenda…

…will continue to be the best place for fintech to thrive.

Because, Fintech is the future of global finance…

…and working together, we have a chance to reach that future faster.

We look forward to continuing to welcome you, from wherever you come from around the world, to stay and build for many years to come – and we wait with baited breath, to see the astonishing innovations you are going to reveal next.

Thank you.