Author Archives: HM Government

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has appointed Kenneth Dibble, currently Director of Legal Services at the Charity Commission, as the Commission’s new legal board member. Kenneth will be relinquishing his executive role prior to joining the board in March 2018.

William Shawcross, Chairman of the Charity Commission, says:

I am delighted that Kenneth will be joining the Commission’s Board as legal member next year. Kenneth has unparalleled mastery of charity law, a thorough understanding of modern regulation and extensive experience of senior executive leadership. The Commission, and the public, will benefit tremendously from his continued service. As my term of office as Chairman comes to an end, this appointment adds to my confidence that the organisation will be excellently guided in the future.

Kenneth Dibble says:

It is an honour to have been appointed to serve on the Charity Commission’s board. Charities, and by extension the Commission as their regulator, play a central role in our society. Maintaining the legal integrity of the Commission’s regulatory work is critical, and I look forward to continuing to support that element, and shaping the Commission’s future, in my new role as legal board member.

Details about the appointment and the appointment process are available from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

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Kenneth Dibble has for the last 15 years been the Charity Commission’s Chief Legal Adviser and Legal Director. He has held a number of senior legal and operational roles within the commission and has extensive expertise and experience in all aspects of charity law and regulation of charities.

Kenneth is a qualified barrister (Lincoln’s Inn, called 1977) and holds a Master’s Degree in Law from University College, London. He also studied law at King’s College, London and the College of Law. Prior to joining the commission and the Bar, he worked in banking and insurance and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. He is a Visiting Lecturer on Charity and Regulatory Law and Practice at Cass Business School and speaks and advises internationally on charity regulation.

As Legal Director, Kenneth has been responsible for leading and managing the legal services in the commission and assuring the legal integrity of the Commission’s regulatory work and policies. Kenneth will step down from the role of Legal Director before he takes up the board member role.

Charity Commission Board Members are remunerated at £350 per day. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Kenneth Dibble has declared no such political activity.

Today the peer-to-peer lending industry was given a boost of confidence as the government began legislating to clarify that no business borrowing through a peer-to-peer platform needs to be regulated as a ‘deposit taker’ (often referred to as a ‘banking licence’) unless that is their core business. The legislation will ensure that the industry can continue to thrive and innovate while still benefiting from the UK’s high quality regulatory standards.

The draft legislation will provide certainty for UK businesses across a range of sectors including manufacturing, construction, and hospitality who finance their growth with peer-to-peer lending. Without this legislation, peer-to-peer platforms lacked clarity on whether some of their borrowers would require a ‘banking licence’ to borrow through their platform. This would have dramatically increased costs for platforms and borrowers, and impacted the sustainability of peer-to-peer business models, reducing the finance available to businesses.

Stephen Barclay, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said:

Peer-to-peer lending has brought about real benefits, not only for the UK’s small and medium sized business community, but our economy at large. This vital clarification will mean that businesses can continue to access the finance they need to grow and expand, helping us to build an economy that is fit for the future.

Peer-to-peer lending is an increasingly important source of funding for UK businesses, especially smaller businesses. In 2016 over £1.2 billion of finance for businesses was facilitated by the peer-to-peer industry, and it provided the equivalent of 15% of all new bank lending to small businesses.

A homeless man who murdered 2 members of a family who helped him and tried to murder a third member of the same family has had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General appealed it as unduly lenient.

Aaron Barley, who was 23 years old at the time, attacked 3 members of the Wilkinson family in a premeditated and savage act of unprovoked violence.

Barley stabbed and killed Pierce Wilkinson, aged 13, and his mother Tracey, in their home having waited for Peter Wilkinson, Tracy’s husband and Pierce’s father, to take the dog out for a walk. When Mr Wilkinson returned to the house Barley stabbed him a number of times in an attempt to kill him which he was fortunate to survive.

The attack was entirely unprovoked, with the Wilkinson family having done much over the course of the preceding year to help Barley with the difficulties he had in his life. Their help included supporting him to find a home and a job and inviting him to spend Christmas day with them. The 4th member of the Wilkinson family, Lydia, who was aged 18 at the time was away at the time of the attack.

Barley has shown no remorse for the killings of Pierce and Tracey Wilkinson and has expressed regret that he failed to kill Peter Wilkinson. He was originally sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years at Birmingham Crown Court. Today, the Court of Appeal agreed the sentence was too low and increased the minimum term to 35 years.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

Aaron Barley’s attack on the Wilkinson family was a truly despicable crime. The Wilkinson family had gone out of their way to help him and he repaid their kindness with a brutal attack which devastated their family. My thoughts are with Peter and Lydia Wilkinson particularly and I hope they can find some comfort in the increased sentence today.

The Office for Professional Body AML Supervision (OPBAS) will work across the UK’s anti-money laundering supervisory regime to improve standards and ensure supervisors and law enforcement work together more effectively.

It will directly oversee the 22 accountancy and legal professional body AML supervisors in the UK. Having several organisations supervising the same sectors risks inconsistencies that criminals could look to exploit.

OPBAS, which will operate within the FCA, will ensure the 22 bodies meet the high standards set out in the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, and have powers to investigate and penalise those that do not.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay, said:

Our partnership with the private sector is at the heart of this reform, and OPBAS will help our supervisors tighten the UK’s defences against dirty money whilst minimising unnecessary burdens on legitimate business.

This is the latest step in the government’s reforms to the UK’s financial system to make it a hostile environment for illicit finance

The OPBAS regulations have been laid in Parliament and will take effect on 18 January. Implementing OPBAS delivers the government’s commitment to reform the AML supervisory regime, a key part of the 2016 Action plan for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance.

It is the latest step in the government’s biggest reform of the AML regime in a decade, complementing wider work including enhancing law enforcement’s powers through the Criminal Finances Act and updating the Money Laundering Regulations to implement the latest international standards, both of which took effect earlier this year.