Author Archives: HM Government

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a statutory inquiry into Bethel United Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic UK, registered charity number 1047717. The inquiry was opened on 22 March 2017.

The charity has objects to advance the Christian religion through the church.

In 2016 the charity was included in the Commission’s class inquiry which tackles charities that have failed to comply with their statutory obligations to submit their annual accounts for 2 or more financial years. Although the charity submitted its outstanding accounting information to the class inquiry last year, it has again failed to comply with its legal obligations to file accounts and the accounts for the year ending March 2016 are now overdue.

As a result of its engagement, the Commission has identified further serious regulatory concerns regarding the charity’s financial controls and governance, which will be examined as a part of the statutory inquiry.

The inquiry will examine:

• the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of their administration, governance and management of the charity and in particular: their compliance with legal obligations for the preparation and filing of the charity’s accounts and other information or returns
• the charity’s financial management including its financial controls and the extent to which the charity’s interests and property have been adequately protected
• the extent to which the trustees have complied with previously issued regulatory guidance
• related party transactions

The charity was previously subject to a compliance case after a significant amount of funds were misappropriated by a trustee, and the case report concluding the findings can be viewed on GOV.UK.

It is the 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 by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

Ends

PR 35/17

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our online register.
3. Details of how the Commission reports on its regulatory work can be found on GOV.UK.
4. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the Commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.
5. The Commission’s decision to announce the opening of a statutory inquiry is based on whether it is in the public interest to do so and with consideration of our objective to increase public trust and confidence in charities.

Summary

At about 13:25 hrs on Tuesday 14 June 2016, the passenger of a car that was waiting to cross the line was opening the gates at Dock Lane user worked crossing, in Melton, Suffolk, when a train passed over the crossing. The signaller at Saxmundham signal box had given permission for the car to cross the line after the car driver had contacted him using the telephone provided at the crossing.

The signaller knew the train’s approximate location before the call and was aware of its proximity to Dock Lane user worked crossing. However, during the call he did not use this information to decide to refuse permission to cross. Immediately after the call, the signaller realised the error.

It is possible that the signaller gave an automatic response to the car driver, partly because of the familiar nature of the telephone call and partly because of mental fatigue resulting from the complexity of maintaining awareness of train locations with the limited information that was available to him. Also, because he had been provided with all the information he needed to handle such a call without asking for it, he did not take the lead in the conversation. Had he done so, it might have reduced the chance of such an error.

The signaller at Saxmundham signal box is responsible for managing a high number of crossing telephone calls. The volume was such that it was highly likely that he would eventually make an error that could lead to a near miss or an accident.

Recommendations

The RAIB has made four recommendations to Network Rail, addressing management of human error when assessing level crossing risk, assessment of the signaller’s workload at Saxmundham, identification and assessment of other signalling locations with a high workload from level crossings, and the criteria for triggering assessment of workload demands on signallers.

Notes to editors

1. The sole purpose of RAIB investigations is to prevent future accidents and incidents and improve railway safety. RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions.
2. RAIB operates, as far as possible, in an open and transparent manner. While our investigations are completely independent of the railway industry, we do maintain close liaison with railway companies and if we discover matters that may affect the safety of the railway, we make sure that information about them is circulated to the right people as soon as possible, and certainly long before publication of our final report.
3. For media enquiries, please call 01932 440015.

Newsdate: 3 May 2017

There has been a political crisis in Macedonia since 2015. Early elections took place in December last year. On 1 March 2017, a clear majority of those MPs elected in December asked to form a government. However, President Ivanov refused to offer the mandate so that the majority coalition could form a government. On 27 April a Speaker was elected by the Macedonian Parliament.

A Foreign Office Spokeswoman said:

The UK supports the democratic decision of the majority of Macedonian MPs to elect Talat Xhaferi as Speaker. We look forward to working with him.

We call on all individuals, institutions and parties to allow an unhindered and non-violent transfer of power from the previous ruling party to the majority coalition elected in December 2016. The sooner a government is formed, the sooner it can get on with implementing urgent reforms to benefit Macedonia’s citizens.

At a time of heightened tension, all leaders should refrain from inflaming ethnic tensions. Any such behaviour is dangerous and contrary to the interests of Macedonia’s national unity.

In the wake of the unacceptable violence of 27 April we also call for the State authorities, in particular the police, to be allowed to fulfil their roles without political interference.

Further information

An opportunity to book a meeting with the Defence and Security Accelerator team to discuss your research idea.

In the long shadow cast by World War II, UNESCO was founded to build bridges and cross divides through solidarity in mankind’s shared cultural heritage. Heritage that Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories are blessed with in abundance. It is therefore right that UNESCO supports their protection.

And we share fellow Members’ concerns at the sharply negative trend in Israeli conduct of the Occupation, including the unacceptable threat posed to Cremisan’s Christian Monastery. And it is of course important the long-standing status quo concerning the Holy Sites, continues.

But whilst we agreed with many points in the Culture resolution, we could not vote in favour of a text that ignored terrorism. According to the Quartet’s report last year, 30 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks. In past years we have seen repeated one-sided, inflammatory, and unacceptable UNESCO resolutions on Jerusalem, which sought to deny the Jewish people’s ancient connection to Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem is sacred to the world’s three great Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. We welcome some improvements in today’s Jerusalem decision that better acknowledge this essential truth.

But the Jerusalem text still suffers from grave deficiencies. Absent agreement by both parties and safeguards to ensure objectivity, the monitoring mission as presently conceived risks hardening positions, as well as maintaining an excessive focus on Israel, at a time when regimes and terrorist groupings elsewhere in the world trample on cultural rights. For these reasons, today the UK has voted against the Jerusalem resolution.

UNESCO’s founding constitution calls for the “principles of the dignity, equality and mutual respect of men”. We are keen to work with like minded partners in support of this noble vision and ensure much greater balance in UNESCO on the Israeli-Palestinian file. Ultimately, only an even-handed approach can help realise our shared objective of two states for two peoples.