Press release: New charity investigation: Beth Yosef Foundation

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a statutory inquiry into Beth Yosef Foundation, registered charity number 1071268. The inquiry was opened on 21 December 2016.

The charity has objects to advance the Jewish Religion, in particular as practised by Sephardi Jews. The charity was identified by the Commission for a compliance visit, as its objects suggested it might be operating in high risk areas and it had failed to submit annual returns to the Commission since February 2012. The Commission met with a trustee of the charity in November 2016.

The visit identified a number of serious regulatory concerns relating to the administration and financial management of the charity by the trustees. The Commission’s concerns include a failure by the trustees to submit their annual returns, whether the charity has any validly appointed trustees, loan agreements entered into by the charity and the sale of property owned by the charity.

The inquiry will examine:

  • whether the trustees are properly appointed and whether decisions made by current trustees regarding the administration and management of the charity have been validly made, in particular in relation to the disposal of charity property
  • whether any potential conflicts of interest have been identified and correctly managed by the trustees
  • the financial management of the charity and application of charitable funds, in particular relating to rental income received from a property owned by the charity and how rental income has been applied
  • whether or not the trustees have complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law
  • whether there has been any misconduct and/or mismanagement by the trustees

The Commission stresses that opening an inquiry is not in itself a finding of wrong doing.

The purpose of an inquiry to examine issues in detail and investigate and establish the facts so that the regulator can ascertain whether there has been misconduct and mismanagement; establish the extent of the risk to the charity’s property, beneficiaries or work; decide what action needs to be taken to resolve the serious concerns, if necessary using its investigative, protective and remedial powers to do so.

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 04/17

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. 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.
  4. 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.


News story: CMA updates competition law risk short guide

An updated risk guide for senior managers, directors and their advisers on how to avoid breaking competition law.

The guide was developed as a joint project with the Institute of Risk Management (IRM) and follows the first case of a director being disqualified after their company broke competition law.

In December 2016, a managing director of an online poster supplier gave an undertaking not to act as a director of any UK company for 5 years after their company was found to have been part of an online price-fixing cartel.

Alongside the updated risk guide the CMA has also published a one-page 60-second summary looking specifically at director disqualification with advice for company directors.

David Currie, CMA Chairman, said:

I am delighted that we are working with the IRM again to put the spotlight on the significant risks companies and their directors face if they don’t play by fair rules in business. Company directors have a special responsibility to be well-informed about their company practices and have a critical role to play in ensuring a business complies with the law.

In light of this I want to see anti-competitive behaviour taken as seriously by UK businesses and boards as the risks around bribery, fraud, health and safety and cyber crime.



Corporate report: Government Office for Science annual report: 2015 to 2016

Information on the performance of the Government Office for Science for 2015 to 2016.



Press release: Supreme Court ruling on Article 50: statement

A statement was issued following the ruling today (24 January 2017).

A government spokesperson said:

The British people voted to leave the EU, and the government will deliver on their verdict – triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Today’s ruling does nothing to change that.

It’s important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of 6 to 1 and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out.

We respect the Supreme Court’s decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly.



Press release: Rogue recycler found guilty for mattress mountain

The operator of a waste mattress and bed recycling site in Smarden has been found guilty for failing to comply with relevant waste exemptions as well as failing to comply with an Enforcement Notice issued by the Environment Agency. Sentencing is due on 3 February 2017.

The charges were brought against Mr Lewis Bertram, trading as Eco Matters, Units Y & E2 Smarden Business Estate, Smarden, Ashford, Kent after an Environment Agency investigation discovered that he was operating outside of the terms of registered waste exemptions, posing a pollution and fire risk to the surrounding environment, neighbouring units and residential properties. Mr Bertram pleaded not guilty to the charges presented at Magistrates court early in 2016 and elected for the case to be heard at Crown Court. The jury returned guilty pleas to all three charges brought before the court.

Mr Bertram had been operating a mattress recycling business at the two units, which lie within close proximity to several residential properties, since July 2013. Environment Agency visits in December 2014 and January 2015 found that the activities were not compliant with the terms of the registered waste exemptions. Environment officers informed Mr Bertram that he was committing an offence by operating the site outside of the terms of these waste exemptions and gave Mr Bertram the opportunity to comply with the specific conditions and relevant objectives in the first instance.

Further visits to monitor the situation on site in March and early April 2015 revealed that activities on site were continuing to be conducted outside of the terms of the exemptions and the volume of waste stored on site continued to increase. The Environment Agency de-registered the waste exemptions and Enforcement Notices were issued on Mr Bertram in March 2015 instructing that all waste be removed from Unit E2 and the volume of waste at Unit Y to be reduced to the 1,000 tonne limit of textiles permitted for storage under the waste exemptions by 29 May 2015.

Mr Bertram maintained a not guilty plea in relation to the non-compliance with these two notices to clear the waste for which the charges will be referred back to a magistrate’s court.

No further waste had been brought to site by Mr Bertram since the de-registration of the exemptions in May 2015. However, further visits to the site conducted by environment officers in June 2015 revealed that Mr Bertram had not complied with the Enforcement Notices requesting for the removal of waste from site.

The Environment Agency worked closely with Kent Fire and Rescue Service throughout 2015 and 2016 to monitor the fire risk posed by the site and to ensure that the situation on site did not get any worse.

The site at Units Y and E2 are still full of waste mattresses, divan bed bases and their associated parts which we will continue to deal with to ensure that they are removed by those responsible.

Alan Cansdale, Environment Manager from the Environment Agency said:

His actions showed blatant disregard for local residents and businesses putting the environment and local amenity at risk. Mr Bertram ignored numerous opportunities given to him by our officers to bring the operations back into compliance.

Waste exemptions are designed for activities deemed to be of low risk to the environment and have strict conditions that must be complied with.

While we will work closely with businesses to help them comply with such legislation, in cases where individuals consistently operate illegally and in this case outside the terms of an exemption, we have no hesitation in prosecuting them to make sure that waste crime doesn’t pay.

There are photos available on our flickr account