Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership has up to £450,000 to invest in the development of a remote digital alarm monitoring system that will help people with complex needs to live independent lives at home.

There is £150,000 to fund a series of feasibility studies into potential solutions, and a further £300,000 that could support the development of the 2 most promising ideas in a second phase.

Supporting independent living in Glasgow

The partnership wants to use technology to help more people live independent lives at home.

Digital technologies, including ambient sensors, GPS trackers and video technology, are already in use in the health sector, but they work in isolation and do not combine with Glasgow’s main telecare platform.

Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership is being supported in this competition by the Can Do Innovation Challenge Fund. It is seeking solutions using the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) programme.

System must manage risks in the home

Projects are being asked to develop a remote digital alarm monitoring system that can help with the management of risks in the home and that links into Glasgow’s existing telecare platform.

Solutions must:

• be easy to use and understand for people with poor mobility, hearing or eyesight
• highlight risks consistently and safely
• connect to the existing platform so the user can access the services they need, regardless of supplier
• be cost effective
• be efficient to install and maintain and have a ‘plug and play’ design

Competition information

• the competition opens on 19 February 2018, and the deadline for registration is at midday on 25 April 2018
• it is open to any organisation that can demonstrate a route to market for its idea
• we expect phase 1 contracts to be worth up to £30,000 and last up to 6 months
• we expect phase 2 contracts to be worth up to £150,000
• successful projects will attract 100% funded development contracts
• a briefing event will be held in Glasgow on 14 March 2018

The disqualification order was granted at Perth Sheriff Court following an investigation by the Insolvency Service. The disqualification commenced on 20 December 2017 and is effective until 20 December 2024.

Mr McFarlane’s ban relates to his selling off company assets for his own benefit whilst creditors were left unpaid.
Gilmour McFarlane (29) was the sole director of Garden Haulage Limited. From 2009 the company hired out plant and machinery in addition to labour and carried out contractual work, primarily for farms. The company went into liquidation on 28 August 2015 with an estimated deficiency to its creditors of £38,670.

The investigation by the Insolvency Service found that at a time when the company was insolvent, Gilmour McFarlane caused it to dispose of plant and machinery to a third party for a sum of £55,000 plus VAT while on the same day Gilmour McFarlane settled a personally guaranteed loan to that party. This transaction was to the detriment of HMRC and other creditors of the company.

The investigation also found that for the period from at least 1 September 2014 to 28 August 2015,Gilmour McFarlane failed to preserve or deliver up adequate accounting records for Garden Haulage Limited as a consequence of which it has not been possible to establish the true financial position of the company, how other assets were dealt with and whether all sums due to the company were collected in.

Robert Clarke, Group Leader of Insolvent Investigations North at the Insolvency Service said:

The period of this disqualification reflects the fact that when a company fails to keep adequate financial records it is simply not possible to determine whether there has been other, more serious, impropriety in relation to the management of its affairs.

Furthermore, directors who put their own personal financial interests above those of customers and creditors damage confidence in doing business and are corrosive to the health of the local economy.

Notes to editors

Gilmour McFarlane’s date of birth is April 1988.

Gilmour McFarlane was appointed as director of Garden Haulage Limited (company number SC364384) on 21 August 2009 and remained a director throughout the company’s trading. Garden Haulage Limited had a registered office of 66 Tay Street, Perth, PH2 8RP.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company

• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership

• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Contact Press Office

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

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At the Office for Product Safety and Standards, we want to showcase the outstanding work you do to help British business comply with regulation – giving them the confidence to invest and grow, whilst protecting our communities.

The Regulatory Excellence Awards recognise regulatory organisations, individual businesses and trade associations that have achieved positive outcomes through good practice.

Entrants will have to demonstrate excellent use of better regulation tools and principles, such as Primary Authority, Better Business for All, the Regulators’ Code and / or consideration of regulatory impact on business growth.

This is your chance to shine, share work with your peers and widen the impact it has around the country!

The Awards are open to anyone involved in delivering better regulation – e.g. local authorities, national regulators, businesses and trade associations.

• Individuals, teams or organisations can be nominated; by others and / or themselves

• The completed
  Awards entry form 2018
  (MS Word Document, 79KB)
  
  must be returned to the Office for Product Safety and Standards by 18 May

• You can post or email entries. Scanned entries are acceptable

• Entrants may supply a short (max one minute) supporting video

• Short external endorsements may be included with entries

• Additional material is not required and will not be considered

Entrants may receive a follow-up call from us. Judging and the announcement of finalists will take place in June.

Winners will be announced at a special full day showcase on 20 June, where we will share details of how we can help our local and national partners, hear from regulators, and have time for networking and refreshments.

Kenya is special. As diplomats living here, we see and admire daily the determination and creativity of the Kenyan people; the energy and innovation of Kenyan business; and the inspiring democratic journey that Kenya has made since independence. These and Kenya’s many other achievements have made it a hub for the region and indeed for the continent and the world.

Like all democratic countries, including our own, Kenya’s democracy is not perfect. But it can and should remain a source of strength, and an inspiration to all of us.

That is why, as friends, we are deeply concerned by recent political developments in Kenya. Both the government and the opposition have taken steps that have undermined Kenya’s institutions, and driven wedges among its citizens.

A father of multi-party democracy has made unsubstantiated claims about elections and unilaterally sworn himself as “President”, in deliberate disregard of the Constitution for which he so proudly fought.

The government, which should be the guarantor of liberty and freedom of expression for all under the law, has shut down television stations, seized the passports of opposition leaders, refused to obey court orders, and deported a prominent opposition lawyer. These events follow two elections that left many Kenyans dead and many more livelihoods disrupted.

For friends of Kenya, alarm bells are ringing.

The ambitions of politicians are fundamentally weakening institutions, and breaking the bonds of shared citizenship, which Kenyans have built up patiently over decades.

We are concerned not because we presume to dictate how Kenyans should regulate their country’s affairs – we don’t. But as fellow democracies, we know our freedoms and rights were hard won, and how carefully we must cherish, strengthen and protect them if our nations are to thrive and prosper.

For democracy to work, leaders must govern justly on behalf of all citizens. When citizens disagree with the decisions leaders make, they dissent peacefully. Opposition provides a check on governmental power. A free media and civil society keep the public informed and facilitate dialogue, and that dialogue improves the policies and programs that leaders deliver to their citizens.

Institutions and Constitutions are not abstract things of interest only to lawyers. They are the only way to ensure that everyone can get justice regardless of gender, religion, wealth or personal connections; can build a better future for their family; and can have their voice heard in the decisions that affect their lives.

Today, Kenya stands at a fork in the road along its democratic journey. Its leaders need to take the right path for Kenya to succeed.

We strongly urge the government to comply fully with court orders and follow legal process in appealing or contesting them. Freedom of expression, freedom of the media, and all civil rights need to be protected. When individuals are arrested, their rights should be respected and due process followed. Citizens have the responsibility to protest non-violently, and security services should avoid unnecessary or excessive use of force. Whatever the conduct of others, the government has a special duty to protect democratic institutions and adhere to the Constitution and the rule of law at all times.

Meanwhile, the opposition must accept the decision of the Supreme Court to uphold the election of October 26. Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto are the legitimate President and Deputy President of Kenya. The opposition needs to accept this as the basis for the dialogue that it and many Kenyans want. Stoking and threatening violence are not acceptable, nor are extra-Constitutional measures to seize power.

As partners, we will do all we can to help; but only Kenyans can resolve the country’s problems. We again call for an immediate, sustained, open, and transparent National Conversation involving all Kenyans, to build national cohesion, address long-standing issues, and resolve the deep-seated divisions that the electoral process has exacerbated.

We are investing in Kenya and have great hope for the future. But Kenyans must summon now all their strength and resolve, reaffirm the Constitution, and put the country back on the path to democracy, prosperity, and security.

This op-ed was signed off by:

Nic Hailey
High Commissioner for the United Kingdom

Robert F. Godec
Ambassador of the United States

Jutta Frasch
Ambassador of Germany

Alison Chartres
High Commissioner for Australia

Sara Hradecky
High Commissioner for Canada

Mette Knudsen
Ambassador of Denmark

Anna Jardfelt
Ambassador of Sweden

Victor Conrad Rønneberg
Ambassador of Norway

Frans Makken
Ambassador of the Netherlands

Tarja Fernández
Ambassador of Finland

Kim Ramoneda
Chargé d’Affaires a.i, France

On 11 February leaders of universities across Egypt were invited to a workshop at the British Embassy in Cairo to share best practice on improving higher education, by giving university teachers the recognition they deserve for their work, and ensuring that students leave university with the skills they need for the modern job market.

The workshop, delivered by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the British Government’s Department for International Trade, was attended by Prof Dr Mohamed Salheen, Adviser to the Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research, as well the British Ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, UK Trade Envoy to Egypt.

HEA is a UK-based organisation which works with ministries, universities and individual academics across the world to help them improve education standards. For teachers, this includes ensuring that systems are in place to recognise and reward good teaching. For students, it means ensuring that students stay in university, get thorough assessment and constructive feedback on their efforts during their studies, and leave university with the skills they need for the modern workplace.

British Ambassador John Casson said:

Giving young Egyptians the chance for world class education is at the heart of the UK’s partnership with Egypt. When you put together world class UK university expertise and Egypt’s best young talent and institutions there is no limit to what we can achieve together. Everywhere I go I am inspired by the talent and ambition of young Egyptians and this workshop is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas that will help teachers and students succeed in giving Egypt excellent universities and young peple with the skills to succeed in the modern world.

Ian Hall, HEA Partnership Development Manager, said:

We are delighted to have this opportunity to speak to senior university leaders in Egypt. While every country is different, we’ve seen that higher education providers across the globe face many of the same issues. We’ll be sharing lessons learned from the HEA’s work across the world, including from our projects in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman, and how these could be applied within an Egyptian context. Our aim is to promote teaching excellence and to enable student success. An important route to achieving student success is by motivating great teaching in higher education through the reward and recognition of those who deliver it. We’ve also decided to focus on student employability which is increasingly under scrutiny from governments and employers, quite apart from being critically important to students themselves. We want to highlight some of the work we have done to help institutions develop holistic strategies to supporting employability, particularly through curriculum design.