The Charity Commission has opened an inquiry into Dudley Central Mosque and Muslim Community Centre after the charity failed in its accounting requirements for four years in a row. These failures are symptomatic of wider administration and governance issues that persist at the charity, despite previous engagement from the regulator.

The charity has been the subject of three regulatory compliance cases in the past four years, all of which examined issues arising from an ongoing dispute between two groups representing the charity.

In November 2018, the Commission issued formal regulatory advice. It advised the charity to seek legal advice to establish the official trustees in line with its constitution. It also asked the two sides to mediate and agree to hold an election overseen by an independent committee. An election took place, but one side disputed the independence of the election and governance issues remained.

The charity was also placed into the Commission’s ‘double defaulters’ class inquiry in March 2022 as it had failed to submit its annual reports, accounts and annual returns for four years in a row. Accounting information since March 2018 is still outstanding.

The Commission is concerned that, despite previous engagement and regulatory advice, the charity has not resolved its administration and governance issues. For this reason, a statutory inquiry was opened on 1 July 2022.

The inquiry will examine the administration, governance and management of the charity and in particular:

• whether it is being managed in accordance with its governing document
• the failure to comply with legal obligations in relation to the filing of the charity’s accounts and annual returns

The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional issues emerge.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.

2. The Commission has not made any conclusions and the opening of the inquiry is not a finding of wrongdoing.

• An event to accelerate partnerships across Industry
• In advance of a new themed competition, Novel Amphibious Craft, launching in October 2022
• Meet subject matter experts in this field

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) will host a collaboration event in advance of a new themed competition launch, Novel Amphibious Craft. This competition launches in October 2022, and will fund promising technologies to help develop a Commando Insertion Craft (CIC) fit to combat the threats of the 21st Century.

To create a platform that can transport personnel and light vehicles across great distances, in challenging conditions, whilst evading detection from coastal sensors is a significant challenge. It demands collaboration between experts in many disciplines, including those outside the defence sector.

This event looks to accelerate partnerships, by bringing together prospective innovators across industry. There will also be an opportunity to connect with subject matter experts from the competition team.

Why should you attend?

Attending the collaboration event will allow you to:

• understand the requirements of front line operators
• form new collaborative relationships with innovators that have complimentary knowledge
• meet the experts from DASA and the Royal Marines Commando Force

Who should attend?

There are multiple complex engineering requirements for this competition and we expect that a proportion of the proposals will be collaborative efforts between multiple suppliers. This event targets innovators interested in networking and/or establishing collaborations before submitting a proposal to the competition.

Register

Register your interest in attending via this Eventbrite page. Registration will close at midday on Friday 23 September 2022.

Background

The CIC will be the medium lift craft to deliver Royal Marine Commando teams and their equipment from specialist ships to foreign and hostile coastal access points without being detected.

Royal Marine Commando teams will be expected to operate independently and as part of a larger group, and will complement the force’s network of sensors and command and control capabilities. The craft must be able to travel ranges of 300 nautical miles (threshold) at speeds of no less than 25 knots in sea state 2.

The Novel Amphibious Craft competition is seeking innovative technologies that could help to develop a novel landing craft that can:

• travel at sustained high speed over a long range
• provide the ability to deliver personnel and light vehicles to a coastal access point with limited/ no impact on operational speed/capability
• relaunch from the coastal access point
• consider Signature Management across all spectrums to reduce probability of detection (for example thermal, radar, visual, acoustic)

This competition is expected to launch in late October 2022, with funding being provided to proposals that successfully pass DASA’s assessment and moderation panels.

Important information

• please note that the event will be an open public event held at OFFICIAL; the appropriateness of discussions should be considered by attendees
• while we encourage collaboration, we wish to stress that it is the sole responsibility of each attendee to consider and manage appropriately any disclosure of their proprietary information to any other attendee or party, given the public nature of the event
• there will be a limited hybrid component to this event via Microsoft Teams
• photographic identification will be required at entry

Further event details will be sent upon confirmation of your place to attend.

Lord True, Minister of State, has reappointed Harry Rich as the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists. His new term will commence from 22 September 2022 for a term of no more than three years on a fixed term contract with the possibility of further reappointment.

Harry Rich is Chair of the Intellectual Property Office, Chair of the Valuation Tribunal Service, non-executive director of the Press Recognition Panel, governor of the Glasgow School of Art, an Executive Coach and business advisor. He is Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is also a qualified but non-practising solicitor.

The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists is an independent, statutory office established by the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014. The Registrar is responsible for keeping and publishing a register of consultant lobbyists. The Registrar has a duty to monitor compliance with the requirement to register and a power to undertake enforcement action in instances of non-compliance.

The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists is responsible for overseeing the operation of the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists. Further information on the lobbying register can be found on the website of the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.