The Queen has approved the nomination of the Venerable Martin Charles William Gorick, MA, Archdeacon of Oxford, in the Diocese of Oxford, to the Suffragan See of Dudley, in the Diocese of Worcester, in succession to the Right Reverend Graham Barham Usher BSc, MA, following his translation to the See of Norwich.

Martin was educated at Selwyn College, Cambridge and trained for ministry at Ripon College Cuddesdon. He served his title at St John the Evangelist, Birtley in the Diocese of Durham and was ordained Priest in 1988. In 1991, Martin was appointed as Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford. He became Vicar of Smethwick Old Church in the Diocese of Birmingham in 1994 and was additionally appointed Area Dean of Warley in 1997. Martin was appointed as Vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Diocese of Coventry in 2001 where he was also Hon. Chaplain for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He took up his current role as Archdeacon of Oxford and Residentiary Canon of Christ Church in 2013 and also serves as Diocesan Inter-faith Advisor. He is married to Katharine who is County Lead for Visual Impairment in Oxfordshire and they have three adult children.

Published 4 November 2019

Seven jails are set to receive innovative new equipment to tackle the smuggling of drugs, phones and weapons behind bars, as efforts to make our prisons safer gather pace.

Berwyn, Bristol, Hewell, Lancaster Farms, Leeds, Liverpool and Norwich jails are the first to benefit from the Government’s recently announced £100 million investment in prison security – with the measures set to be introduced in other prisons across the estate.

Tough airport-style security, including X-ray baggage and metal detection equipment, will step-up searching of visitors and staff on entry to jails, enforced by specially-trained officers. This is part of a wider package of measures including X-ray body scanners for offenders and drug-detection kits to identify and deter attempts to smuggle narcotics, such as Spice, through prisoner mail.

Alongside strengthening security at the prison gate and reception, the £100 million investment includes a new digital forensics facility, expanded digital investigations team and phone-blocking technology to clampdown on the organised crime behind bars that drives violence and self-harm.

Prisons Minister, Lucy Frazer QC MP said:

The gate and reception are key areas of vulnerability to smuggling and more robust searching of staff, visitors and prisoners will help reduce the flow of drugs, phones and weapons.

This game-changing package of equipment is part of the Government’s new £2.75bn investment to modernise and maintain our prisons, create 10,000 additional places, and crack down on crime behind bars.

All of these elements are crucial as we create a system that can rehabilitate, cut reoffending and ultimately make our communities safer.

The chosen prisons have been prioritised as they face significant security challenges and the new measures – set to be in place by spring 2020 – will make a significant difference to the stability of each jail.

The specialist gate security is being funded from the government’s previously announced £2.75 billion package to transform the prison estate. This includes:

• £100 million to bolster prison security – with the new enhanced gate security and digital forensics facility, alongside tough airport-style security and phone-blocking technology to clamp down on violence, self-harm and crime behind bars.
• £2.5 billion to provide 10,000 additional prison places and create modern, efficient jails that rehabilitate offenders, reduce reoffending and keep the public safe.
• £156 million for pressing maintenance to create safe and decent conditions for offender rehabilitation.

The independent review into the evidence on minimum wages by leading expert Professor Arindrajit Dube has concluded a more ambitious National Living Wage (NLW) is the right approach, following the Chancellor’s pledge to increase the NLW further.

The review, published Monday 4 November, concludes minimum wages in a range of countries have had a negligible or zero effect on jobs, but significantly increased the earnings of the lowest paid. The Chancellor has pledged a more ambitious NLW so that on current projections it is set to reach £10.50 per hour by 2024, as part of his commitment to do more to end low pay.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, said:

The evidence is clear that our approach is the right one.

We will end low pay by putting the National Living Wage on a path to increase to £10.50 over the next five years.

I thank Professor Dube for his important work and recommendations.

Professor Arindrajit Dube said:

Based on the overall evidence—with a special emphasis on the recent, high quality, evaluations of the National Living Wage and other more ambitious policies internationally — my report concludes that that there is room for exploring a higher NLW in the UK up to two-thirds of the median wage.

It will also be important to empirically evaluate and recalibrate any such ambitious policy based on new evidence down the road.

The report, ‘Impacts of minimum wages: review of the international evidence’, examines the international evidence from Germany, the US and other countries on the impacts of minimum wages, as well as recent research on the impact of the NLW in the UK.

Professor Dube, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, National Bureau of Economic Research and IZA Institute of Labor Economics, was commissioned by the government to review minimum wage policies in Spring 2019. As part of his work, Professor Dube consulted with the Low Pay Commission, academics and policy experts in collating his evidence and developing his findings.

The previous NLW target was to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020. In line with the conclusions of the Dube Review, the Chancellor Sajid Javid has pledged to increase the NLW towards a new target of two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, provided economic conditions allow. The Chancellor additionally committed to expand the living wage to more young people by bringing down the age threshold for the NLW to cover all workers over the age of 21.

The government will respond fully to the review in due course.

Further information

The NLW increased by 4.9% on 1 April 2019 to £8.21. This means a full-time minimum wage worker’s annual pay has risen by over £2,750 since its introduction.

The proportion of low paid jobs is at its lowest since records began in 1997.

Crown Courts, magistrates’ courts, County and Family Courts, the Royal Courts of Justice and the Rolls Building, and Tribunals will close over the Christmas period on:

• Wednesday 25 December 2019
• Thursday 26 December 2019
• Friday 27 December 2019
• Wednesday 1 January 2020

Offices in Scotland will be closed on:

• Wednesday 25 December 2019
• Thursday 26 December 2019
• Wednesday 1 January 2020
• Thursday 2 January 2020

Some emergency courts may operate over the holiday. Please check before travelling. See court and tribunal finder for details.

Published 4 November 2019

Anita Ram (69), of Stevenage, started running Millfield Lodge Care Home in Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, as a sole trader business in the early 1990s. It was incorporated in 2004, but only began formally trading in July 2014.

In April 2017, the home was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and rated ‘Requires Improvement’ after breaches of regulations relating to the safeguarding of people, their care records, and reporting of incidents to the CQC were discovered.

In July and August of the same year, further, unannounced, inspections were carried out. Inspectors found that Millfield Lodge Care Home Limited was in breach of six regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. At the August inspection the service was rated as inadequate.

They resolved that Anita Ram as director was not a fit and proper person to carry on the service, as she had failed to co-operate with the nursing agency that ran the service in the home, removed records and equipment, and prevented access to people’s finances, among other concerns.

Inspectors also uncovered that not all residents in the home were being safely administered their medication, with discrepancies between the amount of medication in stock and the amounts recorded as having been administered. Anita Ram had also failed to ensure the building met required fire safety standards, meaning residents were at risk.

As a result of these concerns, the CQC applied to the courts to cancel Anita Ram’s registration as a care home provider and close the home. Residents were safely moved from the home on 10 August 2017, and the company ceased trading.

Millfield Lodge Care Home Limited entered Creditors Voluntary Liquidation and liquidators were appointed in September 2017, before it was formally wound up in October.

The liquidator’s report on the insolvency to the Insolvency Service triggered an investigation into the conduct of Anita Ram.

On 30 September 2019, the Secretary of State accepted a four-year disqualification undertaking from her. Effective from 21 October 2019, Anita Ram cannot be involved, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company without permission of the court.

David Brooks, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Care homes provide a vital service to our communities, taking care of some of the most vulnerable members of our society, and so are rightly held to the highest standards.

The Insolvency Service will not hesitate to pursue the disqualification of any director whose conduct while in charge of such a business is assessed to pose a risk to the people under their care.

Anita Ram is of Stevenage and her date of birth is August 1950.

Millfield Lodge Care Home Limited (05160128).

The Care Quality Commission report into Millfield Lodge Care Home can be accessed here.

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 restrictions.

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

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on: