The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has launched a new initiative to encourage small and medium sized enterprises to work with them.

The project, called SME Searchlight, aims to attract non-traditional Defence suppliers and SMEs to help deliver a projected £40 to £45million increase in Dstl research spending with external companies, in line with the Government’s intent to increase external spending with SMEs to 33% by 2022. As well as having access to this increased funding, companies could also benefit through working at the cutting edge of research and technology, with potential exploitation into new Defence and Security systems and applications.

Dstl’s Chief Executive Gary Aitkenhead said:

This initiative is important at every level; from strategic partnerships and UK prosperity and growth to making a breakthrough which could save lives.

The increase in demand for new research opportunities extends across Dstl’s portfolio, but they have identified four quite different areas to try out new approaches to develop a broader supplier ecosystem: radio frequency engineering, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and wargaming.

Over the next 12 months, Dstl will be running a series of events, workshops and consultations focused on these four areas in partnership with ADS, the Federation of Small Businesses, Team Defence Information and TechUK. An ambitious target has been set of 60% of attendees at these events having never worked with Defence before, with the aim of bringing these new companies into Dstl’s supply chain as direct suppliers; as members of Dstl’s framework contracts; or through the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA).

Rob Solly, Dstl Division Head for Defence and Security Analysis and senior responsible owner for SME Searchlight said:

The benefits of this programme include increasing the innovation available to Dstl, collaboration across different sectors and the creation of UK intellectual property. From start-ups to established businesses, we want to hear from people with great ideas. We’re simplifying the process of working with Government and we’re hoping to show that it can be a fantastic and worthwhile partnership for both parties.

Dstl is partnering with Venturefest – taking place on 29 March – to engage with some of the best technology SMEs in the South. The first Dstl SME Searchlight event, focused on radio frequency engineering, is due to be held in April.

On 7 March, hosted through the Analysis Support Construct, Dstl is holding an event to invite proposals to identify and develop ways to use science and technology to generate savings for Defence. This will be focused around, but not limited to, Logistics, Personnel and Infrastructure/Estates.

For more information contact searchlight@dstl.gov.uk

Setting up ICPs will allow primary medical services to be run through the same contract as other health and care services such as social care for the first time.

ICPs are designed to:

• bring care services together through a single contract, so patients’ care is coordinated around them
• deliver more care in the community and patients’ homes, improving access to services and reducing trips to hospital

At the moment it is complicated for different NHS organisations to deliver integrated care while each organisation holds its own independent contract with commissioners.

The changes to the law introduced by the government today will make sure ICPs have to follow the same rules as other NHS or care organisations, for example around complaints procedures and the reimbursement of travel expenses.

GPs who wish to integrate with an ICP can easily transfer their services from previous contracts to a new ICP contract, if they choose to do so.

The participation of any individual practice or GP is entirely voluntary, and their role in an ICP will be for them to decide.

The NHS Long Term Plan confirmed that NHS England would make the ICP contract available for use from 2019. The contract is expected to be held by statutory providers, such as NHS foundation trusts.

Any bids for the contract will be reviewed by local clinicians and NHS staff to ensure it is the most effective and beneficial organisation for the local area.

Before the first contracts are awarded, proposals will be scrutinised through the integrated support and assurance process.

Minister for Health Stephen Hammond said:

As part of our Long Term Plan for the NHS, which is backed by £20.5 billion extra a year by 2023 to 2024, we want to make sure care fits around patients and not the other way round. These new regulations are a crucial step towards more integrated care for patients in England.

Integrated care providers will give local areas the power to integrate care by bringing all the different healthcare services provided to local residents into a single contract.

For patients it should mean fewer trips to hospital and more care in the community, and allows health and care services to work together seamlessly with a greater focus on preventative, proactive and coordinated care.

Stuart McDonald (37), of Dyce, Aberdeen, was the solely appointed director of Northern Motors (Aberdeen) Limited from September 2013 having first been appointed a joint director in June 2007.

Incorporated in 2006, Northern Motors traded as a car dealership in Dyce, Aberdeen while also offering repair and maintenance services.

But 10 years later, Northern Motors ceased to trade in August 2016 shortly after an Enforcement Order was granted to Aberdeen Trading Standards (ATS) against the company in connection with several breaches of the Enterprise Act 2002.

The Enforcement Order required Stuart McDonald to stop acting against the interest of customers and was granted in connection with complaints about Northern Motors received by Aberdeen Trading Standards over a two-year period between September 2014 and 2016.

Complaints included selling vehicles to consumers while finance remained outstanding, failing to honour payments to consumers and neglecting to provide the appropriate DVLA registration documents at the time of the sale.

Further examples of misconduct included the sale of illegal goods in terms of applying for incorrect registration plates and failing to register the transfer of vehicles to DVLA.

North Yorkshire Trading Standards also pursued legal action against the sole director, Stuart McDonald, to which he pled guilty in April 2016 to the allegations that he had caused the company to trade in harmful practices.

Northern Motors was later liquidated in June 2017 following a Winding-up Order and the matter was referred to the Insolvency Service to investigate Stuart McDonald’s conduct while a director of the company.

Investigators discovered that in August 2016, just after the Enforcement Order was obtained, Stuart McDonald caused Northern Motors to dispose of a property worth £265,000 to a connected party. This payment was not only detrimental to Northern Motor’s creditors but also resulted in the insolvency of the company.

While some money from the proceeds of the property sale was paid to the company’s bank and to clear a loan, £116,000 was paid directly to Stuart McDonald’s bank account. While, Stuart McDonald claims more than £87,000 was paid to Northern Motors’ creditors, the company’s lack of accounting records means he cannot verify the payments.

Furthermore, Northern Motors owed at least £80,000 in tax and a further £111,000 to its creditors.

On 29 January 2019, Stuart McDonald signed a disqualification undertaking, which was accepted by the Secretary of State, and effective from 20 February 2019, Stuart McDonald is banned for seven years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Robert Clarke, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

When directors do not comply with legislation that is designed to protect customers, and avoidable losses occur, the Insolvency Service will fully investigate the circumstances and take action where appropriate.

In this case, a significant number of customers have been left out of pocket as a result of Mr McDonald’s disregard of protective legislation and it is appropriate that his disqualification is for a significant period of time.

Stuart McDonald is of Dyce, Aberdeen and his date of birth is January 1982

Northern Motors (Aberdeen) Limited (Company number SC304494).

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 administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, 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.

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

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Husband and wife, Dawn and Jacob Goulde, of Hatch End, North West London, were the directors of London and Berkshire Limited. Incorporated in August 2009, the company was concerned with property valuation and surveying.

Just six years later, however, London and Berkshire was shut down by the courts in June 2015 following a petition by the tax authorities to wind-up the company.

The Official Receiver was appointed by the court to undertake the liquidation, as well as carry out investigations into why the company failed and the conduct of the directors.

Investigations established that Dawn and Jacob had personally benefited from payments taken out of the company’s bank accounts of at least £182,000. The payments were made between January 2010 and April 2013 and the couple were unable to justify them.

Over the same period, Dawn and Jacob also failed to file any tax returns on behalf of the company, resulting in the tax authorities having to raise outstanding charges of just under £200,000. The sum also included arrears for unpaid corporate tax and employee contributions.

Further enquiries by the Official Receiver found that the company only made one payment of just over £6,000 to the tax authorities throughout the life of London and Berkshire.

On 6 February 2019, the Official Receiver obtained a court judgement committing Dawn and Jacob to payback just over £182,000 – the money taken from the company that they had personally benefited from – plus costs.

Neither Dawn nor Jacob Goulde were present at the hearing nor did they send representatives and in their absence, Judge Jones described the sums taken from the company were ‘gratuitous, unjustified payments’.

Anthony Hannon, the Official Receiver, said:

Running a limited company doesn’t give you license to treat it as a cash cow but that’s exactly what Dawn and Jacob Goulde did when they removed thousands of pounds for their own benefit. They also completely failed to pay the taxes, other than a token amount, in just another clear example of their dereliction of duty.

Securing back the money Dawn and Jacob unreasonably took will benefit London and Berkshire’s creditors, while also serving as a strong warning to others who think they can do the same that we will obtain redress through the courts against those who abuse their director responsibilities.

Jacob Harvey Goulde is from Hatch End and his date of birth is August 1958

Dawn Rochelle Goulde is from Hatch End and her date of birth is June 1961

London and Berkshire Limited (Company Reg no. 06981070).

The order was pronounced by ICC Judge Jones in the Insolvency and Companies Court.

Christopher Brockman of Enterprise Chambers instructed by Clarke Wilmott & Clarke solicitors appeared for the Insolvency Service and no one appeared for or on behalf of the defendants.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, 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.

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Development plans which could see more than 10,000 new homes built across England and 14,000 new jobs created by 2024/25 are to be brought forward through a £15million government project.

The One Public Estate programme was launched in 2013 to make better use of public-sector sites, free up space for new homes and create jobs.

It encourages the emergency services, local councils and government departments to work more closely together by sharing sites and creating public-sector ‘hubs’ – where services are delivered in one place. So far, the programme has saved taxpayers £24million in running costs, created 5,745 new jobs and released land for the development of 3,336 new homes.

The latest round of the programme will see money and support given to more than 100 local public-sector partnerships across England, to bring forward proposals for a range of new projects on public-sector sites.

These include:

• £680,000 for projects in Waltham Forest, including proposals to bring forward the redevelopment of the 100-year-old Whipps Cross Hospital and sites in public and private ownership for housing development in the Forest Road Corridor
• £505,000 for projects in Devon and Torbay, including the regeneration of land around St David’s station in Exeter
• £405,000 for projects in Northamptonshire, including plans to release land around Kettering railway station for the development of new houses and station improvements
• £410,000 for projects in Worcestershire, including delivering new housing and regeneration around Redditch station, as part of the Rail Quarter development

The Minister for Implementation, Oliver Dowden, said:

Getting the best use out of publicly-owned land can help to regenerate our towns and cities and give people improved access to the services they need.

This programme shows that when government works smarter, with public authorities coming together, taxpayers get better value for money, new jobs are created and space is freed-up for vitally needed new homes.

The One Public Estate programme is a joint initiative between the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Local Government Association. It now covers 95% of all local authority areas in England.

Funding for the latest round of the programme will help with the creation of feasibility studies and masterplans for the potential development sites.

It is hoped the work will bring forward savings of £37million in public-sector running costs and allow the redevelopment of a large number of brownfield sites.

The Minister of State for Housing, Kit Malthouse, said:

This government is committed to helping more people get on the housing ladder and restoring the dream of home ownership for a new generation. The One Public Estates programme will not only help more people find a home of their own, but also help create jobs and save taxpayers’ money.

The latest projects to share £15million of funding will make a real difference to local communities and provide better services to residents.

Lord Porter, Chairman of the Local Government Association, said:

I’m pleased to see One Public Estate continue to grow from strength to strength. This latest round will see the programme now deliver more than 650 projects in total, all of which support councils to work with the wider public sector to deliver the best public services and place for their local communities.

The delivery of new homes remains a national priority and with 95% of councils now part of the programme. It’s clear to see that local government remains committed to building the right homes for the places they serve.