Sir Stephen is Professor of Geology in the School of Earth Sciences at Bristol University and his research has been highly influential in the field of volcanology and petrology. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1988, was awarded a CBE in 2012 for services to environmental sciences and became a Knight Bachelor in 2018 for services to geology. His research has been recognised by several awards including the 2015 Vetlesen Prize and the 2018 Royal Medal. He has served as President of the Geological Society of London (1994-196) and the International Association of Volcanology (1999-2003).

This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Sir Stephen had declared no such activity.

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Jalalabad Association (1012090) to look into concerns over potential mismanagement in the administration of the charity.

The charity, whose objects include the advancement of the religion of Islam throughout the Hereford and Worcester area, was previously included in a class statutory inquiry after failing to fulfil its statutory duty to submit its necessary financial information to the Commission for 5 consecutive years.

As part of the class inquiry the Commission made an order under section 84 of the Charities Act compelling the trustees to provide, within a specified time frame, the outstanding information and to undertake a review, implementing changes to the charity’s procedures and practices around the preparation and submission of financial information. The trustees failed to comply with this order, but eventually submitted a set of accounts and a trustees’ report for the financial year ending 31 March 2013, 1735 days late.

The trustees continue to be in default of their statutory duty to file annual returns and accounts with the Commission, with information for the years 2012 and 2014 – 2017 still outstanding.

As a result of the trustees’ continued non-compliance, the Commission opened a separate statutory inquiry into the charity on 12 December 2018 to examine the following regulatory issues:

• the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of their administration, governance and management of the charity, and in particular:
  • the extent to which a properly appointed board of trustees is exercising proper and adequate oversight over the charity’s affairs
  • the charity’s financial management, include its financial controls
  • its compliance with legal obligations for the preparation and filing of the charity’s accounts and other information and returns
• the extent to which the trustees have complied with previously issued regulatory guidance and the order made under section 84 of the Charities Act in the previous inquiry

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.

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. 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.
2. Section 84 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to direct specified action by trustees where it is satisfied that misconduct or mismanagement has occurred or there is a need to protect the charity’s property.
3. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work see the about us page on GOV.UK.
4. Search for charities on our check charity tool.

An emergency exercise will take place at Dounreay on the morning of Thursday 17 January. The site alert will be sounded to initiate the exercise.

This notice is to inform the public not to take any action on hearing the alarm.

Any queries relating to this notice should be made to the emergency arrangements team on 01847 802535.

The Chairman of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority, Vic Emery OBE, is delighted to announce the appointment of the new Chief Constable.

Deputy Chief Constable Simon Chesterman will take over the role of Chief Constable from Mike Griffiths in April 2019.

Vic Emery said: “The recruitment process for the new Chief Constable over the last few months has been very competitive with over 20 candidates applying. As part of the recruitment for this Executive appointment we held an employee staff panel for the first time for the five shortlisted candidates and I’d like to publicly thank those officers and staff who helped in this process.

“DCC Chesterman has a wealth of strategic and operational policing experience that I believe will be core to meeting the future challenges the CNC will face. I’m looking forward to working closer with him and know he shares my ambition to make the constabulary recognised nationally and internationally as the leading organisation for armed protective security.

“He takes over from Chief Constable Mike Griffiths in April 2019 and I thank him again for his dedicated service of leading the Constabulary for the last 7 years. He continues to see us through unprecedented change and growth.”

DCC Simon Chesterman said: “I am honoured to have been selected to lead the CNC as the next Chief Constable and humbled by the support people have given me. The CNC is pivotal in delivering national security and protecting the public and I am looking forward to working with officers, staff, the Police Authority and our partners to shape our future and lead the force forward. In the meantime, my focus remains on supporting Chief Constable Mike Griffiths.”

Chief Constable Mike Griffiths said: “I am delighted to be handing this rewarding role to someone who knows the Constabulary and our diverse partners so well.

“Simon has a wealth of experience both in terms of understanding the challenges faced by counter terrorism policing and an inclusive approach to partnership working. Simon is well liked and respected throughout the wider policing community and his appointment will ensure a smooth transition for the force.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the CNC, and I remain fully committed to leading this great organisation until my departure in March. We all have a very important role within counter terrorism policing and the civil nuclear industry to deliver and during the next few months that is my focus.”

Simon has almost 35 years’ operational policing experience. He joined Thames Valley Police in 1984 and transferred to West Mercia Police as an ACC in 2007 having successfully completed the Strategic Command Course. He became West Mercia’s Deputy Chief Constable in 2011 and then transferred to the CNC in 2014.

In 2008 Simon was selected as the NPCC lead for Armed Policing, a portfolio he still leads. He is an experienced specialist firearms commander and is part of the UK’s chief officer CT Command cadre. He was awarded the Queens Police Medal in the 2012 New Year’s Honours list, for distinguished service.

The UK’s creative industries are continuing to grow in the Japanese market, statistics reveal.

From Beauty and the Beast and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them topping the Japanese box office, to music releases from UK exports Adele and Ed Sheeran flying high, the love affair that the Japanese have for the UK’s creative industries shows no sign of letting up.

As the UK welcomes Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week, the government has praised the work that our thriving creative industries sectors produce, making it such a positive global export.

Across film, music and video games the UK and Japan share a huge common interest. In 2016 Japan accounted for £325 million of the UK creative industry service exports, up from £226 million in 2015. These are any services that are exported including advertising and marketing.

Creative Industry export goods, which includes things like handbags, printed books, paintings and sculptures, to Japan in 2016 were also worth £155 million, which was up from £146 million the year before.

Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries Margot James said:

The UK’s creative and cultural output is one of our biggest exports and the Japanese market continues to love what we have to offer.

From seeing our latest blockbusters on screen, to listening to rip roaring live music acts and playing our latest video games – it’s clear that creative industries love affair between Japan and the UK continues.

And that affection is shown in the UK too, with over £100 million of creative industry goods imported into our shores every year. I look forward to seeing this partnership continue to grow for many years to come.

In 2017 the box office take for UK films shown in Japan was $424.3 million. Two British films Beauty and the Beast and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them topped the charts with 9.5 million and 5.6 million admissions respectively.

Japan’s love of UK music continues to be a success with UK labels earning an estimated £18.5 million from Japan in 2017. It was 5th largest marker in terms of UK revenues behind the USA, Germany, France and Australia. The biggest selling album by a British act was Divide by Ed Sheeran.

The UK’s video games industry also has strong links with Japan with UK benefitting from major investment by leading companies including SEGA and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The UK game Overcooked 2 developed by Ghost Town Games and published by Team17 in Wakefield is also proving popular in Japan as it was voted the most recommended game by Nintendo Switch players last August.