Tag Archives: HM Government

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News story: CMA clears festivals merger

This follows a ‘phase 1’ investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into the deal.

As part of its examination, the CMA sought the views of a number of sector experts, including other organisers of live music events and industry bodies, as well as festival goers. A survey was sent to several thousand customers of the Isle of Wight festival to gain insight into what drives their choice between different festivals (or other activities, such as going to a concert or on holiday).

The evidence collected indicates that the Isle of Wight festival and Live Nation’s existing festivals were not competing particularly closely for customers. After the merger, people will continue to be able to choose between festivals owned by Live Nation and a variety of competing festivals. The fact that festival goers also choose between going to a festival and other activities will also ensure that Live Nation continues to face sufficient competition.

Following concerns raised by third parties, the CMA also investigated whether the merger would enable Live Nation to stop rival organisers of live music events (both festivals and concerts) from being able to book the range and quality of artists that they need to provide a competitive proposition. However, the evidence indicates that the merger will not materially strengthen Live Nation’s position in booking artists, and that a sufficient range and quality of artists will continue to be available for rival organisers of live music events.

The merger will therefore not be referred for an in-depth phase 2 investigation.

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News story: Employment Appeal Tribunal: Changes to how the Insolvency Service calculates holiday pay payments

The Employment Appeal Tribunal decided that holiday pay should take into account commission if individuals were entitled to commission as part of their employment contract (called ‘contractual commission’).

This decision affects everyone who has ever applied for and received holiday pay from us.

If you have previously received holiday pay from the Insolvency Service you may be eligible for an additional payment related to the contractual commission you were owed by past employer.

This decision does not affect any other payments you received from the Insolvency Service.

If you applied for payment after 31 July 2011

You don’t need to do anything yet.

The Insolvency Service will soon be contacting you directly about how to apply for an additional payment if:

  • you applied for and received holiday pay from us from August 2011 onwards
  • you indicated on your application that you were entitled to contractual commission

If you applied for payment before 1 August 2011

You need to contact the Insolvency Service to apply for an additional payment if:

  • you applied for and received holiday pay from us before August 2011
  • you indicated on your application that you were entitled to contractual commission

In order for us to determine if you are eligible, we need some supporting evidence from you. So, when you contact us please include copies of the following documents:

  • Your contract of employment with your employer at the time (or other evidence relating to that contract)
  • Evidence of the commission you usually earned or evidence of the commission you earned in the 12 weeks prior to the date of insolvency

Without this evidence we will not be able to determine if you are eligible for an additional payment.

Who isn’t eligible

You are not eligible for an additional payment if:

  • we rejected your application for payment and you did not receive any money from the Insolvency Service.
  • you did not receive a payment for holiday pay from the Insolvency Service

Please do not contact us if either of the above applies to you or if you do not have the supporting documentation. We will be unable to re-assess your claim without this.

Contacting us

If you would like us to check whether you are eligible for an additional payment, please email or post us your documents 21 September 2017.

Email address: redundancy.payments@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Postal address:

The Insolvency Service
Redundancy Payments Service
PO Box 16685
Birmingham
B2 2LX

If you are unable to send us the necessary documents before 21 September 2017 please contact us as soon as possible to let us know on 0330 331 0020.

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Press release: New charity investigation: Fadak Media Broadcasts

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a new statutory inquiry into Fadak Media Broadcasts, registered charity number 1165143. The investigation was opened on 24 August 2017.

The charity has objects to advance the Islamic religion, to advance the education of the public in the Islamic religion, and to promote religious harmony.

On 4 August 2017 the Commission received a serious incident report from the charity in regards to suspicion of significant unauthorised payments from within the charity. The report has raised serious regulatory concerns about the management and administration of the charity, and whether the trustees have sufficient oversight of the charity’s finances.

An inquiry has therefore been opened to assess whether:

  • the trustees have exercised sufficient oversight and control of the charity’s assets and whether there is any ongoing risk to charitable assets

  • the trustees are capable of discharging their legal duties and responsibilities in relation to the financial and general governance of the charity, including oversight of the charity’s staff

  • there has been any misappropriation of the charity’s assets and if so whether it is in the interest of the charity to pursue restitution

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.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool

  1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
  2. Search for charities on our online charity search tool
  3. 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.
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News story: CMA launches market investigation into investment consultants

Investment consultants advise many pension funds on investment strategies, asset allocation and fund manager selection. As well as giving advice, some investment consultants also manage investments on behalf of the pension scheme (“fiduciary management”). A number of investment consultants also advise employers on the design of pensions and operate them via in-house “master trust” arrangements.

Following its recent market study into the asset management sector, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has concluded that it has reasonable grounds to suspect there are features of the sector which prevent, restrict or distort competition.

The FCA estimates that the 12 largest investment consultants advise on around £1.6 trillion of assets. They found:

  • signs that the buyers of investment consultancy may not be best placed to judge quality or value for money of the service they receive

  • evidence of the biggest firms holding a large share of the market

  • barriers to expansion restricting smaller, newer consultants from developing their business

  • some potential conflicts of interest relating to the other services offered by a number of firms

The FCA has now referred investment consultancy and fiduciary management services in the UK for examination by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA’s independent investigation will determine whether there are any adverse effects on competition in this sector. If any are found, it will decide whether – and if so, what – remedial action should be taken to address these.

During its investigation, the CMA will gather a large amount of information on the market, including running a bespoke market survey. It will engage with key participants and it will undertake significant economic analysis before coming to its conclusions.

Requests for information have today been sent to the main companies involved to allow this work to begin. An issues statement setting out the proposed focus of the investigation and potential remedies – in the event that an adverse effect on competition is found – will also be published shortly, and all responses to this will be welcomed.

Information on how any organisation or individual can submit their views, together with supporting evidence, to the CMA can be found on the case page.

The CMA will shortly appoint independent panel members to the Group and publish a timetable setting out a schedule for the various stages of the investigation. The appointed Group act as the decision makers and are chosen from the CMA’s panel members, who come from a variety of backgrounds, including economics, law, accountancy and/or business.

The CMA will conclude the investigation by March 2019.

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Press release: New liver disease atlas shows major variation across England

New data published by Public Health England (PHE) today (14 September 2017) shows a wide variation of premature mortality rates from liver disease across England.

Liver disease is almost entirely preventable with the major risk factors, alcohol, obesity and Hepatitis B and C, accounting for up to 90% of cases. The atlas will help health professionals to allocate their resources to improve patient outcomes.

The atlas shows premature mortality rates – dying before the age of 75 – ranged from 3.9 per 100,000 in South Norfolk clinical commissioning group (CCG) to 30.1 per 100,000 in Blackpool CCG, a 7.7 fold difference.

The atlas paints a mixed picture, with 10 indicators showing improvements including a reduction of premature deaths and fewer alcohol-specific hospital admissions for under 18s.

Nine of the indicators have become worse over time, including a doubling of hospital admission rates for cirrhosis from 54.8 per 100,000 to 108.4 per 100,000 people over the past decade. This indicator also varies significantly across the country with an 8.5 fold variation across CCGs and this gap has widened over the past decade.

Liver disease is responsible for almost 12% of deaths in men aged 40 to 49 years and is now the fourth most common cause of ‘years of life lost’ in people aged under 75, after heart disease and lung cancer.

Professor Julia Verne, Head of Clinical Epidemiology at PHE said:

Chronic liver disease is a silent killer of young adults, creeping up and showing itself when it’s often too late. However, around 90% of liver disease is preventable.

We hope local health professionals will make the most of this rich data source to inform how they reduce the burden of liver disease in their areas.

The atlas also lays bare the impact of the stark health inequalities in England. Inequality plays a role in the significant variation in risk factors of liver disease – excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, and hepatitis B and C.

For example, there is a 7.4 fold difference in the rate of alcohol-specific hospital admissions across the country, with the majority of the higher rates being clustered in the more deprived areas. Also, in the most deprived fifth of the country, people with liver disease die 9 years earlier than those in the most affluent fifth.

These data will underline the importance of developing a strategy to tackle the rising burden of liver disease, especially in younger adults and even children. Liver disease can take 20 years to show up as symptoms.

The atlas is made up of 39 indicators, 19 of which show trend data over time. It shows the degree of variation across the country, a national figure for comparison and commentary providing options for action and a list of evidence based resources for local health systems to improve.

For further information contact PHE:

Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. It does this through world-class science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and the delivery of specialist public health services. PHE is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health. Follow us on Twitter: @PHE_uk and Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland.

The 2nd Atlas of Variation in risk factors and healthcare for liver disease in England will be published on the PHE fingertips website.

The 2nd Atlas of Variation in risk factors and healthcare for liver disease in England has been prepared in partnership with a wide range of organisations:

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