Tag Archives: HM Government

Following the meeting, Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field MP said:

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An Insolvency Service investigation found Mr McMonagle (48) had caused the company to trade in a manner which breached consumer protection legislation, causing a loss to customers in the region of £95,000.

On 21 January 2016, Marshalls of Kilmarnock, with liabilities of £544,309 was placed into compulsory liquidation following a winding up petition lodged by H M Revenue & Customs. Kevin McMonagle was the sole director of Marshalls of Kilmarnock Limited at that time.

Following the liquidator’s appointment, the investigation found that from 4 June 2014 onwards, Trading Standards received 36 complaints from customers which resulted in quantifiable losses to 17 customers of about £95,000.

The complaints related to:

• not paying or returning money owed to customers
• selling motor vehicles which were not of satisfactory quality
• omitting to transfer vehicles registration documents
• failing to pay off finance agreements of customers trading in their vehicles

On 4 December 2014, officers from Trading Standards met with Mr McMonagle to discuss their concerns regarding the level of complaints against the company. Following further complaints, Trading Standards applied to the Court for an enforcement order after Mr McMonagle stopped co-operating with them during March 2015.

On 15 April 2015, Kilmarnock Sheriff Court issued an interim enforcement order to prevent continued breaches and protect customers following which Mr McMonagle surrendered his licence to sell second hand cars on 28 April 2015. This caused the company to cease trading.

The undertaking that Mr McMonagle has now given to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy means he will not able to act as a director of a company for seven years from 26 June 2017.

Robert Clarke, Head of Company Investigation at the Insolvency Service said:

When directors of a company do not comply with legislation that is designed to protect customers, and avoidable losses result, 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 thanks to Mr McMonagle’s disregard of protective legislation and it is appropriate that their disqualification is for a significant period of time.

This ban should serve as a reminder to any directors tempted to do the same: the Insolvency Service will vigorously investigate you and seek to remove you from the marketplace.

Notes to editors

Marshalls of Kilmarnock Limited (CRO No.SC479229) went into compulsory liquidation on 21 January 2016 with a deficiency to creditors of £544,309. The company was incorporated to sell second hand cars.

Kevin Vincent McMonagle’s date of birth is 24 April 1969.

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, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures. Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

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British troops are supporting the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and Sir Michael Fallon has confirmed that the Bentiu-based medical facility is fully operational, and will support over 1,800 UN peacekeepers and UN staff. This will enable military and civilian staff to carry out the work of the UNMISS mission by providing vital infrastructure for a challenging operating environment.

Construction of the hospital came at the request of the UN, and was assessed as one of the best ways UK expertise could support delivery of the UNMISS mandate. The UNMISS role in South Sudan is to protect civilians, create the conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian aid, and support the peace process and Human Rights.

Following a commitment made in 2015 by the then Prime Minister to double the UK’s commitment to global peacekeeping initiatives, nearly 400 UK military personnel are supporting UN efforts in South Sudan, making this one of the UK’s largest operational deployments in the world.

The temporary hospital will be staffed by personnel from all three services, and will be replaced by a permanent field hospital built by Royal Engineers.

The British military contingent is also providing engineering support to the UN mission in both Bentiu and Malakal, including projects like the construction of a jetty on the River Nile, helicopter landing sites, and other infrastructure improvements.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said:

The British-built temporary field hospital in South Sudan is now fully operational, and will support the UN’s efforts protecting civilians and promoting stability in this conflict affected country.

UK troops have a proud record of delivering peace and security across the globe and are making an important contribution to a country where millions of people have been left starving and displaced.

This is one of our largest operational deployments, which clearly demonstrates Global Britain’s continued commitment to United Nations peacekeeping and development and security in Africa.

The field hospital will be run by over 75 medical staff, including specialists in fields such as infectious diseases, intensive care and surgery.

Its facilities include:

• An emergency department
• A surgical theatre
• A laboratory
• An x-ray and head CT scanner
• An aero-medical evacuation team
• Wards including isolation facility

Commander Medical Lt Col Michael Hepburn said:

We are delighted to be able to declare the Hospital open. Our team feel honoured to be able to contribute to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and hope that we can make a positive difference to enable our UNMISS partners to fulfil their UN roles.

In addition to engineering and medical support, the UK also has a small number of staff officers in the UNMISS’ Juba headquarters.

Alongside the UK-hosted Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial meeting in London in September, these contributions underline the UK’s leading role in support to peacekeeping operations. More widely, the UK government is committing funding and support to tackle the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, with £100 million provided this year to provide food for over 500,000 people, safe drinking water for over 300,000 people, emergency health services for over 100,000 people and support for 650,000 people to build their livelihoods.

British military personnel and UNMISS representatives hosted an event to mark the opening of the hospital. Delegates included Commander Medical Lt Col Michael Hepburn, HM Ambassador Alison Blackburne, Head of the Department for International Development’s South Sudan office Becks Buckingham, Head of Field Office Hiroko Hirahara, UNMISS Chief Medical Officer Dr Iqbal Mohd, Force Chief of Staff Brigadier Robbie Boyd OBE and Commander Operation TRENTON Lt Col Jason Ainley.

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Today’s announcement confirms that some smaller jobcentres will merge with larger ones, and others will be co-located with local government premises. It will mean that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will be able to offer a more efficient service, while delivering good value for the taxpayer and saving over £140 million a year for the next 10 years.

The support provided to jobseekers will be further strengthened this year as more work coaches are recruited in every nation and region of the UK.

The plans reflect the fact that eight out of ten claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance and 99% of applications for Universal Credit full service claims are now made online. This means that DWP buildings are used much less with 20% of the estate currently underutilised.

Jobcentres and benefit centres are covered by Public Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts which are now coming to an end. In the 20 years since these contracts were signed, the welfare system has undergone large-scale reform.

Since 2010, around 3 million more people are in work, youth unemployment has fallen by 375,000, the employment rate is at a record high and unemployment is at the lowest level since 1975.

Damian Hinds, Minster for Employment said:

We will always make sure that people have the support they need to get into and progress within work. These changes reflect the fact that more people access their benefits online resulting in many of our buildings being underused.

We’re merging some offices and locating other jobcentres with local authorities to make sure that the welfare state and our employment support works for those who need it and those who pay for it.

Today’s announcements confirm that DWP plan to:

• merge 68 smaller jobcentres into larger or underused ones nearby
• move 4 jobcentres to new sites where we have secured better new premises
• co-locate around an additional 40 jobcentres with local authorities or other community services to provide joined-up services for the local community with all services in one place
• move to a network of larger more efficient corporate and back office buildings, opening a new corporate site and 5 new large service centres across the country, in a phased approach starting in 2018 and closing 26 processing or corporate sites
• close 4 offices where the building is no longer used and standing empty
• retain almost 800 offices
• re-organise the corporate centre to make maximum use of 7 regional corporate hubs (in 6 cities), including establishing a new office in central Manchester

The planned changes have been made in consultation with staff taking into account the impact on benefit claimants and DWP staff. The majority of staff will remain in their current offices. Where staff need to move office, most moves are within a short distance but if this is not the case alternative job roles will be offered wherever possible.

Initial plans to reform the DWP estate were published on 26 January 2017.

It was announced that our tenancies would be renegotiated in the 2015 Spending Review

DWP currently uses over 900 buildings around the UK – all of them leased from a range of landlords. The DWP estate covers around 1.5 million square metres across the country, of which 300,000 square metres is under-utilised.

The expiry of the PRIME contract provides DWP with the opportunity to review which offices we need, leaving those that we no longer need at commercially advantageous terms and having the opportunity to negotiate better deals on those we want to use in future.

The savings of over £140 million a year for the next 10 years will be made by a combination of a smaller estate, rent set to market levels, a new service delivery model and maximising space usage.

Where practical, we are co-locating with local authorities in their buildings. These arrangements bring benefits for the department, claimants and the taxpayer. More of the services that customers use are in one place which means that claimants have access a greater breadth of expertise.

In the areas that underwent public consultation and a jobcentre is merging with another, an outreach service will be put in place within the local community to ensure people can access support to get into employment. Vulnerable people will continue to receive home visits and postal claims where it is appropriate to do so.

The majority of staff will remain in their current offices with others moving to another DWP site nearby. There may be some redundancies: but we expect these numbers will be around 750 people (less than 1% of our overall staff numbers) and the majority of these will be covered by our voluntary redundancy scheme.

This programme is about reducing under-used space, not reducing staff numbers. The figures take account of 13 sites which are currently still under commercial negotiations and for which we are unable to announce at this point.

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The update came at Highways England’s Stanford motorway depot, where the government owned company unveiled one of 29 new electronic signs that are being installed along the road in the coming weeks and will enable the speed limit on the road to be raised from 40mph to the national speed limit.

To allow the national speed limit to be re-instated ahead of the summer holiday period, temporary rotating signs will be installed while work continues to install the permanent electronic signs.

One of the new 29 electronic signs being installed on the A20 unveiled at Stanford depot

Highways England Regional Director Simon Jones said:

We know that restoring the national speed limit on the A20 is a priority for the many thousands of commuters, hauliers, holidaymakers and local people who depend on this vital road every day, and we are working hard to make it happen. Since we started construction in May we have already laid 7 miles of cabling and dug 25 trenches under the A20. Now it is time to install these new signs and get them working, and we are grateful to people for their patience. While this work continues, we are installing temporary rotating signs to allow the national speed limit to be re-instated ahead of the summer holiday period.

Since April 2015, traffic lights have been in place at the end of the A20 dual carriageway near Dover as part of a trial to help manage peak periods of traffic arriving at the port, with a 40mph speed limit in place for safety. The trial has been successful in reducing congestion in Dover town centre and has also had a positive effect on air quality in the town.

The lights have been used over 200 times to keep traffic flowing through Dover town centre.

Now, the arrangement is being made permanent, and new electronic signs are being installed along the A20 to enable the national speed limit to be restored along the road when the traffic lights are not being used.

In total, 29 new electronic signs are being installed, supported by 10 miles of ducting and over 7 miles of cabling have been installed to support the new signs. In addition, 3 weather stations are being added as well as 4 fog signs to enhance the information provided to drivers.

Barbara Buczek, Port of Dover Director of Corporate Development, said:

The A20 Dover approach is a crucial artery that gives British businesses, consumers and holidaymakers access to international markets, goods and destinations through one of Europe’s busiest ports. “Being able to hold lorries on the A20 during peak traffic periods helped facilitate UK trade worth £119billion last year, while keeping around 2.4million tourist cars and coaches on the move. It also helped to keep central Dover free flowing.

Highways England’s latest work will not only ensure the long term use of this national traffic asset, but will also enhance the travelling experience for millions of customers and local road users alike.

Moving from a temporary assessment to a permanent feature required additional environmental assessments to be carried out by Highways England before work could start. With construction now underway, Highways England expects the new signs to be up and running later this summer.

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