Professor Dame Carol Black has been reappointed as Chair of the British Library

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The Secretary of State has reappointed Professor Dame Carol Black as Chair of the British Library for a second term of four years, commencing on 01 September 2022.

Professor Dame Carol Black is currently Chair of the British Library, the Centre for Ageing Better, and Think Ahead, the Government’s fast-stream training programme for Mental Health Social Workers. She co-chairs NHS England/Improvement’s Expert Advisory Group on Employee Health and Wellbeing.

She is a member of RAND Europe’s Council of Advisers, and of the Boards of the Institute for Employment Studies and UKActive. In 2022 she was appointed Independent Adviser to the Government on combating the misuse of drugs. In 2019 she completed a seven-year term as Principal of Newnham College in Cambridge University, where she was a Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

Dame Carol has completed four independent reviews for the UK Government: of the health of the working-age population in 2008, of sickness absence in Britain in 2011 as co-chair; of employment outcomes of addiction to drugs or alcohol, or obesity, in 2016; and on illicit drugs, demand, supply and treatment (Part I published in February 2020; Part 2 published on 8 July 2021).

Dame Carol is a past-President of the Royal College of Physicians, of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and past-Chair of the Nuffield Trust for health policy. The Centre she established at the Royal Free Hospital in London is internationally renowned for research and treatment of connective tissue diseases such as scleroderma. She has been a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.

The Chair of the British Library receives £35,180 per annum. This reappointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Dame Carol has declared no such activity.

Published 12 April 2022

Scottish Secretary responds to April Labour Market Statistics

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As the latest employment figures are published, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack says the resilience of the UK economy is benefitting every part of the country.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:

Today’s figures show how the resilience of the UK economy is benefitting every part of the country. While we should continue to keep a close eye on the jobs market, Scotland’s unemployment rate is now down to where it was in February 2020 and more people are in paid employment than before the pandemic.

As we level up opportunities right across the country, we’re taking steps to ensure everyone benefits from a thriving jobs market. Our Energy Security Strategy will help create over 40,000 more jobs in clean industries across the whole UK.

Through our extensive jobcentre network, we’re working to match people with jobs in the sectors that need them most and providing tailored support to help even more Scots back into employment.

Background

Figures from the ONS show Scotland’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 p.p. to 3.6 per cent over the quarter. The employment rate decreased slightly to 74.7 per cent between December and February 2022.

Published 12 April 2022

Fine wine investment scheme wound-up

Global Wine Exchange Limited has been wound up in the public interest in the High Court on 22 March 2022 before Deputy Judge Shaffer. The Official Receiver has been appointed Liquidator of the company.

The court heard that Global Wine Exchange offered members of the public the opportunity to invest in fine wines with the promise of significant returns.

The Insolvency Service, however, commenced confidential investigations into Global Wine Exchange’s activities after complaints were received.

Investigators uncovered that the company would cold-call potential clients, using high-pressure sales techniques. Several customers were vulnerable or elderly and one was reportedly suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Global Wine Exchange also targeted people who previously invested in a separate wine scheme with Management & Consulting Partners Unlimited, trading as the Bordeaux Wine Company, which had entered liquidation in August 2021.

Global Wine Exchange would tell former customers of the Bordeaux Wine Company that they could help recover their funds in return for a fee.

But returns were never made, and some customers reported they were asked to falsify records so Global Wine Exchange could make a false claim to the liquidator of Bordeaux Wine Company.

Further misconduct caused by the company included vague ownership certificates and customers often did not receive their wine or were misinformed where it was being stored. Two of the three bonded warehouses, in which the company claimed customers’ wines was stored, never had a contractual relationship with the company at any time.

Customers often paid more than the retail value of the wines and paid funds into a series of different bank accounts, including some of which were not in the company’s name.

Investigators have only been able to identify wine stock purchases of just over £770,000 compared with income of more than £1.9 million between January 2019 and March 2021.

Furthermore, investigators identified that during a 9-month period between July 2019 and May 2020, the company received more than £1 million in payments. But while close to £600,000 was paid out to the director and sales consultants, only £333,000 was used to purchase wine.

Edna.Okhiria, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

During our investigations, we found that the Global Wine Exchange carried out unscrupulous acts of misconduct. The company misled many investors, some who were elderly or vulnerable, who did not receive the high returns they were promised.

The courts have recognised the severity of Global Wine Exchange’s action and put a stop to anyone else becoming a victim of their investment scheme.

For questions about the liquidation, contact the Official Receiver: piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk.

GLOBAL WINE EXCHANGE LIMITED (Company Reg No 11312862)

The petition was presented under s124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 on 26 January 2022 at the High Court in London.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Information about how to complain about a live company.

Information about the work of the Insolvency Service.

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Protective security grant funding for Jewish institutions to continue

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The Home Office has announced it will continue to grant the Community Security Trust £14 million to help keep members of the Jewish community safe.

The Home Office has today (12 April) announced that it will continue to grant the Community Security Trust (CST) £14 million to help keep members of the Jewish community safe in their daily lives.

The Home Office has been supporting the Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors and helps protect British Jews against antisemitism, since 2015 following a series of terror attacks against Jewish targets across Europe.

The grant announced today will cover protective security for the next financial year at Jewish institutions, including synagogues and schools.

The Community Security Trust’s work to identify and report antisemitic crimes forms part of the government’s work in tackling antisemitism in the UK. In 2021, the CST recorded 2,255 anti-Jewish hate incidents nationwide, the highest annual total ever recorded.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

Antisemitic incidents are not just an attack on the Jewish community, but on everyone who believes in a free and open society – and won’t be tolerated in this country.

This funding will continue to help Jewish people practise their religion and way of life without fear of attack or persecution and I am grateful for the work that the Community Security Trust do in building and strengthening relations between British Jews and the rest of society.

British Jews, like all communities, must be able to live their lives without fear of verbal or physical attack. Only by working together can we ensure that hateful behaviour like antisemitism can be fully eliminated from our society.

Community Security Trust Chief Executive Mark Gardner said:

The grant will be welcomed by Britain’s Jewish communities, coming after record levels of antisemitism and a continuing threat of terrorism against Jews. As in previous years, CST will do everything we can to ensure the best use of the money, including the quality of the guarding provided.

The UK has a robust legislative framework to tackle hate crime and offenders will face the full force of the law, with over 10,000 cases prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service in the last year.

Published 12 April 2022

Families supported by £33 million to drive down parental conflict

The Reducing Parental Conflict programme – which funds councils across England to deliver evidence-based relationship support to parents in their communities – has helped thousands of families since 2018.

The support was launched in response to research which shows that frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict between parents can significantly impact children’s mental health and long-term life chances, affecting their school grades, early emotional and social development, future relationships and employment.

This funding boost agreed by ministers comes as the programme’s third evaluation report is published. It details the positive effect of the support on family relationships and improvements in their children’s behaviour.

As part of the programme, parents can be taught techniques to de-escalate conflict, put aside their differences and communicate better for the benefit of their children.

The new funding will enable councils to train many more frontline staff who regularly come into contact with families facing conflict. This means that staff working in early years education, policing, schooling, and health and social care will be equipped to support parents, addressing conflict in families and improving children’s wellbeing.

DWP Lords Minister Baroness Stedman-Scott said:

We know frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict between parents is harmful to children. And we know how to help.

This £33 million investment builds on what we’ve started, supporting parents to deal with the root cause of their issues so they can move forward and offer their children a better chance at life.

For example, in Norfolk the council trains their workforce to understand the detrimental effects of parental conflict on children, helping them provide initial support and signpost parents to further interventions to help them resolve their differences constructively.

Meanwhile, Rochdale’s award-winning ‘Relationship Revolution’ brought the whole community together, including health, education and voluntary sectors, to tackle parental conflict. Their approach improved the lives of local families as well as those further afield as their work has been mirrored by other areas in England.

Other successful projects have included online relationship support and learning videos, counselling for parents, and toolkits for frontline services ensuring a standard of support is available across the country.

Professor Gordon Harold from Cambridge University who launched a landmark report in 2015 on the importance of reducing parental conflict, said:

The RPC programme aims to reduce the adverse impacts that parental conflict causes to children through the provision of new support for parents, training for family practitioners and better awareness, understanding and coordination of parental conflict related services delivered by local authorities and their partners; all with one core aim – to promote improved mental health outcomes for at-risk children and adolescents.

Cristina Odone, Head of Family Policy at The Centre for Social Justice said:

Unresolved parental conflict can spiral into violence and domestic abuse, affecting children’s mental health. The impact is felt long term.

More information

Frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict, below the threshold of domestic abuse, between parents, whether together or separated, can significantly impact children’s mental health and long-term life chances, affecting their school grades, early emotional and social development, future relationships and employment.
Children in families where both parents are workless are twice as likely to experience relationship distress than those where both parents are working. More information can be found here in the Parental conflict indicator 2011/12 to 2017/18 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Reducing Parental Conflict programme mostly focuses on disadvantaged families, where factors like both parents being out of work, can exacerbate conflict.
DWP is committing £33 million over 2022-25, with £11 million in 2022/3, to build on the progress of the Reducing Parental Conflict programme so far and enable local areas to train greater numbers of their workforces to address conflict in families locally.

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