In the years since Black Arrow, the UK has become one of the world’s leading satellite manufacturers, providing technology that helps the world communicate, keeps people safe and monitors the environment.

The government wants to establish a new UK launch capability on a commercial footing, with a number of potential spaceports across the country and new launch operators developing the capability to take small satellites into orbit from UK soil.

Emma Floyd, Director of Commercial Spaceflight at the UK Space Agency, said:

Our aim is to establish commercial vertical and horizontal satellite launch from UK spaceports – providing world-leading capability, bringing new markets to the UK and inspiring the next generation of British space scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs.

Black Arrow is an important part of the UK’s space heritage, and it is great to be able to recognise the achievements of the past, as we look to the future.

The UK Space Agency is partnering with Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) and British rocket launch provider Skyrora to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Arrow launch and the current success of the UK space sector. Skyrora brought the first stage of Black Arrow R3 back to the UK from Australia two years ago and has lent it to the FAST Museum where it will be on display from today for the next three years.

About Black Arrow

Black Arrow is of great historical and technical importance playing a pioneering role during the late 1960s and early 1970s in placing the first British designed and built space satellite into Earth orbit. The programme grew from earlier UK space research and development programmes undertaken by the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough, which included designing and building in conjunction with industry, a series of launch vehicles and their rocket engines, along with all the associated ground-based infrastructure, including assembly and test facilities in the UK and a launch complex with control and range facilities at Woomera, Australia.

The intention was to see if a rocket, capable of launching satellites into space, could be developed from existing technologies, for example HTP/kerosene powered engines developed in experimental British submarines and torpedoes.

The Black Arrow programme developed four rockets between 1969 and 1971. Black Arrow was a three-stage rocket, thirteen metres tall, with a single eight-chambered engine in its first stage. The third stage for Black Arrow was a solid rocket motor manufactured by RPE Westcott. The first stage of Black Arrow R3, the surviving launcher that was used to place the Prospero satellite into orbit in 1971, has been brought back to the UK by Skyrora and is now on public display at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum, close to the original programme birthplace, the RAE Space Department.

The probe by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into the supply of nortriptyline, a drug relied on by thousands of patients every day to relieve symptoms of depression, has resulted in fines totalling more than £3.4 million, and a payment of £1 million directly to the NHS. It has also led to the disqualification of a company director.

This investigation exposed two breaches of competition law:

Market sharing

The CMA found that, rather than competing, King Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Auden Mckenzie (Pharma Division) Ltd shared out between them the supply of nortriptyline to a large pharmaceutical wholesaler. From September 2014 to May 2015, the 2 companies agreed that King would supply only 25mg and Auden Mckenzie only 10mg tablets. The 2 firms also colluded to fix quantities and prices.

King and Auden Mckenzie have now admitted breaking the law. After this market sharing ended, Accord-UK Ltd took control of Auden Mckenzie’s nortriptyline business, and so the CMA holds it responsible for Auden’s illegal conduct.

As a result, the CMA has fined King and Accord-UK £75,573 and £1,882,238 respectively. On top of this, Accord-UK and Auden Mckenzie have agreed to make a £1 million payment to the NHS in connection with the case. It is the second time the CMA has secured a payment to the NHS following one of its pharmaceutical investigations.

Information exchange

The CMA is also fining King, Lexon (UK) Ltd and Alissa Healthcare Research Ltd for illegally sharing commercially sensitive information, to try to keep nortriptyline prices up. Between 2015 and 2017, when the cost of the drug was falling, the 3 suppliers exchanged information about prices, the volumes they were supplying, and Alissa’s plans to enter the market.

In September 2019, King and Alissa both admitted to breaking the law, and they are today being fined £75,573 and £174,912 respectively. Lexon did not admit to breaking the law and is being fined a total of £1,220,383 million.

Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive at the CMA, said:

“These firms exchanged sensitive information and shared out supply to try and keep prices up, meaning the NHS – and ultimately the UK taxpayer – could have been paying over the odds for this vital drug.

“That’s why we’ve worked hard to secure £3.4 million in fines and another pay out for the NHS.

“Today’s decisions should act as a clear warning to any pharmaceutical company that considers stifling competition and cheating the NHS.”

Director disqualification

The CMA has also secured the disqualification of Dr Philip Hallwood, a director at King and the sole director of consultancy firm Praze.

Praze conducted King’s corporate and commercial services during the illegal activity and took part in this alongside King.

After King and Praze admitted to their involvement, Dr Hallwood signed a legally binding undertaking which disqualifies him as director of both companies. This means he cannot be involved in the management of any UK company for 7 years.

The CMA is also considering the possible disqualification of other directors. Any updates to this investigation will be made on the CMA’s dedicated web pages.

Today’s announcement follows the CMA’s recent launch of its ‘Cheating or Competing?’ campaign, which reminds companies that it’s their business to know which practices are illegal. It also explains why certain practices, like market sharing, are illegal and should be reported, and urges people to come forward if they have information.

Notes to editors:

All the information available on this case can be found on the CMA’s dedicated webpages:

The CMA has addressed its decision that King and Auden Mckenzie had engaged in illegal market sharing to the following companies: Auden Mckenzie (Pharma Division) Ltd, Auden Mckenzie Holdings Ltd, Accord-UK Ltd, King Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Praze Consultants Ltd.

The decision is addressed to Accord-UK Ltd (formerly named Actavis UK Ltd) because the CMA has found it was the economic successor of the nortriptyline business of Auden Mckenzie (Pharma Division) Ltd and should therefore be held liable for that company’s direct involvement in the infringement.

The CMA has addressed its decision that Alissa, King and Lexon engaged in the illegal sharing of commercially sensitive information to the following companies: King Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Praze Consultants Ltd, Lexon (UK) Ltd and Alissa Healthcare Research Ltd. Alissa and King admitted to the infringement in September 2019. Lexon contested the infringement.

Both decisions have also been addressed to Praze because King and Praze formed a single economic unit. Praze is a consultancy which conducted King’s corporate and commercial services during the period of both infringements, and directly participated in the infringements along with King.

The CMA’s provisional findings in its investigation into the supply of nortriptyline tablets were announced in June 2019. In September 2019, King and Alissa admitted to infringing competition law.

The Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 prohibits anti-competitive agreements and concerted practices between businesses which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the UK. Similarly, Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) prohibits anti-competitive agreements and concerted practices which may affect trade between EU member states.

The final fines in respect of the market sharing infringement were:

• £1,882,238 (Accord-UK)
• £75,573 (King)

Both companies were handed reduced fines as they admitted their involvement in the infringement.

The final fines in respect of the illegal sharing of commercially sensitive information were:

• £174,912 (Alissa)
• £75,573 (King)
• £1,220,383 (Lexon)

Alissa and King were handed reduced fines as they admitted their involvement in the infringement.

The penalties imposed on King in respect of both infringements would have been significantly higher, but were reduced to ensure that neither exceeded 10% of its worldwide turnover, which is the statutory maximum that the CMA can impose for an infringement of competition law.

The total payment of £1 million made by Auden Mckenzie and Accord-UK to the NHS will be allocated between the Department of Health and Social Care in England and the equivalent bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in accordance with the Barnett formula. The payment does not preclude the NHS from seeking further damages from the businesses involved in the infringement, if it considers doing so to be appropriate. The £1 million payment would however be offset against any further damages award.

Under the Company Directors Disqualification Act, the CMA has the power to apply to the court to disqualify a director from holding company directorships or performing certain roles in relation to a company for a specified period, if a company which he or she is a director of has breached competition law. The Act also allows the CMA to accept a disqualification undertaking from a director instead of bringing proceedings, which has the same legal effect as a disqualification order.

For more information on the CMA see our homepage or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and like our Facebook page. Sign up to our email alerts to receive updates on Competition Act 1998 and cartels cases.

Media enquiries should be directed to the CMA Press Office at press@cma.gov.uk or 020 3738 6460.

Drivers across the UK could soon be filling up their cars with a greener, lower emission fuel, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced today (4 March 2020).

The government is consulting on plans for E10, a lower carbon fuel made with up to 10% ethanol, to become the standard grade of petrol at UK filling stations from next year.

By increasing the ethanol content of petrol, E10 has the potential to cut CO2 from transport by 750,000 tonnes per year. That’s equivalent to taking around 350,000 cars off the road.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

The next 15 years will be absolutely crucial for slashing emissions from our roads, as we all start to feel the benefits of the transition to a zero-emission future.

But before electric cars become the norm, we want to take advantage of reduced CO2 emissions today. This small switch to petrol containing bioethanol at 10% will help drivers across country reduce the environmental impact of every journey. Overall this could equate to about 350,000 cars being taken off our roads entirely.

Current petrol grades in the UK already contain up to 5% bioethanol, known as E5. E10 would see this percentage increased up to 10%, a blend which is already well used in other countries such as Belgium, Finland, France and Germany.

Grant Pearson, Commercial Director of Ensus UK on Teesside, said:

“We welcome today’s announcement as the availability of E10 will instantly make petrol a lot cleaner, providing significant carbon reduction benefits to our environment on the long road to net-zero emissions by 2050. > > It is vitally important to protecting and potentially growing jobs in this industry, including many in the supply chain, and will bring tangible benefits to UK farmers and environmentally-conscious motorists.

The consultation follows the roll-out of new labels at filling stations across the UK which highlight the biofuel content of each fuel and help drivers to easily identify the right option for their vehicle.

Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of measures to support the decarbonisation of transport including funding for pioneering low carbon fuels, which are expected to save nearly 85 million tonnes of CO2 between 2018 and 2032.

As part of wider efforts to shift transport towards a greener future, the government has also pledged £5 billion to overhaul bus and cycle links, along with £50 million for Britain’s first all-electric bus town, paving the way for green communities of the future.

A new report by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel highlights that the safeguarding system needs to do more to protect teenagers and infants from abuse and neglect.

The independent panel of experts reviews serious child safeguarding incidents, when children have died or suffered serious harm, to learn how to improve the system.

Since the panel was established in July 2018, it’s received over 500 serious safeguarding notifications. Over 230 of these involved children who tragically died.

The panel’s annual report shows that teenagers and infants appear more at risk of serious harm in the context of abuse and neglect with almost 30 per cent of cases involving babies under 12 months old. While teenagers fall prey to harm from criminal gangs, babies are most often harmed or killed by parents or their partners.

At least half of all children who died or were seriously harmed were already identified as vulnerable. Despite that identification, the system was not able to prevent the death or serious incident. Weak risk assessment and poor decision making were identified as major themes within these cases.

That’s why the panel is asking for government departments to align current and enhanced investment and strategies for vulnerable children across health, education, policing and social care. This will help people who safeguard children to work together more effectively.

Karen Manners, on behalf of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, said:

Our panel reviews the most serious incidents of child abuse and neglect so we can learn how to improve the safeguarding system.

Our first annual report shows that babies and teenagers are most at risk of serious harm. And, while most safeguarding partners are successfully promoting children’s welfare, it’s hard for them to achieve the highest standards without more support.

Government must ensure investments to help vulnerable children are aligned, so everyone who works with children can provide the coordinated and consistent support every child deserves.

Acting on these findings, the panel’s first in-depth review looks at the significant number of notifications regarding teenagers coerced into knife crime, and drug trafficking, by criminal gangs.

The review titled, ‘It was hard to escape’, examines the lives of 21 teenagers from 17 areas across the country. It aims to understand if the services designed to keep young people safe from criminal exploitation are working.

The findings show:

• boys from black and ethnic minority backgrounds appear more vulnerable to being coerced into lives of crime
• moving children away from the local area isn’t an effective long-term solution to protect them from the reach of criminal gangs
• exclusion from mainstream school can escalate the risk of manipulation by criminal networks

The review also visited local areas developing innovative solutions to tackle criminal exploitation, such as Manchester’s Safeguarding Partnership. These pockets of emerging good practice demonstrate the need for more investment to replicate effective multi-agency interventions across the country.

The review ‘It was hard to escape’ makes the following recommendations for the Home Office, Department for Education, Department of Health and Ministry of Justice:

• funding trials of a new practice framework, which can respond to children at risk of serious harm from criminal exploitation

• reviewing the current Government guidance Working together to safeguard children, to ensure that it better reflects potential harm from criminal networks

• reviewing whether the National Referral Mechanism, which is used to protect children vulnerable to modern slavery, is an effective tool to help young people who are being criminally exploited

• collecting systematic data about children who are being criminally exploited so it’s possible to accurately assess the size of the problem

In addition to the in-depth review into the criminal exploitation of adolescents, the panel is undertaking further in-depth reviews into sudden unexpected deaths and non-accidental injuries of infants under one year old. These reviews will be published later this year.

Notes to editors

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel is an independent body that was set up to identify, commission and oversee reviews of serious child safeguarding cases. It brings together experts from social care, policing and health to provide a multi-agency view on cases which they believe raise issues that are complex, or of national importance.

Between July 2018 and December 2019, 538 cases of child abuse and neglect were notified to the panel:

• 244 involved children who died
• 144 (27%) involved the death or serious harm of a child under one year old due to non-accidental injury
• 220 (41%) identified weak risk assessment and poor decision making as a major practice theme
• 289 (54%) of cases were known to children’s social care

Further details are available in the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel 2018 to 2019 annual report.

‘It was hard to escape’, the review into safeguarding children at risk from criminal exploitation, focused on 21 children from 17 local areas who died or experienced serious harm, and whose cases were notified to the panel between July 2018 and March 2019.

The areas of developing practice visited were Manchester Complex Safeguarding Hub, Hackney, Lambeth and Southend. A round table was held with Bradford, Ealing, Camden, Hertfordshire, Islington, Kent, North East Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Sheffield and Wiltshire.

The panel is currently undertaking thematic reviews into the deaths of infants which will be published later this year.

This phase of the campaign focuses on the importance of washing your hands more often, especially:

• when you get to work or arrive home
• after you blow your nose, cough or sneeze
• before you eat or handle food

You should wash your hands for 20 seconds, using soap and water or hand sanitiser.

You should also cough or sneeze into tissues before binning them.

The campaign will appear in the print media, radio, online and in public places, including billboards.

It has been brought forward in response to the current global situation.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

The UK is a world-leader in preparing for and managing disease outbreaks and I have every confidence in our nation’s ability to respond to the threat of COVID-19.

We all have a role to play in stopping this disease and that’s what this expanded campaign is all about – making sure the public knows exactly what they should be doing to keep themselves and others safe. Washing hands regularly is the single most important thing that an individual can do.

Public safety remains our top priority. The government and the NHS are working 24/7 to fight this virus. It’s imperative that everyone follows clinical advice by contacting NHS 111, and not going to A&E if you develop symptoms.

The first phase of the campaign began in February 2020, in response to the rising number of confirmed cases of coronavirus globally and in the UK.

On 3 March the Prime Minister published a coronavirus action plan for the UK, which sets out plans for a range of situations.

Since January, public health teams and world-leading scientists have been working continuously on the coronavirus response.

The NHS, Public Health England (PHE) and local authority public health across the country are working hard to support everyone in need of advice, testing or treatment.

The government has been working with partners across the country to provide advice to the public, travellers coming into the country and those most at risk from COVID-19.

PHE has already got the results of more than 13,000 tests, and all but 51 have been negative. Latest figures are published daily.

Expert teams are actively tracing people who have come into contact with someone who is suspected to have the virus.

Unless someone has been contacted already or has travelled to an affected area, they do not need to take further action.