Moyes’ disqualification follows an investigation by the Insolvency Service into Glasgow-based Professional Pre Season Tours Limited, which ceased trading in April 2014.

The company had been involved in arranging pre-season tours for various football clubs, including Everton, Chelsea, Liverpool, Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Norwich City, Aberdeen, Hibernian and Celtic.

The investigation found that Moyes transferred over £300,000 from the company to himself as a ‘bonus payment’ shortly before the company stopped trading. However according to the company accounts, no money was actually transferred, although it allowed him to claim a loan account debt was settled. In reality, this money had already been withdrawn for his personal use.

Investigators established that he withdrew at least £420,400 in cash from the company while it was trading, but failed to declare the full amount.

Because the fictitious transfer resulted in a nominal asset of the company being turned into a liability, it was unable to pay its obligations to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in terms of PAYE and National Insurance contributions. At liquidation it owed £271,180 to creditors, of which all but £4,067 of which was to HMRC.

Commenting on the disqualification, Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

This is a simple case of a director trying to avoid repaying their loans to a company and avoiding their proper tax payments. It was a cynical attempt to maintain personal wealth, with the consequence of depriving the public of tax receipts, and he abused the privileges and benefits of limited liability trading.

Kenneth Moyes also kept HMRC in the dark by not filing all returns on time, including partially paying VAT assessments at a sufficient level to avoid attracting priority attention.

Taking action against him is a warning to all directors that such behaviour will result in a very significant sanction, with a personal consequence. A limited company Is not a personal piggy bank for directors.

On 18 July 2017, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Kenneth Moyes. The disqualification commenced on 8 September 2017.

Notes to editors

Professional Pre Season Tours Ltd (CRO SC311860) was incorporated on 14 November 2006. Its registered office was c/o McLay, McAlister & McGibbon LLP, First Floor, 145 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, Strathclyde, G2 5JF. It traded from 15 North Claremont Street, Glasgow, G3 7NR

Professional Pre Season Tours (PPST) Ltd was placed into liquidation on 8 October 2014 with Donald McKinnon of Wylie & Bisset, 168 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4TP appointed sole liquidator.

Kenneth Moyes is of Glasgow and his date of birth is February 1968.

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.

The Insolvency Service investigation established that:

• In the annual accounts for PPST for the year ended 31 December 2012 Mr Moyes had an outstanding director loan due to PPST of £172,597 which was repayable by 30th September 2013.
• Mr Moyes declared remuneration, reflected in p60 returns to HMRC and PPST’s accounts, for the six years from incorporation to April 2013, totalled £90,464
• On 26 March 2014, shortly before PPST ceased trading in April 2014, a “bonus payment” of £329,936.02 was recorded (including in a pay slip) as being made to Mr Moyes. No moneys were transferred.
• Mr Moyes received at least £420,400 in cash from PPST during its trading, of which only £90,464 had been declared to HMRC for taxation purposes prior to 26 March 2014.
• The “Bonus Payment” extinguished, on paper, the director’s loan account previously shown and created a liability of PAYE & NIC to HMRC of at least £203,022.24. This tax debt remained due and outstanding at liquidation.
• PPST did not comply with its statutory obligations to HMRC resulting in £271,180 being due in relation to PAYE/NIC (accrued from 2009/10), Corporation Tax accrued from December 2012) and VAT accruing for 18 consecutive partially paid assessments from 2010, whilst non-HMRC creditors totalled £4,068.14

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. Media enquiries

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I am delighted that we have won this appeal. Ofsted’s job is to make sure that all schools properly prepare children for life in modern Britain. Educational institutions should never treat pupils less favourably because of their sex, or for any other reason.

The school is teaching boys and girls entirely separately, making them walk down separate corridors, and keeping them apart at all times. This is discrimination and is wrong. It places these boys and girls at a disadvantage for life beyond the classroom and the workplace, and fails to prepare them for life in modern Britain.

This case involves issues of real public interest, and has significant implications for gender equality, Ofsted, government, and the wider education sector. We will be considering the ruling carefully to understand how this will affect future inspections.

A12 Resurfacing, road markings, safety improvements, safety barrier repairs, traffic signals, bridge repairs, safety improvements November 2017 – March 2018 A120 Slip road improvements, bridge refurbishment, signage improvements, safety improvements, lighting renewal, carriageway repairs, resurfacing November 2017 – March 2018 A47 Bridge repairs, safety improvements, road markings, safety improvements, pedestrian warning signs, traffic signals, layby resurfacing, weather station renewal Ongoing, completion by March 2018 M11 Resurfacing, drainage works, embankment repairs, barrier repairs, sign replacement Ongoing, completion by November 2017 A14 (Suffolk) Weather station relocation, signage improvements, safety improvements, lighting renewal, bridge repairs, concrete carriageway repairs, resurfacing Ongoing, completion by March 2018 A14 (Cambs) Resurfacing, bridge repairs, road markings and fencing October 2017 – March 2018 A428 Signs and road markings safety improvements January 2018 A1 / A1(M) Signs and road markings, resurfacing, safety improvements, bridge repairs, weather station upgrade, electrical repairs, drainage repairs, technology improvements, upgrading street lighting to LED, vegetation removal, landscape improvements Ongoing, completion by March 2018 M1 Resurfacing, bridge repairs, road markings, technology improvements, electrical repairs, upgrading street lighting to LED November 2017 to March 2018 A421 Signs and road markings, electrical repairs, safety improvements October 2017 A5 Signs and road markings, weather station upgrade, upgrading street lighting to LED, traffic signal improvements October 2017 to March 2017 M40 Noise barrier installation at seven sites along the M40; technology renewal at three locations in Buckinghamshire January 2018 – March 2018

A new era of marine science is set to become a reality, with planning permission granted to the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) to redevelop its headquarters site in Lowestoft. The proposals will invest £16m to create a leading centre for applied science by building a new and modern office facility and by refurbishing exiting laboratory facilities.

The project will provide Cefas and Defra with significant running cost savings, greatly enhanced scientific collaboration and innovation workspace and improved environmental performance. Refurbishment work is planned to start in November 2017 and the new office building is planned to commence in January 2018, once final partnership funding is in place. Morgan Sindall have been appointed contractors to lead the project works which are planned to complete by March 2019.

Fisheries Minister, George Eustice said: “Cefas has always been at the forefront of marine research and innovation, and I’m pleased this new centre is one step closer to reality. Once complete it will help bolster our research and understanding of sea life – solidifying our position as a world leader in marine science and a champion of sustainable fishing.”

Tom Karsten, Cefas Chief Executive said: “Since 1902, Cefas has been providing UK Government with scientific evidence and advice to support the fishing industry and to ensure the sustainable use of the marine environment.  I thank Defra, local Councillors and Planners for their commitment to these exciting proposals for our new Lowestoft Headquarters. This project represents a vital step in realising our vision for Cefas; to deliver world class science for the marine and freshwater environment.”  

Notes:

1. The Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) supports governments, businesses and society in the UK and internationally to ensure that seas and rivers are healthy and productive, thereby enabling food security and sustainable development. Cefas is the UK’s most diverse centre for applied marine and freshwater science. Starting as a small fisheries laboratory in Lowestoft in 1902, Cefas now employs 550 staff between the sites in Lowestoft and Weymouth, and our offices in English ports, Kuwait and Oman.

2. Cefas is an executive agency of the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) within the UK government. It provides ministers and government officials in the UK with impartial expert advice and evidence relating to marine and closely related environments and is a provider of UK statutory monitoring and inspection services, including national emergency response capabilities.

3. For more information contact: estates2020@cefas.co.uk or visit the Cefas Estates webpage.

The UK and Canadian Governments have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) relating to each nation’s ambitions for Digital Government.