A man with a history of dwelling house burglaries has today had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, referred it for being too low.

Damien Davies, 39, burgled a Bridgend home while the owners were sleeping. He stole £1,300 in cash as well as a purse containing a passport and 2 bank cards, one of which he used to make a number of contactless purchases the next day. When he was arrested, Davies was also found to be in possession of a small quantity of a class A drug.

Davies was originally sentenced in October 2018 to 2 years 4 months and 26 days in prison at Cardiff Crown Court. The Court of Appeal has today increased his sentence to 3 years and 4 months in prison.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said:

“Having your home burgled is not only a crime against property, but a crime against the person. I hope that Davies will spend the extra time in prison reflecting on the actions he took and the impact they had on his victims.”

As Britain’s best cyclists head for the National Track Cycling Championships in Manchester later this week, an analysis of recent data from HMRC reveals that exports of bicycles made in Britain are at a record high.

Asia accounts for some of the fastest growing demand, with figures showing that in the year to November 2018, bicycle exports to China rose by 109%, to Taiwan by 200% and to Malaysia by an incredible 724%. In total, bicycle exports to Asia and Oceania rose to a value of £10.8m in the same period.

The United States also remains a core market for the two wheeled goods. Exports in the year to November 2018 were worth £5.1m, a 7.8% increase since the same period 5 years ago.

Minister of State at the Department for International Trade, Baroness Fairhead, said:

It’s fantastic to see that recent successes for British cycling on the road and track are translating into economic benefits, as we export both our passion for cycling and our manufacturing excellence overseas.

The world increasingly looks to Britain for expertise in the cycling industry, whether in competitive racing, recreational pursuits or the daily commute to work. These latest figures show how high-quality British manufacturing is in demand, not just in traditional markets, but further afield in the likes of China, Taiwan and Malaysia.

One British manufacturer leading the pack is Pashley, who have been crafting bespoke hand-made bicycles from their factory in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1926. Pashley now exports to over 45 countries, and here in the UK provides the renowned city hire bikes in London and Edinburgh.

The company recently took their brand to a truly global audience when they supplied the production company for Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns with 36 of their black Roadster bicycles, which are ridden by lamplighters, who take the place of the dancing chimney sweeps in the original movie.

Adrian Williams, Managing Director at Pashley, said demand for his company’s bikes was growing around the world:

Despite great changes in the bicycle manufacturing industry since Pashley’s inception, we have continued to focus on doing what we do best – designing and making quality hand-built bicycles for business and consumer use.

Our product is design led, hand-built and authentically British, making it particularly attractive to a growing overseas market. We currently provide cycles for both business and consumer markets in over 45 countries worldwide, including New Zealand, China, Finland and Denmark.

Global demand for UK goods and services continues to grow, with exports in the year to November 2018 increasing to £630 billion. The number of exporting businesses is also rising, with a 1.5% increase to 110,000 in the third quarter of 2018 compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

The Department for International Trade estimates that 400,000 businesses believe they could export but don’t, while demand for British expertise and goods overseas is only growing.

In 2018, the UK Government launched its Export Strategy, an ambitious plan developed in collaboration with UK businesses, to set a new ambition to increase exports as a proportion of UK GDP to 35%.

Recent analysis reveals that exports of bicycles made in the UK are at a record high.

OPSS has grown rapidly, creating dedicated national capacity for product safety while taking forward work on supporting small business growth and implementing the Industrial Strategy vision of simplifying regulation.

Its Local Regulatory Delivery team has been busy driving Better Business for All, which brings together businesses and regulators, creating partnerships to identify issues facing local businesses and find ways to support them. A good example of how business is benefiting is Lynher Dairies Cheese Company in Cornwall, which received support to pass food inspections by US regulators to be able to export to the USA.

In March 2018, OPSS made the Code of Practice on Product Recalls (PAS 7100) developed by BSI, the UK’s National Standards Body, freely available to Trading Standards officers. Since then it has trained 300 trading standards officers on implementing the code and held regional workshops for business.

Its Intelligence unit is now fully operational and on track to publish the first national Strategic Assessment for Product Safety by March 2019. It is sharing data and intelligence with partners including local authority trading standards, National Trading Standards, Citizens Advice and the Intellectual Property Office.

There are now 73,000 businesses in Primary Authority, a flagship programme to support businesses in regulatory compliance. The new Supporting Regulator offer supports local regulators in primary authorities with technical and scientific expertise, interpretation of generic guidance tailored to business, for example to take account of innovation, and access to broader sources of data and intelligence.

In August, the UK’s first national product safety strategy – ‘Strengthening National Capacity for Product Safety’ – was published, along with the Strategic Research Programme, which will produce high quality strategic science-based research to strengthen the evidence base for the development of product regulation policy, delivery and enforcement.

In October, OPSS delivered its fourth international Inspection Reform Conference, the largest to date, attracting 350 delegates from 70 countries, and showcasing how the UK can lead in the field of making regulation work.

The autumn also saw the launch of our first consumer safety awareness campaigns. Two million people saw information about fancy dress at Halloween, fireworks, product safety online and laser pointers, with the campaign running right through to Christmas with toy safety.

Ahead of EU Exit, OPSS is working with Trading Standards at key entry points to strengthen the UK’s ability to stop unsafe products at the border. It has made additional investment this year to support local authority led teams at points of entry in the UK, through National Trading Standards.

You can contact OPSS by emailing opss.enquiries@beis.gov.uk or follow it on Twitter @OfficeforSandS #OPSSoneyearon

In his report the commissioner highlights:

• his extensive survey of all police forces in England and Wales to understand their surveillance camera ‘footprint’ and how they are complying with legal requirements under the Protection of Freedoms Act (PoFA) and the surveillance camera code. All forces now have a Senior Responsible Officer responsible for force compliance with the PoFA
• building momentum behind the National Surveillance Camera Strategy for England and Wales to deliver:
  • the first Question Time style event to enable serious debate on how surveillance cameras and associated technology impact on citizens
  • a series of national workshops aimed at local authorities to advise them how to comply with the 12 guiding principles in the surveillance camera code
  • the first horizon-scanning report to enable us to peer into the future at how surveillance cameras may develop
  • cybersecurity considerations across all strands of the strategy from standards to training
  • developing a new ‘Buyers’ Toolkit’ – an easy-to-follow guide for non-experts (aimed at small to medium enterprises) that are thinking about buying a surveillance camera system, and want to ensure that they buy an effective system that does what they want it to do
• formulation and first meetings of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition Independent Advisory Group, chaired by the commissioner, to scrutinise the deployment and operation of automatic number plate recognition as a surveillance tool
• the emergence of automatic facial recognition as a viable technology used by both state and private organisations.

Surveillance Camera Commissioner Tony Porter said:

Yet again it’s been an incredibly busy and challenging year. I’ve continued to see lots of great examples of good practice from relevant authorities and those who fall outside the scope of this definition. Equally there is room for improvement and I am working with the strand leads on the National Surveillance Camera Strategy to raise standards.

Published 22 January 2019