Now in its third year, the Insolvency Service’s annual event ‘Insolvency Live!’ welcomed more than 90 delegates to the BEIS Conference Centre in Westminster on Monday 23 July.

Chief Executive Sarah Albon kicked off proceedings welcoming participants and she was followed by the Insolvency Service’s Chairman, Steve Allinson, who reflected on the past year in insolvency.

The Chairman revealed that it’s been a busy year for the Insolvency Service and insolvency has been prominent in the news over the past 12 months with the collapse of a number of high-profile businesses, as well as proceedings taken against several well-known directors.

However, Steve Allinson added that most cases don’t hit the headlines, demonstrating that insolvency affects a substantial number of organisations, employees, creditors and smaller businesses.

The Chairman then highlighted some of the key results from the Insolvency Service’s recently published Annual Report, including the number of Bankruptcy and Debt Relief Orders, successful enforcement outcomes and the millions of pounds returned to creditors.

Next on the agenda was Dr John Tribe of Liverpool University, a senior law lecturer with interests in insolvency law, bankruptcy history and equity and trusts. Dr Tribe’s engaging presentation looked at the use of Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) on the high street, comparing 2018 to previous years.

Central to Dr Tribe’s argument was the idea that while there are low numbers of CVAs with regards to high street businesses, they should be considered as a viable option to help rescue businesses and save jobs.

Following Dr Tribe there were further presentations from the Insolvency Service’s Adjudicator office and Statistics team, as well as a panel discussion focusing on how the Insolvency Service handles complex investigations, with a specific look at Carillion.

Delegates were also given the opportunity to engage with various teams from the Insolvency Service at the Trade Fayre and after lunch people had the choice to attend two separate workshops, one looking at insolvency practitioner regulation and the other exploring whether people are choosing the right debt solutions.

The penultimate presentation was delivered by Sarah Albon, who in contrast to the Chairman, looked at the year ahead.

Sarah Albon spoke about the Insolvency Service’s core purpose of delivering economic confidence and said that over the coming year, we will continue to help build, improve and maintain business and investor confidence and drive responsible business practices to support the Government deliver an economy that works for everyone.

Supporting those in financial distress, tackling financial wrongdoing and maximising returns to creditors remains central to the Insolvency Service. In particular, we will be preparing for Brexit, ensuring the effective oversight of regulatory system for Insolvency Practitioners, centralising in-bound call handling and continue to handle high-profile cases.

The final act of the day was a Q&A session with the Insolvency Service’s Senior Management Team (SMT). Chaired by Steve Allinson, people had been invited beforehand to submit questions to be put to the SMT before the session was opened up to the floor. Questions ranged from will there be changes to forms as a result of Brexit, were there plans to introduce digital creditor applications and the levels of funding for the Insolvency Service’s services.

Commenting on the event, Steve Allinson said:

The past year was a successful one for the Insolvency Service but we should not rest on our laurels as there is still more work to do to ensure the UK has the best insolvency framework to support a strong economy.

I would like to thank everyone who attended and participated in what was a productive and engaging Insolvency Live!, while recognising all the hard work put in by my colleagues to bring this event together – congratulations.

The honey and wax produced by Ethiopian bees is helping to generate income for beekeepers across the country, and now Welsh charity Bees for Development is helping to grow the numbers of entrepreneurial Ethiopian beekeepers further.

UK aid has awarded Bees for Development, based in Monmouth, Wales, £50,000 through the Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF). This funding will train and start the new businesses of beekeepers in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Bee keeping offers young people without access to land a viable income earning opportunity with very low start-up costs.

Penny Mordaunt, International Development Secretary said:

Small, UK-based charities up and down the country, often staffed by volunteers, are incredibly valuable in making a difference around the world. DFID’s Small Charities Challenge Fund celebrates their innovative work in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Bees for Development is a great example of how a small community in Wales is helping to make a huge difference in Ethiopia. They are providing an invaluable entrepreneurial experience to young people, helping them thrive and support their own community.

Alun Cairns, Secretary of State for Wales said:

I am delighted that the hard work of Welsh charities such as Bees for Development is being rewarded for the international impact they have in encouraging entrepreneurship in a way that protects our environment. I hope that the funds awarded will go a long way to continue the great work they do across Ethiopia.

The Bees Ethiopian project has four aims:

• To deliver beekeeping training to vulnerable communities to build sustainable and resilient livelihoods

• Help beekeepers secure best value for their bee produce by accessing strong market chains, which are fair and rewarding

• Ensure that honey bee populations thrive as a result of environmental protection

• Enable beekeepers to access high quality, relevant information about methods, market opportunities and policy development

Dr Nicola Bradbear, Director of Bees for Development said:

Bees for Development helps the poorest people earn extra income through beekeeping. We are a specialist organisation, with a niche set of skills. This grant from the Small Charities Challenge Fund will enable us to help families in Ethiopia keep bees profitably, so they can earn extra income to buy school uniforms, pay medical costs, buy food and pay-off debts.

All SCCF projects are chosen for their ability to strengthen the capacity of grassroots development organisations working with the most marginalised to ensure that no one is left behind.

Note to Editors:

• The Small Charities Challenge Fund was launched in 2017 specifically to provide funding to smaller charities with an income of £250,000 or less. Bees for Development is the first recipient to be announced from the first round, other successful applicants will be announced later this summer. More information on the Small Charities Challenge Fund can be found here: www.ukaiddirect.org/apply/sccf

• For more information on Bees for Development please visit their website: www.beesfordevelopment.org

In the dataset you can find the date of sale for each property, its full address and sale price, its category (residential or commercial) and type (detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat or maisonette and other), whether it is new build or not and whether it is freehold or leasehold.

The number of sales received for registration by property type and month

Of the 85,493 sales received for registration in June 2018:

• 64,262 were freehold, a 5% fall on June 2017

• 8,735 were newly built, an 8.9% fall on June 2017

There is a time difference between the sale of a property and its registration at HM Land Registry.

Of the 85,493 sales received for registration, 22,281 took place in June 2018 of which:

• 387 were of residential properties in England and Wales for £1 million and over

• 230 were of residential properties in Greater London for £1 million and over

• one was a residential property in Birmingham for more than £1 million

• one was a residential property in Greater Manchester for more than £1 million

• one was a residential property in Cardiff for more than £1 million

The most expensive residential sale taking place in June 2018 was of a detached property in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London for £28,500,000. The cheapest residential sale in June 2018 was a terraced property in County Durham for £17,250.

The most expensive commercial sale taking place in June 2018 was in the City of London for £71,200,000. The cheapest commercial sales in June 2018 were in Waltham Forest, London and the Isle of Wight for £100.

Access the full dataset

Notes to editors

1. Price Paid Data is published at 11am on the 20th working day of each month. The next dataset will be published on Tuesday 28 August 2018.

2. Price Paid Data is property price data for all residential and commercial property sales in England and Wales that are lodged with HM Land Registry for registration in that month, subject to exclusions.

3. The amount of time between the sale of a property and the registration of this information with HM Land Registry varies. It typically ranges between two weeks and two months. Data for the two most recent months is therefore incomplete and does not give an indication of final monthly volumes. Occasionally the interval between sale and registration is longer than two months. The small number of sales affected cannot be updated for publication until the sales are lodged for registration.

4. Price Paid Data categories are either Category A (Standard entries), which includes single residential properties sold for full market value, or Category B (Additional entries), such as sales to a company, buy-to-lets where they can be identified by a mortgage and repossessions.

5. HM Land Registry has been collecting information on Category A sales from January 1995 and on Category B sales from October 2013.

6. Price Paid Data can be downloaded in text, CSV format and in a machine readable format as linked data and is released under Open Government Licence (OGL). Under the OGL, HM Land Registry permits the use of Price Paid Data for commercial or non-commercial purposes. However, the OGL does not cover the use of third party rights, which HM Land Registry is not authorised to license.

7. The Price Paid Data report builder allows users to build bespoke reports using the data. Reports can be based on location, estate type, price paid or property type over a defined period of time.

8. HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales.

9. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

10. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £4 trillion, including around £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles showing evidence of ownership for some 85% of the land mass of England and Wales.

11. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

12. Follow us on Twitter @HMLandRegistry our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.