Author Archives: HM Government

A community drop-in is being held in Marston Moretaine for the public to find out about the Environment Agency’s role in the energy from waste (EfW) incinerator facility proposed at Rookery Pit, Stewartby.

The Environment Agency will be asking people for comments on the applications for an environmental permit it has received from Covanta Energy Limited.

The event is being held at Forest of Marston Vale Centre, Station Road, Marston Moretaine, Bedford, MK43 0PR on Wednesday 20 September, 1:00pm – 7:00pm.

The Environment Agency’s role is to make sure that energy from waste facilities are designed, built and run to meet legal environmental standards ( the Industrial Emissions Directive) and to meet the conditions of their environmental permit (the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016).

If a permit were to be issued the Agency would be the regulator for on-going compliance monitoring of the incinerator.

The Environment Agency will only issue a permit if it is satisfied that the plant will be designed, built, operated and maintained in such a way that the requirements of the relevant EU Directives are met and that human health and the environment are protected. This will be decided following consultation with the relevant Local Authorities and their Health Departments, the Food Standards Agency, Public Health England, the Health and Safety Executive and other identified statutory consultees.

The public consultation period will run from 11 September to 23 October 2017.

The start of the consultation period has also been advertised on the Environment Agency website on gov.uk.

On-line option

People unable to attend the drop-in or wanting to provide formal comments to be considered during the determination by the Environment Agency, should send them to psc@environment-agency.gov.uk or write to: Environment Agency, Permitting Support Centre, Land Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WF. Please quote permit application number EPR/WP3234DY/A001.

To provide comments online and to view the documents that form part of this consultation, follow this link

Interested parties can also make an appointment to view a copy of the draft permit and draft decision document at the local Environment Agency office, located at: Bromholme Lane, Brampton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE28 4NE.

In the run-up to London Fashion Week, the letter highlights a recent case where 5 model agencies and their trade association were fined over £1.5 million for colluding instead of competing on the prices they charged for modelling services. The model agencies regularly and systematically exchanged confidential and commercially sensitive information and discussed prices in the context of negotiations with particular customers. In some cases, they agreed to fix minimum prices or agreed a common approach to pricing.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also written directly to a number of other businesses in the fashion sector to warn them that this type of illegal behaviour will not be tolerated.

The creative sector is an important and rapidly growing part of the UK economy – worth £84.1 billion. But research has shown that businesses in the sector have a particularly low understanding of competition law. Over 50% of creative firms surveyed by the CMA stated that they didn’t know competition law well, if at all.

This puts them at risk of not recognising if they – or others – are breaking the law.

In the recent modelling sector case, an email to a prospective member described how the trade association could be used as “a good source for sharing information between members; problem clients, usage of models’ images on social media etc…” In reality, the trade association was used to share confidential and commercially sensitive information to influence members to resist the prices offered by customers because they were considered to be too low.

Stephen Blake, Senior Director, Cartels and Criminal Group, said:

The creative industries are incredibly important to the UK economy. We have some of the best creative talent in the world, and we recognise the valuable contribution these individuals make.

Because of this, it’s also vital that businesses in the creative sector know that certain behaviour is illegal under UK competition law. The consequences can be serious. As we approach London Fashion Week, when the spotlight is on the fashion industry, we are publishing an open letter urging businesses to be clear on the boundaries of the law. We know the majority want to do the right thing and there are some clear steps they can take to help ensure they do so.

If companies believe they have information about an existing cartel or want to know what one is the Stop Cartels webpage explains all and tells people how to report one.

Notes for editors

1. The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. For CMA updates, follow us on Twitter @CMAgovuk, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and LinkedIn.

2. The CMA conducted IFF research with businesses in 2014 to access levels of awareness and understanding of competition law.

3. If the CMA finds that a business has broken competition law, the consequences can be serious and far-reaching: (a) a business can be fined up to 10% of its worldwide turnover; (b) company directors can be disqualified from managing a company for up to 15 years; (c) individuals personally involved in cartels can face up to 5 years in prison.

4. Information about the modelling sector case can be found on the case page.

5. Anyone who has information about a cartel is encouraged to call the CMA cartels hotline on 020 3738 6888 or email cartelshotline@cma.gsi.gov.uk. More information can be found on the Stop Cartels webpage.

6. For more information on the CMA’s leniency and informant reward policies, go to leniency and rewards.

7. Media enquiries should be directed to press@cma.gsi.gov.uk or call 07774 134814.

Analysis by the Charity Commission has found that in the year ending 31 December 2016, 97 charities, which have a collective total income of approximately £195 million, filed accounts that included a formally modified audit opinion. This is an auditor’s statement that the accounts are, or could be, materially misstated, perhaps because there were gaps in the evidence that supported the accounts.

The Commission’s proactive analysis of the accounts subject to the modified opinion found that:

During the analysis, the Commission found that the trustees of several of the charities that had not complied with the SORP stated they did not consider that obtaining professional property or pension liability valuations was a good use of charitable funds. The Commission does not consider this to be an acceptable reason for the charities’ non-compliance.

After analysing the accounts, the Commission provided regulatory advice and guidance to 36 charities and made it clear that it expected them to take action to address the issues highlighted by their auditors. It also engaged further with 10 charities where the auditor had highlighted serious failings that the Commission was not previously aware of and where it did not appear that the trustees were taking action to address them.

Nigel Davies, Head of Accountancy Services at the Charity Commission said:

We expect trustees to work with their auditors to resolve any issues to do with their accounts and so it is worrying that the accounts of 97 large charities were filed with significant inconsistencies and deficiencies or audit concerns on them. A charity’s accounts must be accurate, transparent and complete to ensure that they don’t misrepresent the charity’s financial circumstances and mislead existing and potential supporters, funders or beneficiaries.

If a charity does receive a modified audit opinion, its trustees need to work with their auditors to resolve any outstanding issues and to ensure that internal financial controls are operating and adequate accounting records are kept. We expect trustees to take compliance with accounting requirements seriously. Trustees should also provide assurance to us and to their supporters that they are taking action to address the concerns identified by their auditors.

The Commission recently introduced a requirement for auditors to report to the appropriate charity regulator when they have given a modified audit opinion as soon as possible. This requirement came into force on 1 May 2017.

The full report is available on GOV.UK.

Ends

PR 62/17

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our online register.