Trade Secretary Liz Truss MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak MP and Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani MP hosted the first meeting of the Advisory Panel on Freeports yesterday in London (Thursday 5 September).

The Panel met to discuss the objectives of UK Freeport policy, and advise government on the development of the future design and operation of Freeports in the UK. Ports, airports and other interested parties from across the UK will soon be invited to bid for Freeport status.

As part of the Government’s work to consider Freeports, the panel discussed how policy could incentivise additional economic activity within Freeports and attract investment to the UK. During the meeting panel members discussed a wide range of potential areas of focus, such as how Freeports could specifically benefit local economies and empower small businesses; liberalising planning laws and the role of technology in the development of Freeports.

The Freeports Advisory Panel is jointly led by the Secretary of State for International Trade and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak and includes experts including small business champion Emma Jones MBE, Trade Economist Dr. Meredith Crowley and CEO of British Ports Association Richard Ballantyne.

The first new Freeports will be established after the UK leaves the EU, to drive growth and ensure towns and cities in the UK benefit from Brexit trade opportunities.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said:

We’re establishing Freeports across the UK to drive growth and transform ports, towns and cities all around our coast. As we begin on this journey, I want to ensure we gather expertise from a range of specialists across the country: from business, industry, tech and academia.

I’m delighted to be joined today by these experts to begin formal discussions on how we can ensure our Freeports are a roaring success. Through these meetings, we will make sure the policy works for all of the UK, so that businesses are ready to trade with countries around the world and our local communities reap the benefits of increased investment.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak said:

We are exploring the exciting opportunity that Freeports offer to regenerate left-behind communities and generate additional economic growth.

Freeports could support thousands of high-skilled jobs once established in the UK. Today’s first meeting of the Government’s Advisory Panel is an important step forward.

Freeports are hubs for business and enterprise for both manufacturing and services trade. These could reduce checks and paperwork, and include tariff, customs and tax benefits. These zones reduce costs and bureaucracy, encouraging manufacturing businesses to set up or re-shore. The most successful Freeports globally attract businesses and create jobs for local people through liberalised planning laws.

Tim Morris, CEO of UK Major Ports Group said:

It’s good to get down to business with the Freeports Advisory Panel. We’ve seen a lot of interest in the Freeports concept since the announcement of the Panel. It’s important that we start putting some shape on the opportunity across a range of different policy levers so potential free port operators can develop their plans.

Ultimately, what we must be focused on is boosting investment in our global gateways to strengthen the UKs capacity to trade with the world and grow jobs and prosperity.

Richard Ballantyne, CEO of British Ports Association added:

The ports industry is keen to get going on drawing up Freeports proposals that will be genuinely transformational for the industry. We are bursting with new ideas and are looking forward to sharing the details with Ministers and experts today and at future meetings of the advisory panel.

In addition to the panel, the Department for International Trade is hosting a series of industry roundtables to add to the discussions on Freeports. Last week DIT, together with UK Major Ports Group and British Port Association held the first of these with port operators.

Freeports Advisory Panel members

• Tim Morris, CEO of UK Major Ports Group
• Richard Ballantyne, CEO of British Ports Association
• Dr. Meredith Crowley, Trade Economist, University of Cambridge
• Henry Overman, Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics
• Dan Korski, CBE, Founder, Public
• Dr Eamonn Butler, Director, Adam Smith Institute
• Tom Clougherty, Head of Tax, Centre for Policy Studies
• Emma Jones, MBE, Enterprise Nation Founder
• Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor
• Adam Marshall, Director, British Chambers of Commerce – Deputising Suren Thiru, Head of Economics
• Andrew Carter, CEO, Centre for Cities
• Karen Dee, CEO, Airport Operators association
• Nusrat Ghani MP, Maritime Minister

Farmers in Scotland will receive a £211.4 million boost, the Prime Minister will announce today (Friday 6th September).

Making the announcement ahead of visiting a farm in Aberdeenshire, Boris Johnson will set out how Scottish farmers will receive an extra £51.4 million over the next two years, in addition to the £160 million allocated in the Spending Round on Wednesday.

The £51.4 million pot of new money comes as the Lord Bew Review of farm funding is published today. The Prime Minister confirmed that the UK Government will accept the funding recommendations of this review, making sure farm funding is fairly allocated across the country within the Government’s funding commitment and that the industry is ready for a prosperous future outside of the EU.

To implement Lord Bew’s recommendations, while making sure farmers in England and Northern Ireland are not penalised and their funding allocations are unchanged, the UK Government will commit over £56 million of new money, including over £5 million for farmers in Wales.

Today’s announcement is in addition to the one-off £160 million payment announced in the Spending Round. Delivering on one of the PM’s leadership pledges for Scottish farmers, this will end the longstanding dispute over EU ‘convergence’ funding. Scottish farmers have consistently argued this should have been allocated to them in 2014, rather than distributed across the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

For too long, Scottish farmers have been given a poor deal by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, which is why we are taking this opportunity to change things for the better. I made a pledge to resolve the historic funding gap for Scottish farmers and delivering on this promise has been a priority since I became Prime Minister.

Today’s announcement was the first step in making sure future funding is fairly allocated across the UK, taking into account the unique farming environments in Scotland. Once we are out of the EU, we will have a historic opportunity to introduce new schemes to support farmers – and we will make sure that Scottish farmers get a fairer deal.

NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick said:

On top of the Chancellor’s welcome announcement in his spending review that Scotland is to receive £160m in convergence funding, we welcome the positive outcome of the Bew Review into future funding allocations and Government’s speedy response to the review’s recommendations.

Taken together, the two announcements will inject £211 million into Scottish agriculture over the next two years. At a time of uncertainty, that represents the largest funding uplift for the sector in recent memory.

Securing a fair agricultural funding settlement that recognised the flaws in the historic approach has been a priority for NFU Scotland. We thank Lord Bew for undertaking this review and his conclusions on how agricultural funding should be allocated. We also thank former NFUS President Jim Walker for the tenacity he showed as the Scottish representative on the Bew review group, and the significant contribution he has made to ensuring future agricultural spending fairly represents the convergence settlement.

Scotland Secretary Alister Jack said:

This £211.4 million UK Government cash injection for Scottish farmers is a brilliant double boost.

Not only has the Prime Minister delivered on his promise to address their longstanding concerns by providing £160 million in historic convergence funding, the UK Government has now also confirmed that Scottish farmers will receive an extra £51.4 million over the next two years in response to the Bew Review recommendations.

I’m absolutely delighted by this result and know our hard working farmers across Scotland will welcome it warmly.

Leaving the EU will give us an historic opportunity to tailor support better to Scotland’s unique farming environment. This is something I’ve lobbied for as a backbench MP and will continue to pursue as Scotland Secretary.

Trustees who ran a charity where terrorism offences took place have been disqualified after a statutory inquiry by the Charity Commission.

The regulator opened a statutory inquiry into Essex Islamic Academy (1131755) after an employee at the charity, Umar Ahmed Haque, was arrested and subsequently charged in connection with the attempted radicalisation of children through exposing them to terrorist material. In March 2018, Mr Haque was convicted of a number of offences* including disseminating terrorist material and the preparation of terrorist acts which related directly to his role at the charity.

Information supplied by the charity in response to these serious criminal allegations was limited, so the Commission took swift action, using its powers to compel the former trustees to provide details about Mr Haque’s role, and the wider management of the charity.

Serious safeguarding failings

The inquiry found that the former trustees failed to ensure safeguarding procedures were adequate and being adhered to, leading to children as young as 11 being exposed to serious harm, through attempted radicalisation which included the children being shown extremely graphic and violent propaganda videos produced by the proscribed terrorist organisation, Daesh.

The inquiry established that Mr Haque was originally recruited as an administrative assistant but he had been teaching classes unsupervised in the charity’s madrassah, which was attended daily by approximately 80 – 100 children aged 5 – 15 years.

The trustees admitted there was no supervision over Mr Haque’s adherence with the madrassah’s syllabus and the inquiry found no evidence that the trustees had applied for an enhanced DBS check which would have been required for his teaching role.

Ultimately the inquiry established that no due diligence was carried out prior to Mr Haque taking up employment with the charity.

Obstructing the inquiry

A second individual employed at the charity, Mr Abuthaher Mamun, was later charged and convicted with the preparation of terrorist acts. Mr Mamun assisted Mr Haque in his classes, however the former trustees withheld the fact that they had been aware of his involvement at the madrassah until the inquiry, using the Commission’s legal powers, issued a formal direction requiring them to answer questions and supply documents.

The inquiry also established that a number of responses provided to it by the former trustees turned out to be false or misleading, including in relation to pre-employment checks carried out on Mr Haque.

Protective and regulatory action

The inquiry took protective action to safeguard the charity and its beneficiaries, by issuing an order to prevent the trustees from running any education classes or recreational activities until it was satisfied that a number of actions had been complied with relating to safeguarding. The inquiry also appointed, on 8 June 2018, an interim manager to the charity; they were initially appointed to carry out specific tasks, however their remit was extended to include the management and running of the charity after the inquiry determined it was necessary to suspend the former trustees pending their disqualification. They were discharged on 30 April 2019 after completing the functions of their appointment.

The inquiry has worked closely with multiple agencies – including the Police – to ensure those responsible in the charity are held to account.

The Commission found that the actions of the former trustees amounted to serious misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity. The inquiry considered their competence, honesty and integrity, and concluded that they were unfit to be charity trustees and that it was in the public interest to disqualify them from their positions. All 5 have therefore been disqualified from trusteeship for a period of 10 years. This means that they are prevented from serving as trustees or senior managers of any charity in England and Wales.

Under new powers the Commission secured as part of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016, and by virtue of their convictions, Mr Haque and Mr Mamun are automatically disqualified for life from serving as trustees or senior managers of any charity in England and Wales.

Michelle Russell, Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement at the Charity Commission said:

I, like the public, am appalled by what happened here to these children who should have been in the safe custody of this charity – quite literally the worst case we have seen, with children, as young as 11, being exposed to harm through attempted radicalisation and terrorist material.

The two individuals have been held to account through criminal proceedings, and it is right that we have, on behalf of the public, held the individuals who were trustees at the time of his actions, responsible for their failures.

The public rightly expect trustees to honour their positions of responsibility, demonstrating unfailing care for the people they are meant to support. In this case, the children who were in their care, and the people that trusted them to do so, were let down. These individuals proved themselves to be wholly unsuitable; what happened on their watch is deeply alarming and troubling, running counter to everything people expect of charity.

Since the Commission’s intervention there have been significant improvements in the charity’s governance and safeguarding procedures.

The interim manager implemented a series of new policies and procedures, including around protecting people. They have appointed a new board of trustees and ensured that they fully understand their responsibilities as trustees, including safeguarding.

Michelle Russell added:

Our inquiry’s actions have set important foundations for the good governance of this charity going forward. Clearly, what went on here will not just have affected the children that were abused, but their families and the community as a whole. The charity’s new leadership has to continue rebuilding vital trust.

The full report is available on GOV.UK.

Ends.

Notes to editors

1. *On 2 March 2018, Mr Haque was convicted of (i) two counts on the preparation of terrorist acts pursuant to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, (ii) four counts of possessing a record of information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism pursuant to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, (iii) the dissemination of terrorist material pursuant to section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006. On 27 March 2018, Mr Haque was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 25 years.
2. The inquiry also uncovered a series of failings in the financial management of the charity. Further details are available in the full report on GOV.UK.
3. The former trustees were disqualified under section 181A of the Charities Act for a period of 10 years. Mr Haque and Mr Mamun are automatically disqualified for life from serving as trustees or senior managers of any charity in England and Wales, by virtue of their convictions, under section 178 of the Charities Act.

Your Learning Map is one of the most popular and well-used resources provided by the Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) Central Team. Racking up hundreds of thousands of hits since its launch in 2016 Your Learning Map will soon be transferring to GOV.UK.

The product will be updated and refreshed, and made even more accessible so even more colleagues may use it to navigate through the sometimes overwhelming choice of learning and development opportunities available to you in the Civil Service.

Watch out for more news coming soon.

Published 6 September 2019

Five years on from reforms introduced to better support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the review aims to improve the services available to families who need support, equip staff in schools and colleges to respond effectively to their needs as well as ending the ‘postcode lottery’ they often face.

The review comes a week after the government announced a major funding boost of £700million in 2020/21 for pupils with the most complex needs, delivering on the Prime Minister’s pledge to ensure every pupil can access the education that is right for them.

It will conclude with action to boost outcomes and improve value for money, so that vulnerable children have the same opportunities to succeed, as well as improving capacity and support for families across England.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

I want parents to know that we’re committed to boosting outcomes and ensuring the right support is in place for children with special educational needs, by breaking down the barriers to a good education and making sure the system works for families. That is why the Prime Minister committed to providing an extra £700 million next year, an 11% increase, to make sure these children can access the education that is right for them.

Our reforms in 2014 gave vital support to more children, but we know there have been problems in delivering the changes that we all want to see. So it’s the right time to take stock of our system and make sure the excellence we want to see as a result of our changes is the norm for every child and their families.

Education Health and Care plans, launched in 2014, mean that now more than 350,000 children and young people aged 0-25 with the most complex special educational needs are receiving the tailored support they need to thrive and receive a world-class education. Of those in schools around half (130,000) are continuing in mainstream education.

The new review will look at the how the system has evolved since then, how it can be made to work best for all families and ensure quality of provision is the same across the country. Recognising the importance of joined-up support, it will also explore the role of health care in SEND in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care.

Last week the Government set out plans to invest over £14 billion in primary and secondary education between now and 2022/23, including £700 million extra for children with SEND in 2020/21. This investment delivered on the Prime Minister’s pledge to ensure every pupil can reach their potential – including looking at the support in schools for children with less complex special educational needs.

To complement this, the review of support for children with SEND will look at and put forward new actions on: • the evidence on how the system can provide the highest quality support that enables children and young people with SEND to thrive and prepare for adulthood, including employment;

• better helping parents to make decisions about what kind of support will be best for their child;

• making sure support in different local areas is consistent, joined up across health, care and education services, and that high-quality health and education support is available across the country;

• how we strike the right balance of state-funded provision across inclusive mainstream and specialist places;

• aligning incentives and accountability for schools, colleges and local authorities to make sure they provide the best possible support for children and young people with SEND;

• understanding what is behind the rise in education, health and care (EHC) plans and the role of specific health conditions in driving demand; and

• ensuring that public money is spent in an efficient, effective and sustainable manner, placing a premium on securing high quality outcomes for those children and young people who need additional support the most.

Minister for Care Caroline Dinenage said:

The support and care for people with special educational needs and disabilities is one of my top priorities. The SEND review will be crucial in widening our knowledge of the parts of the system which are working well and the areas which need improvement.

The Department for Health and Social Care will play a key role in the review so we can ensure that high quality healthcare support is available for all throughout the country.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd said:

Children with special needs and disabilities need to get the right educational support and health care so they can thrive.

This review will help make sure all families get the support they need so every child, young person and their parents feel extremely positive about their future.

The government also announced today that Tony McArdle, Lead Commissioner in Northamptonshire County Council, will be the new chair of the SEND System Leadership Board, which brings together sector leaders across Education, Health and Social Care to drive improvements. He will also act as an independent advisor to the review, alongside Education Endowment Fund Chair Sir Kevan Collins and Anne Heavey, National Director of Whole School SEN.

Tony McArdle said:

Delivering better SEND outcomes will require consistent, strong leadership across a range of partners. I look forward to ensuring that this Board equips the sector with what it needs to bring that leadership to bear.