Grigorijs Hacaturjancs, 34 and originally from Latvia, has been disqualified as a director for 10 years after fraudulently claiming a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan.

Grigorijs Hacaturjancs was director of Beauty&Melody Shop Ltd which was incorporated in 2015 and operated as an online retailer for hair and beauty products. The company was not related to the London-based chain of hair and beauty salons of the same name.

Despite company accounts showing that the company had ceased trading in 2019 and had shut down its website, Hacaturjancs applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan (BBL) in May 2020 on behalf of the company.

Businesses were only eligible for support through the BBL scheme if they had been adversely impacted by the pandemic lockdown, meaning online-only retailers such as Beauty&Melody could not apply.

In addition to Hacaturjancs’ business being ineligible, he inflated the company’s turnover on the BBL application in order to secure the maximum £50,000 available through the scheme.

Beauty&Melody went into voluntary liquidation in July 2021 shortly after which the liquidator passed on concerns to the Insolvency Service regarding Grigorijs Hacaturjancs’ conduct.

Investigators discovered that the last sale by Beauty&Melody was on 23 March 2019, with no further money being paid into the company bank account after that date until the receipt of the £50,000 Bounce Back Loan in May 2020.

Just two weeks after this, a payment of nearly £50,000 was made to a company based in Slovakia. Hacaturjancs told investigators that this was to a company supplier, although Beauty&Melody had never done business with this company before, and it received no goods or services in return for the payment.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Grigorijs Hacaturjancs, after he admitted his company had been insolvent in 2019 on a balance sheet basis and also that he did not carry out adequately checks on the new Slovakia-based supplier.

His disqualification is effective from 12 July 2022 and lasts for 10 years.

The disqualification undertaking prevents Hacaturjancs from directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

Dave Elliott, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service said:

Mr Hacaturjanc’s disqualification should act as a deterrent to others who think they can profit by obtaining taxpayer-backed loans to which they are not entitled.

The liquidator has determined that Hacaturjancs has no personal assets, however the possibility of applying for a compensation order will remain under review.

Notes to editors

Grigorijs Hacaturjancs is a Latvian national and his date of birth is February 1988.

Beauty&Melody Shop Ltd (Company number 09639900). The company traded online from https://www.beautyandmelody.shop.

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.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

Information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct.

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• £82 million investment will help an estimated half a million primary school children
• Scheme will also encourage roll out of better broadband to surrounding rural homes and businesses

Hundreds of thousands of pupils living in the countryside will enjoy lessons powered by better digital connections as the government invests to level up internet access in rural primary schools.

A joint £82 million investment from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Department for Education (DfE) announced today will mean pupils in classrooms from Cornwall to Cumbria will reap the benefits of full fibre broadband capable of delivering up to 1,000 megabits per second.

This means an estimated 500,000 primary school pupils will be able to use the internet with no interruptions, even if multiple classes are using it at the same time. They will benefit from being able to link up with others anywhere in the world to learn from one another, with access to an ever-growing library of online tools designed to make lessons more fun and engaging.

Over the next three years, up to 3,000 eligible schools will be able to embrace efficiencies through modern ways of working – generating cost savings and reducing workload for frontline professionals. The programme will cover the costs of connecting rural schools not likely to be connected by commercial rollout currently stuck on outdated copper cables.

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said:

Children’s opportunities in school should not be pre-determined by where they grow up.

Today we’re announcing millions of pounds to get lightning fast broadband connections to rural schools and level up children’s access to the best possible teaching.

Teaching has been revolutionised by digital technology and we need to make sure all pupils can benefit from the opportunity it brings.

Schools Minister Robin Walker said::

High speed, reliable internet is crucial to helping schools provide the best possible experience for pupils. This investment will open a whole world of possibilities for schools and teachers in hard-to-reach areas, whether that is through more access to online resources for children, or fast, top quality video streaming.

It is more important now than ever for schools to be connected and this welcome investment comes on top of the programme of upgrades to connectivity and Wi-Fi that we are delivering through our Priority Education Investment Areas.

Russell David, Head of The Acorns and Whitley Village Federated School in Ellesmere Port, which has already been connected to gigabit broadband through Project Gigabit, said:

Our pupils now feel more connected to each other, their teachers and our community than ever before.

Fast, reliable connectivity is vital in today’s classrooms and gigabit broadband, along with the fantastic new WiFi provided through the Connect the Classroom programme, has allowed us to transform how we teach using the latest educational tech, giving pupils and staff access to a huge library of new tools and resources to thrive and engage with the curriculum.

Our remote location is no longer a constraint to our participation with the rest of the Rowan Learning Trust in our exciting journey.

Funding for up to 2,000 schools will be from the DCMS GigaHubs programme, which is part of Project Gigabit, the government’s £5 billion programme to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband in hard-to-reach areas of the UK. The scheme is set to connect up to 7,000 rural public sector buildings including schools, GP surgeries, libraries and other public buildings.

The new infrastructure will bring gigabit-capable connections (1,000 megabits per second) to the heart of communities, incentivising more investment in hard-to-reach areas and providing ‘hubs’ from which the commercial sector can connect surrounding homes and businesses.

An additional 1,000 schools will be funded by DfE as part of their mission to enable every school in England to access high-speed internet by 2025.

To ensure teachers and schools can make the most of these connections in the classroom, DfE is also investing £30 million in the pilot project ‘Connect the Classroom’, which aims to upgrade technology in thousands more schools in priority areas, meaning pupils will benefit from fast Wi-Fi and cloud services and will be able to link up with peers, experts and specialists in countries from around the world via live video calling.

The government is investing in ‘Connect the Classroom’ in its Priority Education Investment Areas, 24 areas of the country where education outcomes are weakest and support is being targeted.

The delivery of new gigabit connectivity also underpins the government’s net zero ambitions – helping schools to move away from inefficient locally-hosted servers and embrace more efficient and secure cloud data storage, services and devices.

ENDS

A regional breakdown of the number of schools to benefit will be determined at the time of procurement, with costs also determined by local factors established at the project’s next stage. An engagement exercise will take place over the coming months with all eligible schools, and procurement will begin in the autumn term.

This announcement of £82m has been calculated using the average site cost from the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme, a precursor to GigaHubs. The programme connected around 1000 sites of which 530 were rural English schools.

The potential number of sites included in the project (up to 3,000) has been calculated by comparing a DfE list of rural schools supplied to DCMS GigaHubs eligibility criteria – this provides DCMS-funded project numbers of around 2,000 schools, while DfE will be funding around 1,000 further sites.

Project Gigabit

Project Gigabit is the government’s flagship £5 billion programme to connect hard-to-reach communities unlikely to be connected through commercial rollout, meaning families no longer having to battle over bandwidth and people in rural areas can have the freedom to live and work more flexibly, helping businesses to grow and vital public services to thrive.

The faster connections delivered by the scheme have been levelling up rural communities across the UK: enabling businesses to grow by using digital technology to boost their productivity and giving people living in more remote areas better access to good jobs.

GigaHubs

Over the next 3 years, up to £110m of government funding will be invested into providing gigabit connectivity to up to 7,000 rural public sector buildings including schools, GP surgeries, libraries and other public buildings. This will deliver a range of benefits, such as enabling clinicians to provide remote video consultations and allowing whole classes of schoolchildren to be online, at once, with no interruptions.

The GigaHubs model works by providing funding towards infrastructure build for eligible public sector buildings which meet qualifying criteria set by BDUK and where investment cases are clear.

Priority Education Investment Areas – ‘Connect the Classroom’

The government’s Priority Education Investment Areas are: Blackpool, Bradford, Derby, Doncaster, Fenlands and East Cambridgeshire, Halton, Hartlepool, Hastings, Ipswich, Knowsley, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire Coast, Norwich, Nottingham, Oldham, Portsmouth, Rochdale, Salford, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent, Tameside, Walsall, West Somerset.

• Tackling the illegal wildlife trade is essential to halting biodiversity loss and protecting some of our most threatened and endangered species
• Illegal wildlife trade also fuels corruption, creates instability, is linked to organised crime, and can increase the risk of the spread of zoonotic diseases

Endangered and threatened plants and animals, including bears, chimpanzees and pangolins, are set to be better protected thanks to new funding to tackle the illegal wildlife trade announced by the UK Government today (Friday 01 July), further cementing our position as a leading contributor to the end of this devastating illegal trade.

The illegal wildlife trade not only threatens species with extinction, fuels corruption, creates instability and deprives some of the world’s poorest communities of sustainable livelihoods, but is linked to organised crime and zoonotic disease outbreaks.

Grants of up to £1.5 million will be made available to environmental organisations across the world which tackle the vile and devastating illegal trade in animals.

Beneficiaries include two projects in Liberia which are working to reduce the demand for chimpanzee bushmeat and improve wildlife law enforcement, and a project in Laos which will boost the capacity of law enforcement agencies to tackle the trafficking of wild bears by criminal gangs and support wildlife sanctuaries to create livelihood and educational opportunities.

It is thanks to the decisive action taken by this Government that the UK is tackling the illegal wildlife trade head on and leading efforts to bend the curve on biodiversity loss around the world, including through the commitment to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss as set out in the world leading Environment Act.

There are 22 successful projects in total. Other projects being awarded funding today include:

Dismantling illegal pangolin trade in Vietnam

• Building on past successes in three key pangolin habitats, this project will strengthen law enforcement and improve livelihoods to reduce the demand for critically endangered pangolins. (Save Vietnam’s Wildlife)

Preventing the extinction of Bolivia’s critically endangered red-fronted macaw

• The project will fund teams of local farmer stewards to patrol nest sites and help prevent the trafficking of eggs and chicks which threaten the survival of Bolivia’s critically endangered red-fronted Macaws. (Fundacion Natura Bolivia)

Demand reduction for threatened freshwater turtles and tortoises in Bangladesh

• The project will identify freshwater turtle and tortoise consumption and trade hotspots and then conduct a targeted behaviour change campaign to reduce demand for products linked to these species. (Wildlife Conservation Society)

Harnessing technology to end the illegal trade in succulent plants

• This project will address the supply and sale of illegally trade South African succulent plants to stop their extinction. Development of chemical fingerprinting and marking techniques will enable traceability and transparency in trade, while aiding the reintroduction of confiscated plants. (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and TRAFFIC)

International Environment Minister Lord Goldsmith said:

Biodiversity loss is one of the greatest challenges humanity faces today. The illegal wildlife trade threatens wild animals and plants with extinction, destroys precious ecosystems and increases the risk of zoonotic diseases spreading.

The UK is leading calls to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss and the funding announced today comes less than six months ahead of the crucial COP15 Biodiversity Summit, where we will be leading a coalition of high ambition countries committed to agreeing a new global biodiversity framework with targets for 2030.

Independent Chair of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Advisory Group John Scanlon said:

Illegal wildlife trade drives many species towards extinction. It is also highly destructive to entire ecosystems, including their ability to sequester carbon, and is disrupting their ability to support local and indigenous communities. Preventing and combating these serious crimes is one of the biggest environmental challenges we face today.

The UK Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund is a unique and highly valuable source of funding dedicated to preventing and combating wildlife crime. Its well-targeted projects – such as reducing the demand for endangered pangolins, protecting the iconic red-fronted macaw and using technology to end the illegal trade in succulent plants – will help ensure that wild animals and plants are not plundered by organised criminals, thereby ensuring their many benefits can flow to the local and indigenous peoples of source countries and the global community.

To date, the IWT Challenge Fund has supported 136 projects in over 60 countries to a value of over £43 million. Previously supported projects have included efforts to protect the endangered Royal Bengal Tigers in Nepal by building capacity in park rangers and strengthening wildlife enforcement, as well as protecting elephants along the Nigeria-Cameroon transboundary Green Corridor by improving co-operation between agencies tasked with conserving this iconic species.

Round 9 of the IWTCF is now open for applications. For more information on previous projects as well as how to apply please visit: https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/

Combating illegal trade of bears and diversifying livelihoods in Laos (Free the Bears Fund Inc)

• The placement of confiscated wildlife remains a major obstacle to effective law enforcement in Laos.
• By increasing capacity to house confiscated bears, this project will enable government agencies to effectively implement legal deterrents in order to end the trafficking of bears in Laos and help maintain the ecological intactness of forest ecosystems.
• Additionally, it will demonstrate the role that well-run wildlife sanctuaries can play in poverty reduction through the creation of diverse livelihood and educational opportunities.

Successful Round 8 Applicant and regional director of Free the Bears, Brian Crudge, said:

Bear bile farming and illegal trade are major threats to the survival of sun bears and Asiatic black bears in Southeast Asia. With limited possibilities for returning animals to the wild, rescue facilities are necessary to allow for confiscation and rehabilitation of threatened species.

With support from the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, Free the Bears is supporting the efforts of the Government of Laos to tackle the issue of wildlife farming and illegal trade through the development of sanctuaries which provide space for confiscated animals as well as providing forest-edge communities with sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Increasing chimpanzee guardianship values to reduce the illegal wildlife trade in Liberia (PCI Media Impact)

• Illegal trade of endangered Western Chimpanzees in Liberia is a complex issue driven by poverty, systemic development challenges, and insufficient management of demand.
• This project aims to reduce demand for chimpanzees by fostering guardianship values among urban consumers.
• It will work with a coalition of local partners to design an effective Social and Behaviour Change Communications strategy model that drives the revival and cross-ethnic expansion of existing chimpanzee guardianship values, ultimately reducing IWT.

Successful Round 8 Applicant and project lead at the Livable Plant Program, Brett Matulis, said:

Even though trade in chimpanzees is illegal, the demand for bushmeat and household pets is driving a decline in this iconic species – with only about 35,000 Western Chimpanzees remaining.

Our project in Liberia will tackle this demand by forging a coalition of environmental, gender equity, and poverty alleviation charities with an aim to reduce the consumption of chimpanzee meat and foster local guardianship values for this critically endangered species. If successful, this could be scaled up across Liberia and the region to protect even more animals. The funds we have received today will play a key role in achieving this.

IWTCF schemes expanded:

This latest round is the first time we have introduced ‘evidence’ and ‘extra’ schemes, expanding the eligibility criteria for both the grant size and length. The criteria for all three schemes are:

• Evidence – Projects which gather evidence to design an intervention will be funded between £20,000 and £100,000.
• Main – Projects which test new and innovative interventions to provide proof of intervention on a smaller scale will be funded between £100,000 and £600,000.
• Extra – Projects which have already demonstrated success and can have a bigger impact at a larger scale will be funded between £600,000 and £1.5 million.

These new schemes will help better support projects at different points in their development.

Launch of Round 9 of IWTCF

• Today’s announcement also marks the launch of Round 9 of IWTCF funding for projects working to tackle the illegal trade of any species of flora, fauna and fungi in sub–Saharan Africa, East and South-East Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Applicants have until 22 August to submit their Stage 1 application.

The Prime Minister will host the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, at Downing Street today [Friday], rounding off nine days of international engagement with more than 90 nations.

The leaders are expected to discuss the security challenges facing the Indo-Pacific and the situation in Ukraine, as well as new initiatives to build on our shared values and long-standing close ties. The visit comes after both leaders attended the NATO summit in Madrid this week, and follows the agreement of the UK-New Zealand free trade deal in February.

The Prime Ministers will agree new joint schemes to ensure New Zealand and the UK can address global challenges for the next generation. This will include an extension to the Youth Mobility Scheme, which will raise the age limit and increase the length of visas, attracting and allowing highly skilled and ambitious young people to move between the two countries easily, sharing skills and innovative ideas between the two countries.

The leaders are also expected to agree a landmark science and innovation arrangement, building on the Government’s Integrated Review and bringing UK and New Zealand researchers and technology experts together to inspire ground-breaking science.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

Though they may be one of our most distant allies, the United Kingdom counts New Zealand among our closest friends. We share a world view, standing up for democracy and free trade around the world, which is fortified by deep bonds of language and culture.

The partnership between the UK and New Zealand makes both of our countries safer and more prosperous. We are working side-by-side to address new and evolving threats that threaten to undermine stability and sovereignty in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Our trade deal is slashing red tape, cutting tariffs and opening exciting new opportunities for British businesses and entrepreneurs to travel and trade. And now our scientists are working together to solve humanity’s toughest challenges.

I look forward to welcoming Jacinda Ardern to Downing Street today to take this alliance of old friends forward, and meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.

The UK and New Zealand will also underline their commitment to work closely together on online safety, ensuring our countries are two of the safest places to be online. The collaboration will increase information sharing and best practise around online safety, with a focus on disinformation and safeguarding users, and underline the UK and New Zealand’s leading global roles in tackling online harm. This commitment comes after the UK Government introduced the Online Safety Bill to parliament in March.

The agreement will increase information sharing and best practise around online safety, with a focus on disinformation and child safety, and underline the UK and New Zealand’s leading global roles in tackling online harm. The partnership comes after the Government introduced the Online Safety Bill to parliament in March.

Trade ties between the two countries will also be on the agenda, including the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the recently agreed Free Trade Agreement.

• The change is set to support patients getting advice and fit notes from their healthcare professional – without having to separately see a doctor
• The reform follows fit notes going fully digital as they no longer need to be signed in ink.

From today (Friday 1 July 2022) nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists can all legally certify fit notes, reducing the pressure on NHS doctors, particularly GPs and scrapping unnecessary bureaucracy.

Updated guidance to health care professionals and their employers on these changes is also being published today, setting out how to support people to remain in work while managing a health condition.

This has been worked up and agreed with health professionals and DHSC to ensure these changes deliver benefits for both patients and clinicians. The existing guidance for employers and patients has also been updated.

This significant change recognises the importance of supporting people to remain in work, while managing a health condition by providing advice to an employer about how to support someone. By leveraging the expertise of a wider range of healthcare professionals, the change also streamlines the process.

The change, which applies across England, Scotland and Wales and is being mirrored in Northern Ireland, will support and empower better conversations about work and health between employers and staff by making it easier to get advice certified by the most relevant healthcare professional.

It will also improve a patient’s experience and reduce pressure on doctors, as people will no longer have to be sent to a doctor to have the fit note signed when seeing and receiving treatment from an alternative professional for their health condition.

The change is being delivered in GP surgeries, hospital and other NHS settings where healthcare professionals delivering NHS services will have access to the new fit note form.

Fit notes provide evidence to employers about a person’s absence and any relevant advice on how to support their employees to remain in or return to work. They also provide evidence for claims to benefits for those who are out of work.

Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Chloe Smith MP said:

Having a health condition doesn’t have to take you out of a job. This change will make it easier for people and employers to get the advice they need so people can stay in work, whilst also reducing bureaucracy and freeing up doctors’ time.

Too often we see people being faced with unnecessary challenges to get a fit note. More professionals being able to offer this vital service will speed up the process and support people to return to or remain in work.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid MP said:

Slashing unnecessary bureaucracy is key to ensuring more patients can see their GP quickly and get the care they need as we bust the Covid backlogs.

That’s why we have introduced these powers to ensure certifying fit notes can be carried out by other healthcare professionals – helping to relieve pressures on GPs so they can focus on patients and deliver an extra 50 million appointments a year by 2024.

Director of Practice and Development at Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Ashley James said:

Physiotherapists are already at the forefront of patient care but these new powers to certify fit notes will ensure a more efficient process to support patients’ return to work.

Physiotherapist expertise is often key in having health and work conversations and providing effective rehabilitation throughout the return to work journey. Getting treatment and support right can help patients remain in work and manage conditions effectively or return to work in a timely manner.

These new measures remove the need for a separate appointment with a GP. This can only be good news for patients as well as help to take some pressure off primary care services.

Chair of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section for Work Dr Jain Holmes said:

This new opportunity will mean more people can get expert advice from occupational therapists. The profession is keen to show how we identify work and health needs and then provide tailored advice for the people we see.

As Chair of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section for Work, we will be providing support to help the transition to this change which will benefit people’s everyday working lives.

The changes to the fit note deliver on commitments made last year to reduce ill health related job loss in the government’s Health is Everyone’s Business consultation response.

Additional information

• Regulations were laid on 10 June 2022 to allow more healthcare professionals to certify fit notes in addition to doctors. These professions are nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists, and physiotherapists. The changes came into effect on 1 July 2022.
• Updated guidance for healthcare professionals, employers and patients will be published on 1 July 2022 on gov.uk.
• Fit notes can only be issued following an assessment of a person’s fitness for work.
• This follows legislation changes in April 2022 which removed the need for fit notes to be signed in ink. This change made it possible for eligible healthcare professionals to certify fit notes digitally and also for patients to receive their fit note via digital channels (where GP IT systems support this).
• Fit notes provide evidence of an absence of more than 7 days.

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