Virginijus Narutis, 50, of Foden Road, Birmingham, and 51-year-old Jevgenijs Rumjaceus, of Dora Street, Walsall, were both charged with fishing without a rod licence and taking, destroying or attempting to destroy or take fish from a private fishing pool or place with private fishing rights.

The case against Narutis was proved in his absence and he was fined £345 in total, while Rumjaceus pleaded guilty and was fined £500. They were both ordered to pay costs and victim surcharge totalling £157.47.

Mihails Rumjaceus, 44, of Talke Road, Walsall, pleaded guilty to wilful obstruction of a fisheries bailiff, fishing without a licence and failing to give his name and address to the bailiff. He was fined £375 and ordered to pay costs and victim surcharge totalling £280.

Cheltenham magistrates heard on Monday (25 February 2019) that the 3 men were out fishing together at Mythe Pool, Tewkesbury on 28 July last year when they were caught. Magistrates granted an order for all the angling equipment the 3 men had to be forfeited.

Emma Boggis

Emma Boggis has spent over twenty years working in the public and not for profit sector. Her early career started in the British Army where she had operational tours in Northern Ireland and Kosovo. After a brief spell in Management Consultancy she joined the Civil Service and worked at the Office for Standards in Education and had two spells in the Cabinet Office including as head of the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Unit, set up after London 2012 to support Lord Coe as the Prime Minister’s Legacy Ambassador.

Prior to that she was also seconded to the Foreign Office as Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy in Madrid and served as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. Most recently Emma has moved into sports administration and is currently Chief Executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance which is the umbrella organisation for the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation and represents 320 members.

Emma is also the Senior Independent Director on the Board of the British Paralympic Association and a Trustee of the National Paralympic Heritage Trust, as well as a member of the NCVO’s Advisory Council. Emma is a keen sportswoman – with a number of marathons and triathlons under her belt along and she also enjoys cooking, reading and travelling often under pedal power.

Danielle Palmour

Danielle has been Director of Friends Provident Foundation since November 2004. Friends Provident Foundation is an independent charity, endowed by Friends Provident plc after the de-mutalisation of Friends Provident Life Office. The Foundation has an international reputation to innovative funding and investment practice and has been at the forefront of rethinking the role of philanthropic resources in the UK. Danielle has previously occupied senior policy and research roles throughout the non-governmental sector such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Law Society of England and Wales. She was previously a member of the Treasury’s Financial Inclusion Taskforce, the Civil Society Advisory Body of the Cabinet Office and the Financial Services Authority Financial Capability Steering Group. She is currently a board member of Big Society Capital, Civil Society Media, the Court of the University of York and a trustee of local York charities.

These roles are remunerated at a rate of £7,848 per annum. These appointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Emma Boggis and Danielle Palmour have made no such declarations.

Dexter Dalwood is a British artist whose work has been exhibited extensively in the UK, Europe, Asia and the United States. He studied at St Martins and the RCA and had a mid-career retrospective at Tate St Ives in 2010 for which he was nominated for the Turner Prize. His works are in numerous collections: Hamburger Bahnhof-Museum für Gegenwart (Germany), Tate Gallery (UK), The British Council Collection (UK) Kunsthaus Centre d’art Centre PasquArt, Biel, (Switzerland). He was the Tate Liaison Trustee between 2017 and 2019 and is a Professor of Fine Art and Design at Bath Spa University. He has an exhibition of his latest work at the Simon Lee gallery in London this March.

This role is not remunerated. This extension has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Dexter has made no such declaration.

Published 27 February 2019

DASA is working with the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) to encourage collaboration under the Metasurfaces for Defence and Security competition.

The ‘Showcasing Emerging Technologies’ Event, hosted by the KTN will bring together the UK metamaterials community, from across industry and academia.

As part of this event, suppliers funded under Phase 1 of the Metasurfaces competition will be delivering a short presentation on the work they are undertaking.

Although new funding will not be available at this event, Phase 2 of the DASA competition will be launching later this year and will be seeking to promote teaming between academia and industry (small or large) to develop the role of metasurfaces for years to come in fields such as signature management, sensing and communications.

This event therefore provides an exciting opportunity for both current and potential suppliers to meet a wide range of the metamaterials community.

To participate in this collaboration event please register by going to the Eventbrite page.

Please note that places for this event are limited and if the event is oversubscribed, we reserve the right to limit attendance if needed.

In July 2018, DASA launched Phase 1 of the Metasurfaces for defence and security competition.

Primarily funded by the Materials for Strategic Advantage programme in the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Phase 1 of this competition sought proposals to:

• maximise capabilities within limited platform space enabling technology integration into the difficult to use parts * platform
• unlock further benefits from signal processing software
• enable pan, multi- and hyper spectral system operation, and interoperability
• lead to long-term cost reduction through technology advances and eased and modular integration

Overall, 12 bids were successful with total funding of £883k awarded.

Phase 2 of the competition will be launching later this year and will be open to both new and existing suppliers.

Further details will be released on the DASA website.

If you have any queries, please do contact us at accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.

A-One+, who are Highways England’s main operations and maintenance supplier in Kent and Sussex have worked since July 2017 without any of its employees on the road network suffering a work-related injury.

Chris Sheppard, general manager at A-one+, said:

This is a remarkable achievement. These records don’t happen by chance. Every morning when our people go to work, they’re armed with the best safety equipment, training, processes, and support in the business.

Each year we look back at our performance, and we don’t just show a video or open a book. From the office to the field employees, the importance of safety and wellbeing is continually emphasized.

The introduction of staff champions, has also reinforced a zero tolerance of workplace dangers and this focussed time and attention has helped reinforce our commitment to safety with every employee.

Karen Davies, from Highways England, added:

Safety is Highways England’s top priority, and we congratulate A-One+ on reaching this milestone. Working on a high speed road is a high risk environment, but by keeping a relentless focus on safety and sharing safe working practices across our road network we look to minimise the risk to all our employees and contractors.

Highways England continue to lead the way in showing how to minimise this risk, to increase the safety of our staff and ensure that everyone goes home safely at the end of their shift. We will be sharing this practice and looking to see it replicated across our road network.

The last reportable incident within this operating area was in July 2017. Since then A-one+ have continued to work hard to improve safety awareness and preventing harm.

The team has managed to achieve this feat through:

• embedding culture through a Wellbeing, Improvement, Safety and Environmental Strategy known as WISHES
• increasing daily engagement between management and key staff members to address the challenges faced by the teams and counter complacency
• groups reviewing innovative practice and then sharing it with operatives, encouraging them to take ownership of their safety and best practice
• last year A-One+ carried out 3,345 inspections
• A-One+ has 9 safety champions across their depots
• launch of a bespoke web enabled safety observation app to prevent harm, where all observations such as near misses or improvement ideas are discussed and actioned on a weekly call attended by around 60 people including supply chain
• supplementing the app with a mental health section providing 24-hour mobile access to resources and support and a traffic management incursion section allowing safety trends to be analysed

Over the next five years Highways England plan to invest over £11 billion to modernise and maintain the network including a range of safety measures: upgrading junctions, removing bottlenecks, upgrading barriers and verges, and improved signage.

Road improvements under construction along the Kent Corridor also include creating a new junction on the M20 near Ashford, upgrading the M20 to a smart motorway between junctions 3 and 5 and work to improve the resilience of the M20 to cross channel disruption. In addition, detailed plans have been published to upgrade two junctions on the A2 and a new flyover for the M2 at junction 5 near Stockbury.

And in the longer term, a new Lower Thames Crossing – the biggest road project in a generation – will create a brand new link between Kent and Essex, spur growth and relieve the congestion at the Dartford Crossing.

Highways England has a target of reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on motorways and major A roads by 40 per cent within 10 years.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.