A Manchester man has been jailed for 12 months for illegally dumping 100 tonnes of pungent waste on the site of The Kingfisher Special School, Oldham. The school was left with a £22,197 bill to remove the waste. The Environment Agency brought the case against Mr Francis Anthony Heaton after he was arrested by Greater Manchester Police for dumping processed household waste (Trommel fines) on land used as a car park at the school. Heaton pleaded guilty on 18 December 2018 at Tameside Magistrates Court.

A representative for the special school confirmed to the police that the school gates had been cut and removed to allow access for the waste to be deposited. The pupils, some with life limiting conditions, had their education disrupted for two weeks due to the waste. The children were unable to use the outdoor education facilities due to an insect infestation in the waste and the risk to the pupils from the infestation. The Kingfisher Special School was helped by Oldham Council to remove the waste, however the cost of the waste removal will fall to the school to pay that is the equivalent to the cost of a teaching assistant’s annual salary or the school’s annual budget for its learning resources.

In April 2018 Mr Heaton was fined at Tameside Magistrates for driving the vehicle without the correct driving licence, with false plates, no insurance or a valid MOT certificate and had his driving licence endorsed with penalty points. Greater Manchester Police seized the vehicle and following the statutory period the vehicle was crushed as no owner claimed the vehicle or made a claim for it.

Mark Easedale, Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency said:

This case demonstrates how seriously the EA takes illegal waste crime. We take robust enforcement action against those who deliberately ignore the law to protect communities and the environment.

Heaton put the welfare of the pupils at risk and disrupted their education. This case is particularly disturbing as the Kingfisher Special School were made to pay to clear the waste.

Waste crime damages the environment, endangers communities and undermines legitimate business. If you have any suspicions that waste is being deposited on your land please contact the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 or the police as soon as possible.

In mitigation Mr Heaton’s barrister told the court that he accepts there was damage to the community and he pleaded guilty on the day of his trial. Judge Lawton told the court he believed Mr Heaton knew full well what he was doing and that it was a deliberate act.

Last year, the Environment Agency closed over 800 illegal waste sites, more than 2 a day. The EA were also granted new powers to combat waste crime. The regulator now has the authority to lock up illegal waste sites and block access to prevent waste piling up and posing a risk to the environment.

To report waste crime, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. You can call the Environment Agency on 0370 850 6506 to find out how to responsibly manage any waste your business produces or visit gov.uk/managing-your-waste-an-overview/overview.

ENDS

By Cassie Williams, independent member since 2016

I joined the Parole Board in 2016 and have discovered so much more about risk assessments, psychology, people and myself than I thought would come from this role. I applied to become a member as I was looking for a new challenge that worked around my busy family life as a mum to 3 young daughters, and professional commitments as a barrister. It isn’t always easy, but the ability to plan my Parole Board commitments some months ahead allows me to take on as much or as little work as I want.

Sometimes I undertake 3 or 4 oral hearings in a week, where I actively question professionals and prisoners, sometimes I work from home carrying out paper assessments to determine whether a case needs an oral hearing, whether I can direct release, or make no direction for release of a prisoner. I also attend meetings at headquarters both in person and via skype.

The work is challenging in terms of the materials you have to consider and the responsibility of the decisions, but I’ve found my colleagues supportive and helpful. I’ve gained a great deal from members from different professional backgrounds and can honestly say that I find it to be a very rewarding role. As well as my normal Parole Board work, I am involved in developing and implementing policy, practice observations and much more.

The development of the membership is an ongoing priority for the Parole Board and so the opportunity is there to take on additional roles, qualify as a Chair and participate in events and training.

Under the plans, the military will provide operational ration packs to FareShare, a charity who distributes food to nearly 10,000 UK charities, including community groups, homeless hostels and lunch groups for the elderly.

The ration packs are enough to sustain ten soldiers for a 24 hour period and include items for breakfast, lunch and dinner, such as porridge, sausages, baked beans, pasta and rice. The range of ingredients enables the preparation of nutritionally balanced meals and provides 4000 calories to sustain an active person over a 24 hour period.

Minister for Defence People and Veterans Tobias Ellwood said:

Ration packs help provide nutritionally balanced meals to our armed forces on operations around the world. But charity begins at home, and I’m pleased our partnership with FareShare will make sure no food goes to waste.

FareShare does a fantastic job redistributing food across the country and I’m proud the military can support communities in this way.

The ration packs donated by the MOD will help the recipient charities save on food bills, allowing them re-invest money into essential support programmes.

Around 2 million ration packs are used by the military every year, with less than 1% of the MOD’s stock requiring disposal. This scheme means that when it becomes clear a batch of ration packs can’t be used, there is an opportunity to gift to those in need and ensure that any good food does not go to waste.

The MOD is committed to keeping disposals to an absolute minimum, and this scheme will help reduce these even further.

The operational ration pack provides a two course breakfast, lunch and a three course dinner, as well as a number of drinks, both hot and cold.

Once transferred from the MOD, FareShare will distribute them to their UK-wide charity network.

Roger West, Director Logistic Delivery Operating Centre at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the MOD’s procurement organisation, said:

I am delighted to be able to provide support for this important issue.

This solution will deliver food products where they are needed while also minimising waste. Our Corporate Social Responsibility is important to us and we continue to explore ways to do more; this is the right thing to do.

The Charity Commission has today published a report of its statutory inquiry into The Cup Trust, a charity involved in a complex tax avoidance scheme, which, if successful, would have resulted in the charity benefiting from gift aid payments from HMRC.

The report details the Commission’s findings as to how the tax avoidance scheme was designed to operate, who stood to benefit from it, and its conclusions as to the actions and omissions of the charity’s corporate trustee.

The inquiry concludes that the charity’s trustee, Mountstar Limited, is responsible for “clear mismanagement and misconduct” and failed to fulfil its legal duties as trustee in entering the charity into the scheme and managing its participation in the scheme.

The report also details failings to address or manage serious conflicts of interest arising from relationships between the corporate trustee and individuals who devised the tax avoidance scheme and had benefited from entering the charity into it and advertising it to tax payers.

During the course of the inquiry, the Commission used its new powers to disqualify both the corporate trustee, and three individuals who served as directors of the corporate trustee, from charity trusteeship under section 181 of the Charities Act.

Harvey Grenville, Head of Investigations at the Charity Commission, said:

Our inquiry demonstrates beyond doubt that The Cup Trust was misused by the corporate trustee to assist higher-rate tax payers in reducing their tax bills, and earning individuals connected to the scheme lucrative fees. Those personal benefits were far more than incidental and the fact that the charity would, had the scheme been accepted by HMRC, have benefited from gift aid, does not legitimise these intentions or actions.

Charities rely on the public’s goodwill in supporting tax benefits designed to encourage genuine charitable donations. It is right that we take robust regulatory action where trustees’ actions abuse that goodwill. It is clear that this charity, through its involvement in an attempted tax avoidance scheme, undermined public trust in charity generally. The Commission has learnt from this case: over recent years, we have significantly strengthened our approach to identifying and dealing with risks facing charities, have improved our pre- and post-registration processes and are more proactive and robust in using our legal powers to ensure trustees comply with their legal duties and responsibilities.

We have also successfully called for our legal powers to be strengthened to help us better disrupt and stop the abuse and mismanagement of charities. Some of the new powers we asked for and are using are as a direct result of this case.

The Commission first investigated The Cup Trust in 2010, following concerns reported to it about the charity’s participation in a tax avoidance scheme. The statutory inquiry was launched in 2013, when the charity’s trustee failed to provide information to HMRC regarding its gift aid claims. The regulator then immediately appointed an interim manager (IM), granting the IM all the powers of trusteeship and excluding Mountstar from decision making at the charity.

The report sets out why the inquiry has taken 5 years to conclude, pointing to extraordinary complexity, various legal challenges by the corporate trustee to the Commission’s inquiry and its use of legal powers, and the need for the IM appointed to seek High Court approval to withdraw the charity’s gift aid applications. The report also makes clear that the publication of the report was delayed due to the diversion of Commission resources in February 2018 to deal with safeguarding matters. The report makes clear that no tax reliefs were ever granted by HMRC to the charity.

The full inquiry report is available on GOV.UK.

Notes to editors

1. The Commission does not administer gift aid: Whether a charity or its donors are lawfully able to claim tax relief and the issue of whether a tax scheme is legitimate or not is determined by HMRC.
2. The Commission’s role as charity regulator focuses on ensuring that trustees discharge their legal duties as charity trustees in managing and administering the charity properly and responsibly. Where issues are raised about taxation matters or concerns about the operation of a charity being examined by other regulators, the Commission considers whether they indicate misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity and whether it needs to protect charity property.
3. In the case of the scheme that The Cup Trust entered into, no gift aid payments were ever made by HMRC to the charity.
4. The individuals who acted as directors of Mountstar and have been disqualified from charity trusteeship are Matthew Jenner, Darren Stones and Anthony Mehigan. Their names are on the Commission’s register of disqualified and removed charity trustees.
5. The Commission has published guidance on its policy on charity tax reliefs.

• Grimsby, Thames Estuary, Plymouth, Wakefield and Worcester will receive millions of pounds of funding to invest in culture
• Investment will support economic growth and create more than 1,300 new jobs across the country
• This funding forms part of the Creative Industries Sector Deal to help the country’s world-leading cultural and creative businesses thrive

Five locations across England will receive a share of £20 million to invest in local culture, heritage and creative industries and help drive economic growth, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright announced today.

In the first government investment of its kind, Grimsby, the Thames Estuary, Plymouth, Wakefield and Worcester will use the funding on local cultural plans which are tailored to the strengths and needs of each area.

It is expected that the funding will create over 1,300 new jobs, benefit 2,000 people through skills training, and support more than 700 businesses. Through match-funding, an additional £17.5 million will be invested across the five locations.

The Cultural Development Fund (CDF) has been launched by the Government to use investment in heritage, culture and creativity as a catalyst for regeneration. Each area has designed plans to strengthen the local arts sector, increase cultural access and provide greater opportunity for people to forge creative careers.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said:

Creativity, arts and heritage make our towns and cities unique and our communities better places to live.

The Cultural Development Fund will support tailored local plans that use culture to create jobs, boost tourism and ultimately regenerate communities.

This is an incredible opportunity that will not only help people build careers in the arts and culture locally but also boost wider investment and diversify the creative economy.

The Culture Secretary will confirm the new funding as part of a major speech in Coventry today – the next UK City of Culture in 2021 – on the value of culture to the individual, communities and the nation as a whole.

The CDF, announced in the Creative Industries Sector Deal last year, marks a step change in how the Government is investing in culture. It aims to increase access to arts, heritage and the creative industries while also boosting the local economy by attracting more visitors to each area and supporting the growth of new businesses.

It forms part of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy which has seen more than £150 million jointly invested by Government and industry through the creative industries sector deal to help cultural and creative businesses across Britain thrive and consolidate the country’s position as a global creative and cultural powerhouse.

The Fund was launched off the back of the success of Hull as UK City of Culture 2017. Hull provided further evidence of how targeted investment in culture can deliver a significant economic boost to an area, with over £3 billion of investment and more than 800 new jobs created in the city in the four years since it was awarded the title in 2013.

Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said:

“At the Arts Council we believe that arts, culture and creativity have the power to transform people’s lives and the places where they live. It’s been a pleasure to work with DCMS to deliver the Cultural Development Fund, which makes significant investment across the arts, heritage and creative industries to bring about real change – and gives us the opportunity to demonstrate and quantify the impact that arts and culture have on economic growth and productivity in urban areas.”

Tim Davie, co-chair of the Creative Industries Council said:

I welcome today’s announcement, which marks another important step in the implementation of the Sector Deal agreed between the Creative Industries Council and Government. These awards highlight the extent to which the creative industries are now a key part of local economies all over England and should enable them to grow further.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

For further information please contact the DCMS Press Office on 020 7211 2210.

The Cultural Development Fund is administered by Arts Council England (ACE).

Details of the winning bids:

Wakefield:

Wakefield will receive more than £4.4 million . Bringing together major and respected cultural organisations including Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Hepworth Wakefield, this project will turn Wakefield into an internationally renowned location promoting our world-class creative industries.

Grimsby:

Grimsby will receive £3.2 million. The bid will deliver a new programme of international events and public art to revive the town centre, provide a business support programme for local creative businesses and create new production facilities in the town’s historic centre.

Plymouth:

Plymouth will receive £3.5 million to develop the use of immersive and digital technologies to drive growth in the local creative economy and bring to life the cultural programme to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower ship’s pioneering voyage.

Thames Estuary:

The Thames Estuary will receive £4.3 million to help develop a globally-significant creative production corridor. Through a programme of cultural R&D, training and mentoring for local organisations, and new arts commissioning, a consortium of partners will develop a well-connected creative cluster.

Worcester:

Worcester will receive £3 million to regenerate the iconic railway arches, providing affordable creative workspaces and business support. The bid will provide support for a festivals programme helping to diversify the local cultural offering and will retain local creative graduates to the city.