Following an Insolvency Service investigation, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Alan Verinder effective from 31 October 2017.

Disqualification undertakings were also accepted from Ross Verinder, Graham Rummens and Carol Verinder who were also directors of the company, for allowing Alan Verinder to increase the debt he owed to the company when the company was unable to pay its debts owed to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Ross Verinder, a licensed financial advisor, and Graham Rummens, a chartered certified accountant, have been disqualified for a period of three years each which will take effect on 24 November 2017. Carol Verinder has been disqualified for a period of two years with effect from 31 October 2017.

V&AES Limited operated as a payroll company for subcontractors working for third party companies. As such it was paid gross sums in bulk by third party companies and would be responsible for deducting PAYE from their employees and paying it to HMRC on their behalf. It had minimal tax liabilities in respect of its own employees but significant amounts due in respect of the sub contractors.

The Insolvency Service’s investigation found that from 1 September 2012, when V&AES Limited was unable to pay its debts to HMRC as and when due until 13 February 2014 when the company went into liquidation, Alan Verinder caused the company to make payments to directors and connected businesses of £406,240 and therefore breached his duty to act in the best interests of the company by increasing his borrowings from the company from £22,125 to £163,091.

During this time debts owed to HMRC increased from £53,974 to £395,274.

As a result, the payments to the directors and connected businesses were at the risk of HMRC.

In June 2016 Alan Verinder paid £210,000 to the liquidator of V&AES in full and final settlement of his director’s loan account and the payments that had been made to connected businesses.

Robert Clarke, Head of Insolvent Investigations North at the Insolvency Service, said:

Directors who put their own personal financial interests above those of creditors damage confidence in doing business and are corrosive to the health of the local economy.

These bans should serve as a warning to other directors tempted to help themselves first; you have a duty to your creditors and if you neglect this duty you could be investigated by the Insolvency Service and lose the privilege of limited liability trading.

Alan Lovell Verinder’s date of birth is 8 September 1948 and he resides in Merseyside.

Carol Ann Verinder’s date of birth is 19 November 1949 and she resides in Merseyside.

Ross Kenneth Verinder’s date of birth is 11 March 1978 and he resides in Merseyside.

Graham John Rummens’ date of birth is 4 February 1978 and he resides in Merseyside.

V&AES Limited (CRO No. 07513460), formerly known as Verinder & Associates Employee Services Limited until 29 November 2013, was incorporated on 2 February 2011 and latterly traded from 1-3 Crosby Road South, Waterloo, Liverpool, Merseyside, L22 1RG.

Alan Verinder was a director from 2 February 2011 until 13 February 2014.

Carol Verinder was a director from 2 February 2011 until 13 February 2014.

Ross Verinder was a director from 2 February 2011 until 29 November 2013.

Graham Rummens was a director from 2 February 2011 until 29 November 2013.

The company went into voluntary liquidation on 13 February 2014 with an estimated deficiency of £201,980.

On 10 October 2017 the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Alan Verinder, effective from 31 October 2017, for a period of four and a half years. The matters of unfitness, which Alan Verinder did not dispute in the disqualification undertaking were that from at the latest 01 September 2012 when V&AES was unable to pay its liabilities to HM Revenue and Customs as and when due, Alan Verinder breached his fiduciary duty by allowing an overdrawn director’s loan account to increase from £22,125 to £163,091 while liabilities to HMRC increased from £53,974 to £395,274

On 10 October 2017 the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Carol Verinder, effective from 31 October 2017 for a period of 2 years. The matters of unfitness, which Carol Verinder did not dispute in the Disqualification Undertaking, were that from at the latest 01 September 2012 when V&AES was unable to pay its liabilities to HM Revenue and Customs as and when due, Carol Verinder breached her fiduciary duty by allowing an overdrawn director’s loan account to increase from £22,125 to £163,091 while liabilities to HMRC increased from £53,974 to £395,274.

On 3 November 2017 the Secretary of State accepted disqualification undertakings from Ross Verinder and Graham Rummens, effective from 24 November 2017 for a period of 3 years each. The matters of unfitness, which Ross Verinder and Graham Rummens did not dispute in the disqualification undertakings, were that they relied upon the Managing Director of V & AES who was principally involved in the day to day management, but accept that they failed to take sufficient steps, and as a result from at the latest 1 September 2012 when V & AES was unable to pay its liabilities to HMRC as and when due until 29 November 2013 when they resigned as directors, they breached their fiduciary duties by allowing an overdrawn Director’s Loan Account to increase from £22,125 to £204,424 while liabilities payable to HMRC increased from £53,974 to £247,932.

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

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.

The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Professor Keith McNeil, Chief Clinical Information Officer for Health and Care, on his review of Public Health England’s data collection.

It is appalling that the UN Joint Investigative Mechanism has been closed down. We continue to need expert impartial and independent investigations into allegations of chemical attacks in Syria.

Last year the investigators found that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against its people on no fewer than three occasions. In October, they concluded that the regime used the deadly nerve agent sarin in Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April this year, and that Daesh used sulphur mustard for a second time in 2016.

Russia’s veto at the UN Security Council ends the Joint Investigative Mechanism. It can no longer help identify those responsible for use of chemical weapons in Syria. Russia’s response to four confirmed chemical attacks by the Syrian regime and two by Daesh is to shut down further investigation.

The United Kingdom will not let the end of the Joint Investigative Mechanism stop work with international partners to identify and hold accountable those responsible for using chemical weapons.

The money will go to centres in Nottingham, Leicester and Durham, which support entrepreneurs and small companies in the space industry.

The UK Space Agency is working with UK industry to deliver world-class science innovation support, in line with the Government’s Industrial Strategy, which emphasises the importance of science, innovation and skills.

Helen Roberts, Regional Growth Manager at the UK Space Agency, said:

We are delighted to award this additional financial support to these three incubators which have successfully supported more than 30 new and innovative space companies across the regions, providing valuable jobs to the UK. The feedback from the supported companies has been extremely positive and the additional funding from the UK Space Agency will be used to stimulate further opportunities for start-ups by these experienced incubators.

Grants of £30,000 each have been given to the University of Nottingham Innovation Park (UNIP), Leicester Dock and Business Durham. The three centres were initially given £50,000 each from the UK Space Agency in 2016 and have supported 32 new companies since then.

The announcement comes during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2017, which started on Monday and runs until 19 November. GEW involves 164 countries and network of more than 17,000 partner organizations. There are hundreds of events taking place across the UK and thousands more around the world.

The space sector is a UK success story, underpinning industries worth more than £250 billion to the UK economy, with ambitious plans to achieve 10% of the global space market by 2030. Much of this growth is expected to come from companies using space-derived data or services in a broad range of different sectors.

The UK Space Agency supports 11 business incubators across the UK. They are:

• Leicester Dock
• Business Durham
• University of Nottingham Innovation Park (UNIP)
• STEP Space Business Incubation, Daresbury
• ESA BIC, Harwell
• Glyndwr Innovations, North Wales
• Loughborough University Space Incubator
• National Oceanography Centre’s Marine Robotics Innovation Centre & the University of Portsmouth’s Innovation Space
• SETsquared, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey
• Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications, Glasgow
• South West Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications

For more information and contact details for each business incubator, visit the SetSquared website.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns will visit North Wales today (17 November 2017) to welcome global healthcare company Ipsen’s £22million investment at its Wrexham site.

The announcement cements the organisation’s commitment to the UK healthcare arena and further underlines Wales’ growing reputation as a centre of excellence for life sciences.

Ipsen is the third biggest employer in the area with approximately 400 employees. Today’s announcement will see its Wrexham footprint expand to increase research and manufacturing capacity with new packing line capability and a new office environment.

Life sciences is one of Wales’ fastest growing sectors. It has a turnover of around £2 billion and employs around 11,000 people in over 350 companies.

The UK’s strengths in science, research and innovation are also a major focus of the government’s industrial strategy.

The Secretary of State will also tour global medical products and technologies company ConvaTec in Deeside.

Welcoming the announcement Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

Ipsen is one of North Wales’ great success stories. Their continued expansion is a clear demonstration of the significant contribution life sciences and innovation in these specialist areas make to the region and to the Welsh economy.

The continued growth of Ipsen’s presence in Wrexham demonstrates its commitment to North Wales and to its skilled workforce. These are exciting times for the company and for the sector in Wales as a whole as we look to establish ourselves as a world class hub of excellence in life sciences research and development.

Ipsen sell products in 115 countries worldwide, has operated in Wrexham since 1995, with more than 25 years of experience, manufacturing and development of innovative specialty care products. The site at Wrexham produces one of Ipsen’s key strategic products Dysport®, which is approved in 80 countries and in several therapeutic indications such as cerebral palsy, spasticity and cervical dystonia.

Aidan Murphy, Senior Vice President, Biotech Development and Manufacturing at Ipsne said:

We are delighted by today’s announcement as we take important strides in the accelerated expansion programme underway at Wrexham which will see production grow significantly to reflect demand and company ambition.

The manufacture of Dysport® remains a highly complex process, difficult to replicate and utilises technology that isolates the product, not only from the environment, but the people working in the area. We are fortunate to work with a group of highly-skilled individuals across all parts of the organisation at Wrexham and know that this expansion reinforces the site’s position as a state-of-the-art medicine manufacturing facility located here in the UK.

Ewan McDowall, General Manager Ipsen UK & Ireland, commented on the continued investment in the UK saying,

The UK remains a pioneer of healthcare, life sciences and technology, and Ipsen will continue to invest and support UK growth. Brexit has brought a period of uncertainty, however Ipsen remain confident that the UK will remain an important location for us across research, development, manufacturing and patients’ access to medicines.

Alun Cairns added:

Ipsen is an important inward investor in Wales. As we prepare to leave the EU, this government is committed through our Industrial Strategy to ensuring the UK remains one of the best places in the world to do business.