Following an investigation by the Official Receiver, the Insolvency Service, acting for the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has applied to the High Court for director disqualification orders against eight directors and former directors of Carillion.

An Insolvency Service spokesperson said:

We can confirm that on 12 January 2021 the Insolvency Service, acting on behalf of Secretary of State, applied for director disqualification orders against eight directors and former directors of Carillion. The application was made in the public interest.

• Officials at the Insolvency Service issued the proceedings on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in accordance with his powers under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Pending the outcome of the proceedings, we cannot comment further.
• Carillion plc was wound up by the court on 15 January 2018 and the Official Receiver was appointed as the Liquidator. The Official Receiver has a duty to investigate the causes of the failure and the promotion, formation, business, dealings and affairs of a company which has been wound up by the court.
• Following a report about the conduct of each director submitted by the Official Receiver, who is a statutory office holder and officer of the court within the Insolvency Service, the Secretary of State determined it to be expedient in the public interest that a court makes an order disqualifying the directors on the grounds that their conduct, whilst acting as a director of Carillion, makes them unfit to be concerned in the management of a company
• Persons subject to a disqualification orders and disqualification undertakings are bound by a range of restrictions, including not being able to be a director of any company registered in the UK or an overseas company that has connections with the UK and being involved in the promotion, formation or management a company. Further guidance on GOV.UK

We are conducting a discovery phase on our applications service – which covers National Infrastructure and Common Land. This is a great opportunity to influence how the service should be delivered in the future.

A discovery is the first phase in a Government Digital Service (GDS) defined process to create user-centred public services.

In a discovery, we focus on understanding the problem that needs to be solved from a customer perspective. One way we are doing this is running user research with the various users of our applications service.

We are looking for people to take part in user research over January and February 2021 who are either: • National Infrastructure Project applicants (or their advisers) • Common Land Project applicants (or their advisers) • Anyone involved as an Interested Party in either a National Infrastructure or Common Land application(s) – or their advisers. Ideally the application you’ve been involved with should have been decided up to 5 years ago, and be closed.

You can register your interest if you’d like to take part in our research.

Mal Singh is to step down as our Chief Finance Officer, and Executive Board director, from 31 March 2021 to take up a new role in the wider DWP family.

The process to appoint Mal’s replacement as Chief Finance Officer is now underway.

Jeremy Moore, Chair of the BPDTS Board, when talking about the appointment said:

I’m sure I speak on behalf of the Board, and our employees, in thanking Mal for the huge role he’s played in the company’s success since taking over a Chief Finance Officer back in April 2019. I, and we, wish him the very best for the future as he takes up a new role.

Mal, talking about his time with BPDTS said:

It has been a privilege and an honour to serve as the BPDTS CFO. I’ve worked with an outstanding Board, Executive Team and amazingly talented colleagues. The company has gone from strength to strength and I have seen first-hand how a creating a superb culture has contributed to our success