This letter is written by Health Minister Edward Argar MP, on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

It tells industry and the health and social care sector what the UK–EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement means for health and social care. It reinforces that this does not remove any of the requirements to act now to prepare for new customs and border arrangements when the UK leaves the single market and customs union.

Surinder Singh (62), from Leicester, was the director of Lady Fashion (UK) Ltd. Trading from premises in Leicester, the company was incorporated in September 2017 and manufactured women’s clothing.

The company, however, was placed into compulsory liquidation in July 2019 after ceasing trading and failing to pay a £98,000 tax bill which had accumulated from April 2018.

The Official Receiver was appointed Liquidator of Lady Fashion (UK) and investigated Surinder Singh’s conduct as director of the company.

It was found that Surinder Singh had failed to ensure Lady Fashion kept accounting records. The director had also withdrawn £180,000 in cash from the company accounts between November 2017 and March 2019 and could not explain the reasons for the withdrawals to the Official Receiver.

Following the investigation, Surinder Singh has been banned from acting as a company director for a period of six years. He did not dispute that he failed to ensure Lady Fashion maintained and/or preserved adequate accounting records and that the company traded to the detriment of the tax authorities.

Surinder Singh signed the undertaking on 1 December before it came into effect on 22 December.

Robert Clarke, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Surinder Singh tried to cloak his actions through a lack of records and attempted to gain an unfair competitive advantage by not paying the tax due.

Directors have a clear obligation to make sure they maintain full and accurate records for their business, and we will take robust action against those who fail to maintain these required standards, as this case shows.

Surinder Singh is from Leicester and his date of birth is June 1958.

Lady Fashion (UK) Ltd (Company number 10975693)

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 restrictions.

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

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

The Government has today accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorise Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use. This follows rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, which has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will also publish its latest advice for the priority groups to receive this vaccine.

The NHS has a clear vaccine delivery plan and decades of experience in delivering large scale vaccination programmes. It has already vaccinated hundreds of thousands of patients with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and its roll out will continue. Now the NHS will begin putting their extensive preparations into action to roll out the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine.

Throughout this global pandemic we have always been guided by the latest scientific advice. Having studied evidence on both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines, the JCVI has advised the priority should be to give as many people in at-risk groups their first dose, rather than providing the required two doses in as short a time as possible.

Everyone will still receive their second dose and this will be within 12 weeks of their first. The second dose completes the course and is important for longer term protection.

From today the NHS across the UK will prioritise giving the first dose of the vaccine to those in the most high-risk groups. With two vaccines now approved, we will be able to vaccinate a greater number of people who are at highest risk, protecting them from the disease and reducing mortality and hospitalisation.

The JCVI’s independent advice is that this approach will maximise the benefits of both vaccines. It will ensure that more at-risk people are able to get meaningful protection from a vaccine in the coming weeks and months, reducing deaths and starting to ease pressure on our NHS.

To aid the success of the vaccination programme, it is vital everyone continues to play their part, abides by the restrictions in their area and remembers hands, face, space so we can suppress this virus and allow the NHS to do its work without being overwhelmed.

Further details will be set out shortly.

• New UN data reveals humanitarian crises are worsening around the world, with 235 million people expected to be in need of urgent assistance compared to 175 million people at the start of 2020.
• The UK is releasing an extra £47 million of aid to immediately provide food, nutrition, water and shelter for vulnerable families in nine countries and regions.
• The UK is also lobbying international donors to provide more funding and working to ensure conflict parties allow humanitarian access for aid workers and ensure the protection of civilians.

The UK is releasing new emergency aid to help over 1.3 million vulnerable people in some of the world’s most dangerous places, who face daily threats of starvation, conflict and coronavirus.

Life-saving food, nutrition, water, childhood vaccinations and shelter will urgently help families caught in some of the largest humanitarian crises, including across the Sahel, Syria, South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Mozambique.

Humanitarian crises are getting worse according to UN data published earlier this month, compounded by the pandemic, with 235 million people expected to be in need of urgent assistance next year compared to 175 million people at the start of 2020.

The UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)’s survey also shows that there are people in South Sudan and Yemen living in famine-like conditions today.

In September the Foreign Secretary announced a Call to Action to prevent famine, and appointed Nick Dyer as the UK Special Envoy on Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs to drive this effort. Today’s extra aid forms part of the UK’s continued leadership on addressing this global crisis.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

Hundreds of millions of people living in the world’s largest humanitarian crises are struggling to survive, threatened by conflict, starvation and coronavirus.

This extra emergency UK aid will mean people can feed their families and prevent these crises from escalating into widespread famine. We hope to see other donors step up to the plate with some extra funding to prevent these global crises getting worse.

The extra UK aid announced today will help continue momentum and pressure other donors to step up with additional financing.

The UK has been sounding the alarm on this growing threat to millions of lives – with the dire situation in conflict and fragile states being exacerbated by economic recession, coronavirus and climate change. This is rapidly increasing the number of people in desperate need and more people than ever are going hungry.

The UK is combining its humanitarian expertise with its diplomatic power to build back stronger from coronavirus. We are using our seat on the UN Security Council to call for life-saving humanitarian access for everyone who needs it and hold countries to account on their international legal obligations to allow aid workers to operate impartially in conflict zones and support the protection of civilians.