Court bans builder after failing to carry out building works

Daniel Eric Carter was the sole director of DC Building & Extensions Ltd, previously known as Carters Building Ltd. Incorporated in August 2017, the company provided building services for residential properties.

DC Building & Extensions Ltd, however, experienced trading difficulties throughout the life of the company and by May 2019, the building firm had entered into compulsory liquidation following a petition by one of its creditors.

The Official Receiver was appointed as Liquidator and the building firm’s insolvency triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service before investigators uncovered that DC Building & Extensions Ltd substantially abused its position.

Daniel Carter caused the building firm to take deposits and advance payments totalling close to £182,000 from 5 new customers. However, these customers were put at unreasonable risk as the building firm accepted their cash despite knowing it was insolvent

Further enquiries found that Daniel Carter caused the building firm to continue trading despite it being placed into liquidation by the court, he failed to disclose £35,000 of assets to the Official Receiver, and withdrew more than £25,000 from DC Building & Extensions Ltd’s account for personal use and to pay other third parties.

On 28 June 2022, a 10-year disqualification order was made against Daniel Carter in the High Court by Deputy Judge Greenwood, after he failed to file an acknowledgement of service or any evidence in response to the claim.

Daniel Carter was also ordered to pay costs of £6,649.

Mike Smith, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

When people paid deposits for building works they were doing so in good faith that their jobs would get completed. Daniel Carter, however, completely abused this trust when he caused the company to take clients’ money knowing there was substantial risk his firm couldn’t carry out the works he had promised.

Daniel Carter’s 10-year ban issued by the court is a substantial disqualification and should serve as a clear warning to other service providers that there are serious consequences if you take money from clients while insolvent with no likelihood of being able to complete projects.

Mr Daniel Eric Carter is from Romsey and his date of birth is November 1984.

DC Building & Extensions Ltd (Company number = 10934293)

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.

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New sports fund to tackle youth crime

  • £5 million to keep youths away from crime through sport
  • Charities bid to fund grass-roots activities teaching resilience and discipline
  • Part of largest youth justice funding package in a generation – making streets safer

Charities across England and Wales will be able to bid for new money to run programmes designed to steer young people away from law-breaking and into positive activities aimed at teaching teamwork, resilience and discipline.

While the number of young people in custody remains at a record low, statistics show around 80% of prolific adult offenders begin committing crimes as children – with the economic and social costs of reoffending costing the taxpayer an estimated £18 billion per year.

The new funding announced today builds on the government’s work to catch and prevent youth offending earlier than ever – helping to prevent these young people becoming involved in crime or anti-social behaviour.

Earlier this year, the Deputy Prime Minister announced the biggest funding package in a generation to tackle youth offending and cut crime, including £60 million for early intervention.

Today’s news also delivers on the commitment made in the Prisons Strategy White Paper – published in December last year – to introduce further measures for early intervention to cut youth crime, keep streets safe and create fewer victims.

Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, said:

I have seen first-hand how local sports projects can transform the lives of young people from tough backgrounds, getting them off the streets and teaching them life skills including teamwork, discipline, and resilience.

That’s why we’re investing £5 million in innovative sporting schemes up and down the country. It is part of our £300 million investment to support every council across England and Wales in catching and preventing youth offending earlier than ever, making our streets safer.

Charities and organisations wanting to deliver the sports programmes will be able to bid for the money – with hundreds of organisations expected to benefit from the funding.

The Ministry of Justice will work closely with its delivery partner – StreetGames and consortium partners the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice and the Sport for Development Coalition – to oversee the application process and delivery of the funding.

Stuart Felce, StreetGames Director of Sport and Community Safety, said:

We’re really excited to be partnering with the Sport for Development Coalition and the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice to deliver this ambitious new programme from the Ministry of Justice.

These funds are a vote of confidence in the power of sport to provide young people with a positive pathway and to help prevent them from falling into the criminal justice system.

Notes to editors

  • StreetGames and the Ministry of Justice will open the bidding competition on Monday 7 November. It will run until Monday 5 December.
  • More information on the Ministry of Justice’s previous Youth Justice funding announcement.
  • Two additional organisations with deliver the fund in conjunction with StreetGames and the Ministry of Justice. These are the Sport for Development Coalition, a membership organisation of partners who use sport to tackle key health and societal inequalities, and the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice, a charitable incorporated organisation that seeks to act as a change agent for the impact of sport in the Criminal Justice System.



Virgin Money teams up with UK Government to support more small businesses

Press release

Virgin Money has been accredited under UK Export Finance’s General Export Facility programme, allowing more businesses to access export finance support.

  • Virgin Money joins six existing lenders: HSBC, Santander, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Newable, making the General Export Facility even more accessible.
  • Oxfordshire based Westminster Group, which provides security equipment and services worldwide, is the first to benefit from a Virgin Money GEF.
  • Accreditation and deal announced during a UKEF-Virgin Money roundtable event during International Trade Week, discussing how both organisations can collaborate to support more SMEs in challenging economic times.

Samir Parkash, interim CEO of UKEF, has today announced that Virgin Money is the latest financial institution to be onboarded onto the General Export Facility (GEF), opening up access to financial support to their business customers.

GEF was launched in March 2021 and is designed to provide access to flexible finance for SME exporters.

It has been a game-changing product unlocking almost £250 million of working capital loans.

Samir Parkash, interim Chief Executive Officer at UK Export Finance, said:

The General Export Facility provides vital hands-on government support to British small businesses. Since it was introduced last year it has unlocked almost £250 million of working capital loans and underpinned (the liquidity requirements of) hundreds of small businesses.

We want more businesses to have access to this support from UKEF which is why I am delighted to announce that the clients of Virgin Money can now use the scheme.

Virgin Money and UKEF’s first collaboration under GEF is to provide support to the Oxfordshire based company Westminster Group. The backing has enabled the business to win new export contracts to supply X-Ray security machines to two international airports in Southern Africa.

Sharon Ellis, Head of Business Networks at Virgin Money, said:

Virgin Money is committed to supporting businesses with their growth ambitions at this key time for the economy.

We are pleased to be fully operational with the General Export Facility in conjunction with UKEF, as it enables us to increase access to financial support for businesses like Westminster Group, which is a great example of our relationship teams and trade finance specialists working together to find exactly the right solution to meet the customer’s needs.

To be eligible for support, businesses must meet several criteria, including showing that in any one of the last three financial years at least 20% of annual turnover has been made up of UK export sales, or that in each of the last three financial years at least 5% of annual turnover has been made up of UK export sales.

Published 4 November 2022




Secretary of State for NI provides update on election

Press release

Secretary of State for NI provides update on election

Following discussions with NI party leaders, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Chris Heaton-Harris MP, confirms an election will not take place in December.

Heaton-Harris said:

“At midnight on 28 October, I came under a duty to call an Assembly election. Since then, my engagement with the political parties has continued. I have had valuable conversations with people across Northern Ireland, including business and community representatives. I have listened to their sincere concerns about the impact and cost of an election at this time.

“I can now confirm that no Assembly election will take place in December, or ahead of the festive season. Current legislation requires me to name a date for an election to take place within 12 weeks of 28 October and next week, I will make a statement in Parliament to lay out my next steps.

“My objective, what the people of Northern Ireland deserve, is the restoration of a strong devolved government. My duty is to create the right environment for the parties in Northern Ireland to work together to restore the devolved institutions and deliver on crucial issues impacting Northern Ireland’s people.

“I do not take this duty lightly, nor do I overlook the very real concerns people have around their cost of living.”

Published 4 November 2022




New Business Secretary announces £95 million funding for super-materials of the future to boost UK growth

  • “R&D investment is way to turbocharge Britain’s growth” says new Business Secretary, as £95 million government funding announced to support research and development of advanced materials, critical to sectors including health and energy
  • funded projects include 3D bioprinting for use in tissue engineering, robots for plastic recycling and casing for nuclear reactors
  • funding cements UK’s standing as world-leader in advanced materials, with advanced materials-related activity contributing an estimated £14.4 billion in gross value added to the UK economy, equivalent to around £72,000 per employee (25% above the UK average)

Business Secretary Grant Shapps has today (Thursday 3 November) announced a £95 million boost to develop the super-materials of the future, supporting research and innovation in advanced materials at the Henry Royce Institute, headquartered in Manchester.

The Business Secretary visited the Royce Institute today, in what was his first official trip since assuming the role at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, allowing him to emphasise his strong belief that R&D investment is an important way in which to turbocharge UK economic growth, as well as celebrating Manchester’s position as an industrial powerhouse in the north of England.

The significant cash injection, awarded via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), cements the UK’s position as world-leader in advanced materials, and follows an initial £258 million government investment made over the course of 5 years.

Advanced materials (including biomaterials, smart materials and nano-engineered materials) possess unique properties enabling superior performance to their traditional counterparts, and are critical in a wide range of industries including health, transport, energy, electronics and utilities.

Activities supported by Royce and backed by government funding, have included 3D bioprinting for healthcare uses such as tissue engineering in regenerative medicine, turning waste materials into sustainable plastics, and new materials to enable quantum technologies.

One project also brought together academia and industry to advance knowledge of how Zirconium alloy insulation can improve the safety and cost-efficiency of highly radioactive fuel used in nuclear reactors as well as reducing their carbon emissions. This technology could be essential to the success of Britain’s future nuclear fleet, which the government aims to ramp up in order to boost energy security and slash bills.

Another project is revolutionising the way the UK’s 35,000 tonnes of annually imported titanium, 90% of which is turned into waste during manufacturing, can be reused to create lightweight alloys used for more efficient vehicles, cutting waste and reducing emissions.

The funding announced this week will advance the Institute’s work to support early-stage research in these materials by providing financial backing, access to research facilities, and opportunities for collaboration between businesses and researchers.

Speaking during a visit to the Institute, based at The University of Manchester, the Business Secretary said:

R&D investment is a critical way to turbocharge Britain’s growth. Growing an economy fit for the future means harnessing the full potential of advanced materials, making science fiction a reality by supporting projects from regenerative medicine to robots developing new recycling capabilities, right across the country – including here in the heart of Manchester.

Today’s £95 million investment will do just that, bringing together the brightest minds across our businesses and institutions to help future-proof sectors from healthcare to nuclear energy.

The Royce was formed in 2015 with a £235 million government investment through EPSRC. To date, the Royce has worked with 295 UK SMEs and industry users and facilitated 350 collaborations between academia and industry.

Its mission is to support the growth of globally recognised excellence in UK materials research, accelerating their use in commercial settings and delivering positive, real-world impacts for our society and economy.

Examples of projects supported so far include:

  • new fuel cladding for fuel in advanced reactors to improve safety, cost and efficiency
  • developing materials needed for quantum computing
  • using waste materials from the shellfish industries to develop bioplastics
  • an innovative method for manufacturing titanium that greatly uses machining waste
  • using computer simulations and robots to accelerate materials discovery in clean energy, sustainable materials and healthcare applications
  • the use of 3D bioprinting techniques in the development and manufacture of bioengineered systems and devices for application in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Drug Development and other more traditional areas of healthcare

Advanced Materials and Manufacturing were identified in the government’s Innovation Strategy as 1 of 7 technology families in which the UK has globally competitive R&D and industrial strength.

EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Dame Lynn Gladden said:

Advanced materials are crucial to driving growth across our key industries, from energy and transport to health, and ensuring they are sustainable for the future.

This funding will build on the success of the Henry Royce Institute so far, to unleash the potential of this transformative technology for the benefit of the economy and the environment.

Professor David Knowles, Royce CEO said:

Royce and its Partners across the UK, along with the advanced materials community, is very pleased to be able to confirm this Phase ll EPSRC funding.

Innovation in advanced materials underpins a wider range of our industrial sectors and is fundamental to our economic growth.

Our Partnership offers a unique combination of materials science expertise, state-of-the-art laboratories and fantastic collaboration spaces for the advanced materials community.

As we enter our Phase ll operations we are focused now, more than ever, on working with the community to identify the key challenges and opportunities ahead of us, and supporting the translation of innovative research into the viable products and systems needed to ensure a sustainable future for us all.

Based at the University of Manchester, Royce works across the UK’s regions with academic and industry partners including Johnson Matthey, Rolls-Royce, Siemens and Tata Steel, to stimulate innovation and the development of strong local economies able to compete globally.

Stephen Phipson CBE, Chief Executive of MakeUK said:

This is a welcome announcement which recognises the world class research which takes place at this facility.

If we are to maintain the UK’s position as a leader in research and development together with advanced manufacturing and materials then facilities like this should be at the forefront of industrial strategy.

UK businesses dependent on production or processing of materials, in which advanced materials play a significant role, employ a workforce of 2.5 million (source).

Additional quotes

Dr Giorgia Longobardi, CEO of Cambridge GaN Devices:

Access to the Royce High Voltage Characterisation Suite has brought us one step closer to achieving a significant share of the rapidly growing Gallium nitride (GaN) market, which is predicted to be in excess of $1 billion by 2026.

Bringing to market CGD green technology will help the world’s net-zero targets via the deployment of energy-efficient power electronics. The project also allowed the creation of several new roles and enabled the entry of CGD into the scale-up phase.

Dr Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, CEO of Nu Quantum:

We’ve been delighted with the project with Royce; access to their state-of-the-art facilities and know-how have accelerated our progress with quantum-photonic micro-structures to capture individual photons. These structures will form a valuable part of our quantum-networking solutions that will access the Quantum Computing market, estimated to be worth between $450 billion to $850 billion at maturity. The project has also helped unlock potential early revenue opportunities.

Richard Price, Chief Technology Officer, PragmatIC:

PragmatIC worked with the Royce SMI Hub on an important collaborative research project, on the end-of-life recycling options for our FlexIC-incorporated Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, and to conduct a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of a typical application. The project, including a research secondment for Sustainability Lead, Dr Ashiq Ahamed, gave him the opportunity to develop a number of new, expert skills and greatly improve his knowledge, alongside interaction and knowledge sharing with Royce researchers who possess a variety of expert skill sets and differing backgrounds, and prolonged exposure to other research activities and projects within the Hub.

We’re currently in the process of extending the collaboration with the Royce and this offers the opportunity for continued collaboration, and a possible joint venture within a funded research project.