Tag: Treasury

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 22 May 2023.

Sir Ron Kalifa and Frances O’Grady have been reappointed by His Majesty the King as Non-Executive Directors of the Court of the Bank of England. They have been reappointed for second terms of four years, to 31 May 2027.

The Bank’s Court acts as a unitary board, and as Non-Executives of the Court, Sir Ron and Frances O’Grady will help determine the Bank’s objectives and strategy, and advise on how to ensure the effective discharge of the Bank’s functions and the most efficient use of the Bank’s resources.

Court is not responsible for the matters reserved to the Bank’s main policy committees, the Monetary Policy Committee, the Financial Policy Committee, and the Prudential Regulation Committee.

As Non-Executive Directors, Sir Ron is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee; and Frances O’Grady is a member of the Remuneration Committee.

The Chair of the Court of Directors, David Roberts, said:

I am delighted that both Sir Ron Kalifa and Frances O’Grady have been reappointed to the Court of Directors at the Bank of England. Their experience and expertise provide Court with key insights and challenge. I look forward to continuing to work with Sir Ron and Frances during their second terms.

About the appointments

The Bank of England is the central bank of the UK. It is governed by a board of directors known as the Court of Directors. Further information can be found at the Bank of England website.

Members of Court are appointed by HM The King on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Sir Ron and Frances O’Grady have both served as Non-Executive Directors of Court since 1 June 2019.

All appointments to the Court are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.

These appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, who provides independent assurance that appointments are made in accordance with the Government’s Principles of Public Appointments and Governance Code. In accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any is declared) to be made public.

Sir Ron has confirmed that he has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years. Sir Ron is Chairman of Network International, a leading payments firm, and a Trustee of the Royal Foundation. He is also a Non-Executive Director for the England & Wales Cricket Board and sits on the Council of Imperial College London. He was knighted in Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee Birthday 2022 Honours List for services to financial services, technology, and public service.

Frances O’Grady has declared that she served as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from 2013 until the end of 2022, and received a life peerage in 2022, sitting in the House of Lords as a working (Labour) peer. Frances O’Grady first joined the TUC in 1994 as a campaigns officer, and launched the Organising Academy in 1997. She took over as head of the TUC’s organisation department in 1999 and became deputy general secretary in 2003.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 22 May 2023.

NatWest is a step closer to being returned to full private ownership as the government sells c. £1.26billion in shares back to NatWest via a Directed Buyback.

• Government sells c. £1.26 billion of NatWest shares to NatWest as stake reduced to c. 38.6%
• Announcement marks a further major milestone in returning the bank to private ownership
• Sixth block sale of NatWest shares since the government intervened in NatWest to protect financial and economic stability during the global financial crisis in 2008

NatWest is a step closer to being returned to full private ownership as the government sells c. £1.26 billion in shares back to NatWest via a Directed Buyback.

The sale reduces the government’s shareholding to c. 38.6% – down from around 84% at its peak – delivering significant progress against the government’s intention as announced at Spring Budget to fully exit the shareholding by 2025-2026, subject to market conditions and achieving value for money for taxpayers.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith said:

Today’s sale is another major milestone in returning NatWest to full private ownership as promised. The government has now sold well over half of its shareholding.

The government intervened in NatWest (formerly the Royal Bank of Scotland, RBS) with the objective of protecting financial and economic stability during the 2008 global financial crisis.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has been clear that – without the government’s interventions in the financial sector – the cost of the 2008 global financial crisis would almost certainly have been far greater.

The government will only dispose of its NatWest shareholding when it represents value for money to do so and market conditions allow.

Alongside progress being made by the ongoing trading plan, HMT and UK Government Investments continue to keep all options under active consideration for future sales, including via accelerated bookbuilds if conditions permit.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 18 May 2023.

Sir Peter Bazalgette has been appointed to support work investigating the pro-innovation regulation of the creative industries, one of the Chancellor’s five key growth areas.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 11 May 2023.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, spoke to supermarket representatives this afternoon (11 May) regarding food prices in the UK. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury listened to the views of the sector about the drivers of food inflation and agreed that industry will continue to engage with senior government ministers on the matter and its impact on consumers.

The Government understands the concern among the British public about the current level of food prices and their impact on household budgets, which is why halving inflation this year is a top priority. To support households with the impact of rising prices, we are delivering one of the most generous cost-of-living packages in Europe – worth £3,300 per household on average over this year and last. This includes targeted support for the most vulnerable worth £900 for people on means-tested benefits, support with energy bills and uprating benefits by over 10%.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 10 May 2023.

Sam Beckett has been appointed as the new Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, replacing Clare Lombardelli.

The Cabinet Secretary, with the approval of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, has announced the appointment of Sam Beckett as the new Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury. She replaces Clare Lombardelli, who was recently appointed as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Chief Economist.

Sam will become the sole head of the Government Economic Service, a role she previously led jointly. Sam joins the Treasury from her current role as Second Permanent Secretary at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Deputy Chief Executive at the UK Statistics Authority. Sam is well-equipped with over 25 years’ experience at Treasury, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and the Cabinet Office in roles spanning macro and micro-economics, fiscal policy, and strategy.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said:

“I am thrilled to congratulate Sam on her well-deserved appointment and welcome her back to the Treasury. Her economic expertise and leadership in a range of government departments will be indispensable as we focus on our priorities of growing the economy, reducing debt and halving inflation.”

Permanent Secretary to the Treasury James Bowler said:

“Sam has extensive macro and microeconomic experience leading across the economic landscape and is an expert policy maker. I look forward to working with her as we tackle the economic challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Sam Beckett said:

“I am incredibly honoured to be chosen for a role at the heart of the UK economy. I look forward to joining a strong team of officials as we further bolster economic prosperity for the whole of the UK.”

Further information

Sam will be the head of the Government Economic Service having been the joint head alongside Clare Lombardelli, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury. She will also be appointed Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. Sam became Second Permanent Secretary at the ONS and the Deputy Chief Executive at the UK Statistics Authority in September 2020.

As acting Permanent Secretary at BEIS, she oversaw the COVID-19 response and prior to that she was the Director General at BEIS responsible for the Department’s EU-exit preparations. At the Treasury, she was Director of Fiscal Group where she led the fiscal policy response to the financial crisis.

Sam studied PPE at New College, Oxford and has an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. She was made a Companion of the Bath (CB) in 2020 and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 28 April 2023.

A London businessman has been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to fraud by abusing the Bounce Back Loan scheme.

Rajesh Dhirajlal Vaghela, 46, from Stanmore, received a £25,000 loan before closing his business in an effort to avoid repaying the taxpayer loan.

Vaghela was also ordered to pay £2150 court costs. He had repaid the loan in full before being sentenced.

The sentence follows six other criminal prosecutions of company directors for Covid loan abuse by the Insolvency Service in the last year, all of which resulted in convictions, including one immediate imprisonment.

Peter Fulham, Chief Investigator of the Insolvency Service’s Criminal Investigation Team, said:
Directors who abused the Covid-19 financial support schemes, which were provided by the government to support genuine businesses in need of help during the pandemic, have exploited taxpayers.

This sentence reflects the thoroughly dishonest conduct of Rajesh Vaghela and should serve as a warning to others who engaged in this behaviour that they are at risk of criminal prosecutions and could potentially end up in prison.

Vaghela was caught through new powers granted to the Insolvency Service in December 2021, which allow it to investigate directors of dissolved companies who are suspected of closing their business to avoid repaying Covid-19 support loans.

Vaghela, who was a director of RKV Consultancy Ltd, which had traded as a consulting firm from Stanmore since its incorporation in March 2019, applied for a £25,000 Bounce Back Loan from his bank on behalf of the consultancy in May 2020.

The loan was paid into the company’s bank account but within a week of receiving the money, Vaghela filed paperwork with Companies House to have the business dissolved, and later transferred all the loan money to personal bank accounts.

The striking-off application to dissolve a company makes clear that creditors, such as a bank with an outstanding loan, should be notified within seven days of applying to close the business and that failure to notify interested parties is a criminal offence.

After RKV Consultancy Ltd was dissolved, in October 2020, the Insolvency Service and cross-government counter-fraud systems identified its closure as probable Bounce Back Loan fraud.

Investigators found that Vaghela had not informed his bank of his application to dissolve the consultancy – a breach of the law.

He pleaded guilty to charges under the Companies Act 2006 and Fraud Act 2006 at Willesden Magistrates Court in February 2023 and was sentenced by His Honour Judge Donne KC, on 13 April 2023 at Harrow Crown Court.

 

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 27 April 2023.

Millions of people could benefit from plans to help them boost their future savings as the government today (27 April) publishes a range of tax measures to make the system simpler and more effective.

• Government moves towards simplifying Help to Save
• Action to be taken to help parents who haven’t claimed Child Benefit and may have missed out on credits for their State Pension
• Government publishes 23 technical tax updates, many of which simplify and modernise the tax system

The Help to Save scheme – for working people on low incomes who are claiming certain benefits – could be made simpler by reforms to how its bonus is calculated, the length of time an account can be open for and eligibility requirements, all with the aim of enhancing long-term savings habits.

Help to Save was launched in 2018 and allows certain people entitled to Working Tax Credit or receiving Universal Credit to get a bonus of 50p for every £1 they save. Accounts can be open for a maximum of four years and savers can put a maximum of £50 into their accounts every month.

The government wants to encourage more people to open accounts, since the scheme began more than £255 million has been saved through it.

These moves to simplify tax form part of 2023’s Tax Administration and Maintenance Day (TAMD), where 23 technical documents in total have been published.

Victoria Atkins, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

Rising prices are putting household budgets under strain – and it’s in tough times like these that many people turn to their savings.

We want to support savers and make sure the tax system provides them with the options they need to shore-up their finances, helping them through rainy days as well as helping them plan for the future.

A simpler tax system will also help deliver on the Prime Minister’s priorities of creating economic growth and reducing our country’s debt.

The government also wants to address the fact that some parents who have not claimed Child Benefit could miss out on building their state pension. Those affected will in future be able to claim National Insurance credit retrospectively as ministers move to tackle this issue.

When parents claim Child Benefit, they can also receive a National Insurance credit which helps them build their state pension. This is aimed at those who, due to caring responsibilities, are out of work or not earning enough to pay National Insurance, to ensure they are still able to do that.

The Government wants to ensure that parents who have not claimed Child Benefit are not disadvantaged when they start claiming their State Pension and is announcing a resolution for affected parents.

Parents do not need to take any action immediately. The government intends to legislate to allow eligible individuals to retrospectively claim National Insurance credit, and the next steps to be taken will be published in due course.

TAMD is a regular event following the Budget which sets out updates needed to the tax system, allowing these measures to be analysed and discussed in detail by tax and industry experts. As announced at Spring Budget, this year’s TAMD is focused on tax simplification and modernisation, and tackling the tax gap.

These changes deliver on the government’s commitment for a simpler tax system to help boost productivity and economic growth by reducing time and money wasted. Since the closure of the Office for Tax Simplification the government has committed to putting simplification at the heart of all tax policy making.

Other measures announced today as part of TAMD include:

• Tackling promoters of tax avoidance: As announced at the Spring Budget, the government is publishing a consultation on a possible new criminal offence for promoters of tax avoidance who don’t comply with a legal notice from HMRC to stop promoting a scheme and, separately, on speeding up the disqualification of directors of companies who promote tax avoidance.
• Protecting customers claiming tax: As announced on 11 January 2023, the government will require repayment agents to register with HMRC from next month.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 25 April 2023.

City minister re-establishes influential forum convening senior leadership from industry and the FCA to identify and harness the potential of innovative new technologies for the UK asset management industry.

The Economic Secretary’s Asset Management Taskforce has been joined by five new senior executives from the UK’s world-class investment industry, it was announced today (25 April 2023).

Hans Georgeson (CEO, Royal London Asset Management), Mark Murray (Senior Partner, Artemis), Joseph Pinto (CEO, M&G Asset Management), Nick Ring (CEO EMEA, Columbia Threadneedle) and Andrew Telfer (CEO, Baillie Gifford) have joined the Taskforce in the wake of the Chancellor’s Edinburgh Reforms, which aim to drive growth and competitiveness in the financial services sector.

The Economic Secretary has also launched a new Technology Working Group, which will run in parallel to the Taskforce to examine the impact of new technology on the asset management sector. The group – chaired by Michelle Scrimgeour (CEO, Legal and General Investment Management) – will work to articulate the benefits of technology for investors and industry, and will identify the main opportunities presented by technologies including tokenisation, artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology.

The group’s membership will be drawn from Taskforce members, government and regulators, and wider non-asset management stakeholders. It will hold a series of meetings over the next year and subsequently produce a final report to the Taskforce.

The report will explain the group’s findings and contain guidance and recommendations for government, regulators and industry. Previous reports produced by the Taskforce – on the UK funds regime and on stewardship – have been very successful in progressing their respective agendas.

Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:

“Investment management is of central importance to the UK economy and I am determined to help it continue to flourish.

“The UK is well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by new technology in financial services, and I look forward to the Technology Working Group’s findings with great interest.”

Asset Management Taskforce members

Stephen Cohen, Head of EMEA, BlackRock

Chris Cummings, CEO, Investment Association

Helen Dean, CEO, NEST

Hans Georgeson, CEO, Royal London Asset Management

Sean Hagerty, Managing Director of Europe, Vanguard

Peter Harrison, CEO, Schroders

Catherine Howarth, CEO, ShareAction

Mark Murray, Senior Partner, Artemis

Joseph Pinto, CEO, M&G Asset Management

Anne Richards, CEO, Fidelity International

Nick Ring, CEO EMEA, Columbia Threadneedle

Michelle Scrimgeour, CEO, Legal & General Investment Management

Andrew Telfer, CEO, Baillie Gifford

Patrick Thomson, CEO EMEA, JP Morgan Asset Management

Sarah Pritchard, Executive Director – Markets, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 18 April 2023.

459 directors were disqualified in 2022-23 for abuse of the pandemic financial support schemes, with average disqualification length of seven years four months, up from five years ten months last year.

Over 450 directors have been disqualified by the Insolvency Service in 2022-23 for abusing the COVID-19 financial support scheme, as the agency continues to clamp down on pandemic fraudsters.

Figures published today by the Insolvency Service also show that directors guilty of COVID-19 related misconduct are being hit with longer disqualification periods. The average length of bans handed out to directors in the last year was seven years four months, up from five years ten months in 2021-22.

Of the total 932 director disqualifications obtained by the Insolvency Service in 2022-23 – 459 were cases involving COVID-19 financial support scheme abuse.

In addition to its civil enforcement action, the Insolvency Service also brought criminal prosecutions against six directors in 2022-23 for COVID-19 related misconduct. All of the prosecutions resulted in a conviction and resulted in immediate imprisonment in one case.

Dave Magrath, Director of Investigation and Enforcement at the Insolvency Service, said:

These fraudsters are just the latest to find out that we will not hesitate to take firm action where we uncover such abuse, and this can ultimately result in a jail sentence.

The purpose of the Bounce Back Loan scheme was to support businesses during the pandemic, but it is clear a minority of company directors chose to maliciously abuse the scheme and defraud the taxpayer. Our team of experts continue to work round-the-clock to bring these criminals to justice.

In three of the most recent cases, Bahar Dag was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court to two years six months in prison, with her husband Baris Dagistan sentenced to two years, having both pleaded guilty to offences involving a fraudulent application for a Bounce Back Loan.

Bahar Dag had claimed the full £50,000 Bounce Back Loan by stating the company’s turnover was £200,000. However, it was closer to £40,000. When Insolvency Service investigators made contact, and the couple realised they had been caught, they repaid the Bounce Back Loan in full.

Separately, Jubelur Rohman, sole director of Better Day Ltd which gave its business address the Indian Ocean restaurant in Wrexham until 2019, has been disqualified as a director for 11 years following an investigation into his company’s £50,000 Bounce Back Loan obtained in October 2020.

After his company went into liquidation in 2022 with debts over £150,000, Insolvency Service investigators found it had in fact ceased trading in October 2019, with the restaurant currently at the address being owned by a different company. But the rules of the Bounce Back Loan scheme were clear that businesses had to have been trading on 1 March 2020 to be eligible for any funding.

Rohman took out over £40,000 in cash from the company’s bank account between October 2020, when the loan money was received, and March 2021. Yet there was no evidence to show the funds had been spent for the economic benefit of the company.

In another case, Craig McCourt, the sole director of Craig McCourt Electrical Services Ltd, an electrical installation company in Ross-shire, has been disqualified as a director after he applied for Bounce Back Loan funding on two separate occasions, despite his company having already ceased trading and therefore not eligible for any financial assistance.

Although he later dissolved his company, he was caught thanks to new powers granted to the Insolvency Service which enable it to investigate directors of dissolved companies, particularly where bosses are suspected of using this as a tactic to avoid repaying taxpayer-backed Covid-19 support money.

At the point he dissolved the company in October 2020, nearly all its £20,000 Bounce Back Loan remained outstanding. The company was identified on government counter-fraud systems and under the new powers – which came into effect in December 2021 – the Insolvency Service launched an investigation.

Investigators discovered that not only had Craig McCourt Electrical Services Ltd not been trading since September 2019 – meaning he had breached the terms of the scheme when he applied for the loan – but he had immediately transferred the £15,000 loan to another bank account. Investigators then discovered that he had applied for the extra £5,000 top-up loan for the company in November 2020 – a month after the business had finally been dissolved. He had also transferred this money to a separate bank account.

As a result, Craig McCourt has been disqualified for 11 years.

Rohman and McCourt’s bans prevent each of them from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation, or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 18 April 2023.

The Council provides independent, expert advice on economic policy to help grow the economy.

• Andy Haldane, Dr Anna Valero and Sir Jonathan Symonds CBE will join the Chancellor’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC).
• The council meets regularly to discuss the UK economy and advises the Chancellor – with a focus on growing the economy.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt has today (Tuesday 18 April) announced three new members of the Economic Advisory Council.

The Council provides independent, expert advice on economic policy to help grow the economy.

All members attend in an independent capacity and have been chosen for their personal knowledge and expertise.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt said:

“I am delighted to announce three new members of the Economic Advisory Council who collectively have decades of economic experience across the private and public sector.

“Economic growth is essential to our long-term prospects and in the face of global headwinds, this council plays a critical role in helping our economy meet these challenges.”

The appointments bring membership of the Council to seven advisors – and the next meeting will be convened later in the Spring.

About the members:

Andy Haldane FAcSS, FRS, FRSA

Andy Haldane has served as the Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Arts (RSA) since 2021. He worked at the Bank of England between 1989 and 2021 where he became the Chief Economist and a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. Haldane was appointed Chair of the Levelling up Advisory Council in June 2022.

Dr Anna Valero

Anna Valero is a Senior Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) Centre for Economic Performance, Deputy Director of the Programme on Innovation and Diffusion, and an Associate of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change. Her research is focused on the drivers of productivity and innovation in firms and regions. She also works on UK growth policy more broadly, with a particular focus on sustainable growth and green jobs.

Sir Jonathan (Jon) Symonds, CBE

Jon Symonds was appointed Chair of the board at Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) in September 2019. He also serves as, Non-Executive director at Genomics England Limited, a member of the European Round Table for Industry, and as a Senior Advisor to Chatham House. Symonds has extensive international financial, life sciences and governance experience.

Further information

• Care will be taken to ensure Council members are not privy to any material non- public information, or market sensitive information.
• Read the terms of reference for the government’s Economic Advisory Council.
• The new members will join the below Council members announced in October:
  • Rupert Harrison, BlackRock
  • Sushil Wadhwani, PGIM Wadhwani
  • Karen Ward, J. P. Morgan Asset Management
  • Gertjan Vlieghe, Element Capital