Legislation / Legal
ScotGov: Parents in Tayside will be entitled to know if a sex offender has access to their children under a new pilot project. Under the scheme, the first of its kind in Scotland, parents, carers or guardians will now be able to formally register their concerns and will be informed if the named individual has a conviction for sex offences against children. If a child is found to be at risk, child protection measures will be implemented.
As of September 21, 2009, callers to Tayside Police on 0300 111 2222 who have concerns about the safety of a child will be directed to a dedicated line where the information will be acted upon by specialists in the field of child protection.
The move is part of new Government efforts to strengthen Scotland's approach to dealing with sex offenders and the pilot will run until May 2010. If successful, it could be rolled out right across Scotland.
DfT: Plans to crack down on the menace of uninsured drivers have been confirmed by Road Safety Minister Paul Clark. The new measures will make it an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle – rather than just to drive when uninsured – making it easier to catch uninsured drivers and keep them off the roads. Only vehicles with a valid Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN) will not be required to be insured.
Uninsured driving adds around £30 a year to every motorist's insurance premium - amounting to more than £400m a year in additional premiums. It is also estimated that uninsured & untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year. Using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) equipment, police removed around 150,000 vehicles in 2007 - more than 400 a day.
Last year a new offence of causing death by driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured was introduced.
The DfT has published the results of its consultation on how the scheme will operate. Regulations will now be drafted, with the powers expected to come into force in the next financial year.
Press release ~ Report in Response to Consultation on a Scheme of Continuous Enforcement of Motor Insurance ~ Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN)
FSA: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is taking action against penny share dealers after finding that older people are being targeted with high pressure sales tactics. Penny shares are investments with a low market price and not traded on the main stock exchange. They are very high risk and difficult to sell on.
The FSA found that certain stockbrokers targeted people who already own shares, usually people over the age of 50 years, some of whom may have acquired a few shares through privatisations. In some cases the brokers were paid commission to sell a particular share which was then aggressively marketed to consumers regardless of whether or not it was suitable for them.
ScotGov: A clampdown on rogue taxi operators in the Edinburgh area has been announced. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said that the Scottish Government is determined to work with the police and local authorities to clamp down on gangsters trying to muscle in on the trade. He also stressed the benefits that legitimate taxi & private hire car trade plays in the local economy in Edinburgh and the Lothians.
MoJ: Low income earners across England & Wales will benefit from free legal advice for debt, housing, family & employment problems with the launch of a new legal advice helpline in Swansea. Swansea business, Ty Arian, has been awarded a government contract to deliver specialist legal advice to people on low incomes through the Community Legal Advice helpline.
Along with the telephone advice, Ty Arian also provide advice to prisoners and their families in Parc Prison which aims to reduce re-offending, as well as running specialist training courses for other lawyers & advisers in social welfare law.
HO: The UK Border Agency has confirmed that phase 3 of Tier 4 of the points-based system for immigration is set to go live on the 5 October 2009. Phase 3 is the voluntary trialling period of the sponsorship management system for Tier 4 sponsors.
The trial allows sponsors to continue using visa letters whilst gradually adopting the use of the sponsorship management system to issue confirmations of acceptance for studies prior to them becoming mandatory in February 2010. Would-be students applying from outside of the UK will be required to continue to apply with a visa letter until February 2010.
HMRC: Civil servant John Brian Agdomar and an accomplice, Olanekan Omatayo Ogunmekan, are now behind bars after being caught out by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigators. Between them, the pair fabricated more than 1,400 fictitious children, hijacked hundreds of identities and illegally claimed more than £1.2m in tax credits.
The pair had developed a scheme which saw Agdomar using his job as a civil servant at the Department for Work and Pensions as a cover to illegally access genuine customer records to obtain personal information. This allowed the pair to hijack existing claims for tax credits, diverting the payments into a complex network of bank accounts. John Brian Agdomar will be subject to confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002; the next hearing in this case will be in February 2010.
HO: Ensuring suspected sex offenders are swiftly brought to justice is one of the aims of a new extradition treaty, which the UK has recently signed with the Philippines. The Philippines has been known as a destination for suspected British sex offenders. A number of those accused of such serious crimes are believed to have fled there from the UK.
The UK and the Philippines have also signed a treaty of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. This will help ensure if evidence required for the investigation or trial of an alleged offence in the UK is located in the Philippines, that the UK will be able to obtain this evidence in an admissible form in the quickest manner possible.
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