Top two executives at City & Guilds placed on leave
The two most senior executives at City & Guilds have been put on leave shortly after a scandal over millions of pounds of bonuses triggered a Charity Commission investigation into the vocational training body.City & Guilds has told staff that its chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and the chief financial officer, Abid Ismail, will be “absent from work for a short period”.Last week, the charity watchdog launched a statutory inquiry into City & Guilds’ sale of its qualification awards business to a private company last year.The investigation will examine a range of problems, including “concerns raised in public reporting relating to the sale and bonuses awarded to its executives”.The inquiry was announced after the Guardian revealed last month that City & Guilds executives received million-pound bonuses after the charity privatised its business arm.
The payments – understood to include a £1.7m award for Donnelly and £1.2m for Ismail – emerged after reports that the privatised City & Guilds business has also embarked on a £22m cost-cutting drive and is shrinking its UK workforce after being sold by its charity owner to PeopleCert, an international certification company.In what appears to be an internal email to staff, City & Guilds said: “We are writing to inform you that Kirstie Donnelly and Abid Ismail will be absent from work for a short period.”Both executives had stayed with the business once it was sold by the charity to PeopleCert.
“During this period their responsibilities will be carried out, on a temporary basis, by Andy Moss, chief customer officer of City & Guilds, and Konstantinos Andrikopoulos, vice-president finance of PeopleCert, to ensure that City & Guilds continues to deliver the very best possible experience for our partners, customers and learners.”No reasons were given for the changes.Donnelly and Ismail have been contacted, while City & Guilds did not comment.The company has previously said that the bonuses were not agreed or paid by the charity, and that remuneration is a matter for the newly privately owned business.Founded in 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies, the original institute developed a national system of technical education, offering qualifications and apprenticeships in fields ranging from manufacturing and mechanical engineering to hairdressing and horticulture.
It was awarded a royal charter by Queen Victoria in 1900 and says it helps about 1.1 million people a year.The organisation has enjoyed a storied history, with alumni include the chefs Jamie Oliver, Marcus Wareing and Gordon Ramsay, former England football manager Gareth Southgate, celebrity gardener Alan Titchmarsh and fashion designer Karen Millen.The training and awards business was previously owned by the City & Guilds of London Institute (CGLI), the charity that announced in the autumn that it was selling the operation to PeopleCert.The charity, which provides grants to people in need of vocational training, said the sale gave it a cash windfall of between £180m and £200m.
It said the proceeds would secure the long-term future, enable it to pursue its charitable objectives and provide increased investment and opportunities for the training business, now in private ownership.The Charity Commission is investigating events at the charity, not the private company.The trustees of the charity, CGLI, have said: “We acknowledge the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry and are cooperating fully with their investigation.We remain confident that all actions taken by the trustees have been proper, transparent, and in line with our charitable purpose.“We are committed to maintaining public trust and will continue to act in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries.
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BP accused of ‘insidious’ influence on UK education through Science Museum links
Campaigners have accused BP of having an insidious influence over the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) in the UK through its relationship with the Science Museum.Documents obtained under freedom of information legislation show how the company funded a research project that led to the creation of the Science Museum Group academy – its teacher and educator training programme – which BP sponsors and which has run more than 500 courses, for more than 5,000 teachers.Campaigners say the documents reveal the extent of control the company had over the research project, called Enterprising Science. The contract setting out the collaboration states that major decisions would not be “validly passed … unless the representative of BP votes in its favour”.Chris Garrard of the campaign group Culture Unstained said: “BP’s toxic influence over young people’s learning is calculated and insidious
South East Water boss lasting weeks in post would be a surprise | Nils Pratley
Can David Hinton, the chief executive of South East Water, stay in his job long enough to bag a £400,000 bonus for turning up to work? With four and a half years to go, one can’t say his chances of landing the retention payment – or “service award” – are good. In fact, it will be surprising if he’s still infuriating the residents of Tunbridge Wells four and a half weeks from now.In the latest episode of this long-running double saga of outages that has left thousands of households in Kent and Sussex without running water for days, Ofwat has opened a first-of-its-kind investigation into whether South East complied with its obligation to provide “high standards of customer service and support”. That comes a day after Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, called for the regulator to review the company’s operating licence.Meanwhile, even the company’s shareholders, who normally shun the spotlight on these occasions, are spluttering into their bottled water
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Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, regulator rules
A US regulator ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company had acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power massive data centers in Tennessee.xAI has been fighting for a year and a half over truck-sized gas turbines the company had parked near its Colossus 1 and 2 facilities, arguing to local authorities that the electricity-generating turbines were exempt from requirements for air quality permits.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared on Thursday that the generators were not exempt. In its ruling, the agency revised the policies around gas turbines, saying that the operating the machines still requires air permits even if they are used on a portable or temporary basis, as had been the case.When xAI first installed the portable turbines at Colossus 1, it took advantage of a local county loophole allowing the operation of generators without permits so long as the machines did not sit in one place for more than 364 days
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Australia legend Lockyer hopes new Broncos can buck London’s rugby league resistance
Darren Lockyer has faced some monumental challenges for club and country but this year his trickiest task may be finding the opponents of his new club on a map as he takes on rugby league’s mission impossible.Throughout his illustrious career, Lockyer faced Melbourne Storm, Sydney Roosters and some of the world’s best international teams. This year, Lockyer’s interests will be centred on places like Goole, Swinton and Batley after taking ownership of London Broncos late last year and attempting to make them a rugby league powerhouse.“I’m about to get stuck into all that aspect of finding out more about our opponents: it’s all part of the fun,” he says in the buildup to Sunday’s season opener against Widnes. “I played a lot of rugby in the UK but there are a lot of places I’ve never been or even heard of, so I’m really looking forward to all of that
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