Ad for Health Broadcast Ltd fails to name advertiser

1. I first wrote about Health Broadcast Ltd, a fake limited company flogging dubious “health products” from national newspaper ads, on 15 August 2017. Its ads continue to appear in the nationals, especially for the ridiculous “detox foot patches”.
2. On 30 January 2021, Health Broadcast Ltd surpassed itself: its ad in the Daily Mail newspaper omitted to name the advertiser (screen shot in Figure 1)!

Figure 1. Ad for Health Broadcast Ltd in the Daily Mail (30 January 2021, p.84)

3. The product advertised was “Copper Comfort Insoles”. The only thing disclosed about the advertiser was a phone number – 0808 208 9190.
4. Previously that phone number has been used by Health Broadcast Ltd.
5. I complained about the ad to the advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), pointing out the non-disclosure of the identity of the advertiser, and the ridiculous health claims it makes about the product.
6. The ASA said in an email: “… we have previously investigated and upheld complaints about the issue that you have highlighted and we are concerned to hear that such claims continue to appear. Therefore, we have referred your complaint to our Compliance team for further action…”
7. The regulator added: “They [Compliance team] will also raise the issue of it not being immediately apparent in the ad who the advertiser is.”

Lord Evans, KPMG, Huawei and HSBC

1. On 18 December 2018, I exclusively exposed Lord Evans of Weardale’s avoidable conflict of interest after he added yet another paid role – chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL), ironically enough. The Sunday Times newspaper then reported my analysis, when on the same day Lord Evans made it known he would give up one of his then six other posts – as non-executive director of global bank HSBC (see 30 December 2018 post).
2. Back then Lord Evans was also an independent non-executive at professional services firm KPMG UK, a role he continues to hold, according to the register of lords’ interests. Which makes interesting a disclosure on the UK website of Huawei, the controversial Chinese tech giant: “KPMG has been Huawei’s independent auditor since 2000.” (screen shot in Figure 1)

Figure 1. “KPMG has been Huawei’s independent auditor since 2000.” Huawei UK website at 10 February 2021

3. It would therefore appear that Lord Evans, the former director general of the Security Service (MI5), is perfectly happy with Huawei’s activities in the UK – otherwise he wouldn’t work for its longstanding external auditor.
4. Meanwhile, although he stepped down from the HSBC board in 2019, the register of lords’ interests reveals the CSPL chair recently disposed of his above-£50k holding of HSBC Holdings PLC shares (1 September 2020).
5. HSBC is widely perceived to be too close to the Chinese authorities, and has recently been criticised for allegedly aiding China’s crackdown in Hong Kong.
6. It is therefore reasonable to ask whether Lord Evans’ selling of the HSBC Holdings PLC shares was in any way related to the bank’s activities in relation to China.
7. Lord Evans didn’t respond to requests for comment – which is in contrast to my previous experiences with the CSPL chair.

James Milner Foundation accounts FINALLY disclose footballer’s events company and its role in fundraising

1. The latest accounts for charity the James Milner Foundation (JMF), made up to 31 December 2019, finally disclose footballer James Milner’s events company and its role in fundraising. The much-improved disclosure comes after charity regulator the Charity Commission opened a regulatory compliance case into JMF last year, when I brought a series of concerns about the charity to the watchdog’s attention. Having issued “regulatory advice” to the trustees, the commission closed its regulatory compliance case and took no further action.
2. I’ve twice published reports of those concerns and my interactions with JMF and its legal representative, Mills & Reeve. On both occasions, the law firm sent a defamation complaint on behalf of Mr Milner in his personal capacity, the JMF trustees (in their personal capacity) and JMF (instructed by the trustees). Mills & Reeve requested immediate removal of each post. This I did.
3. On both occasions, I fully replied to the legal letters. However, the charity via the law firm refused to engage any further after my response to its letter upon publication of my second report. Thus JMF became unresponsive and obstructive.
4. JMF is a grant-making charity set up by former England international footballer Mr Milner and self-evidently run in his name. Registered as a charity with the Charity Commission on 3 April 2012, JMF raises almost all its funds by holding high-profile fundraising events.
5. On 1 December 2019, the charity held its eighth annual charity ball in Manchester – theme: “A Night in Hollywood”. There JMF proudly announced it had at the time raised £1m for good causes, according to its tweet from the event. Clearly, a commendable achievement.
6. In 2019, JMF paid £191.4k in grants to other charities – most to Help for Heroes and NSPCC. Like the 2018 accounts, those for 2019 call Help for Heroes “Help the Heroes” – despite my bringing the error in the 2018 accounts to JMF’s attention. Mills & Reeve, too, incorrectly referred to the military charity this way, as I pointed out to the law firm.
7. At date of publication of both now removed posts the latest accounts were made up to 31 December 2018.

Figure 1. “Contact Us” page: The James Milner Foundation website at 14 October 2019

8. Unlike the 2019 accounts, those for 2018 fail to identify the events company with which JMF works. It’s Entertainment Today (ET), according to the JMF website (screen shot in Figure 1). Also, ET’s phone number is plastered across the top of the charity website “for all enquiries” (screen shot in Figure 2). Meanwhile, the ET website lists JMF as one of its charity clients (screen shot in Figure 3).

Figure 2. Home page: The James Milner Foundation website at 14 October 2019

9. For the avoidance of doubt, ET is a commercial firm, organised to make a profit.

Figure 3. Entertainment Today website at 14 October 2019

10. So who are ET? Companies House records reveal Entertainment Today Limited has a sole director, who’s also the owner – Mr Milner. There he’s shown as sole “person with significant control”. At date of publication of the first post the company secretary was Matthew Buck.
11. Mr Buck was, too, a trustee of JMF until recently.
12. Back to the charity’s 2018 accounts. As I say, ET is mentioned nowhere. Also, these state “there were no related-party transactions in the period”. This is false.
13. Mr Milner, who is vice-captain for Premier League champions Liverpool, is a related party to JMF, even if he isn’t a trustee. The former England international has control, joint control or significant influence over the charity: JMF is his charity and is run in his name, after all. Also, the footballer links to both the JMF website and its Twitter feed in the biography of his personal Twitter account (@jamesmilner). So ET, too, is a related party to the charity, as Mr Milner controls the events company as well. Thus JMF should report its transactions with ET in the accounts.
14. The charity via Mills & Reeve disagreed.
15. Not only do the 2019 accounts now rightly mention ET and Mr Milner’s ownership thereof. But the “related-party transactions” note in the notes to the financial statements discloses the payment made by JMF to ET for 2019 – and also specifies those for 2018 and 2017!
16. Quite a volte-face, then.
17. Here the point is transparency. Without disclosure in the accounts of Mr Milner’s events company and its role in fundraising, the reader simply has no idea of the joint working, let alone the money flows between JMF and ET.
18. There’s no suggestion of inappropriate personal gain by the footballer through his events firm working with the charity. Nor is there any suggestion the payments made by JMF to ET are excessive.
19. Trustee Mr Buck – not ET – was listed as JMF contact at the Charity Commission website until recently (screen shot in Figure 4). As I say, Mr Buck also used to be ET company secretary. This represents a conflict of interest, actual, potential or perceived, for him. As a trustee, Mr Buck must solely act in the best interests of the charity at all times. Further, he’s even closer to Mr Milner and his commercial interests than that: Mr Buck is the footballer’s longtime agent as well. Cosy!

Figure 4. The James Milner Foundation: Charity Commission website at 14 October 2019

20. Mr Buck resigned as ET company secretary on 10 January 2020, according to filings at Companies House.
21. Mr Buck resigned, too, as a JMF trustee on 1 October 2020, the 2019 accounts show. These changes are a welcome improvement in the charity’s governance.

Figure 5. “About Us” page: The James Milner Foundation website at 14 October 2019

22. A more general point about JMF and its trustees. Astonishingly, at date of publication of the second post the charity website failed to identify them! The trustees weren’t shown on the “About Us” page (screen shot in Figure 5). There wasn’t a “Trustees” page, either (screen shot in Figure 6). However, there was a “Patrons” page boasting many sports stars, celebrities and, er, Gordon Taylor, the controversial chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), the much-criticised trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales (screen shot in Figure 7). Oh, at the time the busy Mr Buck worked, too, for the PFA – as “director of player management”!

Figure 6. “Menu”: The James Milner Foundation website at 25 October 2019

23. It’s revealing the JMF website omits the trustees. The omission is further evidence this is Mr Milner’s charity: JMF is organised around the footballer.
24. When I pointed out the omission, JMF via Mills & Reeve countered charities aren’t required to have a website. I never said they were!

Figure 7. “Patrons” page: The James Milner Foundation website at 14 October 2019

25. On 15 January 2020, the Charity Commission added to the woes at the PFA by announcing it has opened a statutory inquiry into the trade union’s charity (the PFA Charity), where PFA boss Mr Taylor is a trustee. The charity regulator has “serious concerns” about the way the PFA Charity is managed and its relationship with the trade union. The commission’s inquiry is ongoing (see both 12 January 2021 posts).
26. JMF trustee Mark Hovell is now shown as contact on the online public register of charities. A trustee since 13 August 2012, Mr Hovell is a solicitor at… Mills & Reeve.
27. In my unanswered response to the law firm’s letter upon publication of my second report, I pointed out the discrepancy between the trustee information at the Charity Commission and the director information at Companies House. (JMF is a charitable company). Thus at the time the Charity Commission showed four trustees: Mr Hovell, Mr Buck, John Hudson and Damaris Treasure. While over at Companies House, there were five directors (trustees): the four listed at the commission, plus Dylan Williams. The same five are listed in the 2018 accounts as well. The discrepancy between the Charity Commission and Companies House only makes the omission of trustee information on the JMF website more unsatisfactory. Which register is accurate, if either?
28. As I say, JMF via Mills & Reeve didn’t address the issues in that email.
29. For the avoidance of doubt, the trustee information at the Charity Commission and the director information at Companies House now agree. At date of publication there are four trustees (directors): Mr Hovell, Marie-Christine Bouchier, Mr Hudson, and Ms Treasure.
30. Both Ms Bouchier and Mr Hudson work for the PFA: the former as “player management executive”, while the latter is “director of corporate social responsibility”.
31. On 12 October 2020, JMF filed a “termination of appointment” document at Companies House for director Mr Williams. This shows a termination date of 17 April 2018!
32. Here there are two problems. First, why did the charity take so long to file Mr Williams’ “termination of appointment” document? Second, why do the 2018 accounts (financial year-end: 31 December), filed at the commission on 10 October 2019, show Mr Williams still as a trustee (director)?
33. The JMF website has been replaced by a simple holding page. This says: “Sorry for the inconvenience. Our website is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. Thank you for your understanding.” (screen shot in Figure 8) That single-page website has been there for months.

Figure 8. Home page: The James Milner Foundation website at 11 November 2020

34. As I’ve repeatedly made clear, there’s no suggestion anyone has done anything illegal.
35. When asked for comment, Mr Hovell said in an email: “The Foundation notes that you have raised certain issues with the proper regulator for charities, the Charity Commission. We were happy to deal with their enquiries following your referral. The regulator concluded ‘that they reviewed the complaint and closed the case without taking any further action’. If you have any further issues, please do send them through the regulator and we will correspond with them.”
36. There Mr Hovell omits to refer to the “regulatory advice” JMF received from the commission. (The charity regulator told me in writing it had given such to the trustees during its regulatory compliance case.) By reply, I therefore asked Mr Hovell whether the charity disputes that the commission gave it “regulatory advice”.
37. Mr Hovell didn’t respond to that message. In response to a subsequent reminder, though, the trustee wrote: “As explained in my previous email, we will only answer any questions that the Charity Commission has. Therefore, we have nothing further to add.”

Serious errors in Lord Herbert’s charity accounts

1. Former policing minister Lord Herbert of South Downs, the new chair of the College of Policing, is founder and chair of trustees of charity The Project for Modern Democracy (“the charity”). Set up in 2014, the charity describes itself as a thinktank, whose role is “to promote more efficient government and good citizenship”.
2. There are four serious errors in the latest accounts for the charity, made up to 30 April 2019, filed at the Charity Commission. When asked for comment, Lord Herbert initially acknowledged two of these, while rejecting the other two. When I challenged the basis of his rejection with more evidence, the peer maintained his position, citing other Charity Commission guidance. However, Lord Herbert appeared to finally accept I’d been right all along, after I brought to his attention yet further commission guidance.
3. So what are the errors?
4. First, the front page of the accounts identifies the entity as “a company limited by share capital”. Yet Companies House records show it’s a company limited by guarantee.
5. Second, reported income is £163.95k, which is above the statutory threshold for external scrutiny of charity accounts, £25k. Yet there was no external scrutiny of the accounts. That is, there’s no evidence of an independent examination or an audit.
6. Third, the parliamentary register of lords’ interests shows Lord Herbert is paid by the charity for providing services to it as “development consultant”. Meanwhile, most charity trustees are unpaid. Therefore, the accounts should disclose he as a trustee is paid by the charity, but they don’t. Why?
7. Fourth, as a trustee Lord Herbert is a related party to the charity. So the payment he receives from the charity is a related-party transaction. Yet the accounts omit to disclose any related-party transactions. Why?
8. In his initial emailed response, Lord Herbert acknowledged the first two errors, adding the charity had instructed its accountants to make those corrections. It would then “request that the public record is updated”. Meanwhile, on the other two errors, the peer said: “However, we are not required to disclose on the accounts whether any trustees received remuneration – we fall below the turnover threshold for this. We have taken advice about this matter and are confident that all arrangements have been made properly.”
9. By reply, I pointed to the accounts templates pack for small charitable companies, which the Charity Commission launched on 31 March 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-accounting-templates-accruals-accounts-cc17-sorp-frs-102-for-charitable-companies.
10. I added that the commission has confirmed that the version dated 31 March 2017 remains the current one.
11. There the charity accounting template shows note 28 to the accounts is “transactions with trustees and related parties”. As you can see, both trustee payments and related-party transactions should be disclosed.
12. In his response, Lord Herbert wrote: “We are not required to disclose. See note 4.12 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trustee-expenses-and-payments-cc11/trustee-expenses-and-payments#paying-trustees-for-services. The link you sent me referred to charities preparing accounts on an accruals basis.”
13. By reply, I told Lord Herbert he appears to be overlooking the legal structure of his charity. It’s a charitable company.
14. I then referred to “Charity reporting and accounting: the essentials November 2016 (CC15d)”: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-reporting-and-accounting-the-essentials-november-2016-cc15d.
15. Section 3.3 “How do I prepare the accounts?” says: “… all charitable companies must prepare accruals accounts that comply with the applicable SORP.”
16. Therefore, both trustee payments and related-party transactions should be disclosed.
17. In his response, Lord Herbert said: “I see, and I have raised this again with our accountants. We will ensure that all requirements are met. Thank you, again, for drawing this to our attention.”
18. We’ll therefore have to wait forthe charity to file corrected accounts to discover how much the charity paid founder and chair of trustees Lord Herbert for providing services to it.
19. When asked for comment on the four serious errors, a Charity Commission spokesperson said in a written statement: “We are aware of concerns relating to the charity’s finances and governance. We are currently assessing information and cannot comment further at this time.”