Speaking at the Security Industry Authority Annual Conference, Chairman Baroness Ruth Henig today announced the appointment of Bill Butler as Chief Executive. It is expected that he will take over from SIA Acting Chief Executive Andy Drane later in the summer. Bill is currently Director of Corporate Services at the Gambling Commission where he has been part of the team that has led the establishment of this successful new regulator. He was previously Finance Director at the Healthcare Commission and held a number of senior roles at the Audit Commission. He is a member of the Chartered institut...

Skills for Security are pleased to announce the approval by SQA, of the new Scottish apprenticeship framework. Skills for Security spent time liaising with Scottish employers operating in the alarms, CCTV and access control arenas, understanding their needs and what would be required from an apprentice, in order to develop a fit for purpose framework. Apprenticeships are a great way of gaining skills because they involve technical study and practical, on-the-job training in the workplace. This means that the apprentices benefit for learning the latest techniques from qualified instructors whil...

Staff from Bournemouth-based Innpacked Training attended a prestigious lunch and presentation in London to receive the ‘Door Supervisor Training Award’ in the 2008 BII NITAs. The BII NITAs are the national training awards for the licensed retail industry, recognising and rewarding training excellence. Innpacked was announced winner of the ‘Door Supervisor Training Award’ category in January. Along with the ten other category winners, Director Ian Crockard was invited to attend the 2009 BII Annual Lunch to officially receive the trophy in front of almost 1,000 of the licensed retail ind...

The ex-director of a Peterborough security firm was yesterday (Thurs 14 May) given an 18-month community punishment order and ordered to pay 20,000 in costs after pleading guilty to 33 offences. During the hearing at Peterborough Magistrates Court, Paul John OMahony, who had acted as director of Central Security (East Anglia) Ltd, pleaded guilty to 33 counts of supplying or employing unlicensed security guards (under Section 5(1) of the Private Security Industry Act 2001) between November 2007 and February 2008. This was by way of Section 23 (1) of the Act which provides for personal criminal ...

The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) welcomed HRH Prince Michael of Kent to its hugely successful Meet the Buyers event held at IFSEC. The royal guest visited the event in his role as Patron of the BSIA’s Export Council to gain an insight into the work of the Export Council and meet with some of the BSIA members and overseas buyers. Chris Pinder, BSIA Export Manager, comments: "We were delighted to welcome HRH Prince Michael of Kent to IFSEC this year. His presence and his role as our patron demonstrate the important contribution that UK security companies make to the British e...

Carlisle Security triumphed at this weeks IFSEC 2009 Awards with a clean sweep by winning in both the award categories for security guarding. The IFSEC Awards ceremony, hosted this year by John Sergeant of Strictly Come Dancing fame, saw Carlisle Security pull off a remarkable "double" in their first year of entering the competition; an achievement also making them the only entrant to win two awards.The work Carlisle Security does for Merseyrail Electrics was recognised by the first of the two awards: "Guarding Service Delivery to Customer".  Recognising as it does the very best pract...

Licensing requirements will not be extended to include in-house security guards, the Security Industry Authority announced today. An SIA review, involving wide consultation with the security industry, found insufficient substantiated evidence of risk or threat to the public to support in-house licensing. The assessment took into account that regulation should only be targeted where action is needed, and that regulation should only intervene where there is a clear case for public protection. Following detailed discussion with SIA Chairman Baroness Ruth Henig and SIA senior management the Home O...

A major new consultation has begun into plans to subject rogue wheel clamping businesses to tough new regulations, the Home Office announced today. The public consultation, which sets out proposals for licensing wheel clamping firms, will run for 12 weeks. It is an opportunity for members of the public and all interested groups including wheel clamping businesses and motoring organisations to have their say. The Government’s proposals include the introduction of compulsory licensing to tackle the limited number of wheel clamping businesses whose practices include excessive fines for releasi...

Security Industry Authority Chairman Ruth Henig has invited Andy Drane (SIA Director of Compliance and Enforcement) to take up the post of Acting Chief Executive. The recruitment process for a permanent Chief Executive is underway and an announcement will be made shortly. Previous SIA Chief Executive Bernard Herdan, who was appointed in November last year for an interim period of four to six months, took up a new post as Chief Executive of the National Fraud Strategic Authority on 1 April 2009. SIA Chairman Ruth Henig said: I would like to thank Bernard for successfully taking the SIA forward...

SectorGuard Plc, has through its 100% owned subsidiary Legion Services Limited acquired the contracts of Craft Services Group Limited (in administration) for a consideration of £99,000. The contracts with an annual value of £10m provide security and facilities services to shopping centres, property groups and commercial organisations. This addition further strengthens SectorGuard's market share within these sectors following quickly on from the Legion Group plc acquisition. Some 400 employees of Craft Services Group Limited have transferred (under TUPE conditions) over to Legion Group plc a...