Chamber News

At a recent meeting of the Norwich Chamber Council, Karen O’Kane the Programme Director for Better Broadband for Norfolk and John Cullum, the Senior Deployment Manager for BT Openreach provided a progress report on upgrading broadband in Norfolk and highlighted the benefits to business.

Facts about Next Generation Access (NGA) Infrastructure:

• 600 cabinets and 157 local telephone exchanges in Norfolk
• Starting Point: Installation of fibre spines to connect local Exchange Areas to the nearest Head Exchange.
• Average length of a fibre spine in the UK is 3km to 5km
• Average Norfolk fibre spine length will be 13km

Click here to view short video showing how better broadband will be implemented.

Constraints in supplying the NGA infrastructure:

• Capacity and conditions of the existing infrastructure i.e. the ducts through which the fibre will be laid
• Availability of power in rural areas
• Timescales surrounding planning applications
• Necessary road closures – which will be more prevalent in rural locations than urban ones

The locations for the first phase of improvements have been recently announced and it is expected that every couple of months updates on further locations will be advised. You can find out the status of the nearest exchange by clicking here and entering your postcode.

Benefits to Business:

Better broadband will provide new opportunities for businesses in Norfolk allowing them to innovate and expand into different markets. It also has the potential to increase efficiency and drive down costs by offering access to:

• Cloud computing – business data and software applications that are hosted remotely. Many cloud based business applications are now available ranging from basic office software to more sophisticated business software such as customer relationship management systems
• Voice over internet (VoIP) communication systems which enable basic call routing and voicemail through to video conferencing.
• Web conferencing enables businesses to meet in real time and share desktops
• Data transfer – upload latest content quickly and effectively to keep ecommerce and other websites up to date. Send and receive large files (e.g. complex plans and drawings, videos etc).
• Remote data storage – backup business data automatically and regularly to a remote and secure location.
• Flexible working – work from the office, from the home or on the move in a way and at a time that meets your business, and employee, needs.

The Norfolk and Suffolk Local Transport Body (LTB) has been created. This is a new body that will receive funding from the government for large transport schemes in our region. It will cover the geographical area of the two counties and New Anglia LEP, and is likely to receive around £39m of funding for major transport schemes over the 2015-19 spending period.

The Norfolk and Suffolk LTB is one of many local transport bodies that have been set up across the country to manage major transport scheme money. Whereas previously this money was managed centrally, government has now devolved the funding to local areas. The LTB comprises representatives from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the two local transport authorities (Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council).

A ‘Long-List’ has been derived from existing, agreed, and adopted strategies such as the counties’ Local Transport Plans, Growth Plans and Infrastructure Plans. Because these plans have already had extensive stakeholder engagement, the LTBare confident that the ‘Long-List’ is a good starting point to identify the transport projects to which they should direct its funding.

The Norfolk and Suffolk LTB are currently seeking the views of the local business community onthe ‘Long-List’ plus any suggestions for additional large capital transport schemesthat should be includedin the spending programme for 2014-19. Your comments will help provide a starting point and will allow the priorities to be assigned. The consultation period ends at midday on Friday 12 July 2013.

For more information on the consultation and to access full details of the ‘Long -List’ click here.

The British Chambers of Commerce recently carried out an International Trade Survey on businesses across Norfolk and the rest of the UK. The results showed that exporting was on the increase, rising from 32% of those surveyed in 2012 to 39% in 2013.

Some interesting responses were received from Norfolk businesses – please take a look at the Norfolk Survey Results.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to respond to the survey.

At a recent meeting of the Great Yarmouth Chamber Council, the members were pleased to note several positive good news stories for Great Yarmouth:

• Pinch Point Funding of £4.7m has been awarded for the new road between the A143 and the A12, which will service the Great Yarmouth Enterprise Zone and will also facilitate 1,000 new homes and help create 15 hectares of industrial land.
• A recent report from the Town Centre Partnership highlighted that footfall in the town centre was up by 13% during May and in the seven weeks running up to 1 June 2013 it increased by 9%.
• Funding bids have been submitted for the regeneration of the Co-op building and a joint bid from Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft College has been submitted to provide workforce development funding for training in areas such as engineering, travel and tourism.

The Great Yarmouth Chamber Council members also debated the New Anglia LEP Apprenticeship Plan and whilst the members supported the intention of the plan, they expressed concern regarding the reality of persuading SMEs tofacilitateapprenticeships, as it may be a hard task to change the perception of many SMEsto apprenticeships.

To help with just this concern, the Norfolk Chamber has created an Apprenticeship Broker Service which is an active step in encouraging more of the region’s businesses to take on apprentices. This service will guide businesses though the apprenticeship process and work on your behalf to make the recruitment process as simple and straight forward as possible. For more details contact the Chamber team on 01603 625977 or e-mail [email protected].

• In the three months to January 2013, unemployment fell by 5,000, and employment rose by 24,000
• Youth unemployment fell by 43,000, but remains high
• In the first quarter of 2013, public sector employment fell by 22,000, while private sector employment increased by 46,000

Commenting on the unemployment figures, published today by the ONS, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said:

“This modest improvement in the labour market is very welcome, especially as it reverses the decline seen in the last couple of months. Despite the level of inactivity rising slightly, the UK labour market remains robust and is performing well by international standards. However pay, excluding bonuses, remains well below inflation at 0.9%, exacerbating the squeeze on real incomes.

“The private sector is creating jobs while the public sector shrinks, which proves that British businesses are able to drive the economic recovery while circumstances at home and abroad remain challenging. In this month’s Spending Review, the Chancellor should look towards a shift of priorities away from current spending and towards capital investment, to improve the supply potential of the economy.”

There are now only 2 weeks left to submit your entry for the Chamber Awards. The Chamber Awards are considered one of the UK’s most hotly contested and prestigious business awards.

Norfolk has lots of highly successful businesses and this is your opportunity to showcase the best of Norfolk at a national level. The Awards recognise and reward business success with a range of specialist categories to meet the needs of any organisation. Each year hundreds of businesses compete for the coveted National Chamber Awards along with the £25,000 cash prize on offer.

The following categories are now open for entry:

• Online Business of the Year
• Most Promising New Business
• Exporter of the Year
• Excellence in Innovation
• Commitment to People Development
• Marketing Campaign of the Year
• Outstanding Personal Achievement
• The Sustainability Award

Entry to the Chamber Awards is free for Norfolk Chamber members – so take the first step towards winning and enter your business today. Businesses submitting an entry for any of the above award categories by Friday 21 June will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win an iPad Mini.

The final closing date for entries is 28 June and the regional winners will be announced on 30th September. The winners will go through to compete in the National Final, where they will be judged by a panel of business leaders and entrepreneurs. The Chamber Awards programme will conclude with the prestigious gala awards dinner on 28th November in central London, where one business will be awarded the £25,000 prize courtesy of the RBS Group. To enter online click here.

Read updates issued by the Export Control Organisation including details about imposition of arms embargoes, Open General Export Licence amendments or announcements about Control List changes.

Notice to Exporters 2013/14 In a recent Notice to Exporters (2013/11), the ECO advised that changes to SPIRE, that would enable you to provide them with information to meet government transparency requirements, would be completed in April. It has since become clear that further development time is necessary and they are now planning to roll out the reporting system in July.

At a recent meeting of the Chamber Planning & Development Group, members advised that there has been a small improvement in the development market. Although some development projects were underway, the housing market showed more signs of improvement than the commercial property market. Commercial developers were being very cautious and had little appetite for development without guaranteed end users.

A robust mortgage market is required if further improvements further in the house building market is to be achieved, which at present does not appear to be happening on a large scale, despite Government initiatives. There is however optimism within the Housing industry with respect to the Governments new Mortgage funding initiative NewBuy. The NewBuy scheme helps people bridge the deposit gap, allowing people who only have a 5% deposit purchase a new house, it is proposed that NewBuy will be rolled out to existing houses in 2004. It was felt however whilst this may stimulate the market in the short term care should be taken that it did not artificially raise prices and create more of a problem in the mortgage market long term.

Jonathan Cage, Chair of the Chamber Planning & Development Group and Managing Director of Create Consulting Engineers said: “The market is still very challenging, however there does appear to be some small improvement in the house building sector. Clearly we need a focussed effort to ensure that Norfolk makes the most of the opportunities for inward investment, both in terms of housing and the commercial sector.”

Mike Strawson has received a prestigious honour, in recognition of more than half a century’s work promoting British exports.

Mike, who has been working with the Norfolk Chamber for more than a decade, delivers the organisation’s highly successful training programmes covering all aspects of international trade.

He has received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Institute of Export for his outstanding contribution to export sales and also in teaching international trade skills to others. He was one of only three people to receive the honour.

Mike, who’s 71 and has been involved in exporting since he was 17, has also received a prestigious Fellowship from the Institute he first joined as a student in 1962. The organisation has just 24 Fellows.

“It’s a source of great pride because it’s an award given to me by my peers – the highest honour anyone can give,” said Mike. “I’ve spent a lifetime doing something I thoroughly enjoy. And I’ve had a lot of pleasure in travelling and learning about different cultures, trying different foods and making many friends around the world.”

Mike’s career has involved working with top firms such as Croda Chemicals, Triang Toys, the Bunzl Group and Novatech Adhesives.

Tracey Howard, International Trade Director at Norfolk Chamber said “It’s a privilege to work alongside Mike. He’s passionate about international trade and is without doubt the top export trainer in the country.

“I’m sure many of our local exporters who have been trained by Mike, will join me in congratulating him on this honour, which is well deserved.”

Commenting on the new Small and Micro Business Assessment, which has been announced by Michael Fallon today (Thursday), Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:

“Smaller Norfolk companies often find it difficult to comply with regulations, compared with their larger counterparts who have more resource. If this policy directly reduces the time and money that firms spend on needless bureaucracy, then the business community will show its support.

“Smaller businesses have the potential to become the wealth creators of tomorrow, but they do need an enterprise-friendly environment to be able to do this. Part of this is freeing them from red tape ,which prevents them from focusing on more important growth priorities, such as creating jobs and exporting their goods.

“We hope that this policy will help to deliver significant reductions in regulation and provide a more common-sense approach to regulation more generally. The Chamber will keep an eye on this new policy over the coming months to ensure that it is actually making a difference to local firms on the ground.”

The British Chambers of Commerce is today (Wednesday) publishing its submission for the government’s Spending Review, which will be announced later this month. Following extensive research into business’ priorities for the Spending Review, the business group is calling on the Chancellor to shift government spending away from current spending towards capital investment that will help get the economy back on track.

In April, the BCC polled nearly 1,800 firms across the UK, from which three clear messages emerged:

1. Lower public spending matched by lower taxes would deliver the best outcome for the UK economy

• Almost half (42%) of businesses ranked the reduction in public spending and taxes as their preferred option to boost the health of the UK economy
• This compared to only 13% of firms who listed higher public spending and higher taxes as their first choice
• The BCC believes that maintaining departmental ring-fences for short-term political gains is not consistent with a long-term vision of a low-tax, enterprise-friendly and internationally-competitive economy.

2. The top three areas that businesses would like the government to prioritise were economic development, education and transport. Foreign aid and social security were the lowest.

• Economic development (which includes trade promotion and business support) came out as the top priority for government spending at 68%, with education second (57%) and transport third (47%).
• Only 1% see foreign aid – currently protected by a ring-fence from cuts – as a priority area and only 6% see social security – the largest area of spend – as a priority for government spending.
• While the BCC is not calling for the protection of any specific Whitehall department budgets, we reiterate our long-standing call to shift state spending towards supporting the economy.

3. The present balance between capital investment and current spending is far out of line with business perceptions and expectations

• On average, UK businesses wanted to see a 3:1 split of current and capital spending in budget allocations after learning of the actual ratio, which is closer to 13:1.
• This suggests businesses would like to see a massive boost to capital expenditure, which would require a radical reprioritisation of government budgets.
• The BCC is calling for a greater focus on investing in capital assets including transport, energy, education, digital and other local economic infrastructure, such as road maintenance and house building.

PRIORITY SPENDING MEASURES TO BOOST GROWTH

The following priority areas are consistent with the business opinion identified from our survey, and would have a significant impact on economic growth. They are costed, and we believe the government can offset these costs through cutbacks to other, less growth-focused, areas of spending.

Promote access to finance for growing businesses

• The BCC welcomed the initial £1 billion commitment to the new British Business Bank as an important first step, but investment must be on a greater scale if it is to succeed in supporting growing companies
• An additional investment of £9 billion from the government over the next three years would provide the necessary capital base to allow the Business Bank to start lending directly to businesses.
• The government and the Bank of England should use their balance sheets to extend the backing of the Funding for Lending scheme’s billions to the embryonic Business Bank. This would energise a crucial player in the lending market, and help to solve the long-term structural gap in finance that continues to strangle far too many growth businesses across the UK.

Direct Exchequer cost: £3 billion per annum

Immediate infrastructure stimulus to boost house building and road maintenance

• The BCC believes that continued underinvestment in road maintenance will lead to further deterioration in the state of Britain’s road networks; whereas additional investment would boost employment, support local construction and underpin local economies more generally.
• The BCC continues to call for a Road Repair and Renewal Fund, which would need to be at least £12 billion over the next three year period. This would help to address the current backlog of repairs which stands at £9 billion and is growing by nearly £800 million per year.
• We urge the government to directly invest in much-needed new social housing, and for 100,000 more new homes to be added to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) target to 2015.
• The BCC strongly believes that house building, not uncertain mortgage market interventions as announced in this year’s Budget, is required to boost the economy and help remove distortions in the housing market.
• Investment in more affordable housing would directly boost the economy through employment in the house-building sector and would benefit mostly UK-based companies.

Direct Exchequer cost: £4.8 billion per annum

Promoting exports

• If we are to successfully rebalance the economy towards exports, the government must do more to enhance the level and effectiveness of support available to UK companies trading internationally
• In the Autumn Statement, UKTI was allocated a budget of £70 million to deliver services to more small- and medium-size exporters and help to refocus UKTI activities on the highest-value opportunities and emerging markets. To date, a small proportion of this funding has been allocated towards the direct support of SME exporters.
• The BCC is urging the government to allocate more funding towards supporting SME exporters, with more funds going directly to the coal face rather than into Whitehall-driven programmes.
• Trade missions, development of in-market support and promotion of market opportunities to companies in the UK must be prioritised. An extra £33.3m per annum over the course of the Spending Review period, if split between the 20 priority markets identified by UKTI, would yield a market development budget of £1.65 million per annum. This equates to £5m per market over the whole Spending Review period.
• The government has issued an export challenge, and wants to see 100,000 more British firms exporting by 2020. Without additional export support on a large scale, achieving this will be difficult.

Direct Exchequer cost: £33.3m per annum

Long-term commitment to renewing Britain’s infrastructure

• Without significant efforts from the government to accelerate and deepen reforms to attract private investment in the country’s infrastructure, the UK’s ability to compete internationally will be further undermined. The government must go further and faster to de-risk private investment in infrastructure. • The Bank of England could also help to lever private investment in infrastructure by providing guarantees to make involvement attractive to investors • Mechanisms that would support infrastructure investment over the longer-term could include establishing a government-backed Infrastructure Investment Bank or a ‘Reverse Sovereign Wealth Fund’. This would allow institutional investors to invest in projects indirectly and at a guaranteed rate of return.

TOTAL COST OF RECOMMENDED MEASURES: Approximately £8bn per annum

Commenting, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“This is the Chancellor’s last chance to make a real difference to the health of the UK economy, this side of the next general election. Our Spending Review submission, based on business opinion, is calling for a radical shift of focus towards areas like infrastructure, economic development and skills – the big enablers of an enterprise-friendly economy. Our submission proves that the government can have its cake and eat it. It can continue to reduce the deficit while investing heavily in measures that will support growth.

“It is unacceptable that ministers continue to ring-fence certain areas of spending for political reasons, and programmes that do little to boost UK output are being protected at the expense of capital investment. Infrastructure spending and radical action on direct house building and road maintenance would provide a significant boost to the construction sector and local growth. Furthermore, the UK’s overall export performance is still not where it could or should be. If we are to win the ‘global race’ described by the Prime Minister, we need a huge increase in the resources dedicated to supporting international trade. But these measures must be focused on frontline support to businesses, not the extension of agencies or bureaucracy in Whitehall.

“Businesses across the UK are crying out for more support to help them drive growth, boost trade overseas and create jobs and wealth. The Chancellor must be brave and listen to the business community, and seize this opportunity to go all out in the name of growth.”

Norwich North MP Chloe Smith visited Norse Commercial Services on Friday 31st May to talk to the team of apprentices about their experience of learning and aiming for a qualification whilst working.

In January of this year, Chloe founded and launched the ‘Norwich For Jobs’ Campaign which is seeking to halve youth unemployment in Norwich in two years. The Campaign is seeking to highlight that various routes available to young people into employment, including apprenticeships. Chloe visited Norse, an employer that has pledged its support to the campaign, in her capacity as Chair of the ‘Norwich For Jobs’ campaign to meet with and discuss the successful apprenticeship campaign that Norse currently runs in order to encourage other employers to consider offering similar apprenticeship programmes.

During her one and a half hour visit, Chloe also took part in a roundtable discussion with the team and senior members of Norse’s human resources and training divisions, about the value of apprenticeships and about the Norse initiative that will see over 100 apprentices on the company scheme during 2013.

Norse already commits over £880k a year to apprenticeships across its three operating companies, Norse Commercial Services, NPS and Norsecare, a figure match-funded by Norfolk County council.

“In 2011 Norse Commercial Services implemented a policy of turning entry-level jobs into apprenticeships,” commented Norse Human Resources Director Tricia Fuller. “We pay them a worthwhile salary that takes them out of the benefits system, provide them with the opportunity to do real work whilst getting accredited to NVQ levels 2 or 3 in their apprenticeship year.”

“We value all jobs the same at the apprenticeship stage, removing any stigma potentially attached to lower paid roles and making all vacancies equally attractive in terms of remuneration,” Fuller added.

Chloe Smith commented, “I really enjoyed visiting Norse again and was interested to learn more about their successful apprenticeship programme, which puts apprentices at the heart of the business. Their acknowledgement of the value that young people can offer to employers is very important and I would encourage other employers to consider offering apprenticeship places.”

“Norse’s inclusion of those ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ (NEETs), those with learning difficulties and care leavers is great. It is encouraging that a large employer like Norse helps these young people achieve their potential.”

Linda Savage, Head of Learning and Development at the company said, “At the end of their apprenticeship with Norse, a number will be offered permanent positions within the Norse Group, but everyone that completes the course will have a very portable qualification, putting them in a far better position to get a job”

Nineteen year old Hannah Codling-Thomas has been an apprentice with Norse since January 2013. “My position is Group Support Services Administrator, which means that I support three different functions: environmental, customer services and procurement. Supporting three different functions with three different managers keeps me on my toes, but I enjoy the variation and like a challenge.” “Getting an apprenticeship to me feels like I am able to work, earn and learn at the same time. It feels like I have learnt the skills to do so much more – not just for work but also for myself.”

Another apprentice, Jay Trivedi, also started in January this year, in the sales support team: “I believe that being on an apprenticeship opens up doors for my future, gives me the chance to network with other people, to build my confidence and to gain more knowledge in the company.”

“The skills I am picking up from my apprenticeship have already helped me with external tasks, and I feel like I am learning something every day, which I know I will help me in the future.”

The Norse team of nine apprentices has won through to the finals of the national ‘Brathay Challenge’, aimed at finding the ‘Apprentice Team of the year’.

Having impressed the judges with their regional heat entry, which included taking part in community projects and promoting the value of apprenticeships to both potential apprentices and employers, the team is currently completing further fundraising and awareness raising activity. The Challenge culminates in a series of team building tests, logistical challenges and physical competition against seven other teams at Brathay Trust’s Windermere headquarters from 10th to 12th June 2013.