National Apprenticeship #NAW2018 is fast approaching and we are in the final stages at Norfolk Chamber of Commerce with our campaign to support this week and forthcoming events such as the Norfolk Skills and Career Festival, which runs from Wednesday 7March and Thursday 8 March, 2018 at the Norfolk Showground, Norwich https://norfolkskills.co.uk
It would be great if we could ask for your collaboration with this campaign, as it is an ideal opportunity to showcase the great work we all do within this area. The aim is to feature our Chamber of Commerce members who have apprentices and what it is like to be an apprentice.
These snap shot stories will all be featured on our social media channels. Do get in touch at [email protected] if you are a Chamber member and would like us to feature a story on your apprentice.
UK GDP growth for Q4 2017 revised down and the trade deficit widens amid rising imports
UK unemployment rises with productivity growth at its strongest since the economic downturn
GDP growth in Germany and France reach six-year highs as the global economy strengthens
The second official estimate for Q4 2017 UK economic growth (GDP) stood at 0.4%, down from the previous estimate of 0.5%. The downward revision was driven by industrial output growing by slightly less than previously estimated.
In the three months to December 2017, the number of people in employment rose by 88,000. However, unemployment increased by 46,000 over the same period and the UK’s unemployment rate rose from 4.3% to 4.4%, the first increase since August 2016.
Germany’s economy, the largest in the Eurozone, grew by 0.6% in Q4 2017, outperforming the UK economy for the fourth successive quarter. Q4 growth was largely driven by an improvement in their net trade position with exports growing by 2.7%, more than offsetting the 2% rise in imports.
The EDP’s Future 50 businesses were revealed last night at the Future50 Live! conference at the Enterprise Centre at the UEA. Future50 is a collection of Norfolk and Suffolk’s most innovative and ambitious companies.
We are happy to announced that fourteen of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce members were recognised, including our Gold Patron, MIGSOLV, a world class data centre provider in Norfolk.
The latest Corruption Perceptions Index ranks 180 countries according to their level of public sector corruption.
New Zealand, Denmark and Finland take the top three places as the world’s least corrupt countries, while Syria, South Sudan and Somalia are bottom of the list.
Published by Transparency International, the Index places the UK at No. 8 on the list – up from 10th place last year.
Based on surveys of business people and on expert assessments, the Index highlights links between corruption, press freedom and the decline of civil liberties around the world.
The least corrupt region is Western Europe, with the two worst being Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The Index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. Over two-thirds of countries in this year’s list have a score below 50, with the average being 43. Chart-topping New Zealand scored 89, with the UK on 82, the USA on 75, Russia on 29 and Somalia on 9 points.
Commenting on the UK’s rise up the table, Transparency International’s Duncan Hames said it is encouraging to see perceptions of corruption in the UK’s public sector falling, but warned that more work needs to be done in other sectors to prevent money laundering and to stop UK-based professionals enabling corruption from around the world.
Over the last six years, many countries have made little or no progress in tackling corruption, with the positions in some – including Bahrain, Liberia and St Lucia – actually worsening.
“Smear campaigns, harassment, lawsuits and bureaucratic red tape are all tools used by certain governments in an effort to quiet those who drive anti-corruption efforts,” Patricia Moreira of Transparency International pointed out.
Norfolk Chamber is working in partnership with the A47 Alliance to help promote the business case for the full dualling of the A47 from Lowestoft through to Peterborough.
On Monday 19 March, we have arranged for the Rt. Honourable Jesse Norman MP, Minister for Roads to be at the Town Hall in King’s Lynn from 10.15am to 1pm to hear from local businesses and politicians about the benefits of improvements to the A47.
We are calling on the Norfolk business community to help support the Norfolk Chamber and the A47 Alliance and show Mr Norman just how important the A47 improvements are to our region and how committed we are to achieving them.
We would like to hear from businesses about the benefits that dualling the A47 would bring to their business and we are particularly keen to hear from businesses based in Great Yarmouth, Dereham, Swaffham and King’s Lynn; or any business located next to the A47.
David Powles, the Editor of the EDP, will host the morning, and we will be launching a very exciting ‘Dual the A47’ campaign, that will run for a number of weeks, followed by a delegation to Westminster.
The event is free to attend and a light lunch will be served at the end of the event – places are limited, and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
If you wish to attend this event, please can you contact: [email protected] by no later than Wednesday 14 March 2018.
The other 27 Member States have been invited to agree their approach to a new partnership with the UK after it leaves the Union.
Although the six-page document restates the EUs determination to have as close as possible a partnership with the UK in the future, and agrees that such a partnership should cover trade and economic co-operation, it warns that being outside the Customs Union and the Single Market will inevitably lead to frictions.
Divergence in external tariffs and internal rules as well as absence of common institutions and a shared legal system, necessitates checks and controls to uphold the integrity of the EU Single Market as well as of the UK market, the European Council document states. This unfortunately will have negative economic consequences.
The proposal for a free trade agreement (FTA) providing zero-tariff trade in goods and covering services will be welcomed in Whitehall but linking this to continued access to UK fishing waters for EU vessels will cause problems with Leave voters and politicians.
Many will remember the sight of Nigel Farage leading a flotilla into the Thames as part of the pro-Brexit Fishing for Leave.
Available at gwpengine.netdna-ssl.com, the draft guidelines have been released ahead of a meeting of European Council leaders on 22 and 23 March, where they will be asked to agree to a 21-month transitional arrangement after the UK formally leaves the EU in March 2019.
The document includes the now familiar warning about the Single Market being a set menu.
It says: The European Council recalls that the four freedoms of the Single Market are indivisible and that there can be no cherry picking through participation based on a sector-by-sector approach that would undermine the integrity and proper functioning of the Single Market.
It also insists that the role of the EUs Court of Justice (CJEU) will be fully respected.
On Thursday 4th May, we were joined by over 70 members for a Pub Quiz at The Oaktree, Norwich. In teams of 6, delegates competed to be crowned Norfolk Chamber Quizmasters 2017.
We started off the evening with wine on the tables and a mixed buffet to ensure members were ready to use their knowledge.
There were four rounds including ‘Famous Places’ where delegates had a sheet with pictures of famous local places had to guess what that place was. The next round was ‘general knowledge’ which included 20 questions from a mixture of subjects. The third round was on the theme of ‘celebrity’ and the last round was based around ‘music’ members were asked various questions and had to guess the celebrity answer.
In the end, Mattioli Woods (pictured) were victorious, winning with an impressive 42 out of 52 points! With Richard Johnston Ltd coming in a very close 2nd with 39 points!
Take advantage of our informal networking opportunities with the next After Hours Event: Cocktails and Canapes, Thursday, 15 June 2017 – 5:30pm to 8:00pm, Bond no.28 Tombland Norwich. Visit to https://norfolkchamber.co.uk/events/after-hours-cocktail-canapes book your place.
It’s here! After months of training, Norfolk Chamber staff take on the Norwich Half Marathon this Sunday (15 April 2018) at The Royal Norfolk Showground.
Six staff members of the Norfolk Chamber including our CEO Chris Sargisson have been spending most of our free time training for this event, even in the cold weather! This is the first time the chamber has had a team running in this event, and it’s all for a good cause too. We will be raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Do come and support us if you can on Sunday 15 April at 10.30am. Give us a cheer as we speed by, 13.1 miles is a long way!
Just in case you would like to feature on our t-shirts for the event, we are also looking for Norfolk businesses to support us by sponsoring our t-shirts which we will all be wearing on the day. Sponsorship starts at £200 and all excess funds will be donated to charity. Get in touch if you’re interested.
Tension between the UK Government and the European Commission which has built up during the Brexit negotiations is hardly likely to have been eased by a demand from Brussels that the UK should pay an extra €2.7 billion.
This is nothing to do with the so-called Divorce Bill but has resulted from a dispute over customs duties going back several years.
The Commission has sent a letter of formal notice to the UK because, it argues, the Government refuses to make customs duties available to the EU budget, as required by EU law.
A 2017 report by the EU fraud office found that importers in the UK had evaded a large amount of customs duties by using fictitious and false invoices and incorrect customs value declarations at importation.
Further Commission inspections brought to light a dramatic increase of the scale of that undervaluation fraud scheme operating through the hub in the UK between 2011 and 2017.
“Despite having been informed of the risks of fraud relating to the importation of textiles and footwear originating in China since 2007, and despite having been asked to take appropriate risk control measures, the United Kingdom failed to take action to prevent the fraud,” the Commission claimed.
It calculates that the infringement of EU legislation resulted in losses to the EU budget amounting to €2.7 billion (minus collection costs) during the period November 2011 until December 2017.
In addition, the Commission argues, the UK infringed EU VAT legislation, leading to potential losses to the EU budget.
If the Commission is unhappy with the UK’s response, it may refer the case to the EU’s Court of Justice (CJEU) for a decision.
Improved global demand continues to feed growth across most of the manufacturing supply chain, a new survey has revealed.
Published by the manufacturers’ organisation, EEF, and accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP, the EEF/BDO Manufacturing Outlook for the first quarter (Q1) of 2018 shows that demand from European and capital equipment markets, in particular, is helping UK manufacturers start this year in the same positive way they ended 2017.
Manufacturing activity stepped up a gear through 2017 providing industry with some decent momentum coming into this year, EEF Chief Economist Lee Hopley said.
“The importance of a buoyant global economy to export-focused manufacturing sectors is again reinforced,” she explained, “with growing overseas demand encouraging international manufacturers to ramp up their investment which in turn is spurring particularly strong activity in UK capital goods sectors.”
According to the survey, two-thirds of manufacturers see the EU as offering good prospects for growth, with the next best markets of Asia and North America seen as supportive by around a quarter of companies.
With output, orders, investment and recruitment all significantly above their long-run averages, EEF has upgraded its growth forecasts for manufacturing in 2018 from 1.4% to +2.0% (the EEF forecast for the overall UK economy this year is 1.5%).
EEF also notes that growth in world trade has been matched by a large improvement in the UK orders balance at the start of this year. Although export orders eased slightly (from +33% in 2017 Q4 to +29% in 2018 Q1), domestic order balances almost doubled (from +12% to +21%).
A word of warning was also issued: there are some sign in the survey that automotive and construction supply chains are seeing signs of weaker demand, which could see a greater sector variation in performance both this year and next.
The message at the South Norfolk Business Breakfast last week was how focusing on your staff satisfaction will have a direct impact on your business success!
We welcomed Chamber members to Park Farm Hotel, Hethersett for our sold out breakfast for a morning of networking and an inspiring talk.
As guests enjoyed their first cup of coffee of the morning, they made the most of interacting with the stands present at the breakfast: Buy local Norfolk, Cneqt DNA Limited, Inspired Renewables and Select Office Furniture.
After some time getting to know one another, they enjoyed a delicious spread of breakfast.
Guests then heard from our expert speaker Lisa Collen, Director of People for Flagship Group. She spoke about the undeniable correlation between a happy workforce, customer satisfaction and ultimately, profitability and how Flagship have introduced agile working, a relaxed dress code and flexible benefits among other well-being measures for their staff to enhance overall employee satisfaction.
There would be some reductions in consumer prices, but nothing to get too excited about according to new research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Its analysis shows that this would have only a limited impact on the cost of living of the average household because the average tariff rates that the EU charges on the sorts of goods consumed in the UK are not particularly high.
The IFS points out that the average tariff under the World Trade Organization (WTO) most-favoured-nation (MFN) status that would apply to UK imports from countries with which the EU has no trade agreements is 4.6%.
Once the EU’s various trade agreements which waive or reduce tariffs on imports from certain countries are taken into account, the average is 2.8%.
With services dominating the UK economy, just £26 of every £100 spent by UK households is affected, directly or indirectly, by the import prices of goods on which tariffs are charged.
“Simple arithmetic suggests therefore that even cutting all tariffs to zero could only reduce prices overall by 1.2% at most,” report author Peter Levell concludes.
Crucially, any benefits that might accrue to consumers from running an independent tariff policy also need to be set against the inevitable costs to UK trade that would result from leaving the Customs Union, the report warns.
Businesses will probably be affected by customs delays and storage costs that would result from the erection of customs barriers on trade with the EU, while regulatory differences between the EU and the UK are also likely to create various non-tariff barriers to trade.
Such changes are likely to increase costs for consumers and offset the (already rather limited) gains from tariff reductions, the IFS argues.