The UK’s aviation policy is under wide-ranging scrutiny at the moment, with attention variously on the desirability, or otherwise, of extending Heathrow and the possibility of creating a “Boris island” airport in the Thames.
The Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), John Longworth, has widened the argument by suggesting that Stansted Airport can play an important role in boosting international trade and connectivity in support of British business.
On a recent visit to the UK’s fourth busiest airport, he met Stansted’s Managing Director, Nick Barton, to discuss a range of issues affecting aviation and business competitiveness, including aviation policy, infrastructure investment, export opportunities and access to finance.
He described Stansted as a superb airport with world-class infrastructure and noted that it has a burgeoning air freight market with significant spare capacity to take more flights, which would help to boost international trade.
“The UK desperately needs a coherent and comprehensive aviation policy for the short-, medium- and long-term,” Mr Longworth said. “Stansted clearly has a role to play.”
Mr Barton said that the airport had the permissions and facilities in place to serve 35 million passengers a year on its single runway and he was sure that it could help to build the international trade links that are vital for British business and prosperity.
The British Chambers of Commerce are carrying out a snap poll on “Access to Finance” this week.
The Snap poll is carried out over 3 days and starting from today, closing at midnight on Thursday.
The BCC have commented as follows:
“Considering the continuing economic challenges faced by UK businesses, we would like to quickly capture your views on how access to finance is shaping the current business environment.
Conducting this very short snap poll of Chamber members will enable us to represent the needs of business as effectively as possible at a time when major changes to the business finance system are being considered both here in the UK and globally.”
Commenting on the proposals announced by Vince Cable on the proposed employment law changes, Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said:
“Norfolk employers will be encouraged that the government is taking steps to reduce the burden of the employment system and create a more flexible labour market. Dismissal is always a last resort, but is at times necessary to protect a business and other members of staff. The fear of malicious tribunal claims and an unnecessarily antagonistic dismissal process has a chilling effect on employment. We would urge the government to move swiftly from consultation to implementation on settlement agreements and lower tribunal awards, as these proposals will boost confidence when businesses on the ground can see them in action.
On settlement agreements:
“In those unfortunate circumstances when businesses have to end the employment relationship, settlement agreements provide a speedy and consensual way to avoid disputes. Companies need to be confident that they can offer an employee a settlement to end the relationship without fear of future claims. We support moves by the government to make the process of offering a settlement easier to navigate without paying for specialist advice.”
On limiting tribunal awards:
“The current maximum award for unfair dismissal vastly exceeds the reality of most cases, but prevents many employers from seeking justice, and puts many more off hiring all together. The upper limit should be reduced and this would significantly increase employers’ confidence to challenge unmeritorious claims and recruit more staff.”
On tribunal reforms:
“These measures form part of a broader government agenda to reform the tribunal system and ensure it becomes less of a barrier to employment and economic prosperity. Although employers have welcomed efforts to deter vexatious claims by introducing fees for claimants, that policy will be undermined if the system of remissions means that just a quarter have to pay the full fee. The government must get a grip and ensure that all those who can afford the fee are made to pay.”
On additional changes needed to boost employment and confidence:
“These measures will boost employers’ confidence and lead them to create additional jobs, but will be undermined by upcoming government proposals on extending the right to request flexible working and shared parental leave. Extending the right to request to all workers will make it more difficult for employers to accommodate requests from those with caring duties. Similarly while we support the objective of helping mothers who want to return to work to do so, we are yet to see proposals on flexible parental leave that are workable.”
Norfolk Chamber and other key stakeholders will be attending the Norfolk Rail Prospectus Workshop, organised by Graham Plant, Cabinet Member for Planning and Transportation and Chloe Smith Norwich North MP, in conjunction with Norfolk County Council on 4th October.
The Prospectus will build on the tremendously successful region-wide prospectus that Local Enterprise Partnerships – backed by local authorities, the rail industry, the Chambers and MPs – delivered to Westminster earlier in the summer.
We are already seeing the results of this. The recent government announcement about rail spending and overarching objectives for the next five years included positive announcements about improving the rail network at Ely, for example, which is vitally important for a number of services including Norwich to Cambridge and King’s Lynn to Cambridge.
Now that the rail industry is developing its detailed spending programmes, and government is renewing the franchises covering the county, we have to follow this up with our detailed requirements.
There will be an opportunity for the business community to reconfirm what is needed on the railways for Norfolk. There is strong backing for ‘Norwich in Ninety’ and half hourly services to King’s Lynn. The workshop will aim to find out what is important elsewhere, and in more detail, to make sure that the railways can meet the needs of Norfolk: to build our economic strengths and capitalise on what the county has to offer.
The Prospectus is for the long term, and the stakeholders seek to maintain a unified, passionate and focused campaign which best positions us at the right time.
The Bank of England Agents’ summary for September highlighted that spending on consumer goods and services continued to grow at a gradual pace, however promotions and sales remained essential to support demand, with households still focused on finding value for money.
Export growth continued to slow, reflecting the weakening conditions throughout the Euro area and manufacturing growth continued to slow. However turnover in the service sector was now rising a t a gradual pace. To read the full report click here.
Commenting on yesterday’s announcement on the independent scrutiny of regulations affecting challenger businesses by Business and Enterprise Minister Michael Fallon, Caroline Williams, CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:
“Ensuring that innovative, growing businesses are not hampered by burdensome red tape is a step in the right direction. Independent scrutiny of outdated regulations is vital if we are to help ground-breaking companies in Norfolk thrive. The Norfolk Chamber supports the call for the role of the independent Regulatory Policy Committee to be strengthened, to ensure regulations that hamper business growth are fully analysed.
“These changes must, however, form part of a wider deregulation package that reduces the burden of red tape for all companies. Only significant deregulation, both domestically and in Europe, will give businesses the confidence to grow, innovate and create employment in the long-term.”
The Export Control Organisation (ECO) is the UK’s regulatory ‘strategic’ export licensing authority and forms part of the UK’s Department for Business.
Recent Notices that they have issued to all Exporters, can be found below:
Notice 2012/41 A new cross-government website known as GOV.UK will be released this October. The site will be the new home for government services and information online, including export control content.
Notice 2012/42 As part of the Government’s export control Service Improvement Project (SIP), the ECO intends to improve the process of applying for OIEL’s.
Notice 2012/43 King’s College’s Centre for Science & Security Studies (CSSS) is holding two further seminars on export compliance and non-proliferation which are specifically aimed at the nuclear and electronics industry respectively. Notice 2012/44 The ECO has introduced new export licensing controls on the export to the United States of the drug propofol, which could potentially be used to execute prisoners on death row by lethal injection. Notice 2012/45 An update to the earlier released Notice 2012/41 relating to the new UK Government website. Notice 2012/46 The European Union (EU) has announced a number of revised sanctions measures against Belarus, Eritrea, Iran, Somalia and Syria. These measures were published via a number of different Council Decisions and Council Implementing Regulations on both 15 and 16 October 2012 (published in the EU Official Journal).
For general export control queries please contact the ECO Helpline on 020 7215 4594 or mailto: [email protected]
The vouchers worth £5,000 would be offered to businesses, and allow them to access advice to help them grow. Advice would focus on issues such as exporting, HR, access to finance, marketing, and help with the planning system. The scheme would generate activity in the domestic business services market, boosting business investment and the productivity and growth potential of small and medium-sized businesses.
Growth Vouchers would offer significant benefits not only to participating companies, but to a wide array of UK-based suppliers, particularly in the business services sector. Businesses applying for the scheme would need a demonstrable business growth plan. Vouchers could only be spent on gaining advice, rather than to boost working capital, and would have a time-limit on their use. The £100m cost of the scheme could be found from other business support programmes, for example future rounds of the Regional Growth Fund.
Advice could be focused on the following areas:
1) Legal, HR, accounting advice: As businesses expand, accounting and HR systems become more complex, and small businesses in particular can struggle to make sense of employment law and tax systems. Advice would help businesses understand these complex functions, allowing them to be more efficient, and focus on growth. 2) Access to finance advice: Smaller, younger, and high-growth businesses often have more difficulty accessing finance than more established firms, and some are unaware of the options available outside traditional debt finance. Advice could also address the problem of discouraged demand, and may result in more businesses obtaining finance to boost investment plans. 3) Marketing advice and training: Helping businesses with marketing their products and services here and importantly in overseas markets could lead to more sales, and growth opportunities for many firms. 4) Planning support: The complexity of the planning system means many businesses need to hire in external consultants at a high cost. The costs will often put firms off expansion, so offering companies free advice would help motivate businesses to grow and expand their premises. 5) Staff training: Workforce skills consistently rank among the top three concerns among Chamber members across the country. As businesses expand and develop their goods and services, increased staff training is often needed to help firms grow. 6) Export advice: Urgent action is needed to support the UK’s potential and current exporters to help rebalance the UK economy towards exports. Many businesses do not have the advice or skills they need to break into new markets. Export training and access to market intelligence and trade shows and missions, could help many businesses take the first step to exporting, and open new markets for current exporters.
Announcing the proposal, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:
“Businesses across the country are looking to the government to give the economy the boost it needs. A Growth Voucher scheme, targeted at those businesses with clear plans to expand, could help to increase productivity, business investment and growth. Government-led schemes have previously focused on pushing out what Whitehall thinks is the answer to businesses’ problems, rather than what businesses themselves say they need. This proposed scheme is based on evidence from our members, who tell us that help with the planning system, advice on access to finance and exporting, training staff, and marketing, HR and accounting support, would help them grow. ‘It’s time for the government to make sure support gets to the front line quickly, and prompts more companies to invest and take risk. Boosting business growth and investment through a voucher scheme would stimulate swift business investment, which in turn can lead to growth in the months and years ahead.”
The attached PDF provides an update from the Highways Agency on the progress to the A11, Fiveways to Thetford improvements. More information on the scheme can be found on the Highways Agency’s website:
At a recent meeting of the West Norfolk Chamber Council the members were given updates from both the Leader and the Chief Executive of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council.
Nick Daubney, Leader of the Council, advised the members of the latest information on the proposed incinerator project, which has now been ‘called-in’ by the Secretary of State. Ray Harding, Chief Executive provided an update on how the Borough Council were proposing to resolve the availability of parking in and around King’s Lynn. He also advised that they were starting to work on planning the budget for 2015/2016.
As part of the economic round table discussion, Heather Garrod, President of West Norfolk Chamber highlighted that she was working to get the business community more involved with the local schools and asked for support from both the Borough Council and West Norfolk businesses. Ben Colson, M.D. of Norfolk Green and chair of the Town Centre Partnership advised that the King’s Lynn’s Business Improvement District (BID) was progressing well and gathering momentum.
Ostap Paparega, the Regeneration and Economic Development Manager for the borough council also presented the proposed King’s Lynn Enterprise and Innovation Centre project, for which the New Anglia LEP has confirmed funding of £2.5m. The project will provide 25,000 sq.ft. of business innovation, office space and business support.
Nick Daubney, together with the Mayor of West Norfolk, Cllr. Geoffrey Wareham, opened the Chamber’s Meet the Buyer event on 20th September. The event was held at the Knights Hill Hotel, King’s Lynn and was well attended. Among the buyers were Bernard Matthews, Bespak Europe Ltd, RAF Lakenheath and Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
William Hague last week announced a review of the balance of the EU’s competences (the power to act in particular areas conferred on it by the EU Treaties).
The review will look at the EU’s competences, how they are used, and what that means for Britain and our national interest.
Thanks to advances in technology, we can now get up to the minute news on the move, order our shopping and bank online, or video-call friends and family overseas.
So it is perhaps no surprise that the way we manage our healthcare is also changing as technology develops.
According to research commissioned by Best Doctors people are increasingly turning to the internet for health related information, with 89 per cent of survey respondents saying they would go-online following diagnosis by their doctor.
Another study, which surveyed consumers and healthcare executives in the US, found that one in three people were using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for health related issues.
Keith Pollard, Managing Director of Intuition Communication, said that social media had altered the ‘patient-provider dynamic’: “The web has changed the power of patient voice, the involvement of patients in decision making and their treatment.”
So while we can ‘like’ our friends’ status updates and photographs on Facebook, increasing numbers are also locating and commenting on health services and treatments via the web, thanks to online social forums where people discuss everything from dentistry to diabetes.
Chamber Primary Health Plan provider Westfield Health recognises the importance of providing its policyholders with easy and immediate access to information and services.
The Chamber Plan, which is available to all members of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, provides money back towards the cost of everyday healthcare such as dental treatment, eye care, physiotherapy and diagnostic consultations, as well as providing fast access to scanning facilities and counselling services.
Employees can manage their account online by logging into the My Westfield area of Westfield Health’s website. They are able to view and amend their personal details, check benefit balances and view their claims history.
Additionally, Westfield offers a Text Messaging Service and iPhone app, where employees can check their benefit balances.
The Chamber Plan also includes an online Personal Health Risk Assessment, which gives employees an easy to understand and visual representation of their current health status.
Based on the unique Q-Score™ system, the assessment helps employees to understand how their lifestyle impacts on their health, as well as to identify steps they can take to improve their health and wellbeing and track their progress along the way.
Derived from the aggregated and anonymised results of employees’ Health Risk Assessments, a Company Health Report enables employers to identify any prevailing health risks affecting their workforce.
Westfield has also enhanced its existing GP telephone consultation service DoctorLine by introducing new webcam consultation service. The online facility will enable employees to see and speak to a qualified UK GP during normal surgery hours, while giving doctors the opportunity to use visual aids and diagrams to clarify the advice they give.
For more information about the Chamber Plan, visit www.westfieldhealth.com/chamber or call 0845 602 1629, available 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.