Chamber News

Commenting on the government’s policy proposals for a points-based immigration system, Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy for Norfolk Chambers of Commerce said:

 “The speed and scale of these changes will require significant adjustment by businesses.

 “Companies are already investing heavily in home-grown talent across the county, but critical labour shortages mean firms will still need access to overseas workers at all skill levels. 

 “The new points system must be able to respond quickly to changing market needs, and the application process must be radically simplified.”

Commenting on the ONS labour market figures for February 2020, published today, BCC Head of Economics Suren Thiru said: “The jobs market remains remarkably robust, with employment levels rising despite the UK economy stalling at the end of last year. “However, the strong headline figures mask underlying problems. Lingering economic uncertainty can mean companies hire staff to fill orders rather than investing for the long-term, weakening productivity. “Slowing wage growth is a concern as it could trigger a broader slowdown in household spending, a major driver of UK economic growth. A weak economy, low productivity and high employment costs are limiting increases in pay settlements. “The forthcoming Budget must take steps to close the skills gap, with more funding for vocational and technical education and improved flexibility for the Apprenticeship Levy to better meet business needs.”

The Quarterly Economic Survey is the largest independent business survey in the UK. The results are used by the Government and the Bank of England to plan the future of the UK economy. You can have your say by completing the QES online NOW.  It takes less than 3 minutes.  The completion deadline for this survey is midnight on Monday 09 March 2020.  The Q1 results will be released at the beginning of April.

The results from the previous quarter revealed that the UK ended 2019 in stagnation, amid long-term uncertainty, rising business costs and a slowing global economy. The survey found protracted weakness across most indicators of economic health in the final quarter of 2019.

• Norfolk’s service sector indicators worsen and remain well below their historic average
• Norfolk indicators for manufacturing cashflow, home orders, and investment continue to worsen and are firmly in negative territory

The service sector, which accounts for almost 80% of UK economic output, saw a large majority of its key indicators worsen compared to Q3 2019. These indicators remain well below their historic average. 

The balance of manufacturers reporting a rise in domestic and export sales fell drastically. However, the balance of manufacturers reporting increased export orders rose from the previous negative position in Q3.

Investment intentions remain weak by historic standards – the balance of local firms in the manufacturing sector that plan to increase investment in plant and machinery dropped back to a negative position – whilst the fall was not as great, both the National and the East of England results also fell.

Cashflow – a key indicator of the health of businesses – Nationally showed a slightly improved result, but remained very weak across both manufacturing and service sectors.  Locally, both the Norfolk and the East of England service and manufacturing sectors reported decreased cashflow (-6 and -10 respectively in Norfolk and -10 and -4 in the East of England).

Key Norfolk findings in the Q4 2019 survey:

Services sector:

• The balance of firms reporting increased domestic sales fell from +8 in Q3 2019 to -7. Those reporting increased domestic orders fell from 0 to -12.
• The balance of firms reporting improved export sales dropped from -5 to -12. Those reporting increased export orders fell from -5 to -31, and all-time low.
• The balance of firms reporting improved cashflow fell from +2 to -6
• The balance of firms looking to increase investment in plant and machinery remained at -14 but rose slightly from +7 to +9 for training
• The balance of firms confident that turnover and profitability will improve over the next year increased from +10 to +26 for turnover and from -5 to -4 for profitability.  Despite these slight improvements, the figures still remain weak.

Manufacturing sector:

• The balance of firms reporting increased domestic sales fell from 0 in Q3 2019, to -20
• While those reporting increased domestic orders continued to fall from -11 to -20
• The balance of firms reporting improved export sales rose from -6 to +11
• The balance of firms reporting increased export orders improved considerably from -24 to 0
• The balance of firms reporting improved cashflow fell deeper into negative territory from -5 in Q3 to -20 in Q4
• The balance of firms increasing investment in plant/machinery fell from +10 to -10 and investment in training rose from +10 to +30
• The balance of firms confident that turnover and profitability will increase in the next 12 months fell from +38 to +10 for turnover and from +14 to 0 for profitability. This is still much lower than the post-recession average.

Take part in the first Quarterly Economic Survey of 2020 – I’ts completely anonymous and takes less than 3 minutes to complete.

On the 13th February we welcomed our members to the first West Norfolk Lunch of 2020. The room was filled with around 30 business from all over Norfolk, many travelling from Norwich to attend and of course, our local West Norfolk members ventured to the beautiful The Ffolkes Inn. 

The late morning event consisted of networking over coffee, and chats with our feature charity; EACH. The EACH stand had some beautiful pictures of their new hopsice located in Poringland as well as information on what you can do to get involved and support them. 

We were called to be seated and enjoyed a delicious two course lunch provided the fantastic Ffolke Inn staff. We then heard from the very talented and knowledgable Lucy Mowatt, Director of Method Marketing, on what is conent marketing?  Lucy explained that content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valueable, relevant and consistent content. Lucy went on to say that content can be anyting from online articles, case studies and videos to podcasts and social media updates. Content is needed for brand awareness, engagement and conversations with your potential customers and to reach a wider audience. 

Lucy gave the audience some tips on how to get started with content marketing and said that the most important thing to get started is to always do your research and know your audience, with this in place you can then begin to develop a strategy and create a plan to measure your outcomes. 

If your wanting to find out more about content marketing, you can find Lucy’s directory here.

The government is working to boost economic activity across the UK, ensuring that towns, cities and regions across the country can begin to benefit from the opportunities of leaving the EU. As part of this work, they aims to create up to 10 Freeports in locations across the UK.

The government wants to establish Freeports, which have different customs rules than the rest of the country, that are innovative hubs, boost global trade, attract inward investment and increase productivity. In doing so, they want Freeports to generate employment opportunities to the benefit of some of the most deprived communities around the UK.

The government has the following objectives for UK Freeports:

• Establish Freeports as national hubs for global trade and investment across the UK.
• Promote regeneration and job creation.
• Create hotbeds for innovation.
• The government has drawn on evidence from successful Freeports around the world to develop a UK Freeport model. The proposed model includes tariff flexibility, customs facilitations and tax measures. We are also considering planning reforms, additional targeted funding for infrastructure improvements, and measures to incentivise innovation.

To support this work, the Department of International Trade are running a formal consultation to understand your thoughts on the UK’s plans for Freeports. They aim to feed your views into the policy development process.

They want all the nations of the UK to be able to share in the benefits of Freeports. As such, they intend to work with the Devolved Administrations to develop proposals that would enable the creation of Freeports in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in addition to those in England.

So take part in the consultation today, share your views and have an impact on the development process for this exciting opportunity for the UK. Please see the PDF below for the official Freeports Consultation document from the Department of International Trade.

For any further queries on guidance or accessibility, please email [email protected].

This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 20 April 2020.

Another year, another afternoon of discussing key topics concerning Norfolk’s future.

Friday 7th February saw the opening of The Big Debate 2020, one of our high-profile events that brings together Norfolk’s business community from across all industries to be part of change for the county, both in 2020 and beyond.

The event was held at OPEN on Bank Plain, Norwich, and saw just shy of 150 delegates to the afternoon – our largest turn out to date!

Opened by our wonderful Head of Policy here at Norfolk Chambers, Nova Fairbank, who welcomed everybody collectively and went through what’s what for the event (and where to run in case of an emergency!), she started the afternoon on a high celebrating a big year ahead for Norfolk Chambers. Nova went on to make the big announcement about our exciting new project at Norfolk Chambers, known as Norfolk’s Voice. This is a platform for sharing critical knowledge, understanding, ideas, best practice and thought leadership through the medium of video, audio and written blogs.

We then welcomed to the stage Johnathan Denby from Greater Anglia, to talk about the milestones achieved last year on the counties rail service and to announce some exciting new projects and developments both currently happening and on the horizon for the company.

A special thank you to our sponsors, Greater Anglia and Broadland Business Park, to our exhibitors Barnham Broom, Howes Percival LLP, Maids Head Hotel and WLP, for supporting the event this year. And, of course, a special thank you to our fantastic host David Powles from Eastern Daily Press & Norwich Evening News, for directing the flow of questions to the panels and keeping the afternoon diverse, positive and exciting.

David Powles has been a journalist for 20 years, working for the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News for the last 13 of them. His previous roles have included News Reporter, News Editor, Investigations Editor and Assistant Editor and he was made editor of the daily newspapers and websites in 2017, fulfilling a lifetime’s ambition, making him a perfect fit for hosting our event.

Aimed at discussing and debating the most pressing issues that our region is facing, Chambers members were given the opportunity to question this year’s brilliant panel consisting of three Norfolk MPs, an Independent Trade Expert and local business leaders coming from a wide variety of industries.

The afternoon consisted of four debates, each with a mix of panellists who covered topics identified by Norfolk Chambers that have been at the forefront of the business community. The topics, their respected panellists and some of the discussions that took place within each debate are as follows:

Skills/People

• Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk
• Lisa Collen, Flagship Group
• Corrienne Peasgood OBE, City College Norwich

Kicking off the debates with the topic of Skills and People, the three biggest themes from this panel were around; the general skills shortage we are currently facing within Norfolk, along with the importance of education and the providing of opportunities; mental health and the ability we have to now instil good working practise and skills to both our current and future workforce to help combat the stigma; and the retention and recognition of the talent we have within Norfolk.

Infrastructure

• Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North
• Dale Curtis, Kickstart Norfolk
• Johnathan Cage, Create Consulting Engineers Ltd
• Johnathan Denby, Greater Anglia

The key themes discussed on this panel related to; what improvements are needed for rail-lines within Norwich and Norfolk; what more needs to be done to ensure that improvements are being made to the A47 and other key transport links, and methods, to, from and within Norfolk; and the importance of 4G/5G and general connectivity within Norfolk, especially when compared to other regions around the UK.

International Trade

• Mike Chapman, Independent Trade Expert
• Kevin Walsh, LV Shipping
• Duncan Lathwell, Natwest

Multiple topics came up during this panel, including; advice for first time exporters and what support is available to them; what is in store for future British trade, post Brexit; how we should go about maximising the port potential within Norfolk; the importance of learning the export destination’s language and/or culture when engaging in trade; and how important is air travel, especially in relation to Norwich Airport.

Sustainability

• Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South
• Alex Durand, SaxonAir
• Ali Clabburn, Liftshare
• John Popely, Anglia Print Ltd

Finally, the debate on sustainability had some in depth discussions relating to; what support and options are needed to improve our sustainability and carbon footprint from both an individual and a business perspective; how we actually go about shifting the focus from individual actions to a larger scale of what impacts businesses can have when tackling climate change; what would happen if we did manage to hit the 2050 carbon mitigation target and where would we go from there; what opportunities do we have to use more sustainable resources going forward; and where the resources are actually coming from to make the sustainable changes such as the conversion to electric cars, vans etc.

Furthermore, Ali Clabburn spoke extensively about the success of Liftshare in reducing the company’s CO2 emissions by around 54% across 2018/19, and their objective of paving the way for other businesses to follow suit in taking action to reduce their CO2 output and have a positive impact on the environment.

The event, although debating some heavy topics and having honest discussions on the current state of affairs within the region, came to a close with both the panellists and delegates coming together to celebrate Norfolk in an energetic atmosphere that comes with being part of the business voice that will create opportunities for our county going into 2020.

The UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020, bringing us to the final stages of Brexit – a process that officially began almost three years ago.

The Department for International Trade has begun preparations for the UK’s first independent tariff policy in almost fifty years. This means that the UK will be free to set its tariff rates on all imported goods. To inform the development of the UK Global Tariff, the Government has launched a four-week public consultation on the UK Global Tariff policy, beginning on 6 February 2020 and closing on 5 March 2020.

Julie Austin, International Trade Manager at Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, encourages everyone with an interest to take part and provide their views. So, take part today, and be part of the voice that shapes what happens from the 1 January 2021.

This new policy, the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff, will enter into force on 1 January 2021.

The tariffs will apply to all imported goods into the UK, unless in exceptional circumstances such as a preferential agreement or if tariff suspensions apply. As such, this tariff will not apply to goods incoming from developing countries that benefit under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, or to goods originating from countries that the UK has negotiated a free trade agreement (FTA).

Regarding Northern Ireland, specific arrangements that are in place are provided by the Northern Ireland/Ireland Protocol within the Withdrawal Agreement.

In setting the tariff rates, the government will have regard to the principles set out in the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018, namely:

• The interests of consumers in the United Kingdom
• The interests of producers in the United Kingdom of the goods concerned
• The desirability of maintaining and promoting the external trade of the United Kingdom
• The desirability of maintaining and promoting productivity in the United Kingdom
• The extent to which the goods concerned are subject to competition
• The government will also seek to balance strategic trade objectives, such as the delivery of the UK’s trade ambitions and FTA trade agenda, with maintaining the government’s commitment to developing countries to reduce poverty through trade.

The consultation offers you the opportunity to provide:

• Views on a potential series of amendments to the Common External Tariff to create a bespoke UK tariff- specifically: simplifying and tailoring the UK Global Tariff policy, removing tariffs on goods imported by UK businesses to manufacture other goods, and where the UK has zero or limited domestic production
• Specific feedback on specific products or commodity codes of importance to you, including on the corresponding tariff rate
• Information on your interactions with MFN tariffs and the importance of tariffs to your sectors

Throughout the consultation respondents are encouraged to provide evidence to support their view, including the possible impact (costs and benefits) of amending or not amending the tariff on businesses, consumers and the economy.

This consultation represents a unique and historic opportunity for every business, every person and every civil society group, in every part of the UK, to have their say.

So be sure to share your views and contribute to the preparation of the MFN tariff policy that comes into force from the 1 January 2021.

It is recommended that you use a desktop or laptop computer to complete your response to this consultation.

For any further queries on guidance or accessibility you can email [email protected]. This email address will no longer be monitored once the consultation closes on 5 March 2020.

If you have any further queries regarding International Trade please do not hesitate to contact the International Trade Department at Norfolk Chambers of Commerce on 01603 729706 or email [email protected]

Following the success of The B2B Exhibition in 2019, held at Norfolk Showground for the first year, we are excited to announce a new Brand Partnership designed to enhance the profile of the show for 2020.  Our new Brand Partnership, formed with local Norwich business Ark, will see The B2B Exhibition go through a re-brand to become The B2B Show.  This re-brand will give B2B not only a new name, but a new look too, utilising elements of the recent Norfolk Chambers re-brand to make the show stand out.  Based in the Norwich Lanes, Ark have worked on a range of exciting local projects since forming including the Norwich City of Stories brand, Liftshare, UEA Innovation and Impact Awards, Visit North Norfolk, Jarrold Privilege Club and more.  Although in the early concept stages, we are excited to see how the brand forms ready to unveil it to you in the coming months. Keep your eyes on our website and social media and get ready for an exciting change. For more information on the show, click here.

What is the Apprenticeship Intermediary Service? It’s a centralised support service delivered by NSAR in partnership with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to help Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and other smaller business intermediaries throughout England understand the recent changes to apprenticeships and how this impacts smaller employers. By working in  partnership with you, this service aims to provide practical advice to as many smaller employers as possible until March 2020.

Why is the service needed? There are over 2,000,000 smaller employers in England and from January 2020, they have a choice in the way they engage with apprenticeships. The Government has a vision to improve the quality of apprenticeships and ensure they work for businesses of all sizes. That’s why at the beginning of the year they opened up the apprenticeship service for all businesses, not just large ones. This change will allow smaller employers, who do not pay the apprenticeship levy, to make more informed decisions when it comes to apprenticeships, ensuring they are doing what’s best for their business.

How can you help? We’re working in partnership and collaboration with local intermediaries, sharing tools and knowledge so that your network of local businesses can confi dently navigate the apprenticeship service. We want to help you to drive regional growth by encouraging business growth through apprenticeships.

How will we support you? NSAR has recruited Partnership Leads to work in regional clusters with intermediaries to deliver a schedule of information-sharing activities in each LEP region in England. These will involve a selection of co-delivered events, webinars and workshops and will cover subjects including:

• The Apprenticeship Service – what is it, how to register, how is it used?
• Making Apprenticeships Work for Smaller Employers – the Toolkit launch

We are offering webinars on the following dates to update you on the progress of the intermediary service and showcase best practice in your regions:

• January 29th
• February 26th
• March 25th

We are also running regional ‘Masterclass for Intermediaries’ workshops. These funded workshops are open to intermediary staff and will provide coaching on the changes to Apprenticeships, allowing you to pass on sustainable support to your smaller employer networks beyond the end of this project.

In addition, we have grant funding to help intermediaries raise awareness across England so get in touch today to see how you can get involved.

To get involved in the campaign, register for the webinars or sign-up for your nearest event contact us at [email protected]

Over half of UK firms attempted to recruit in the last quarter of 2019, but almost three quarters have struggled to find the right talent, the largest survey of UK employers has found.

• Labour market remains stable as over half (55%) of UK businesses attempted to recruit in the final quarter of 2019.
• Skills shortages continue to impact growth as 72% of firms reported recruitment difficulties in Q4 2019.
• With greater political stability, one in four (26%) businesses expect to increase their workforce in Q1 2020.

The latest Quarterly Recruitment Outlook from the British Chambers of Commerce, in partnership with Totaljobs, revealed continued skills shortages in the UK workforce ahead of the government’s first Budget next month. While over half of UK firms (55%) were looking to hire, the report revealed that 72% of businesses had difficulty finding the right talent. The figures illustrate a critical skills deficit across the UK workforce, with shortages most apparent in the construction and hospitality sectors, with 79% and 77% respectively struggling to recruit. Two thirds (67%) of construction businesses attempted to recruit in Q4, up from 62% in Q3. In both these sectors – and others – uncertainty over the UK’s future immigration regime continues to be a concern.

Looking ahead, 26% of UK firms say they plan to increase their workforce in the first quarter of 2020. The construction industry reports the highest proportion of firms looking to grow their headcount (34%).

The report’s findings highlight the need to address critical skills shortages in the upcoming Budget, including commitments to long-term funding for vocational education and for apprenticeships in small and medium-sized businesses – both of which are crucial to the government’s ambition to ‘level up’ opportunities across the UK. BCC and Totaljobs are also calling on the government to review the Apprenticeship Levy, which hits every firm with a payroll of over £3m, to ensure companies can use the funds to train their staff. Greater flexibility for employers on how funds can be used towards vital non-apprenticeship or accredited training could help to make better use of this budget and upskill the UK workforce. Adam Marshall, Director General of BCC, said: “Although it is encouraging that businesses are looking to take on people, the prolonged skills shortages they’re facing are not sustainable as they try to shake off years of political uncertainty and pursue growth. “Training has got to be at the heart of the upcoming Budget if the government wishes to demonstrate that it is serious about ‘levelling up’ opportunity all across the UK. Funding boosts are needed for vocational and technical education, for apprenticeships, and for incentives to help more employers provide high-quality job-related training. “As the UK forms new economic relationships with the EU and partners across the world, businesses also need clarity on who they can recruit. As things stand, businesses don’t know who they can hire, and under what conditions, from New Year’s Day 2021. That’s unacceptable. The Government needs to act swiftly to deliver a fast, flexible new immigration system that allows firms to access staff at all skill levels, and limits upfront fees, delays and costly red tape.” Jon Wilson, General Manager of Totaljobs, said: “The market is very much active and hiring intentions remain strong, with Totaljobs seeing 640,000 jobs advertised alongside over 12 million job applications in Q4 2019. Yet, skills shortages continue to impact many UK businesses, as one factor contributing to the UK’s low productivity rate. “UK businesses need to ensure they have robust training opportunities to keep the people they need. Totaljobs research shows that two thirds of UK workers have left a job due to a lack of learning and development. Clearly, learning new skills is very much tied up in job satisfaction. For SMEs particularly, training budgets can be an issue, which is why dedication and support from the government is essential in order to help the UK workforce upskill.”

The B2B Exhibition is Norfolk Chambers flagship event, returning to Norfolk Showground on Thursday 15th October.  We are pleased to be welcoming SLM Toyota as our first sponsors of the exhibition, taking both space outdoors with a fleet of vehicles to welcome attendees and a stand inside the main arena.  Whether you drive a company car, manage a fleet of vehicles or need cars for your company, SLM Toyota have a number of solutions to help. Their business team are trained to meet your needs. Visit their website to find out more. SLM Toyota will be both outdoors and on stand 62 at The B2B Exhibition. The B2B Exhibition is free to all businesses to attend with ticket registrations opening soon. For more information on the event please click here. Opportunities to sponsor The B2B Exhibition including joining SLM Toyota with outdoor space, are all available now! Find out more. Exhibition stand bookings open on 24 February.

Help us give a warm welcome to the newest members of Norfolk Chambers of Commerce for the month of January 2020. 

Visit their business to explore what they have to offer. Click on a business name below to view the full listing in our Member Directory.

The One Question When it comes to feedback systems, many business owners are left asking ‘which is right for my business?’ The One Question was designed and built in response to this need, to get to the heart of the one thing that matters.

Mustard HR Mustard HR specialises in Employee Relations – essentially the collective and individual relationships within a workplace. Lucy has many years’ experience working in various HR roles and alongside her day job siting in on Employment Tribunals as part of the adjudicating panel.

Bartrums Road Services From their location in the heart of East Anglia, Bartrums provide road haulage and warehousing services to a wide range of industries in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex.

Minuteman Press Minuteman Press have been trading from their Norwich city centre location since 1998, offering litho & digital printing, including variable data and large format printing, along with a range of finishing options, such as folding & creasing.

Norfolk Snowsports Club Norfolk Snowsports Club is a Members Club; they are ran by their members, for their members. With over 80 qualified ski and snowboard instructors and a range of activities for all abilities, Norfolk Snowsports Club has something for everyone.

Knight Accountancy Lewis Knight, Director of Knight Accountancy, is a fully licensed AAT qualified accountant as well as Xero advisor certified. Lewis provides accountancy and tax services to sole traders, partnerships and limited companies.

OFT Global OFT Global Limited is a registered international freight-forwarding company based in the United Kingdom. They are also a licensed customs agent in Nigeria and an authorized indirect air carrier/NVOCC (Non Vessel Owning Common Carrier) agent in the United Kingdom.

Horton Training Horton Training aims to provide first aid training courses for all. Whether you need training for your job role, or you just want to learn a new skill, they will have a course for you.

ISTQ Training ISTQ are a leading provider of training qualifications and CPD for the Corporate, Licensed Retail and Security Sectors. Training delivered by ISTQ is recognised on an International basis for the quality of their delivery, competitive pricing and their resources.

State Bank of India UK In the UK, SBI has been active since 1921, and has grown to become the largest Indian bank in the UK. Whilst SBI’s operations in the UK began in wholesale banking, it has now expanded to include a subsidiarised, ring-fenced retail offering as well.