General

Please take a look at our Business Hub opening times over the Christmas and New Year’s period.

Norfolk Chamber is holding a breakfast event with Norfolk County Council, on 26 November at Norwich City Football Club, which will look at the fast moving developments in transport. The breakfast is aimed at business leaders and CEOs from businesses across Norfolk who are interested in hearing about travel and transport developments in and around Norwich, in particular the impact and benefits of the Norwich Northern Distributor Road and its place in the wider ‘Transport for Norwich’ strategy.

The breakfast is free to attend to all Chamber members. For details on the event and to book you place click here.

Investment in the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR) will help unlock thousands of jobs and support the development of up to 10,000 new homes. It will open up access to Norwich International Airport, large areas of Broadland and North Norfolk and business areas in the north-east sector of Norwich.Preliminary work will have started, ahead of main construction around March next year.

The NDR also enables progress on a number of other transport initiatives that come under the Transport for Norwich banner, including the latest city centre changes, further cycle route developments and Bus Rapid Transit.

Recently there has been a lot in the press about the delays in the start of the NDR. The Wensum Valley Alliance recently announced that it had launched a legal challenge to Norfolk County Council’s decision over funding for the NDR. Their claim being that the County Council meeting – where the Council agreed to put forward £10m towards the £30m funding gap, after the cost of the road escalated – was unlawful.

Today, Norfolk County Council announced that they would hold an Extraordinary Meeting to make the decision again, in an attempt to sidestep the legal challenge by the Wensum Valley Alliance. The meeting will take place on 6 November 2015.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has issued a series of what it describes as provocative articles “challenging the cosy Westminster consensus” on a range of business and economic issues, including exports and trade.

“Bursting the bubble: 10 ways Westminster gets it wrong on business and the economy” pulls no punches in arguing for more intelligent – and more informed – debate on the big issues facing the UK.

The articles seek to undermine a range of myths that have taken hold in Westminster and Whitehall in areas including debt, productivity, bank finance, education, infrastructure, inward investment, the EU, energy, broadband and exports.

With regard to the last of these topics, the BCC tells Prime Minister David Cameron that his ambition to double UK exports to £1 trillion by 2020 will miss its target – by 14 years.

“Put simply,” it argues, “while Government support may have helped individual businesses succeed over the years, it has failed to move the dial on exports overall.”

Pointing to the fall in the UK’s share of world exports (now down to 3%) and the continuing increase in the trade deficit, the BCC makes clear that export support to date is not working.

British businesses simply do not perform as well in terms of exporting as their French and German counterparts. Of the five million companies in the UK, only one in five are exporters – compared with one in four in Germany.

Government should be focusing its activities on helping to open up markets for British business, the BCC recommends, and leave business-to-business trade promotion Activities to the private sector.

It also highlights that UK export growth will not happen without action closer to home: addressing infrastructure deficiencies and the skills gaps and ensuring that businesses of all sizes have the access to finance that they need.

• GDP grew by 0.5% in Q3 2015, compared with growth of 0.7% in Q2
• Services output increased by 0.7% on the quarter, production grew by 0.3%, but construction output plunged by 2.2%

Commenting on the preliminary UK GDP figures for Q3 2015, issued yesterday by the ONS, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce,said:

“The main reason for the slowdown was the sharp fall in construction, a sector which is traditionally volatile and erratic. However, our strong services sector continues to keep the recovery on track.

“Our economic growth remains unbalanced. Although total production is slightly up, expansion in the extractive industries masked a further 0.3% decline in manufacturing output. The trade deficit also widened in this quarter, and we are still heavily reliant on consumer spending.

“Nevertheless, it is good news that real GDP is now 6.4% higher than the pre-recession peak in early 2008. What we need now is further measures to boost growth to support the recovery, with particular emphasis on exports and infrastructure investments. Fixing the fundamentals will place the economy on a surer footing.”

The British Chambers of Commerce Q4 quarterly economic survey (QES) is currently underway. As part of that survey, the Chambers are trying to understand just how much the business community is aware of the recent proposals for a new settlement for the UK within a reformed European Union.

David Cameron formally set out his demandsin a letter to the presidentof the European Council Donald Tusk on 10 November, stating that four objectives lie at the heart of the UK’s renegotiations:

• Protection of the single market for Britain and other non-euro countries
• Boosting competitiveness by setting a target for the reduction of the “burden” of red tape
• Exempting Britain from “ever-closer union” and bolstering national parliaments
• Restricting EU migrants’ access to in-work benefits such as tax credits

Mr Cameron hit back at claims by former Tory chancellor Lord Lawson that the four goals were “disappointingly unambitious”, saying they reflected what the British people wanted and would be “good for Britain and good for the European Union”. The Prime Minister also said: “It is mission possible and it is going to take a lot of hard work to get there.”

The Chamber’s QES can be completed online in less than 3 minutes, including the 2 additional questions asking for your thoughts on the UK’s EU Reform proposals. The survey deadline is 5pm on Monday 30 November 2015.

Responding to Ofsted’s stark report on the state of apprenticeships in the UK, Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said:

“Businesses know that good apprenticeships can help bridge the gap between education and work. The overriding priority has to be delivering high standards, with training providers accountable for the long-term results they deliver. Otherwise, far too many apprenticeship schemes may fail to equip much-needed employees with the skills they need to succeed.”

Dr Adam Marshall, Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

“Businesses have been concerned about the direction of apprenticeships ever since politicians decided to prioritise big numerical targets over long-term results. Sir Michael Wilshaw is right to challenge the status quo. A conveyor-belt model, focused solely on hitting the government’s target of 3 million new apprenticeships, would be detrimental to quality – and weaken hard-won efforts to boost the reputation and profile of apprenticeships amongst employers.”

Research has found that businesses in the South East could bolster their revenues by £19.5bn and take on 173,000 staff, if they had greater access to technology.

The report was compiled by Oxford Economics and Virgin Media Businesses, who interviewed senior executives at more than 1,000 UK based companies, including 213 from the South East. According to the report more than 38% of companies in the South East provide digital content, products or services and 16% of businesses in the region were classed as digital leaders.

Creation of a fertile area for digital technology will create more than 150,000 jobs over 2 years. Virgin Media Business advised that they are expanding their network significantly to bring the fastest broadband to businesses across the whole country.

Sarah Aspray, Regional Director – South, for Virgin Media Business said:

“Businesses in the South East have much to gain from digital, from increased revenues to greater job opportunities. However work is required to realise digital’s huge potential – businesses have to invest in the right technology, skills and training, while the Government and industry need to provide infrastructure and support.”

The UK is the tech capital of Europe, but digital advances never stop. So if we want to stay ahead, we need more young people studying computing to a higher level.

Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said:

“This report highlights how important digital technology is to growing businesses. Norwich has Tech City status and there is a growing start up scene. In addition, digital employment in Norwich and Norfolk has now reached more than 14,000. But Norfolk businesses need to be switched on to digital technology innovations. Digital innovation goes hand in hand with technology improvements. Whilst for some, the generation of new high tech products is their business, for the commercial world in general, the future is about how best to use digital technology to solve problems and deliver business, and customer, benefits.”

• Bank of England (BoE) predict GDP growth of 2.7% in 2015, 2.5% in 2016 and 2.6% in 2017
• BoE predicts inflation at 0.1% in Q4 2015, 1.2% Q4 2016 and 2.0% in Q4 2017
• Average earnings growth is forecast at 2.5% in Q4 2015, 3.75% in Q4 2016 and 4.0% in Q4 2017

Commenting on the inflation report, published today by the Bank of England, Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said:

“The downgrading of the inflation forecast, together with the Bank of England’s indication that they are unlikely to increase interest rates until Q3 2016 will be seen as good news for Norfolk businesses. It will help provide the much needed stability for businesses to be able to plan and invest.”

Also commenting on the Bank of England report and related information, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said:

“Although the growth forecasts are now lower for this year and next they still signal a relatively solid pace of expansion for the UK economy.

“Significantly, the Bank of England has downgraded its inflation forecast and taken together with a lower forecast for average earnings this suggests that the first increase in interest rates is unlikely to occur until Q3 2016.

“The Bank of England rightly highlights the growing international risks facing the UK. While it is disappointing that they now predict lower growth in exports, this is in line with our own recent forecast and surveys.

“These latest predictions indicate that the economy is growing at a reasonable pace but for it to rise further the focus now must be on nourishing growth and rebalancing towards net exports.”