Series 3 of The Chamber Sessions started with a high when Elliot Symonds of Jarrold training gave an energetic presentation on his top tips for closing deals. Elliot covered the top 7 closing techniques and when best to use them. The session was hugely interactive as Elliot got our delegates into small teams, gave them business scenarios and sent them off to practice using his top techniques. He said “I enjoyed it greatly and delegates were engaged.” Elliot’s top tip for his delegates would be to “use 15 minutes a day to read.”
Elliot provided practical knowledge needed for any business to thrive. All delegates walked away thoroughly enthused by what they had just learnt, and many stated they were going to start using these top tips today. Lizzy Gaskin of Right Angle Events said “Fantastic content, I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learnt this morning!”
With just over four months to go until Scotland votes, The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) on Wednesday published the results of a major survey of business opinion surrounding the Scottish Referendum debate.
This independent survey of 2,400 Chamber members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland examines the impacts, opportunities and risks perceived by businesses in the rest of the UK. The survey also explores how non-Scottish businesses would react to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote on September 18th.
The majority of businesses outside of Scotland want Scotland to remain part of the UK
The majority of businesses surveyed (85%) said that Scotland should remain within the UK
Only 11% of firms said that Scotland should become an independent country
If Scotland votes to remain part of the UK, almost half of businesses (49%) believe that the current division of power should remain the same
Exactly a quarter of businesses (25%) said that the Scottish Parliament should have more power if Scotland remains part of the UK, but a fifth (21%) also said it should have less
More than half of firms outside of Scotland do not see any opportunities with independence
Two thirds of businesses (63%) say no new opportunities would arise for their businesses if Scotland votes for independence
Only 6% of companies believe that potential tax savings (due to different tax rates between Scotland and the rest of the UK in the case of independence) would be an opportunity for their business
Firms identified the highest risk as trading across borders should Scotland become independent, (26%), and identified future currency arrangements as the most important issue (47%) for their business
Businesses outside of Scotland would favour a reform of the Barnett formula if Scotland voted to remain part of the UK
63% of businesses said it was important that the current arrangements for allocating public expenditure between the UK nations were reformed, should Scotland vote ‘no’ in September
A third of firms outside of Scotland would like a formal currency union between the UK and Scotland if Scotland votes for independence
Just over one third of businesses believe a formal currency union would be in the best interests of the UK if Scotland became independent (35%)
More than a quarter (28%) said Scotland should create its own currency if it votes for independence, 18% said it should join the Euro and 8% said they it should retain Sterling but not join a formal currency union
The Scotland referendum debate hasn’t impacted the majority of firms south of the border, but more firms perceive a negative impact since the BCC’s 2013 survey
A clear majority (91%) of businesses outside Scotland said that the independence debate has had no impact on business decisions to date
However, reports of negative impacts are increasing. 11% of firms reported the debate having a negative impact on orders and sales, compared with only 5% in August last year.
The percentage of businesses reporting that the debate had a negative impact on their decisions to invest was up to 11% from 6% last year.
Comparisons between businesses outside of Scotland, and businesses based in Scotland:
The BCC’s sister organisation, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC), published a related survey last week made up of responses from businesses based in Scotland. This is how the results compared with the British Chambers of Commerce survey of businesses based in England, Wales and Northern Ireland:
In Scotland, 24% of businesses report that their decisions have already been influenced by the independence debate, whereas outside of Scotland, this number drops to 9%
Business in Scotland are more than twice as likely to expect to change their strategy (49%), than in the rest of the UK (20%) if Scotland becomes independent
In the event of a ‘no’ vote, 68% of Scottish businesses would like to see more powers given to the Scottish Parliament, compared with 25% of businesses in the rest of the UK.
Nearly three quarters of companies surveyed in Scotland (74%) said currency arrangements were an important issue. Whilst this was the most important single issue for businesses based outside of Scotland, it was identified by only 47% of them.
Commenting, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
“Business opinion across the United Kingdom on the Scottish independence debate is far from unanimous. That’s only logical, as businesses have different interests, and different views on our complex history of economic and political union.
“Businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland remain less than captivated by the intense debate unfolding north of the border. Yet they do have views on the potential impacts of a change in Scotland’s relationship with the rest of the UK.
“In the event of a ‘yes’ vote, cross-border trading and currency arrangements loom large in businesses’ thinking. If Scotland votes ‘no’, constitutional questions remain around the devolution of power and the distribution of public funding between nations.
“Business communities across the UK have diverse views on the Scottish independence debate. Yet one thing is for certain. Regardless of how Scotland votesin September, things will never be quite the same again.”
Norfolk County Council has released the Quarter 4 data for January – March 2014. The report shows that business confidence is increasing, unemployment is falling and house prices are rising. Key sectors like energy, digital and ICT and Agritech are going from strength to strength. To read the full report, please click here.
On Friday 9 May over 80 Norfolk & Cambridgeshire Chamber Members attended our standing room only business breakfast to get the unique opportunity to network with neighbouring chamber members. Delegates heard from the two Local Enterprise Partnership’s that border West Norfolk and King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council.
The breakfast took place in the Great Barn at Knights Hill Hotel with our host for the morning, Norfolk Chamber President, Ian Hacon taking the delegates through the agenda. Ian introduced our event featured charity, King’s Lynn Festival, who told us about how the festival helps King’s Lynn and how support of their events is crucial.
The breakfast was buzzing with conversation as the cross-county networking started with one or our trademark ice breaker activities, guess my CV. Networking continued over breakfast and our safari networking got the delegates to take a seat at a new table and meet new people, making even more connections.
It was then time to hear from our panel of three keynote speakers; Chris Starkie, New Anglia LEP, Graham Nix, Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP& Cllr Nick Daubney, Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk about the progress they have made locally in the past year and their aims for the next 12 months.
Chris Starkie said “New Anglia LEP are aiming to have 95,000 more jobs by 2026”
Grahame Nix highlighted GCGP’s “Growing Places fund £500k in 12 £30k grants to charity – employment that are available to West Norfolk.”
Watch out for the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk “local investment board” that will be with us soon.
A Q&A session then took place with various questions from delegates to better understand the opportunities and funding that are open to them as a business and how they can influence their LEPs plans for the coming year.
Delegates had a lot of positive things to talk about on twitter;
Chaplin Farrant
“Great morning @norfolkchamber breakfast in Kings Lynn this morning – many thanks. #wellconnected”
Independence Matters
“At kings lynn @norfolkchamber#wellconnected event – first time and getting connected with some great future contacts!”
The New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership is delighted to announce that they have grants for businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk available until March 2015. The LEP has recently been awarded an additional £1.4m from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to expand its existing Growing Business Fund and offer smaller grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Businesses wanting to grow and create new jobs are now able to apply for grants of between £5,000 and £500,000.
The fund can provide up to 20% of the total funding needed for investment, and be used to leverage funding from other sources, such as banks and other financial organisations. Each application must also create at least one job for every £10,000 worth of grant. All payments are retrospective. For example, a company’s plans for growth might include a range of activities; expansion into a neighbouring unit, updating and buying additional equipment, creating a new website and developing a marketing campaign, the total costs of which are £50,000. The application to the Small Grants Scheme would demonstrate that the company has funding of £40,000 (from perhaps a bank and/or other sources); therefore the Small Grant Scheme application would be to fund a top up of £10,000 – 20% of the costs. For our £10,000 grant you would need to provide employment for a person, full time for at least one year.
A larger project might be to purchase new equipment to create a new production line. To expand this production a company might employ 3 new staff and an apprentice. The total project costs are £200,000 which includes some staff costs, professional fees, rewiring, training of staff to use the equipment etc. The application to the Growing Business Fund would show that the company has £160,000 from the bank and/or other sources; therefore the Growing Business Fund would fund a top up of £40,000; (4 x £10,000 per employee).
The New Anglia LEP is working in partnership with Suffolk County Council and Finance East delivering the programme. The application process is simple and straightforward; it can be as quick as 5 to 8 weeks for a decision. The process consists of the following stages:
Expression of Interest form;
Financial Appraisal;
Growing Business Fund’s Approval Panel’s decision.
FACTS AND FIGURES Of the £12m GBF programme to date, the Approval Panel has agreed to support 35 projects (19 in Norfolk and 16 in Suffolk) worth of over £25.6m and to award grants in the amount of over £3.1m forecasting to create 495 new FTE jobs within the next 2 years. Click here to see a list of approved projects, have already been awarded with grants, the remainder are subject to contract.
To view the eligibility criteria for both funds click here.
CONTACTS:
Growing Business Fund £25,000 – £500,000
To register your interest in the Growing Business Fund and to receive an Expression of Interest Form, please contact Nataliya Klymko, Growing Business Fund Coordinator,nataliya.klymko@newanglia.co.uk tel: 01603 510073.
Deadline for returning completed Expression of Interest forms is 31st October 2014.
Small Grant Scheme £5,000 – £25,000
To apply for a Small Grant Scheme please click here.
Deadline for returning completed Expression of Interest forms is 31st December 2014.
Want to discuss your project? Contact Nataliya Klymko, Growing Business Fund Coordinator via email: nataliya.klymko@newanglia.co.uk or tel: 01603 510073.
Would you welcome advice from a world renowned expert?
Victory Television, a major UK broadcaster, is making a new high-profile television series to be transmitted later this year and they are looking to contact business owners in your area. Theyare interested in small to medium sized companies with up to 100 employees. The business owner will work with a well-known entrepreneur across a number of weeks, exploring and testing out fresh strategies to suit their business. This series would suit a company dealing with new competition, the repercussions of the recession, or a decrease in customers or revenue.
They are keen to focus on businesses in the leisure, tourism, food, retail and manufacturing sectors. Ideally, they are looking for companies that are open to explore new ways of transforming their business and making them more profitable. This is an exciting opportunity to be featured on a prime time series and to create innovative ideas with one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs.
If you are interested in this opportunity, contact lucie_rose@victorytelevision.com or on 0207 4063057 to find out more information about this exciting new project.
About Victory Television Victory Television is an independent production company with a background in both factual and entertainment programmes, most famous for producing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and, more recently, Tough Young Teachers for the BBC.
In Norfolk, the borough of Great Yarmouth lead the way again with a fall of 13.7% in the unemployment figures. Norwich also saw a modest fall of 2.4% and King’s Lynn & West Norfolk saw a fall of 9.1%.
Great Yarmouth saw the number of 16-18 year olds claiming Job Seekers Allowance fall sharply, dropping by 16% over the last month. However some of this may be as a result of the approach of summer and the start of seasonal work, but the drop is still significant. For full details of the report click here.
Following on from a successful Regional Growth Funding bid, Norfolk benefits from £3.2 million of funding to support the development of the agri-tech industry in Norfolk and Suffolk, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.
Both Local Enterprise Partnerships, New Anglia LEP and The Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP, are working in partnership to operate an Agri-Tech Grants scheme to support the development of new and innovative ideas within the sector. The LEPs are also receiving additional input from NIAB-TAG, Sainsbury Laboratories, John Innes Centre, University of East Anglia and Cambridge, the Norwich Research Park and Hethel Innovation.
There are two main funds that business located within Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, or Rutland, can apply for.
The first is the £2 million Agri-Tech Growth Fund, which will provide grants of between £25,000 and £150,000 to support product development and improve agricultural productivity.
The second is a £540,000 Research, Development and Prototyping Fund, which will help support the research and development of new product or processes with grants of between £10,000 and £60,000.
Need more information? If you would like to know more about the Agri-Tech grants you can also contact Martin Lutman via info@agritechgrants.co.uk or by calling 01480 277180.
GDP figures for 21 2014 unrevised: 0.8% on the quarter, 3.1% year on year
Full-year GDP growth in 2013 over 2012 is also unrevised, at 1.7%
In Q1 2014 business investment rose by 2.7%, after 2.4% in Q4 2013
The trade balance narrowed slightly from 4.2bn in Q4 2013 to 4.1bn in Q1 2014
Commenting on the revised GDP figures for Q1 2014 published today by the ONS, David Kern Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
“The unrevised growth figure of 0.8% for Q1 was expected, although the additional detail provided by the ONS was particularly positive and will boost business confidence further. It is pleasing to see strong growth in business investment for the second consecutive quarter, and a welcome improvement in the trade balance. It is a shame however that exports declined in the quarter and the improvement in the trade balance was the result of an even bigger fall in imports.
“Some rebalancing towards investment and exports is taking place, but the pace is inadequate and efforts in these areas must be strengthened. Meanwhile, we are concerned that the MPC is not providing enough clarity to allow businesses to plan ahead and invest. After the welcome comments made by Governor Carney last week, Wednesday’s MPC minutes have produced an element of uncertainty. To maintain business confidence, it is important that the MPC makes a greater effort to communicate clearly and avoid potential contradictions.”
Norfolk Chamber members met for lunch today with Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, to highlight the needs of business ahead of the May 2015 elections.
The lunch was hosted by Knowles Syfer Technology and a range of local businesses attended from sectors such as: energy; construction; manufacturing; engineering; and the professional services.
Mr Umunna outlined Labour’s 4 step strategy plan that will form their long term perspective through to 2030:
1. De-Centralisation – giving the necessary tools to each local region to best benefit each area. 2. Develop solutions to tomorrow’s problems today 3. Active Government – working in partnership to create a sustainable economy and strategic growth 4. Maintain an open outward approach to the world, with continued links to the European Union.
Local businesses raised issues such as the Living Wage, employment law, EU regulations, how to improve exports, Local Enterprise Partnerships and the planning system.
Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said: “It was a great opportunity for the Norfolk business community to highlight the needs of business to the Opposition. The local business community and Norfolk Chamber members are working hard to drive economic growth in our County and need stability and focus from central Government to help them to achieve this.
Cllr George Nobbs has been re-elected as Leader of Norfolk County Council following a meeting of Full Council at County Hall today (Tuesday 27 May).
Cllr Nobbs, who represents the Crome division in Norwich for Labour, was elected by 43 votes to 40, with Liberal Democrat Cllr David Harrison of Aylsham division elected as Deputy Leader by the same margin.
Cllr Nobbs first became Leader of the Council in May 2013 following the County Council elections.
The County Council is now moving to a new committee based decision making system, with the following Committee Chairs also appointed at today’s meeting:
Adult Social Care Committee – Cllr Sue Whitaker (Labour) as Chair; Cllr Elizabeth Morgan (Green) as Vice Chair
Children’s Services Committee – Cllr James Joyce (Liberal Democrat) as Chairman; Cllr Richard Bearman (Green) as Vice Chair
Communities Committee – Cllr Paul Smyth (UKIP) as Chairman; Cllr Margaret Wilkinson (Labour) as Vice Chair
Environment, Development and Transport Committee – Cllr Toby Coke (UKIP) as Chairman; Cllr John Timewell (Liberal Democrat) as Vice Chair
Cllr Nobbs and Cllr Harrison take the Chair and Vice Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee
All five committees will be meeting for the first time in June, with the Adult Social Care Committee the first to take place under the new system on Monday 16 June.
The leadership of the Economic Development Sub-Committee will be chosen when that committee first meets on Thursday 26 June.
Liberal Democrat councillor Brian Hannah, who represents Sheringham ward, was elected as the new Norfolk County Council Chairman at the meeting with no opposition, with Cllr Rex Parkinson-Hare, of the UKIP group for Yarmouth Nelson and Southtown ward, elected Vice Chairman.
At the meeting councillors also discussed a report on the remaining deficit facing the County Council following the termination of the Willows contract.
The Council agreed that just over £1m be found from highways maintenance (£900,000) with a further £140,000 coming from the libraries book fund.
They agreed that if savings options which have a less direct impact on services emerge during 2014, substitution of these would be an acceptable policy option.
