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Norwich City Council have released their latest economic barometer. The report highlighted:

Locally

• Hotels across Norfolk saw a boom in bookings, as more people swapped winter sun for breaks closer to home.
• Birketts recently recruited 19 trainee solicitors in Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge and London.  Whilst Howes Percival is launching a recruitment drive to create over 30 new jobs.
• More than one third of East Anglia businesses will have to temporarily reduce products or services to manage staff shortages as stock and supply chain problems put pressure on firms.
• The ‘worlds oldest toy store’ Hamley’s have opened a store on the ground floor of Chantry Place.
• Amazon has invested more the £5.2 billion in the East of England since 2010 according to data.  They have created more than 9,000 full and part time jobs

Nationally

• September data indicted another strong month for the UK service sector but severe supply constraints contributed to escalating inflationary pressures
• Supply chain delays resulted in slower new order growth and rising material and labour shortages all constrained UK manufacturing
• Average house price grew by 7% across England (6.8% in East of England)

For full details of the latest economic barometer click here.

Commenting on the final report of the Airports Commission, which has backed anewrunway at Heathrow, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“After three years of deliberation, businesses across the UK will be pleased that the Airports Commission has finally come to a clear recommendation.

“Now that all the evidence is on the table, firms in every corner of the UK want to see an irreversible government commitment to a new runway at Heathrow by the end of 2015, with planning complete and diggers on the ground by the end of this parliament in 2020.

“The ball is now firmly in the government’s court. If ministers duck this decision, and delay airport expansion for yet another generation, British businesses and our overall competitiveness will pay the price.

“Business long ago ran out of patience. The government cannot afford to delay airport expansion any further if it is serious about Britain punching above its weight on the global stage. That means delivering a new runway at Heathrow now, and leaving the door open to subsequent expansion at Gatwick, Stansted and key regional airports as well.”

This week the Norfolk Chambers of Commerce is launching its Business Climate Leaders (BCL) programme. With the World Leaders Summit coming to a close at COP26 and the messages coming out cementing the necessity to prioritise our own climate change activity, Norfolk Chambers of Commerce’s programme is firmly in-line with its mission: to connect, support and give voice to every business in Norfolk.

The business sustainability support space for SME’s is noisy and it takes time to correctly navigate through the many brilliant ideas, organisations and programmes designed to support on a carbon reduction journey that either already exist or are frequently launching . This may go some way to explain why, following a national business survey of SME’s, commissioned in 2021 by the British Chambers, when asked about measuring their carbon footprint, only 11% of respondents said yes, despite half of the respondents acknowledging that their customers are worried about the environment. 22% claimed they did not fully understand the term Net Zero and almost a third had yet to seek any advice.

Chris Sargisson, CEO of the Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, said: “Every business we speak with is aware of the need to allocate time and investment to understand, devise and apply its approach to an effective carbon reduction program. Chambers support plans to help them to do just that. A dynamic, hands-on and far-reaching programme is being created that will firstly help understand what’s required; then confidently connect them to those many existing ideas, organisations and programs; and then support them to engage with an ever-evolving and adaptable programme of continued support.”

This initial launch phase will see the Norfolk Chambers build the Advisory Board and actively cultivate a register of businesses, ideas, organisations and programmes that can support the programme delivery. Following this, the Chambers will develop varied events and free to access digital engagement mechanisms to ensure the programme resources are widely accessible and relevant for every business across the county.

The objective of the Business Climate Leaders approach is simple; a free to access programme for every business, designed to educate, enable and support SMEs to seek, understand and apply appropriate, tested actions and activities that will put them on the path to Net Zero. The process will be governed by an Advisory Board, made up of influential exemplar business leaders to govern the work of the Business Climate Leaders programme. A programme that starts with each Net Zero engaged business electing their own Business Climate Leader. That person will act as the organisation’s key point of contact and will work directly with the BCL Programme to get them on their Net Zero journey and help keep them on track. From there the Chambers will apply a scalable support mechanism to deliver the program and create some effective success measurement tools.

If you want to be involved in the program, please do get in touch bcleaders@norfolkchambers.co.uk

We are reaching the end of our first full trading year, and this brings further changes in customs procedures so the British Chambers of Commerce has created a series of Webinars designed to help and support traders with the new rules and regulations.

Join us and register below to these free and informative webinars

Monday 6th December, 2pm – International Trade Survey Results

Against a backdrop of Brexit and Covid disruption, manufacturers are experiencing huge increases in the cost of labour, energy and raw materials.

This session will present the results of our latest International Trade Survey and reveal the impact that the past year has had on trader confidence, investment plans, new markets and getting goods into and out of the UK.

Just what impact has the TCA had on exports to the EU and what confidence have traders gained in expanding their global reach under the UK Free Trade Agreements?

Thursday 9th December, 11am – Brexit, what Brexit?

With the ending of ‘Staged Customs Controls’ on 31st December, what impact will a fully controlled UK border have on traders.

For lots of traders, the UK departure from the EU customs union has brought little change. Supplies have continued to arrive at their business, there has been no real increase in paperwork and their EU suppliers seem happy to keep delivering.

If this is your business, our webinar will cover what records you should have kept but didn’t. What customs entries you should have made but missed. And more importantly, what action you can take now to avoid future fines and penalties.

Tuesday 14th December, 2pm – Full on Brexit!

Staged Customs Controls’ end on 31st December, meaning that the free flow of goods that has prevailed since Brexit Day will soon come to an end.  All EU imports will need to be accounted for with a full customs declaration.

There will be new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) arrangements, new pre-notification deadlines and a new inspection regime. This will apply to all EU exports and imports.

• 80% of firms in new survey saw an increase to their prices in the past year, with nearly half (46%) categorising these as ‘significant’. Only 2% saw a decrease
• The proportion reporting increased prices rose to 92% for manufacturers
• 75% of businesses with more than 50 employees said they had skills shortages within either their own business or those in their supply chain

New BCC data released today from a survey of over 1,000 businesses has thrown sharp focus on the impact of skills and commodities shortages for UK firms, with spiralling prices in evidence. The data show an overwhelming majority of businesses are raising prices as they face acute shortages and cost pressures – with vehicle fuel, shipping containers and utilities cited as the top areas of concern.

When asked if they had seen a change in the price of their goods or services in the past year, 80% of respondents in total reported increases, with 46% reporting significant increases and 34% reporting slight increases. 15% reported no change with only 2% reporting any kind of decrease.

For manufacturers the above question drew an even starker answer – 92% had seen an increase in the price of their good and services.

When asked whether they, or any business in their supply chain, had experienced either increased costs or shortages of a variety of commodities over the past 12 months the results were striking:

• Of all respondents: 52% cited vehicle fuel, 34% shipping containers and 30% utilities such as gas or electricity
• Of manufacturers: 50% cited steel, 47% shipping containers, 45% vehicle fuel, 39% paper or cardboard, 38% plastics or rubber, 29% chemicals, 19% semiconductors. Only 2% of manufacturers reported that they had not faced increased costs or shortages from the items listed.

Half (50%) of businesses surveyed reported that either they, or others within their supply chains, had experienced skills shortages in the past 12 months. This figure rose to 75% for larger firms with over 50 employees and was least prevalent among firms employing less than 10 people at 31%. Roles commonly mentioned included HGV drivers, engineers, warehouse staff, accountants, chefs and IT technicians.

Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

“These figures present a deeply worrying picture of the difficulties that businesses are currently facing, across multiple fronts as supply chain disruption persists.

“Firms are facing huge pressures as they battle to keep on track for Christmas and provide the goods and services the UK needs, but we have yet to see any concrete steps to address these issues.

“Unless action is taken soon, firms could be forced to cut back on their capacity or limit the range of products they offer.

“The huge number of unfilled vacancies is placing further strain on staff having to cover, and Covid is also still with us. With more than 30,000 people a day having to isolate, it presents another on-going disruption to the workforce which businesses must grapple with.

“While there are some global issues at play, there are levers that the Government can pull to improve current business conditions, for example, the introduction of an energy price cap for SMEs and providing more temporary visas in the hardest hit sectors through expansion of the Shortage Occupation List.

“The new Supply Chain Advisory Group must look carefully at these and other solutions to the immediate and longer-term challenges.

“Firms also want to see a moratorium on all policy measures that increase upfront business costs for the remainder of this Parliament.”