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As we continue the countdown to The Big Debate 2023 here are four things to learn on the topic of People, Skills and Wellbeing.

People, skills and Wellbeing #1

Are you joining us at the Big Debate? Are skills at the top of your agenda? Are you looking at how your business can invest in your workforces skills, navigate funding guidance and recruit new apprentices?

Then book your place at our series of free LSIP events across Norfolk and Suffolk to find out more. Networking, skills and growth for your business.

LSIP | Join our free events across Norfolk and Suffolk

People, skills and Wellbeing #2

“Workplace Wellbeing relates to all aspects of working life, from the quality and safety of the physical environment, to how workers feel about their work, their working environment, the climate at work and work organization.”

In this article, Layrd Design explores the concept of workplace wellness, the benefits for business and some of the practical steps you can take to support your team’s wellbeing.

The Importance of Workplace Wellness

People, skills and Wellbeing #3

How to solve the skills gap issue?

It’s no secret that there’s a severe skills gap in the UK. Trained people are in short supply across several industries, and businesses of all sizes are affected. The result is that these businesses face a new challenge of locating the ideal candidates to fill critical tasks. In this article, we’ll explore different potential fixes that companies may utilise to address it.

LSIP | How to solve the skill gaps issue?

People, skills and Wellbeing #4

Have you ever wondered if your business could sustain itself without the right people? Considered outsourcing personnel to close the skills gaps within your company? Have your employees experienced a drop in morale due to gaps in your workforce?

Main impact businesses see from skills gaps

Motorists are reminded that an overnight closure of the A47 at Postwick on Thursday night, 15 October, will herald changes to temporary traffic flows as the major improvement of the Postwick junction moves into its final phases.

The Thursday night closure of the A47 is to allow traffic to be switched from the old slip road, taking eastbound traffic off the A47, to a newly-constructed slip road.

This change is necessary for the safety of traffic on the A47.

The old slip road is too short, and is being closed and replaced because it cannot be extended. With significant housing and business park development already planned for the area, therewould have beena significant andgrowing risk of traffic queuing back down the slip road on to the 70mph dual carriageway.

The other major change on Thursday night is the closure of the original bridge over the A47 for essential maintenance and upgrading. Traffic will instead use the new bridge for the first time.

These temporary arrangements, which will be for around five weeks, will put pressure on the new access roads and junctions.Temporary traffic lights will be used at the Broadland Way/Peachman Way roundabout.

The changes will be made overnight on Thursday and will come into effect on Friday 16 October. An overnight A47 closure (8pm to no later than 6am)will be necessary. Westbound traffic will have a short diversion up and down the junction slip roads, but for eastbound traffic the A47 will be closed at Trowse, with traffic diverted via the A146, A143 and A12, returning to the A47 at Vauxhall roundabout, Great Yarmouth.

There will be a further closure of the A47 on Friday night (8pm to no later than 6am), when traffic from both directions will be diverted via the junction slip roads.

Norfolk County Council apologises for the delays and inconvenience caused by these closures and the temporary traffic arrangements. Work on the junction remains on course for completion before Christmas.

Further information is available on Norfolk County Council’s website (www.norfolk.gov.uk), including traffic flow plans and a more detailed explanation of the scheme and the reasons for the junction layout.

Are apprenticeships the way to close skills gap in the UK?

Are you finding it difficult to find the perfect person for your job role? Maybe the skills needed are too niche, too technical, or you may be sceptical about hiring people with less experience for that position.

With the right guidance and teaching, a person with less experience might have exactly what it takes for the job. Considering an apprentice that can grow within that job role might be the way to go.

There are several benefits when considering an apprentice. Whilst it may require more resources and time from your company, the outcome could outweigh alternative solutions for closing that skills gap.

What is an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeship is a way to learn by doing.

It’s a type of paid-for training program that provides hands-on learning and practical knowledge from within an active company. It gives apprentices access to professionals in the industry, opening their network and putting them on the radar within the industry.

Apprenticeships usually involve a formal agreement between the employer and the apprentice, where the apprentice will receive mentorship alongside following an approved study programme. This means they’ll gain a nationally recognised qualification at the end of their apprenticeship.

Apprenticeships can last anywhere from a few months to a few years, depending on the programme and the apprentice’s progress.

For an employer, the benefits of employing an apprentice include:

• A cost-effective way to develop new skills and knowledge within the workplace
• An opportunity to recruit and retain talented young people
• An opportunity to adapt your learnings toward your business’ model
• Increased productivity and healthy competitiveness in the workplace

Make sure your company has what it takes to employ an apprentice:

• The right resources in-house:
  Make sure you have the right people, assets and tools in place to provide that knowledge to fresh minds. If you don’t have the knowledge or tools in place, you may not be able to provide the right training and close that skills gap.
• The necessary allocated time for learning:
  Make sure that whoever in your company is responsible for your apprentice has the necessary time allocated to support them. Someone under pressure to execute their own tasks whilst also trying to teach someone could become unproductive and inefficient in the long term and could have a negative effect on morale.
• A well-defined need for skills:
  Make sure you have defined the skills you need within your company and justify the apprenticeship program.
• Set your KPIs or success measurements:
  What does a successful apprentice would look like to you and your company? Define what you want to achieve at the end of their apprenticeship program, how it will or would have benefited your company. Keeping these metrics in place from the start will help you identify pain points to address or successes that will shape the future role.

Is apprenticeship the future of closing the skills gap?

It’s clear that apprenticeships are a good solution to close skills gaps in the UK. But not all companies can afford or have the right assets to provide the necessary training.

Apprenticeship programmes are highly regarded because they allow a level of flexibility and accuracy for the company that provides the training. The apprentices are learning the tools, skills and knowledge that the company needs. Shaping the apprentices for that specific future role is also a very good opportunity to grow faster within that industry.

If you find your company in need to close skills gap and you’re not sure how or where to start with apprenticeship programmes, you can let us know by filling this LISP Employer’s Survey and we’ll get in touch to help your business.

Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week 2023

Norfolk County Council reported the latest provisional data set released by ESFA for the number of Apprenticeship starts across Norfolk for Q1 of 2022/23 (Aug, Sept, Oct 2022).
Here are the headlines:

• The National apprenticeship starts decline is at 6.10%.
  However, Norfolk is showing less decline at 5.85%, which is unsurprising given the huge growth surge last year against the backdrop of the availability of the Government incentives.
• In Norfolk, Great Yarmouth and North Norfolk were the only districts to see growth in Q1 – which is brilliant news, as both of these districts have historically seen lower numbers of new starts out of Norfolk districts.

Katy Dorman, Apprenticeship Strategy Manager at Norfolk County Council, scratches the surface of the data, which brings positive stats in regards of Norfolk’s effort with Apprenticeship programs:

• Starts at Level 2 have seen72% growth, compared to a national decline of -18.43%.
• Starts for those aged 16-18 has seen47% growth, compared to a national decline of -4.10%.
• Starts for ‘newly recruited’ apprentices saw 16% growth, those in employed less than 3 months who started an apprenticeship.
• By month, Norfolk saw a little growth in October 2021 of 1.66%
• By sector, the highest real number of apprenticeship starts was in
  • Health, Public Services & Care with a total of 486
  • The highest growth based on Q1 in 2021/22 was Construction with 46 more starts during Q1 2022/23
• For the first time in several years, LOCAL apprenticeship providers hold the top 6 positions on the leader board for # of starts in Norfolk!! ????
  Well done to City College Norwich, College West Anglia, University of East Anglia,  East Coast College, West Suffolk College and Poultec

Our mission with LSIP in Norfolk and Suffolk is to understand the skills gap that industry face on a regular basis, with the aim to provide the right support and workforce in the long-term.

This growth in Q1 23 reported by Norfolk County Council need to keep progressing in the right direction, which is what LSIP aims to do with the help of business owners sharing their experience of skills gap impact within their company.

Become part of the skills gap solution by sharing your professional experience with us: LSIP Employer Form

“UK exports were flat in December 2022 and fell across the final quarter of the year as a whole. Across 2022, export values rose by 6.7% (excluding inflation) but were still 3.1% lower than in 2018.

“The UK trade balances in goods and services fell sharply in 2022 by £85bn to £108bn, compared with the previous 12 months, but a major factor was the surge in fuel imports throughout the year due to the impact of the War in Ukraine on global energy supply.

“The increase in UK export values for the year is testament to the efforts of businesses and Chambers amid exceptional cost, energy and supply pressures. But we still have some way to go before we get back to where we were in 2018.

“Although trade in services was broadly flat in December, goods imports out-performed goods exports, which finished 2022 with a small decline in December.

“Of greater concern is the picture across the final three months where, on the current prices measure, UK exports fell by 4.5%, with declines in both EU and non-EU exports.

“The new Department for Business and Trade must be laser-focused on improving export performance over the coming months and we look forward to helping them do that. But the data for the last quarter shows the scale of the task ahead.

“The UK Government’s Export Strategy needs to fire on all cylinders this year to support SME exporters to grow their exports or sell goods and services to new markets for the first time.”

Analysis of the data

Removing the effects of inflation, total UK goods exports fell by 0.3% in December 2022 (2.3% drop in export values before inflation effects are accounted for). An increase in exports to the EU of 4.9% (driven by higher machinery and transport equipment exports) was offset by a fall in rest of the world exports by 5.1%.

There was a better story on goods imports with an increase (excluding inflation) of 1.5% in December 2022 (2.9% before removing effects of inflation). Rises were 3.8% for EU imports driven by rises in machinery, transport equipment and fuel imports, and 1.9% for imports from the rest of the world, predominantly due to soaring prices of gas imports from the US and Norway in December.

In services, excluding inflation, imports rose by 0.3% while exports fell by 0.4% in December.

Across the final quarter of the year, on current prices, goods exports fell by 4.5%, at a higher rate than goods imports which fell by 2.1%. UK services exports fell by 1.5% over the same period, and services imports to the UK by 0.2%.

Overall, UK exports across the quarter fell by 2.9% on current prices.

Our annual flagship event The Big Debate returned on the 10^th February at The Space, Norwich for 2023. Bringing together local MPs and business leaders to debate topics chosen by the business community. The topics chosen were Transport & Infrastructure, People, Skills & Wellbeing, The Cost of Living Crisis in Norfolk and Zet-Zero & Sustainability.

The Big Debate was sponsored by Greater Anglia and hosted by Nova Fairbank, CEO of Norfolk Chambers of Commerce and Neil Foley, Founder of Business Growth Club.

Exhibiting in the Welcome area, sponsored by Norse Group were: Sizewell C Supply Chain, Ascot Lloyd, A County Deal for Norfolk, Supply Chain Development Fund, Huxley Events, KonectBus, New Anglia Growth Hub and Norfolk County Council Adult Learning Services.

Over 80 people attended the event, including local MPs Chloe Smith and Duncan Baker as well as an exciting list of panellists from Greater Anglia, Konectbus, Norwich Airport, Westcotec, mobilityways, Turning Factor, Wellbeing International, Ascot Lloyd, Banham Zoological Gardens, The Feed, MAD-HR ltd, Norse Group, Natwest, Canopey, SaxonAir, Example Marketing and Holkham Estate.

After a short welcome from our CEO Nova Fairbank and our headline sponsors Greater Anglia, The Big Debate kicked off with our first debate and panel – Transport & Infrastructure.

We were joined by Duncan Baker, MP for North Norfolk, Julie Furnell, Managing Director of mobilityways, Chris Spinks, Managing Director of Westcotec, Richard Pace, Managing Director of Norwich Airport, Steve Royal, Network Manager for Konectbus, and Jonathan Denby, Head of Corporate Affairs for Greater Anglia.

The first question for the panel was: Why is transport and Infrastructure important for the growth of this region?

Jonathan Denby – “Norfolk is a lovely place to be, that’s why we are all here but actually for us to thrive we need to have excellent transport to, from and around the county and when we have that it makes it a place people want to come to.”

Why do we need improved roads and how does that improve safety?

Chris Spinks – “Infrastructure has to be safe for people to feel comfortable to use it. My company make intelligent traffic safety systems and we are all about making the roads better and giving the driver an enhanced level of information so that they can make a better decision about what they are coming up against. My company have installations all across the country, so we have to get out of Norfolk to a network or wherever we are going, its vital for us to say with some confidence that we are going to be at a particular place at a particular time and it doesn’t always lend itself to that because of the amount of single carriage ways we have and roadworks there are. We need to make it safe and attractive for people to use and not feel like they are coming into somewhere where they are going to be stuck.”

A question submitted by our audience aimed at MP Duncan Baker – The Norwich western link; a vital infrastructure project or a costly environmental disaster? 

“It is obviously a vital piece of infrastructure; I have no doubt about that, and the vast majority of Norfolk people actually support finishing the job we started. A country needs infrastructure, if you do not deliver infrastructure you do not deliver growth. If you do not deliver growth, you do not deliver job opportunities and prosperity.”

What is the significance of the A47 to businesses in Norfolk and does the route need improving?

Richard Pace – “Certainly for an airport surface infrastructure is very important. I am certain that improving that corridor will make more passengers come to our region, spend money at our airport and in our region and not go to other regions. We must also cover that with improved public transport it’s not an either or, we have to do both”.

Steve Royal – “In terms of the A47 our main operating base is in Dereham. One of the biggest issues we have is that our main service is Norwich to Dereham, not many weeks go by where something doesn’t go wrong on the A47 which throws our bus services quite widely. The argument is if the roads are improved this then has a wider effect on the public transport delivery. Which means anytime saved with improved road networks can be reinvested into our timetables to improve bus services.”

Affordable transport is essential to accessibility for employment. How does mobilityways help that affordable piece, what difference can car sharing make?

Julie Furnell – “The key thing we are focussed on is what our members and customers tell us and what they tell us is the impact of cost-of-living crisis has had on them and what solutions they need to be able to get to work and have access to work which is really important when you have transport poor areas. For us if we can share and utilise a vehicle, whether this be a bus or a car we should be doing that, that will help so many factors, real life factors and issues that people are facing today.”

The second debate was on People, Skills & Wellbeing, on our panel was Local MP Chloe Smith for Norwich North, Alex Sellers, Operations Director at Turning Factor, Kate Pigeon-Owen, CEO of Wellbeing International, Dean Pierpoint, LSIP Project Manager at Norfolk Chambers of Commerce and David Melloy, Business Development Manager for Ascot Lloyd.

In an ideal world what would you like to see from a future skills system that will help businesses and sectors?

Chloe Smith – “The two things I think we need to be focusing on which I think are probably hallmarks of this debate is skills. That means businesses having a greater opportunity than probably ever before to think about what skills they want in their workforce. You need to be able to recruit and retain so you need to think about what skills you are looking for. Secondly health, health is coming up the agenda, but there is a really big role here for businesses to grasp that nettle in their own workforce planning.”

Alex Sellers – “The skills we are developing as a community need to be relevant, practical and accessible to everybody. One of the key things is that we have got to not put barriers in the way of people accessing these skills wherever they are for example funding. All of the people in this room know what is required, so you need to think long hard and carefully about those skills you need in your workforce and how you are going to keep paying your best people.”

Kate Pigeon – Owen – “Leaders need to understand that their team is about holistic view rather than wellbeing being an add on. What matters is that you create a wellbeing culture not because you do this that and the other. It comes from the leaders.”

Dean Pierpoint – “It’s about putting businesses at the heart of the skills agenda and everybody in this room having a voice on skills so we can shape future curriculum so that it one is applicable to your business and two it fits into your growth plan. Fill out our survey here so you can actually have a voice and help shape things for the future.”

How do we create a county where talented young people want to stay and contribute to the local economy rather than moving to economic hubs such as London and Cambridge?

David Melloy – I think collaborations work really well with universities and colleges but also businesses working together. Norfolk has got a fantastic community, we do a lot of networking and we go out of our way to get people together. We should be going into universities, colleges and schools and talking about it.”

Chloe Smith – “A highly practical thing we need to do is increase aspiration via role models in schools. Primary futures is a charitable scheme that seeks to get people going into primary schools and doing you can to be a XYZ in the future. Let’s do more of that in Norfolk from the Norfolk employees, this will raise aspiration right here in this city.”

Alex Sellers – “We really need to shout about the things we are doing in Norfolk. If we want people to stay in Norfolk then provide a future and provide what we need and shout about it. Stop people from looking externally in the first place.”

The Big Debate restarted after a short break with a welcome back from CEO of Norse Group, Justin Galliford.

The third panel of the day was Cost-of-Living Crisis in Norfolk. We were joined by Claudia Roberts, Chief Executive of Banham Zoological Gardens, Lucy Parish, CEO of The Feed, Carole Burman, Managing Director of MAD-HR, Justin Galliford, CEO of Norse Group and Andy Gray, Local Enterprise Manager at Natwest.

How can Norfolk cope with the cost of living crisis?

Andy Gray – “For us at Natwest we have the obvious things that you might expect, supporting people who can’t pay their bills or loans straight away but there is more that we do. For example, we have people from our branches going out into businesses actually supporting the staff members themselves with what is going to be an incredibly hard time. There is a lot more we could all be doing to support our staff and colleagues”.

Carole Burman – “The thing that we find is that businesses are trying to be noble and do the best they can possibly do but also recognising that anything that they commit to or that they want to do they have to be able to sustain. When we have spoken to our clients, we have encouraged them to look at those employees who are on the national living wage whether they can make the move to the real living wage. If you have working parents in your business, childcare is probably one of the most expensive costs they are having to endure at the moment. Are you in a position where your staff can work in a different way that would enable them to still contribute and bring value but in a way that they don’t have to pay for quite as much childcare.”

Your particular business Banham Zoological Gardens must be struggling as the cost-of-living crisis bites so do peoples discretionary spend. What support would you like to see the government do to help businesses ride the storm?

Claudia Roberts – “Our costs went up nearly 33% last year, we had to then restrict the number of staff we had which put more pressure on their mental health. We have now got a minimum wage increase coming in. As far as energy is concerned, we have been campaigning hard around energy and I am pleased to see they have finally understood our issue and from the 1^{st of} April we will be getting some sort of rebate back which is a huge help, but we haven’t had anything over the entire winter, and we run a seasonal business. We are not the only seasonal business who haven’t had any support over energy. Some type of retrospective support is going to be really important because I don’t see the cashflow problems as one now its cumulative. If the government really want SMEs to grow, they are going to have to help those with a smaller turnover”.

What can businesses do to support employees during this crisis?

Justin Galliford – “I think what’s really important is support. Signposting to things like citizens advise is really important to people. They can talk about the pressures they are facing to people who understand and can support them. For a lot of people their mortgage is going to go up, this is a real issue that will give serious anxiety and concern. That wider support is really important.”

Lucy Parrish – “We need to look at what we do and how we can be there to help our employees in a more cost-effective way. For example, everybody who works for me now gets a hot lunch because that doesn’t cost me very much money, the feedback has been incredible. It doesn’t cost me a lot to do but it means a lot. So, look within your business to come up with some things that won’t cost too much to do but will make a big impact with people. As leaders be approachable and accessible so that when there is an issue, they are more likely to speak to you about it.”

The last panel of the day was Net-zero and Sustainability. On the panel was Thomas Panton, Founder of Canopey, Alex Durand, CEO of SaxonAir, Emma Raines, Founder of Example Marketing and Sue Penlington, Sustainability Manager at Holkham Estate.

Lots of businesses complete carbon calculators but don’t know where to go next. What is the next step?

Thomas Panton – “The whole aim of using carbon calculators is that you measure what your impact is, the next thing you should do as a company is to reduce in every single way possible that you know how to and find the knowledge and skills to if you don’t. What you can do is change your energy provider as quickly as you can, Shell announced $40 billion profit while most of us can’t afford to keep the lights on, it’s outrageous. If we stop supporting companies who use oil and gas that will change, energy is one of the greatest ways we can decarbonise as a company.”

Emma Raines – “The key thing to do in terms of the next step is to do something. Having a really comprehensive plan in place is great and then working through that but if you can pick one thing and do that as a starting point then at least you have begun that journey and one step leads to another. If everyone can start doing something, then we are heading in the right place.”

Sue Penlington – “For me it’s getting your teams involved straight away looking at those results and that data and identifying the most material area where you will make the biggest impact but also going for those little wins that get that action going in the organisation. Give your team the right training and development so they understand what carbon audit is.”

Are all other debates fairly meaningless unless we tackle climate change.

Alex Durrand – “The problem is we are prioritising existence particularly after the last 3 years and we are deprioritising the most important thing. It’s not at a pace where that is anywhere close that it should be. We seem to have collectively accepted the fact that we can’t keep up with temperatures, but of course we can. Particularly for the aviation industry there is a lot of finger pointing, we own our responsibility. If we all just do that and stop looking at everyone else there is a chance. We can’t change the big picture so let’s do everything we can as individuals.”

The last question of The Big Debate 2023 was if you were able to give one piece of advice on sustainability what is it?

Emma Raines – Do something.

Sue Penlington –Don’t be put off and celebrate the small wins.

Alex Durand – Do everything you can.

Thomas Panton – Talk to people, don’t be afraid to report when it doesn’t look good, this is how you get help and get pushed to improve. You can learn a lot by speaking to people.

This article has only touched upon some of the questions and answers discussed at this year’s Big Debate. Join us at The Big Debate 2024 if you want to hear Norfolk MPS and local business leaders discuss and debate the key issues affecting your region.

Amy Wright, Events manager Norfolk Chambers of Commerce

“What a big success for our first flagship event of 2023, key discussions were made throughout the debate and the atmosphere on the day was brilliant. A big thanks to all who supported me.”

Image credits – Chris Ball

The Chambers Quarterly Economic Survey (QES), is the UK’s largest independent business survey and it is NOW OPEN for responses from local Norfolk businesses.

The previous quarter’s QES showed no signs of business recovery.

After significant declines across all business conditions tracked by the British Chambers of Commerce in Q3, most indicators have stabilised at a low level.

Profitability confidence remained at Covid-crisis levels; only one in three (34%) businesses believed their profits will increase over the coming year, while more (36%) expect a decline.

Just 33% of firms experienced an increase in sales over the past three months, while 25% of firms reported a decrease, with hospitality firms the least likely to report improvements.

More firms are reporting taxation (38%) and interest rates (43%) as growing business concerns.

Read the full results from Q4 2022 here.

The survey takes less than three minutes to complete – it is anonymous and your support would be greatly appreciated.

The QES 2023 Q1 is open for responses until midnight on Thursday 9th March.  Have your voice heard and take part in the QES today.

Photo credit: Chamber Canva Pro