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The A47 need upgrading. Poor infrastructure is slowing down economic growth and the creation of jobs in Norfolk. At a time when our businesses are having to be even more innovative in the way of using technology in their businesses, getting around the county or out of the Norfolk, mainly still necessitates using roads.

The consultant’s report commissioned by Norfolk County Council has now quantified that investment in the A47 could bring 5,000 jobs to Norwich, 3,800 to Yarmouth and more than 700 to Kings Lynn along with £390m a year into the East Anglia economy.

Next Tuesday Brussel’s regulators meet to review the TEN-T regulations which set the status of major roads across the continent. Currently the A47 is classed as part of a “comprehensive network” rather than “core” which has resulted in little invetment to the route over the years.

The economic opportunities for growth and jobs which would be enhanced by improvement to the A47 include the Yarmouth’s Enterprise Zone focused on the growing North Sea energy industry, Yarmouth Outer Harbour, Norwich Research Park, expanding employment around the A47 and A10 south of Kings Lynn and our visitor economy.

The report does talk about a 20 year time scale and we are realistic to be aware that the chances of the Treasury finding the money is remote but it is important that this road is recognised as a catalyst of growth and job creation in Norfolk.

Norfolk Chamber of behalf of its members is writing to Brussels to lobby Norfolk’s case and through the British Chamber of Commerce will ensure Ministers understand the importance to Norfolk businesses of improving the A47.

A survey of over 8,000 businesses released by the British Chambers of Commerce, shows that exporting activity continues to increase. However, the findings also suggest that providing firms with more training in foreign languages, and increasing their exposure to international companies would encourage more business owners to export. Economic growth relies upon British businesses being able to export more, so the British Chambers of Commerce is calling for more support for firms to help them trade internationally.

Language skills are vital to exporting

Knowledge of other languages is an important skill for exporters. 61% of non-exporters that are likely to consider trading internationally consider a lack of language skills as a barrier to doing so.

However, of those business owners that claim some language knowledge, very few can speak well enough to conduct deals in international markets. French is the most commonly spoken language, with 73% of business owners claiming some knowledge. However, only four percent are able to converse fluently enough in French to conduct business deals. This number drops significantly for those languages spoken in the fastest growing markets. In 2012, the IMF projects that the Chinese economy will grow by 9.5%, but just four percent of business owners claim any knowledge of the language, with less than one percent confident they could converse fluently.

Re-establishing foreign languages as core subjects within the UK national curriculum and in workplace training would mean that the next generation of business owners are ‘born global’ with language skills. The BCC is calling for the National Curriculum to be revised so that studying a foreign language is compulsory until AS level. Businesses could also be helped in training staff in new languages, if the government offered additional financial incentives such as tax credits for small and medium-sized businesses that make a significant investment in language training.

Businesses with stronger international connections are more likely to export

Businesses that do export are more likely to have stronger social connections with overseas markets. When asked what led them to export, the top three reasons cited by current exporters were: collaboration with overseas partners (71%); a chance enquiry from outside the UK (57%); and previous work experience abroad (52%). Those business owners that have lived abroad are more likely to export. 11% of current exporters have lived aboard for five years or more.

The BCC believes that creating opportunities for employees to work in overseas companies could help expose firms to more international opportunities. For example, an international business exchange programme, perhaps modeled on the well-known academic Erasmus scheme would allow employees to complete placements in companies abroad, and bring back their experience to their employer. A scheme that covered BRIC economies, as well as Europe, would mean that businesses could take advantage of fast growing markets as well as the eurozone.

Commenting on the findings of the report, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“Exporting is good for Britain, so it is right that we should encourage current and future business owners to develop the necessary skills to trade overseas. We’re encouraged to see the percentage of firms exporting in our survey has increased from 22% in January 2011 to 32% in January 2012. Exports are equivalent to nearly 30% of UK GDP[1], but more can be done to help businesses take the first step to exporting. Encouraging companies to boost foreign language skills with incentives like tax credits is just one way of making sure we continue to export best of British products and services around the world. A renewed focus on language skills at school, as well as helping companies forge new connections overseas, could help ensure that current and future business owners are pre-disposed to thinking internationally.

“We are already the sixth largest trading nation on earth, and the third largest service exporter, but to really secure our future as a leading exporter we need to help companies take advantage of new markets. Giving businesses the opportunity to forge links with international firms, develop employees’ language skills, and providing compulsory education in languages for young people will transform many of the great businesses we have in the UK into success stories overseas.”

The Foreign Office Department of UK Trade and Investment and the University of East Anglia Business School have formed a strategic alliance to explain and support the development of UK businesses both large and small with particular emphasis on international trade.

A series of live interactive video links between the UK and International markets will be streamed to your business location during 2012 examining markets in the USA (Los Angeles), Australia (Sydney), The Nordic countries (Copenhagen) and a range of others. Of particular interest is the different business opportunities being streamed live during the 2012 Olympics.

Please see below information covering the first programme. If the topics covered are not suitable for your business at present, The University of East Anglia Business School can tailor their programmes to your requirements.

Three directives will be repealed and replaced on 8 May 2012 by one regulation.

Regulation 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products will repeal and replace the following directives.

•Directive 2008/121/EC on textile names.

•Directive 96/73/EC on certain methods for the quantitative analysis of binary textile fibre mixtures.

•Directive 73/44/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the quantitative analysis of ternary fibre mixtures.

The information required by the new regulation, available here, concerns the composition of the textile products, which must be provided using harmonised fibre names. The regulation also stipulates methods to check on whether the composition of textile products is in conformity with the information supplied.