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We’re delighted to welcome Plain Speaking Agency as a new member of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. Plain Speaking is a straight talking, results focused PR, communications and marketing agency based in Norwich. Founded in 2006, the team is made up of three senior comms professionals – managing director Pippa Lain-Smith, plus Amber Davis and Kayla Dunne – collectively with over fifty years’ PR experience: from global organisations to start-ups, consumer goods to business services, national brands to social enterprises. They are friendly and tenacious, all involved in every element of clients’ work, from developing campaign plans and implementing activity, to measuring success.

The Plain Speaking team believes public relations is about communicating and building relationships with people who are important to your brand; engaging their interest, inspiring their loyalty and encouraging them to do business with you. They help to build, maintain and protect reputations; and take pride in using language that clients understand, avoiding unnecessary jargon. The will only recommend communications tactics that they honestly believe will add value to a business.

Pippa Lain-Smith, managing director of Plain Speaking Agency, said: “Our team has such broad experience that we are able to represent a very diverse range of clients; from retail to telecoms, healthcare to property, and everything in between. We have one simple aim: to help our clients achieve their business objectives. Most of the clients that we work with have been with us for a number of years, which is testament to our commitment to exceeding their expectations.

“We offer more than just media relations: from award submissions, event planning and internal communications; to issues management, copywriting and social media engagement. There is also our Brand Vitals© process which helps clients to develop their brand identity and hone core values. Depending on the brief, our work can cover consumer, business-to-business and trade audiences; on a local, regional, national or international level.

“We joined the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce to engage more with the regional business community. The training, networking and events programme has been highly recommended so we’re looking forward to meeting new people and enhancing our skills base.”

To find out more about Plain Speaking visit www.plainspeakingagency.co.uk , call 01603 487 291 or email info@plainspeakingagency.co.uk

According to recent Office of National Statistics figures, the UK’s unemployment total has risen for the first time in two years. The ONS said 1.85 million people in the UK were unemployed in the March to May period, an increase of 15,000 from the previous quarter, with a jobless rate at 5.6%.

However the local unemployment figures here in Norfolk told a different story, with the overall results bucking the national trend and showing that the unemployment figures were still falling.

All Norfolk districts saw the JSA claimant rates continue the trend of recent months and fell further. Broadland had the largest percentage fall of -10.1%, with Norwich showing a percentage drop of -6.5% and Great Yarmouth a drop of -4.1%. The smallest percentage change was in King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, who saw a percentage change of -3.8%. Overall Norfolk’s JSA claimant rate fell from 1.4% in May, to 1.3% in June 2015.

Europe is dominating the news at the moment due to the uncertainty of how the situation with Greece will be resolved. Commenting in the wake of the Greek referendum, which saw voters reject creditors’ bailout terms, Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:

“Beyond its immediate impacts on markets and trade, it looks ever more likely that the Greek referendum vote will spark fundamental changes in the Eurozone – and the European Union as a whole.

“The Prime Minister may get an early, and important, opportunity to put the case for fundamental reform of the UK’s relationship with the EU. Businesses will want him to seize this opening, especially as many of the UK’s desired reforms would support the competitiveness of the EU as a whole.”

“There is now broad agreement across the political spectrum that our relationship with the EU needs to change and that the status quo is not an option. Norfolk businesses would like their voice included in the debate, to help the government secure meaningful changes to our relationship with the EU.”

There are five key elements that Norfolk Chamber wants to focus on relating to EU reform:

• In a Europe in which the decisions will be made by and for the Eurozone – a club of which we will never be a member – Britain must have absolute guarantees to protect our economic and other interests within the EU.
• We need to protect our businesses from the regulatory burdens imposed by the EU, particularly those that do not relate directly to trade, again with an opt-out if necessary. The vast majority of the UK’s economic activity is not directly derived from trade with the rest of the European Union – and yet all of that activity is hit by the cost of European regulation.
• It is necessary to sort out the “common market” so that it works for British business. The UK is by and large a service sector economy and yet there is no meaningful internal market in services within the EU and, at the same time, the market in goods is imperfect and unravelling.
• We need a clear and balanced approach to immigration taking into account the need for stability and social cohesion and driven by the skills requirements of our economy, meaning businesses can access the talent they need.
• We need a cast iron opt-out to make sure we do not sleepwalk into an ‘ever closer union’.

If you have an opinion on this issue or would like to give examples of how the current situation with the EU is adversely affecting your business please advise cw@norfolkchamber.co.uk

Norfolk Chamber was proud to have sponsored the recent National Apprenticeship Graduation Ceremony at the St Andrew’s Hall in Norwich. The Chamber joined with parents, training providers and local employers in congratulating the graduating apprentices, who had successfully completed their apprenticeships.

Norfolk Chamber’s own Events Apprentice, Samantha Brown received her graduation scroll for completing her Level 2 Business Administration at the ceremony. Commenting on the ceremony andreceiving her scroll Sam Brown said:

“It was a great opportunity to share this evening with so many other graduating apprentices and to hear about their different qualifications. I love the fact that apprenticeships have now been recognised in this way and that we are able to graduate and be given a scroll, it gives me personally a great sense of achievement for my hard work.”

Nova Fairbank, Executive Assistant at Norfolk Chamber said:

“Over the last few years, Norfolk Chamber has recruited several apprentices, in fact those apprentices represented 25% of our workforce. Upon graduation, two have been employed permanently at the Chamber, one has gone on to undertake a Level 3 apprenticeship with us and another is half way though her Level 2 apprenticeship with us.

It is important to celebrate what a great achievement it is for those young people who are not only gaining a qualification, through lots of hard work, but from an employer’s perspective, they are also totally work ready, which is one of the key reasons why Norfolk Chamber has sponsored the National Apprenticeship Graduation Ceremony in Norwich.”

The latest Agent’s summary from the Bank of England highlighted that whilst growth in consumer services turnover had been steady, retail sales growth had eased. House prices had risen, as the housing market strengthened and construction output growth also continued at a steady pace.

Although there had been little change in the growth of total labour costs per employee, there were signs of wage pressures building. However employers were still advising that they intended to recruit new employees, even though recruitment difficulties remained.

Manufacturing output remained modest, although manufacturing exports had improved. Business services turnover growth remained firm overall.

To read the Agents’ summary in detail click here.

I am pleased to let you know that following a recent reviewComposite Legal Expenses have added a number of enhancements to the Chamber Legal benefits package.

The enhancements include:

• Removal of £1000 Excess – Chamber members will now benefit from an excess-free claims process
• Increase in the limit a member can claim to £100,000 per claim and an aggregate amount of £1,000,000 per member per year
• More accessible policy wording
• Change in the Telephone number from 0871 number to a new geographic number of 029 21 157571 (the old number is still valid ongoing)

Find full details on Chamber Legal here:

• Legal Advice Line
• Legal Expense Insurance