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Breckland Council’s Budget and the Medium Term Financial Plan provide the funding for delivery of the key priorities outlined in their Corporate Plan and the range of local services they can provide. They have invited comments from businesses and residents alike and would welcome your thoughts on their draft proposal

The documents are available at www.breckland.gov.uk/Budget-consultation-19-20 these outline the council’s draft budget and Medium Term Financial Plan. Please share any comments by emailing consultation@breckland.gov.uk before the consultation closes on 1 January 2019.

A Year 5 pupil Dragons’ Den competition saw Mile Cross pupils face real life business dragons in the Norwich School During the Michealmas term, Norwich School Business Enterprise department have had the great pleasure to work on their first partnership project with Mile Cross Primary School and City College Norwich in a Dragons’ Den competition.

60 year 5 pupils from Mile Cross and L6 Business Enterprise pupils joined forces at City College’s StartUp lounge for the first day of the event on 6th November. Teams of Year 5 pupils were assigned a L6 mentor and tasked with coming up with a business idea that would wow the dragons.

The project, jointly led by Nicola Hill (Assistant Head of Outreach) and Toby Whalen (Deputy Head at Mile Cross Primary), aimed to provide an engaging introduction into product design, marketing and finance. Ideas ranged from fitness parties to an automatic dog ball thrower, with pupils taking inspiration from their surroundings a the StartUp Lounge.

The project final took place this week at Norwich School, with high profile dragons from Norwich’s business community, including Stefan Gurney and Miles Watson from Norwich Business Improvement District and Nova Fairbank from the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. Mile Cross Head Teacher and Norwich School’s Steffan Griffiths also took on the role of dragons, with teams pitching their ideas to win an “investment”. The overall winning idea, “Zombie Bears” caught the imaginations of the dragons, with their sophisticated marketing and branding ideas and their captivating pitch.

Both the Year 5 pupils and the L6 Business Enterprise pupils gained much from the partnership, and plans are already in place for the next Dragons’ Den after the success of this inaugural event. Comments from our guests highlight the significance of the partnership:

Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy, Governance & Public Affairs, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce

“The students pitching at today’s Dragon’s Den have done an amazing job.  Their presentations were well thought out; their business cases were solid; and all teams presented enthusiastic and interesting pitches.  The Dragons had a truly difficult decision to select the winning bid.  The talent and energy in the room was brilliant and I think we may have seen several future entrepreneurs!  Well done to all the teams.”

Stefan Gurney, Executive Director, Norwich Business Improvement District (BID).

“It was truly inspiring to see the next generation of Norwich entrepreneurs pitching their innovative business ideas to us. All of the teams created products with originality, strong business models and presented with passion and energy. It was a difficult decision to choose a winning pitch, but a huge congratulations to every one of the students who worked so hard and gave us such a tough choice. Norwich’s future is in safe hands.”

The British Chambers of Commerce, in partnership with DHL, has published its latest Quarterly International Trade Outlook, based on survey and export documentation data. It finds that as the clock ticks ever closer to Brexit, a combination of exchange rates and price pressures is forcing exporters to increase prices.

The survey, of over 2,500 exporters, including those from Norfolk, shows that there is an increasing number of firms who are expecting to increase prices in the next three months. 41% of manufacturers and 34% of service firms surveyed report that their prices will rise, up from 35% and 32% in the previous quarter.

Exchange rates is the top external factor concerning business, with 68% of manufacturers and 50% of services firms citing it as an issue. The vast majority of exporting manufacturers (85%) site the cost of raw materials as a pressure driving prices.

These rising costs are contributing to a slowdown in export orders, with just 35% of manufacturers and 24% of services businesses reporting an increase in orders – compared with 39% and 30% respectively the previous quarter.

This is also reflected in the BCC/DHL Trade Confidence Index, which measures the volume of trade documents issued by Accredited Chambers of Commerce for goods shipments outside the EU. This decreased by 3.86% this quarter and 4.81% compared to the same quarter in the previous year, but still remains high by historical standards.

The current Brexit uncertainty is weighing heavily on business communities across the country. It is crucial that firms get the clarity and precision on the terms of trade they will face with the EU and many other countries in a matter of months. They will also need to know who they can hire, what rules they need to follow, and what more the government can do to support them through this period.

Key findings from the report:

• 35% of manufacturers and 24% of services saw an increase in export orders in the last three months, a slowdown from 39% and 30% respectively
• 17% of manufacturers and 14% of services sector firms saw a decrease in orders
• 68% of manufacturers are more concerned about exchange rates than the previous quarter (up from 60%)
• 76% of manufacturers and 69% of services firms who attempted to recruit, struggled to find the right staff. This is up from the 69% seen in Q2 for manufacturers and 60% for services
• 85% of manufacturers cite the cost of raw materials as a leading source of price pressure, up from 81% in Q2 2018
• The BCC/DHL Trade Confidence Index, a measure of the volume of trade documentation issued nationally, fell by 3.86% on the quarter, but remains high by historical standards

Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy, Governance & Public Affairs for Norfolk Chamber, said:

“The ongoing political and economic turbulence continues to play on the minds of exporters. Every twist and turn in Westminster is pounced upon by the markets, so it is no surprise that the volatility in the exchange rates weighs heavily.

“Despite the continued political turmoil, companies will always find a way to trade with each other. While exporters are doing their best to harness the advantages of the falling pound, its impact on imports in the supply chain often makes this a double-edged sword.

“Giving clarity and precision to firms should be of paramount concern for the government. And at a time of record high skills shortages, the government must urgently publish the Immigration White Paper, to give long-term clarity to firms in all corners of the country who need skills at all levels.”

Shannon Diett, VP of Marketing at DHL Express, said:

“The small decline in the Trade Confidence Index, down 3.9% on Q2 2018 and 4.8% on Q3 2017, is not surprising given the uncertain business climate we’re currently facing. We are however encouraged to see that both manufacturers and service firms remain confident that trade will improve over the next 12 months. We continue to encourage businesses to increase the number of countries they trade with to help reduce future risk and increase the opportunities for growth.”

We have today received a CV (see attached) from Norwich City Council, for a candidate from our french twin city of Rouen, who is looking for a short-term work placement.

He is looking for a technician internship in the computing field, within the engineering sector.

If you have a possible gap and can offer him a role within your company, please contact:

Norwich City Council Andy Emms Democratic Services Manager Tel. 01603 212459 Email: andyemms@norwich.gov.uk

Commenting on the Bank of England’s Quarterly Inflation Report, Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:

“While we have always felt that the earlier gloom over the UK economy has been exaggerated, the positive trends outlined within Governor King’s final Inflation Report appear to be too optimistic. We accept that growth is likely to remain positive, but believe that the speed of the recovery will be somewhat slower than the Governor indicated. The grim eurozone data also shows that our exporters will face obstacles over the year ahead. We also think that the inflation outlook is slightly worse than the report suggests, and future falls in 2013 and 2014 will not happen as quickly.

“With the flexible monetary remit given to the MPC by the Chancellor, and the likelihood of policy changes after the arrival of Mark Carney as Governor, it is important that the MPC does not encourage a faster sterling devaluation to support exports – even if inflation rises temporarily. The unusually weak earnings figures highlight the squeeze on businesses and consumers, and there is a risk that the small benefits to exports will be outweighed by damage to domestic demand that can harm growth.”

Access to mobile voice call services is a basic requirement of business today: it’s essential to consumers and for linking people and communities. That’s why the British Chambers of Commerce has launched a campaign calling for No More Not Spots!

A 2017 survey by the BCC found that 70% of UK firms experience ‘not spots’, areas of no mobile coverage by any operator, or ‘partial not spots’, where there is some coverage but not from all networks, in their local area.

The aim of this campaign is to end not spots for voice coverage for UK phone users where they live, work, travel or plans.

From the time that cell phone services were first introduced in the UK to the present day, the locations with signal coverage have grown from a handful of urban areas to around 98% of UK premises (the area immediately adjacent to a property). The UK’s four Mobile Network Operators have invested heavily to deliver against their licence obligation of 90% geographic coverage for voice and text by the end of 2017.

However, despite welcome progress in network rollout, the lived experience of mobile phone users can differ from the scale and consistency suggested by these numbers. With about 30 million residential and commercial properties in the UK, 98% of premises would still leave around 600,000 buildings without coverage; with only 10% of Britain’s landmass ‘developed’ – 90% geographic coverage still leaves not spots in areas like dense commercial centres, road and rail corridors where access issues and the economics of new infrastructure investment are challenging.

Results from BCC’s infrastructure survey, conducted in February this year showed that a majority (53%) of responding businesses perceived the reliability of the UK mobile phone network to have improved over the last five years. But a substantial number (21%) did not agree that the network meets its needs for accessing new and existing customers, suppliers, and employees.

The reasons for patchy coverage are many and varied: from building and vehicle design to the number and location of masts and cells; from the topography of the built and natural landscapes to the technologies in phones. 

Through this campaign, we will continue to engage with the Norfolk business community to identify gaps in coverage, and to work constructively with industry and government to resolve this locally.

Over the next year, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce will be convening to business communities and those involved in delivering coverage, so do keep an eye out for events and let us know if you want to get involved.

And, if you experience a not spot be sure to report it to the British Chambers of Commerce, and tell us about it on Twitter using the hashtag #ShareYourNotSpots.