Policy Update 23rd April 2024

Welcome to this week’s policy update. ? ?

As ever please do get in touch with me, [email protected], if you’d like to discuss the following, or other, business issues, put forward your views and/or provide real life examples that we can use in advocacy activity.

The team at British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) continue to be busy working on your behalf. Last week:

• Director General, Shevaun Haviland, is attending a B5 meeting with Jonathan Reynolds MP and Angela Rayner MP to discuss Labour’s proposals for a?New Deal for Working People.
• Balshen Izzet, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, and Adam Szpala, Head of Public Affairs, is meeting with advisors to the Chancellor regarding our Chamber Network’s priorities for the economy.
• Adam Szpala and Jane Gratton, Deputy Director Public Policy, are meeting with the Education Secretary’s advisors to discuss our ongoing engagement on the skills agenda.

Adam Szpala and Jane Gratton, Deputy Director Public Policy, are meeting with the Education Secretary’s advisors to discuss our ongoing engagement on the skills agenda.

In addition, Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan MP, will be taking part in the Chamber Chief Execs meeting this week, which I’ll be at.

Last week the BCC:

• Took part in the first meeting of the government’s new Critical Imports Council, providing advice on implementing a strategy around supply chain security and diversification, and imports in sectors of national importance like chemicals, medicines and energy.
• Had a very worthwhile discussion with the Japanese Ambassador, focusing on opportunities arising from UK entry to CPTPP, raising bilateral trade and investment, and Expo 2025 in Osaka.
• Met Shadow Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds MP at Westminster to discuss a range of key trade issues for members such as Labour’s proposed White Paper on Trade, relations with the US, China, India, the EU, and trader support services and future Network delivery and outputs in these areas.
• Joined other business groups and the UK accreditation service (UKAS) to discuss prospects for a mutual recognition agreement on conformity assessment with the EU to help manufacturers and other traders, and plans for furthering this campaign.
• Met with the Australian High Commission to consider how the first year of the UK-Australia free trade agreement has worked for traders in both countries, and outstanding issues for further discussion.

Thames Valley Chamber has been appointed as the national co-ordinator for the recruitment of UK entrepreneurial businesses for Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (OCCI) virtual Global Innovation Forum (GIF) 2024. This year OCCI is seeking 5 or 6 UK startup/innovative businesses, in the following sectors: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality; Robotics; Agri Tech/Food Tech; Health Tech; Green Technology, Carbon Neutrality, New Energy; Digital Transformation; New Materials. You can find out more here: Global Innovation Forum Flyer 2024 - Chamber use (1).pdf (dropbox.com). ?

Local residents, businesses and organisations are being invited to two public information events about the Carlisle Southern Link Road. The events will provide the opportunity for the public and stakeholders to view the final design and ask any questions about the programme of work that they may have directly to the project team.?These events will also gather the opinions of the public to help the Council with some final decision making on the placemaking elements of the scheme. Such as the use of ponds and other amenities, and planned features and landscaping on the roundabouts. The events will take place on 30th April at Cummersdale Village Hall from 9am-8pm and 1st May at Wreay Village Hall from 9am-8pm. You can find out more here: Public are invited to learn more about the Carlisle Southern Link Road project | Cumberland Council.

Cumberland Council Climate and Nature Strategy – can you help? The Council are asking for your views to help shape the first climate and nature strategy which reflects the priorities in the?Council Plan ( Council plan | Cumberland Council). Drawing on insights from previous work and existing programmes they’ve prepared a Climate and Nature draft strategy (draft-climate-and-nature-strategy-consultation-document-final-version.pdf (cumberland.gov.uk)). Community panels are progressing how projects are delivered to the community, and they've been successful in recent achievements. The Community Panels and their priorities provide an opportunity to link actions to the places that matter most to our communities, their neighbourhoods, villages, and towns. So far, the panels have offered over ￡40,000 in funding to organisations for projects that will make a difference to climate and nature by:

• Improving access and biodiversity
• Providing outdoor learning sessions and community activities
• Providing energy efficiency measures in community buildings and supporting community hubs
• Protecting and conserving red squirrels
• Enabling a future play area and community orchard
• Supporting a safe cycleway and cycle parking
• Providing healthy lunches in warm spots during winter months
• Providing gardening and cooking equipment for community groups

In addition, much work and strong support has been given to the Towns Fund works of Cleator Moor and Millom which have important elements that improve the environment and health of people in the area.

You can have your say here, via a 5 minute survey closing at noon on 15th May: Climate and Nature Strategy - Cumberland Council - Citizen Space.

Thanks as ever to Ginny Murphy, Cumberland Council, for the April Labour Market Briefing which includes the latest ONS employment and unemployment data together with the latest available data on NEETs, job postings, business start-ups and Companies House activity.?

Key labour market headlines for Cumbria are:

• There were estimated to be 224,046 payrolled employees resident in Cumbria in March 2024, a fall of 324 from February but still 1,643 more than a year ago.
• Median payrolled earnings in March were estimated to be ￡2,237 which is 96% of the UK average.? They have risen more quickly in Cumbria than nationally over 1, 2 and 3 years.
• Survey estimates for the year ending December 2023 suggest that the proportion of working age adults in employment was 82.2% in Cumbria compared to a national average of 75.7% (even allowing for survey error, this does suggest a higher rate locally).? The economic inactivity rate in Cumbria was estimated to be 16% in Cumbria which is lower than the national average of 21.3%.? Most are inactive due to caring responsibilities, ill health or early retirement and nine out of ten inactive residents say they do not currently want a job.
• There were 7,110 claimants of JSA/UC actively seeking work in March 2024 which is an increase of 235 from last month.? The count rose in all former district areas except Allerdale.? Despite the increase, the claimant count is lower in Cumbria than a year ago in contrast to a rise nationally.? The claimant rate in Cumbria was 2.4% in March compared to 3.9% nationally and it is lower than the national rate in all former district areas.
• There were 40,380 claimants of Universal Credit in March 2024, a rise of 1,187 from February.? This is the biggest single monthly increase since the early phase of the pandemic and will have been influenced by increased activity by DWP to migrate claimants from legacy benefits to UC.
• The annual estimates of qualification levels suggest that 34.4% of working age residents in Cumbria are qualified to level 4 or above (e.g. degree) which, even allowing for the degree of survey error, is lower than the national average of 47.1%.
• There were 306 young people classed at NEET in February 2024, 8 fewer than in January – there were 205 in Cumberland and 101 in Westmorland & Furness.? The NEET rate was 3.0% which is unchanged from Jan (3.5% in Cumberland, 2.2% in Westmorland & Furness).
• The participation rate for 16/17 year olds was 90.8% in Cumbria compared to 92.2% nationally.
• There were 9,126 active online job postings in March 2024, 475 more than in February with increases in all former district areas as well as regionally and nationally.? The occupations most in demand were care workers, cleaners & domestics, sales assistants and kitchen & catering assistants.
• There were 505 small business start-ups in the quarter ending Feb 2024 which is 87 fewer than last quarter but 24 more than the same period last year.
• There were 257 new Companies House incorporations in February 2024 and there were 31,132 active companies in Cumbria at the end of March with 169 businesses newly recorded as dissolved or in liquidation during the month.

National headlines:

• ONS reports that there are tentative signs that the jobs market is beginning to cool leading some economists to suggest the data could spur the Bank of England to cut interest rates in the summer.
• Payrolled employment decreased by 67,000 (-0.2%) on the month but increased by 204,000 (-7%) on the year to stand at 30.3 million.
• The UK employment rate for the quarter to February 2024 was 74.5% and remains below estimates for a year ago.? The unemployment rate (including non-claimants) increased to 4.2% which is higher than a year ago and the economic inactivity also increased, to 22.2% which is also higher than a year ago.
• The estimated number of vacancies (measured via a business survey which is different methodology to the local data) was 916,000 in the quarter to March, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous quarter.? However, vacancy levels remain 120,000 above their pre-pandemic level.
• Annual growth in regular earnings (excluding bonuses) was 6.0% and annual growth in total earnings (including bonuses) was 5.6%.? When adjusted for inflation, regular earnings growth was 1.9% and total earnings growth was 1.6%.

Please let me have any views for the Low Pay Commission Consultation for feeding into the combined Chamber’s response through BCC, [email protected]. The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is?consulting on increases to the minimum wage in 2025 and beyond.?The consultation is currently live and closes on 7th June. The LPC is the independent body which advises the UK government on the levels of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW). You can find out more here: Low Pay Commission consultation 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) resolves around 8,000 complaints a year from businesses in dispute with their financial service provider. They’re free to use, and available to over 99.5% of business across the UK in all sectors. Their small business team is trained and equipped with expertise in the financial products and services used by businesses. Bringing a complaint is easy.. They’ll investigate what’s happened and give a fair and impartial answer, which the business can accept or reject. If it is accepted, it’s binding on the financial service provider, including any compensation or direction that’s made. Find out more on the FOS for small business website:?Financial Ombudsman for Small Businesses (financial-ombudsman.org.uk).

Speakers for this year’s BCC Global Annual Conference 2024, which is taking placing on 27th June at the QEII Centre in London, will include:

• Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England
• Amanda Blanc DBE, Group CEO at Aviva
• Lady Nicola Mendelsohn CBE, Head of Global Business Group at Meta

You can find out more and book here: GLOBAL ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2024 - British Chambers of Commerce. This is a really interesting and informative event which is well worth taking part in so please do think about join us for it this year! Tickets are ￡120 + VAT for Chamber Members and ￡250 + VAT for Non-members.

UK and India Department for Business and Trade (DBT) teams are hosting a webinar to discuss the opportunity for British beauty in India on 25th April. India is the 4th biggest market globally for beauty and personal care with significant double-digit growth forecasted to 2030. The DBT Digital Exporting team, and the British Embassy Trade team in India will explain how DBT can support businesses in exporting to this exciting beauty market. You can register here: Home (great.gov.uk).

The Information Commissioner's Office?(ICO) has launched a new privacy notice generator tool, which makes it much quicker and easier for small organisations to create a bespoke privacy notice. All organisations must be transparent about how they use people’s information, and this new tool makes it simple for small and medium sized organisations to do so. They can use it to generate a bespoke privacy notice from scratch, or check if their existing one is robust. The tool generates two types of privacy notice. One to let customers and suppliers know about what the organisation will do with their information, and one for information about staff and volunteers. ?You can access the tool here: Create your own privacy notice | ICO.