At today’s Norfolk Chamber of Commerce Board meeting, the members of the Board approved both the Business Plan for 2013/2014 and the new ‘Unlocking Growth Plan’. The Unlocking Growth Plan sets out the Chamber’s priorities for 2013, as identified by the Norfolk Chamber members. The key areas to be addressed in 2013 are:
Championing Norfolk Business
Improving Infrastructure
Supporting Competitiveness
Removing Barriers
The Chamber’s key theme of ‘Unlocking the Potential of Norfolk’s Young People’ will run through the delivery of all its services and is identified in the ‘Unlocking Growth plan’.
Abellio train operator Greater Anglia has won the Train Operator of the Year award at the annual national Rail Business Awards for 2012. This independent recognition for the regional train operator comes only just over a year into its franchise, which began in February 2012. It provides a major external endorsement of the improvements made to date by the company in many aspects of its operations.
This includes better punctuality, higher customer service standards, greater customer engagement, improved ticketing, station upgrades, integrated transport improvements and reduced weekend service disruption for passengers (as a result of a new agreement with Network Rail as part of the alliance between the two companies). Greater Anglia was also complimented for its excellent service during the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Praising Greater Anglia for its winning entry, the judges said: “Performance during the first year of operation has been very impressive. This came across very clearly in its excellent submission.”
The accolade follows an increase in customer satisfaction amongst Greater Anglia’s passengers in the most recent National Passenger Survey to 83% and improved annual punctuality to over 92%, the highest level for the East Anglian franchise in at least 12 years. The company has also made ticket purchase much easier with more ticket vending machines, a smartphone app, trials of mobile ticketing and “print-at-home” ticketing. In addition, Greater Anglia is also playing a leading role in the development and delivery of the East Anglian Rail Prospectus, working proactively with regional stakeholders to make the case for greater investment in rail services in the region. Commenting on the recognition of Greater Anglia’s progress Ruud Haket, Managing Director said: “I am delighted that barely a year into our short franchise, we have received this independent endorsement of our achievements. To be bracketed amongst the leading UK train companies at such an early stage is a tribute to the commitment and dedication of our employees.
“We know we have much more to do to achieve the consistency of service that our customers rightly expect, but we have made significant steps forward in punctuality, information provision and ticket purchasing facilities already and we are passionate about delivering high standards of customer service day in, day out, for passengers across our network.
“We are committed to making further service improvements over the remainder of our short franchise to July 2014 and to continue to work with regional stakeholders to help secure the long term investment needed to further upgrade train services in East Anglia – focusing on the priorities highlighted in the East Anglian Rail Prospectus. Our focus will always be on continuously improving rail services for the customers and communities we serve.”
Norwich For Jobs today provides its first campaign update, covering progress made in the first month of operation.
Aims
Norwich For Jobs seeks to halve Norwich youth unemployment in two years.
Launched on 25th January 2013, we believe that we can encourage the creation of 1,000 new jobs and good economic opportunities for young people in our city.
There are currently around 2,000 young people, aged 18-24, registered as unemployed in the Norwich area. Our aims are:
Investment- Encourage local businesses to invest in young people
Opportunities- Connect young people with opportunities to gain skills and employment
Community- Focus the collective efforts of the community to get young Norwich working.
First Month’s Progress
During February 2013, Norwich For Jobs has achieved the following:
20 employers formally backing campaign so far. You can see these updated regularly on our website, www.norwichforjobs.org.uk. All are willing to be interviewed by media
Dozens more have indicated their interest and are in discussion with the campaign
101 jobs have been pledged
36 apprenticeships have been pledged
78 work experience opportunities have been pledged
Quotes
Chloe Smith, leader of Norwich For Jobs, said:
“We are delighted by the reaction to the launch of the Norwich for Jobs Campaign. Enquiries by potential employers and those willing to offer work placements have exceeded our expectations.
“We’ve made good progress in our first month in engaging with employers, partners and young people and wish to continue this success in subsequent months.
“Our key goal for the first month way to get the key aims of the Norwich for Jobs Campaign across, which I think we have achieved. We are now moving forward in following up on all lines of enquiry that have come to us and will seek to help and support businesses wishing to offer an opportunity to a young person in Norwich.”
Julia Nix, East Anglia District Manager for Jobcentre Plus, comments:
“Our sincere thanks go to our first set of employers who have pledged their support by offering jobs, apprenticeships and work experience to our talented young people. I would encourage any employer to make contact to help us further.”
Dick Palmer, Chief Executive Officer of City College Norwich, said:
“This is a really fantastic start for Norwich For Jobs and shows how supportive our local employers are. It shows that local employers, big and small, really do get that young people are our future.”
Next month includes Apprenticeships Week. Expect more updates from Norwich For Jobs on apprenticeships and more.
Ofgem warns of rising prices and energy shortages The outgoing chief executive of Ofgem, Alistair Buchanan, has warned that the UK faces higher energy bills over the coming years due to shortage of energy supplies. In a major speech he said that a fall in the UK’s power production capacity is likely to lead to more energy imports and he predicts power station closures could mean a 10% fall in capacity by April alone. He said the UK needs more gas supplies and an improvement in energy efficiency to fill the shortfall.
Prime Minister hails clean energy on Indian trade mission The prime minister has underlined his support for green technologies during a major trade trip to India. He was accompanied by several green companies and climate change minister Greg Barker on the trip. At his first stop, the Unilever office in Mumbai, he touted the benefits of clean energy as a key to UK economic growth.
Nuclear power According to reports in the Guardian the government is proposing to sign contracts guaranteeing subsidies for new nuclear for up to 40 years. The paper said that ministers are proposing the timeline in order to keep the guaranteed wholesale cost of each unit of energy below the politically crucial figure of £100 per megawatt hour. DECC said in a statement that: “No commitment has been made on commercial terms or a strike price.”
Energy Bill decarbonisation amendment tabled Conservative MP Tim Yeo and Labour’s Barry Gardiner have tabled an amendment to the Energy Bill that would require the government to introduce a decarbonisation target for the power sector by April next year, paving the way for a potential Commons rebellion. Yeo, who chairs the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, and Gardiner, who serves on the Committee and also acts as Labour leader Ed Miliband’s Climate Change Envoy, put forward the amendment after the Bill Committee Stage.
EU-wide offshore oil and gas law The EU proposed its first law to regulate safety in offshore oil and gas drilling across the 27-member bloc and prevent any repeat of BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill. The law still needs final endorsement from member states and the European Parliament. Politicians from Britain were among the first to welcome it. As they argue British standards of safety are already excellent and the new law would oblige others to follow suit. Britain was among those who campaigned for the law to be a directive rather than an EU regulation.
Marine power Two British companies have today been awarded a share of £20 million to help drive forward growth in the UK’s marine energy industry. MeyGen Ltd and Sea Generation Wales Ltd have both won funding under the government’s Marine Energy Array Demonstrator scheme (MEAD). MEAD was launched in April last year, to support the development and testing of pre-commercial marine devices in array formations out at sea.
Upcoming developments
Energy Bill completes Commons Stage and goes to the Lords
New strategies on nuclear, oil and gas and offshore renewables to be published
Carbon Floor Price to be introduced in April
Decision on next stage of UK and Ireland wind trading
Capacity market design proposals due to be published in the spring
Strike Price proposals due to be published in the summer
BIS Publish Industrial Strategies (Offshore Wind, Nuclear, and Oil & Gas)
The EU and Canada have agreed to co-operate more closely by building on their existing customs co-operation agreement and extending it to include supply chain security and related risk-management matters.
EU Customs Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta said: “In a globalised world with globalised trade, no country can ensure the security of their supply chain in isolation. International co-operation is essential to protect citizens’ security while allowing the smooth flow of trade.”
The agreement would, he went on, provide the tools to improve customs controls while cutting red tape for safe traders in both territories.
Co-operation will include working towards mutual recognition of risk-management techniques, risk standards, security controls and trade partnership programmes, ie the EU’s Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) and Canada’s Partners in Protection (PIP).
The agreement will be concluded after the ratification process in the EU and Canada, which is expected to take place in the coming months, is completed.
More information on EU customs co-operation agreements is available on the European Commission website.
The tenth issue of the Export Control Organisation’s Training Bulletin contains full details of courses, seminars and workshops that will increase your understanding of the UK’s strategic export controls.
These events are aimed at exporting and trading individuals or companies of all sizes, as well as government organisations, and cater for a wide range of knowledge levels.
The latest bulletin includes all details, charges and an application form.
For more information on export controls and the work of the ECO generally, call our helpline on 020 7215 4594, or email with your questions: eco.help@bis.gsi.gov.uk
A new European Commission report highlights a selection of key barriers faced by EU companies and aims to raise awareness of the importance of addressing trade obstacles in such a way that they can fully reap the benefits of the global market.
The report is seen as underlining the Union’s market access strategy and as recognition of the calculation that 90% of global economic growth is expected to be generated outside the EU by 2015.
This third edition of the Trade and Investment Barriers Report (TIBR 2013) provides an account of the progress achieved on those barriers, identified in previous editions (2011 and 2012), that continue to be of concern to EU exporters and could not be fully solved to date.
It also highlights a number of new barriers that appeared in 2012 and require concerted action and political prioritisation both by the Commission and by the Member States in certain key markets.
As in the 2012 edition, this report focuses on market access barriers in some of the EU’s strategic partners (China, India, Japan, Brazil, Russia and the USA).
They represent the EU’s main export markets, in terms of goods (40.9% of goods exports in 2010), services (40.0%) and foreign direct investments (41.1% of FDI outward stock): the USA is the EU’s first export market, China second, Russia fourth, Japan sixth, India eighth and Brazil ninth.
“The focus of this report on some of the EU’s strategic partners does obviously not mean that barriers in other markets should be neglected,” the report stresses. “On the contrary, the Commission is actively engaging with a far broader group of trading partners to improve market access conditions for EU companies still confronted with a considerable number of trade obstacles.”
Trade barriers between the EU and Peru were lifted on 1 March 2013, when the ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement concluded in 2012 was provisionally applied in the South American country.
The agreement will open up markets for exporters from both sides, eventually bringing annual savings of more than €500 million. However, it is the improved and more stable conditions for trade and investment that are expected to bring the biggest gains.
The deal includes far-reaching provisions on the protection of human rights and the rule of law, as well as commitments to effectively implement international conventions on labour rights and environmental protection.
The EU is Peru’s third largest source of imports (mainly machinery and transport equipment) and the main destination for its exports (mainly fuels and mining products).
The trade agreement represents an important opportunity for Peruvian agricultural and fisheries exports, which already represent almost a third of the country’s exports to the Union.
EU-Peru trade has grown significantly in recent years and its volume reached €9.2 billion in 2011, corresponding to 16% of Peru’s trade volume.
Colombia, which also signed the trade agreement with the EU in June 2012, is expected to join the implementation phase later this year, once its internal ratification procedures are completed.
On 21 February 2013, the British Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the British Embassy and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), launched the Building your Business in Belgium (BBB) scheme – an integrated service for companies new to the Belgian marketplace.
The scheme provides a ‘safe landing’ to companies doing business in Belgium for the first time through professional advice, expertise and services that complement those provided to UK exporters by UKTI and the British Embassy.
The event was hosted by Jonathan Brenton, HM Ambassador to Belgium and was attended by UK and international business professionals who welcomed this new initiative.
Belgium may not be as well known as some other global markets, but it is an open and dynamic export market for British goods and services. It is the UK’s 6th highest export partner worldwide (Source: Hm Revenue & Customs, October 2011).
“It is an ideal place for the first time exporter and a great stepping stone to the rest of Europe” says Jonathan Brenton, HM Ambassador to Belgium, “English is widely accepted, and there are quick and easy communications and connections with the UK and the rest of mainland Europe”. He added that increased export/import activities will benefit overall economic growth in both countries.
“The Chamber’s partnership with UK Government is a great example of how business can work with the public sector to provide a better joined up service for UK businesses” explains Glynis Whiting, President of the British Chamber in Belgium. “We look forward to playing our part in helping the much needed export led growth in Europe”.
Another initiative that supports business in Belgium is the The Golden Bridge Awards, launched by the British Chamber last year and also supported by UKTI. It is an annual award that recognises the most successful UK companies doing business in Belgium. Open to both service and manufacturing companies, the award aims to encourage more exports to Belgium by UK companies and also to give British products and services a higher profile at the heart of the EU.
The Awards are operated in partnership with the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain, which has run a successful scheme since 1997 recognising the success of companies from Belgium and Luxembourg exporting to the UK.
For more information, please contact:
British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium Boulevard Bischoffsheim 11 1000 Brussels T +32 (0)2 540 90 30 Joanna De Keyser- Business Development Executivejoanna@britcham.be
The Middle East Association, in partnership with the Kurdistan Regional Government, will be leading a Trade Delegation to Iraqi Kurdistan from 28th April to 3rd May 2013, visiting Erbil and Duhok.
The mission will have a particular focus on:
Healthcare
Education
Infrastructure
Hydroelectric power generation
Agriculture
Water treatment
Each of these areas of interest will have a comprehensive sector-specific mission programme organised by the KRG.