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UK economy shows signs of bouncing back
Raj Kandola: Consumer spending will fuel recovery
The UK economy grew by 2.3 per cent in April - its fastest monthly rise since July last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed.
Customers spent more on the high-street as non-essential shops re-opened and people bought more cars and caravans.
The ONS said there was also more spending in pubs, cafes and restaurants as restrictions eased.
But the UK economy is still 3.7 per cent below its pre-pandemic peak.
The service sector grew by 3.4 per cent in April 2021, at the same time as restrictions on hospitality eased across England.
Output in the production sector fell by 1.3 per cent in April 2021, the first fall since January 2021, as well as total exports of goods, excluding precious metals, which also fell slightly by 0.6 per cent in April 2021 after two consecutive months of growth.
Raj Kandola, head of policy at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said: “It’s reassuring to see that economic output continued its upward trajectory throughout April as we saw nonessential retail businesses reopen, schools stay open for the whole month and an easing of restrictions for hospitality businesses.
“Clearly, we are now seeing a release of that pent up demand and no doubt consumer spending will continue to fuel a recovery especially if the good weather stays in place and the country enjoys a good run at the Euro 2020 championships.”
More figures released by the ONS also indicated a welcome boost in job vacancies in accommodation and food services.
The total number of job vacancies between March to May 2021 was 758,000, only 27,000 below its pre-pandemic levels recorded in January to March 2020.
Between March and May 2021, accommodation and food services vacancies grew by a staggering 265.5 per cent.
Figures also showed a slight bump to the employment rate in the West Midlands by 0.3 per cent from November to January 2021, to 74.2 per cent.
Trio win awards in Queen’s Honours list
Geoff Thomas
Mike Hopkins
South & City College principal Mike Hopkins, ex-England footballer Geoff Thomas and LoveBrum co-founder and chair Tim Andrews have both recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Mr Thomas, a blood cancer survivor and now a Cure Leukaemia ambassador, has received an MBE for his work in raising money for charities.
Mr Hopkins has also been awarded an MBE for services to education.
Mr Hopkins and Mr Thomas are both part of the Tour 21 team who are completing all 21 stages of the Tour de France ahead of the professionals.
They are planning to raise more than £1m for Cure Leukaemia, the first official charity partner of the tour in the UK.
Cure Leukaemia recorded a £1.7m fundraising shortfall in 2020 due to the pandemic and The Tour 21 team have already raised more than £753,000 towards their target. All funds will be invested in the national Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) which has been solely funded by Cure Leukaemia since January 2020.
Mr Hopkins was born in inner-city Birmingham and went to school and university in the city.
He became the principal of South Birmingham College (SBC) in 2007, prior to which he was the vice principal for three years.
Mr Hopkins has worked with the West Midlands Combined Authority to secure millions of pounds worth of funding to provide construction training to unemployed people across the region and recently invested over £2m in a new engineering centre and a National Express Training Academy, in direct response to the region’s skills priorities.
Mr Hopkins said: “I feel very humbled and honoured as I have never sought any such personal recognition, I have simply done the best I can throughout my career. My focus has always been our students and staff and my recognition is really a recognition of what our staff and students have done.”
South & City College Birmingham is a patron of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.
Chamber CEO Henrietta Brealey said: “Mike is a wonderful ambassador for the region who has dedicated his career to improving the lives of young people. He is also a fantastic supporter of the Chamber and the wider business community.
“This honour is richly deserved and the Chamber team send him our congratulations.
“We also send our congratulations to all those across the region who were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.”
Alongside the cycling duo, Mr Andrews has been awarded an MBE for his services to charity and the community of Birmingham.
As well as his charity work, Mr Andrews is chairman of Hollywood Monster, a graphics firm that is the largest in its sector, with 70 employees and a turnover of £10m. He is also a non-executive director for digital agency Lightbox, is shareholder at Work From Here and was previously CEO of Birmingham City Ladies Football Club.
Quality Assessment and Qualification Framework (QAQF)
QAQF is an innovative training organisation, helping health professionals across the globe to meet overseas standards to obtain their licence to operate in countries like the UK, Canada, New Zealand, USA and Australia.
We started amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and had no idea that the impact of this would make our project so important, with organisations such as private care, nursing, residential and hospitals all benefitting from our services.
Since last year we have trained and placed over 100 overseas nurses across the UK (London, Plymouth, Cornwall, Croydon, Lancaster and Harrogate).
Our blended training took place on our eLearning platform and our face-to-face practical training is conducted at Crowne Plaza Hotel in London.
Recently we have trained over 50 overseas nurses for their OSCE Exam. During their training, we also conducted a welfare assessment to measure their level of wellbeing.
A significant number of the trainees were very appreciative of how their employers have treated them. They were also grateful that they were given the greatest opportunity to serve during this challenging time. Lots of them have left their friends and family back home to dedicate their lives to caring residents and patients in the UK.
Testimonials
Cynthia Kaguah, from
Ghana, says that she is so fortunate that she recently secured her NMC PIN and is now a qualified nurse.
Kelsy Manyi Nijiwaji, from
Cameroon, says this country has given her a unique identity and she wants to dedicate her career to the residents in her Care home in Lancaster. She passed the OSCE exam in June.
Anu Tamang, from Nepal, is willing to give whatever it takes to make a resident smile in Croydon London.
Alisha Baidhya, from
Nepal, finds the UK to be an amazing place to learn more on how to improve her talents. She is a preregistered nurse in Doncaster.
All of these nurses are overseas qualified health professional and have a lot of experience to share here in the Care sector – however working with the elderly, dementia and challenging behaviour residents was, for most of them, a first-time experience.
Nonetheless, within a short period of time they have quickly learned how to navigate and adapt in the care sector, keeping all the standards and regulations in place. Indeed, they are fast learners.
Over 100,000 health professionals are needed in the UK market and QAQF endeavours to train a huge number of overseas candidates to the UK standard so as to feed the needs of the market shortage. We train them to adapt swiftly to the job market.
We closely work with many employers in the health sector to fulfil their needs, as well as to bridge the gap between the candidates and the requisiteskills, so that we can reduce the shortage of labour efficiently, not only in the UK but in other countries such as New Zealand and Canada.
Together we empower people and communities to thrive through education, innovation, and experiences.
