10 minute read
Chamber News
from SBT issue 461
Business manifesto - developed by the British Chambers of Commerce network
Proposals for delivering growth for the business community, explained by Sussex Chamber of Commerce.
The 53 accredited
Chamber News Chambers across the UK see businesses in their communities constantly adapting to a changing environment by juggling eyewatering energy bills, labour shortages, inflation at a 40-year high, and climbing interest rates. The British Chambers of Commerce urges the UK Government to strike the right balance for growth without compromising our great public institutions which so many of us rely on. The Government must work with the Chambers of Commerce to support, and turbo charge the ‘can do’, solutionoriented businesses across our country. We want to see a long-term growth plan that involves investment in people and skills; supports businesses to adapt and thrive; and build good relationships with our global allies to get British businesses selling again. People run businesses and businesses rely on people. This Business Manifesto offers solutions, including cost-free options, to get our economy moving in the right direction again.
Building British business
We want to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business.
The UK has a booming entrepreneurial spirit which has the potential to transform our country into a global economic powerhouse. However, as it currently stands, four in ten businesses
think their profits will decrease over
the next 12 months and business investment is down to pandemic-era levels. We need to create the optimum business environment to build business confidence again.
Action plan
· Invest in infrastructure: Prioritise long-term growth by backing public projects, as well as green and digital infrastructure. This will allow businesses to adapt and thrive in changing times, while also creating jobs in local economies across the UK.
· Speed-up plans for regional
devolution deals in England: To maximise growth and economic prosperity for all communities, local areas must be given power to make decisions on economic development opportunities. Public procurement contracts for SMEs must be simplified, and funding must continue to be funneled into local areas.
· Adjust Business Rates to encourage
growth now: Business Rates should be adjusted where necessary to compensate for other cost impacts such as increased energy bills.
· Provide longer-term certainty on energy support for businesses:
Government must provide certainty on how the energy support package will work from April so that businesses can plan for the future. In addition, Ofgem should be given the powers it needs to ensure there is effective competition in the business energy market.
Invest in people now for a stable economy
The UK is facing the tightest labour market in years, with 1.2 million unfilled jobs.
Skills and labour shortages mean that employers are struggling to fill job vacancies. Firms cannot fulfil their order books and are having to turn new work away. Research shows that 76% of firms attempting to recruit are facing difficulties getting the right staff. Chambers of Commerce and their member businesses are making huge efforts to tackle the skills crisis and support the development of homegrown skills. Yet in a rapidly changing world, and at a time of high employment, it is vital that firms can also access the skills and people power they need from outside of the UK now.
Businesses and Government must work together for a more effective job market, now and for the future.
Action plan
· Bring economically inactive older workers back into work:
Carefully tailor careers advice, job seeker support and rapid re-training opportunities to help employers harness the skills and experience of older workers.
· Help parents and carers access work: Simplify access to childcare funding and
provide flexible and universal childcare entitlement for employers to attract and retain skilled people.
· Incentivise investment in human
capital: Building a skilled workforce requires investment. While training costs are already tax-deductible, allowing training costs to also be claimed back under the Annual Investment Allowance would encourage businesses to invest more in their people.
· Reinstate the T Level employer
incentive in England: A government funded financial incentive will encourage SMEs to offer Industry
Placement opportunities.
· Introduce flexibility in the
Apprenticeship Levy: This will ensure employers can support everyone in the workplace to get the training they need; and in England, any underspend should be transferred to help fund the T
Level incentive.
· Urgently reform the Shortage
Occupation List: This will help businesses fill urgent job vacancies when they cannot recruit locally. The
List should include job roles below RQF
Level 3 for sectors where there is clear evidence of a national shortage.
Raising export-led growth
International trade can make every business a better one.
Only 10% of UK businesses are exporting, yet 60% of Chamber members are exporting, which could be one of many reasons why a Chamber member is three times more likely to survive.
In our recent survey, 54% of businesses said that smoother customs procedures are the key to boosting UK exports. If Britain is to become the best place to start and grow a business, Government must put trade, particularly exporting, at the center of its growth agenda.
Action plan
· Resolve the Northern Ireland issues:
The UK Government and the European
Commission should reach a negotiated solution on business compliance burdens with the Protocol on Ireland/
Northern Ireland. We expect cooperation on lowering VAT compliance burdens for SME traders, cutting red tape on food and plant exports, flexibilities on business travel, and mutual recognition of professional qualifications to boost cross-border trade in services.
· Amend sunset clause on retained
EU law: This would provide regulatory certainty for businesses in tough economic times.
· Keep CE marked products and components beyond 2025/26:
This should keep costs down for manufacturers and retain efficient supply chains by providing certainty.
· Set up a Trade Accelerator with
DIT: Leverage Government support for exporters with trade promotion and facilitation services provided by the Chamber Network in the UK and overseas to source immediate opportunities for exports.
Leadership in green innovation
Green innovation is about change now, for a better tomorrow.
The transition to Net Zero presents businesses with opportunities to grow, by meeting Government requirements and by satisfying fast-growing global demand for environmental products and services.
Chambers of Commerce are leading the way. Our network is developing green innovation accelerators and supply chains, providing training and support on Net Zero to drive our economy.
The biggest barriers are cost, confusion, and skills. Government has a vital role to play as an investor, enabler, and advisor to unlock business action as we move to a Net Zero future.
Action plan
· Financial incentives: Government should expand the list of energy saving products eligible for lower VAT for business such as LED lighting. They must also ensure that investments in green building improvements are eligible for Business Rates Relief and provide targeted grants to drive uptake in higher-cost items.
· Expand Green Accelerator
programmes: Government should expand the Green Accelerator programmes across the country based on successful Chamber of Commerce models in partnership with a funder such as the British Business Bank.
These could focus on domestic supply chains and export opportunities using
UK expertise in tidal, offshore wind, nuclear, carbon capture usage and storage and other green tech.
· Energy saving public information
campaign: At present, there is a confusing mix of publicly funded programmes across England and the Devolved Nations offering advice on Net Zero. Government should streamline energy saving advice into a single initiative, learning from the “Get
Ready for Brexit” campaign.
sussexchamberofcommerce.co.uk
When the Net Zero Champions met Caroline Lucas
Vicky Welstead, of Fugu, writes about how Britain’s first Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, joined Brighton Chamber’s Net Zero Champions to answer questions and hear how to support businesses helping decarbonise our economy.
First elected in 2010
Chamber News and co-leader of the Green Party from 2016-18, Caroline Lucas has chaired All Party Parliamentary Groups on Climate Change and Limits to Growth and is now Deputy Chair of the APPG on Renewable and Sustainable Energy. On 2 December, more than 50 Net Zero Champions – the Brighton Chamber members in business who are driving the journey to Net Zero – joined a Q&A, facilitated by Emma Mills-Sheffield from Mindsetup Ltd, with Caroline Lucas, discussing how to accelerate progress. Here’s a snapshot of the conversation:
What drew you to politics in the first place?
“The anti-nuclear movement got me into politics and reading Jonathan Porritt’s book Seeing Green put it into a political package for me. I marched down Clapham High Street to join the Green Party, or the Ecology Party as it was then, looking for a big building with a plaque on the wall, only to find a boxroom above a Chinese restaurant.”
How can we persuade the Government to have a proper windfall tax?
“Even BP’s chief finance officer says BP has more money than it knows what to do with, yet our windfall tax has a massive loophole. If a company says they’ll reinvest profits into oil and gas extraction, they hardly pay anything. So, despite the Glasgow COP agreeing to stop incentivising fossil fuels, the Government has introduced this new perverse incentive.
“We need to shame the Government at every step. Telling everyone how they’re giving billions to oil and gas companies. It’s bonkers.”
How can cities do more to achieve Net Zero?
“Much of what cities can do depends on what’s allowed nationally – there’s fantastic work going on. But if we
have more devolution, so much more could be done. We’ve listened to Andy Burnham on what he’s achieved with trams and more affordable electric buses, but that’s only because he’s been given powers to take back control. Local authorities should have the powers to be able to make the changes we need.
“If I look to Europe, I can see exciting projects to achieve Net Zero, not because they’re any more creative or committed, but because they’ve got a facilitating national framework that allows that leg up. We’re never going to level up from Westminster – we need local control.”
If we’re going to hit 1.5, how can Brighton be part of the solution, not the problem?
“By accelerating things we’re already doing. I think we’re one of the few local authorities with a circular economy officer. But we need more finance and a better national framework. One of the frustrations is we all know what to do, and the technology exists to do it. On waste, energy, food, transport. What’s lacking is a joined-up way of facilitating it.
“Much comes down to what’s allowed in terms of rules and contracts. If you sign up to a stupid PFI contract, it’s not surprising the terms of that contract 20 years on are not what you need now.”
What can micro businesses do to reduce their impact?
“The first step I’d take is reviewing where your electricity comes from. If it’s from a company with no green credentials, then switch. Or, look at where your pensions fund is going and who you’re banking with. Small businesses are struggling and it’s a difficult time for big environmental investments, but some of those things would have a big impact without much cost.” After the Q&A the event opened into a general discussion on the challenges facing those working to build a greener economy and what can be done to remove barriers.
Harriet Dean-Orange, founder of Harriets of Hove, said: “In the last few months five zero waste shops have shut across the city. Brighton & Hove used to be known for refilling. Now there’s only a couple of us left and we’re struggling.
“We’re in unfit properties, hemorrhaging money. I feel like I’m the only one in Hove struggling to lower people’s waste. Can we stop obsessing about recycling and do more about the circular economy? What we need to do is stop creating waste in the first place. If we want other local businesses to become carbon neutral, we need to showcase the ones doing it already.”
Luke Bray, Partner at Axiom Architects, said: “Since joining the Chamber a year ago much of our efforts to improve our circularity has been about connecting with other businesses. It’s about finding those connections where one person’s waste is another person’s produce. We need to make these circles smaller and more local.”
