Commenting on Gordon Brown’s announcement today that he backs plans to ensure that teenagers stay in education or training until the age of 18, David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

“We support proposals to raise the age to which young people must be in compulsory education or training. It is imperative that we increase skills levels in our society if we are to remain a competitive economy in the face of continuing globalisation.

“However, the implementation of such changes will be absolutely critical. Large numbers of young people currently opt out of education or training at 16 - we do not want to see employers disadvantaged and disrupted by having to take on young people who simply don’t want to be in the workplace.”

Previous post on basic skills gap in modern workforce.

Liverpool Chamber has launched a new e-newsletter service. This aims to keep our members and other interested parties up to date with all the business news that matters as well as what’s happening at the Chamber.

Our newsletter is sponsored by Custom House. They are a leading global provider of foreign exchange services and payment solutions to businesses and individuals. Whether you’re making payments, receiving funds, or working to establishing a stable payment relationship with foreign businesses partners, they can provide custom solutions for your business needs.

Contact Ian Meyer on 07932 024 893 to find out more.

Read the Custom House weekly money market update by clicking on ‘more’. Read the rest of this entry »

Employers in the UK are offering a wide range of working patterns to increasing numbers of staff. This is not primarily because they are required to do so by legislation evidence suggests that the great majority of employers offer flexible working to all employees.

Many companies recognise the benefits not only to their staff but to their business. When employers provide flexible working opportunities, this is good for recruitment and retention and helps build an engaged workforce, all of which translates into improved profitability.

However some employers find it hard to see how they can offer flexible working to staff without putting at risk delivery of production or service targets, or causing resentment among other employees. In order to provide practical guidance in this area, our national body, the British Chambers of Commerce is undertaking joint research in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). This will explore how smaller companies are adopting flexible working practices, and how they are dealing with the practical issues.

We are looking for companies that have made significant progress towards opening up opportunities for flexible working to their staff and would be happy to discuss their experience with researchers from the CIPD. We anticipate that this will involve discussions with a small number of managers and employees, lasting no more than half a day in all, in each of the companies selected. We are looking to draw case studies from both manufacturing and services, and to get a reasonable spread in terms of geographical location and company size.

If you would be interested in discussing this research with a view to taking part, please email policy@liverpoolchamber.org.uk. The deadline for collection of contact details for potential case studies is Monday the 12th February 2007.

Liverpool Chamber is committed to helping local businesses grow and prosper. To this end, we’re putting together some ‘top tens’ to get you on your way to finding new business and increasing profits. This, the first in the series, looks at finding and winning those vital tenders to boost your order books.

1. Register with liverpooltenders.com to get relevant alerts via email or text.
2. Ensure the Contract Notice is actually a tendering opportunity and not just seeking estimates or quotations.
3. Nominate a dedicated account manager to look after tender opportunities and try to target an area to concentrate on.
4. Pay attention to detail, 80% of tender responses fail because they do not comply with all the specified detail.
5. Seek advice from the from the relevant procurement officer at the issuing organisation if you need clarification on any points relating to the tender.
6. Ensure all your companies’ policies (health & safety, environmental and equal opportunities) are up to date.
7. Have correct levels of current Employers Liability, Public Liability & Professional Indemnity insurances in place.
8. Do not mark the envelope in any way that identifies your company i.e. do not use your company’s franking machine.
9. Check that the tender does not require a signature at the receiver’s end to confirm delivery. If you deliver a tender by hand, make sure you get a receipt.
10. Ask for feedback if you are unsuccessful, don’t take it personally if you’re bid fails - competition for contracts is fierce!

Don’t forget, Liverpool Tenders can give you advice and guidance to get you on your way.

Best Bar None and the Pub Watch scheme, both co-ordinated through Liverpool Chamber’s Business Crime Direct team, have been praised as helping to stamp out alcohol-related crime in the city.

Incidents have fallen by 15% since they were created. The Pub Watch scheme links bars throughout the city centre via radios and CCTV. Anyone causing trouble in one venue may well find themselves barred from all.

Best Bar None aims to reduce crime by establishing a benchmark of good practice amongst bar owners. Responsible operators are rewarded whilst those who don’t comply are made aware of any possible shortcomings. There will be an award ceremony held for the best participants at the Marriott Hotel on February 15

Well done to National Museums Liverpool, who have received a grant of £11m from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards their planned Museum of Liverpool. The new museum, which will tell the story of Liverpool throughout the years and its modern life, is to be built alongside Liverpool’s famous ‘Three Graces’ at the Pier Head.

The iconic X-shaped building, which has caused some controversy because of its contemporary design, is due to open in 2010. Despite the fears of some, a museum of this size and calibre can surely only be a welcome addition to Liverpool’s already internationally-respected cultural life and add a new dimension to our famous skyline. Anything that helps bring in more visitors and boosts the city’s profile is surely a good thing.

Read more about the award on the Daily Post’s website.

Find out more about the Museum of Liverpool and its progress.

Responding to the re-launch of the Better Regulation Committee’s online red tape complaints portal, David Frost, Director-General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“We welcome any tool which enables British businesses to directly air their views on the impact that regulation has on their business. Regulation is of concern to many businesses particularly our members who, as SME’s, find that the increasing regulatory burden distracts them from running their business”

“The 2006 BCC Burden’s Barometer shows that the cumulative burden of new regulation since 1998 to UK business is £50.27 billion pounds. We urgently need to see delivery on an agenda which is critically important in maintaining the UK’s competitiveness.

“We agree with the Minister, Pat McFadden MP, that there needs to be shared responsibility for this issue which is why we published Red Tape the Real Story in November last year, a compilation of red tape examples. We will continue to push the case for regulatory simplification both through documents such as this and via our own red tape portal”

BCC and Red Tape previously on The Chamber Blog

The vast majority of organisations are working in the dark when it comes to gathering accurate management information on their electricity consumption - wreaking havoc with forecasting, budgeting, bill payment and the identification of waste.

But new Smart Metering technology available from Chamber UtilitiesT is now offering these organisations a low cost solution - giving them access to consumption readings taken every 30 minutes, 24/7. This information is downloaded via mobile technology to provide actual consumption information for the supplier to accurately invoice against. The data can also be accessed in user-friendly graphical and tabular formats by the company to show half hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual patterns of usage.

Says Jeff Wealands, technical director for Utility Auditing Ltd (UAL), which supplies the Chamber UtilitiesT service: “Electricity is now one of the most costly business overheads and it is vital that businesses have access to detailed and timely management information to help profile consumption. This can be used for a variety of purposes, including cost control and forecasting, waste minimisation and bill validation.

“This level of detailed information has previously only been available to half-hourly metered customers. Smart meters open up this resource to smaller businesses, who often work on estimated bills and infrequent meter readings. Using this sophisticated software we are helping companies to monitor and reduce their energy consumption - usually resulting in double digit savings.”

Smart metering is an essential tool in improving energy efficiency. Monitoring consumption in minute detail businesses can identify precisely when and where the waste is occurring and put measures in place to address the problems. In addition, an alert function is available to advise the company of any significant increase in consumption so that waste can be tackled instantly.

The meters can be installed at low cost in various parts of a building, enabling zonal monitoring. This can help with energy efficiency monitoring, but is also useful in apportioning costs to various departments.

By using accurate data, companies can also make significant energy procurement savings as electricity suppliers don’t need to guard against estimated consumption or load factors and can provide a more competitive price.

To find out more about Smart Meters, contact Chamber UtilitiesT on 0845 120 2423, or visit www.chamberutilities.co.uk

The BBC today featured an article on Liverpool’s endeavours to go smoke free ahead of the nationwide ban on smoking in public places. This ban comes into force on 1 July 2007.

The article says:

“Liverpool civic and health leaders have been among the most proactive campaigners for a smoking ban.

With just six months to go before the ban starts, we take a look at how the city is preparing for the change in the law…” Read the full article here.

Find out more at SmokeFree Liverpool. The site also includes a list of resources to help you kick the evil weed.

Liverpool Chamber has Skillworks funding available to help you meet your training needs.

Skillworks can offer up to 60% towards the cost of any training courses taken through the Chamber’s Trident Training organisation before the end of March 2007.

Courses on offer include a range of IT skills such as the European Driving Licence and Microsoft Office tools, administration and management courses and a large selection of business skills courses covering finance, health and safety, sales, staff development and much more.

If you think your business could benefit from some subsidised training, email Alan Standley at Trident Training or call him on 0151 227 1234.

Please note, only SME’s are eligible to take advantage of this offer.