On 2 December, at Liverpool Chamber, local businesses are invited to come and meet the taxman.

Representatives from Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs will be on hand to hear your views on tax issues and what they can do to address the needs of small business. There will be no set agenda, other than HMRC briefly giving the background to why it is important to them to understand the needs of business.

The main focus will be on hearing from businesses what challenges they are facing, what their views on HMRC are, what HMRC is doing well, where HMRC could improve etc. What they want to do is to supplement information they have from research with first hand information from businesses to help design products / processes etc that are less burdensome for business and more tailored to business needs.

But don’t worry! Attendees can be anonymous if you like, and HMRC have given assurance that they will not get involved in your tax affairs unless you want them too. Any lessons we learn will be anonymised, and the event should be seen as an opportunity to influence thinking and policy at the highest levels of HMRC.

So no-one’s going to be rummaging through your bins looking for bank statements.

The event is FREE, and will include a buffet lunch.

If you are interested in attending, please email Liverpool Chamber’s Head of Policy Maresa Molloy.

Dr. Lachezar Matev and Chambner CEO Jack Stopforth

The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce received the Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria, Dr. Lachezar Matev recently, as part of his visit to Liverpool during the 2008 Capital of Culture year.

Dr. Matev, who is based in London as the Bulgarian Ambassador to the UK, commented that he had “wanted to visit Liverpool for some time”.

The ambassador used his time visiting the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday 16th October to discuss economic issues and possible trade links with Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jack Stopforth.

The two spoke of existing links between the UK and Bulgaria and potential for future collaborations between the two. It was noted that Bulgaria will host a European Capital of Culture city in 2019 and that Liverpool could provide knowledge and expertise to the successful city. Liverpool has already provided such links to the French city of Marseille for its year as European Capital of Culture in 2013.

Conversation also touched on the state of the global economy, as well as that of the UK and Bulgaria, as well as issues such as nuclear power and future trade missions between Liverpool and Bulgaria.

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Liverpool Chamber is proud of its many charitable members and the work they do. As part of our commitment to them, we are happy to feature charities on our blog and website and highlight their activities.

This week we have some info about COMPASS - Counselling on Merseyside Pastoral and Supporting Service

COMPASS is a Merseyside based charity that has been providing free counselling for anyone over the age of 18 for over 30 years. All COMPASS counsellors work to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Ethical Framework for Good Practice.

COMPASS has over 27 years experience providing a counselling service to staff and managers of statutory, voluntary and commercial organisations in the region. Some staff find it difficult to discuss their problems with managers or colleagues, it may be that colleagues are part of the problem. Consequently, many staff struggle alone. Their work performance is impaired and their mental and physical health suffers.

There are no retainer fees. You only pay for the counselling that is arranged.

COMPASS also delivers training, both for practising counsellors and for those wishing to train as counsellors.

The Intermediate Certificate in Introduction to Counselling Concepts, validated by the AQA(Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) is a 30 hour assessed course, but to maintain the quality of our training and for those who wish to progress to a higher level, COMPASS has expanded the course to 36 hours training by including “A First look at Loss and Grief” as an additional module. This course runs up to 6 times a year both as a day time and as an evening course.

In addition COMPASS offers regular one or two day courses on a variety of topics relevant to practising counsellors or those whose work involves caring/listening.

For further details contact :

COMPASS
25 Hope Street
Liverpool
L1 9BQ
Tel: 0151 708 6688
Fax: 0151 707 8728
Minicom: 0151 709 7907
Email: enquiries@compass-counselling.org.uk

or see their website: www.compass-counselling.org.uk