17 March 12pm - 2pm

Liverpool Chamber

Free

We have a few limited places available to attend Planning for the Future - a transport forum held jointly between the Chamber and Merseytravel which feeds into transport planning locally.

The theme of the session will be looking at transport in the recession and the role that the Multi Area Agreement will have in promoting connectivity.

There will be presentations by Jim Whelan, author of Transport Friendly Towns  and David Sayer, GVA director.

You can downlpad a copy of Transport Friendly Towns here. [PDF]

Transport is about connecting people and goods to places.  A comprehensive and high performing transport system is essential for sustained economic prosperity, productivity and sustainable economic growth.  Efficient transport can help to facilitate a competitive edge and reduce social exclusion.

To book your free place, email Esther Sumner

Read the rest of this entry »

Bryan Biggs (Artistic Director of the Bluecoat), Ben Todd (Exec Director of Arcola Theatre), Counsellor Gary Millar & Angela McSherry (Tipping Point Executive)

Organisations including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Bluecoat, Tate Liverpool and NML, gather this week to explore new ways of tackling climate change issues in some of the Liverpool city region’s most high profile arts venues.

The key event will feature environmental experts and encourage the arts and culture organisations to play a bigger role in tackling climate change issues in their own buildings - and beyond.

The Tipping Point workshop was staged by the Liverpool Arts and Regeneration Consortium (LARC) and Liverpool City Council and will feature contributions from Ken Livingstone’s former climate change advisor and a London organisation bidding to become the world’s first carbon neutral theatre.

A total of 20 arts and cultural organisations from across the Liverpool city region joined the day-long workshop, led on behalf of LARC and Liverpool City Council by Tipping Point, a national organisation dedicated to finding creative ways of tackling climate change issues.

Liverpool City Council’s Executive Member for the Environment, Councillor Berni Turner, said: “We want as many people as possible to get involved in the Year of the Environment and it’s fantastic news that so many arts and cultural organisations are getting together to talk about the important issue of climate change.

“This year is all about working together to see what more we can do to make our region a sustainable community.”

Participants attending the event will share their own ideas for reducing carbon emissions and listen to experts before exploring practical suggestions for improving the carbon impact of their own organisations.

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham

The Culture Secretary Andy Burnham met with Liverpool’s leading cultural organisations on Thursday, 26th February. Speaking at the World Museum during an evening reception, Mr. Burnham said that apprenticeships provided a flexible, practical approach to building a new economy rooted in creativity and innovation.

As an English Language graduate, Burnham recalled how difficult it had been to secure creative employment in journalism - an effort which saw him working for long hours with no pay.

“No one should have to go through this kind of thing; a situation where success depends on ‘knowing somebody’ in the field or working as an intern for no money. Creative Apprenticeships offer a structured route for young people to develop their artistic talents and aspirations.” He highlighted that at a time of ‘fundamental change’ in the global economy, Britain needed to build on its cultural strengths, particularly as global demand for digital content in English is set to grow.

Apprenticeships are a throwback to the nineteenth century, where young people aspiring to learn a skill worked and trained with an employer until they gained proficiency in their chosen trade.

Andrea Nixon, Executive Director at Tate Liverpool, praised the Tate’s Creative Apprenticeship team who currently offer ten apprenticeships at their Albert Dock gallery. The Tate’s Community Arts Pathway took three years to develop and aims to widen access to the arts’ sector for talented people across the region. Pulling no punches, Nixon urged the Culture Secretary to provide much needed cash to support wages for Apprentices.

An insight into the possibilities offered by Apprenticeships was also canvassed by Andy Rooley, Director of the Sage Gateshead music centre on Tyneside, North-East England. By providing a viable alternative for those who had chosen not to go to university, he remarked that early training on the job fed directly in to the specialist approach and skills required by many cultural organisations.

You're fired! Er, I mean hired!

Last night the government’s Secretary of State for Culture Media & Sport, Rt Hon Andy Burnham was in Liverpool to launch Creative Apprenticeships. A new opportunity for young people to work and train in the creative industries.

Sir Alan Sugar, the very doyen of business himself says: “It’s important that employers take apprenticeships seriously. Apprentices can help a business to grow and thrive.”

High street giants like Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Superdrug and Phones 4u are increasing the number of Apprenticeships they offer, thereby ensuring they have the right skills to stay ahead of the competition.
Sainsbury’s is so pleased with its 20 pilot Apprenticeships in craft bakery, butchery and fishmongery that it has quadrupled its apprentices to 465. Tesco will take on a further 800 apprentices this year, Superdrug plans a further 1,000 and Phones 4u intends to train at least 1,000 by next April.

Apprenticeships are crucial for providing employers with the skills they need to succeed from accountancy to engineering to construction to creative industries and sport.

Here at the Chamber we have trained many apprentices and a considerable number have gone on to join our staff.

For more information on how an Apprenticeship can help your business call Ruth on 0151 236 3222 or email ruth.runacus@liverpoolchamber.org.uk

Thousands of businesses have today had their telephone lines, telephone number and internet connections cut off.  All of the businesses were customers of Global Telecoms and Technology Ltd who went into receivership just a few weeks ago.  OFCOM has received over 4000 calls today from angry customers who have arrived at work only to find they cannot make or receive business calls.

Liverpool Chamber Members Lake Technologies, a Merseyside based telecoms company have been today assisting several local stricken businesses with the provision of emergency solutions to return services such as inbound/outbound calls and internet, as well as taking immediate action to ensure that affected companies main business telephone numbers are secured from being reallocated for general distribution by the major network operators such as BT wholesale.

If you or any business you deal with has been affected by this issue and would like some immediate assistance  then Lake Technologies have an emergency contact number of 0844 873 3661

China remains one of the world’s most promising markets. Discover how you can take advantage of China’s opportunities in a special half-day seminar led by Hong Kong and China market experts.

Recent Chinese government measures to encourage domestic consumption, enhance infrastructure development and improve environmental standards bring with them opportunities for UK companies. The Pearl River Delta city of Jiangmen, with its cost-competitive manufacturing and sourcing, its port and historic waterfront district, is a particularly promising market. Jiangmen is best targeted via Hong Kong, which offers world-class infrastructure and professional services, the rule of law, intellectual property rights and unrivalled business experience in the Chinese mainland. In short, Jiangmen and Hong Kong are your perfect partners for success in China.

Find out how Hong Kong and Jiangmen can help British companies tap into China’s fast-growing domestic market. Sign up now for the FREE business seminar, in London or Liverpool.

The Roadshows

London
Date:   3 March 2009 (Tuesday)
Time:   9:30 am - 2:00 pm (registration starts at 9:30 am)
Venue: CBI Conference Centre, 103 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1DU. (Nearest underground station: Tottenham Court Road on Central Line)

Liverpool
Date:   5 March 2009 (Thursday)
Time:   9:30 am - 2:00 pm (registration starts at 9:30 am)
Venue: Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool, Monarchs Quay, Liverpool, L3 4FP or L3 4BX for Sat Nav users. (Nearest station: Liverpool Lime Street)

For more details and application, please this website: http://info.hktdc.com/hk-jiangmen-uk-2009 Read the rest of this entry »

Chamber member The Woodlands Hospice have a couple of fundraising events taking place they’d like you to support:

‘Make a Will’ Scheme 2009
Due to the popularity of this scheme we will again be holding our annual ‘Make a Will’ month during April. We are working in partnership with local solicitors and a professional will writer who will waive their usual fee for writing a ’standard’ will in turn for the person making a donation to the hospice at the time of the will being drafted.

If you have not yet made a will and would like to take advantage of the scheme please contact the fundraising department on 0151 529 2630 for further details or to make an appointment.  We have solicitors in various areas including Liverpool City Centre.

Starlight Walk (Saturday 25th April)
Sponsored by News Printers Knowsley Limited.

In this our special year when we will see the opening of our new 15 bed en-suite inpatient unit to provide 24 hour care to local people we will be doing a ‘dedicated’ Woodlands Hospice Starlight Walk on Saturday 25th April to help raise the profile of the new unit.

There is a  3 or 6 mile route option commencing at midnight from the new inpatient unit and out into the community immediately around the hospice.

Registration is just £8  including a T-shirt, medal and breakfast roll on completion.

Whilst we are very excited about the opening of the new unit we will only be able to secure the services of the day hospice, out patient unit and the inpatient facility with the support of local people so we hope people will come out in force to take part in the walk.

For a registration form please contact the fundraising team at the hospice on 0151 529 2630 or 2640.

Visit www.woodlandshospice.org for more info.

The Linda McCartney Centre, who do sterling work looking after cancer paitents, have asked us to publicise their fantastic fundraising challenge taking place on 9 & 10 May:

We are looking for fun and adventurous people to sign up for the two day survival challenge.  The event will be run entirely by former members of UK Special Forces -I’m not allowed to be more specific than this but believe me these guys are good. [So that's SAS, SBS or the ones no-one's really allowed to talk about! - Ed]

The event will be run on an estate near Penrith, Cumbria, which was used to train the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. Although first impressions suggest people will have to be extremely fit, they don’t. The course is designed to be suitable for all abilities. Basically it will be fun and challenging and most definitely rewarding on many levels, especially for companies who see the benefits of team building and problem solving exercises.

If like me, you often have to ask others what the weather outside is like then this is right up your street.

The course will start on the Saturday and finish late afternoon on Sunday (although there may well be a social gathering at the end of the course on Sunday).  Food and shelter is provided.  Each person needs to raise a minimum of £295 and advice and guidance is available from our fundraising team.

A minimum sponsorship of £295 is required

9 & 10 May

For further information call 0151 706 3153 or email  info@yourcentre.org

Looking after your staff’s welfare should always be a priority, though if any of your employee’s have children, perhaps more so.

Many parents raising a family may experience difficult financial times due to unexpected redundancy, accident or illness. It’s at these times that childcare can be invaluable and something lots of parents will not want to be without.

These issues can hit a family particularly hard and could also impact on your business.

Nurseryplan.co.uk can provide peace of mind for you and your staff with a simple plan to cover childcare costs when they need it most.

All you need to do is to contact Nurseryplan for some free leaflets and posters to put up around your workplace for your employees to get in touch with Nurseryplan independently.

For more information, or to request some leaflets and posters, email enquiries@nurseryplan.co.uk or visit www.nurseryplan.co.uk

The Merseyside and Halton Freight Quality Partnership are holding a Freight Themed Meeting on Monday 9th March from 9.15 am till 1.00 am including lunch, at Merseytravel, Hatton Garden.

The Freight Best Practice Project Officers will provide an overview of some of the key components of the programme including, performance management, transport operators pack and external benchmarking.

If you would like more information on the Freight Best Practice Programme go to www.freightbestpractice.org.uk/

You can book your place online at http://www.merseyfreight.org/FQPMeetings before 2 March.

For information on how to get to Merseytravel, Hatton Garden by public transport or car go to http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/contact-details_findus.html