Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Confederation of British Industry

• 23rd Aug- The CBI's Industrial Trends survey indicates that manufacturers' orders and output expectations are growing.
• 17th Aug- Warning against potential regulatory measures on training, the CBI has said levies or licences would possibly hinder growth instead of improving skills.
• 17th Aug- Commenting on recent unemployment figures, the CBI refer to their latest project on unemployment for potential solutions.
• 3rd Aug- Reacting to the Government's response to the Hargreaves Review, whilst the CBI have welcomed the Intellectual Property proposals, they also warn against some recommendations undermining patents and commercial regimes.

British Chamber of Commerce

• 17th Aug- Director of Policy Dr Adam Marshall welcomes the creation of new Enterprise Zones, saying "This generation of Enterprise Zones has learned important lessons from the past, and has the potential to boost local private-sector growth."
• 17th Aug- A new BCC report on micro-firms shows that micro-businesses are frustrated by the skills shortages hindering their desire to grow.
• 11th Aug- Director David Frost has welcomed  the Government's response to the riots, marking the announcements as "a sign of real help at a difficult time".

Federation of Small Businesses

16th August- FSB Chairman John Walker has called on Government to extend 'Work Trials', which he claims could potentially create 46,000 jobs.

Institute of Directors

It was announced on the 16th August that after 7 years as Director General, Miles Templeman will step down this September to be succeeded by Simon Walker.

BIS Response to Recent Riots

In conjunction with the Met Police, BIS recently held a meeting to update the business community on the situation following the recent riots in the UK. The Stakeholder Team followed up the meeting with updates and information disseminated to all attendees.

The team also issued out a BIS Bulletin Special, which amalgamated all information and support available to help businesses. This went out to over 2,000 external stakeholders. Subsequently, external feedback has shown that businesses appreciated the quick response and were impressed to see a joined-up approach with the Met Police. Stakeholders commented particularly on the usefulness of the High Street Support Fund, but hope more use can be made of real-time internet updates in future.

In the Pipeline...

To contribute to the Growth engagement strategy ahead of Phase 2, BIS Stakeholder Team is building a comprehensive record of stakeholder groups across BIS. Teams across BIS have been contributing intel on their known stakeholder groups; if you have any further information on stakeholder groups organised by your team/directorate, please contact the Stakeholder Team.

Have something to contribute? 

The sections of this bulletin entitled ‘BIS Policy Stakeholders’ & ‘In the Pipeline’ are intended to allow you to share what is currently being said by your stakeholders, and what future pieces of work may bring stakeholder reaction.