03/02/2012 by admin.

This Government threatened us with it. They told us that we are in challenging times. We all knew the economy was full of holes. What we did not anticipate when we voted this Government in, is that they would take legislative steps to significantly alter our retirement ages.

Today, my wife received notification that her retirement will be set back by 5 years. She has worked for the las 40 years and everything has been planned for retirement at 60. We are left with a situation that with parents living longer and requiring some level of looking after, she cannot take on a full time roll in work, even if she still had a job. At 58 there are no real opportunities. The question is, with me being 5 older, how will we survive financially.

The Government should have at least phased this new timescale in with more sympathy and thought for those of us not on millionaire’s row as if the front bench in the House of Commons.

We must campaign against this. I need you to let me know so we can work with the MPs do try to stop this.

Posted in legislation, Start up business | Print | No Comments »

25/01/2012 by admin.

The fall in GDP confirms the ongoing fragile nature of the economy. The figure is in line with a recent FEDERATION OF SMALL BUSINESS survey which showed that confidence among small businesses plummeted in Quarter 4, recording a score of -24.5 - a fall of some 15 points from the previous quarter. In Kent the autumn FSB Small Business Barometer revealed the proportion of small business in the county forecasting the same or improved performance in 2012 had fallen by four percentage points to 66%.

The Government had made some good proposals which will help to boost growth, but it is time for action. We need to see these proposals come to fruition so that small firms begin to see action on the ground which really will benefit their business and encourage them to invest and create jobs.

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24/01/2012 by admin.

The Prime Minister plans to open vacant and under-used workplaces to small firms and new enterprises in a bid to kick-start the economy.

The initiative comes at the beginning of a week in which chances of the UK falling back into recession will become clearer when gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the final quarter of 2011 are published on Wednesday.

Mr Cameron will unveil the initiative during a visit to the North-East of England where he is due to address a group of entrepreneurs.

Mr Cameron is expected to say: “The British Government has a huge stock of buildings at our disposal. The first priority for the ones we aren’t using is to sell them off, but in the meantime, many are going to be sitting idle.

“So let’s match the capacity we’ve got with the need that’s out there. Let’s provide office space where we can to those who can use it.”

 The Government hopes to offer more than 300 Government buildings premises at low rates for one year so new companies can establish themselves.

 The tax-payer subsidised perk will be only available to small firms. Specialist business ‘incubation organisations’ will manage and allocate the spaces

 With cuts to the public payroll, many Government buildings lie empty or have space available as they await buyers. Officials said the space would be made available on “flexible, short-term arrangements” that will make productive use of the assets until they are sold.

As well as helping entrepreneurs, the initiative will give a much-needed boost to Treasury finances.

 Mr Cameron is expected to say: “I said 2012 has got to be the year we go for it, the year we light new fires of ambition in our economy, the year we get behind Britain’s grafters, doers, hard-workers and entrepreneurs.

 “This isn’t something we’d quite like to do - it’s something we’ve got to do because enterprise is critical to this country’s future.

“Enterprise is what we do in Britain. This is the year that, more than ever, we’ve got to go for it.”

 The Prime Minister will also launch a campaign aimed at encouraging people to believe £there is a business in everyone”.

The ‘Business in You’ drive will see companies hold workshops and give advice on tackling some of the issues faced by would-be bosses, with the scheme highlighted in radio, newspaper and billboard adverts throughout the year.

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14/03/2011 by admin.

No apologies to anyone, got this today and I have to share it. I guess it will be understood internationally. Always remember though, there are good and bad, two sides to every story, not everything is black or white - and I am standing for local Council later this year!

The Haircut

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill,
and the barber replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you, I’m doing community service this week.’
The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber went to open his shop the next morning,
there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.
Later, a policeman comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied,
‘I cannot accept money from you , I’m doing community service this week.’
The cop was happy and left the shop. The next morning when the barber went to open up,
there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.
Then a Member of Parliament came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied,
‘I can not accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’
The Member of Parliament was very happy and left the shop. The next morning, when the barber went to open up,
there were a dozen MPs lined up waiting for a free haircut.
And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of this country and the politicians who run it.

BOTH POLITICIANS AND NAPPIES NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN…. AND FOR THE SAME REASON! 

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16/02/2011 by admin.

The FSB, the UK’s largest business organisation busts the myths that a fuel duty stabiliser is too complicated and expensive to put in place, in a new report published last month.

Critics have said that putting a fuel duty stabiliser in place – a mechanism to adjust fuel prices in order to alleviate the impact of oil price rise shocks on pump prices – is too complicated, expensive and bad for the environment.

However, in a new report ‘A fuel duty stabiliser – is it really that complicated?’, the FSB busts these myths and shows that it is simple, affordable and crucial to allow businesses to plan.

By basing the stabiliser on the oil price cycle, the level of fuel duty could be calculated against a trend price for oil. This would then be adjusted at regularly timed intervals following changes in the oil price cycle. So setting the level of the stabiliser would be straightforward: fuel duty would be X pence per litre minus a proportion of the difference between the current oil and trend oil price.

Introducing a fuel duty stabiliser would also provide greater certainty for businesses and families by stabilising the cost of fuel and allowing them to factor in fuel costs as they plan for the future. FSB research shows that the rise in fuel duty and uncertainty over fuel prices will have a significant impact on small businesses leading them to increase prices, freeze pay or even lay-off staff. The FSB is concerned that the cost of doing nothing to alleviate pressures of high fuel prices on small firms will vastly outweigh the cost of implementing a fuel duty stabiliser in the short-term.

The Government has said it is putting its faith in the private sector to lead the recovery, and the FSB believes that by introducing a fuel duty stabiliser, small firms will be able to effectively plan and grow their business.

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16/02/2011 by admin.

FSB Regional Chairman Roger House was interviewed by BBC Radio Kent and was for once almost lost for words when asked for comment on the Deputy PM’s request for better work life balance.

“Obviously we would all like more hours in the day, the FSB launched a campaign several years ago calling for a return of seven hours a week to business owners through reduced regulation” said Roger “Maybe he’s in the wrong job. What he needs to look at is Work Life Cost”.

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16/02/2011 by admin.

In a challenging economy, you have to be aware of potential markets. The public Sector are looking around to fulfill smaller contracts.

The Federation of Small Business has welcomed the Government’s commitment to overhaul the way that small businesses will be able to compete for public sector contracts, through cutting red tape and being more open and transparent.

Public sector procurement has long been an issue for small businesses, with 70 per cent of SMEs rarely bidding for public sector contracts due to a lack of awareness of the opportunities that are available and the red tape surrounding the application process.

For many small firms, access to public sector contracts comes through local government – with 27 per cent of FSB members supplying this sector. The FSB has long campaigned that local government is more transparent in the contracts that it has available, in the same way central government is, and the commitment to do this is a welcome step. 

Recent research into small firms’ access to public procurement markets across the EU places the UK 24th out of 27 member states, with only 24 per cent of contracts going to small firms, compared to 44 per cent in France.

Small and micro businesses do particularly badly in the UK, with only an estimated 11 per cent of the total value of contracts being awarded to businesses of that size. This is despite the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 49 per cent of the UK’s turnover.

The FSB is pleased that the Government has recognised that these barriers exist and has committed to making the process simpler. The initiatives, such as the reform of the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) process and more transparency through a new contracts website, as well as providing a dedicated voice for small firms’ views to be heard, will mean more small businesses having the potential to access work.

We have worked hard to ensure that small firms have the same access to public sector contracts as big businesses. The measures outlined, which look to remove red tape and open up more transparent channels of communication, are most welcomed.

These measures will now need to be accompanied by a genuine cultural change within Government procurement in terms of its approach to dealing with small businesses. 

Removing the need to fill in a PQQ for smaller contracts is a bold move but it is vital that something more bureaucratic or confusing does not emerge in its place. We hope the promise of a dedicated voice for small suppliers within Government will help to prevent this.

The good thing is that the Government is going to publish figures on the amount of contracts going to SME’s so we will be able to measure its success and hold the Government to account if it is not working.  That type of measurement and transparency is something we’d like to see adopted more widely across the public sector.

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20/12/2010 by admin.

Following the Chancellor’s statement on the Comprehensive Spending Review today the Federation of Small Businesses has urged the Coalition Government to now put in place the missing link, namely a Small Business Programme for Growth.

FSB research has shown that three quarters of small businesses thought the Coalition Government should cut spending to tackle the public deficit and six in 10 said they were more willing to accept cuts in public spending because of the size of the public sector deficit.

We have welcomed measures to increase the number of adult apprenticeships by 50 per cent to 75,000 new apprentices a year. Also welcomed were the measures in moving towards a low carbon economy and the commitment to improve the infrastructure of the country. The £530 million directed from the Government and the BBC to put in place superfast broadband pilots is something small businesses were calling for. The investment in the Post Office Network is applauded.

However, the FSB believes the missing link in the Government’s deficit programme is the need to create growth – increasing the tax base, creating more businesses and incentivising small firms to grow and innovate.

A Programme for Growth is even more important given that latest FSB research shows that 10.4 per cent of firms expect to decrease employment over the next three months as business confidence in future prospects and revenue growth weakened over the July to September period. 

A Programme for Growth aimed at small firms will be very relevant given that more than 80 per cent of jobs in the EU were generated by small businesses between 2002 and 2007.

In a future Programme for Growth, we need to see such areas covered as;  an extension to the National Insurance Contributions holiday to include existing firms with up to four members of staff providing incentives when they take on three new employees - funded by scrapping the £1 billion Regional Growth Fund. We should seek a cut in VAT to five per cent in the construction sector to help create jobs and stimulate the economy, but also increase revenue to the Treasury. There should be a cut in the business support budget to £500 million and concentrate spending on genuine business support for micro businesses and a fully operational web portal.

We all know we are living in an age of austerity and that these cuts will affect us all. But our members understand that to reduce the public sector deficit, these cuts have to be made. The small business community continues to have a vital part to play in driving a credible recovery and taking on new members of staff to help tackle unemployment, so it is now vital the Government puts a Small Business Programme for Growth into action immediately.

As our research shows, small firms are at tipping point and lack the confidence to take on the 500,000 people that will be made redundant as a result of these cuts. So it is up to the Government to incentivise the small business community in promoting growth and help small firms take on new staff.

Consider the current position. Thousands of young people having been through the various levels of education and are now without employment. Thousands more on the way. Complications in statistics caused by immigration. Possibly millions to become unemployed through the emerging cutbacks, even those taking natural retirement will possibly need to work to afford growing costs. Then there are the likes of myself, fast approaching potential retirement age, but with the need to continue working just to keep a head above the growing tide of costs. However, in the micro business of which I am a Director, we are looking forward and taking a positive stance and have employed a Graduate intern from the University of Kent – doing our bit to keep an excellent young person in Kent and in employment. That is not philanthropy, that is the entrepreneurial spirit of risk taking and fighting back.

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20/12/2010 by admin.

In the swirl of activity following the birth of this new government, we have seen a number of significant policies emerge. To some extent, the concept of the Local Enterprise partnership can almost be viewed as a non-policy, in that very little guidance has been proffered by the Ministers behind it. With the baying for the death of the RDAs and the other Quangos we have to be very careful about babies and bathwater. The cost of those agencies has been significant, but getting rid of them does not necessarily mean we are making significant savings. With some recently leaked documents hitting the public domain, Sir Ian Magee of the Institute For Government has said that 75% of the money spent was tied up in just fifteen bodies and 75% of that was given in grants to other organisations. Bringing the functions back into Government might lead to long term efficiencies but there are risks that services will disappear entirely. Government “Has to make clear plans to ensure sure those savings are delivered and the expertise maintained”.

The recently documents were suggest that out of the 724 public bodies, around 180 face closure or moved into the private sector and maybe as many as 350 might be saved. The picture is not clear. There are so many services tied up in a myriad of delivery vehicles that it seems an impossibility that these can be quickly disposed of – if at all – without doing some damage to the economy or our ability to find alternatives. If all we are trying to do is save money, that has to be balanced with an impact assessment on the economy, and no doubt that is why this Government is so keen to bring in businesses as the route to repairing the return to the Exchequer.

The FSB nationally has written to the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles MP, to encourage Government to ensure the partnerships have proper business representation as the deadline for local councils to submit plans for Local Enterprise Partnerships closed last month. The Government has received 59 proposals in total, some of which will be very strong. However, the FSB has deep concerns that in some areas, business engagement has not reflected the Government’s call that businesses be fully involved in developing the proposals. Small and micro businesses are the drivers of the local economy and it is imperative that their views are heard and properly represented on any LEP.  A short discussion with business looking at an entirely new direction and a concept that requires some very deep development can only give the outline of approval. Where the scope of the geography is of the size of Kent and Essex, we will have to be very wary of building an infrastructure that could at worst be described as a little brother of SEEDA.

We have urged the Government to ensure that where LEP proposals put forward, there must be a fundamental evidence bas that they have been truly endorsed by business and that there is a robust route to a true partnership, furthermore as a national organisation it stands firm and would not give the green light to continue until a clear vision for doing so is set out.

Having had the benefit of an analysis of several of the LEP bids that colleagues in FSB regions across the country have been – or not been engaged with, together with some interesting general comments on the quality of bids from Government officials coupled with an entirely bland response from Mark Prisk MP to a letter I wrote in my just completed term as Chairman of SEBUS,  I can only surmise that we truly have a long way to go.

Posted in Local Enterprise partnerships | Print | No Comments »

30/09/2010 by admin.

What cost Local Enterprise Partnerships?

In the swirl of activity following the birth of this new government, we have seen a number of significant policies emerge. To some extent, the concept of the Local Enterprise partnership can almost be viewed as a non-policy, in that very little guidance has been proffered by the Ministers behind it. With the baying for the death of the RDAs and the other Quangos by the Local Authority politicians we have to be very careful about babies and bathwater. The cost of those agencies has been significant, but getting rid of them does not necessarily mean we are making significant savings. With some recently leaked documents hitting the public domain, Sir Ian Magee of the Institute For Government has said that 75% of the money spent was tied up in just fifteen bodies and 75% of that was given in grants to other organisations. Bringing the functions back into Government might lead to long term efficiencies but there are risks that services will disappear entirely. Government “Has to make clear plans to ensure sure those savings are delivered and the expertise maintained”.

The recently documents were suggesting that out of the 724 public bodies, around 180 face closure or moved into the private sector and maybe as many as 350 might be saved. The picture is not clear. There are so many services tied up in a myriad of delivery vehicles that it seems an impossibility that these can be quickly disposed of – if at all – without doing some damage to the economy or our ability to find alternatives. If all we are trying to do is save money, that has to be balanced with an impact assessment on the economy, and no doubt that is why this Government is so keen to bring in businesses as the route to repairing the return to the Exchequer.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) nationally has written to the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles MP, to encourage Government to ensure the partnerships have proper business representation as the deadline for local councils to submit plans for Local Enterprise Partnerships closed last month. The Government has received 59 proposals in total, some of which will be very strong. However, the FSB has deep concerns that in some areas, business engagement has not reflected the Government’s call that businesses be fully involved in developing the proposals. We have had around four hours of discussion on the Kent and Essex LEP at the Kent Economic Board and the Business Advisory Board, enough to convince us that anything else would be a waste of time because that is what Eric Pickles has pretty well told Paul Carter Leader KCC. Two things worry me there, one, how long will Mr Pickles be in place and therefore his promises maintained and now secondly, why is Medway Council suddenly approaching us for support in the alternative Kent and Medway proposal. With the latter, as far as I know, there has been no consultation with business at all and it is pure “politicking”, hardly a benefit for the electorate and business. There was another LEP bid put in for Dartford, Gravesham and Bexley! Surprise surprise, there was no discussion with us as the major business organisation, but even worse at least one of the Kent the Local Authorities involved was not even aware of it being submitted. Remember – the LEPs are supposed to be based on business involvement and led by business.

Small and micro businesses are the drivers of the local economy and it is imperative that their views are heard and properly represented on any LEP.  A short discussion with business looking at an entirely new direction and a concept that requires some very deep development can only give the outline of approval. Where the scope of the geography is of the size of Kent and Essex, we will have to be very wary of building an infrastructure that could at worst be described as a little brother of SEEDA.

We have urged the Government to ensure that where LEP proposals put forward, there must be a fundamental evidence bas that they have been truly endorsed by business and that there is a robust route to a true partnership, furthermore as a national organisation it stands firm and would not give the green light to continue until a clear vision for doing so is set out.

Having had the benefit of an analysis of several of the LEP bids that colleagues in FSB regions across the country have been – or not been engaged with, together with some interesting general comments on the quality of bids from Government officials coupled with an entirely bland response from Mark Prisk MP to a letter I wrote in my just completed term as Chairman of the Southeast Business Forum,  I can only surmise that we truly have a very long way to go.

Posted in Local Enterprise partnerships | Print | No Comments »