Chamber News

Rail and Aviation Annoucements

Wed, 03/04/2013 - 2:00pm
Wed, 03/04/2013 - 2:00pm

The government has announced that Virgin Trains would continue to run the West Coast Main Line until April 2017. The announcement was part of a series on rail franchising made last week. Elsewhere, private companies have been invited to bid for the East Coast rail franchise which has been run in the public sector since 2009.  The government have also published a detailed timetable for all rail franchises over the next 8 years.

Oil and gas strategy published

Wed, 03/04/2013 - 1:53pm
Wed, 03/04/2013 - 1:53pm

The government has published an oil and gas strategy that aims to offer investment confidence and security by setting out a clear path to exploit the UK’s remaining resources and overcome an increasingly challenging production environment.

Update from Parliament

Wed, 03/04/2013 - 1:48pm
Wed, 03/04/2013 - 1:48pm

Last week in Parliament, the Treasury Committee continued its scrutiny of the 2013 Budget.  This ended on Tuesday with evidence from the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Economic Update

Wed, 03/04/2013 - 1:41pm
Wed, 03/04/2013 - 1:41pm

The latest estimate of GDP revealed that the UK economy shrank by 0.3% in the final quarter of 2012.  This was unrevised from the previous two estimates. A breakdown of the data revealed that there was an increase in consumer spending, while business investment declined and the trade deficit widened. GDP growth for 2012 as a whole was revised up slightly to 0.3%.

 

A welcome to our new Member – RMP Site Engineering

Wed, 03/04/2013 - 8:47am

RMP Site Engineering, based on Yarmouth Road in Norwich, was established in 2007 by Rob Pinchbeck. We are currently working throughout Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex and are rapidly expanding into the rest of the UK.

RMP provides expert Site Engineering and Site Management services for a variety of Civil Engineering, Utilities and Construction Projects from pre-start to final fit-out.

We do. Would you?

Tue, 02/04/2013 - 11:36am

That’s the question Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is asking. Always committed to stimulating debate the Chamber is asking you if the Norfolk brand is a help or a hindrance when it comes to marketing.

Famously, Aviva scrapped its 200 year old trading name of Norwich Union with the objective of growing the brand, and helping it to compete on a global scale. The strategy was that ‘Aviva’ would appeal to an international market more than Norwich Union.

Quarterly Economic Survey: Economy improves and exports are still strong, but growth will be subdued

Tue, 02/04/2013 - 8:34am
Quarterly Economic Survey
  • BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey for Q1 2013 shows progress on a national level, with almost all major balances improving compared with Q4 2012.  However Norfolk and the East of England results are not so optimistic, with the manufacturing balance in particular showing a dip in confidence.
  • Norfolk businesses are resilient, but many balances are still below pre-recession levels and growth remains too low.

Local MP supports calls for prompt payment

Tue, 26/03/2013 - 8:55am
Tue, 26/03/2013 - 8:55am

At a recent meeting between Henry Bellingham, MP for North West Norfolk and members of the West Norfolk Chamber Council, the topic of prompt payment was raised. Several members had examples of where they had been required to wait over 90, or even 120 days for payment from their clients, who were in turn were waiting for payment from their customers. This was particularly apparent where large organisations, especially some supermarkets were the end users.

£120 million funding competition for manufacturing supply chain companies

Mon, 25/03/2013 - 12:19pm
Mon, 25/03/2013 - 12:19pm

Michael Fallon, Minister for Business and Enterprise, opens Rounds 3 and 4 of the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI)

AMSCI is a funding competition designed to improve the global competitiveness of UK advanced manufacturing supply chains. £120 million is available for rounds 3 and 4, and the competition is open to all organisations that are part of a manufacturing supply chain.

£70 million boost to small business lending

Mon, 25/03/2013 - 12:16pm
Mon, 25/03/2013 - 12:16pm

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are set to receive a £70 million lending boost following government action to increase and diversify the availability of finance.

Three new lenders – Market Invoice, URICA and Beechbrook Capital – will share more than £30 million of government funding to offer SMEs alternatives to traditional bank lending. Each lender has committed to attracting additional funding from private sector investors, with the total expected to boost the pool of credit available to SMEs from these three lenders by more than £70 million.

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