Executive Director’s Report

May – June 2010

Business urged the new Government not to throw out the Regional Development Agency unless it is replaced by a body that focuses on helping to create jobs across the West Midlands. Business Voice WM responded to the Government’s emergency budget with an early plea for help for the West Midlands. Ministers were urged to do more to tackle the threat of floods. Two new campaigns were launched by Business Voice WM – to tackle business crime and increase the number of young people starting businesses. Chartered Institute of Marketing has joined Business Voice WM.

Regional Development Agency

The business community has called for a regional plan to create jobs across the West Midlands.

Business Voice WM Chairman, Barrie Williams, has written to Business Secretary, Vince Cable MP and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles MP urging them to keep a regional economic development structure in place. The same call has gone out to local MPs.

“The Government is currently deciding whether or not regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM) – is required,” said Mr Williams.

“We believe some form of regional economic development structure – whether it is the present RDA or an alternative – is necessary to lead and coordinate the renewal of manufacturing utilising the close links with business that exists across the West Midlands region.”

Such a structure should:

• Work with business to stimulate demand and so create jobs.
• Diversify the regional economy and strengthen supply chains.
• Ensure more businesses can take commercial advantage of the growing global market.

Mr Williams continued: “Over recent years the West Midlands has been hit by the closure of MG Rover in Birmingham, Peugeot in Coventry, ceramics factories in north Staffordshire and other downsizing that has occurred.

“Despite that, the West Midlands business community has proven resilient. This strength has been helped significantly by the support and investment of Advantage West Midlands.

“While AWM may not be perfect, we believe in reform rather than abolition. A regional economic development structure that works positively with local government can deliver what the people and businesses want to see – jobs.”

Further, to this letter, seven business leaders co-signed another letter to the Business Secretary making this same call.

Regional Growth Fund

Business Voice WM has made an early bid for funds from the recently announced Regional Growth Fund.

Bill Cooper, BVWM representative on the City Region board and head of local government for accountants and business advisers KPMG, has written to Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, asking for a meeting to discuss arrangements.

The Fund was announced in the emergency Budget and Mr Cooper is looking for guidance from Ministers as to how the West Midlands economy may benefit.

Bill Cooper stated: “We have made our approach to the Government so that we can achieve a step change in delivering greater prosperity for the Midlands. We must do this as the West Midlands has been the most seriously affected area of the UK as a direct consequence of the economic downturn.

“The need for the West Midlands economy to revive fully and provide a greater contribution to the country’s economy is an objective that we share with the Government. However it is clear that there is a risk that this could be undermined by spending cuts in local public services.

“We understand that the Regional Growth Fund is intended to assist City Regions to avoid this, providing additional funds to support activities that promote and accelerate economic recovery and long term sustainable growth.”

Saying he had been struck by the alignment between the City Region’s priorities and the purpose behind the growth fund, Mr Cooper went on: “We are keen to learn quickly about how the fund will operate – its scale, the criteria and procedures that will apply, and how the City Region can best demonstrate its focus and commitment to boosting skills, creating sustainable employment and driving regeneration.”

The enormity of the West Midlands’ problems were recently illustrated by a Centre for Cities report which found that in Birmingham more than 61,000 private sector jobs disappeared between 1998 and 2008. The West Midlands is the only region in England to record a net loss during the same period, with 65,600 jobs going.

The report emphasised what regional development agency Advantage West Midlands has been saying for a long time – there is a £10 billion or more productivity gap between the region and the average for England.

Skills

The West Midlands has made an early plea to the Government to sort out the skills message.

Business Voice WM believes the system needs to work far better than it is currently.

Now it has written to new Business, Innovation and Skills Secretary, Vince Cable MP, asking for a meeting.

BVWM skills expert Clive Stone, chief executive of Birmingham-based Redcliffe Catering, which runs the Botanical Gardens function suites, cautioned:

“We are very concerned at the state of the skills agenda in the West Midlands and we hope this change of government and your appointment can provide a new opportunity to look at this matter afresh.

“There is a critical need to widen workplace training programmes that are genuinely tailor-made to meet the needs of the business community

“We need to simplify the funding mechanism for further education so that specialist courses that cater for a wide geographical area can still be accommodated. An easily identifiable one stop shop service for businesses to access training for management and staff is a must. And improvements are required in terms of careers advice to young people and adults of all ages.

“Whilst some progress has been made to address these issues, many obstacles to progress remain.

“These include changing funding regimes and the potential of significant redirections both at national and local levels of money previously dedicated to skills training; the different approaches of Sector Skills Councils to workplace training; the multitude of public bodies and councils involved in further education funding; and the lack a clear and accessible access point for training via the Train to Gain service.

“In addition, we remain concerned at the level of careers advice from the Connexions service where, for instance, starting up your own business has not often been communicated as a career option for young people.”

Expanding on the approach, Mr Stone went on:

“The public finances for training provision are facing cuts during this difficult time in the national economy. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that money is spent wisely and in the areas that matter most for our regional business community and for the creation of local jobs.

“Public money should be focused on tackling the skills gaps that businesses are obliged to put up with.

“Accessing training provision should be simple and straightforward for businesses. Instead of a plethora of sources there should be one clear gateway. Information available to businesses on training provision should be in plain English rather than in jargon.

“At this time of economic turbulence a demand led skills system is a necessity. Nothing else will do.”

BVWM points out that more than one million people in the West Midlands have basic literacy and numeracy difficulties, holding back both their own work opportunities and the potential of the economy to move forward faster.

The business community has long expressed concerns about the quality of careers advice provided to young people. In particular that manufacturing and entrepreneurial career options need greater emphasis.

“The range of fulfilling career options in manufacturing is significant while the sector is vital for the regional economy,” said Mr Stone. “Presenting the option of starting up your own business and seeing it grow and support your family is also important not just to improve peoples’ life chances but also to enhance the business base of the region.”

Floods

Business Voice WM is calling for a more co-ordinated approach to flood prevention.

The lobbying group has warned the Government that problems three years in succession have hit the rural economy and cost jobs.

Now the organisation has written to Environment and Rural Affairs Minister, James Paice MP, asking him to take a fresh look at the issues involved.

Of particular concern are management of the rivers Severn, Tame and Wye and the attitude and approach of the Environment Agency.

Asking Mr Paice for a meeting, BVWM board member and National Farmers’ Union regional director David Collier called for “co-ordinated action to reduce the flood risk in the West Midlands”.

He stated: “The region’s businesses were severely affected by flooding in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

“The impact of the flooding, combined with the downturn, caused severe economic difficulties to a range of businesses, particularly those located in rural areas.”

Noting that the business sector had repeatedly urged the EA to take action, Mr Collier said it should operate in harness with local efforts, thereby ensuring a more efficient use of public funds.

Regular maintenance of watercourses helped reduce the impact of floods but in recent years the Agency had reduced and withdrawn its effort on some West Midlands watercourses.

And the Agency should work closer with local authority land drainage officers.

Mr Collier went on: “We are seeking a joined-up and co-ordinated approach to flood risk from the Environment Agency and other partners.

“We all have a role to play in reducing flood risk and in ensuring that businesses are prepared. We would like to identify ways of improving communication between businesses and government. We also seek a supportive approach from the Environment Agency that enables businesses to help themselves.

“Recent events have shown that flooding can lead to a serious impairment of the economy and impact on jobs. Therefore it is vital that flood risk management continues to be a top priority for government.”

Crime

a)         Crime Prevention

Business Voice WM has launched a unique learning programme with distance learning experts EduCare to help the region’s firms safeguard their business, their people and their productivity.

Most business owners worry incessantly about how to maintain a stable and successful business. But some businesses fail, even with a full order book and sound accounts. The main hazards may be considered to be fire, the sudden theft or destruction of essential assets or the loss of key personnel.

The initiative is called Safety in Business. Businesses can benefit by:

• Learning how to review and improve security and safety of your people and your premises
• Improve staff awareness of what they can do to help with safety and security
• You and your staff will learn how to carry out risk assessments
• Ensuring that your health and safety procedures are up to date
• Reducing the risk of crime, fire and other business threatening issues.

At the heart of the initiative is a short 4-module paper-based or e-learning programme which has been designed as an essential introduction to safeguarding people and productivity. It is also a valuable refresher for more experienced managers and staff.

The Safety in Business programme has been produced by the police and other safety experts. It carries the approval of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) through their ‘Secured by Design’ scheme and has been rigorously evaluated by independent Home Office researchers. It is also fully accredited by EDI and people completing the programme will be awarded a personalised certificate as proof of successful completion.

Results have shown that:

• 99% of participants completing the programme said that it provided an up-to-date overview of business safety issues

• 97% said that it helped people understand their own role in safeguarding the company and the need to be up-to-date on safeguarding issues

• 84% of participants said that it had helped reduce the fear of crime

b)        Truck Crime

The UK does not have enough secure truck parks and criminals are taking advantage, the Government has been warned.

Parminder Singh, chairman of the National Business Crime Forum – which is administered by Business Voice WM - has written to both the Local Government Minister, Greg Clark MP and Jenny Crighton, director for corporate strategy and public affairs at the Local Government Association, asking them to do more.

Mr Singh said: “The Forum is united in its stance that the lack of secure truck parks contributes to a high level of business crime across the UK.

“London, the South East and the West Midlands are the three most affected regions by this form of crime, often involving hijackings of trucks and assaults on truck drivers.”

In a recent incident in the West Midlands a robber died after a Greek lorry driver – said to be in fear of his life – fought back.

Truckpol, the national truck crime policing unit, has reported that the average cost of incidents – between January and March there were 769 across the country – is over £35,000.

Mr Singh said: “Unlike in other European countries, there is a lack of secure truck parks that would lead to a reduction in this crime.

“And that can lead to problems for the local community. For instance, once the secure truck park was closed down at Featherstone in South Staffordshire in 2008, there was an increase in the incidence of anti social behaviour reported by local people in the area.

“The Forum believes that secure truck parks can play an important role in reducing this form of crime.”

He urged the matter be clearly spelled out in relevant planning policy statements that logistics sites should have secure parking areas. Local authorities whose boundaries take in motorway junctions should also be required to give active consideration to some form of secure truck park in their area.

A truck watch scheme already exists in the Midlands because of the work of Business Voice WM.

By joining Midlands Truck Watch all truck drivers and haulage owners are sent alerts by e-mail, fax, text messages or telephone so they can be on the look-out for stolen trucks and loads – and then let the police know if they see anything.

They can also ring in to a voice mail box to check for the latest alerts.

Mr Singh said: “We must get to grips with these modern day highwaymen stalking our motorways.

“Criminals increasingly seem to think that lorries are easy and often lucrative prey. Drivers are being terrorised and millions of pounds of goods are being taken.

“The Government needs to take this far more seriously.”

The National Business Crime Forum was formed in February and comprises national representative organisations and regional business crime prevention forums across the UK. The aim is to ensure best practice to combat business crime is promoted and issues of common concern are communicated to Government and other key decision makers.

Young People and Business

A new initiative aimed at reducing youth unemployment and creating up to 5000 new young entrepreneurs in the process was unveiled last night at a major enterprise event in Birmingham.

The 3% Campaign, which is being led by the Young People’s Enterprise Centre of Expertise (YPECOE) and backed by Advantage West Midlands and Business Voice WM, will look to provide a unique support package to help the region raise the number of Under 25s in self employment by 0.9% by 2012.

It will seek to engage a host of public and private sector partners to provide business mentors, encourage greater access to investment, create masterclass events, develop support for enterprise in education and the possibility of launching special enterprise apprenticeships.

If this new approach works it will make the West Midlands the most enterprising place in the UK for young people and reflects recent research which shows more than 4.4% are engaged in early stage activity compared to a national average of just 3.4%.

YPECOE’s Jackie Brierton, one of the driving forces behind the campaign, explained:

“Youth unemployment is at its highest level since official records began and in the West Midlands we have the highest Job Seekers Allowance claimant rate for 18-24 year-olds of all the regions (10.9% compared to 8.1% nationally)

“This is just a statistic, but the real picture is one of few employment prospects for individuals leaving school, college and university and a desperate need to look at alternative ways of creating jobs. Self-employment is often over-looked.”

She continued: “We – and many of our partners – believe this is an area we should focus on and the 3% Campaign is a visible commitment to exploring this potential by putting together a tailored support package that meets the requirements of young people going on their own.”

The 3% Campaign, which was introduced to more than 100 delegates at Austin Court Conference Centre, is the result of recommendations that have come out of new research into young people and their motivations, barriers faced, ability to access funding, sources of support and their enterprise education.

Some of the key findings from the recent report include:

• Relatively small amounts of funding can be instrumental in enabling young people to start productive businesses, but there is a gap in provision for those who do not meet the Prince’s Trust deprivation criteria or those not on student enterprise schemes.

• Young entrepreneurs have short work histories and require business advisers and mentors who have relevant business experience to provide essential knowledge.

• Young entrepreneurs highlighted the loneliness of working on their own when starting a business and the need for a pro-active support network.

• Application forms for support are perceived as excessively bureaucratic and jargon –laden, deterring young entrepreneurs not familiar with the terminology and business.

• Although a culture change is reported, many of our young skilled entrepreneurs are entirely disengaged from school.

• Enterprise activities in schools are highly valued and supported, with the emphasis on getting young entrepreneurs involved in the Further Education sector.

James Watkins, Executive Director of Business Voice WM, said:

“If we can hit the magic 3% mark we will have more than 20,000 young people in self employment, all contributing to the wealth of the region and helping to create employment opportunities for others.

“This is a big jump, but one that we can achieve if we work together to embrace this new approach and this will require SMEs, multi-nationals, education, business support professionals and community groups all playing their role and investing time into making it work.

“A vibrant environment for young enterprise can only be good news for the West Midlands’ economy.”

YPECOE’s mission is to create a culture within the region which encourages, inspires and supports young people to believe they can start their own businesses, now or in the future.

Targeting 14-25 year-olds, it works with a range of education, enterprise and business support partners from all sectors to develop a business support service appropriate to young people’s needs, influence enterprise strategy and policy and pilot new initiatives like the Young People’s Enterprise Partnership.

Broadband

The digital divide is costing rural jobs, it was claimed.

David Collier, chairman of Business Voice WM’s Rural Economy Group and the National Farmers Union West Midlands regional director, has called on regulator Ofcom to step in.

“The longer the digital divide continues between those businesses who have broadband connections and those businesses lacking such connections the worse it will be for rural communities where local job opportunities will be severely harmed,” he cautioned.

Mr Collier has written to Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards asking for a meeting on the issue.

He has previously been knocked back by the organisation but believes recent changes in attitudes at EU level offer another opportunity to press the need for fast broadband links.

The campaign began in 2008 when Mr Collier raised concerns that “telecoms providers have little incentive to improve broadband connections in outlying rural areas such as large parts of the West Midlands”.

He went on: “This state of affairs is holding back the competitiveness of rural businesses and therefore making some rural communities unsustainable as e-commerce is now an everyday part of business life.”

Ofcom replied that it did not have the power “to oblige communications providers to introduce such services into any particular area of the UK”.

The campaign then switched to Europe as BVWM chivvied MEPs to take up the cudgels and toughen up the so-called ‘universal obligation’.

They responded positively and the result is fresh guidelines in the Citizens Rights Directive, which states: "Connections to the network at a fixed location should be capable of supporting data communications at rates sufficient for access to online services such as those provided via the public internet.”

While it was not appropriate to mandate a specific data or bit rate at EU level, flexibility was required to allow countries to take measures, where necessary, to ensure that “rates are sufficient to permit functional internet access”.

And, in a financial incentive to providers to respond accordingly, the Directive went on: “Where such measures result in an unfair burden on a designated undertaking, taking due account of the costs and revenues as well as the intangible benefits resulting from the provision of the services concerned, this may be included in any net cost calculation of universal obligations. Alternative financing of underlying network infrastructure, involving Community funding or national measures in accordance with Community law, may also be implemented."

In his letter Mr Collier urges Ofcom to build on the change in European legislation.
He said: “It does seem to us that Ofcom now has the authority to ensure that telecoms providers take on board their public service obligations and require that broadband coverage is at last provided in outlying rural areas across the West Midlands region.”

One of the alarming features of a failure to do so would be that, even with 90 per cent coverage, the Government’s target for 2017, there would be rural areas “at high risk of lacking next generation broadband, including large parts of the West Midlands especially in the western half of the region”.

Transport

Faster journey times to London will be a major boost to the Midlands economy, a Chiltern Railways executive has predicted.

Marketing director Thomas Ableman said the link would prove a significant boon for the regional economy.

Speaking at a joint Business Voice WM and Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Hilton Warwick, Mr Ableman stressed that the £250 million upgrade of the Moor Street to Marylebone line due to be completed by next year would slash travel times on the route.

Every major station on the route would see reductions in journey time of around 20%, including Warwick. Warwick Parkway would be just an hour and a quarter away while Leamington Spa will be a journey of only 67 minutes.

And he dismissed those who continue to see London as a rival rather than a friend.
He said: “Connectivity is a good thing and will help generate investment. I am confident it will produce a major benefit for the region.”

Asked how the improvements would tie in with the proposed high speed train link between Birmingham and London, he noted: “We are a supporter of high speed rail, but it will not happen until 2026 at the earliest. What we are doing is happening this year and will be delivered next year. It is in real time.”

Journeys between Birmingham and London on Chiltern will be cut by a fifth to one hour 40 minutes.

In exchange for providing the investment Chiltern has seen its franchise extended.

Andy Holding, Birmingham International Airport community affairs manager, highlighted the airport’s contribution to the West Midlands economy.

He told the gathering: “The economic impact of the airport is hugely beneficial for the region and can only improve given the planned runway extension and the proposals for high speed rail.”

Mr Holding also updated the meeting on efforts to put a runway extension financial package together.

James Watkins, executive director, Business Voice WM, said: “While the Warwickshire economy is doing well compared to the rest of the West Midlands transport logjams still hold business up.

“However, Chiltern Railways has injected the biggest private sector investment in the railways since World War II and greatly improved the Birmingham to London service. We warmly welcome that boost to the economy.

“Meanwhile we need to see further improvements at Birmingham International Airport and ensure it really does meet the needs of business.”

Geoff Brooke-Taylor, vice-chair of the mid-Warwickshire branch of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “It was an extremely worthwhile meeting. While everyone welcomes the improvement in speed and service to London along the line, we are, as businesses, equally concerned about the journeys from this sub-region north to Birmingham.

European Parliament

The West Midlands is under-represented in Europe, Business Voice WM has warned.

Now it has written to new Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke MP, asking that he rectify the discrepancy.

The UK was recently allocated an additional place in the European Parliament and BVWM has been lobbying “in the interests of fairness and transparency” that it should go to the West Midlands.

Business Voice WM Board member and National Farmers Union regional director, David Collier, said: “The West Midlands has a population of 5.3 million – approximately ten per cent of the UK population – yet it currently only has six MEPs representing it which does not seem to be equitable when, for instance, Scotland, has the same despite an electorate of just 3.8 million while London has eight for 5.2 million.

“There is no doubt in our judgement that the West Midlands – in terms of the ratio between the number of MEPs and population size – is under-represented.”

BVWM says the matter is “an aggravating factor” at a time when difficult economic times persist.

Birmingham City Centre

Business Voice WM asked Birmingham City Council when a Birmingham city centre fountain would be repaired.

BVWM’s Gary Saunders, who represents the West Midlands Chambers of Commerce and is business development manager of Erdington-based Churchill Office Solutions, has written of “the poor impression that is being given of the city”.

He goes on: “Victoria Square is a key feature of Birmingham to tourists and inward investors but the city does not show itself to its full advantage when the fountain is often not operating. This gives an odd impression that the city is not fully functioning as well as it should when a key architectural feature that has been developed, in part, to impress visitors and highlight civic pride, is out of order.

“It is small touches such as this that can have a disproportionate impact on people visiting Birmingham for the first time.

“We appreciate the city council is working hard to improve the image of Birmingham such as the work to revamp New Street Station. We applaud these moves but also propose that the small step of ensuring the Victoria Square fountain is working would create a positive impact on the first impressions people receive when entering this lovely area.”

And he asks for some guidance on “when this problem will be rectified”.

This water feature has had leakage problems going as far back as 2002.

New Member

Business Voice WM has a new member – the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
The CIM’s arrival takes the number of organisations who are members of the business lobbying group to 26.

Paul Connor, managing director of Birmingham-based Mycon Marketing Services and president of the Institute’s West Midlands region said they particularly hoped to have an input into the strategic development of the region.

“We want to play a part by contributing to a wider perspective in meeting the challenge of raised West Midlands gross value added targets. The regional president post had been established to help take this forward in line with the CIM aim of developing the profession as the voice for marketing for our 2500 members across the region”.

Mr Connor is well used to the West Midlands scene having been a former president of Rugby and District Chamber of Commerce and a former board member of the Confederation of West Midlands Chambers of Commerce. He is also the Marketing lecturer for the Open University Business School’s MBA programme in the West Midlands, and delivers the CIM’s Postgraduate qualifications at Warwickshire College and in Birmingham for Oxford College of Marketing.

James Watkins, Executive Director of BVWM, said: “We very much welcome the institute as a new member.

“Business representative organisations come together within Business Voice WM to get action for the Midlands and the more members we represent the greater the clout factor and influence we have.

“Marketing is key to business success and so to have the Chartered Institute of Marketing as out latest members means we really do have all sectors of the business community covered within Business Voice WM”

“I have no doubt that Paul Connor and the CIM will have an important role to play in driving the region forward.”

The Institute celebrates its 100th anniversary next year.