Weekly Brief
Week 01 of 2010 Friday 08 January 2010
Recognition for National Chairman and the FSB
FSB National Chairman John Wright was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List for ‘Services to the Federation of Small Businesses’. This recognises the importance of small businesses and the work of the FSB across the country. Read the full list.
Let it snow!
The FSB has had an avalanche of coverage in national and regional, broadcast and print media about people unable to make it into work because of poor road conditions and school closures. However, some FSB members also reported a surge in trade as people abandoned their cars and walked to their local high street to support local shops. The FSB’s comments were picked up throughout the week in the Daily Mail, The Times, Daily Mirror, the Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian as well as on BBC News, GMTV, Sky News and Channel 4 News. Watch the coverage.
Backing Young Britain
Small businesses are being invited to take part in a No.10 Webcast on Thursday January 14 on the subject of putting in place internships and apprenticeships as part of a national campaign to get young people to work. The event is supported by the FSB. Find out more information and sign up to watch the webcast.
Reduce regulation
The FSB policy unit is calling small businesses to tell us their biggest regulatory bug-bears so we can tell Government what regulation needs to be changed or removed completely. Find out more and give us your views.
Supermarket Czar
The FSB welcomed the Conservatives’ proposals to introduce a ‘supermarket czar.’ Read our comments in the Evening Standard.
Banks
The FSB voiced concern in the Daily Telegraph this week that high interest rates on loans from the Enterprise Finance Guarantee should be lowered, while in The Independent the FSB warned that where the banks are lending to start-up businesses, they shouldn’t hike up interest rates for existing customers.
Return of VAT
The FSB criticised the timing of the return of the VAT rate from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent on January 1 and warned that it could cost small firms around £350 million in added costs. Read the coverage in the Daily Express and The Times.
Non-planning Consents
The Government is reviewing the process of gaining non-planning consents to see how to make the process less burdensome for businesses. A non-planning consent is any consent that a developer has to obtain alongside or after and separate to the planning permission in order to bring a development into its first operational use.
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with your experiences.
Health and safety consultants
The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is inviting small businesses to complete a survey on the accreditation of health and safety consultants. Complete the survey.
Follow the FSB on Facebook
You can now follow the activities of the FSB by joining our brand new official fanpage on Facebook. Become a fan to view regularly updated events, photo galleries, lobbying information and interactive content.
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