Policy Update 12th March 2024

Welcome to this week’s policy update.    

As ever please do get in touch with me, suzanne@cumbriachamber.co.uk, if you would like to discuss the following, or other, business issues, put forward your views and/or provide real life examples that we can use in advocacy activity.

Following the Spring Budget on Wednesday, we released comments on Wednesday afternoon. If you missed them you can read them again here. Thanks to those of you who have sent in your comments, which will be part of informing future work. You can also read the Chancellor’s Budget document here: Spring Budget 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and BCC’s press statement here: Budget Boosts Jobs But Economic Challenge Remains   - British Chambers of Commerce.

Something that was included in the detail of the Budget, but not the speech, was support for Chambers’ business-led programme to unlock the planning system by committing £3m of matched funding. BCC has partnered with Aviva to establish a new five-year industry-led programme to increase skills and capacity in Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). We are asking firms to participate in this business-led programme by making a financial contribution to this vital initiative. You can read more here: Investing in Talent, Building Communities - British Chambers of Commerce.

Read the latest LSIP update here

The team at British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) continue to be busy working on your behalf. This week:

• BCC Director General, Shevaun Haviland, is meeting with the Director of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit at No.10 Downing Street.
• She is joining other business leaders for a roundtable on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) utilisation, with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kemi Badenoch MP.
• Shevaun is also meeting with the Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero, Ed Miliband MP.
• Head of Trade Policy, William Bain, gave oral evidence to the UK Parliament Business and Trade Committee. You can read more here 5 March 2024 - Export-led growth - Oral evidence - Committees - UK Parliament and read a summary of William's remarks here BCC-Oral-Evidence-Export-led-Growth-Inquiry.pdf (britishchambers.org.uk).

Last week:

• William spoke at a panel discussion on trade in West Sussex attended by all EU Heads of Mission to the UK and their key staff.
• He also participated in a Chatham House roundtable on AI and Trade. The roundtable had an emphasis on the advantages of AI for trade facilitation as well as border and customs efficiency gains.
• The BCC joined other business groups to discuss export support with the Labour frontbench Trade team, including Shadow Ministers, Gareth Thomas MP and Tam Dhesi MP.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi renewed the moratorium on electronic transmission of goods/services until 2026. You can read BCC’s reaction to the key outcomes from the Conference here: BCC Welcomes MC13 Outcomes But More To Do - British Chambers of Commerce.

The next meeting of the BCC Trade Policy Committee is on 26th March. Please let me know in advance if you have any issues or questions you would like raising, suzanne@cumbriachamber.co.uk.

The publication of the Interim Update marks the half-way point in BCC’s Workplace Equity Commission’s UK-wide inquiry. It reflects some of the key themes, issues and opportunities raised in our discussions with Chambers, member businesses and a wide range of external organisations. It also provides another opportunity for Chambers, businesses and external stakeholders to feed in evidence and give views on the emerging recommendations. You can read the interim update here: Workplace Equity Commission - British Chambers of Commerce.

Following the success of previous Employer Support Conferences, the Department for Education and Strategic Development Network (SDN) are hosting two additional conferences, in Manchester and London, to help businesses find out more and start planning for T Level industry placements. You can read more here: T Levels and industry placement support for employers and here: Strategic Development Network | T Level and industry placement support.

Through the BCC’s membership of ICC UK and the World Chambers Federation (WCF), Chamber  members are welcome to participate at ICC/WCF events. There will be two regional summits this year, in Bogota and Istanbul to bring together Chambers and their members from across the globe:

• Americas edition: 8th – 10th May, Bogota, hosted by the Bogota Chamber of Commerce.
• Europe edition: 23rd – 25th October, Istanbul, hosted by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges.

If you’d like to know more, please do get in touch with me, suzanne@cumbriachamber.co.uk.

Suzanne Caldwell, Managing Director