BCC WEEKLY UPDATE
Home
Policy & News
Events
Chamber Hub
27 NOVEMBER 2015
The 2016 Events and Meetings Calendar is now available. To view and download, please
visit the Knowledge Hub.
In this week's BCC Weekly Update:
Guide to the new Enterprise Zones
Business financial health assessment guide from Experian
Fleet management tips from Volvo Car UK
New DVSA awareness campaign for businesses
BCC national media highlights
Economic Update
Upcoming dates for your diary
News and events

New Enterprise Zones announced in autumn budget
In his Spending Review / Autumn Statement on Wednesday, the Chancellor
announced 18 new Enterprise Zones and extended 8 existing ones. This takes
the total to 44 across England.
Below is a list of the new Enterprise Zones mapped against Chamber
membership territories.
New Enterprise Zones:











Aylesbury Vale (Thames Valley)
Cambridge Compass (Cambridgeshire)
Carlisle Kingmoor Park (Cumbria)
Ceramics Valley (Staffordshire)
Cheshire Science Corridor (West Cheshire and North Wales; South Cheshire)
Didcot Growth Accelerator (Thames Valley)
Dorset Green (Dorset)
Enterprise M3 (Hampshire; Surrey)
Enviro-Tech (Hertfordshire)
Greater Manchester Life Science (Greater Manchester)
Huntspill Energy Park and the Exeter & East Devon Growth Point (Somerset;
Plymouth)







Hillhouse Chemicals and Energy (North and West Lancashire)
Luton Airport (Bedfordshire + Luton)
M62 Corridor (Bradford; West and North Yorkshire)
NE Round 2 (North East)
New Anglia (Norfolk; Suffolk)
Newhaven (Sussex)
York Central (West and North Yorkshire)
Extended Enterprise Zones:








Aerohub Extension (Cornwall)
Bath and Somer Valley (Somerset)
Birmingham Enterprise Zone Curzon Street (Greater Birmingham)
Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Enterprise Zone Extension (Norfolk; Suffolk)
Humber Enterprise Zone Extension (Hull and Humber)
Infinity Park Extension (East Midlands (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire,
Leicestershire))
North Kent Innovation Zone (Kent Invicta)
Tees Valley Enterprise Zone Growth Extension (North East)

Experian: Get to know your company’s financial health
When it comes to checking your company’s credit report, 59%* of SMEs
surveyed said they hadn’t ever checked theirs. Of those that had checked, 44%
hadn’t checked in over 6 months and only 11% had checked within the last
month.
Lenders and potential business partners use your business credit score to
assess your level of financial risk. It portrays your financial reliability and is a key
factor for creditors to decide whether to lend to you and on what terms.
Therefore, having a good business credit score can help you to get the most
favourable credit terms.
Customers and suppliers can see limited versions of your credit report by
purchasing them from a Credit Reference Agency. By getting hold of your own
credit report, you can see what the lenders see and bring your data up to date to
show your business in the best possible light.
With My Business Profile, you can get full visibility of your credit report,
understand what’s affecting your score and learn how to improve it.
*ComRes2014

Five steps to fleet safety, with Volvo Car UK
Volvo Car UK recently sponsored a campaign in The Daily Telegraph to
disseminate best practice in fleet management. It published case studies about
organisations including Gateshead Council, Club Class Chauffeurs, Lincolnshirebased Flowers by Suzanne and Volvo Car UK itself.
You can read the five learning points from the case studies in full by visiting
telegraph.co.uk/Volvo or the Chamber Knowledge Hub.

Are you van smart?
A new campaign by the Driver Vehicle & Standards Agency (DVSA) has been
launched to highlight the rules around driving commercial vehicles in the UK and
Europe.
On the official van smart page, there’s a quick summary of the essential
regulations for driving a van – including what weight limits apply, driving hours
and the speeds you can legally drive at, as well as a short quiz and links to the
full regulations.
BCC national media highlights this week
• John Longworth’s comments on the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement/Spending Review
received widespread coverage in the Financial Times (p.5, p.8, p.10), Daily Mail
(p.77), The Guardian (p.11), City AM (online), the Telegraph (online), BBC News
(online), the Telegraph (online), Daily Mail (online), The Independent (online), The
Guardian (online), This Is Money (online) and Reuters UK (online).
• John was also interviewed on Bloomberg News, LBC Radio, BBC News, Sky News
and CNBC, while Mike Spicer was interviewed on Share Radio.
David Kern was also interviewed on Share Radio.
• A member of Northamptonshire Chamber also appeared on BBC News at 6pm and
10pm on Wednesday, to talk about tax credits. Birmingham Chamber's Director of
Policy and Strategic Relationships, Henrietta Brealey, was also interviewed live on
BBC News to comment on the Spending Review.
Economic update
The second official estimate of UK economic growth revealed that the UK economy grew
by 0.5% in Q3 2015, unrevised from the previous estimate. In annual terms, GDP was
up 2.3% in the quarter. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expect the UK
economy to grow by 2.4% in 2015, unrevised from its previous estimate. The OBR
upgraded its GDP growth forecast for 2016 from 2.3% to 2.4% and for 2016 from 2.4%
to 2.5%. The OBR also predict that the government will achieve a £10.1 billion budget
surplus in 2019/20.
US economic growth for Q3 2015 has been revised up to annual rate of 2.1%, from the
previous estimate of 1.5%.
For more information, please contact Suren Thiru.
Coming up
Dec 01
Dec 05
Dec 09
Bank of England Stress Tests published
Small Business Saturday
BCC Economic Forecast
BCC Business & Education Summit, London
Dec 10
BCC Business & Education Survey Part Three releases
To unsubscribe, please click here
You are an intended recipient of this email.
To stop receiving this correspondence please use the following link: unsubscribe