Business News Round Up (07/06/2022)
Boosting investment in skills is vital to supercharge the UK economy
Most businesses are continuing to grapple with digital transformation agendas in the race to adopt emerging technologies. But to capitalise on success, businesses need to have the right talent – and skills – in place. The number of tech roles in England and Wales surged by 105% year-on-year, reaching record levels in 2021, and tech firms advertised more IT vacancies in the last year than all British businesses combined in 2020. However, demand is heavily outstripping supply with 43% of vacancies in STEM roles which is a challenge to fill because of a shortage of applicants with the required skills. Constrained by budget, resource or know-how, businesses are clearly struggling to get the talent in place to truly embrace technology and stay competitive. For a country that has suffered with low productivity levels since the financial crisis of 2008, more must be done to encourage and enable employers to invest in technology and workforce development. In February, the UK government unveiled its plans for ‘levelling-up’ the country. The outline includes a focus on skill development, with a pledge that by 2030, the number of people successfully completing high-quality skills training will have significantly increased in every area of the UK. In summer 2021, only 15,000 UK students sat a computing or ICT A-Level – accounting for less than 2% of the overall exams. As such, a greater focus on skills development is a welcome step, which should help to develop a pipeline of in-demand talent.
Revenues recover, but challenges remain for North West businesses
The majority of North West mid-sized businesses have returned to pre-pandemic revenues, two years after seeing sales fall. According to new research from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP, half of regional businesses are generating the same level as they were before COVID-19, with more than a quarter increasing revenue. Despite the financial recovery, the region still faces considerable challenges, with the biggest threat to growth over the next three months being staff shortages (31%). Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising energy costs are also adding significant pressure to businesses. As a result, ongoing issues are preventing companies from prioritising key operational activities, with 28% of North West businesses unable to support worker wellbeing and a quarter struggling to deliver on long-term growth plans. Despite this, businesses in the North West continue to put employees front and centre, with many implementing measures to support staff with the rising cost of living. According to the survey, 44% of regional businesses have increased wages in line with inflation, while offering staff other benefits, such as free childcare, subsidised travel to work, and free meals while in the office.
Scotland’s industrial biotechnology sector anticipated to surpass £1 billion turnover milestone by 2025
Scotland’s industrial biotechnology community is exceeding growth expectations and is on track to achieve annual turnover of £1.2bn by 2025, according to a refreshed strategy being launched at the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre’s (IBioIC) annual conference today (June 6th). The updated National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology outlines new ambitions for Scotland’s bioeconomy, including reaching a target of 220 companies operating in the sector and more than 4,000 employees by 2025, reflecting the increasingly important role of industrial biotechnology in the transition to net zero. Updates to the figures follow analysis from IBioIC that showed businesses active in industrial biotechnology accounted for more than £790 million in turnover during 2020, increasing from £189 million in 2012 – prior to the launch of the first iteration of the strategy and the formation of the innovation centre. Initial targets of the National Plan were set at £900m turnover and 2,500 employees by 2025.
Three-quarters of UK business owners call for better start-up support
Three quarters of business owners (75 per cent) wish they had a core business checklist before launching their business to boost their early success, according to new research from entrepreneur launchpad Start My Business. Start My Business polled 500 business owners and decision makers, via independent polling agency Censuswide, on the challenges they faced when starting their business, and how these issues could be resolved for new entrepreneurs and start-up business owners. In fact, almost three quarters (72 per cent) said that start-up success was dependent on good advice. This opinion was particularly strong amongst London business owners with 82 per cent highlighting good advice as essential. With this, almost two thirds (66 per cent) of business owners wished they had received more advice when starting their business, pointing to a lack of guidance channels for early-stage businesses.