Business News Round Up (08/11/2022)
£10m in grants to support food and drink businesses in Scotland
Food and drink businesses across Scotland will benefit from a share of more than £10 million to improve supply-chain efficiency, increase production and run feasibility studies. A total of 33 businesses, large and small, will receive grants ranging from £16,000 to £1.4 million from the Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation (FPMC) grant scheme. Projects include capacity building for a dairy farm to meet the growing demand for its soft cheese, setting up of a new venison processing operation and installation of solar panels at a butcher premises to reduce carbon footprint and minimise electricity costs. During a visit to one of the recipients of the fund, a family run organic farm in Aberdeenshire, Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “The Scottish Government is supporting investment and expansion in our food and drink sector which offers incredible produce that is enjoyed at home and abroad. The FPMC scheme has enabled some really exciting projects in the past and I’m confident that this round of funding will play an important role in helping producers continue to deliver high-quality, innovative, and nutritious products – securing and creating jobs and boosting the economy. I look forward to seeing how these grants enable businesses to move to the next level and I wish them the very best.”
North West businesses forecast revenue growth in 2023, despite backdrop
Eighty-five per cent of North West-based small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are confident their revenue will grow over the next 12 months despite the challenging economic conditions, according to new research by law firm, Forbes Solicitors. UK expansion, organic growth, and research and development (R&D) rank as the top three factors that will drive business growth. Three-quarters of companies surveyed say they will invest in digital transformation and new technology in the year ahead, and the same proportion plan to create new jobs in 2023 to address the skills gaps they are facing. Raising capital to underpin growth is also a priority, with 71% of companies planning to do so. Within that group, 24% will look at grants and government-backed schemes for SMEs, while 23% will use banks and 21% plan to rely on debt financing. The research has been conducted to mark the launch of the Forbes Solicitors’ ‘A Region Resilient About Growth’ report, which champions the contribution SMEs make to the North West’s economy. In its third year, the report has celebrated 100 of the region’s businesses for demonstrating reinvention & resilience. Despite the optimism around their own growth, 57% of North West businesses have less confidence in the strength of the local economy than they did a year ago, and the biggest barriers to growth are inflation (highlighted by 45% of respondents), skills shortages (31%) and a lack of access to finance (25%).
Growing proportion of Scottish graduates ending up in low-skilled jobs
More than a third (34%) of Scottish graduates are overqualified for their roles, with a rising proportion ending up stuck in low-skilled jobs, according to new research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Its new report looks at how graduate outcomes have changed over the past 30 years, and the job quality of overqualified graduates. Based on the ONS Labour Force Survey, comparing data from April to June 1992 to March to May 2022 – and the last three years’ of the CIPD Working Lives Scotland survey – the research highlights that the proportion of graduates in low/medium-skilled jobs has more than doubled over the past three decades. Overqualified graduates have lower levels of job and life satisfaction, are less enthusiastic about their work and are more likely to want to quit, compared to well-matched graduates. In response, the report concludes there is an urgent need to improve the quality of careers advice and guidance in schools and a rebalancing of skills policy. The CIPD also called for additional support for vocational pathways, in particular apprenticeships for young people, as well as further measures to improve the quality of people management to boost skills demand. The report found a notable increase in the proportion of Scottish graduates working in administrative and secretarial occupations since 1992 (4% to 31%) as well as sales and customer service occupations (4% to 23%). Across the UK, over the last 30 years, there has been a rise in graduates working as bank or post office clerks (3% to 30%) and as personal assistants and other secretaries (4% to 22%), as well as more graduates working as bar staff (3% to 19%) and security guards (2% to 24%).
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/growing-proportion-scottish-graduates-ending-28428487
Call to support region’s retail sector through Business Rates and Apprentice Levy rethink
The Government has been urged to rethink next April’s Business Rates rise and reconsider its Apprenticeship Levy to provide vital support for retailers. The call comes from employers’ organisation, the CBI. New research by CBI Economics, conducted on behalf of the CBI and its retail members, reveals retail and wholesale activity is now worth £352bn a year to the UK economy. It supports one in five of the nation’s jobs, with 5.7 million people employed within the sector or its suppliers. In the North West alone, the sector is worth £35.523bn to the economy and sustains 677,027 jobs. That includes: Manchester – £4.482bn and 73,054 jobs (20% of area’s total); Liverpool – £2.241bn and 44,847 jobs (20% of area’s total). All of this adds substantial benefits to the public purse, too, with the £50bn retailers and wholesalers pay nationally in taxes enough to fund 110 new hospitals a year. Yet the fallout from COVID and war in Ukraine continues to weigh heavily on the sector, and an inflation-linked 10% Business Rates hike due in the spring risks plunging many firms into a fight for survival. A slow revaluations system also means retailers and wholesalers are already overpaying, with many facing liabilities as high as rents.