Business News Round Up (11/03/2021)
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UK food manufacturers face fresh hit from Brexit red tape
UK food manufacturers are facing millions of pounds in extra costs because of Brexit red tape from next month when the European Commission introduces new layers of bureaucracy on food imports, the industry has warned. The new EU legislation covering multi-ingredient products, ranging from chocolate bars to curry sauces, is expected to increase the volume of UK export health certificates required to send food to the EU by up to one-third, industry associations warned. The additional paperwork, which will be required from April 21, will also lead to more problems in operating the Northern Ireland Protocol as it will increase the levels of checks on food products moving from Great Britain across the Irish Sea, which under the terms of the Brexit divorce deal are required to comply with EU customs rules.
https://www.ft.com/content/154f32d8-8185-4f78-aee5-d12d28a0e828
Private and public sector investment ‘crucial to Scotland’s post-pandemic recovery’
Private investors must work more collaboratively with financial institutions and governments to ensure the right funding is directed towards growth businesses. That’s according to one of UK and Ireland’s most active investors, BGF, which says growth businesses have an urgent role to play in Scotland’s post-pandemic economic recovery. There are more than 21,000 growth economy businesses in the UK – revenues between £2.5m and £100m – and around 1,200 of these firms are based in Scotland. Patrick Graham, head of BGF in central Scotland, said that the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that form the backbone of the UK economy have struggled during the last 12 months. “There’s no one quick fix to the problems, so it will have to be an array of solutions,” he stated, noting the Scottish National Investment Bank, furlough scheme and wider economic support. “But there is a gap and there’s more that needs to be done.”
https://www.insider.co.uk/incoming/private-public-sector-investment-crucial-23643376
New tech business launched every half an hour in the UK in 2020 despite Covid
Proving that out of adversity can come opportunity, almost 20,000 entrepreneurs started new tech businesses in the UK last year, according to Government figures, as business births across the entire economy boomed in the final months of 2020. Job creation from the tech sector is also growing rapidly, with live vacancies of 116,000 seen in the first week in March, representing a recovery to pre-pandemic levels. Data analysed by Tech Nation for the Department of Digital, Culture Media and Sport, based on figures from the Office of National Statistics and Companies House, shows that between January and December 2020, 19,465 new businesses were registered in the Information and Communication sector. This sector covers software development and applications, web building, computer programming and consultancy.
Open source software worth up to £43bn to UK economy, report
A report by OpenUK estimates the total value of open source software to the UK Exchequer to be between £29.5 billion £43.2 billion, ahead of all other countries in Europe. The State of Open Report for 2021 published by OpenUK, a charity dedicated to supporting open-source technologies in the UK, finds that the UK has gone from being an open source laggard a few years ago to the leading country in Europe. Open source usage continues to grow at 28.6 per cent year-on-year. The top three drivers for open source adoption in the UK are cloud, customers requesting open source in a way they did not a few years ago and developer demand – software developers and engineers overwhelmingly prefer the open source mix and match model. The report features case studies from Lloyds and Barclays banks which emphasise the importance of community development and collaboration at the core of the open source model for both security and speed to market for innovations.
https://www.computing.co.uk/news/4028309/open-source-software-worth-gbp43bn-uk-economy-report