Business News Round Up (25/09/2025)
Scottish SMEs to take centre stage in UK export drive
Small business exporters and ambitious SMEs across Scotland will lead a new Edinburgh roadshow, offering tailored support from the UK Government to get more small firms exporting across the financial, professional, and business services sectors. The Made in the UK, Sold to the World roadshow event will offer SMEs the opportunity to directly connect with commercial officers, international buyers, and ‘export champions’, providing them with advice and support around realistic export opportunities. Boosting exports is a key part of the Government’s plan to drive economic growth, with official stats showing businesses that exports are over a quarter more productive than businesses that don’t and pay 7% higher wages. According to the Government, each roadshow is focused on one of the eight key growth-driving sectors identified in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy to channel support to areas with the highest potential to create jobs, boost productivity and grow the economy.
https://www.digit.fyi/scottish-smes-to-take-centre-stage-in-uk-export-drive
Barclays report highlights opportunity for £60 billion boost per year to UK economy through increased investment by SMEs
In a new report published today, Barclays’ analysis shows that if UK SMEs were to invest at rates in line with larger companies, £60 billion of new investment could be unleashed per year into the UK economy. In 2024, UK business investment reached a record level, and in the first half of 2025, business investment grew 3% year-on-year. At present though, larger companies are driving investment in the UK, while SMEs lag in both confidence and capital spending. Yet, SMEs represent 52% of national turnover and 60% of employment, meaning that even incremental increases in average investment rates by SMEs could have a sizeable economic impact for the UK overall. According to Barclays Business Prosperity Index data for Q2 2025, 53% of SMEs intend to increase investment in the next 12 months, compared to 67% of large companies over the same period.
Apprenticeships reform ‘would ease skills gap’
Ministers cannot afford to miss the opportunity to reform the way apprenticeships are delivered in Scotland, says business leaders. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Scottish Chambers of Commerce and CBI Scotland have raised concerns over the delivery of training. The chambers and CBI are concerned about plans to switch responsibility for apprenticeships, while the FSB believes the system needs to be modernised as it is failing to deliver for many smaller employers, school leavers and older workers looking to upskill. The Scottish Parliament will debate the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill on Thursday which could help reshape post-school training. Guy Hinks, FSB Scotland chair, said: “The way apprenticeships are being delivered in Scotland simply does not work for many smaller employers. The system for providing training opportunities has failed to keep pace with the changing needs of the Scottish economy.”
Power growth and boost young people’s life chances with investment and reforms to further education, MPs tell Government
The House of Commons Education Committee has laid out a blueprint for how the Government should spread prosperity and achieve its mission of economic growth by investing in the further education (FE) and skills sector. The report concludes that the sector has been starved of funding and overlooked for over a decade, despite a growing consensus about the importance of strengthening vocational and technical education and the need for services to support students’ wellbeing. The further education and skills sector is critical to the delivery of each of the Government’s missions and it needs investment to deliver. The sector has been chronically underfunded for 15 years and the disparity between the typical salaries of teachers in FE and secondary schools is now 15%. This has contributed to a crisis in retention and recruitment of staff and a feeling that FE is undervalued.