Business News

The Chancellor held a virtual roundtable with small businesses to launch Help to Grow: Digital, designed to support smaller businesses adopt new tech to help them thrive.

Rishi Sunak hosted the call with over 30 businesses from across the UK at CineBowl in Uttoxeter on January 20th to mark the launch of the scheme, where he spoke to people on a big screen about their experiences before taking part in a Q&A session. The scheme includes a dedicated website providing free advice and support and software vouchers to boost productivity and help businesses grow.

Covid-19 has cost businesses in Birmingham city centre 46 weeks’ worth of potential takings since March 2020. This is according to Cities Outlook 2022 – Centre for Cities’ annual economic assessment of the UK’s largest urban areas.

Birmingham’s lost sales are the biggest of any city or town centre in the West Midlands and the second biggest in the country after London.

Research revealed today shows 80% of Birmingham residents would do something differently around environmental issues to contribute towards saving the planet if they could go back in time

Forty three percent (43%) of respondents in Birmingham stated they would recycle more if they could turn back the clock. 

As the nation waits with bated breath for the Sue Grey report that will either damn or exonerate Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a request has gone in to find out exactly how much booze was being drunk in Downing Street.

A national waste and recycling company is going where no investigative journalist has gone before, and has submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to find out the truth.

The Government has been shown first-hand how the region’s nationally leading brownfield regeneration programme is bringing one of the biggest derelict sites in the West Midlands back to life.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and Cllr Mike Bird, leader of Walsall Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) portfolio holder for housing and land, joined cabinet minister Oliver Dowden to see work get underway on the Phoenix 10 development in Walsall.

Businesses are being encouraged to mark the New Year by pledging to support the West Midlands’ drive to become a net zero region by 2041. And to help make the move towards a carbon free future, 100 small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are also being offered sponsored access to Zellar, the UK’s first one-stop sustainability online platform.

The Net Zero Business Pledge was launched by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) in 2021 to provide practical help for businesses and other organisations who want to fight climate change by cutting their carbon emissions and making a faster transition to net zero.

More than 50 projects to improve road, rail, tram, bus, cycling and walking routes across the region have been agreed by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Board. The list of preferred schemes will now be submitted to the DfT for final approval, after which the full list will be published.

The wide-ranging plans include more than 100km of new segregated cycle routes, 50km of bus lanes and priority measures, a new railway station at Aldridge and the UK’s first very light rail line in Coventry City Centre.

With more weddings than ever planned this year, it’s no surprise that engaged couples are looking for ways their big day can stand out from the rest. Wedding expert Lisa Forde, who founded leading wedding stationery favourites Tree of Hearts, said 2022 will be a monumental year for love. 

“It’s going to be a huge year for the wedding industry,” Lisa says. “Traditionally popular dates for a wedding have been Thursday through to Sunday, but this year we’re seeing more and more weddings planned for every day of the week as venues get booked up following postponements from the last two years. 

Global cyber security firm CSS Assure has appointed Doug Lucktaylor as head of information security.

The newly-created role will see Doug – who has more than 20 years’ experience in the IT and security space – lead and build CSS Assure’s cyber security and data protection team, as well as work closely with the directors to develop the company’s business strategy.

Are you one of the 1 in 4 sleepers that are kept awake at night by your partner’s snoring? Or are you in the 10% of the nation that wake themselves up with their own snoring? If you, or your other half, consider yourself a certified snorer, Silentnight may have just the job for you. 

While snorers are usually snubbed for their noisy night-time habits, the UK’s most trusted sleep brand is on the hunt for five serious snorers to test their sleep products in 2022 – being paid a cash prize of £300 in return!

Leading engineering firm adi Group has made a key appointment to its senior management team to lead its sustained growth plan.  

Paul Smith, whose near-30-year career includes delivering world-scale projects across the globe, joins the Birmingham-based multidisciplinary organisation from Wood PLC, where he led its Circular Economy, Green Mobility, FMCG and Life Sciences businesses in EMEA. 

National law firm Clarke Willmott LLP has become the first client-servicing solicitor firm to gain a CICMQ quality accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM). The CICMQ is the credit management industry’s accreditation for Best Practice, providing formal recognition for commitment to quality, continuous improvement and best practice in all things credit.

Businesses across Dudley borough can apply for grants of up to £6,000 under the latest support for leisure and hospitality industries which have been hit by Covid. Dudley Council is handing out the grants over the next few weeks.

It is the latest helping hand for borough businesses after more than £100 million in financial support has been given by the council since the start of the pandemic. 

Anne Shaw has been appointed as executive director of Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) having led the organisation on an interim basis for the past six months.

She brings vast experience working in the region’s transport sector and will be expected to see current major infrastructure projects through to completion as well as oversee delivery of a further £1.3 billion investment over the next five years.

Sovereign wealth funds are the latest class of investors increasingly focusing on sustainability-centred products. The involvement comes as investors continue to push asset managers to focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) products.

According to data acquired by Finbold, sovereign wealth funds investments in the ESG space globally surged 215.27% between 2020 and 2021, from $7.2 billion to $22.7 billion. Over the same period, the number of deals increased from 19 to 37.

HS2 trains will be powered by zero carbon energy from day one of operation, offering a cleaner alternative to long distance car journeys and domestic flights, while supporting the government’s 2050 target to tackle climate change.

This commitment will play a key part in HS2 Ltd’s aim to make the project net zero carbon from 2035, with targets of diesel-free construction sites and major reductions in carbon emissions from the steel and concrete used to build the railway.