End of the road

APA has applauded the business secretary's attempt to 'reduce the burden of the employment system and create a more flexible labour market.

In announcing his measures APA feels Vince Cable has given companies more flexibility and confidence in managing their workforce and helped to reduce employment law red tape, including support for settlement agreements aimed to end employment relationships in a 'fair and consensual' way.

APA says, 'Ending a employment relationship is always a last resort, but is at times necessary to protect all involved. Better to create an environment where all parties reach an agreement and part equitably than to soldier with one party or both being unhappy. Companies need to be confident that they can offer an employee a settlement to end the relationship without fear of future action.

APA supports moves by the government to make the process of offering a settlement easier to navigate.”

APA

Better broadland to boost business opportunity

The Government has pledged £114m towards its stated aim to make the UK the fastest place in Europe by 2015 in terms of broadband. It has been revealed how this funding is to be divided up between the UK’s top cities.

The money is to be used to build city-wide networks, offering homes and businesses speeds of up to 100Mbps. London will receive the largest chunk of £25m, followed by Leeds and Bradford, who will receive £14.4m between them. Belfast, Manchester, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Newcastle will each receive substantial payments, and a further £50m is to be awarded to ten smaller cities.

Award-winning UK tech entrepreneur Dan Wagner, who has built four global multi-million pound tech companies and recently launched a new service which is empowering companies to take payments for their services on mobile phones, said: “Anything that helps set the right conditions for UK entrepreneurs to start new tech businesses is to be welcomed. The UK is a hotbed of entrepreneurial spirit, but I know from my own experience that this is simply not enough to succeed. Much more could be done to help budding entrepreneurs and start up businesses, in particular in the tech field.”

Gareth Osborne, whose doctorate reflects his many years working in the high-tech business start-up arena warned that: “I totally support and agree with Dan but offer a word of caution. While it is possible for everyone to be entrepreneurial and start a business, spirit isn’t enough alone. Entrepreneurs have to have talent, guts, determination, a willingness to make and take a calculated risk and good financial backing; especially if they do well. Too few do have these components and too many fail. Government should concentrate on backing the package.

APA will offer help and guidance to all PA members looking to explore their entrepreneurial side.

APA

And we are back ..

The last 10 days have been tortuous with the website down and Members calling for updates and having little to say. We thank everyone (well, almost everyone) for being so understanding and giving us room to get it sorted; after all it was our first 'system failure' in five year! - and during the busy Office* period as well. I'll tell you more tomorrow. For now - all systems are go!

Gareth, APA

APA supports Cable

Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced a new business bank as part of the coalition's latest plank of its industrial strategy but APA feels it is another desperate attempt to bypass the broken British banking system which it believes remains one of the major obstacles to economic recovery.

The plan is meant to result in a surge of new loans to small businesses; yet net lending continued to fall, and it remains the lender of last resort just like the long standing Loan Guarantee Scheme – which has failed miserably. Past experience suggests the new institution will be hemmed in by tight financial restrictions imposed by a nervous Treasury and many believe government should definitely not get involved in banking at all. But Cable and his Ministerial team recognise something must be done to stimulate growth in the financial sector and APA applauds its commitment to be brave..

A new report by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) suggests that £40bn would be the minimum size worth bothering with if the new bank is to make a serious difference to the economy, and urges the Treasury to allow it to raise funds on capital markets to boost its lending power to £100bn.

APA’s Gareth Osborne sees the new bank as a positive solution to some of Britain's long-term economic problems but not a rapid cure for the immediate slump. “It could help to boost investment levels which remain far too low in the UK; when compared to international rivals. And a state-backed bank could take a more long-sighted approach than small firms are accustomed to seeing from risk-averse high street lenders, with their uncompromising computerised loan models and centralised decision making and poor local management.”

So Mr. Cable is to be encouraged for floating the idea, and we wish him luck as he tries to persuade the Treasury to be bold; but it also serves to underline the unfortunate truth that Britain's banking system is failing and it must be brought into line if real growth is to return.

APA

We’re back … and in time for Office*

After a weekend of hugely frustrating downtime the APA website is up and running and thankfully no damage has been done. Our data remains perfectly secure and everything within our 3450 pages of PA best practice and knowledge is waiting for you to access.

If you are coming to Office* make sure you come and see us on Stand 4001.

APA

Don't you just love technology?

A message to all APA Members and our friends from Gareth Osborne

At the moment we have a major technology crisis which has resulted in the website shutting down – we don’t yet know why. We have a failsafe system built into our online presence to protect members’ data and we believe this may have cut in. We have no reason to believe any data has been compromised however, it is enormously frustrating; especially in Office* week, when we are hoping to recruit a huge amount of interest in our site. We will keep you apprised of progress and hope to be back to our usual high visibility within days.

Gareth, APA

Beware the Ides of September

September is the most popular month to go on holiday, research by a professional body reveals. Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents indicated that September is the most desired month, followed by August (17%) and then June and July (both 13.6%).

Other interesting findings have shown that almost half (47%) are planning to go on a beach vacation, followed by an activity-based holiday (21%). A third (34%) of respondents said that their next holiday destination is in the UK, followed by the USA (11%), Spain (7.4%) and then France (6.7%). Sadly, however, one in six (16%) said they have no holiday planned in 2012.

In some places in Europe, like Italy, many businesses close down for the month of August to limit absences at other busier times.

Gareth Osborne of APA said: “With so manypeople predicted to take time off in September, organisations need to ensure that they have contingency plans in place. This problem has been exasperated in 2012 by the extended summer of celebrations keeping people at home. It is possible that September could see a significant reduction in staff force productivity.”

APA