With this Campaign for Welsh Business, the Chambers of Commerce from across .... Help every business to have an effectiv
CAMPAIGN FOR WELSH BUSINESS 2015-2020 LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY
CONTENTS 4
Introduction
5
Our Priorities
6
Transport Network
8
Communication
10
Skills
12
Business Ambition
14
Helping Businesses Thrive
16
Energy
18
Exports
20
Governance of Wales
22
Contacts
4
INTRODUCTION
CAMPAIGN FOR WELSH BUSINESS Laying the Foundations for a Sustainable Economy
Graham Morgan Director, South & Mid Wales Chambers of Commerce
According to a wide range of measures, Wales’ economy lags behind most of the United Kingdom’s. This needs to change. The private sector fully appreciates that change will not happen overnight. It will take time to build an economy that not only matches the UK average, but exceeds it. Before the Welsh economy can grow we, the business community, government and society at large, need to put in the groundwork. This work, to lay the foundations on which a sustainable economy can be built, needs to start now and continue through the next Parliamentary and Assembly terms. With this Campaign for Welsh Business, the Chambers of Commerce from across Wales have come together to set out what our members see as priorities for government, business and communities throughout Wales over the next five years.
Colin Brew Executive Director, West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce
In formulating our plans we have consulted with businesses in all four corners of Wales and with other organisations campaigning on the issues we raise. The variety of perspectives and expert opinions we received in our consultations have been built into this document, such that the Chambers of Commerce in Wales can state with absolute certainty that our campaign truly and accurately represents the needs and wishes of the Welsh business community.
Key Priorities: • Building the Transport Network for the future • Developing Communication for the modern world • Improving the Skills of the current and future workforce • Encouraging Business Ambition amongst Wales’ people • Helping today’s Businesses Thrive • Securing Wales’ Energy needs • Increasing how much Wales Exports to the rest of the world • Getting the Governance of Wales right
Introduce exposure in schools to the world of business and enterprise.
Our campaign aims to develop a skilled and able workforce across all sectors, allowing our businesses, and in turn the economy of Wales, to grow and thrive.
SKILLS
Consider opportunities and potential risks for the Welsh economy of the reorganisation of local government and creation of City Regions.
GOVERNANCE
Ensure businesses can talk to each other instantly, whether in the next valley or other side of the globe.
Our campaign aims to provide Welsh businesses with access to cutting-edge communication technologies and the knowledge to use them effectively.
COMMUNICATION
We need a climate where more young people have the ambition to run their own business.
Secure appropriate energy supply to meet Wales’ energy needs.
Our campaign aims to encourage and support growth of the private sector by fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and offering assistance to businesses starting up.
Develop a global ‘Wales’ brand to open doors for Welsh businesses in international markets.
Look to the rest of the world for sustainable sources of growth and develop Wales’ export base.
EXPORTS
A network that puts moving people and goods at its heart and recognises different transport demands throughout Wales.
Our campaign aims to develop a transport network that supports the needs of Welsh businesses.
TRANSPORT
Help businesses reduce their energy costs and consider how they can fit into the supply chain of large-scale energy developments.
ENERGY
BUSINESS AMBITION
The best foundation for economic sustainability in the future is ensuring successful businesses today.
Our campaign aims to support businesses by making it easier for them to access advice and finance, and removing artificial obstacles put in their way.
HELPING BUSINESSES THRIVE
6
TRANSPORT NETWORK
BUILDING THE TRANSPORT NETWORK FOR THE FUTURE Our campaign aims to develop a transport network that supports the needs of Welsh businesses. A sustainable economy needs a transport network that puts moving people and goods at its heart and recognises that the transport demands in various parts of Wales differ substantially. The scale of the challenge facing Wales when it comes to transport infrastructure should not be underestimated. A large number of business leaders right across Wales tell us that they do not feel that the current transport system supports the needs of Welsh businesses. This problem is compounded by the timescales for planning infrastructure and the cost involved with some of the larger projects. However, the granting of borrowing powers to the Welsh Government and the devolution of tax to the National Assembly will give Wales the opportunity to overcome some of the financial difficulties of the past and lay the foundations for some of these essential projects.
TRANSPORT NETWORK
7
TO BUILD THE TRANSPORT NETWORK FOR THE FUTURE, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • Deliver promised road and rail schemes such as the M4 Relief Road around Newport, the Cardiff Capital Metro and the electrification of the Swansea to London and North Wales mainlines – to give businesses and investors confidence that improvements are on their way. • D evelop detailed plans and begin work on additional transport infrastructure schemes such as upgrading the A55 to a motorway, constructing the Trans-Cambrian Expressway, improving road and rail links into West Wales and improving the M4 around Port Talbot – so that plans are in place to continuously improve the network in Wales. • Create a national transport body for Wales, independent of all levels of government, to decide on transport infrastructure priorities and coordinate transport planning across the country – so that decisions on transport are based on expert analysis and the long-term strategic interests of Wales rather than short-term politics and parochialism. • Increase pedestrian and cycling provision so that no place of work is inaccessible by foot or bicycle - with new routes meeting the standards set out in the Design Guidance accompanying the Active Travel Act. • Create a trial Bus Service Improvement Area in a part of rural Wales – testing ways of improving bus services for people living or working in rural areas with the aim of rolling it out across the country. • Introduce statutory standards for service information on bus stops – ensuring that passengers get good quality information wherever they are in Wales. • Create a Green Bus Fund for Wales - to support bus companies to buy new low-carbon buses. • Attract more flights from Cardiff Airport, particularly to hub airports opening up more routes for Welsh business travellers and inbound tourists. Targeted inbound carrier flights would be the early priority to link with Visit Wales’ strategy.
8
COMMUNICATION
DEVELOPING COMMUNICATION FOR THE MODERN WORLD Our campaign aims to provide Welsh businesses with access to cuttingedge communication technologies and the knowledge to use them effectively. Wales is a land of mountains and valleys, which has traditionally made communication difficult. However, in a modern sustainable economy communication is the key to success. In today’s world businesses need to be able to talk to each other instantly, whether they are in the next valley or on the other side of the globe. The introduction of superfast broadband across Wales goes some way towards laying the communication foundations that are needed but it is not enough on its own. The world of communications is constantly upgrading. However, too many businesses are not using today’s technologies to their full advantage let alone planning for what opportunities may come in the future. This needs to change if Wales is to compete on a global platform.
COMMUNICATION
9
TO DEVELOP THE COMMUNICATIONS NEEDED FOR THE MODERN WORLD, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • Ensure that at the end of the current roll-out every business in Wales is able to access superfast broadband – every business will then have access to the technology needed to help their business. • Work with business owners to maximise the take-up of the latest communication-based services and technologies – involving the business community to make sure that all businesses in Wales make the most of the opportunities digital connectivity can offer. • Help every business to have an effective website – making businesses visible to potential customers around the world. • Enable people to get a mobile phone connection, with access to 4G, wherever they are in Wales – so that people doing business in rural Wales are not put at a disadvantage. • Assist every business, particularly those in the tourism and hospitality sectors, to provide free Wi-Fi to their staff and customers – making it easier for people to access the internet while on the go. • Ensure every business is able to access training for staff on modern communication methods – enabling businesses to make the most out of the technology they have access to. • Help businesses protect themselves from cybercrime – by raising awareness of the potential problems and ensuring that businesses can access the tools needed to protect themselves.
10 SKILLS
IMPROVING THE SKILLS OF THE CURRENT AND FUTURE WORKFORCE Our campaign aims to develop a skilled and able workforce across all sectors, allowing our businesses, and in turn the economy of Wales, to grow and thrive. The most important foundation for any economy is the skills and talents of its people. Our businesses can only perform as well as the people that start, run and work in them. For businesses to succeed they need access to a quality ‘pipeline’ of young people entering the labour market for the first time and the tools to improve the skills of existing employees. While every business is different and needs different skills, businesses across all sectors tell us that they are finding the basic skills of language and numeracy lacking in a high number of job applicants. We need schools, colleges and universities that prepare young people for employment, work with businesses to address skill shortages and equip the next generation to start and sustain the enterprises of tomorrow.
SKILLS
11
TO IMPROVE THE SKILLS OF THE CURRENT AND FUTURE WORKFORCE, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • Put in place a national workplace basic skills training programme that every adult can access – this would improve the language and numeracy skills of the current workforce and those looking for work. This could be delivered through remote access. • Carry out a thorough future workplace skills review, in partnership with the private sector, and use it to create a new National Curriculum in Welsh schools – making sure that what is taught in our schools supports the needs of businesses in the future. • R eview the qualifications gained by Welsh pupils to ensure that they are meaningful to employers – making sure that Welsh pupils leave school with qualifications that are understood and valued. • Ensure secondary schools are assessed on employment outcomes to improve the way in which young people are prepared for the world of work – focusing schools not just on ‘teaching to the test’, but also on developing the employability and life skills needed to get into and get on in the workplace. • Introduce young enterprise schemes in all secondary schools – ensuring all pupils leave school with high-quality exposure to the world of business and enterprise. • Promote enterprise modules for all higher and further education students – giving students the opportunity to build up their knowledge of business during academic and vocational studies, helping them prepare for work or to set up their own firms. • Drastically improve Wales’ rankings in the international PISA test results – putting Welsh children on the same footing as children from other countries.
12 BUSINESS AMBITION
ENCOURAGING BUSINESS AMBITION AMONGST WALES’ PEOPLE Our campaign aims to encourage and support the growth of the private sector by fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and offering assistance to businesses starting up. The Welsh people have the potential to create, grow and lead worldbeating companies. However, in order for this to happen, a new sense of entrepreneurism needs to move across Wales. At the moment Wales is heavily reliant on public sector jobs and increasingly reliant on jobs supported by the public sector. This holds back our economy and is not sustainable. The foundations we need are a climate where more young people leave education with the ambition of running their own business, students in our universities develop the products that are at the centre of future companies and no-one is held back from starting their own business because of their background. Through doing this we will increase the number of private sector jobs in the future and create the dynamic economy that is needed to sustain us in the future.
BUSINESS AMBITION 13
TO ENCOURAGE BUSINESS AMBITION AMONGST WALES’ PEOPLE, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • Set-up a ‘National Entrepreneurial Challenge’ competition, open to groups of people of all ages – giving people a chance to ‘have a go’ and catch the entrepreneurial bug. • Properly fund a high-quality apprenticeship scheme with wages that are not just set at a minimum wage level – enabling apprentices to work in highly-paid jobs when qualified. • Improve the current support structures and funding opportunities for people looking to start their own businesses – accompanied by a campaign to promote the benefits of entrepreneurship to entice today’s employees to become tomorrow’s employers. • Work with financial and advice providers to ensure that those dealing with individuals starting a business are representative of the population at large – providing would-be business owners with a wide range of personalities and life experiences that they can identify with and learn from as they start on their entrepreneurial journey. • O ffer greater maternity/paternity support and childcare provision to working parents – enabling all people in Wales, particularly those who are self-employed or based in rural areas, to combine their family and work commitments effectively and without unnecessary stress. • Bring Welsh universities and businesses closer together to generate ideas and collaborate on projects that will boost the Welsh economy – by combining the creativity and innovative capacity of our universities with the experience and ideas of Welsh business, products and new technology will be developed that will improve productivity and put Wales on the map.
14 HELPING BUSINESSES THRIVE
HELPING TODAY’S BUSINESSES THRIVE Our campaign aims to support existing businesses by making it easier for them to access advice and finance and removing artificial obstacles put in their way. The best foundation for economic sustainability in the future is ensuring successful businesses today. Many smaller, younger and higher-growth businesses find it hard to access the funding they need to grow and too many businesses are telling us that they find it so difficult to navigate the myriad of support options available that they often do not access any of them. Businesses are also increasingly complaining about the burden of taxes and regulations from government.
14
HELPING BUSINESSES THRIVE 15
TO HELP TODAY’S BUSINESSES THRIVE, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • Lower business rates – to foster a business-friendly climate in Wales that
will attract overseas investors as well as support Welsh SMEs and start-ups.
• C reate a National Bank of Wales as a private sector driven bank, run with the sole aim of assisting Welsh businesses – putting economic development and not shareholder profit at the heart of its decision-making. • Widely advertise the support packages available to businesses, whether advisory or financial – ensuring that businesses and individuals understand the options available to them. • Create a national crowd funding and peer-to-peer scheme – giving businesses access to alternative sources of funding. • Reduce the number of restrictions on which businesses can receive support – allowing all businesses to thrive rather than the government managing the process. • Create a truly integrated and single market in public sector procurement – building on the success of Sell2Wales by mandating all public-sector organisations to follow a single set of principles when buying goods and services and eliminating duplication in information requirements on bidders. • Increase SME participation in procurement by making it easier for consortia to compete for large public sector contracts – removing the substantial hurdles small businesses face when coming together to compete with larger providers. • C ompel a shift in local public sector procurement towards adding economic value to the area and away from a narrow focus on the lowest spreadsheet cost – making government procurement play a larger role in promoting business and employment at a local level. • Enforce mandatory engagement standards for local government and agencies on public procurement – ensuring procurement bodies frequently and meaningfully engage local business communities on upcoming opportunities. • Carry out a full review of regulations and red tape imposed by the Welsh Government with the intention of streamlining processes – reducing the burdens placed on Welsh businesses in order to give them the space to develop.
16 ENERGY
SECURING WALES’ ENERGY NEEDS Our campaign aims to secure the energy supply needed to meet Wales’ energy needs and to maximise the economic benefit of new energy technologies. Ensuring that we have the energy supply to keep the lights on is one of the biggest challenges we face in the UK over the next decade. Wales already produces more energy than it consumes but, with its unique landscape and natural resources, has the potential to play a greater role in meeting the energy challenge of the future. Around Wales we are seeing a number of sustainable energy projects being developed. These need to be supported so that the maximum number of projects come to fruition. Developing energy projects not only helps secure our energy needs but helps us build a foundation of skills, knowledge and technology that can be exported by Welsh businesses to the rest of the world.
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ENERGY 17
TO SECURE WALES’ ENERGY NEEDS, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • Fully support the building of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon and bring forward plans for other tidal projects around Wales’ coast – putting Wales at the forefront of tidal energy developments. • Create an independently managed, central fund for all community benefit funding deriving from renewable energy projects – allowing monies to be pooled together to fund larger infrastructure and economic development projects. • Make grants (or loans repayable from savings on bills) available for businesses and owners of business premises to install on-site microgeneration such as solar panels and wind turbines – helping businesses reduce their energy costs as well as helping the environment. • Ensure that local businesses are consulted and involved in the development of any large-scale energy projects – to enable local businesses to consider how they can feed in to the supply chain, particularly with projects that will have a major impact on the local area such as Wylfa Newydd. Also the supply chain into Hinkley Point Power Station needs to be explored. • Work with universities to develop innovative technologies that can be used to generate energy in the future – helping to produce energy here and around the world. • Consider wider economic benefits, such as employment and supply chain, when deciding on Wales’ future energy strategy – making sure that decisions are not simply taken on cost.
18 EXPORTS
INCREASING HOW MUCH WALES EXPORTS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD Our campaign aims to open up the world to Welsh businesses, providing them with the support needed to access more customers in different markets. Focusing Wales’ economy on more sustainable sources of growth is essential for our long-term growth. Developing Wales’ export base, both through more intensive and more firsttime exporting, must be a top priority for any future government. Companies that export grow faster than those that do not. Additionally, exporters are considered to be more innovative and more adept at developing new products and services. Breaking into new overseas markets allows companies to expand and create more jobs. Welsh businesses, however, need to gain the confidence to trade in new markets. The foundations for more international trade need to be laid by removing barriers and improving business knowledge and confidence both now and in the future.
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EXPORTS 19
TO INCREASE HOW MUCH WALES EXPORTS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • G row the confidence of Welsh businesses to look beyond our borders – removing the barriers that many businesses feel are stopping them accessing new markets. • Create a new arm’s-length International Business Organisation with more input from internationally active businesses – focusing on delivering the support that exporters need in a timescale that is essential for them to ‘seal the deal’. • D evelop a ‘Wales’ brand around the world – so that ‘made in Wales’ is recognised for its quality across the world and opens doors for Welsh businesses in international markets. • R eview the current trade missions programme with the intention of designing it around the needs of Welsh businesses – engaging with internationally active businesses to develop an attractive programme and a support package for Welsh businesses that have never been on a trade mission before. • Make foreign language learning compulsory from ages seven to sixteen – supporting more young people to ‘think global’ and acquire knowledge, skills and problem-solving abilities that are highly valued by exporters. • Continue membership of the European Union but encourage the EU Commission to pursue meaningful reform – trading with EU countries is the first step for many businesses looking to export their goods and services. To leave the European Union would create uncertainty in world markets, complicate relationships between Welsh businesses and their European customers and discourage businesses from exporting for the first time.
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20 GOVERNANCE OF WALES
GETTING THE GOVERNANCE OF WALES RIGHT Our campaign aims to get the devolution settlement for Wales and the government structures within Wales right for developing a sustainable economy. The United Kingdom is changing. The Scottish independence referendum has raised questions over the future of devolution. More powers are going to be devolved from Westminster to the National Assembly and Welsh Government. Within Wales the structures of local government are being re-organised. Businesses tell us that they support decisions regarding the Welsh economy being taken in Wales, and devolution brings with it massive potential to design what happens in Wales around the needs of Wales, its people and its businesses. However we need to get the arrangements right as devolution can also bring risks that we need to be ready to overcome.
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GOVERNANCE OF WALES 21
TO GET THE GOVERNANCE OF WALES RIGHT, THE NEXT WELSH AND UK GOVERNMENTS MUST: • Reconsider the recommendation of the Williams Commission on local government boundary reform and reorganise local government to take account of travel to work areas and City Regions – aligning boundaries to the way real people live their lives. • Introduce a fair funding system across the nations and regions of the United Kingdom where decisions on the amount of money each area receives is decided on need and not predicated on spending in England – getting rid of the outdated Barnett Formula. • Use the devolution of tax-varying powers effectively but cautiously – not see it as a ‘cash-cow’ that will put businesses off investing in Wales. • E ncourage action from the City Regions created in South Wales - the City Regions bring an opportunity to get things done but there is currently uncertainty within the business community about what is happening. • Create a regional approach to economic development in Mid and North Wales - so that the economic development of communities in these regions is not seen in isolation from each other. • W ork together, whatever their political colour, for the benefit of Wales – laying the foundations for a sustainable economy in Wales goes beyond political rivalries. Politicians need to work together and work with people and businesses in Wales to achieve our common goal of making Wales a prosperous and thriving nation.
22 CONTACTS
THE WALES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NETWORK South Wales Chamber of Commerce Head Office: Orion Suite, Enterprise Way Newport, NP20 2AQ www.southwaleschamber.co.uk T: 01633 242720 E:
[email protected] Mid Wales Chamber of Commerce The Business Unit, Coleg Powys Llanidloes Road Newtown, SY16 4HU www.midwaleschamber.co.uk T: 01686 628024 E:
[email protected] West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce Riverside Innovation Centre 1 Castle Drive Chester, CH1 1SL www.wcnwchamber.org.uk T: 01244 669988 E:
[email protected] 