Cumbria Chamber Of Commerce Podcast

When the Lib Dem leader addressed a Chamber event in Kendal, we asked him about Brexit and other hot topics affecting business. In this podcast, Sir Vince looks at where Brexit is going, including the prospects for 'no deal' and a second referendum. He predicts that some Labour and Conservative MPs will quit their parties this year to sit as independents. And we hear his take on energy policy, including nuclear new build, productivity, the future of the high street and HS2.

Find out how food and drink businesses can get their products onto the shelves of regional supermarket chain Booths. Cumbria Business Growth Hub's Supply Chain Opportunity Club recently hosted an event with Booths where food and drink businesses were able to meet the supermarket's buying team. In this podcast, recorded at the event, Matt Bruno, Innovation Manager at Booths, explains Booths' procurement process while Eva Chua, Supply Chain Development Manager at the Growth Hub, sets out how the Growth Hub can help businesses to meet Booths' criteria. For more information on selling to Booths click here. To see how the Growth Hub can help businesses looking to sell to Booths, and other large businesses, click here.

John Scott, of Cumbria Trading Standards, looks at sensible measures businesses can take to be ready for Brexit. Click here to complete our Brexit preparedness survey. Here to access the Government’s ‘Prepare for EU Exit’ website. Here for a tool to help you prepare for EU Exit.  Here for official advice on ‘no deal’ planning. Here for the British Chambers of Commerce’s Brexit Hub. And here for advice from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.

We explore how businesses can cater for the 13m people in the UK who have a disability. They represent a market worth £249bn a year. In this podcast Julia Walker, of Lake District Mobility, talks about practical steps that businesses can take to make themselves more attractive to disabled customers and their families. Chamber Business Solutions is running a training day, ‘Collecting the Purple Pound’ at Newton Rigg, Penrith, on February 21st, 2019, when Alice Loader, of Alice Associates, will set out how to harness the spending power of disabled customers. Places cost £95 plus VAT for Chamber members or £145 plus VAT for non-members. Email catherynn@cumbriachamber.co.uk Web resources: Visit England guide to making your business accessible Access for All accessibility training for staff Changing Places disabled toilets Disability Confident scheme Shaw Trust website accessibility audit Building/grounds access audits Recite Me software for people with accessibility needs

Tiffany Solender is a successful entrepreneur who uses her knowledge and expertise to help other Cumbrian businesses sell overseas. Her company, Pogu, based at Staveley near Kendal, supplies road safety products for children to customers all over the world. In this podcast, she talks about her new role as an International Trade Adviser with the Department for International Trade and outlines the range of help available from workshops to export finance and trade missions. To find out more about the help available to exporters, click here or call Cumbria Business Growth Hub on 0844 257 84 50. To subscribe to Cumbria Chamber of Commerce podcasts click here.

Detective Superintendent Vicki Ellis of Cumbria Police explains how businesses can help to stamp out the scourge of domestic violence. Domestic abuse is endemic. Cumbria Police respond to 7,500 incidents every year, of which 4,500 are logged as crimes. In this podcast, Detective Superintendent Vicki Ellis sets out how employers can spot warning signs, which may indicate that an employee is suffering domestic abuse, and how they can support staff who are victims of abuse. For more information from Cumbria Police click here and for details of the training events for employers in Barrow, Workington and Carlisle click here. For information on the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse, click here.

David Leadbetter of Inspira explains how employers can get involved in a programme to raise the aspirations of young Cumbrians. Inspira’s Employer Mentoring Programme is designed to raise the aspirations of young people at secondary school. It is currently running in North and West Cumbria. In this podcast David Leadbetter, Contract Manager with Inspira, explains why the programme was set up, the benefits to employers who take part, how youngsters are selected for mentoring and how you can get involved. Click here to find out more about the programme.

700,000 people in the UK have autism. Sheila Gregory of Carlisle Mencap sets out how and why businesses should cater for them. Approximately 1% of the UK population have autism, around 700,000 people. That’s a large potential market for businesses to target as customers and a big pool of labour from which to recruit. Indeed, people with autism can sometimes have exceptional skills that make them very valuable employees. In this podcast, Sheila Gregory, Chief Executive of Carlisle Mencap, explains the condition and sets out simple, cost-effective measures that businesses can take to better cater for those on spectrum. Click here for information on managing an autistic employee. Click here for more on the Too Much Information campaign.

The man driving plans for a nuclear power station in West Cumbria explains his strategy to save the project.  NuGen’s £15bn plan for a nuclear power station at Moorside, next to Sellafield, would be the biggest private-sector investment Cumbria has ever seen. But the project is in trouble. NuGen’s owner Toshiba wants out while the Korean company that had been poised to replace Toshiba is having second thoughts. Currently, NuGen is shedding two-thirds of its workforce. In this podcast, NuGen’s Chief Executive Tom Samson sets out his strategy to save the Moorside project against a tight deadline. He explains why Kepco of Korea might still invest and why the Government’s proposed ‘regulated asset base’ funding model – which has been blamed for deterring Kepco – could yet be Moorside’s salvation. He makes a compelling case for a rolling programme of nuclear new build and sets out the lasting benefits that Moorside would deliver for Cumbria.

A third of SME owners face difficulties in growing their businesses. Growth Hub adviser Adrian Luckham offers practical help. Polling commissioned by the British Business Bank suggests that one-in-three business owners want to grow their businesses but are unsure how to do it. In this podcast, Adrian Luckham, one of the most experienced advisers with Cumbria Business Growth Hub, identifies the barriers that are holding businesses back and explores ways to overcome them. To find out how the Growth Hub can help your business, go to our website www.cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk or call us on 0844 257 84 50. Click here for information on financing your business, here for help on skills and training, here for advice on innovation, here for help for exporters, here for the Supply Chain Gateway and here for the Subsidy Scheme.

Many businesses use WordPress to create and manage their websites. But big changes are coming. Our digital expert Paul Teague explains. More than a quarter of all websites are created by and managed using WordPress, the most popular online publishing platform on the web. But big changes are coming. The entire interface that's used to create posts and pages is getting an overhaul. It could mean that some websites break and many users who were once confident with the platform no longer know how to use it. The Chamber’s Digital Development Manager, Paul Teague, has road tested the new interface. In this podcast he explains what is changing, what the new platform is like and what businesses can do to be ready. Paul is leading a WordPress webinar on Tuesday 2nd October from 7-8pm. To register, click here. If you're unable to attend live, don't worry. Register for the webinar anyway and we'll send out the replay video the day after. Paul will also be delivering training on the WordPress changes, at dates to be conf

Lawyer Michael Bauer explains how businesses should respond to employment tribunal claims or, better still, avoid them altogether. The number of employment tribunal claims has doubled since fees for bringing claims were abolished last year. In this podcast employment lawyer Michael Bauer, of Cumbria Employment Solicitors, explains how businesses should deal with claims, how they can minimise costs and – best of all – how to avoid claims altogether. Chamber members receive £1m worth of FREE legal expenses insurance for employment disputes as part of our Chamber Protect package. More here.

Plans to develop the former armaments depot at Broughton Moor are taking off. We meet the man behind it all, Nigel Catterson. Derwent Forest is set to become a model for sustainable living. The Derwent Forest Development Consortium has unveiled a masterplan to make the former RN armaments depot at Broughton Moor into a national exemplar for sustainable living with up to 2,000 new homes, a hotel, treehouses and lodges, tree-top skywalks, an innovation centre and more. In this podcast, Nigel Catterson, the businessman whose vision of ‘utropia’ led to the formation of the consortium, explains the thinking behind the project.

Playdale Playgrounds only began exporting in 2009 and now sells to 49 countries. MD Barry Leahey explains how they did it. The company manufactures outdoor playground equipment at Haverthwaite, near Ulverston, and sells its products across the globe. It has been so successful at exporting that it was selected as one of the Department for International Trade’s ‘Export Champions’ while Managing Director Barry Leahey received the MBE last year for ‘Services to UK trade and investment and exports’. In this podcast, Barry outlines why Playdale started exporting, how they selected target markets and overcame obstacles, and who they turned to for help. He also offers tips and advice for first-time exporters. The Chamber’s Cumbria Business Growth Hub provides a wealth of assistance to new and existing exporters, whatever their size or sector. To find out more click here or call 0844 257 84 50.

City Council leader Colin Glover on plans for 10,000 new homes, Borderlands, Carlisle Airport, the Enterprise Zone and boosting the city centre. Carlisle stands on the cusp of unprecedented growth. The proposed St Cuthbert’s Garden Village would add up to 10,000 homes, potentially increasing the population of urban Carlisle by a third. In this podcast Councillor Colin Glover, the leader of Carlisle City Council, looks at the opportunities and challenges for businesses in the years ahead. As well as the Garden Village he discusses the proposed Southern Link Road, the Enterprise Zone at Kingmoor Park, the prospects for scheduled flights from Carlisle Airport and the issues facing the city centre. He also provides an update on progress towards a Borderlands Growth Deal. 

Maria Ramsdale of FW Capital explains how the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund helps SMEs in Cumbria. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund provides loan and equity finance to SMEs that have been turned down by the banks. In this podcast, Maria Ramsdale of FW Capital, who is responsible for delivering the debt finance element in Cumbria, explains how the scheme works, who is eligible, what they can borrow and what they can use it for. To find out more about the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, email maria.ramsdale@fwcapital.co.uk or call her on 01768 213074. Click here to read how NC Training in Barrow benefited from a loan from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

Chamber Chief Executive Rob Johnston explains how businesses can hang on to older workers and bring the best out of them. By 2030, half of all adults in the UK will be aged over 50. In parts of Cumbria the proportion will be higher still. Our ‘super-ageing’ population means that the working-age population is projected to shrink by 20,000 over the next two decades, making it progressively harder for employers to recruit staff. One solution is to retain older workers for longer by persuading them to put retirement plans on hold. In this podcast Rob looks at how employers can recruit, retain and retrain older workers, and harness their skills and experience to promote business growth. The British Chambers of Commerce has worked with the Department for Work and Pensions, Aviva UK and the charity Business in the Community on materials to help employers accommodate the needs of older workers. A toolkit looks at the policies and procedures employers can put in place. There are is also a video and toolkits on specifi

Chartered financial planner David Finan looks at strategies to achieve a comfortable retirement if you’re self-employed. There are 4.8m self-employed people in the UK but fewer than a third of them are actively paying into a pension scheme. Some have other strategies to provide retirement income – perhaps selling their business to live off the proceeds or building up a portfolio of buy-to-let property – others have nothing to fall back on but the state pension. In this podcast David Finan, a chartered financial planner and managing director of the financial advice firm Jardine Finan, examines the options open to self-employed business people looking to achieve a comfortable retirement. Click here for the Unbiased website listing independent financial advisers and here for VouchedFor where users rate their adviser.

Allerdale is a great place to start a business. Some 71% of new businesses in Allerdale are still trading three years after launch, well above the national average of 61%. The high survival rate is in part explained by the pro-business stance of Allerdale Borough Council, which actively funds business support initiatives. In this podcast, Council Leader Alan Smith talks about plans for new starter workshops, the regeneration of Maryport, selling Allerdale to a wider audience, flood protection, reviving town centres and bringing the Rugby League World Cup to Workington in 2021.

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce is urging the Bank of England to think carefully before raising interest rates. We delivered that message in person when Sir Jon Cunliffe, the Bank’s Deputy Governor for financial stability, spoke at a Chamber lunch in Kendal last week. Sir Jon is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, which voted by 6-3 in June to leave rates unchanged at 0.5%. It meets again on August 2, when many commentators expect an increase to 0.75%. Chamber Chief Executive Rob Johnston said: “We told him that a rate rise in August could damage businesses by making borrowing more expensive at a time when many are already struggling to cope with rising costs. “I’m pleased to report that we were pushing at an open door. Sir Jon shares our concerns and is cautious about an early rate increase.” In this podcast, Sir Jon explains the Bank’s stance on interest rates and ponders why pay inflation and business investment have been sluggish despite growth in the economy and falling unemployment. Click here to re