Latest news
A round up of business news including; information on new support services, grant funding, success stories, advice and information and dates for your diary.
SWMAS Manufacturing Barometer Quarterly Survey
02 May 2018
SWMAS Manufacturing Barometer Quarterly Survey SWMAS want to hear the views and opinions of senior leaders to map the confidence; trends and opinions of the Sector. This quarter, with global trade very much in the news, SWMAS are looking at export intentions and what businesses need to do if they want to grow through increasing export
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HotSW LEP’s new CEX announced
01 May 2018
The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership is delighted to announce its new chief executive, David Ralph, who will be starting on 4 June, taking over from the outgoing Chief Executive, Chris Garcia, who is retiring after leading the LEP for the last five years. David brings high calibre expertise to this role,
Read moreNew Productivity Strategy for the HotSW LEP Area
30 April 2018
Representatives from 23 organisations across Devon and Somerset agreed steps to drive up productivity at the first meeting of the Heart of the South West (HotSW) Joint Committee on Friday 23 March. The inaugural meeting of the Joint Committee unanimously endorsed the Productivity Strategy that has been taking shape over the last two years and
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NEW, dedicated GDPR advice helpline for small organisations
24 April 2018
The ICO has set-up a dedicated advice helpline for smaller businesses and charities as they work towards GDPR compliance by 25 May 2018. The phone service is aimed at people running small businesses or charities. To access the new service dial the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113 and select option 4 to be diverted to staff who can offer support.
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Arable farmers and young most likely to use business tools
16 April 2018
More farmers are preparing detailed budgets and turning to tools like benchmarking to help run their farms, according to a government survey. The most common tool listed by those surveyed was generating and making use of an informal business plan. [Read the full article here] See the farmers who have made the most out of
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Alternative funding to the traditional bank loan
09 April 2018
UK small businesses are struggling to get access to bank funding, according to reports in Financial Times on Friday (March 30). The small business group SME Alliance highlighted to the House of Commons the on-going challenges that small firms face when seeking bank loans where “Traditional banks remain reluctant to lend to small firms, the group said,
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Creative Industries Sector Deal launched
06 April 2018
HIGHLIGHTS: More than £150 million will be jointly invested by government and industry to help the country’s world-leading cultural and creative businesses thrive as part of landmark Sector Deal Britain’s creative industries are worth £92 billion, employ 2 million people and are growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy New Cultural Development
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Devon and Somerset small businesses urged to take advantage of free training before the July 2018 deadline
05 April 2018
Small and medium sized enterprises across Devon and Somerset are being urged to take advantage of fully funded skills training for their workforce before the deadline to utilise the funds in July 2018. The training is available as part of a programme named Heart of the South West Apprenticeship Service which Serco’s Employment, Skills &
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HSE | Getting help with manual handling risks in your business
04 April 2018
“Research has shown that general training in lifting techniques is an ineffective way of controlling the risks of manual handling in businesses. By getting help to change the way you work, you can reduce manual handling risks and avoid paying for ineffective or unnecessary training.” HSE] The HSE have released guidance for organisations who would
Read moreGuidance: Using ‘Legitimate Interests’ under GDPR
03 April 2018
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published guidance on using the basis of ‘legitimate interests’ under GDPR to process personal data. Different sources will tell you different things in relation to using this basis as a rational. We’ve looked into the basis for using legitimate interests and conclude that the ICO guidance is a
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