Business News

Businesses and communities across the West Midlands are to get more than £88m of targeted support to help drive economic growth and improve people’s opportunities in life. The Board of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) today (Friday October 28) approved its UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) investment plan which will now trigger the Government’s release of the money to the region over the next three years.

Dame Sharon White, the first ever female chair of John Lewis Partnership, has been named the UK’s most influential black person.

White topped the 2023 Powerlist, an annual list that aims to provide professional role models for young people of African and African Caribbean heritage. Other prominent black Britons on this year’s list include the actor, writer and creator of I May Destroy You, Michaela Coel, the actor and writer Sir Lenny Henry, and the rapper Stormzy.

Rishi Sunak's rise to power has attracted attention in India - and not just because he is the first British Asian prime minister. His wife Akshata Murty is the daughter of Indian billionaire Narayana Murthy, one of the country's best-known businessmen who has been dubbed the Bill Gates of India.

Just like humans, wastewater treatment plants can get sick, due to viral attacks. Now, new research from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, reveals the implications for the surrounding environment in case the plant catches a cold.

The efficient running of wastewater treatment plants is an essential part of modern society. In the sewage industry, the ‘work’ of wastewater plants is often executed by microscopic bacteria.

Peel group seem hell bent on getting as much cash as they can by closing the airport and flogging the site for housing, says GMB Union 

Doncaster Sheffield Airport has topped the Which? Survey of best airports for the fourth year running. The South Yorkshire hub came first in a customer service survey, with a customer score of 85 per cent. 

The creator of a mobile barber website which operates in Birmingham has revealed people were begging him to break the law during lockdown and send a barber to their home to give them a haircut.

Giuliano Dore, founder of Get Groomed, said: “We learned that a lot of people try to have haircuts regardless of a law stating that they couldn’t which came as a surprise.

Work to improve the Dolphin Centre in Ward End is well underway and is scheduled for completion in March 2023. The £2million project is being delivered for Birmingham City Council by Building Services Now Limited and will bring a wide range of improvements to the facility, including:

Following a significant increase in demand for planning services in the West Midlands, Marrons Planning is growing its presence with the appointment of senior planner Lucy Bartley.

With more than five years’ experience as a town planner, Lucy joins the consultancy from Wood PLC where she worked her way up from assistant town planning consultant to senior consultant.

Wolverhampton has been invited to apply to join a national programme that will provide more funding to help parents, children and young people in the city.

The City of Wolverhampton Council has pioneered the use of Strengthening Families Hubs over the last few years, with a network of eight hubs providing multi-agency support to young families.

The average cost to put right shoddy plumbing work is £285, according to a new survey by WaterSafe, the UK’s register of approved contractors working with drinking water.

The survey, which questioned 2,000 UK consumers, also revealed more than a quarter of people have employed a plumber who did not carry out the task properly. In most cases, they had to employ another plumber to fix the poor work.

If the world's leading companies were a country, it would be the globe's largest emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to new ESG Book analysis.

Its research shows the total emissions of both the 100 largest disclosing and non-disclosing companies is equivalent to over 11 billion tonnes of CO2 annually, or more than double the annual emissions output of the United States.

Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and the consequent energy crisis has tested the resilience of the West Midlands economy – but “significant opportunities” lie ahead for the region’s business sector. The annual Birmingham Economic Review produced by Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and the University of Birmingham City Region Economic and Development Institute (City-REDI) reveals that the region is well placed to counter ‘once in a generation’ events such as the energy crisis and make Birmingham the best location for business ambitions.

The West Midlands has announced its formal submission to Government for a package of Investment Zones capable of accelerating economic growth and delivering tens of thousands of new homes and jobs. If accepted by Government, the zones have the potential to boost the regional economy by more than £4.7bn a year, creating 65,128 new jobs, 18,616 new homes and 3.1m sqm of commercial space.

A recent report led by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) on local NHS healthcare spend during the COVID-19 pandemic has identified that good practice across NHS procurement saved millions of pounds during this unprecedented and challenging time.

The PEA (Post Event Assurance) exercise found that despite the mounting, varied and complex operational pressures, most NHS organisations maintained good levels of financial governance, assurance, transparency, and fraud risk management.

On Friday (October 14) the government announced that Corporation Tax will increase to 25% from April 2023 as already legislated for, raising around £18 billion a year and acting as a down payment on its full Medium-Term Fiscal Plan.

The decision has been taken in recognition of the need to ensure the UK’s economic stability and reassure markets of its commitment to fiscal discipline, after elements of September’s Growth Plan went further and faster than markets were expecting.

West Bromwich-based charity, the Kaleidoscope Plus Group is set to provide a cost-of-living support payment to employees. The support, totalling a one-off payment of £650 for each employee, will be paid in October.

The move comes as energy prices increase and cost-of-living increases for all. The Kaleidoscope Plus Group charity helps thousands of people across the UK each year and offers a range of services for people in need of support.