Business News

A leading economist has cautioned that ‘ethnically and socially diverse’ younger asset poor workers are set to be hit the hardest by the UK government’s proposed National Insurance rise to pay for health and social care.

Speaking ahead of an MP vote on the Prime Minister’s recommended NI rise in the Commons, Professor Alex de Ruyter of Birmingham City University also said, “Principle beneficiaries will overwhelmingly be those of a middle class, white British background and their numbers are concentrated in the south of England.”

Georgia's leading natural gas provider, and Georgia Aquarium announced that the Aquarium is the first organization to take advantage of Greener Life for Business, a new service from GNG that purchases carbon offsets on behalf of GNG's commercial customers to make emissions from their natural gas use carbon neutral.

Greener Life for Business demonstrates how GNG can play an important role in helping commercial and industrial customers offset emissions while still maintaining day-to-day operations.

Becky Hellard has been named as Birmingham City Council’s Director of Council Management, as the organisation’s reshaping continues.

Having joined the council as Interim Director for Finance and Governance in October 2019, Becky has overseen the delivery of financial improvement plans across the council, strengthening the strategic approach to the council’s budget, and delivering financial resilience.

Azets, the UK’s largest regional accountancy firm and business advisor to SMEs, has appointed Heidi Webster to Forensic Accounting Director, leading a raft of promotions and one new recruit into its growing specialist team in Birmingham.

The team, formed two and a half years ago with just two people, now has six members and is experiencing its busiest ever period, with the Covid-19 pandemic likely to be a future driving factor for further growth as more disputes and investigations are likely to arise.

Facebook users who watched a newspaper video featuring Black men were asked if they wanted to keep seeing videos about primates by an artificial-intelligence recommendation system. Facebook described it as clearly an unacceptable error, before disabling the system and launched an investigation.

It said: "We apologise to anyone who may have seen these offensive recommendations." It is the latest in a long-running series of errors that have raised concerns over racial bias in AI.

Thirteen of the UK’s finest van operators are celebrating today after being announced as finalists in Logistics UK’s prestigious Van Awards 2021. After another round of judging, the winner of each category will be announced at a drinks reception and lunch at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham on Friday 24 September 2021, with entertainment to be provided by legendary English cricketer, Matthew Hoggard MBE.

Supported by Logistics UK’s Van Excellence Scheme and the Van Gold Partners – The AA, Bott Ltd, Brigade Electronics, Hertz UK Ltd, Lex Autolease, Quartix, and TVL – the awards celebrate the operators who have made a significant contribution to the industry over the past 12 months.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the UK Courts have been faced with a significant amount of divorce applications due to the pressure of family life during lockdown. The new digital divorce process, which is due to come into effect from 13 September, is set to speed up divorce applications whereby individuals can now use an online portal where the Court will acknowledge and process applications far more quickly.

The online process is more straightforward and avoids technical language and legal jargon which in effect simplifies the divorce process, meaning a more stress-free divorce.

City of Wolverhampton’s Shopmobility service will reopen to customers on Tuesday, 7 September.

Located in the City Centre Market, the service will initially be open on market days - Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, from 10am to 2pm, with plans to offer longer opening hours and additional days in the near future.

The Shadow Secretary of Health and Social Care the Rt Hon Jonathan Ashworth MP is to speak at a University conference aimed at helping people improve their health and wellbeing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Member of Parliament for Leicester South is the keynote speaker at the Intelligent Behaviour Analytics (IBA) Global Leadership Conference 2021 organised and hosted by Birmingham City University, to be held at the University’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Wednesday September 8.

The title for this year’s conference is ‘IBA Global Leadership Conference; the road to resilience in a COVID-19 World’ and the event will explore individual experiences of the pandemic and the influence that effective Leadership can have in such pressured situations.

Young van drivers today are more health-conscious than ever before, new survey finds. The Vansdirect survey of 250 UK van drivers discovered that fewer than 20 per cent of young van drivers (aged 18-24) choose a fry up for breakfast, with the majority opting instead for healthier options, like breakfast bars, smoothies, and fruit.

Overall, only 26 per cent of van drivers today consume a full English while on the road. Surprisingly, just 4 per cent of van drivers skip breakfast entirely.

Severn Trent and Octopus Energy Group, the fastest growing energy supplier in the UK, have pledged to develop together renewable energy projects across the Midlands. It is the first time two major utility companies in the UK are teaming up to produce renewable power generation.

The two companies have agreed to explore potential opportunities to generate clean, green energy at Severn Trent sites and other third-party locations throughout the region. The collaboration agreement will support Severn Trent’s triple carbon pledge of reaching net zero carbon emissions using 100 per cent renewable energy and transitioning to a fleet of vehicles that are entirely electric by 2030.

The following changes to the city council’s cabinet have today been announced:

• Councillor Sharon Thompson becomes Cabinet Member for Vulnerable Children and Families.
• Cllr Shabrana Hussain joins the cabinet as Cabinet Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods
• Cllr John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities, will now take on the responsibility for Bereavement Services and Registrar Services.

Historic manufacturers and diversity champions, Shelforce, have been crowned the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) Business of the Year. Shelforce were presented the award, sponsored by SCC, during the Chamber’s second online awards ceremony.

PVCu window and door manufacturers, Shelforce, claimed two awards on the night, taking home the Excellence for People Development award and also being crowned as the overall Business of the Year.

Having recently revealed an exciting 50th Anniversary Season, today Birmingham Repertory Theatre is thrilled to announce the appointment of seven new board members.

Local inequality campaigner Atif Ali, accountant Andrew Chiduku, lawyer Mike Hibbs, CEO Lucy Marcus, environmentalist Victoria Marsom, entrepreneur Brandon Relph and theatre producer Rachel Roussel-Tyson are welcome additions to the Board of Trustees.

Viewers unable to watch television for more than a month due to the Bilsdale transmitter fire are to be offered a partial refund to their TV Licence. A million people were impacted by the blaze across Teesside, North Yorkshire and County Durham.

The majority of homes affected - more than 400,000 - have had services restored. All services were due to be completed by today but a legal wrangle has led to delays.

NHS staff working in IT services at two health trusts in the West Midlands are willing to take industrial action over plans to transfer them to a private firm, says UNISON. Almost 150 IT staff at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust (GEH) and South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) face being transferred to a new wholly owned subsidiary company (subco) against their will, says the union.

UNISON says this is an attempt to bring in ‘backdoor privatisation’ in the NHS and that managers at SWFT set up the subco months ago, before they even held discussions with staff.