Press Releases

At a conference of business groups and local authorities, ACS Chief Executive James Lowman has heralded the benefits of ACS’ new Primary Authority partnership.

The ‘primary authority’ scheme, one of the first to be established in the country, is a new partnership between Surrey County Council and ACS. The scheme is made possible by a change in the law that came into force on 1 October 2013, with the development of primary authority for trade associations supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

ACS has welcomed Ofgem’s decision to refer the energy market to the Competition and Markets Authority.

The investigation, which is due to commence immediately, will look at the following areas:

ACS has committed to pressing the Government to consider the significant burden that standardised tobacco packaging will impose on tens of thousands of local shops. Today, Ministers have published the consultation on introducing this measure in the UK.

Local shops have welcomed the publication of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill.

Published today by the Department for BIS, the Bill aims to remove barriers to growth for small firms, strengthen the foundations for a sustainable recovery, and create jobs.

Measures proposed in the Bill include:

Communities and Local Government Minister Nick Boles MP has attributed the increase in out of town development to local councils being ‘swayed’ by supermarket job creation claims during the recession.

MPs have been urged to stand up for their high streets and town centres ahead of a debate on the impact of out of town retail parks, due to take place today.

The Westminster Hall debate, Planning and out of town supermarket expansion, will be led by John Pugh, Liberal Democrat MP for Southport.

A new report released today has revealed how people really feel about the shops and services on their high streets, and what needs to be done to make those high streets successful again.

The ACS Community Barometer looks at what consumers, shop owners and local councilors think about the services in their local area, what they want more (or less) of, and what they believe Government and councils should be doing to give local shops on high streets the best chance to thrive.

The Business Secretary has provided instructions to the Low Pay Commission setting the remit for its review and recommendations for the national minimum wage rates in 2015. In the remit the Minister has called for the Commission to ‘look at whether the economy is strong enough to support above inflation rises.’

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has urged Ministers to reconsider after they have dismissed calls from an influential Committee of MPs to apply a 5p charge to all shops in England that give out single use carrier bags

The Ministers set out their view in the response to the report of the Environmental Audit Committee of the House of Commons, which was published today.

ACS has welcomed the Government's confirmation that they are looking at how often businesses are valued, as part of a review of the way business rates work.