Independent retailer Sally Gibbons hosted a visit with Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill today, discussing the important role that rural shops play in communities whilst raising concerns about the fairness of the business rate relief system.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has published a response to its Green Paper on improving corporate governance.
The response takes into account the views expressed in submissions to the Green Paper consultation, making further recommendations on the reforms to corporate governance that could be extended to large private companies as well as public companies. The main recommendations from the Government response include:
The Government has encouraged businesses to maintain momentum in the transition from the old ’round’ pound to the new 12 sided £1 coin ahead of the old pound coin being removed from circulation on October 15th.
Businesses waiting for rate relief after the 2017 revaluation should start receiving updated bills over the next few weeks after the Government set a deadline on software providers to update their platforms and help local councils generate the new bills.
The deadline of 21 August set by Local Government Minister Marcus Jones so that new bills can be issued to businesses that are due relief has now passed.
ACS has once again called on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to include all stores in England in the 5p carrier bag charge.
Currently only businesses with more than 250 employees are included in the charging scheme, with smaller businesses exempt. However, in Wales and Scotland, the charge applies to all stores.
In the consultation period before the introduction of the charge in England, the Environmental Audit Committee recommended that the charge be universal following the model already in place in Wales.
The 2017 Community Barometer has revealed that Post Offices and convenience stores are the nation’s favourite high street shops and services for the third year running.
The survey of UK consumers and local councillors across the UK showed that the top three services which have the most positive impact locally are post offices (1), convenience stores (2) and specialist food shops like butchers and bakeries (3).
We are now just weeks away from the launch of the 2017 Local Shop Report and Hosted One2Ones event in Manchester.
ACS’ flagship report will be launching on 6th September at Hotel Football, providing a detailed look at the reasons behind the continuing success of the convenience sector and exploring the innovative services and features offered by stores to their local communities.
UK consumers are buying two thirds less veg than the amount recommended by health experts. According to Government guidance on a healthy diet, 20% of our shopping should be made up of vegetables, but in reality we only reach 7.2%. Figures from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation show that as many as 20,000 premature deaths annually in the UK could be avoided if we all ate more veg.
Visa is introducing a Zero Floor Limit for all contactless transactions to help protect cardholders against fraud.
A Floor Limit refers to the maximum amount a merchant can charge to a cardholder without getting authorisation from the card issuer. The ‘Zero Floor Limit’ means that every card transaction will now need to be authorised online by the card issuer.
