News

Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst MP is confirmed to speak at the Parliamentary Reception following the ACS Heart of Community Conference on Tuesday 16th October in the heart of Westminster, 1 Birdcage Walk. She will be speaking to retailers directly about the government’s plans to support local shops.

The conference will bring together retailers from across the country to address the policy issues that really matter for the sector, focusing on tackling retail crime, acting on the environment and the future of work in the sector.

The continuing struggles of some of the UK’s most well-known high street businesses (House of Fraser being the most recent of these to hit the headlines) has led many to once again point the finger at the business rates system as a major contributor to the decline of bricks and mortar stores.

ACS is urging retailers to write to their Police and Crime Commissioners, highlighting the problems that crime cause in their store and calling on them to pledge to ensure that police forces take shop theft and abuse of staff seriously.

The pledges that PCCs are being asked to sign up to include: 

ACS has welcomed comments from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable MP on the need to reform the business rates system.

Speaking ahead of the launch of a report on the future of business rates later this month, Sir Vince Cable MP outlined his support for a commercial landowner levy instead of the current system of business rates.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is encouraging retailers to enter their local area into the Great British High Street Awards (GBHS) 2018. Run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, the awards recognise and celebrate the local achievements of the nation’s high streets.

ACS has welcomed a new report from the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee on e-cigarettes, which urges the Government to maintain a separate approach to taxation for e-cigarettes and tobacco products due to the significantly lower risk that e-cigarettes pose to health.

The report claims that while e-cigarettes are estimated as being 95% less harmful than conventional cigarettes, they are often overlooked by the NHS as a tool to help people stop smoking.

Recommendations from the Science and Technology Committee report include:

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is supporting the Best Small Shops competition (BSSC), celebrating the creativity of UK independent retailers and the key role that they play on the high street and in their local communities.

The BSSC, managed by the Independent Retailers Confederation, is open to UK independent retailers and will look at their entrepreneurial skills, community values and customer service. Retailers can enter by submitting details of their business via the online application form.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the introduction of a fee for renewing a personal alcohol licence, raising concerns about the implications that it would have for Scottish convenience retailers.  

We are just 4 weeks away from the 2018 Local Shop Report Launch, taking place on 11th September at the National Space Centre in Leicester. ACS’ flagship report will provide a detailed look at the convenience sector and the innovative services and features offered by stores to their local communities. 

The Office for Product Safety and Standards has published a new strategy, aimed at upgrading the UK’s product safety regime as part of the government’s wider modern Industrial Strategy.

The strategy focuses on strengthening ‘the UK’s world-leading product safety regime, helping to keep consumers safe and enforce the UK’s strict safety laws’. Measures included in the strategy include: