Federation of Small Businesses - FSB Weekly Brief 16 of 2007

Week 16 of 2007 Friday 20 April 2007

In this week’s issue: Tesco, small business rate relief, crimes against business, Edinburgh hustings, construction industry, Payroll Standard, banking report.

1. Tesco announces huge profits as small shops feel the heat
Tesco, small businesses’ least favourite supermarket, announced they’d made mountains of cash this week (what a shocker). The FSB insisted that the retail juggernaut’s £2.55 billion profit was made with the help of unfair competition with independent retailers, abuse of the planning system and the unfair treatment of suppliers. John Wright, FSB National Chairman, put the FSB’s point across in the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express this week: “Small businesses could compete with supermarkets if there was a level playing field.” If only!

2. Local authorities in the doghouse over small business rate relief
BBC 2’s Working Lunch this week did a report on small business rate relief (SBRR) and the fact that some local authorities don’t bother to advertise it to businesses in their area, which is a bit sinister. One local authority apparently has a whole section of its website dedicated to business rates, but makes no mention of SBRR. The FSB was suitably appalled and its view that SBRR should be given automatically was mentioned on the lunchtime business and consumer affairs programme.

3. The FSB’s crime report gets more coverage
The Financial Times this week published an article about the FSB’s influential ‘forgotten fifth’ report on crime against business. Given that the report was released some time ago, it seems it’s got a decent shelf life in media terms. It’s also got a decent shelf life in FSB website terms, as clickers of the following link will be able to confirm: http://www.fsb.org.uk/documentstore/filedetails.asp?id=374.

4. FSB in the mix at election timeThe FSB has been putting small business issues slap bang in the middle of the political debate ahead of elections in Scotland and Wales and local elections on May 3. This week was the turn of the FSB in Edinburgh to test the small business commitments of the leaders of Edinburgh City Council. Over 250 showed up to the event.

5. New health and safety rules for the construction industry
On the 6 April 2007, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM) came into force, helping to assist the construction industry in integrating health and safety into the management of their projects through better planning. ConstructionSkills have got a health and safety training programme which gives employers advice and training on the new rules. More info about it can be found by clicking here www.citb-constructionskills.co.uk/sitesafetyplus or emailing smsts.dept@citb.co.uk.

6. HMRC reviews Payroll Standard
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are currently reviewing the Payroll Standard with a view to improving the service it provides to employers. As part of this process HMRC would like to seek the views of employers via a short questionnaire. Questionnaires can be obtained by contacting Liz Jenkins Online Services (Newcastle) Operations Manager at liz.jenkins@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk. A copy of the current Payroll Standard is to be found on the HMRC website at www.hmrc.gov.uk/ebu/payroll.htm. A list of accredited payroll software products is available at www.hmrc.gov.uk/ebu/acclist.htm.

7. Coming up next week…
The FSB will release a major report on small business banking.

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	FSB Weekly Brief 15 of 2007
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