Business News

Wonderful wildflowers and carbon-busting nature plans work hand in hand on a new pilot project, as volunteers work with the City of Wolverhampton Council to lay seeds at Wednesfield Park.

The project – helping to raise awareness of habitat loss for species due to climate change – was launched on September 14 with volunteers from Wednesfield spreading wildflower seed mix to develop a new 800 square metre meadow, as part of the city’s carbon reduction plans.

A man whose vehicle was twice caught dumping waste on a Birmingham street – in Small Heath - by council-operated CCTV has been ordered to pay almost £2,000 for his offences.

Mohammed Harun, aged 42, from Rednal, pleaded guilty to three offences under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 during a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.

A Birmingham gift shop owner was ordered to pay £5,008 after Birmingham Magistrates Court heard how an elderly customer fell down an open hatch into the store’s basement.

Shazad Butt (68) of Nansen Road, Birmingham was fined £1,333 and ordered to pay costs of £3,542 and a £133 victim surcharge after he pleaded guilty to an offence under Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 on 2 September 2021.

Birmingham community groups are celebrating after receiving funding from Virgin Media O2 to run projects across the city which are encouraging young people and communities to get involved in conversations and positive action on climate change.

Following an application process, Kashmiri Arts & Heritage Foundation and Northfield Arts Forum have received grants from Virgin Media O2’s Together Fund to help run their respective ‘B10 Urban Farm’ and ‘Big Green Future’ projects.

People in Birmingham have been thanked by the council for the support they have shown for the city’s recently launched Mobile Household Recycling Centres (MHRCs). During their first month-and-a-half of operation (mid-July to the end of August) a total of 118.4 tonnes of waste have been presented at the MHRCs by residents wishing to dispose of waste in a responsible way.

The figures include 5.5 tonnes of paper and card as well as 2.7 tonnes of textiles – and given the numbers for this period only cover the first two of four MHRCs that are being rolled out across the city, it is expected the figures will continue to rise in the coming weeks and months.

UK businesses and universities are today voicing serious concerns that we are facing a skills mismatch which is standing in the way of the nation’s recovery. This comes as new Office for National Statistics (ONS) statistics released this morning show the number of vacancies has   risen above one million for the first time ever.

Dr Joe Marshall, Chief Executive of NCUB (National Centre for Universities and Business) said: “While today’s labour market statistics are largely cause for optimism, policymakers must not become complacent about the recovery.

“As was the case last month, today’s statistics show a disproportionately high number of vacancies, alongside large numbers of people still furloughed and unemployed. There are worrying signs that employers across a multitude of sectors are currently facing difficulty in hiring. Businesses and higher education providers are therefore voicing serious concerns that we are facing a skills mismatch.

“The furlough scheme has played a critical part in keeping people in jobs, and as it draws to an end, we should be ready to cope with a fallout. We know that young people, in particular, have been most affected by lengthy periods of unemployment.

“To help cope with this, we are urging the Government to restore a national labour market intelligence body, to replace the now-dissolved UK Commission for Employment and Skills. This body will be vital in order for businesses, universities and the Government alike, to better understand the labour market needs.

“It will allow universities to produce the highly-skilled, adaptable workforce businesses need, to help the nation’s post-pandemic recovery.”

Female learners stole the show at the In-Comm Training Annual Awards held on Friday, taking the two main titles and winning six of the nine honours.

Shiftec engineering apprentice Tia Till beat off competition from more than 100 young people and mature workers to win both Engineering & Manufacturing Technologies and the Outstanding Learner of the Year Awards, impressing judges with her manufacturing performance and desire to be the best in her field.

A severe shortage of working capital is set to cause a growing number of business failures as companies responding to the recovery become overstretched and insolvent due to a lack of cash, a leading Midlands-based restructuring expert is warning.

Working capital is the liquidity available to a business that is not tied up in its daily operations and is a key indicator of the health of a business. 

The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has published a report showing that, over the past year, older people have been exiting the workforce earlier and that the employment rate of people aged 50-64 has also fallen slightly.

Some people are worried that older people "are seen by certain employers as ante-diluvian rather than digitally native".

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has two high street stores based within the West Midlands helping to raise much needed funds for the vital, pre-hospital emergency service, and is encouraging you to get involved and shop local.

Despite closures throughout the pandemic, last year, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s five high-street shops and customers generated monies to fund 172 lifesaving missions – 59 air ambulance and 113 in the service’s two critical care cars, one of which covers Birmingham and the Black Country area.

Three young planners and six planning schemes are in the running to win at this year’s Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) West Midlands Awards for Planning Excellence.

Projects nominated for the prestigious RTPI West Midlands Award for Planning Excellence include large infrastructure schemes, state of the art housing and sports facility redevelopment.

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.