Category: News

Small businesses face a “significant disadvantage” when bidding for contracts from Government and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a report has said.

The non-profit organisation Enterprise UK, which runs Global Enterprise Week in the UK, has announced that it is to close after more than six years following the withdrawal of public funding.

Following the controversy surrounding Sharon Wright, her company Talpa Products, and entrepreneur James Caan’s following a pitch on Dragons’ Den, which we reported on a few months ago, we understand that it may well now be Caan who will be pitching to a different kind of judge as Wright has launched High Court action against Caan.

The government plans to allow parents to share childcare and will allow new fathers to take up to 10 months of paid paternity leave, a huge increase from the two weeks currently allowed.

The government has announced that it is to scrap the default retirement age of 65 this year, against the wishes of businesses, who wanted another year to manage the change, and who fear it will cause legal confusion and lead to a rise in cases taken to employment tribunals.

David Cameron plans to kick-start small business sector growth by making it easier to sack staff in the first two years of their employment.

The British Chambers of Commerce have released figures highlighting the costs for business in the current employment tribunal system and urging for a reform to the unworkable, and unaffordable system.

David Cameron has today unveiled plans to support 40,000 new enterprises over the next two years by offering grants and loans to unemployed people who can show they have a robust business plan.

&Nearly half of all small and medium sized businesses that keep poor trading records are set to face investigation and fines of up to £3,000 under a planned HM Revenue Customs clamp down.

The UK economy is expected to grow by two per cent overall in 2011, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has predicted and removing the risk of a douple-dip recession.

After a day, where a number of ill-thought through comments made to undercover journalists from The Daily Telegraph by the Business Secretary Vince Cable were exposed, threatening the stability of the Coalition Government, David Cameron has announced that Cable will remain in post, but with reduced powers.

Stella English was last night hired by Lord Sugar as his apprentice after beating rival Chris Bates to be crowned winner of the BBC reality show watched by a reported 10.5Million viewers.

Business Link, the governments small business advice service, has said the decision to mark the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29 with a public holiday has left employers wondering if they had any wriggle room, especially as, coming off the back of Easter it creates four 4 day weeks.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has defended his decision to increase tuition fees in favour of preserving apprenticeships and skills schemes. With unemployment in the UK is rising and with tuition fees set to increase, skills training and apprenticeships are vital in ensuring that core skills remain.