UK Business News

Equality and Diversity charity Stonewall today publishes its Top 100 Employers list showcasing Britain’s best employers for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff.

This year, as in 2009, the list includes four major law firms.

The Law Society’s Diversity Champion Stephen Ward welcomed the results. The Director of Communications, Inclusion & Corporate Responsibility at the Law Society says:

“It is great news that four firms are in the Stonewall Top 100 again this year as we know there was huge competition from other sectors.

We have seen a dramatic change in the environment in law firms for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) employees in the past couple of years.

The Interlaw Forum for LGBT Networks particularly has made a huge impact and the Law Society is proud to be working closely with Daniel Winterfeldt (corporate partner at Simmons & Simmons and founder of InterLaw) and colleagues to promote diversity across the profession.

Agenda for action

We start the new decade knowing there is still a lot to do as the soon-to-be published report on a joint Law Society and Interlaw survey of LGB lawyers will reveal. That report will help us set an agenda for action,” he said.

The Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter provides a clear framework for progress on diversity and inclusion across the legal sector. More and more practices are signing up and taking advantage of the support available from the Law Society.  In March we will be launching an associated toolkit that is structured to help practices of every type and size achieve their diversity goals.

Further evidence of our commitment to inclusion is the Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme, supported by the Law Society Charity and designed to support promising entrants to the solicitors’ profession who also face exceptional social, educational, financial or personal obstacles to qualification.

Scotland’s biggest airline FlyGlobeSpan has mounted an operation to repatriate it’s flight crews and passengers that are covered by insurance, following the financial collapse of parent company GlobeSpan yesterday.

Over 4,500 passengers are said to be stranded by the airlines sudden collapse, with most in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt, the Civil Aviation Authority will repatriate around 1,100 of those stranded overseas.

GlobeSpan were put into administration yesterday putting 800 jobs under threat and causing untold misery to the many passengers and staff that have been stranded abroad.

Customers who booked directly through flyglobespan.com website are unprotected and will not get a refund, but they may qualify for a reduced rate repatriation fare, although some may also have credit card protection or personal travel insurance in place.

Earlier this year FlyGlobeSpan announced profits of £1.2 million, following a disastrous £19 million loss in the previous year.

'inspiring' simon cowell

The Labour Finance and Industry Group, the Labour party’s link to business since 1972, have invited music entrepreneur and X Factor founder Simon Cowell to address and inspire the younger members within their ranks.

Chairman of the Labour Finance and Industry Group Dr. Peter Slowe said, “Simon Cowell is the greatest example of a British Entrepreneur who has made his mark in the Creative Industries, which to my mind is the future for our economy. Less emphasis must now be placed on the Financial Services sector, which is clearly shrinking, and much more emphasis placed on the Creative and Knowledge industries and Technology, which are our future.

No one has proven the influence of the media and the Creative Industries in our lives more than Simon Cowell. He has shown admirable drive and ambition, and we welcome him to motivate our young people, who are thirsty to take up the mantle.”

Culture Secretary, the Rt Hon. Ben Bradshaw is the guest of honour at the Labour Finance and Industry Group Annual Dinner and is expected to speak about the Digital Economy Bill.

The Labour Finance & Industry Group’s Annual Dinner will be held on Tuesday 15 December 2009, at the Reform Rooms in Pall Mall, London.

UK Chancellor Alistair Darling unveiled plans to support new low carbon industries and boost the use of electric vehicles in businesses through lower taxation.

Darling said that the government would scrap taxes on electric company cars for the next five years and announced 100% first year capital allowances for businesses using electric vans.

Company cars account for around 1.1million of the vehicles on the UK roads, only around fifty of those are electric and the new proposals will encourage businesses to look at the options available.

Companies currently pay National Insurance contributions and employees pay income tax based on the cost of the car and the CO2 emissions, electric cars attract a 9% tax while fossil fuelled vehicles range from 10 to 35%.

Darling also announced extra funding for low carbon industries, pledging an investment of £160 million across a range of low carbon public and private projects through existing schemes — along with 90 million pounds earmarked for green European infrastructure schemes.

He also said the government would double its commitment to carbon capture and storage, by supporting four new projects with technology that captures CO2 and stores it underground.

Darling also outlined plans to introduce a scheme to replace 125,000 old and inefficient central heating boilers in homes across the UK with a cash back scheme similar in principle to the car scrappage scheme.

One of the most fiercely debated issues in UK politics over the years has been whether the UK should have joined the Euro-zone when it had the chance to, or indeed should we ever join.

With the current exchange rate it would be worth arguing the case for joining now, but that would only serve to devalue sterling even further than it already is and of course there are far deeper reaching problems to be resolved before it would even be worth considering.

If ever there was a time that I have personally wished for a single currency it has been when conducting business transactions with other countries in Europe, most often dealing with companies in Germany.

When we started out importing goods it was secondary to our main business and my partner and I were content to let our company bank deal with the transactions. While it is hard to find fault the bank have in the past been very slow to transfer money and always with a substantial fee involved.

Something I learned recently is that it is possible to reduce risk against constant fluctuations in exchange rates by using a foreign exchange hedging strategy that enables you to guarantee a worse case rate when purchasing from overseas on a regular basis

There are other options available through foreign exchange brokers that you might consider and one would be to ‘fix’ the rate with a forward contract over an agreed period of time. This would protect you against adverse rate changes but would offer no benefit from improvements in the rate.

As well as making international payments, foreign exchange brokers can also accept payments from customers that you have exported goods to, and in the case of World First they would guarantee the best exchange rate, with a fast and efficient CHAPS payment to your account.

Payment to these overseas companies is now under review as I am convinced that a foreign exchange broker would not only speed up transfers but would save my company money too, with the possibility of further savings through one of the many specialist products.