LCCI Updates

The Department for Education released apprenticeship and levy statistics for England yesterday. Figures show there have been 361,400 apprenticeship starts between August 2018 and June 2019, a welcome increase of 19,700 starts.

On Tuesday 12 March 2019, the House of Commons again voted to reject the Government’s negotiated European Union (EU) Withdrawal Agreement, this time by 391 to 242 votes, a majority of 149.

With the April 2019 deadline fast approaching, Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTDfV) was the topic of discussion for our Peer to Peer Learning Network session for Finance Directors, facilitated by our Premier Plus Member Smith & Williamson.

The Prime Minister’s Brexit deal was defeated in the House of Commons for a second time in February. It had no legal force in Parliament but 10 Downing Street had warned MPs it would make the Prime Minister’s EU talks harder.

At the time of writing the PM has just announced new votes in the House of Commons in mid-March which will take a no deal off the table, for the time being at least. However businesses are still advised to ‘hope for the best and prepare for the worst’ i.e. gear up as far as possible for a no deal situation, be it on Saturday 30 March or after a delay of a matter of months. With regard to Certificates of Origin and ATA Carnets, the following should be noted.

After the Prime Minister’s deal falls, she survives a no confidence vote. But what happens next?

The search has begun for the London Teacher of the Year. As a supporting partner, LCCI recognises the valuable work of teachers and support staff, but also the many volunteers working within schools in London including LCCI’s own members engaged in Young Chamber.

Hear first reactions to our Capital 500 Quarterly Economic Survey Q4 2018 results, highlighting the urgency for the Government to provide clarity on Brexit, particularly for SMEs.

Profound uncertainty has overshadowed British business activity since the 2016 Referendum. The draft Withdrawal Agreement offers some clarity and crucially a reasonable basis to move forward towards a new UK-EU trading relationship.

Collectively representing the interests of millions of business members who drive economic growth across our continent, the Alliance of European Metropolitan Chambers (AEMC) has become increasingly concerned as the process to facilitate the UK exiting the European Union has become characterised by vagueness and indecision.