Case Studies Category
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Government plans to increase clean energy investment
The Government says it will spend £730 million of annual funding on renewable electricity projects over this parliament, and has set out further details for the next Contracts for Difference auction, where companies will compete for the first £290 million worth of contracts for renewable electricity projects. The second Contracts for Difference auction should result in enough renewable electricity to power around one million homes and reduce carbon emissions by around 2.5 million ...
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SMEs owed more than £586bn in outstanding invoices
UK SMEs are owed more than £586 billion in outstanding invoices according to recent figures from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. The average small business is owed more than £108,000 in unpaid invoices, an increase of 8% since January 2016, with almost a third of firms citing late payments as the biggest cause of cash flow problems. The Business in Britain report, which gathers the views of more than 1,500 UK companies, found that more than 1.5million SMEs ...
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UK manufacturing activity rises
Conditions in the UK manufacturing sector continued to improve at the end of the third quarter, according to the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). The domestic market remained a prime driver of new business wins, while the weaker sterling exchange rate drove up new orders from abroad. At 55.4 in September, up from 53.4 in August, the seasonally the Index rose to its highest level since June 2014. The ...
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Euro exchange rate set for 2016 BPS
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments for England are set in Euros and then converted into sterling. The rate for 2016 has now been published (based on an average of the European Central Bank exchange rates in September) at €1 = £0.85228. The previous year’s exchange rate for BPS was €1 = £0.73129. The Rural Payments ...
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Metaldehyde: Advice for autumn crops
The Environment Agency is calling on growers to think "slope, soil and stream" when they apply metaldehyde based slug pellets to crops this autumn, saying it is important growers adhere to the current guidelines to avoid contaminating watercourses and protect drinking water supplies. Metaldehyde is the pesticide that most often causes risks ...
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Agri-Tech Catalyst awards £17.8m in funding
Projects to improve agriculture and food production at home and overseas have received £17.8 million under the latest round of the Government’s Argi-Tech Catalyst funding scheme. Projects include assessing the potential to commercialise the farming of lobsters; a proposal to cultivate scallops on ropes and a way of continuing to make whisky with UK wheat, by using a novel variety. The ...
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Brexit impacts UK commercial property
The UK commercial property market has seen a significant drop in confidence and investor demand following the Brexit vote, according to the Q2 2016 RICS UK Commercial Property Market Survey. Both the investment and occupier sides of the market have been affected by the change in sentiment and both rent and capital value expectations are now in negative territory. Although ...
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Bluetongue vaccine now available
Bluetongue vaccines for sheep and cattle are now available across Britain, with supplies approved for use in vet practices. There is a high risk of an outbreak of Bluetongue (BTV-8) towards the end of the summer as a result of infected midges being blown across the English Channel from France - the disease affects all ruminants, but particularly cattle and ...
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Online testing service helps vets and APHA tackle animal disease
Launched today (15th July 2016), the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) new Animal Disease Testing Service will ultimately replace an old, paper-based process for sending sample data to APHA and receiving results from surveillance and diagnostic tests. It should save time and work for vets, support earlier diagnosis of diseases and improve access to sample results. Crucially, APHA will ...
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UK’s sharing economy leads the way
Total transactions for the UK’s five most prominent sharing economy sectors – collaborative finance, peer-to-peer accommodation, peer-to-peer transportation, on-demand household services and on-demand professional services – could see a 20-fold increase to £140 billion by 2025, up from £7 billion today, according to new analysis by PwC. Over the past year the UK’s sharing economy has grown faster than the ...
