News in brief
Public transport not fit for business
The majority of business travellers rely on cars, as public transport is not ‘fit for purpose’, according to a study by the RAC Foundation and the British Chambers of Commerce.
The study focuses on journeys during the business day that are essential to the success of any enterprise. It found that business travel is crucial to successful business operations and cannot be eliminated without severe consequences. However, Britain’s small businesses are leading the way when it comes to greener business travel.
More than half of SMEs are already using technology to reduce their travel footprints. One in five businesses have taken steps to increase their use of public transport, but unreliability is a barrier to increased business use of buses and trains.
Environmental catastrophes rise
Natural disasters have quadrupled in the past 20 years, according to the Climate Alarm report by the charity Oxfam. The number of people affected by disasters has risen from an average of 174 million a year between 1985 and 1994 to 254 million a year between 1995 and 2004.
There has been a six-fold increase in the number of floods worldwide since 1980, with 240 floods recorded worldwide in 2006 compared with 60 in 1980. Summer flooding in the UK brought the reality close to home, costing in excess of £3bn for around 130,000 domestic, commercial and motor insurance claims.
Buried under paperwork
Nearly 80 per cent of small businesses deal with their own employment paperwork, according to a survey conducted by the Federation of Small Businesses. Britain’s biggest business organisation also found that a third of small business owners and entrepreneurs surveyed did not know where to get government advice on legislation that affects them.
At the beginning of December, the government published a new Employment Bill, which aims to ease the burden of resolving employment disputes, many of which arise due to the complicated nature of employment law. Advice and help on all business matters can be found at www.businesslink.gov.uk