Closer collaboration around skills, emerging technology and industry should play a key role in future trade agreements between the UK and India, according to Uday Samant, Minister of Industries of Maharashtra, India. Speaking at the Investor summit in central London yesterday, Mr Samat addressed business leaders, outlining his vision about how Maharashtra plans to encourage…
IWG, the world’s leading provider of hybrid work solutions, has announced that is has added 612 new locations since January 2023. An overwhelming 95% of these new locations are being delivered via managed partnership agreements, delivering on IWG’s capital light strategy. The rapid growth in new locations is being driven by property owners and partners…
The post-pandemic hiring boom is in decline as three-quarters of UK businesses admit to struggles with staff recruitment, according to new research from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). Hiring intentions were also shown to be continuing to fall last month. The BCC surveyed almost 5,000 companies, and found that 73 per cent had faced…
The BBC has blocked the artificial intelligence software behind ChatGPT from accessing or using its content amid copyright and privacy concerns, after concluding that it was “not in the public interest”. The move brings the BBC in line with other content providers, including Reuters and Getty Images, which are trying to prevent AI from misusing…
JD Wetherspoon has credited a surge in sales and reduction in costs for its first annual profit since the COVID pandemic. The value pub and hotel chain, which trades from 826 sites across the UK and Ireland, reported profit before tax for the year to the end of July of £42.6m. That compared to a…
The District Court of Amsterdam has today ruled that Uber has failed to comply with the April 2023 Court of Appeal order that Uber must provide transparency into the automated decision to dismiss two drivers from the UK and Portugal. The case was brought by Worker Info Exchange (WIE) in support of the App Drivers…
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an independent market investigation into the £7.5 billion cloud services market in the UK, following referral from Ofcom, to examine and consider whether competition concerns are holding back businesses. The investigation aims to consider what can be done to improve the supply of these important services for…
Greggs has revealed its sales have gone up by more than a fifth in a quarter and said cost inflation had eased across the business. The bakery chain, which opened its first shop in Newcastle in 1951, said it had gained 82 new shops so far in 2023. It said that took it to having…
In a surprising turn of events, Dame Sharon White, the CEO of John Lewis, has announced her resignation from the company. After just three years at the helm, Dame Sharon has decided to step down, leaving behind a legacy of notable achievements and a company facing unprecedented challenges. Dame Sharon White‘s tenure at John Lewis…
82 per cent of businesses have changed their office space needs to accommodate a flexible working approach which includes more than half of businesses opening offices or working spaces outside of city centres, according to a new survey from IWG. The survey of 500 businesses found that 54 per cent of organisations now have offices…
Firms have said that they were not aware of a ban in England on single-use plastic cutlery, plates and polystyrene trays that comes into force on Sunday. The ban does not extend to plastic containers and trays used in takeaways or for pre-packaged food in shops leading to environmental campaigners saying the new rules do…
2,500 ambitious tech talents will be recruited into digital roles in government by June 2025 through new apprenticeship and early talent programmes, the Cabinet Office has announced. This is being kickstarted by the new digital apprenticeship programme, which will support the recruitment of 500 early career entrants into digital roles this financial year across government….
One-in-five SME owners plan to sell part or all their business within the next two years according to a new study. An additional one in ten respondents expect to downsize their businesses over the same period. Of these, a third blame rising costs, 18% cite performance-related issues and a further one in six need to…
Meta, the owner of Facebook, has paid £149 million to surrender lease on a London office block having not moved in any staff two years after signing the deal. The American social media group’s UK division is handing back the keys to the eight-storey block near Regent’s Park, which it took on in 2021 at…
Nearly seventy per cent go UK SMEs say that recruiting and developing adequately skilled staff is their biggest barrier to growth, a think tank reveals today. The Social Market Foundation – a cross-party think tank – has warned that a lack of focus on the skills crisis is limiting the UK from being a place…
