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Goldman Sachs published their “The Growth Agenda” report last week. This is a report that puts forwards the ideas of small business owners that could help to boost the UK economy. The report looks at issues around several areas that affect small businesses and include ideas that may help to drive growth.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it has cleared Boporan’s proposed purchase of two feed mill sites. These are located at Burston and Radstock and currently owned by For Farmers. The inquiry made by CMA had two phases. After the phase 1 investigation the CMA concluded that the purchase of the Radstock did not raise competition concerns and the sale of this mill has already completed.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves met with senior Fintech representatives at No. 11 Downing Street last week to discuss growth opportunities as well as new draft legislation aimed at streamlining financial regulations. The proposed reforms focus on updating the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) rules inherited from the EU. These changes will empower the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to eliminate redundant regulations.

Success in business is never guaranteed, even for brands that dominate their industry for decades. A recent episode of the BBC Radio 4 show, Toast, explored five once-thriving companies: Little Chef, Vine, Mothercare, Green Shield Stamps and Safeway. Each of these businesses were very successful for a period of time, but for one reason or another ultimately failed.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced to Parliament last week. The legislation is being heralded as bringing transformative reforms to the UK building sector that will boost homebuilding and remove obstacles to needed infrastructure.

New technology continues to progress at a fast rate. It can be difficult to keep up or see the opportunities for your business. Some new bite-sized introductions have been published by the Government Office for Science that may help.

The Health and Safety Executive are reminding employers about their responsibilities to protect workers from the health risks that come from working with display screen equipment (DSE), including PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations apply to any worker that uses DSE on a daily basis for continuous periods of an hour or more.

Following a confirmed case of foot and mouth disease at a cattle farm in Hungary’s north-west, new import bans have been announced. The commercial import from Hungary and Slovakia of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and other non-domestic ruminants and porcines such as deer and their untreated products, such as fresh meat and dairy, are now banned.

In their latest blog, ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) revealed some insights from their latest helpline and early conciliation data. They report that the demand for their services continues to trend up. Their helpline service handled around 158,500 calls in the final quarter of 2024, which is an increase of 11% on the previous quarter. Web traffic has also increased significantly: up by nearly 20% on the previous year.

The Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) will be using their latest round of funding totalling £1.6 million to help support 58 UK artists to tour the world. The funding will help small and medium sized music companies with their marketing and promotion campaigns for their artists touring abroad. The aim is to attract new fans, overseas touring opportunities and revenue.

The government has announced plans to lay legislation that will end the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). The PSR currently looks after payment systems such as Faster Payments and Mastercard. However, its role will be consolidated into the Financial Conduct Authority.

News reported last week said that the Chancellor has put together draft plans for spending cuts to welfare and other government departments. At the time of the 2024 Autumn Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said that there was a £9.9 billion buffer available against the Chancellor’s own self-imposed borrowing rules.

The Public Procurement Act 2023, originally set for implementation on 28 October 2024, has now officially come into force. This legislation introduces new rules designed to make it easier for smaller businesses to compete for and win public sector contracts.

The Future of Roads Minister, Lillian Greenwood, has confirmed that the plug-in van grant will be extended for another year. The plug-in grant means that businesses can obtain grants of up to £2,500 when buying an eligible small van up to 2.5 tonnes and up to £5,000 for an eligible larger van up to 4.25 tonnes.

A new deal for GPs has been agreed between the government and the British Medical Association (BMA). Proposed reforms that were accepted by the BMA include an overall funding uplift of £889 million for the 2025/26 GMS contract. This represents a 7.2% boost to the contract, which is higher than the increase to the NHS budget as a whole.