Friday May 28, 2010 at 9:24am
April saw two of the UK's best known retailers receive significant fines for breaches of fire safety legislation. On 20 April Tesco was fined £95,000 after admitting 5 breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and on 29 April 2010, the Co-operative was fined £210,000 after entering a guilty plea in relation to six offences. In both cases, the breaches are ones that could have easily occurred in any retail premises. Tesco was fined: £40,000 for two counts a....
(read more...)Tuesday May 25, 2010 at 9:00am
When the final Coalition Agreement was published last week, Nick Clegg announced that the government would be asking people what laws they wanted to be scrapped. It was a manifesto pledge of both the Conservatives and Lib Dems for there to be a “one in one out” policy as far as business regulation is concerned – in other words, if a government department wants to introduce another piece of regulation, they must abolish as least as much existing regulation – and it has now....
(read more...)Monday May 24, 2010 at 10:21am
After much speculation that the brief for licensing will be passed from the Department for Culture Media and Sport to the Home Office, there has obviously been a change of mind as the news confirms that the responsibility for licensing will remain with the DCMS.
The new Minister for licensing is John Penrose, who holds the brief for tourism and heritage, and is also the Minister for gambling. He will have to battle with the Home Office who will lead the government's much publicised tough stance....
(read more...)Thursday May 20, 2010 at 6:54pm
Hidden in the governments detailed coalition agreement released today are concrete proposals to limit future back garden development. The plan is to give councils new powers to stop what they call ‘garden grabbing’. Full details to follow but if you are thinking about selling off part of your garden for development now could be the time to take that step. If you have surplus land or are a developer who carries out these types of schemes then contact property lawyer Steve Pe....
(read more...)Thursday May 20, 2010 at 12:00pm
The long-awaited Full Coalition Agreement has now been published, which sets out what the coalition intends to do during its time in office. Refreshingly, it has a section specifically on business, something which the individual party’s manifestos failed to do. Unfortunately, there are a lot of promises to “review”, “look into” and “consider”, which doesn’t help when SMEs are desperate for help. The government’s main promises, as far as SMEs ....
(read more...)Thursday May 20, 2010 at 11:46am
It was today announced by the new government that the requirement for seller's to provide a Home Information Pack (HIP) will be suspended from 21 May 2010.
As expected Energy Performance Certificate's (EPC's) are retained and will still need to be produced within 28 days of the property being put on the market.
The practical effect of HIP's being scrapped is to shift the cost of paying for searches back to the buyer, which was always the position before they were int....
(read more...)Monday May 17, 2010 at 11:52am
Back in January I posted a blog about the police tactic of closing pubs immediately for minor or indeed any breach of a condition on the Premises Licence. I stated that the police had no power to force pubs or any premises to close or cease licensable activities of selling alcohol, late night refreshment, or regulated entertainment. Only the magistrates have the power to order that the premises cease licensable activities until a condition is complied with. The police may issue a closure n....
(read more...)Friday May 14, 2010 at 11:10am
For many years the police have been reluctant to target under 18's who buy or attempt to buy alcohol. Almost always they have gone for the staff who are behind the bar, and usually with fixed penalty fines. And with failure of test purchases the Premises Licence owner has either been prosecuted, taken to review, and with persistent failure (2 in 3 consecutive months) forced to close for a limited period at the police direction as well as taken to review.
Perhaps there has been reluctance ....
(read more...)Thursday May 13, 2010 at 5:58pm
Birmingham is officially the top European city for promoting entrepreneurship It was announced on Monday that Birmingham was number one in the prestigious European Cities Entrepreneurship Ranking for promoting entrepreneurship. This category ranks Europe’s cities as to how they promote and support new business, and create an environment for entrepreneurs and new business growth. In the overall ranking, however, Birmingham came 25th , ahead of Manchester (32nd) and London (33rd), but still ....
(read more...)Wednesday May 12, 2010 at 5:18pm
The new coalition government has published their Coalition Agreement. It is difficult to see what measures remain in place to support SMEs. The agreement does, however, include the following:
* Cancelling some backdated demands for business rates;* Generous CGT exemptions for entrepreneurial business;* Ensuring that the flow of credit to viable SMEs will be a core priority, including: * A major loan guarantee scheme; and * Setting lending targets for nat....
(read more...)Tuesday May 11, 2010 at 4:17pm
A poll by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) reveals that 54% of small businesses are planning not to expand following the election result. I am not surprised. The simple fact is, that for a small business to expand, it needs confidence that customers will be there to buy its products in the future and have the financial means to do so. The poll also revealed that 52% want action taken by government to reduce the budget deficit sooner rather than later, 44% want to see the banking system r....
(read more...)Monday May 10, 2010 at 10:25am
It looks highly likely that there will be a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition, so what is that likely to mean for licensed premises?
In fact the Election Manifestos of both parties were remarkably similar. Where Labour would have continued with their programme of creeping legislation driven by the tabloid press, will the new coalition offer anything different? It seems that the industry is a soft target which will appeal to the legislators looking for less controversial business to fi....
(read more...)Friday May 7, 2010 at 12:30pm
The magazine for small businesses and entrepreneurs, Real Business, reports that a new survey suggests a lack of education and training for entrepreneurs is holding back many people from setting up their own businesses.The research, published by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), shows that only 18 per cent of the UK's working age population has received training in starting a business.The reason this is significant is that apparently those who have had training are much more likely to &....
(read more...)Thursday May 6, 2010 at 11:47am
The costs of the Icelandic volcano which bought UK airports to a standstill over the past weeks are still being counted. Not only were travellers affected but also all businesses engaged in importing and exporting goods by air. Ryanair tried and failed to renege on their contractual duties by claiming they would only refund the amount paid for a ticket instead of covering the costs for accommodation incurred by their stranded passengers. So what is the legal position when it becomes difficult or....
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