Title• Bullet Point

• Bullet Point

• Bullet Point

• Bullet PointYorkshire Post Business Barometer Prepared for Yorkshire Post by Brahm

Sponsored by Irwin Mitchell

July 2010

Current trading conditions

Business leaders are extremely positive about Yorkshire; there is an inherent pride in doing business in this region …

B1. Overall, how would you rate Yorkshire as a place to do business? B1b. Why do you say this? Base: All respondents (200)

90% good 7% bad

“I have worked all around the country and I feel this area is a nice, safe place with lots of opportunity for work and good education provision. It is an attractive place to visit and to work in”Local Authority, Beverley

“I have worked all around the country and I feel this area is a nice, safe place with lots of opportunity for work and good education provision. It is an attractive place to visit and to work in”Local Authority, Beverley

“I think all the investment goes to the South East. A lot of manufacturing companies here are either closing or moving to other areas. This has a knock on effect to the local economy in general”Construction, Hull

“I think all the investment goes to the South East. A lot of manufacturing companies here are either closing or moving to other areas. This has a knock on effect to the local economy in general”Construction, Hull

“We have a pretty stable market here, less peaks and troughs than a lot of other areas in the country”Property, York

“We have a pretty stable market here, less peaks and troughs than a lot of other areas in the country”Property, York

Recent times have been tough on Yorkshire & Humberside businesses, but the outlook is more positive

Change in financial performance of your business in the past 12-18 months

Financial outlook for your business in the next 12-18 months

B2. Thinking about the past 12-18 months, how much, if at all, would you say the financial performance of your business has changed? B3. Now thinking about the next 12-18 months, what do you anticipate as being the financial outlook for your business? Base: All respondents (200)

31% improved

45% improve

49% got worse

20% get worse

A range of proactive measures will be taken to boost business performance

B4. Which of the following measures, if any, will your business take in the next 3-6 months in order to boost performance/shore up for the next 12-18 months of trading?Base: All respondents (200)

Resources, employment and skills

Skills and training – enough of a priority?

Priority of providing new skills and training for your workforce

Change in the amount of investment in training staff within the past 12-18 months

C2. How much of a priority is providing new skills and training to your workforce?C2b. How, if at all, has investment in training of staff changed within your business in the past 12-18 months?Base: All respondents (200)

71% priority

25% increased

27% not a priority

11% decreased

Businesses in Yorkshire & Humberside have limited links with...

C3. With regards to improving the skills of your workforce, does your business have strong links with any of the following…?Base: All respondents (200)

... Only 25% of businesses have strong links with local universities

... Only 37% of businesses have strong links with local colleges

... Only 37% of businesses have strong links with Business Link

... Only 29% of businesses have strong links with Chamber of Commerce

Yorkshire businesses have limited links with other organisations as well, including Business and Education South Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire Social Services, Yorkshire Forward and UK Trade & Investment

R&D and innovation

A high proportion of Yorkshire & Humberside businesses spend only 1-10% of turnover on R&D / innovation

D1. Approximately what percentage of your business turnover is spent on R&D/innovation? Base: All respondents (200)

Investment in R&D / innovation remains consistent for Yorkshire & Humberside businesses

Investment in R&D/innovation within the past 12-18 months

Investment in R&D/innovation within the next 12-18 months

D2. Thinking about the past 12-18 months, how much, if at all, would you say your investment in R&D/innovation has changed?D3. Now thinking about the next 12-18 months, how much, if at all, do you think your investment in R&D/innovation will change?Base: All respondents (200)

10% increased

17% increase

9% decreased

3% decrease

Business support

Support from the banks has remained fairly consistent over the past 12-18 months

Support your business generally receives from the banks

How support from the banks has changed over the past 12-18 months

B5. How would you rate the support your business generally receives from the banks? B5b. And how, if at all, has this support from banks changed over the past 12-18 months? Base: All respondents (200)

57% good

8% improved

30% bad

34% got worse

4 in 10 businesses would go to banks / lenders for information or financial help

E1. Where would you go if you were looking for information or financial help for your business in times of economic uncertainty?Base: All respondents (200)

41% would go to banks and other mainstream lenders

27% would go to accountants/ solicitors

14% would go to Business Link

• 15% would go elsewhere such as the Manufacturing Advisory Service, Directgov, personal friends/family, business associates, the internet and trade magazines.

5% would go to The Council 4% would go to the

Chamber of Commerce4% would go to Yorkshire

Forward

However, 18% didn’t know where they would go / didn’t know information and support was available

Organisations in Yorkshire & Humberside prefer to use local legal support

Satisfaction with access to legal support/services within Yorkshire

E2. How satisfied are you with the access to legal support/services within the Yorkshire region? Base: All respondents (200) E2b. Does your business obtain legal support from outside of the Yorkshire region? Base: All dissatisfied with access (10) *LOW BASE SIZE*

77% satisfied

5% dissatisfied

Only 2 of the 10 people who were dissatisfied with access to legal

support/services in Yorkshire said their business obtains legal support outside of

Yorkshire.

Communications and transport

Yorkshire and Humber – well linked in the UK?

F1. Thinking about infrastructure, how well do you feel Yorkshire is connected to other UK regions in the following ways…?Base: All respondents (200)

LINKED VERY WELL

NOT WELL LINKED AT ALL

DON’T KNOW

53% well linked

Rail

Road links

Digital services

57% well linked

66% well linked

49% well linked

60 % of businesses, who are optimistic their financial performance will improve, feel that Yorkshire is well connected to other UK regions through digital services. This is significantly more than businesses who indicated their financial performance will get worse over the next 12-18 months with only 38% of such businesses feeling this way.

Airports19% not

well linked

15% not well linked

16% not well linked

16% not well linked

...and to international markets?

F2. Thinking about infrastructure, how well do you feel Yorkshire is connected to other world markets in the following ways…?Base: All respondents (200)

LINKED VERY WELL

NOT WELL LINKED AT ALL

DON’T KNOW

38% well linked

Rail

Road links

Digital services

30% well linked

41% well linked

41% well linked

Airports30% not

well linked

34% not well linked

25% not well linked

17% not well linked

Political

Satisfaction with the Labour Government’s business support prior to the election was fairly low...

Satisfaction with the support your business received from the Government prior to the recent general election

A1. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied were you with the support your business received from the Government prior to the recent general election? Base: All respondents (200)

32% satisfied

63% dissatisfied

Personal satisfaction with the election result is higher...

A2. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you personally with the result of the recent general election? Base: All respondents (200)

64% positive

24% negative

Personal satisfaction with the result of the recent general election

... however more uncertainty prevails from a business perspective

A2b. How positive or negative do you feel this result will be for your business? A2c. Why do you say that? Base: All respondents (200)

49% positive

27% negative

“It needs a coalition to sort us out. We have to get our debt problems sorted out in order to raise confidence and get business back on track. I think they will address the debt”Manufacturing, Bradford

“For the last 14 years, having a business has made me feel like the enemy, with all the rights on the side of the employees. I think this Government are more aligned to the needs of business. I think they will be more realistic and understand that we are creating wealth and employing people. I hope we will get more help”Construction, Scunthorpe

Election optimism for business

“I don't see an increase in public confidence as is usual after elections. We are in a deep recession and it is going to take a lot of spending cuts to get right. I felt we needed a change of Government, but I am not sure the coalition is the answer. The ''feel good factor'' is not in evidence yet”Sport & Leisure, Doncaster

Yorkshire and Humber businesses support Yorkshire Forward’s retention.

A3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements…?Base: All respondents (200)

22%

22%

11%

33%

26%

17%

16%

18%

32%

12%

17%

15%

10%

13%

21%

9%

6%

6%A lower (£) value on foreign exchanges will benefit my business

The proposed increase in capital gains tax will damage my business

We need to retain Yorkshire Forward (the RDA)

STRONGLYAGREE

STRONGLYDISAGREE

DON’T KNOW

27% agree

48% agree

55% agree

There is low awareness of the city region concept, however those who are aware of it show support for it …

A4. Are you aware of the city region concept (e.g. Leeds city region concept, Sheffield city region concept)?Base: All respondents (200)

A4b. And do you support the city region concept?Base: All aware of the city region concept (40) *LOW BASE SIZE*

Cutting taxes and red tape are most important for Yorkshire & Humberside organisations

A3b. If there was one thing that the Government could do today to help your business, what would it be? Base: All respondents (200)

Help topic Total (%)

Reduce taxes 37%

Reduce ‘red-tape’ 18%

Banks could ease up credit for businesses

13%

Reduction in public spending 13%

Retention / increase in public spending

13%

Other 6%

Key findings

Key findings

• Yorkshire is a good place to do business

• Expectations are for market improvement in next 12/18 months

• Broad support for Coalition and approach to addressing the deficit

• Business requires Government support and YF to be retained

• Low awareness of the city region concept

• Invest in skills and training a priority but low links with education bodies

and business support agencies

• Lack of invest in R&D / innovation

• Need for improved links to other world markets

• Need for Government to cut taxes and red tape

…we are BrahmGreat Insight. Great OutcomesFor more information please contact Malcolm Cowing on 0113 220 0565