Each Friday, Punchline-Gloucester.com editor Mark Owen is joined by leading Gloucestershire business figures from a range of backgrounds to review Friday’s national and regional newspapers and discuss what is happening in their own business sector and their own individual businesses.
Finally, they round off by picking the stories that have caught their eye in this week’s Punchline-Gloucester.com.
The Business Breakfast Briefer show is sponsored by Hazlewoods Accountants and Business Advisors.
This week’s panel of experts were:
Chris Nelson – Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire. The job of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is to ensure the policing needs of their communities are met as effectively as possible, bringing communities closer to the police, building trust and confidence in the system.
The PCC is there to make sure that policing is both accessible for and accountable to the residents of Gloucestershire. Through the PCC, residents have the opportunity to influence how policing is carried out in a way that matters to them. The PCC works with the police on your behalf, to not only hold the Chief Constable to account but also to work with the police and partners to break the cycle of crime and disorder in Gloucestershire.
The Commissioner’s role is not just about policing. It involves wider criminal justice and community safety responsibilities. He does however not run the police, as the Chief Constable is responsible for all police operations, but his role is to:
– Be responsible for the police budget.
– Hold the Chief Constable to account for the actions of the police.
– Act as a voice for the public on policing matters.
– Commission services to achieve the primary police objective of reducing crime.
Gloucestershire constabulary are the counties 4th largest employer with over 2,400 employees and a budget of approx. £160million. We catch up with him about policing numbers, cocaine and drug abuse in the county and violence against women – especially in the aftermath of the acid attack that took place in London making the days headlines.
Kathryn Johnson – owner and MD of KASA Solutions Ltd. The company was founded from Kathryn’s ambitious participation in the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurship programme in 2021 as the first HR professional to join the programme, and from her experience as a Resourcing Lead (at the time of entry into the programme) overseeing International Recruitment, knowing first-hand the challenges she and colleagues face across the country. Relocating back to Gloucester from London in September 2022, Kathryn has seen demand for her business service grow. To date total turnover of over £250,000 in less than 18months. We found out more about the business and the lessons learnt along the journey.
Guy Stenson – CEO – Gloucester City Homes (GCH) – is an independent housing association. They currently own/manage 5,000 homes, with over 12,500 customers, 180 employees and has a turnover of £30million – up £8million from his last appearance of the show. We find out about the companies plans for the redevelopment and regeneration of 11-storey Clapham Court tower block (demolish it) with plans to make way for a new lower level estate containing 36 homes. We also hear of other sites and how they are progressing including Podsmead and the city centre.
Adam Shearing – associate director at Hazlewoods accountants and business advisers, he has a large client base specialising in Construction, manufacturing, commercial property – we find out about the overall market place, which sectors are preforming well as well as which aren’t. Interesting take on the future budget and the squeeze on companies with the warning to companies to watch out for the steady creep of late payments and devastating affect it can have on your business.
Today was jam packed as always. Also in the mix – Morrisons, FSB, Lloyds Pharmacies, Cranes – the feathered type and spikes in shop lifting.
There is always something to learn. Stay on top and tune in.
The Business Breakfast Briefers show is sponsored by HAZLEWOODS BUSINESS ADVISERS AND ACCOUNTANTS.
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Hi welcome punch talks the business breakfast briefers my name is Mark and each week I invite our pal business experts to review the morning newspapers find out what’s happened in their own individual business and their own individual business sectors and finally what’s caught their eye in this week’s
Punch line but before I start I just want to thank our fantastic sponsors haywoods accountants and business advisors who also provide me with coffee every week anyway that’s what I like to say anyway so big thanks to them so let me introduce you to the panel we’ve got
Chris Nelson is’s the police and crime commissioner for gleria huge amount of obviously organization huge budget huge responsibility we were talking about 2,400 employees and a budget of around 160 million so we’ll quiz him about a few things coming up we got guy stedson he’s the CEO of glossia City Homes
Independent Housing Association currently own and manage 5,000 homes 12,500 customers 180 staff with a turnover of around 30 million and they’re G to knock down the big tower Block in Gloucester so we’re going to find out all about that we got Katie Johnson she’s the owner and founder of
Casa Solutions set the business just over a year ago here in gler and she specializes in key worker accomodation so we find about how she started the business the highs and lows and uh and more about that as well so welcome to you Katie and finally Never Last not
Least we’ve got Adam shearing he’s the associate director of Haz Woods large client base across man manufacturing construction management property and he’s also a head chauffer in his house for four young daughters so welcome all of you to punchline talks great to see you all let’s see what’s making the
Headline courtesy of the BBC today okay so the guardian us orders strikes in Iran backed military and revenge of base attack but the main most papers lead with this terrible terrible asses attack by this uh allegedly by this gentleman hand Manhunt says the male the sun I can’t see terrifying
Screams and mother as acid fiend Goes On The Run The Daily Telegraph chemical attacker was failed Asylum Seeker the mirror don’t make the same mistakes as me Marcus this is a story about Gary liner and uh Marcus rashford The Daily Express hunt hunt plotting New onep National Insurance
Cut the metro eyes rolled at work aggressive no eyes rolling today please guys and the eye Millions face stealth tax rise as tor’s demand cuts the financial times Bank of England sets stage for rate Cuts but insists more infl evidence of falling inflation and the Daily Style You’ll Never Walk Alone that’s quite F I think it’s actually quite good okay thanks so much welcome to the panel we’re going to start with You Chris because obviously being the police and crime commissioner the headings there terrible acid attack I mean goodness thankfully we don’t seem to have that kind of problem here but
You know what’s it like on the streets of gler at the moment well I mean that story is absolutely Dreadful and and there are two things that jump out from that story uh at me is um first of all male violence against women and girls it’s a problem all over the country
Obviously not as bad as as that acid attack is really wicked and evil uh and vengeful and goodness knows what this the backstory is to to to that event but too many men um are violent towards women and girls and we’ve got lots of problems with things like domestic abuse
And it’s it’s a big job to change our culture because throughout our culture misogyny um exists Absol absolutely everywhere and you know we’ve got to start with our youngsters and and do all sorts of educational programs as well as enforcement um to stop um things developing into really wicked things
Like this and and on the other hand there’s the Asylum side of life um and I think it’s the controversial issue there is I guess if someone commits a serious crime should they be entitled um come into a country well this is the 60 M million dollar question isn’t it or should they
Be shipped straight away I mean it’s such a big issue too big for this particular program uh but no you’re you’re you’re dead right about the crime against women and things like this and of course it’s increase since covid as well isn’t it with lockdowns yeah um it has I think to be
Honest postco I’m seeing all sorts of indicators of the impact on our population um because of lockdown and things like that um mental health issues are really on the up homelessness is on the up vulnerability is increase things like um harm to animals uh has gone up
School absences there’s a whole range of factors that I’m tracking which show that it’s a very different world post covid than it was before covid well thanks ever so much for that Chris we’re going to come back to about police numbers when your own individual sector
Let’s go to you guy because I know you picked up a bit of a lighter story for us um what what do you picked out sir yeah so seem to spend life um with all of the issues that Chris has been talked about but this week we launched a
Program at work with done with all of our colleagues about being the difference but and one of the messages from that was about starting with a positive so I I tried desperately hard to find a sort of an interesting and positive story in in the in the papers
Today and I came across one that I was quite interesting was about the crane which is apparently the UK’s tallest bird and um became I think extincted in the UK in the 1600s but was reintroduced originally in 1979 so quite a long time ago but actually in this last year for
The first time the number of breeding pairs exceeded 80 so um and originally started in noric and now coming um into Somerset and um down into the gwent levels so I think why that was to me was a really interesting story is actually we as businesses are increasingly
Looking at how we’re investing um in environmental improvements of so we for example looking at how we’re looking at the Energy Efficiency of our homes and actually to recognize these stories take time the the change take takes a long time to get to ac0 breeding pairs um in
Since 1979 is so so gradul so actually we’ve got to look for the long term but as someone who lives down just further down the river um kind of down in the went levels and and and enjoys traveling up along to gluster on the train along
The the river every day come the river and seeing that the the sort of changing environment there something that really interests me but it was the story I think of um kind of real hope I supposes that actually we can make change incremental changes and improvements to
Our our living environment and and do make it do make a difference so a bit of a more light-hearted story but some some positive news there that that gradually we’re seeing the reintroduction of a bird that was native to the UK so long ago starting to be reestablished no I
Think there’s more need for sorry Mark but I just I think there’s more need for Hope in in the world so I commend you for that story okay thanks every so much Katie let’s go over to you what have you picked out for us today yeah so I picked out the story in
The sun um in regards to Asylum Seekers or legal um migrants uh just recently arriving on the shores um 1,300 but the most um the most interesting part of this small story that I’ve found here is that um it comes as 2,000 Asylum cabins have been built um on an RAF base in
Links so um what was quite interesting about that is how our developers are struggling uh to get things through the planning uh system and there’s no kind of um option for fast tracking uh for our you know for our current demand um however these are being built quite
Quick so that’s is that AR of scampton by the way is that where it is it is yes right which is old the old uster place and my dad was stationed there we were stationed there when I was 5 years old I lived there wow school there and the the
Um the damus the Lancaster bommer was on the front Gates right next to the school and being a young young kid we used to throw stones at it just didn’t know just didn’t know what it was anyway my dad told me off after that but no great is a
Real point that because I’ll tell you what you know obviously guy you you did with the planning sort of departments there we know for a fact there massive homeless problem and Asylum shortage of home here couldn’t we do something like that here in Gloucester build these well
Interesting there’s been lots of we have got um huge demand locally for um for support homeless households more generally but and and um Asylum Seekers and and there is a lot of work trying to kind of come up with those innovative solutions um but actually say it’s get
Kind of it’s the speed that is the kind of essence of the planning system nationally there just a not of planners um so we got to be find some solutions but I just think and I I sort statistic the other day around just around homelessness generally I think there’s
An in excess of 300,000 people homeless at the moment but the figure that really struck me was that the number of children um I think 136,000 which is more than the entire population of glester children in the in in that’s just in England uh without a place to
Call home right right now so I think that highlights the actually been able to put some of these Solutions quickly is what we need to be able to do but equally what we need to do is make sure that the quality homes I know um I’m not rushing to sort of stick
Anything up on a on a feeli actually it’s the quality of the home that really matters and makes a difference I think sort the planning system to speed it up but actually we just need more planners but it’s also ironic that the the the company that was made making these
Modular homes has gone burst recently so um you know that’s a a big National story in the construction field was there any other story you picked out Katie um from the line or or was that was that the your stories um there was one Other see if I can find it it’s okay don’t worry I’m sorry to oh yeah the other one that the other one that was um quite interesting just because just owing to my kind of HR background um there’s a um ,000 pounds being offered to uh nannies or nurs staff as a signin
On bonus um and it comes ahead of a a two two two months well coming two months before 15 hours of free care for twoyear olds uh kicks in and um so I just thought that was quite interesting too in terms of this cash incentive um because obviously what they say is you
Know what the education secretary um says is that parents shouldn’t have to choose between a career and a family um and so you know this is this is good so yeah, pounds uh for being a nanny W okay I I I suppose everything needs an incentive like that doesn’t it no thank
You so much for that KT right let’s come over to you Adam great to have you on this show again um so what have you picked out from the papers um well perhaps not surprisingly um mine’s were focused around the up and cominging budget and the spring budget um there
Seems like there might be an election looming the amount that it’s in the papers and in the news at the moment um Jeremy Hunt is obviously uh Keen to do everything he can to try and uh win back Tory voters or new new voters um however
He’s getting a lot of pressure um not only from his back benches but also from elsewhere saying actually there isn’t as much budget as you would like um so he’s this very delicate of balancing act between making sure he can give away but also investing in the future so as a
Result lots of different ideas are being bounded thrown around um the latest I think you point out one of the headlines is actually that he’s going to potentially um continue with his Nation insurance R of of dropping 1% um on the National Insurance that um should potentially give sort of an average
Couple hundred pound um per household depending on obviously the levels of income um however um the I obviously points out that despite his attempt at giving away money the tax burden will be the highest it’s it’s been for for a lot of people um they reckon that an
Additional 4 million workers will be paying income tax for the first time by the end of the the next um period if if the rate stay the same and an additional 3 million workers will be dragged into higher rate tax for the first time um 400,000 will be dragged
Into the very very high rate um for the for the first time so um you know a massive change for a lot of households so jamy hunt clearly Keen to sort of do something um to try and and win back these voters um the suggestion is was
Was that they would perhaps look at scrapping inheritance tax so that’s particularly big and popular for um some toy voters however the office of budget responsibilities kind of suggested that is just not feasible um the kind of the amount of votes that would win versus the cost doesn’t seem
To be very very beneficial um so yeah he’s got a big decision coming up um clearly he wants to do as much as he can um however equally he needs to be shown to be responsible and sensible and be someone that can be trusted with the company’s finances for the next five
Years so sorry the country’s finances for the next five years so yeah big’ be interesting to see and that’s going to just continue to develop um as time goes on you know there’ll be lots of leaks and and ideas just put out to the media to see the Public’s reaction I’m sure um
So and at least for me that’s that’s exciting right I get excited by the budget as an accountant um probably one of the few people that do so lot sorry ad I’m G to stop you there because I get excited about the budget as well so uh and good I’m glad it’s not
Just me no no not at all and uh and we are doing a big link up with uh with hazed Woods on budget day as well so um I already organizer that we’ll interview Richard Graham our mp on the day and obviously then we’ll come over to you
Guys and we get the the Lowdown from hazer Woods give us all the sort of meet and meet and gr of what’s actually happening so uh I always look forward to it Adam I suspect it will be an interesting one ob one before election there’s
Always um plenty in there to uh try and give the last thing that the public remember before they hit the voting booth so just just a quick question though just a quick question I mean personally speaking I think the company the I don’t think they should cut tax I
Think I think personally they should everywhere seems to be broke you know they need the money I I just don’t get it I don’t think the general public want you know one p off here two P off there I think they much prefer that they actually spend it you know on on
Services I mean there are some there are some op pages in in the eye and there are lot of people that Echo that view saying actually forget scrapping tax I’d rather have transport infrastructure that worked I’d rather have hospitals that are well funded I’d rather be able
To get a dentist appointment um NHS dentists seem incredibly rare at the moment um and people can’t if they move house they can’t sign on anywhere anywhere new so lots of people echoing that view actually you know what I’m I’m paying what I’m paying fix fix the
Services I don’t I don’t need a need a cut um no no there there are people struggling as well so it’s a difficult and as we have the police and crime commission here who whose basic job is to try and get us more police officers
And things like this and crime is a is a is a massive issue you know the the Tory party used to be a key Cornerstone for them wasn’t it police and police and Law and Order and things so let’s go that’s very nice thanks thanks for that Adam it
Goes very nicely as a link to You Chris um obviously you came in a mandate of throwing the police force from your you know part of the election what’s it looking like now how how many yeah yeah I mean my election promise was that I said I would recruit
300 more police and I’ve delivered over 400 more police so um I I think have fulfilled that particular um pledge over the last uh year there’s probably been two major events in the constabulary um there’s a new operating model that was introduced last summer which is working
Um extremely well it’s not fully up strength yet it will be by about May or June um but it’s it’s it’s a complete reorganization of how the police police the county and it’s led to um more solved crimes double the crimes that we solved uh a year ago 24% uh more arrests
Um 34% increase better response for grade two incidents it’s contributed towards over 50% C in antisocial Behavior so that’s really good and then last September um we managed to pull the force out of special measures the engage process um which is something I inherited from my predecessor and it’s
Taken me 21 months to to to get the force out which is the fastest time of any Force that’s been in engage so I I think the force is in a pretty good um state of to play um it’s probably the best in the country for recording
Reported crime which was the area of weakness that led to it falling into special measures um so it’s really really good on on that measure there’s plenty of other stuff though that I’d like to improve and it’s it’s why I’m going to offer myself for a reelection
Um this may because I think it needs another four years to to to raise the overall standard of the force now I mean that’s that’s great I don’t understand what grade two incidents are if you don’t mind just explaining that well yeah grade two I mean grade one uh the sort of
999 um life at risk type of things grade twos are the next level down um where perhaps no one’s at imminent risk but a crime has been um committed perhaps a domestic abuse case where the perpetrators left the scene uh but the police need to collect evidence
Okay no thanks every so much for clarifying that what about business crime and cocaine as well on the streets it seems to be Rife at the moment I I I hear you know my you know from my from my sources that you know gler and a few
Other places have got a problem yeah I I mean on business crime um first of all probably the most immediate thing that pops up uh in the media is shoplifting and we’ve had some spikes of of of shoplifting uh around uh the county um that’s due to things like cost of living
Organized crime groups trying to get money for the drug um business and addiction addiction can can generate lots of shoplifting but on on the drug front um we’ve had major operations to to tackle drug dealers I often find that that when when people talk to me about the the things that they’re worried
About drug dealing is definitely one of those those things sadly cocaine use has gone up price of cocaine has dropped um I believe a lot of youngsters under 25 when they go out on the town they don’t drink alcohol anymore um but they take drugs and um the impact of of drugs
Never mind cocaine but also cannabis um there’s a lot of people that suffer from addiction and and and all sorts of long-term medical impacts from drugs and for instance Christmas you and I went out um to on my drink driving um campaign to tackle that and a lot of
People who take illegal drugs don’t realize how long the drugs stay in their system and it can stay in the system for days and that is illegal so people need to be aware of that okay thanks ever so much for giving us that overview Chris really appreciate it okay let’s go over
To you guy um this new housing this old block of flats that we’ve got here in Gloucester it’s the tallest building uh apart from the cathedral let me just see if I can share the screen and bring it up from the story that we ran uh a
Couple of days ago here here it is so that’s can you see that okay everybody so that’s that’s can you just explain about uh about what glos ofure Housing Association does sorry gloser City Homes does yes so well we’re at Social landlord so we provide our aim is
To provide homes good quality homes for affordable homes for um people on lower lower incomes and but actually the important bit is actually we’re um ensuring that actually they have a long a home that is the kind of a long-term home so our tencies are generally let on
A lifetime basis rather than often within the private rental sector you see uh very short-term tenancies so actually our aim is to give people a long-term base and that’s to ability to build to build their lives we also actually um we talked earlier have do a fair amount of work about supporting providing
Temporary accommodation for people who have found themselves to be homeless and we work with them to then ultimately see them move on to a to a new permanent home but in Clapham Clapham was in in as you say in King’s home decision made a number of years ago that due to the the
Sort of the rising cost of maintaining the the the building actually there was an opportunity to do something different in that in that space so we’ve been working over the last couple of years on developing plans that actually allow us to replace that with something um that
Is perhaps more fit for for today’s society and so the club and Tower itself provides 80 um one bed flats that they’ve got lovely views across the city um but actually there isn’t really a demand for uh for for that type of accommodation that so what we’re able to
Do by bringing it down so we’re going into planning now um we’re looking to to to replace the Tower with uh 36 new homes which should be combination of um Flats one two um three and some four bed bed homes so recognized actually what we really need is a much more mixed
Mixed Community uh living living together and you’ll see from that that image of UMUC making better use of the the Green Space around so the houses will all have um semi private Gardens but again there’ll be that communal space that is designed um to be sort of safe and accessible space that people
Can make make use of and recognizing that we can um sort of create a more Vibrant Community in in in that space much more mixed community and I think the the I think for me the really exciting part of the design is actually was we do bring that much more that gred
Mix actually the the um the six story blocks that you can see at the end kind of they’re kind of sort of in a way mirror the existing architecture of the tower but on a sort of smaller scale so what we’re not doing is we’re not losing
That that very iconic image H City skyline but we’re able to create it in a way that’s more fit for the future but of course we’ve got other really big initiatives ac across the city too so we’ve got um at last we’re able to move forward with the Regeneration of of PODS me
Again going to planning um next couple of months which we’ll see us uh bringing in I think 100 77 new homes uh in in that area 113 of which will be replacing existing homes that we will be um again demolishing in in in um BME area with
Uh the equal sort of a very similar level of investment in existing homes because I think the important but it’s not all about the new and the shiny actually we’ve got as you mentioned earlier 5,000 homes um that and it’s important that every single one of them
Is a home that we can be proud of so we’re investing very significant iFly in Works to improve the Energy Efficiency the thermal efficiency of those homes and if you’re driving around Matson the last few months for example May well have seen a number of the the blocks
That we have there wrapped and whilst we’ve been doing external wall insulation there which make a massive difference to the sort of reduce the the energy costs in those homes and make sure that they are are Fit and Well for people to live in so for us it’s a
Balance between that investment in the in the new which is desperately needed we talked earlier about the the the massive demand for homes affordable homes um but actually it’s about making sure that the ones that we have got are ones that are fit for people to be
Living in I just want to say guys I think you guys do a fantastic job because I I go visit round all over the city probably like christas as well and there is a lot of lot of poor areas of the city where lots of people just don’t go you
Know Abby me abbydale you probably don’t go over to Matson you don’t go over to the tougher areas of King’s King’s home uh and King’s home it’s itself is a very deprived area isn’t it the Westgate sort of side so what you’re doing there and turning that round is going to be
Absolutely fantastic and another regeneration the of the city and because it’s all about the people not the buildings so I’m going to have to move on so thank you ever so much for explaining about that Katie let’s talk about your your business you set up in
Gloucester just a year ago can you tell us about the company please yeah sure so um I formed a company CA Solutions um my goal is to prioritize key workers in the rental market um and in particular NHS staff um so I kind of Target those that
Are relocating to the city um needing somewhere as a stop Gap till they find I guess like gu said like their forever home or longer term home many many come here kind of uh for work um in the healthcare those that I support and um
So quite quickly need to find a room and so I rent rooms on flexi contracts and work with landlords that are happy for me to uh yeah take take management of their properties on their behalf dealing with uh maintenance and all the likes of it ins and outs of people uh so we
Provide like furnished rooms bedding as well if you know if they haven’t been able to bring that along with them um I’ve got a partnership with the NHS so my background’s NHS so I’ve been working in the NHS for 13 years um I joined uh the NHS entrepreneurship program so it’s
Kind of born out of that and my desire really to help my NHS colleagues um that are involved in international recruitment as I was when I was a resource and lead and we just had an increasing uh demand to find accommodation for uh new starters in the
Hospital and that was when I was living in London so the intensity was much greater um so I’ve come back to my hometown I’m a glester girl born and raised I went to London uh to to start my HR career and I’ve come back now um
To help my colleagues in the NHS uh here in here in glester and and how you found it what’s the biggest lesson that you’ve learned of of setting up the company um the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to trust myself have self-belief um I’ve o I’ve been overcoming many fears I’ve been a
Full-time entrepreneur now I guess for about 11 months because when I first started the company I was still part-time NHS uh working from home and um with with approval to to have this business as well on the side um so it was quite a balance and act until I was
Able to fully uh sustain my my you know I haven’t replaced my income by no means but um on hopefully on track to at some point I think um my biggest high is that I’m being able to help uh colleagues that I was in there position trying to
Find accommodation for all these nurses we were recruiting um internationally and it was um and we don’t necessarily have accommodation managers in the NHS so it just falls to the HR team who you know don’t necessarily have property experience yes um and but fortunately for me I had an interest in property so
That’s why I kind of took this battern up and I’m running with it well good luck with that thanks that was so much for explaining it and hopefully we’ll get you back on the show around six months time and find out how it’s all going so that’s AB all the very best of
Luck for that as well okay let’s go over to you please sir because uh obviously you’re dealing very very many different sectors what it’s actually you know sort of the feeling out there in in the business General business community at the moment uh well there’s still a lot of of
Business to be done H still a lot of activity uh which is great and good um and uh something we like to see um there is beginning to be a little bit of nervousness around kind of um the protection of margins we’ve had a lot of inflationary pressures in the last sort
Of 18 months or so but actually businesses have found it quite easy to pass those on um or find sort of cuts and savings elsewhere uh the ease of passing that on though is starting to to Fall Away people aren’t as accepting of price Rises as they have been um it’s
Customers or other businesses and so we’re starting see a little bit of pressure on on on that um starting to also see a little bit of cash flow pressure you know there was a lot of money in the system after covid you know a lot of businesses borrowed
Money a lot of um individuals were able to be well protected that pool of money is starting to sort of dry up and you can see the little bit of lag sometimes in some not everyone but some some customers paying staff so our advice really to to to most businesses is you
Know look at your you know monitor your margins you know be careful of it um and also you know start keeping an eye out on on you know your the payments you’re being received you know as as they start to slowly drag and get longer and longer
That your work and capital needs get bigger and bigger and and that’s usually what causes businesses to go under so so people are people are sort of slowing down their payment really and um yeah and you know if everyone does you know does it by two or three days that can
Make a big difference to a business that you know relies on you know because they then have to find that money themselves to borrow to to pay their staff to pay their suppliers so um you know just keeping an eye on it particularly you know if you’ve got some
Big major customers you know that can have a big impact so you know the B advice we given to people is you know what’s that margin and also you know be vigilant in managing your cash flow and your working capital you know just because you’ve had a long-term relationship with somebody um and
They’ve always paid you know great good but you know the past doesn’t necessarily predict the the future so you know just be wary keep on top of it you know you don’t need to sit there every single day for three hours scrutinizing it but don’t forget about
It I I’m G stop I’ve got to agree with you there I think when you have a really good work relationships with people you and you trust them I’ve done this lots of times and so you let it you let their sort of um debt say they owe you money
You know and uh you know from two months to three months before you know it’s like six months oh they’ll pay they’ll pay and before you know it you’re really in the stook because they can’t they’re never going to pay you particularly if if it costs you
Money to service them so if you’re having to buy materials or pay staff in order to continue you know not only are you paying out you’re not getting paid in so um it’s just something to be wary of you know so not every business is
Going to go crazy or go bust but usually profitable businesses go bust not because they haven’t got the customers not because they’re not making money it’s because they haven’t got the cash so that’s a key key area to just be mindful of um as we sort of turn into
This slightly turbulent time still say still lot business out there still a lots of activity being done um still profits being made um so there’s no need to panic is there a particular sector that you see still is there a particular sector that you’re still seeing quite
Buoyant you know I know that um you know the aviation industry is doing really well but on the flip side construction is having a mixed bag view of things yeah construction we are seeing a little bit of hesitancy on some projects going ahead um particularly sort of um
Residential like um some projects are are proceeding others are just being put on the back bur a little bit they’ve still proceeding with planning but they just haven’t yet got to the stage of what we’ll build out we just some people waiting to see where the Market’s going
To settle it’s starting to spit up and down a little bit on the housing prices um we’ve seen in fact we’ve seen quite a big some big Falls in some areas of the country um biggest since 2009 I think the one of the papers announced this
Week in some areas um but other people are are still seeing opportunities and are still proceeding so it’s not a complete um picture across the construction industry of everyone scaling down um but clearly there are a few nervous people out there that are not potentially still planning on
Investing and going ahead but not going all guns blazing at the moment so um and usually construction industry is quite a good indicator for the rest of the kind of the country and they they seem to go first and then everyone else follows so so the fact that there are still people out
There willing to invest is a good sign and there’s lots of and lots of investment in gire especially especially city council let’s be honest about it anyway thanks so much for that andna give us an overview okay we kind of running out of time in fact we are
Overtime so we’re just going to do the pick of the punch lines quite quickly bet okay I’m gonna start with you KT uh what have you picked out for punch line please this week picked out the um sad news that Lloyd’s Pharmacy’s going into liquidation they gave me my break into
HR I couldn’t find a HR job in when I graduated uh uni in 2010 and I managed to get a rot to coordinator role at the uh Gloucester regional office over in Barnwood and um yeah so I’m really sad to see that yeah no that is sad case is
It okay thanks ever so much for that guy what have you picked out from this week’s punch line please um other than our own story I think the kind of the one that really jumped out to me was this story about Morrison’s um involving making sure that they’re involving customers in all of
Their um management meetings so again something I think is really important is actually making sure you’re hearing that customer voice where the decisions are being made and good to see that as part of Morrison’s transformation no I couldn’t agree would’ be more that there as well Adam I’m gonna come over to you
And then Chris finally what have you picked out from us please um well perhaps it’s no surprise to stick on the money theme um obviously the FSB um which is a huge organization Federation of small businesses very active here in glou um they represent a lot of uh
Individuals or say um smaller businesses and lobbying for the government um they’re urging um Jeremy Hunt in the spring budget obviously to uh to increase um allowances particularly for small business rates um and for the employers allowance to kind of encourage and stimulate growth um and OB that make
A big difference here and ler if they’re able to you know give a little bit additional relief to those smaller businesses and and help them to employ staff could agree with you more and they do a fantastic job here and I don’t know if you know but I used to be Regional
Chairman but there we go anyway Chris uh what’s the last story please what’s your biges your story on war on weed declared for the chelam festival um you know over the last few years we’ve had lots of problems of men drinking too much and then using Gardens and and public parks
As a toilet and I I’ve made a big push over the last few years to work with all the different stakeholders and your story is about the Bar Council um giving away free paint water resistant paint which which you know people take it up
Uh that might help um but it needs to be a coordinated action more toilets more Marshals um roads being blocked off um because it’s it’s a big problem no it’s absolutely terrible and really disgusting uh thank you every so much my fantastic panel for joining us today I
Hope you enjoyed the show if you like the show please like share and subscribe and I’d like to thank our fantastic um sponsors as well accountants uh hazelwood’s advisor and business sorry hazelwood’s accountants and business advisor it’s because I was looking at Adam when I was saying all that sort of
Stuff then and to for all of you for watching again remember we’ll be back again next week it’s all in the punch line bye bye