NEWS FROM THE ALMR Expert Insights
Over the past few weeks, CGSE and A-level students across the country will have sprung eagerly and giddily from their beds and raced to school to collect their exam results and celebrate success. Either that or they will have slunk warily to school and glanced, aghast, at their results.
Kate Nicholls ALMR Chief Executive
SCOTTISH BUSINESS RATES REVIEW MUST ENCOURAGE FULL REFORM OF SYSTEM
Whatever the results, success or failure, these youngsters will naturally begin to think about the next stage in their lives. For some it will mean continued education, for others employment and for many a mixture of both. In every case, the eating and drinking out sector needs to be working hard, arguably harder, to attract these people into jobs within our venues.
As champions of pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and bars, we believe that there genuinely is a job to suit every taste, skill level and ambition. Whether you are looking to work part time, during studies or at weekends to earn a little money; or begin a career that begins collecting glasses or preparing vegetables and ends with you managing your own chain of venues or in charge of an entire kitchen, then we can help you.
In some respects, the eating and drinking out sector has a problem with the way in which it is perceived. We are, wrongly, seen as a stop- gap for students, summer jobs and part-time, dead-end work. Nothing could be further from the truth. Eating and drinking out
businesses provide a variety of employment options encompassing many aspects of hospitality from bar management to accounting, from marketing to Highly skilled culinary skills, running a team of chefs. Crucially, the sector also provides entry-level opportunities and a genuine chance to grow and learn with rapid career progression.
The sector faces challenges in attracting the right staff members, in part because we are not seen as an attractive option, particularly for UK employees. The sector needs to position itself as a viable and attractive option for young UK jobseekers and re-frame the conversation about working in our venues. It is right that the sector does so, as it has great stories to tell and an unjustified image to overturn.
With UK unemployment at its lowest since 1975 and with huge instability continuing to surround the future availability of non- UK employees, now is the time to shift the goalposts in our favour and promote working in the sector.
ALMR: CALORIE REDUCTION PROGRAMME SHOULD NOT BURDEN RESPONSIBLE SECTOR
The ALMR has responded to the publication of Public Health England’s announcement of a calorie reduction programme, by calling for comprehensive industry engagement and reiterating the sector’s hard work to date in promoting healthy attitudes to food, including reduced calorie meals.
ALMR Chief Executive Kate Nicholls also called for clarity in the programme’s stated objectives and the need for wider public engagement in helping to reduce calorie consumption, saying: “As evidenced by the sugar reduction programme, the eating and drinking out sector has long been playing its part to promote healthy attitudes to food. Crucial to continuing that, though is to ensure that blanket measures that increase pressures on businesses don’t derail ongoing sector innovations
to promote healthy lifestyles.
“The ALMR has consistently highlighted the fact that, for the vast majority of customers, eating out remains an occasional treat. Pubs and restaurants have worked hard to reformulate menus, to provide healthy options and provide more information to better inform customer choices.
“The stated aim is to reduce obesity in children, yet this early announcement is unclear as to how – if at all – any targeting would be manifested, so the ALMR looks forward to the publication of PHE’s evidence package early next year. We remain committed to working closely with PHE to ensure that the efforts of the sector are recognised, that pubs and restaurants are fully aware of the action they will need to take, and to help efforts towards the thoroughly merited aims of reducing child obesity.”
The ALMR has responded to the publication of the Scottish Government’s review of non- domestic rates welcoming steps to streamline the rates system for businesses but calling on both the Scottish and UK Governments to push forward with further reform.
The Barclay review was last year commissioned to chair a review into the non-domestic rates system in Scotland to better support business growth, long term investment and reflect changing marketplaces. Kenneth Barclay’s today makes a series of recommendations for the reform of business rates in Scotland, including:
• An increase in the frequency of revaluations to every three years from 2022
• Targeted reductions in bills to help retain shops in town centres
• A cut in the supplementary charge for large business premises, in line with England
• A legal duty on businesses to provide information for assessors
• An extended 12-month period of rates relief for businesses investing in expansion.
ALMR Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: “The Scottish Government’s review of business rate contains a few welcome proposals, but falls somewhat short of the wholesale reform that eating and drinking out businesses need.
“An increase in the frequency of revaluations is welcome, to keep the system as responsive and accurate as possible. And the relief for those businesses that have invested and expanded makes a great deal of sense and is something the ALMR has been pushing for. It is illogical and unfair that businesses that have invested time and a great deal of money in to expanding, employing, and renovating and reinvigorating businesses should then have to face a massive rates hike.”
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