FOB Chief Executive’s Weekly News for 16th August 2021

Dear All,

Detailed below is the Weekly News for 16th August.

There will be no Weekly News for the next two weeks returning on the week commencing 6th September.

I sent out an email last week encouraging participation in FDFs survey on labour shortgaes. There was an issue with the survey link. This is a anew link new link to the survey. If you have issues with this link please email Griffin.Shiel@fdf.org.uk. You do not need to be an FDF member to participate.
The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete and will be hugely valuable in supporting the FDF’s work on this critical issue. We ask that responses to the survey are done by end of play Friday 20 August. Please email Griffin.Shiel@fdf.org.uk if you have any questions.

Gordon Polson – Chief Executive

Federation of Bakers Ltd

Barclays Economic Update: UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Increased by 4.8% in q2’21

According to estimated data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK GDP increased by 4.8% in q2’21, as compared to a decrease of 1.6% in q1’21. The level of GDP in q2’21 was 4.4% below the pre-pandemic level in q4’19. The production, services and construction output increased in q2’21.

The production output increased by 0.5% in q2’21, as compared to a decrease of 0.5% in q1’21. The increase was driven by a 1.8$ increase in manufacturing, mainly in food products, beverages, tobacco, and machinery and equipment category. However, the production of motor vehicles decreased by 16.7$ in q2’21. Moreover, the manufacturing of transport equipment also decreased in q2’21, impacted by shortage of microchips. The production output was 3.3$ below the pre-pandemic level in q4’19.

In q2’21, services output increased by 5.7%, but stood 3.5% below the pre-pandemic level in q4’19. The rise was driven by an increase of 12.8% in wholesale and retail trade, 87.8% in accommodation and food service activities and 19.4% in education output. Meanwhile, construction output increased by 3.3% in q2’21, but stood 0.6% below q4’19 levels.  

monthly industrial production in euro

 

Funding of £20m Launched to Manage UK Manufacturing Supply Chains

UK research and innovation and the made smarter innovation programme has partnered with the private sector in the UK to introduce a £20m fund to manage the challenges faced by UK’s manufacturing supply chains amidst the covid-19 pandemic. A funding of £10m each will be secured from the UK research and innovation and the made smarter innovation programme, and from the private sector. the project will also create a virtual digital supply chain hub called made smarter’s digital supply chain innovation hub, led by Digital Catapult.

Over the next four years, the funding will help accelerate commercial integration of advanced and emerging digital technologies across manufacturing supply chains in the aerospace & defence, pharmaceutical, fabrication and logistics sectors. The project will also aim to help UK manufacturers in the integration of advanced digital technologies, leading to improved data sharing and more informed analysis. This will help to spot logjams in supply chains, reduce waste and boost efficiencies.

  DHSC share draft implementation guidance on HFSS promotional restrictions

This week the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has shared the draft implementation guidance on restricting promotions of products high in fat, sugar or salt by location and price. The guidance covers: what food is in scope with principles and examples for each category, businesses that must comply, volume price promotions, and in-store and online locations

New temporary relaxation of the enforcement of the retained EU drivers’ hours rules until 3 October 2021

Following a review of the current situation on the shortage of goods vehicle drivers and evidence from industry, the Department for Transport (DfT) have decided to extend the current relaxed drivers’ hours rules until 3 October 2021. These rules must only be used where necessary and must not compromise driver safety. See Baroness Vere’s tweet and view the guidance here.

 

Delay on requirement to use new AHR EHCs until January

The EU has voted to delay when exporters must start to use the new Export Health Certificates (EHCs).
The new Animal Health Regulation (AHR) EHCs were due to be used from August 21 2021 for goods moved to Northern Ireland or exported to the EU. However, the EU has voted to delay the date the new EHCs must be signed until 15 January 2022. This includes EHCs for all products of animal origin, live animals, germinal products and composite products.
The EU’s proposal will mean that current EHCs signed before 15 January 2022 can be used until 15 March 2022 for goods on route to the EU. Changes to the rules for the certification of composite products which took effect in April 2021 continue to apply.
We know that businesses have been working hard to get ready for the new EHCs on 21 August 2021. We are currently reviewing options for the use of current and new AHR certificates that have already been made available and will provide updates on this shortly.

Self-isolation removed for double jabbed close contacts from 16 August

Adults and children will be free to return to work, attend school, and meet friends and family as the protection from vaccines replaces the need for contact isolation from Monday.
Information on household contacts not required to self-isolate from Monday can be found here. Information on contacts not required to self-isolate can be found here. Further self-isolation guidance will be issued this week.

 

Webinars on new requirements from October 2021 for importing goods from the European Union into Great Britain

We recently hosted three webinars on “new requirements from October 2021 for importing goods from the European Union into Great Britain.”
Please find resources for these webinars, along with FAQs on EHCs, that you may find useful:

We will make further FAQs available next week. You can also find all our useful resources on our microsite. We will add guidance and information documents to this site regularly – please do save the link.

You can also visit GOV.UK to learn more about the upcoming new requirements from October 2021.