Good morning and welcome to the Friday Brief.
This week has seen George Osborne give his final budget of this parliament; the MTA welcomed the announcement that the Chancellor had listened to representations from manufacturers and would not be cutting the Annual Investment Allowance from £500,000 to just £25,000 at the end of the year.
Also from October 1 2015, the adult hourly rate of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will rise from £6.50 to £6.70, and the apprentice rate will be set at £3.30, a rise of 57p.
The University of Warwick laid the foundation stone for their new £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre, which will be the largest automotive research centre of its kind in Europe.
The inaugural AMRC Training Centre Apprentice of the Year Awards, took place on Wednesday 11 March 2015. The awards, which are set become an annual event, took place at University of Sheffield's Firth Court. The MTA were there to support the occasion and the association sponsored the Special Recognition Award. James Fudge, Skills and Communications Manager at the MTA, presented the award to the winners the AMRC Training Centre’s Master Cutler’s Challenge Team who raised £7500 for charity. Well done to everyone involved.
While on the subject of Annual Dinners and Awards we would like to point you in the direction of our website and ask anyone who attend our Annual Dinner last week to fill out an online questionnaire to give us your feedback on the event. http://www.mta.org.uk/feedback/annual-dinner-2015
The MTA and the MTC will be presenting a seminar on Bridging the Skills Gap. The manufacturing technologies sector, like the engineering industry as a whole, recognises that there is a skills gap which requires a new generation to fill it. It is vital that the industry acts to bring in the talent that it needs. This seminar will be looking at way in which this can be addressed as well as the types of training available for those new to the industry and existing employees.
Save The Date- The Reindustrialisation of Europe: Industry 4.0 - Innovation, jobs and growth will take place on 23rd June 2015 in Brussels visit for more details www.futureindustry.eu for more information and to register.
In economic news our resident statistician Geoff Noon looks at European Industrial Production, UK Trade in Goods by Industry, 2014 and USMTO and US CTMR. We’ll be back next week with more updates; all that’s left to say is have a great weekend from everyone at The MTA.