Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
James Selka CEO of the MTA will be in Tokyo for Japan’s premier manufacturing technologies showcase JIMTOF between 17th and 20th of November.
James will be keen to reassure all of our Japanese friends that the UK remains open for business, post the BREXIT vote and be able to give them the latest information on the UK Governments position. If you’ve got key Japanese suppliers or partners and would like them to meet with James, please contact James’ PA Dorothy Straw to arrange on dstraw@mta.org.uk.
The 6th of December sees the MTA’s AGM and Parliamentary Reception take place in Westminster.
This event is always very popular and places for the House of Commons Reception are limited so to make sure you secure your invitation, please visit this link - http://www.mta.org.uk/agm-members-lunch-hoc-reception-6-december-2016.
This week the Government released new information on the Apprenticeship Levy that will be implemented in April 2017; including final funding bands for all apprenticeship frameworks. The MTA have been monitoring this carefully and submitted evidence to government on behalf of our membership, find out what these changes mean to you and your business below.
HAIMER UK would like to invite MTA members to join them at their First Open House at HAIMER UK’s new UK and Ireland offices in Burnley, Greater Manchester area. Dates and details on how to attend can be found in the story below.
Do you supply machinery or similar items to schools, colleges, universities and UTCs? If so, you might be interested in listing your company as a supplier in the Kaltz National Schools Procurement Directory and Tertiary Education Procurement Directory. You can find more details on how to do this within the Brief.
In March 2017 Cranfield University will launch the Manufacturing Directors' Programme, a flagship course for senior managers and directors who have direct responsibility or influence over manufacturing strategy and business performance.
The first estimate of growth for the UK economy published by the ONS this week showed a small acceleration in the annualised rate to +2.3% and the quarter-on-quarter rate of +0.5% was faster than most commentators had anticipated. While this was well received, the reactions seem to have been a little mixed and anecdotal evidence of some puzzling over the sector figures. In our other item this week, there was also some generally good news in the results of the CBI Industrial Trends Survey, including a partial recovery in investment intentions compared to the July results.
That is all for this week we'll be back next Friday with more industry news, until then have a great weekend from every one at the MTA.