The Institute of Directors (IoD) is an association of members that forms a network reaching into every corner of the business community. IoD membership spans the whole spectrum of business leadership, from the largest public sector companies to the smallest private firm. Membership of the IoD is individual ... each new member joins the IoD is his or her capacity as a director or person of similar status.

IoD members enjoy the benefits of having an influential organisation on their side in representing their concerns to government, and at their side in providing professional business support wherever it is needed.

Latest from East of England Region

Understanding Finance for Business – free workshops available across East of England

In case you are not aware of it, 'Understanding Finance For Business' helps entrepreneurs identify and secure the right type of funding for their business. It combines workshops and mentoring and there are workshops running throughout the region from January - June, as follows:

• Tuesday 19 January 2010 Harlow Enterprise Centre, Essex
• Thursday 28 January 2010 IP City Centre, Ipswich
• Tuesday 9 February 2010 Hethel Engineering Centre, Norfolk
• Tuesday 2 March 2010 St John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge
• Thursday 11 March 2010 Business & Technology Centre, Stevenage (BTC Stevenage)
• Tuesday 27 April 2010 BasePoint, Luton, Bedfordshire
• Thursday 13 May 2010 IP City Centre, Ipswich, Suffolk
• Tuesday 20 May 2010 Pontlands Park, Chelmsford, Essex
• Tuesday 1 June 2010 Herts Business Incubation Centre (BIC)
• Tuesday 15 June 2010 St John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge
• Thursday 24 June 2010 The Forum, Norwich

• EEDA - Finance

Scouring the Region for top Businesswomen

Do you know a businesswoman who deserves recognition for her desire, determination and achievement?

The region-wide search is now officially under way to find the 2009 East of England Businesswoman of the Year and advisers, colleagues, customers and suppliers are being urged to put worthy women forward.

Organised by the Suffolk branch of the Institute of Directors, the awards acknowledge the success, creativity and commitment of women running and leading businesses throughout Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

A total of three awards are presented as part of the annual search - Businesswoman of the Year, Businesswoman Entrepreneur of the Year, and Young Businesswoman of the Year. In the past, winners have been identified in an array of industries and business formats - from law to brewing and retail to public relations. High street bank Lloyds TSB Commercial returns as lead sponsor for the third year. Steve Elsom, Commercial Banking Director, East Anglia, said: "These awards have historically attracted a very high calibre of entrant from around the region, which is testimony to the great work being done by today's businesswomen, whether running their own business or working at director or senior management level.

"This year, we would like to see even more women putting themselves forward or being nominated by those they work with. We all know a woman who has achieved a lot in her career - so this is the time to get her into the spotlight and acknowledge her achievements publicly." Adnams plc will again sponsor the Young Businesswoman of the Year Award.

For more information on entering for the awards, call Caroline Kearney on 07917 699498 or email Caroline Kearney.

• EEBW website

Economic Support and Advice for Businesses

There's no doubt that we are in unprecedented times but there is a wealth of publicly-funded business support available to help your business in today's challenging economic environment. In this region alone businesses can access over £30 million worth of support in the next year.

Click to Read More>>

Do you Employ ability?

The success of any business depends on having the right people in your workforce. The Department for Work and Pensions 'Employ ability' campaign launched on 5th January 2009 and promotes the message that when it comes to getting or retaining a job, people with a health condition or disability should be treated like anyone else and judged on their ability, skills and attitude to do the work.

The 'How to Employ ability' workshops are aimed at anyone in business, offering employers and managers the opportunity to maximise the potential of a wider pool of talent by overcoming fears and attitudes about people with disabilities and long-term health conditions in the workplace. Not solely focussing on recruitment, they also address retention and support for employees who become disabled in the workplace, a subject which is often overlooked. The workshop challenges individual perceptions, dispels fears, and encourages disability-awareness in a practical, educational and fully interactive manner; giving advice and guidance.

Delegates will have the opportunity to:

• Improve their confidence in recruiting and retaining disabled staff
• Meet businesses who already employ disabled people
• Find out what financial support is available and meet the Jobcentre Plus support team in their area
• Improve their understanding of the legal context and the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
• Receive practical easy to digest guidance packs, including material form the Employers Forum on Disability and SHiFT/li>

More information about workshops and booking details can be found on their website.

The Migrant Workers debate

Why the East of England needs migrant workers - By Philippe Legrain

The East of England is at the forefront of Britain’s vital – and often confused – debate about immigration. Nearly 120,000 migrants from Poland and the other ‘A8’ central and east European countries that joined the EU in May 2004 have since registered to work in the Anglia postal region – more than in any other region, including London – while many others are self-employed or may be employed but not registered.

• Read full document >>

50+ Working Lives
Information and Guidance on Work Options in Later Life

Executive Summary

This article describes a DWP initiative to provide an information and guidance service for employers to raise the awareness of their staff aged 50+ to the Pension Commission 'work longer' message; put this into the context of pensions, finance, family, and retirement changes; and explore how an extended working life might help with the issues individuals will face in the 21st century.

• Full article >>

Latest help available from Business Link

• Download Details >>

Train to Gain offer

Core Train to Gain offer

Following enhancements introduced in August all businesses now have access to:

Quality-assured, impartial and independent advice from skills brokers which is available to those businesses who want:

• Help to identify skills needs at all levels of their business so that they can make the right, informed choices as part of a wider business needs analysis
• To identify and source high quality, vocational skills training, including Apprenticeships, delivered at a time and place to suit them, from a wide range of colleges and training providers.

• Download to read more >>

River basin planning - The Water Framework Directive in the Anglian River Basin District

Welcome to the seventh edition of the Anglian River Basin District newsletter.

The draft River Basin Management Plan was issued on 22 December 2008. The Environment Agency is asking the public to give their views on plans to improve waters across England and Wales.

• Download to read more >>

Flood homes 'still unprotected'

Norwich Union recently issued the following report:-

Most homeowners hit by last summer's floods remain unprepared for a repeat, a Norwich Union survey suggests. Some 83% of residents of Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Hull, Sheffield and Rotherham believe there is nothing they can do to protect their homes. More than a quarter of those surveyed did not know they were at risk.

Of 1,500 people surveyed for Norwich Union, 95% had not secured their properties ahead of the threat of further flooding this summer.

A total of 29% also were unaware that their homes were at risk again.

• More details >>

Proposal to flood 25 sq miles of The Broads

In February this year Natural England and its partners held a private conference to look at climate change and its impact on The Broads. The meeting discussed a paper outlining various climate change scenarios and options relating to the coastline between Eccles and Winterton.

The Four options discussed were:-

• 'do nothing' -which in effect would allow the sea to inundate the 25 sq miles area but the timescale would be 50+ years dependant on the rate of sea level rise (the extent of which is subject to much discussion);
• 'hold the line' - i.e. protect the coast whilst it is technically feasible to do so. This is the current Environment Agency official position;
• 'managed retreat' - manage some breaches to the existing defences but prevent massive inundation by creation of new defences further inland;
• 'deliberate breaching' - in effect speeding up the 'do nothing' option.

• More details >>

CompeteFor
An Opportunity for Business

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has committed in its procurement policy to provide businesses, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with access to supply chain opportunities and business support services that will help them to get fit to supply.

The development of CompeteFor has been possible through a partnership consisting of the Regional Development Agencies around the country.

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Renewables East

Renewables East, the renewable energy agency for the East of England, funded by EEDA over the last four years has been driving forward offshore renewable energy opportunities in the region. This has been focused on ensuring the learning from the offshore oil and gas industry has been shared with the emerging offshore wind industry. After a slow start it is now clear that off the East Coast of England alone, there are offshore wind farms incorporating a market opportunity of approximately 1,500 large turbines. Many of these are already under development & construction, representing a capital expenditure of around £8Bn (billion) in terms of supply chain components and construction activities.

Furthermore on 10th December 2007, John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, launched a vision which could see up to 7,000 such turbines in deeper water, further out to sea around the UK coastline - a significant step toward securing independent low carbon sources of energy for the nation.

Renewables East endeavours across the East of England have been recognised and as a result we have expanded our activities into the East Midlands. On the 6th March, Renewables East will host an event at Forest Pines Conference Centre, in North Lincolnshire, which will bring together a market leading offshore wind turbine company and other businesses within the value chain, to present the long term opportunities in the East Coast offshore wind sector of the energy industry. This is an event that East of England businesses should not miss out on.

What will the Water Framework Directive mean for my business or industry?

The objectives of the Directive are to:

• prevent deterioration in the well-being of any body of water, whether these be rivers, lakes, estuaries or coastal waters;
• reduce pollution from all sources, whether this is from sewage treatment works, factories, farms or a whole host of other sources;
• promote sustainable water use;
• And by doing all of this contributing to reducing floods and droughts.

The Water Framework Directive will have implications for all sectors whose business activities directly or indirectly affect the water environment through:

More>>

Regional Economic Strategy

How can the East of England maintain and strengthen the region's economic prosperity and quality of life for people who visit or live or work here?

This is the focus of the draft regional economic strategy for 2008-31, which has been prepared by the East of England Development Agency and private, voluntary and public sector bodies. Consultation on the draft strategy runs until the end of Monday 26 November 2007 and they would welcome views from businesses.

To see the full draft strategy (and supporting documents), please visit:

• RES Review

You may be particularly interested in specific parts of the draft strategy, such as:

• the vision and targets & scenarios for economic growth (see pages 10-16, with more detail on pages 101-105)
• the enterprise and innovation goals (pages 27-39)
• the transport goal (pages 63-69) and
• the places goal (pages 70-77).

To have your say, please use our online survey at the same web address. This covers all the consultation questions in the draft future regional economic strategy. The questionnaire is designed so that you can save your answers and submit them at a later date. We would welcome your comments on all the questions, but alternatively you may want to respond just to some of them.

You can give your overall views via our online survey (perhaps, under 'any other comments'). We would encourage you to consider:

• How ambitious should the region be in terms of economic growth?
• Does the strategy identify the biggest issues facing the region? What are the greatest barriers to business growth in the East of England?
• How can businesses in the East of England be better supported to compete in international markets?
• What are the actions that you think could make the biggest difference to the regional economy and quality of life?

The IoD Representing the Voice of Business

If you want to take a quick overview of the draft strategy, instead, please see the attached summary.

• RES Summary

And spend two minutes completing the following survey:

Click here to take the brief IoD / RES survey

The East of England – being better for business!

Did you know that more than half of the UK container traffic passes through ports in the East of England?

We are home to three of the country’s priority Growth Areas. And we have the highest renewable energy generation capacity of the English regions.

The East of England is a major contributor to UK plc. Yet, the East of England receives the lowest amount of public funding per head of population of any UK region - £5532 in the East of England compared to the national average of £6931.

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) is calling for changes to ensure faster and more efficient decision making processes and innovative approaches to funding for transport and other infrastructure investments.

• Find out more>>