Friday Brief Intro 19/08/2022

Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s MTA Friday Brief! We hope you are having a relaxing summer so far, here are our great stories from the past week!

Up first we have an enquiry from the House of Lords. The House of Lords’ science and technology committee has launched an enquiry into people and skills in UK STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Questions include whether there is a STEM skills gap, how that can be addressed, and what skills will be required in the future. Find more details in the story below.

Foreign secretary Liz Truss this week launched formal dispute resolution proceedings with the EU over the way it has frozen the UK out of Horizon Europe and other important research and innovation programmes. Take a look at the story below to find out more.

The UK government’s Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) has confirmed that the use of EORI (Economic Operator Registration Identification) numbers will now be mandatory for licence registrations on SPIRE – the ECJU’s exporting licensing system for the control of military, paramilitary and dual-use goods. Check out the legal requirements and the essentials below.

The government’s new plastics packaging tax may be being largely ignored by firms, it seems. The Times reports that only one in 20, or 5%, of 20,000 firms that HMRC believes will be subject to the tax have registered. The figure was revealed after a Freedom of Information request to HMRC from legal firm Pinsent Masons. More details can be found in the story.

NPL have quite a few upcoming MMN events that you can check out in their story, with details like dates, descriptions, and links to register. Find out more below.

Throughout September our Associate Member, Citation would like to offer your company a free health check. Get in contact with them through the details below to get your documentation review today.

There is lots of economic news to catch-up on this week, so we have split the article into two parts for ease of reference. The UK article looks at the data for the 2nd quarter of the year that was published last week covering GDP, manufacturing (and its component industries) output and investment – we will cover the trade data next week. The UK economy contracted slightly in the 2nd quarter but while growth is undoubtedly anaemic, the marginally negative trend is down to extra Bank Holiday for the Queen’s Jubilee and Q3 is expected to see a return to growth.

In our other article we cover the European GDP and industrial production figures for the 2nd quarter – growth there is still continuing in most countries but with a couple of notable exceptions – and also take a look at the US machine tool and tooling markets where a summer pause (hopefully) seems to be underway.

Finally, we will be closing the July edition of the MTA Business Survey early next week; we have had a good response but it could be better so, with thanks to those who have already replied, we would encourage members to take a couple of minutes to let us have your input via the online form at www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-jul22 which is still open.

That’s it for this week’s Friday Brief! As always thank you for keeping up to date with us and have an amazing weekend!

Toyota threatens to end UK manufacturing

Toyota is reported to have threatened that it will stop manufacturing in the UK, should the government goes ahead with proposals that would undermine the sale of hybrids. The Department for Transport had announced it would allow plug-ins and better self-charging hybrids to be sold until 2035 and that remains formal policy. But is now […]

ECONOMIC NEWS – USA & EUROPE

USMTO and CTMR, June 2022: The US Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) programme tracks orders in the US market, based on the reports from participants. Although orders in June 2022 were down both the previous month and a year ago, for the 1st half of the year there is an increase of +13.1% compared to the […]

ECONOMIC NEWS – UK

UK Manufacturing Output , June & 2nd Quarter 2022: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data for June shows a fall of -1.6% compared to May; this almost reverses the strong growth (+1.7%) we saw in May. It seems likely that this is at least influenced by the change in the Bank Holiday arrangements for […]

FREE Business Compliance Health Check in the month of September

After the initial introduction to our consultant, they’ll run through which policies you must have, which are nice to have, and which you can do without. We’ll review your existing documentation and flag any issues. If there are any major concerns that need addressing, our experts will talk through the support options available to ensure […]

NPL – Upcoming MMN Events

Vehicle Electrification – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vehicle-electrification-tickets-275607598747 Tue, 13 Sep 2022 15:30 Electric vehicles are now a common sight on our roads and increasingly in other forms of transportation as we move towards a future which is less reliant on hydrocarbons. What are the challenges in making this happen and how are they being met? Hear from speakers from NPL […]

Plastics packaging tax ignored?

Government confirms EORI number now mandatory for exports of licensed goods on SPIRE

Posted by: IOE&IT STAFF Export Control Joint Unit announces new export control measures The UK government’s Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) has confirmed that the use of EORI (Economic Operator Registration Identification) numbers will now be mandatory for licence registrations on SPIRE – the ECJU’s exporting licensing system for the control of military, paramilitary and […]

EU researchers rebel against European Commission

UK starts dispute process over Horizon Europe Foreign secretary Liz Truss this week launched formal dispute resolution proceedings with the EU over the way it has frozen the UK out of Horizon Europe and other important research and innovation programmes. The European Commission has been blocking UK participation due to the stand-off over the Northern […]

House of Lords’ inquiry into People and Skills in UK STEM

The House of Lords’ science and technology committee has launched an enquiry into people and skills in UK STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Questions include whether there is a STEM skills gap, how that can be addressed, and what skills will be required in the future. The committee asks whether STEM graduates are being […]