What’s affecting your business today could become tomorrow’s policy priority. That’s why our Chamber policy forums bring businesses together to raise concerns, share insight and help shape the issues we champion locally, regionally and nationally.
We’re part way through the latest round of quarterly Chamber policy forums. Our Transport forum met last week and this week it was the turn of our Rural Business forum, with Hospitality and Planning/Infrastructure forums meeting next week.
Staffordshire Chambers’ of Commerce is recognised as being the voice of local business in Staffordshire but what does this really mean? We’re here to represent our members’ views on the local, national and global issues affecting their businesses.
Our ten Chamber policy forums are a great way for member businesses to meet and discuss issues critical to their sector. The forums give our members the chance to share knowledge and best practice but also help us to represent them better in our dealings with the media and government.
Our forums are recognised by the British Chambers’ of Commerce as being among the most influential in the country.
We deliver ten policy forums, covering the topics of:
- Digital
- Employment, HR and Skills
- Energy, Environment and Sustainability
- Hospitality
- Manufacturers’
- Money Matters
- Planning & Infrastructure
- Responsible Business
- Rural Business
- Transport
Each forum is made up of representatives from our Chamber member network and meets up four times a year.
Key topics for discussion are identified, guest speakers are brought in and our forums pick up that role of highlighting the matters that concern our members, at both a regional and national level. Each forum has its own Chair, who will steer both the meetings and objectives of that particular forum.
We welcome new faces in all of our policy forums but what’s in it for you and your business? You’ll get informative updates related to the theme of each forum, helping to keep you “in the loop” with local, national and global changes/news.
It’s a chance for your views to be heard and the opportunity to work collaboratively with your fellow Chamber members in influencing our policy role on specific topics.
You also get the chance to grow your networking contacts in similar sectors. It could also be a perfect development opportunity for one of your team, helping to empower confidence.
Some of our forum members have gone on to join British Chambers’ of Commerce (BCC) policy groupings, getting their voices heard at a national level.
Being a part of our policy forums is not a huge commitment with no more than four meetings a year. Meetings typically start at 9AM and last no more than an hour or so. Each forum meeting will have the option to join remotely on MS Teams, so you don’t need to travel.
Our website has dedicated webpages for each of our policy forums. These webpages will capture discussions from past meetings and become a ‘go-to’ source of useful information/news in bite sized chunks, with the aim of educating and upskilling our members.
Being the voice of business is what we do but why not get involved and play your part in shaping our policy and lobbying work.
For further details on our policy forums, please get in touch:
