….The fall of the Berlin Wall….
….UK music charts dominated by Jive Bunny….
….Port Vale join Stoke City in the second tier of English football, to reignite “El Ceramico” sporting rivalry!….
It was also a year that saw the launch of the British Chambers’ of Commerce (BCC) Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) and a third of a century later, QES is still recognised as a valuable source of business trends across the regions and country as a whole. QES is the largest and most representative independent business survey of its kind in the UK and is closely watched by policymakers such as the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Office of Budget Responsibility. It also attracts a significant amount of media attention.
QES covers a number of specific topics, starting with the UK Market and questions on whether current and future sales are up, down or unchanged. Businesses are asked about current and future changes in workforce numbers. The survey moves on to look at questions on cashflow and investment, before closing with an update on business confidence.
Surveys are open during a three week period, from Monday 15th May to Friday 2nd June and can be completed as a paper copy or online:
https://forms.office.com/e/UP2HAthvfg
The surveys can be completed anonymously and once submitted, all responses are collated and shared with the British Chambers’ of Commerce, who will announce headline results in July. From a Staffordshire perspective, we can use the data to make a comparison on trends between national and local data. With the QES aggregated from businesses sourced by the Chamber of Commerce network from across the UK, it continues to be one of the UK’s largest and most representative private business surveys.
QES covers both the manufacturing sector (25% of respondents) and services sector (75%).and a high proportion of respondents from both sectors, are exporters. The survey covers businesses of all sizes, with the vast majority of respondents falling in to the Small and medium sized enterprises (SME) category of under 250 employees. Each quarter, the QES is made available before official statistics (such as GDP growth), and so provides an up to the minute picture of business sentiment.
Your views can make such a difference, so please take the time to complete the latest QES and please encourage your business contacts to do the same. Getting a good mix of survey responses, will help to build a picture of what’s happening here in Staffordshire and will also feed in ai a national level. It takes less than 90 seconds to complete and once again, here’s the online link:
https://forms.office.com/e/UP2HAthvfg
If you have any questions, please contact: declan.riddell@staffordshirechambers.co.uk
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