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Seventh Biennial Burnley Business Survey

Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 1

Contents

List of tables 3List of figures 3Methodology 4Executive summary 5Business profile 7Key markets 10Company performance 14Recruitment 21Training 27Business premises 30Broadband 39Environmental, Health & Safety 39Business Support 40Conclusion 47Appendix – List of recognized standards and accreditations 49Appendix – Copy of the survey 50


List of Tables

Table 1 Age of responding businesses 7Table 2 Status of business premises in Burnley 7Table 3 Businesses by number of employees 8Table 4 Business by size bracket 8Table 5 Businesses by Industry Sector 9Table 6 Businesses holding recognized standards/accreditations 10Table 7 Trading by geographic location 10Table 8 Value of exports as a percentage of turnover 11Table 9 Are you considering or would you consider exporting to new markets? 12Table 10 Turnover over the last year 14Table 11 Company performance in comparison to previous years 15Table 12 Predicted company performance in comparison to previous years 16Table 13 Ways in which company have sought finance 19Table 14 Actual and anticipated changes to staffing levels 20Table 15 Have you recruited, or attempted to recruit, within the last 12 months? 20Table 16 Recruitment problems experienced by businesses 23Table 17 Skills shortages in the local labour market 24Table 18 Reasons for not training 28Table 19 Number of sites in Burnley, businesses operate from 29Table 20 Amount of floor space occupied by Burnley businesses 30Table 21 Please indicate the main type of premises currently occupied at your Burnley business site 30Table 22 Business premise requirements over the next five years 32Table 23 Awareness of business support organisations 38Table 24 Satisfaction rating with the service received from business support organisations 40Table 25 Awareness of business support programmes 41Table 26 Satisfaction rating with the service received from business support programmes 43

List of Figures

Figure 1 Do you export? 11Figure 2 How do you anticipate your export levels to change over the next 12 months? 12Figure 3 What factors, if any, encourage or discourage your ability to export? 13Figure 4 Business performance over the last 12 months 14Figure 5 Where turnover increased/decreased. By approximately what percentage? 15Figure 6 Predicted company performance for the next 24 months 16Figure 7 Factors affecting business growth 18Figure 8 Areas of Investment over the last 12 months and the next 12 months 18Figure 9 Recruitment methods used 21Figure 10 Awareness of schemes from Job Centre Plus 22Figure 11 Geographic locations for recruitment 23Figure 12 Skills gaps in current employees 26Figure 13 Training undertaken in last 12 months and in the next 12 months 27Figure 14 Are you aware of training offered by these institutions? 29Figure 15 Business satisfaction with existing premises 31Figure 16 Type of business premises required over the next five years 33Figure 17 Factors influencing the decision to relocate/expand into new premises 34Figure 18 Interest in Burnley development sites 35Figure 19 Which existing business sites would you consider moving to? 36Figure 20 Environmental, Health & safety 37


Methodology

Burnley’s seventh Biennial Business Survey was undertaken between December 2012 and January 2013. The survey was drawn up in consultation with the Burnley Business Support Network and other relevant partners to ensure that the survey gave a comprehensive overview of the economy, and to make sure that the survey built upon previous business surveys that have been undertaken.

Some questions have been asked which were not in previous surveys whilst others have been removed as they are no longer relevant.

The survey focused on the following areas; Business Activity; Recruitment; Training; Business Premises; Broadband speed; Environmental, Health & Safety; and the provision of Business Support.

In total 5161 surveys were posted out to all companies listed in the Burnley Business Directory and to Burnley Bondholder’s, with the option of completing and returning the paper copy or completing the survey online.

These businesses were asked to take part because they contribute to economic activity within the town and their participation required them to answer 56 questions.

Additional awareness of the survey was raised via the Council’s Twitter feed reminding companies to complete their survey. A reminder letter was sent out mid way through the collection period. One week prior to closure companies were contacted by telephone to encourage responses. All further outstanding companies were emailed with a message and a link to complete the survey online. This resulted in a significant increase in the number of online responses received.

An IPad was used as an incentive for the survey. To find out the winner of the ipad was contact Ryan Gifford of Burnley Council.

A total of 139 responses were received. 91 (65%) responses were received in the post and 48 (35%) responses were completed online. This represents a response rate of 26.9%. This is higher than the response rate of 21.4% for the 2011 Business Survey.

All personal details collected have been treated in confidence and answers provided have been presented in the study anonymously. The raw data collected for this study will remain with the researcher until such a time as it is no longer needed and will be then be confidentially destroyed.

The survey was conducted and analysed by Ryan Gifford of Burnley Council who co-ordinated the study and is responsible for the security of the data. He will be the only person able to identify a business to their particular answers.

The survey responses represent only a small number of the active enterprises within Burnley2. This report should therefore not be seen as representative of the overall performance and opinions of all businesses in Burnley.

The completed study is available to download via the Burnley Council website for reference by the public and has been distributed to organisations within the area who deliver business support.

If a participating business wishes to receive feedback on how the information they provided was used, they may request a copy of the survey report or should speak to the researcher..

1 533 Survey’s in total were posted out but 17 were returned by Royal Mail as the companies were no longer at that address. So the actual number received by companies was 516.2 According to the ONS Business Demography 2012 there are 2,470 active enterprises within Burnley. This survey therefore contains a sample of 5.6% of the total. Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 4

Executive Summary

Business Profile The majority of respondents are micro businesses (61%), followed by small businesses (27%). Manufacturers

accounted for the largest share of responses followed by those in the ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles’3

Most businesses said that turnover and profitability have improved and is expected to continue improving. This provides a sign that Burnley companies are now exiting the period of national recession and economic stagnation.

However, most companies are not taking advantage of international markets with which to access growth. 80% of companies said they do not export and 70% are not considering it.

Business Activity The performance of local businesses continues to grow. Profitability, sales and cash flow are all significantly

improved from the 2011 survey, which in turn were an improvement on the 2009 survey. Cash-flow has significantly improved since the 2011 survey, although it still remains an issue for some businesses.

Improved performance over the last 12 months appears to have bred confidence for the future. Over the next 24 months 63% of businesses’ expect profitability to increase whilst 70% expect sales to increase and over half expect cash flow to improve. These figures have consistently risen since the 2009 survey.

When it comes to the factors which are having a positive effect on business growth, the availability of a skilled workforce has overtaken access to finance as the most ‘positive’ factor since 2009. This demonstrates that businesses are now more confident about their finances and place emphasis for their growth on more tangible factors.

92% of businesses have invested in their business over the last year with training, investment in equipment and ICT as well as marketing being the most popular areas of investment. Whilst 91% intend to make an investment over the next 12 months.

Recruitment Three quarters of businesses identified a shortage of skills in the local labour market. This is higher than the

two thirds who identified shortages in 2011. The proportion who identified a shortage of skilled manual workers was 44.4% (up from 38.3% in 2011). A lack of general literacy/numeracy skills was identified by 29.1% of businesses (down a fraction from 29.8% in 2011). Whilst 17.1% identified a shortage of apprentices (a new option introduced in this survey).

Just 10.4% of businesses have decreased the number of staff they employ in the last 12 months, a much bigger improvement on the 2011 survey when it was 24%, which in turn was an improvement on the 2009 survey (33%). Proof that economic conditions are improving. Only 6.4% of businesses intend to make staff reductions over the coming 12 months.

42.4% of businesses had increased staff levels over the past year with 45.6% planning to increase staff levels in the coming year.

64.7% have recruited or attempted to recruit in the last 12 months with word of mouth remaining the most popular method. Recruitment agencies have overtaken the Job Centre as the second most popular method for recruitment.

Training 63.6% of businesses stated that their current workforce had some skills gaps.

3 ‘Wholesale, Retail and Motor vehicles’ included business to business wholesalers of components, equipment; business to business retail such as building merchants as well as specialist retail to the customer including of fuels, of optical products; also a high end vehicle garage. Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 5

Over 90% of businesses had provided some form of training over the last 12 months. Of those who do not intend to train their staff over the next 12 months half said that their staff are already suitably qualified whilst slightly less than half said that it was too expensive to train their staff.

The majority of businesses are aware of the training opportunities offered by Burnley College and UCLan but not from the University Technical College (Visions Learning Trust).

Business Premises 90.0% of businesses operate from one site in Burnley. Over 60% of businesses’ who responded to the survey

occupy units up to 5,000sq ft., with a further 10% occupying units up to 10,000 sq. ft. Satisfaction levels with existing premises remain high with most businesses being either satisfied or very

satisfied with a number of factors relating to premises. Just under a quarter of businesses had tried to expand or relocate over the past year. Up from 17% in 2011.

Only 40.0% of these had successfully expanded or relocated to a new site. Just over half encountered problems such as cost of land being too expensive or the unavailability of leasehold/freehold property.

Just under 40% of businesses thought that their requirements were likely to change in the next 5 years. Approximately 70% were likely to change premises in order to acquire more floorspace.

The cost and size of premises were the two most important factors influencing a businesses decision to relocate or expand.

Of the current business developments Burnley Bridge was highlighted as the site most businesses ‘would’ consider moving to, with the Knowledge Park and On the Banks being the two developments they ‘might’ consider.

Broadband 79% of businesses said that the speed of their broadband was adequate for the needs of their business Businesses reported a huge disparity in internet speeds from locations across the town.

Environmental, Health & Safety 87.8% of businesses answered that they do not require further contact for advice on environmental issues.

Business Support Less than 50% of businesses were aware of the support organisations which exist for their benefit but had not

used their services. Usage of business support organisations; Burnley Council Business Support team had the most users; 45.

Followed by the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce with 44 users followed by Job Centre Plus with 42 users. Over 100 businesses answered this question, meaning that usage is less than half.

As a proportion of those businesses which had used a support organisation and subsequently rated them as Good; Burnley Council Business Support team scored highest (75.6% Good), followed by Burnley Council Environmental Health & Licensing (70% Good) followed by Community & Business Partners (69.2% Good).

Of the individual business support programmes currently available through these organisations, between 57%-87% of businesses who replied were not aware of the business support programmes.

Whilst a very low number of those who are aware had used the service. From less than 1% up to 7.9%. Of the businesses who had used a programme, Accelerating Business Growth received the most number of

‘Good’ scores, followed by the Funding Circle.


Business Profile

The first few questions of the survey attempted to establish a profile of the type of business that had responded. Questions were therefore asked on the age of the business, the number of people that the business employs, the type of industry that the business operates in and the turnover of the business.

Age of Business

Age of Business Established Between Number PercentageUnder 3 years4 2010 to 2013 14 10.1%4 to 10 years 2003 to 2009 36 25.9%11 to 20 years 1993 to 2002 24 17.3%21 to 50 years 1963 to 1992 49 35.3%Over 50 years Pre 1963 7 5.0%No reply 9 6.5%TABLE 1: Age of responding businesses BASE: 139

90% of responding businesses are firmly established, with 57% of companies being 10 years old and over. 10% are new businesses (under three years of age).

Status of Business PremisesStatus of Business Premises Number PercentageSingle site business with no other establishments 103 74.1%A branch, subsidiary, or division with HQ elsewhere in the UK 8 5.8%An HQ, regional HQ 19 13.7%Don’t know 1 0.7%No reply 8 5.8%TABLE 2: Status of business premises in Burnley BASE: 139

All respondents to the business survey were asked to clarify the status of their business premises in Burnley. The table shows that the majority of responding businesses operate solely from Burnley with 74.1% not having any other premises. The pattern of responses very closely mirrors the responses that have been received in previous years.

Number of Employees

4 For funding purposes new businesses are generally considered to be less than 3 years old (or 36 months). Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 7

Official data on the number of people employed in each Industrial Sector in Burnley is available from the Office for National Statistics and a link to a report on this can be found in the footnote 5. This survey attempts to obtain a further understanding of employment figures within Burnley’s business stock. In order to achieve this, businesses were asked to state the number of full-time, part-time and total employees.

Number of Employees

Full-Time Part-Time TotalNumber Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage

0 7 5.0% 51 36.7% 4 2.9%1 to 9 78 56.1% 72 51.8% 75 54.0%10 to 49 34 24.5% 9 6.5% 39 28.1%50 to 249 12 8.6% 2 1.4% 13 9.4%250 or more 3 2.2% 0 0% 3 2.2%No reply 5 3.6% 5 3.6% 5 3.6%TABLE 3: Businesses by number of employees BASE: 139

The size of each business can be categorised by the number of its employees.

Less than 10 employees = micro enterpriseLess than 50 employees = small businessLess than 250 employees = medium size businessOver 250 staff = large business

85% of businesses in this survey are either micro or small businesses, 9.4% are medium businesses with the remainder, 2.2%, being large businesses.

Number of business who responded by size bracket:

% of full time

employees

% part time

employeesLarge companies 3 97.9 2.1Medium businesses 13 91.3 8.7Small businesses 39 81.7 17.6Micro enterprises with employees

75 78.3 22.1

Not employing any staff 4Table 4: Business by size bracket BASE: 134

A significant proportion of businesses (36.7%) employ no part-time members of staff. Of those that do employ part-time staff the majority are micro businesses. Large businesses almost wholly employ full time staff with only a very small percentage of their employees being part time.

Type of Business

5 http://www.burnley.gov.uk/sites/default/files/BRES%20Report.%202012.docxSeventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 8

Businesses were asked to give an overview of the main products/services that they provided. From this it has been possible to determine the industry area in which they operate. This has then been categorised using the Office For National Statistics (ONS) Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).

Table 5 provides a breakdown of the number of responses by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)

Industry Sector Number PercentageC: Manufacturing 26 18.7%G: Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles 20 14.4%M: Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities 19 13.7%F: Construction 13 9.4%N: Administrative and Support Service Activities 10 7.2%I: Transport, storage and communications 7 5.0%J: Information and Communication 7 5.0%K: Financial and Insurance Activities 7 5.0%Q: Human Health and Social Work Activities 4 2.9%P: Education 4 2.9%L: Real Estate Activities 3 2.2%O: Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security 3 2.2%S: Other Service Activities 2 1.4%No reply 14 10.1%TABLE 5: Businesses by industry sector BASE: 139

Manufacturing accounted for the most responses. This corresponds with the high Manufacturing presence in Burnley (it is the second largest employer of staff after Health) and with the Business Support team’s close working relationship with the manufacturing sector in the town.

Wholesale and Retail accounted for the second largest share of responses (14.4%). Companies that have been classed as Wholesale and Retail included business to business wholesalers of components and equipment; business to business retail such as building merchants as well as specialist retail to the customer including of fuels, of optical products; also a high end vehicle garage.

Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities includes the services of solicitors and accountants, technical and non-technical consultants and other professional services to business.

Construction, which accounted for 9.4% of responses includes businesses who provide a number of services to the property sector from alarm systems, trades people, glazers, scaffolders as well as civil engineering.

Recognised Business Standards/AccreditationsSeventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 9

Businesses were asked to state whether they held any business standards or accreditations.

Of the 51 companies who answered this question, two fifths hold the ISO 9001 Quality Management accreditation.

Accreditation Frequency Count

Percentage

ISO 9001 21 15.1%Investors in People 7 5.0%ISO 14001 8 5.8%NADCAP 1 0.7%ISO/TS 16949 3 2.2%Other 47 33.8%No response 88 63.3%TABLE 6: Businesses holding recognised standards/accreditations BASE: 139

ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are generic standards that are relevant to any business regardless of its size. Some of the other accreditations which businesses stated that they held included industry specific accreditations such as Cask Marque and Gas Safe, whilst 6 companies held CHAS accreditation (The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme). A list of the additional standards and accreditations that businesses disclosed can be found in the appendix.

Key MarketsIn order to gauge the geographical distance within which local firms are trading and to understand the potential for companies to export, businesses were asked to state which were their key markets.

Response Rate Response CountLocal (Lancashire) 54.0% 74Regional (North West)

45.3% 62

UK 46% 63Europe 10.9% 15Global 9.5% 13Table 7: Trading by geographic location Base: 137

The results are similar to the last business survey in 2011, with most businesses considering the local and regional market as their key trading area with only around 20% indicating that markets outside the UK were of importance to them. This indicates that little progress has been made in trying to encourage businesses to venture into international markets.


The survey asked companies a number of questions in order to understand why more local firms do not export.

Yes: 18.7%

No: 79.1%

Do you export?

No response

Figure 1: Do you export Base: 139

Of those businesses who do export, they were then asked to give an indication of the value of exports over the last year as a percentage of turnover. Most respondents to this question indicated that the value of their exports was up to 20% of turnover.

However, five of the 21 responses replied that exports make up 80-100% of their turnover.

Value of ExportsNumber Percentage

Up to 20% 13 61.9%20% to 39% 0 0.0%40% to 59% 2 9.5%60% to 79% 1 4.8%80% to 100% 5 23.8%TABLE 8: Value of exports as a percentage of turnoverBASE: 21

The responses came from a cross section of industry from vehicle services, trade distribution, food and drink, packaging, textiles and solid fuels. There was no overall pattern showing that one particular industry exports more than another.


Business who export were then asked how they anticipate their export levels changing over the next 12 months. Of 23 companies who responded over half anticipated export levels to increase.

Increasing 52.2%

Decreasing4.3%

Stay the same43.5%

How do you anticipate your export levels to change over the next 12 months?

Figure 2: How do you anticipate your export levels to change over the next 12 months BASE: 23

All businesses were then asked whether they were considering or would consider exporting to new markets.Number Percentage

Yes 34 24.5%No 80 57.6.2%No reply 25 17.9%TABLE 9: Are you considering or would you consider exporting to new markets?


In order to identify why companies do not export or what barriers they face all businesses were asked which factors encourage or discourage their ability to export. 84 businesses answered the question.

Langu

age is

sues

gover

nment s

upport eg U

KTI

trade b

arrier

s

legal t

rade is

sues

exchan

ge ra

te fluctu

ations

trade o

ver th

e Inter

net

marketi

ng and PR

Identifyi

ng new

mark

ets

I have

not consid

ered or d

o not wish

to ex

port

Transport c

onnections

Other0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

3

13

2 1 4

159

1612 7 10

20

7

16 23 20

913

1020 12 15

What factors, if any, encourage or discourage your ability to export?

DiscourageEncourage

Figure 3: What factors, if any, encourage or discourage your ability to export? Base: 84

Additional answers provided in the ‘Other’ option included concerns about Interest rates and tax implications of exporting, services which were not deemed transferable to other countries such as businesses in UK and the finance and Insurance industries and the implications of having a parent company, partner or other businesses within the same group of companies being based over seas.


Company Performance

Turnover

Turnover Level Number PercentageUp to £999 1 0.7%£1,000 to £50,000 11 7.9%£50,001 to £90,000 7 5.0%£90,001 to £400,000 36 25.9%£400,001 to £1,000,000 27 19.4%£1,000,001 to £2,500,000 18 12.9%£2,500,001 to £5,000,000 15 10.8%£5,000,001 to £10,000,000 7 5.0%£10,000,001 to £20,000,000 9 6.5%Over £20m 4 2.9%No reply 4 2.9%TABLE 10: Turnover over the last year BASE: 139

Table 10 shows the diverse operating levels of Burnley businesses, with levels of turnover varying from below £50,000 to over £20million. The most commonly selected level of turnover was between £90,001 and £400,000.

Businesses were asked to give an indication of their performance over the past year. 54% of respondents said that turnover had improved, with 44% saying that profitability had improved. 53% said that Sales had improved. Cash flow continues to be an issue with a more evenly mixed response. Only 39% saying that the situation with cash flow had improved with 34% saying it had remained the same and 27% that it had got worse.

Turnover

Profitab

ility

Sales/

Customs/B

ookings

Cashflows

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

54%46%

55%39%

25%33%

26%

34%

20% 21% 20% 27%

Please give an indication of your company’s performance over the last 12 months

Worsened

Remained the same

Improved

resp

onse

s (N

o.)

FIGURE 4: Business performance over the last 12 months BASE: 137


Compared to the last two surveys (2009 and 2011) company performance has improved dramatically with profitability, sales and cash flow improving with each consecutive year. This reflects the national outlook of an improving economy.

Table 11: Company performance in comparison to previous years

Where turnover had increased or decreased companies were asked to state the percentage change over the last year. It is encouraging to see from Figure 6 that most companies said that turnover had increased by up to 10% or 20% . 22 businesses skipped this question.

Up to 10% Between 10-20%

Between 20-30%

Between 30-40%

Between 40-50%

More than 50%

Did not Increase

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

28

26

10 63

3

11

10

5

5 32

0

5

Where Turnover Increased/Decreased. By approximately what percentage?

DecreasedIncreased

resp

onse

s (N

o.)

Figure 5: Where turnover increased/decreased. By approximatly what percentage? BASE: 117


2009 Survey

2011 Survey

2013 Survey(current)

Turnover Improved(New option)Profitability Improved 27% 33% 46%Sales/Customs/Bookings Improved

27% 42% 55%

Cash flows Improved 20% 24% 39%

Asked to provide an indication of the company’s expected performance over the coming 24 months the majority of businesses said that they expected turnover, profitability and sales to improve. Showing an expected improvement in economic conditions for the Burnley economy. Most businesses also said they expected cash flow to improve, indicating an easing of cash flow pressures within businesses. 16 businesses did not answer the question.

Turnover

Profitab

ility

Sales/

Customs/B

ookings

Cashflows

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

71%63%

70%53%

23%32%

25%

36%

6% 6% 6% 11%

Please give an indication of your company’s performance expectations for the next 24 months, for each of the following factors:

Worsen

Remain the same

Improve

resp

onse

s (N

o.)

Figure 6: Predicted company performance for the next 24 months. BASE: 123

Compared to the last two survey’s (2009 and 2011), expectations for company performance are much higher in 2013. This demonstrates increased confidence in future trading conditions , which is perhaps expected as actual performance is improving.

Table 12: Predicted company performance in comparison to previous years


2009 Survey

2011 Survey

2013 Survey(current)

Turnover Improved(New option)Profitability Improved 30% 45% 63%Sales/Customs/Bookings Improved

32% 50% 70%

Cash Flow Improved 24% 31% 53%

Factors Affecting Business GrowthEach business was then asked to rate a number of factors with regards to the impact that they each had on the business’s potential growth. 7 businesses skipped this question.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

11.8 14.3 10.9 8.9 4.8 2.5 5.4 3.3 7 5.6 7.8 10.51.9

25.2

37.336.4 37.1

23.8

12.412.4

3.3

15.6 19.2 18.821

8.3

46.5

32.5 42.6 43.5

48.4

58.7

34.1

71.1 40.6

63.252.3

5084.3

10.214.3 7 8.1

19.820.7

38.8

18.2

32

9.617.2 12.9

1.96.31.6 3.1 2.4 3.2 5.8 9.3 4.1 4.7 2.4 3.9 5.6

3.7

Please state how each of the following affects the growth of your business.

Very negative affect on growth

Negative

Neutral

Positive

Very positive affect on growth

% re

spon

se to

que

stion

FIGURE 7: Factors affecting business growth BASE: 132

In response to each option, businesses stated for the most part that each factor had a neutral effect on their business. Neither positive nor negative. There were varying degrees to this which can be seen in Figure 7.

Positive factorsThe availability of a skilled workforce was the only factor which businesses unanimously agreed had a positive effect on the growth of the business with over half, 51.6% in agreement.

Most factors were deemed to have a neutral effect on company growth, as in previous surveys. Energy costs was the only factor that most businesses agreed impacted negatively on their business. This probably reflects rising energy prices and creates scope for businesses to explore benefits from increased efficiencies.


Businesses overwhelmingly answered that the food hygiene rating scheme did not affect the growth of their business (neutral) but this reflects the small number of businesses surveyed who are impacted by this.

Areas of InvestmentBusinesses were asked to state whether or not they had invested in a range of different business aspects over the previous 12 months and also whether they were planning to invest in any of the aspects over the next 24 months. 8 businesses skipped this question.

Research and Development

Skills/ S

taff development/ training

Plant/ machinery/ e

quipment

Building im

provements/ expansio

n

Information and Communication Technology (IC

T)

Marketing/ PR

Safety/ Securit

y

New Markets/

processes/ p

roducts

Exporting/ Importing

Attending/ exhibiting at e

xhibitions

Environmental p

erform

ance

Compliance with

Legislation (eg fo

od safety, H

ealth & Safety, Enviro

nmental)None

Other (please sp

ecify)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

31 73 53 31 56 55 32 35 9 29 11 412

0

21 42 34 23 34 43 19 27 8 24 9 29 3

0

What areas of the business have you invested in over the last 12 months, and what if any, are your company’s pro-jections for investment over the next 24 months? (Tick all that apply)

Plan to invest in over NEXT 24 months

Invested in over LAST 12 months

% o

f res

pond

ants

Figure 8: Areas of investment over the last 12 months and the next 12 months BASE: 131

With 131 businesses answering this question, Figure 8 above shows that the majority of responding businesses have invested in at least one area of their business over the last 12 months, with only between 2% and 3% of respondents who said that they have not invested and do not intend to invest in anything.

As in the last survey, the area where businesses have invested and intend to continue investing is in the skills development and training of their staff with 73.2% having invested in this over the last 12 months and 41.9% intending to do so. The three other most popular areas for investment, again which is the same as the last survey are machinery/equipment, ICT and marketing/PR. Showing that investment priorities have not changed since 2011.Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 18

The most popular areas for future investment are the same ones that businesses indicated they have already invested in. A lower proportion of respondents indicated that they are planning to invest in the future period than have already invested over the past year. Again this mirrors the last survey in 2011.

Still thinking about investment. Businesses were asked ‘Have you sought finance to invest in your business in the last 12 months?’ Two thirds, 64.9% responded that they had not sought finance.

Of the 35.1% who said that they had sought finance to invest in their business, they were then asked in which way they had sought finance.

In which way did you seek finance?

Frequency count Percentage

Banks/debt 31 72.1%Public sector grant 8 18.6%Internal capital 7 16.3%External capital 4 9.3%Friends and family 4 9.3%Refused finance 2 4.7%Other 2 4.7%Business angels 1 2.3%None 1 2.3%Venture capital 0 0.0%Table 13: Ways in which company have sought finance BASE: 43

By far the biggest response, over 70% of respondents answered that they approached the bank or another method of taking on debt. The traditional method of raising finance is still the most popular.

Following this, 18.6% responded that they had sought a public sector grant. So almost a fifth of businesses seeking finance, think to approach a public sector business support organisation for a grant.

Slightly less than this, 16.3% attempt to raise the cash themselves by making finance available internally.

4.7% of responding businesses said that they have been refused finance. This represents approximately 1 in every 21 businesses being refused business finance. Although it is important to note the small sample size in this result.


Recruitment

Staffing LevelsBusinesses were asked to state whether their staffing levels had changed in the last 12 months and also whether they anticipated their staffing levels to change in the coming 12 months.

Over Last 12 Months Over Next 12 MonthsNumber Percentage Number Percentage

Increased 53 42.4% Increasing 57 45.6%Stayed the Same 58 46.4% No Change 60 48.0%Decreased 13 10.4% Decreasing 8 6.4%Other e.g. reduced week, extended holidays, changes in shift patterns, etc.

1 0.8% Other 0 0.0%

TABLE 14: Actual and anticipated changes to staffing levels BASE: 125

The results show that there are considerably more businesses who have increased their number of staff in the last 12 months and are intending to increase their staff over the coming 12 months than those decreasing them. This positive result shows business growth across the survey sample.

On both sides of the table there are almost as many businesses whose staffing has remained the same as those who indicated an increase in staff. This suggests that a number of businesses have not seen growth in the business. A common reason provided in the comments for no overall change in staffing levels related to the natural churn in staff; whilst some staff were taken on, others have left.

Of the 57 companies who provided additional information to these two questions, 20 commented on the growth of the business as the reason for employing more staff, whilst 6 companies made comments about a down turn in business resulting in a lack of trade as reason for their decrease in staff.

These results are more positive than in the 2011 survey when the number of businesses decreasing staff over the last 12 months was almost equal to those increasing staff. In addition, in the 2011 survey the number of businesses who intended to decrease staff in the coming 12 months was half the number of those intending to increase. Whereas in the current survey it is seven times less.

Recruitment Within the Last 12 Months

Businesses were asked to state whether or not they had recruited, or attempted to recruit, within the last 12 months.

Number PercentageYes 86 64.7%No 47 35.3%No reply 6TABLE 15: Have you recruited, or attempted to recruit, within the last 12 months: Base 139

Companies who have recruited or attempted to recruit within the last 12 months were asked a series of questions relating to the recruitment of staff. 64.7% of businesses responded that they have or have tried to recruit in the last 12 months. This is up from 51% in 2011 indicating some recruitment is being undertaken to replace natural churn in the workforce.


47 respondents said that they relied on word of mouth to find suitable staff. This was the most frequently ticked option but respondents were able to tick other options also.

All given recruitment options have been scored higher than in the 2011 survey except for the Job Centre. With a reduction of 10.6 percentage points since the last survey a smaller proportion of businesses are using the Job Centre.

Just over half of respondents have used recruitment agencies within the last 12 months. Recruitment via agencies appears to be growing in popularity. In the 2009 survey just 25.9% of respondents had used agencies, which increased to 35.3% by 2011, and 51.9% in 2013 (the current survey year). The rise of the recruitment agency may indicate recruitment of specialist positions is on the increase. It could also suggest an increased difficulty in locating available skilled labour. Perhaps because more people are in employment.

Recruitment via the Newspaper declined by -26.1% between the 2009 and 2011 survey’s giving an indication of the rapid changes occurring between new and old media. Recruitment via the Internet was the third most popular recruitment method in 2011 – a position held by newspapers in 2009.

There were six additional answers that provide a glimpse into the changing face of recruitment. Three businesses said that they have used social media (other businesses may have used this method but ticked ‘Internet’). Three businesses said that they have recruited apprentices. Whilst this is not a recruitment method in itself it does provide an insight into how companies are choosing entry level staff and reflects the popularity of the apprenticeship programme which continues to grow. Other answers included the use of traditional notice boards, business networking and the use of training centres.

Job Centre

Plus

Internet

Newsp

aper

Recruitm

ent A

gency

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Other (plea

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

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%

What methods did you use for recruiting? (Tick all that apply)

-10.6%+21.4%

+2.5%

+16.6%

+2.6%

+2.2%

+8.4%

Percentage point change since 2011

FIGURE 9: Recruitment methods used BASE: 77


With the decline in the use of the Job Centre amongst business survey respondents it is interesting to be able to provide more insight in relation to awareness of their services.

Businesses who have recruited or tried to recruit within the last 12 months were asked if they were aware of three of the key recruitment programmes available from the Job Centre.

Work experience – Provides a work experience placement for someone aged 16-24 who is claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance

Sector based work academies – provides sector-based training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview

Wage Incentive - businesses can take on an unemployed 18-24 year old and receive funding of £2750.00 to go towards the wage.

Of those who responded, most had heard of the work experience programme but many were not familiar with the sector based work academies nor the wage incentive programme.

Work Experience Sector Based Work Academies Wage Incentive0

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Are you aware of the following schemes from Jobcentre Plus

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d

Figure 10: Awareness of schemes from Job Centre Plus BASE : 79


Local (Lancashire) Regional (North West) National International0.0%

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60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

Please indicate the geographic locations you targeted when recruiting. (Tick all that apply)

% re

spon

ded

Figure 11: Geographic locations for recruitment BASE: 82

The geographic area used for recruiting remain mostly local, accounting for 82.9% of the recruitment catchment area. This is encouraging for the local labour market but perhaps it is also a sign of the small number of large companies or head office institutions in the town which need to look further afield to fill specialist positions.

Compared to the last survey, more businesses have indicated that they are recruiting regionally (up +6.9%), nationally (up +4.4%) and internationally (up +1.2%), suggesting either that recruitment to fill specialist positions is up since 2009 or that it is becoming more difficult to find available labour.

Recruitment ProblemsThe 86 businesses who stated that they had recruited, or attempted to recruit, within the last 12 months, were asked whether they had experienced any difficulties during the recruitment process. The result was split fairly evenly with 44 businesses saying they did encounter problems and 42 who said they didn’t.

Respondents were asked to choose from a list of possible recruitment problems they experienced.

Frequency count

Percentage Percentage ponit change from last survey

Shortage of people with the right skills 36 90% +6.7%Shortage of people with the right experience 27 67.5% -10.3%Shortage of people with the right qualifications 15 37.5% -1.4%Low number of applicants generally 13 32.5% New questionUnattractive pay/ conditions 7 17.5% +6.4%Company location difficult to access 4 10% +10%Too much competition from other employers 3 7.5% New questionBurnley’s image 2 5% +6.1%Unattractive job related duties 2 5% -0.6%Other (please specify) 1 2.5%TABLE 16: Recruitment problems experienced by businesses BASE: 40

Almost all respondents to the question agreed that there is a shortage of people with the right skills (90%). The second biggest response was of a shortage of people with the right experience (67.5%). These were both also considered the Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 23

biggest recruitment problems in 2011. This corresponds with the high percentage of businesses who stated that there was a shortage of skilled manual workers in the local labour market.

The same businesses were then asked whether they had taken any action to overcome their recruitment difficulties. 65% had not. 13 businesses provided additional answers in relation to how they overcame their recruitment problems. These can be summarized as follows

Number of responses Offered an attractive pay package 2 Subcontracted work outside of Burnley 2 Looked further afield for staff 2 Used a recruitment agency (presumably after

other methods have failed)3

approached a university to recruit graduates 2 Used Social Media (presumably after other

methods have failed)1

Provided more training to overcome the problem 1

Skills ShortagesThere has been huge investment in skills training and general education in Burnley over the past ten years and providers have been working closely with businesses in the town to develop the skills required in the local economy.

Businesses were asked in the survey whether they thought there were skills shortages in the labour market. This question was asked to all businesses whether or not they had recruited or tried to recruit over the past 12 months.

What type of people skills do you consider there to be a shortage of in the labour market? (Tick all that apply)

Frequency count

Percentage of those who answered question

Percentage point Change since last survey

Skilled manual workers (e.g. tradesmen, engineers, drivers)

52 44.4% +6.1%

Literacy/ Numeracy/ Good English – written and verbal

34 29.1% -0.7%

None 30 25.6% -8.4%Apprentice 20 17.1% New optionSpecialist IT staff (e.g. graphic designers, programmers etc.)

15 12.8% +6.4%

Staff with foreign language skills 14 12% +7.7%Other professional staff 11 9.4% +4.1%Sales/ Marketing Staff 10 8.5% No changeManagers 8 6.8% +2.5%Graduate/ Graduate trainee 8 6.8% +1.5%Secretarial/ Clerical Staff 8 6.8% +1.5%Other 4 3.4% +1.3%Unskilled manual workers 3 2.6% -0.6%Financial/ Accountants 3 2.6% -0.6% TABLE 17: Skills shortages in the local labour market BASE: 117

Only 25.6% of respondents to this question answered that they did not think there were any skills shortages within the labour market. This is good news as the needs of those businesses are being met within the local labour market. However this leaves the majority of businesses who do feel that there are still gaps in provision.


The most common answer was a shortage in skilled manual workers such as tradesmen, engineers and drivers. 44.4% of businesses who responded to this question identified this as a problem. This is a higher percentage than the last survey (6% higher) when skilled manual workers was also the most common shortage identified.

The second most common answer was about literacy and numeracy. 29.1% identified this as a problem. This was also the second most common answer in the last survey. Although to reverse the answer would be to suggest that 70% of businesses are satisfied with the level of literacy and numeracy, improvements still need to be made. The percentage is similar to the last survey suggesting that businesses do not perceive the problem as having improved.

17.1% answered that they thought there was a shortage of apprentices in the labour market. There has been a huge increase in the number of people starting an apprenticeship in the borough since 2008/09 but it is difficult to gauge whether businesses have felt that the numbers of available apprentices is improving since the last survey as this is a question which has not been previously asked.

TrainingSeventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 25

Skills GapsFollowing on from the earlier question regarding what skills shortages businesses felt there were in the local labour market, businesses were also asked about what skills gaps their own current employees had.

118 businesses answered the question, with a variety of skills thought of as being in short supply. It is positive that 36.4% of respondents, the most popular answer, didn’t think there were skills gaps in their employee stock. However, this is still a very low score, meaning that over 60% of responding businesses do think their employees lack certain skills. It indicates that there are training requirements for a large proportion of Burnley businesses.

The most common skills gaps were in sales and marketing skills, management skills and IT skills; all being scored equally. Followed by basic generic skills (e.g. communications, literacy, numeracy, good English – written and verbal) and vocational skills.

Basic

gen

eric

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17.8

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12.7

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%

6.8%

20.3

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16.9

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7.6% 11

.0%

0.8%

36.4

%

3.4%

What skill gaps do you feel your current employees have? (Tick all that apply)

-10.8%

Change since last survey

+0.3%

+0.1%

-5.0%

-0.6%

-5.0%+1.1%

-1.9%new option

-10.8%

Change since last survey

+0.3%

+0.1%

-5.0%

-0.6%

-5.0%+1.1%

-1.9%new option

-10.8%

Change since last survey (2011)

+0.3%

+0.1%

-5.0%

-0.6%

-5.0%+1.1%

-1.9%new option new

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+8.0%

+0.2%

Figure 12: Skills gaps in current employees Base: 118

Training Provided Over Last 12 Months


Where there are skills gaps within the town it is important to know where companies are investing in training to overcome these gaps and, perhaps, where training requirements are to be targeted.

Most respondents reported that they have and will continue to provide on the job training to their staff over the last 12 months and the coming 12 months. A commitment to provide vocational training to upgrade existing skills was also a popular response as was training to meet statutory compliance legislation for food safety, Health & Safety, Environmental purposes.

Over a third of respondents have provided training to apprentices in the last 12 months with over a quarter intending to train apprentices in the coming 12 months, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to the recruitment and training of apprentice staff.

Following this, over 20 businesses had or are intending to provide I.T., sales, marketing or customer care training as well as management training.

Positively only a very small percentage of businesses had not and do not intend to provide any training over the last 12 months or coming 12 months. It is important that businesses do continually invest in training to remain competitive. A workplace which doesn’t invest in training will see its labour force over time, become deskilled leaving the business open to competition. In addition businesses themselves, earlier in the survey, stated the importance of the availability of a skilled workforce as being positive to business growth.

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What training if any, have you provided over the last 12 months, and what if any training, are you proposing to provide over the next 12 months?

Will provide over NEXT 12 months

Provided over LAST 12 months

Num

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espo

nded

Figure 13: Training undertaken in last 12 months and in the next 12 months BASE: 121


Those businesses who are not providing training over the next 12 months were asked their reasons for not doing so.Exactly half of respondents, the most popular answer, replied that their staff were already suitably qualified. 44.2% of businesses said that the cost of training was too expensive. Some companies ticked both these options and there is a danger that, due to cost issues, businesses become complacent about the level of training required to remain competitive.

During times of financial pressure the training budget can be seen as a soft target, but companies who invest in training come out of tough economic climate’s, like the one we are coming through, as stronger, more competitive companies.

19.2% of businesses, almost 1 in 5, either couldn’t find a suitable course or couldn’t find a suitable training provider. Public sector intervention through business advisors could assist businesses to identify available courses and training providers.

Frequency count

Percentage

Staff already suitably/adequately trained 26 50.0%Cost – Too expensive 23 44.2%Insufficient funds 16 30.8%Time 13 25.0%Afraid employees would then leave 5 9.6%Couldn’t find a training provider 4 7.7%Other (please specify) 4 7.7%Problems with the location of training 1 1.9%Table 18: Reasons for not training BASE: 52

Awareness of Training OpportunitiesBusinesses were asked about their awareness of training from different institutions within the town.

Unsurprisingly most businesses were aware of training from Burnley College, the oldest and most established training provider in the town. Yet 31 replied that they were not aware of training offered by the College.

Fewer businesses were aware of training offered by UCLan, who only opened their Burnley campus in 2009. 69 businesses, a majority of respondents, said that they were aware of training offered by UCLan, showing that the campus is establishing itself in the minds of business.

The institution with the least awareness was the new University Technical College. The UTC is the newest of the three training providers to open, opening its doors only in September 2013. It is also a new concept within the education landscape and businesses may be unclear how they can benefit from it. Awareness levels may also be a reflection of the niche range of training provided by the college (construction and engineering), which is not relevant to every business. Nearly 4 in every 10 businesses (39.3%) responding from a wide cross section of Industry said that they are aware of training offered by this institution.


Burnley College UCLAN University Technical College

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88

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Are you aware of training offered by these Institutions?

NoYes

Num

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espo

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Figure 14: Are you aware of training offered by these institutions? BASE: 122

A number of companies opted to receive further information about training from one or more of these organisations. That information has been passed on.

Business Premises

Businesses were asked a series of questions regarding their business premises. The responses provide an indication of the size and type of premises that businesses currently operate from, whether they are satisfied with their premises and whether they had tried to expand or move their premises within the last 12 months and what their requirement for premises will be over the next 5 years.

Operating Sites in BurnleyBusinesses were asked to state how many sites they operate from in Burnley.

Number of Premises Number PercentageOne 104 90.4%Two 7 6.1%Three 3 2.6%More than three 0 0%No reply 24TABLE 19: Number of sites in Burnley businesses operate from Base: 114

9 out of 10 responding businesses operate from a single site in Burnley.


Floorspace Businesses were asked to provide an estimate of the total floorspace they occupied in Burnley. Businesses were asked to provide their answer as an estimated value with no value bands to assist with estimations.

Of those who responded (83 businesses): 96.4% occupied premises of under 100,000 sq. ft. 89.2% occupied premises of under 50,000 sq. ft. 80.7% occupied premises of under 25,000 sq. ft. 68% occupied premises of under 10,000sq ft. 55.4% occupied premises of under 5,000sq ft.

7 out of 10 businesses occupy a unit of less than 10,000sq ft. Half of business premises occupied are under 5,000sq ft. The sample would suggest that there is a requirement, for mainly small commercial premises within the town, which reflects business sizes within Burnley.

Summary of responsesAmount of Occupied Floorspace (sqft) Number Percentage0 to 500 13 9.4%501 to 1,000 8 5.8%1,001 to 5,000 32 23%5,000 to 10,000 5 3.6%10,001 to 20,000 9 6.5%20,001 to 50,000 7 5.0%50,001 to 100,000 6 4.3%Over 100,000 3 2.2%No reply 56 40.3%TABLE 20: Amount of floorspace occupied by Burnley businesses BASE: 139

Businesses were asked what the main use of their premises was. Most respondents chose either office or to a slightly lesser extent Industrial, with warehousing accounting for some 7.4%.

However, the question doesn’t appear to have been very clear, or there were not enough options as 19 respondents (equivalent to 15.7% of the total) chose the ‘other’ box. Of these; 1 was for office, which was an existing option, 8 were mixed office/warehouse/Industrial, demonstrating that businesses wanted a ‘mixed’ option, 2 were for people working from home but who chose to elaborate their answer. 4 were for retail, which perhaps should be an option next time, and 4 were for other things such as leisure, nurseries and clinics. All businesses who chose Other have also ticked another option.

Table 21: Please indicate the main type of premises currently occupied at your Burnley business site - BASE 129


Main use of business premises

Number of responses

Office 51Industrial 45Warehouse 9Home 8Other 8Retail 4Mixed 4

Satisfaction with Existing PremisesAll businesses were asked how satisfied they were with different elements of their existing business premises.

Responses can be seen in Fig 15 with most businesses choosing either ‘satisfied’ or ‘neutral’ for each option.

Business rates, which are a common source of complaint during company contact visits for the business support team, are split fairly evenly between those who are satisfied with them to those who are unsatisfied. The option with the most ticks in this category was neutral.

Many respondents were satisfied with affordability, condition, size, suitability, services, parking, access and distance to motorway. Whilst a high number were neutral about crime, distance to public transport, traffic and image of an area. A significant number of responses also claimed to be unsatisfied with crime, traffic, image of area and business rate costs.

Of the 32 additional answers that were provided, 9 of them were about image, whilst 7 were about access. Most image comments were about an area being ‘run down’ from empty retail units, to undesirable residents nearby, to areas where the demolition and construction of housing is taking place. There were also complaints about car garages with too many unsightly cars parked within the vicinity of the business premises.

Access complaints included about Junction 9 having access to the motorway in one direction only, parking restrictions hampering loading/unloading and customer visits and also parking restrictions not being enforced thus blocking access.

Business

rate

costs

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/supplie

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Very satisfiedSatisfiedNeutralUnsatisfiedVery unsatisfied

FIGURE 15: Business satisfaction with existing premises BASE: 128


Business Expansion/RelocationFollowing on from the question regarding satisfaction levels with current premises, businesses were asked if they had tried to expand or relocate their premises within the last 12 months. 24.2%, just shy of one quarter of businesses had tried to expand or relocate. This is higher than the 17% who had tried in the 12 months prior to the 2011.

Half of those who responded (15 businesses), attributed their move/expansion to growth. A further 5 who felt that their premises were not suitable to their needs or lacked something they required (for example one business required a larger training room, whilst another required additional parking). A further 4 businesses said they moved or considered moving due to a better image and/or a better location. The remaining answers were for other individual reasons. 11 businesses (36.7%) said that in the end the project did not go ahead, 5 businesses (16.7%) did successfully relocate, 7 (23.3%) successfully expanded on their current site and a further 7 provided other reasons such as the project is still ongoing, waiting for lease to expire and the cost ultimately being prohibitive in current market conditions.

The same 30 businesses were also asked whether they had experienced any problems during their expansion/relocation project. This was quite evenly split with 16 businesses saying that they did and 15 businesses saying that they didn’t. Most problems related to a shortage of suitable property/land and the feeling that property/land is too expensive. These were also the most common answers given in the last survey.

Future Business Premises RequirementsAll businesses were asked to state whether they thought that their requirements for business premises were likely to change in the next 5 years. Just 39.2% of the businesses thought that their requirements were likely to change, but this is a large increase from the 29.0% who stated that their requirements were likely to change back in 2011.

The biggest answer came from companies who intended to relocate to larger premises; some 16 businesses accounting for 35.6% of answers. This demonstrates increased business confidence and improved economic conditions locally since 2011 as 86.6% (this includes the ‘other’ category which were all answers related to growth) of the responses were from companies seeking additional floorspace.

The Council Business Support team have an important role to play in helping these companies to find appropriate premises within the borough in order to keep business stock within the town.

Frequency count

Percentage of responses

Expansion within existing premises 7 15.6%Extension of existing premises 2 4.4%Relocation to larger premises 16 35.6%Acquisition of additional premises 6 13.3%Construction of new premises 3 6.6%Reduction in floorspace at existing site 0 0.0%Reduction in number of sites occupied in Burnley 1 2.2%Relocation to smaller premises 5 11.1%Other 5 11.1%No reply 94TABLE 22: Business premise requirements over the next five years BASE: 45

Just 13.3% expect their business premise requirements to change in order to reduce the amount of floorspace occupied.

The same businesses were also asked to provide an estimate of the additional, or reduction in, floorspace that would be required over the next five years. As would be expected, considering the range of industries that the responding businesses operate in and the differences in the existing amount of floorspace currently occupied, estimates varied Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 32

greatly. The average amount of floorspace required by type of unit was 7,916sqft but this is on a scale from 300sq ft. up to 70,000sq ft. (30 answers). The average amount of floorspace reduction was 1,050sqft (4 answers).

Industrial 28.9%

Warehouse 10.5%

Office 34.2%

Hybrid unit (part office/part

workshop) 21.1%

Other 5.3%

FIGURE 16: Type of business premises required over next five years BASE 38

The type of premises that businesses require over the next five years are varied, a reflection of the variety of businesses surveyed. The most popular type of unit required is Office, accounting for over a third of responses, followed by Industrial units with just under 30% of responses requiring these. The results of this question have changed since 2011 when the most popular answer was a hybrid unit; part office/part workshop all in one workspace.

The same companies were asked in which locations in Burnley they would consider locating their business to. The 24 responses can be summarised as follows

Any location 8 Rossendale Road Industrial Estate 2 Network 65 2 Burnley Bridge 1 Town Centre 2 Padiham 1 Any Industrial site with easy access to motorway 5 A Secure and safe location 2 A site with nearby public transport 1


Factors Influencing New Premises Decision

Looking at what factors are important to businesses when considering new premises will help the Council to plan its services to business. The council can develop methods of assisting businesses who wish to relocate, for example by ensuring that future employment land is considered in the local plan or that information is provided on size and cost of available premises by the business support team.

Businesses were provided with a list of seven different factors and were asked to rate how influential each factor was on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all important and 5 being very important.

Location

Cost of p

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FIGURE 17: Factors influencing the decision to relocate/expand into new premises BASE: 42

Figure 17 clearly shows that the cost of premises is the most important factor to a business. This was followed by the size of premises. The size of premises available is dependent on the market, but if there is demand for a certain size of unit, this can be planned for by the local authority and its development partners when new industrial construction is considered.

Location was another important factor to businesses. Burnley Council is actively seeking to expand the number of industrial premises in key business locations. Burnley Bridge is in close proximity to the Motorway network, as are the business parks of Network 65 and Shuttleworth Mead. Whilst Innovation Drive seeks add value by forming a cluster of businesses in the advanced manufacturing sector.

A number of businesses replied that the availability of financial assistance was either quite important or very important to them. The Council continues to promote the availability of grant and other forms of finance to the business community, resulting in job creation across the town.


Interest in Burnley Development SitesFollowing on from previous questions and, in addition to previous years surveys, businesses were asked to indicate whether they would be interested in relocating to any of the six high quality commercial property developments that are currently proposed or are already under construction in Burnley. The six developments on the list were:

1. Aerospace Supplier Park (Innovation Drive) – An advanced manufacturing and aerospace supplier park based at the former Michelin site. Companies based here will benefit from close links to leading companies in manufacturing and aerospace.

2. Burnley Bridge Business Park – A new, strategic 70 acre commercial development directly adjacent to junction 9 of the M65. The scheme will comprise of up to 680,000 sqft of high quality industrial employment space with a variety of owner occupier/lease options available.

3. Burnley Knowledge Quarter – A new business park alongside the £84m education campus at Princess Way. A mix of offices and workspace units with a campus feel and strong links to UCLan and Burnley College.

4. Weavers Triangle – A range of refurbished historic buildings and new developments in a canal-side setting for leisure, office and residential uses.

5. AMS Technology Park – Consisting of existing and new build industrial units from 2,500 – 10,000 sq. ft. primarily aimed at high-tech companies.

6. Burnley Town Centre – New and refurbished retail, leisure and office accommodation.

Only those businesses who had indicated that their requirements for premises were likely to change in the next 5 years were asked to respond, with businesses able to select more than one development.

Aerospace Supplier Park

Burnley Bridge Business Park

Burnley Knowledge

Quarter

Weavers Triangle (On the Banks)

AMS Technology Park

Burnley Town Centre

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Figure 18: Interest in Burnley development sites BASE: 44

The Burnley Bridge development was the most popular development to be definitely considered, reflecting its prime location by the motorway and amenities that come with business parks such as availability of parking. The town centre was the least popular development indicating that businesses derive more advantage from the location and benefits of being located on a business park than they do a town centre location.


The results show that the businesses who responded are fairly ambivalent about the developments. The most popular answer to each development was ‘wouldn’t consider it’, followed by ‘might consider it’, with ‘would definitely consider it’ being the least ticked option. Some of these developments are aimed at specific industries such as with the Aerospace Suppler Park and AMS Technology Park. This might have been seen as excluding those not in those sectors.

The same businesses were then asked which existing employment sites across the borough they would consider moving their business to. In nearly all the options ‘wouldn’t consider it’ was the most popular option. Although they were fairly evenly split for most sites with a good number of businesses replying that they might or would definitely consider a location. Except for the trading areas of Elm Street, Healy Wood and Summit Works which the overwhelming majority said they wouldn’t consider them.

Rossendale

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Wouldn’t consider it Might consider itWould definitely consider it My business is already located here

Figure 19: Which existing business sites would businesses consider moving to BASE: 46


Broadband

The Internet and e-commerce is increasingly becoming more important to the success and competitiveness of a business. Superfast Lancashire, a government initiative backed by BT has been promoting the business benefits of superfast broadband and internet marketing skills within the county.

All businesses were asked whether the speed of their broadband was adequate for the needs of their business. It is positive to note that 79% of businesses agreed that it was.

Environmental, Health & Safety

Businesses were asked to state whether they would like any further information on a range of environmental and sustainability issues. The majority of businesses (87.8%) stated that they didn’t require any environmental advice. The remainder (12.2%) requested information on a range of topics as can be seen in Fig 20. There were no requests for information on Environmental permitting (air pollution), Climate change or FHRS/Recipe 4 Health.

Environmental legislation7 requests

Resource Efficiency2 requests

Carbon Footprinting7 requests

Flood risk1 reaquestCorporate social responsibility

5 requests

Licensing2 requests

Health & Safety legislation 10 requests

Food safety legislation3 requests

Figure 20: Environmental, Health & Safety BASE: 17


Business Support

All businesses were asked to state their awareness of a number of different business support organisations. If they were aware of the organisation, and had used their services, they were asked to rate the service on a scale of good through to poor.

No reply Not aware of the agency Aware of agency but not used services

Aware of agency and used services

Number % Number % Number % Number %Burnley Borough Council – Business Support team 21 15.1% 22 15.8% 51 36.7% 45 32.4%Burnley Borough Council – Environmental Health & Licensing 30 21.6% 29 20.9% 60 43.2% 20 14.4%

Burnley Enterprise Trust 27 19.4% 22 15.8% 64 46.0% 26 18.7%Burnley College / Themis 26 18.7% 15 10.8% 65 46.8% 33 23.7%Job Centre Plus 22 15.8% 10 7.2% 65 46.8% 42 30.2%Enterprise 4 All 30 21.6% 53 38.1% 48 34.5% 8 5.8%Community & Business Partners 26 18.7% 49 35.3% 51 36.7% 13 9.4%New Ground (Formerly ‘Groundwork’) 30 21.6% 41 29.5% 57 41.0% 11 7.9%East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce 26 18.7% 9 6.5% 60 43.2% 44 31.7%Lancashire Innovation Network 26 18.7% 51 36.7% 52 37.4% 10 7.2%Boost Business Lancashire 28 20.1% 62 44.6% 42 30.2% 7 5.0%Lancashire County Council – Rosebud Fund 29 20.9% 43 30.9% 57 41.0% 10 7.2%Northwest Aerospace Alliance 30 21.6% 62 44.6% 39 28.1% 8 5.8%Northwest Automotive Alliance 30 21.6% 71 51.1% 33 23.7% 5 3.6%Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) 29 20.9% 68 48.9% 30 21.6% 12 8.6%University of Central Lancashire – Business at UCLan 26 18.7% 27 19.4% 72 51.8% 14 10.1%Business services offered by other Universities 29 20.9% 56 40.3% 46 33.1% 8 5.8%UKTI 30 21.6% 73 52.5% 26 18.7% 10 7.2%National Apprenticeship Service 25 18.0% 40 28.8% 54 38.8% 20 14.4%

TABLE 23: Awareness of business support organisations BASE: 139

Table 23 shows the numbers and proportions of businesses that were aware of each organisation and whether they had used the organisations services or not. The table shows that (highlighted) most companies who responded were aware of each service but had not used their services. This was the case for 12 of the 19 services listed. Whilst for the remaining 7 services most businesses replied that they were not aware of the agency.


Some of the least known organisations were UKTI (52.5% not aware), Northwest Automotive alliance (51.1%), the Manufacturing Advisory Service (48.9%), Northwest Aerospace Alliance (44.6%), Boost Business Lancashire (44.6%) and Business Services offered by universities other than UCLan (40.3%).

The most used service was Burnley Council Business Support 32.4% has used this service. This was followed by the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce (31.7%).


Those businesses who were aware of an agency and had used its services were asked to rate the service from poor to good.

The organisations who were most well used were mainly based in and operated out of Burnley (highlighted). Users of these services appear to be happy with the service provided from these organisations with a majority rating them as ‘Good’, except for Job Centre Plus where a majority of users rated them as satisfactory:- Burnley Council Business Support team (75.6% Good), Burnley Council Environmental Health & Licensing (70.0% Good), Burnley Enterprise Trust (57.7% Good), Burnley College/Themis (57.6% Good) and Job Centre plus (45.2% Satisfactory).

Care should be taken when comparing the ratings as some agencies were not well used. For example Enterprise 4all received a 50% Good rating based on a total of 8 businesses who had used the service. Whereas the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce achieved a 54.5% Good score based on a total of 44 users.

Number of businesses

who used the service

Used the agency’s services and rate them as:Good Satisfactory Poor

Number % Number % Number %

Burnley Borough Council – Business Support team 45 34 75.6% 8 17.8% 3 6.7%East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce 44 24 54.5% 14 31.8% 6 13.6%Job Centre Plus 42 14 33.3% 19 45.2% 9 21.4%Burnley College / Themis 33 19 57.6% 10 30.3% 4 12.1%Burnley Enterprise Trust 26 15 57.7% 6 23.1% 5 19.2%Burnley Borough Council – Environmental Health & Licensing 20 14 70.0% 4 20.0% 2 10.0%National Apprenticeship Service 20 5 25.0% 9 45.0% 6 30.0%University of Central Lancashire – Business at UCLan 14 8 57.1% 4 28.6% 2 14.3%Community & Business Partners 13 9 69.2% 3 23.1% 1 7.7%Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) 12 5 41.7% 3 25.0% 4 33.3%New Ground (Formerly ‘Groundwork’) 11 5 45.5% 4 36.4% 2 18.2%Lancashire Innovation Network 10 5 50.0% 3 30.0% 2 20.0%Lancashire County Council – Rosebud Fund 10 6 60.0% 2 20.0% 2 20.0%UKTI 10 5 50.0% 2 20.0% 3 30.0%Enterprise 4 All 8 4 50.0% 1 12.5% 3 37.5%Northwest Aerospace Alliance 8 5 62.5% 1 12.5% 2 25.0%Business services offered by other Universities 8 3 37.5% 4 50.0% 1 12.5%Boost Business Lancashire 7 4 57.1% 1 14.3% 2 28.6%Northwest Automotive Alliance 5 1 20.0% 3 60.0% 1 20.0%

TABLE 24: Satisfaction rating with the service received from business support organisations


The Regional Growth Fund, which was the programme which companies were most aware of, was also one of the most used initiatives. 7 businesses or 5% say that they have used the Regional Growth Fund. The Funding Circle was also used by 7 businesses (5%). The Funding Circle is an online ‘peer-to-peer’ service which connects investors to business investment projects. Founded in 2010, the service has grown in popularity and has even attracted the support of the UK Government6 and Lancashire County Council7 who have both lent to investors through the site.

Of the programmes specifically targeted at helping to create more new start businesses Five respondents have used Pennine Leap 1 Start Up Lancashire 4 have used Lancashire Leap 1 Ready for Business.

No reply Not aware of the programme

Aware of programme but not used the service

Aware of programme and used the service

Number % Number % Number % Number %Accelerating Business Growth 24 17.3% 66 47.5% 38 27.3% 11 7.9%Boost Business Lancashire 26 18.7% 73 52.5% 36 25.9% 4 2.9%Business Finance North West 25 18.0% 72 51.8% 39 28.1% 3 2.2%Business Growth Fund 25 18.0% 69 49.6% 42 30.2% 3 2.2%Funding Circle 24 17.3% 73 52.5% 35 25.2% 7 5.0%Fuse 27 19.4% 97 69.8% 14 10.1% 1 0.7%Growth Accelerator 26 18.7% 75 54.0% 27 19.4% 11 7.9%Lancashire Leap 26 18.7% 80 57.6% 29 20.9% 4 2.9%The North West Fund 26 18.7% 82 59.0% 29 20.9% 2 1.4%Pennine Leap 29 20.9% 76 54.7% 29 20.9% 5 3.6%Ready for Business 27 19.4% 98 70.5% 13 9.4% 1 0.7%Regional Growth Fund 26 18.7% 58 41.7% 48 34.5% 7 5.0%Start Up Lancashire 28 20.1% 71 51.1% 39 28.1% 1 0.7%Propel 27 19.4% 94 67.6% 15 10.8% 3 2.2%Youth Contract 27 19.4% 96 69.1% 15 10.8% 1 0.7%

Table 25: Awareness of business support programmes BASE: 139

6 https://www.fundingcircle.com/blog/2014/02/the-government-backed-british-business-bank-programme-announces-plans-to-lend-a-further-40-million-through-funding-circle-2/7 http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/news/press_releases/y/m/release.asp?id=201211&r=PR12/0594 Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 41

http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/news/press_releases/y/m/release.asp?id=201211&r=PR12/0594

https://www.fundingcircle.com/blog/2014/02/the-government-backed-british-business-bank-programme-announces-plans-to-lend-a-further-40-million-through-funding-circle-2/

The section above dealt with the awareness and satisfaction levels of business support organisations. The next question asked whether businesses were aware of current support initiatives that are available to help them realise their growth plans.

Not aware of the programmeOverall, of those businesses who responded, the majority said that they were not aware of each programme. The 4 programmes that businesses were least aware of were:-

1. Ready for Business - 70.5% of respondents had not heard of this programme aimed at new start businesses and delivered by Enterprise Lancashire. This questionnaire surveyed existing businesses and they may not have been aware of provision being marketed at new entrepreneurs.

2. Fuse - 69.8% of respondents had not heard of the relatively new ‘Fuse’ fund which was launched in July 2013 and targeted at growing SMEs under 36months.

1. Youth Contract - 69.1% of respondents had not heard of the Youth Contract delivered by Job Centre Plus on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. The Youth Contract is the government’s flagship youth programme which aims to provide new opportunities for 18-24 year olds, including work experience and sector-based work academy placements and support from a coach in local Job Centres.

2. Propel - 67.6% of respondents were not aware of Propel, the ERDF funded programme delivered by Vedas which promises to “give you access to tools, techniques, people and processes to support you on your path to success.”

For all other programmes listed a response rate between 41%-59% was given.

Aware of programme but not used the serviceOf those businesses who said that they were aware of a programme but had not used the service, the Regional Growth Fund scored highest with 34.5% of respondents saying that they were aware it existed but had not used it. This reflects the high profile nature of the central government fund and perhaps its accessibility to business. The second most popular answer was the similarly named Business Growth Fund, another government backed investment programme with five offices nationwide, most locally in Manchester. 30.2% of businesses said that they were aware of the programme but had not used it.

Interestingly 28.1% of businesses said that they were aware of the Start Up Lancashire programme (but had not used it). This is in contrast to only 9.4% of businesses saying they were aware of the Ready for Business programme (but had not used it). Both programmes are delivered by Enterprise Lancashire but Start Up Lancashire is promoted through Regenerate Pennine Lancashire which may provide a marketing boost to the programme. This, however would not explain the low number of respondents who say they are not aware of Fuse, also marketed through Regenerate Pennine Lancashire.

Aware of programme and used the serviceThe number of respondents who have actually used the services listed is very small. Of these, Growth Accelerator and Accelerating Business Growth were the most well used, each with 11 responses or 7.9%.


Where businesses have used a programme they were asked to rate it either Good, Satisfactory or Poor. Percentages have not been used because the numbers involved are very small.

Of the two most well used programmes. Accelerating Business Growth scored more positively than Growth Accelerator. Growth Accelerator scored 4 Satisfactory marks, the highest of the whole table

With the Funding Circle 6 out of 7 users of the initiative rated it as ‘Good’. Unlike the Regional Growth Fund whose 7 businesses awarded it with a more rounded score with 4 responding ‘Good’, 2 ‘Satisfactory’ and 1 ‘Poor’.

Whilst some programmes did not achieve any Good or Satisfactory marks, every single programme was rated Poor by at least 1-2 respondents.

Number of businesses

who used the service

Used the service and rate it as:Good Satisfactory Poor

Number Number Number

Accelerating Business Growth 11 8 1 2Boost Business Lancashire 4 3 0 1Business Finance North West 3 1 0 2Business Growth Fund 3 1 0 2Funding Circle 7 6 0 1Fuse 1 0 0 1Growth Accelerator 11 6 4 1Lancashire Leap 4 1 1 2The North West Fund 2 0 1 1Pennine Leap 5 4 0 1Ready for Business 1 0 0 1Regional Growth Fund 7 4 2 1Start Up Lancashire 1 0 0 1Propel 3 0 0 3Youth Contract 1 0 0 1

Table 26: Satisfaction rating with the service received from business support programmes


Gaps in Current Business SupportJust 21.1% of responses indicated that there are gaps in current business support services. In the last two surveys (2011 and 2009) the figure was 15% and 25%. So the range has not changed dramatically. The same common issues are still being highlighted such as funding and support. Small to medium established businesses are feeling left out as support targets ‘high growth’ businesses and New Starts with those inbetween feeling left out.

Several businesses replied that they would like to see more advice based support; non-technical mentoring in how to overcome barriers and training support such as training in how to make sales for new businesses and support with marketing. The Social Media training sessions were the most popular events during Burnley Business Week, demonstrating a demand for such training. When asked about gaps in current business support, this was highlighted by businesses who said they would like to see more support and training in how to overcome barriers such as making sales and marketing support.

Others thought that there was either a confusing array of support and that they would like to see one central point of contact, such as the Burnley Council Business Support team. Others thought that the number of overlapping services were a drain on taxpayer funds.

One company highlighted that they would like to see less red tape, for example in pensions and the new requirement to display “cookies used” on your website.


Conclusion

The results of the 2013, Seventh Biennial Business Survey show that business conditions continue to get better for many firms. Turnover, profitability, sales and cash flow continue to increase when compared to the result of previous surveys. With most companies responding that turnover has increased by up to 20%.

Increased business sales are in turn leading to an increase in company investment. 98% of businesses have invested in at least one area of their business over the last 12 months and just as many intend to continue investing in the coming 24 months. In terms of factors which affect business growth, energy costs were highlighted by 38.8% businesses as having a negative effect on business, whilst 32% said that competition had a negative effect. The Council could host more training sessions on different aspects of marketing to help businesses overcome some of the aspects of competition. Energy costs remain a problem for businesses nationwide and whilst this ultimately requires a national solution organisations such as New Ground can help businesses at the local level to find efficiencies in their energy use and thus save money in their bills.

Businesses are recruiting more now than they have in the last six years and many have plans to hire more staff in the coming months. These are all factors which show that economic conditions are improving and that many Burnley businesses have now exited or are exiting the protracted period of economic struggle which began in 2007/08, and are now entering a period of stability and growth. This tallies with the improving employment rate. Figures show a continued decline in JSA claimants and those seeking key out of work benefits in the town whilst the number of people in employment is returning to the levels seen before the financial crises.

Those businesses that did recruit, or attempted to recruit experienced more problems than in previous years. Roughly half of businesses encountered problems and half did not, compared to the 35% of businesses who reported encountering problems in the 2011 survey. More businesses said there was a shortage of people with the right skills (90%) and the right qualifications (37.5%) whilst unattractive pay and conditions (17.5%) was also a contributing factor to recruitment problems.

Some businesses also reported a shortage of skills within the labour market including skilled manual workers (38.3%) and a lack of literacy and a numeracy skills (29.8%). This is despite the huge investment in education locally, with the replacement of all high schools and the growing skills centre at Burnley College.

The opening of Visions Learning Trust is intended to address some of these issues. The University Technical College is working with local employers to train young people in the skills required by the local economy.

Most respondents to the survey also reported that they have done and will continue to provide training to their own staff. Only a very small number of companies have not undertaken any training in the last 12 months nor intend to do so in the coming 12 months.

80% of businesses still do not export. Whilst exporting is not suitable to all business sectors more should be done to encourage those that are. Exporting is of great importance to the national economy, as well as contributing to the success of local firms. At the Global Investment Conference in 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron said that: “if we went from one in five of our small companies exporting to one in four, we would wipe out our trade deficit in one go.”8. The CBI claim that businesses are 11% more likely to survive if they export 9. The Burnley Council Business Support team have previously organised introductory export workshops with the Chamber of Commerce. It may be an idea to identify those companies who are obvious candidates for exporting (such as manufacturers) from those who are not (such as local solicitors) and target support at them through more events or other initiatives.

8 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/transcript-of-pms-speech-at-the-global-investment-conference9 http://www.cbi.org.uk/business-issues/smes/exporting/Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 45

The survey shows that more businesses are reporting being either Satisfied or Neutral with different aspects of their business premises, whereas in the 2011 survey most businesses said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with their existing premises. Positively only a small number reported being unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with their premises.

Just under a quarter of businesses reported that they had tried to expand or relocate their premises within the last 12 months. This is more than the 17% who had attempted to move or expand in 2011. Half of these businesses attributed their move/expansion to growth in the business whilst the remainder had individual needs such as more car parking or wanted a better image. 39.2% of businesses thought their requirement for premises would change in the next 5 years which is 10% more than the last survey. This indicates increased business confidence as 86% of these were related to growth, with more businesses looking for office premises (34.2%), Industrial (28.9%) and Hybrid units (21.1%). The cost of premises was the most important factor influencing decisions, followed by size and then location.

The digital economy is becoming more and more important for businesses as the internet continues to influence all aspects of business life from sales to marketing. It is therefore important that broadband infrastructure supports this growth. Businesses were surveyed on their broadband speed in an attempt to identify ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots of broadband speed within the town. However the results proved to be mixed with broadband speed as much a factor of location and local infrastructure as the Individual provider and broadband package supplied to each company. The results were therefore not included in the survey report. It is good news to report that 79% of businesses agreed that their broadband was adequate for the needs of their business. In terms of business support the results remained very similar to the last survey with many businesses unaware of certain organisations and individual programmes. This shows that those organisations still have work to do in marketing themselves in the local area. Where organisations and services have been used a majority have been rated as ‘Good’. The most well used business support organisations were Burnley based demonstrating that a local presence is valued to users. The exception to this is the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce who are not based in the town but were one of the most well used organisations.

Of the support programmes businesses were most aware of, the government backed Regional Growth Fund and the Business Growth Fund both had high awareness despite only a small number of businesses actually having used the services, whilst the Burnley Council Business Support team had a high awareness and was the most used service. This survey was undertaken by the business support team and distributed to many of the businesses they have worked with which may explain why so many of the respondents were aware of or had used this service.


AppendixQuestion 5, List of recognised standards/ accreditations

Q5 provided the option for business to list their standards or accreditations if they were not in the given list. These additional standards are provided below.

AVS IID, Best Companies 3 star organisation, Two Ticks reBRC disabled people, IIP Health & Wellbeing AwardBRC Certificate, FSC Certificate ISO18001BRC Grade A ISO9001 accreditation due to be assessed Feb 2014Cask marques in distribution waste (spent grain) and food accreditations

Lexcel

Chartered accountants - practice assurance compliance LexcelCHAS NASC memberCHAS NSI Systems SilverCHAS C.I.T.B NVQ C+Rs SENCHAS Construction line NVQ centreCHAS registered, constructive approved, member of safe trader scheme

PAS 20 30

CHAS, Construction line, safe trader PAS 2030, MCS, CHASECA, Gas Safe, NICEIC, CHAS, Construction line Quality in optometry level 1EDWCA Audited and WIAPS trained installers Regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

(professional accreditation)Elas, Good landlords accreditation scheme RICS, NAEAEmployees professionally qualified Safe ContractorFCA Security Industry Authority (SIA) Approved Contractor

Scheme (ACS)FCA accreditation Sellafield approved for painting of all steelwork and

fabrications.FCA approved STEDDIFinancial Conduct Authority STSGas safe UKCP registered (Psychotherapy prof body)Gas Safe - NICEIC - CHAS - MCS - Volunteering England, PQA550

Two businesses answered ‘none’


Seventh Biennial Business SurveyBusiness Activity

Q1. What year did your business start trading?

Q2. What is the status of the business premises at the Burnley site? (Tick one box only)o Single site business with no other establishmentso A branch, subsidiary, or division with HQ elsewhere in the UKo An HQ or regional HQo Othero Don’t know

Q3. Please give the current number of full time, part time and total employees (at the Burnley site):

Full Time Employees: Part Time Employees: Total Employees:

Q4. Please give an overview of the main products/ services that your company provides:

Q5. Does your business hold any recognised standards/ accreditations? (Tick all that apply)o ISO 9001o Investors in Peopleo ISO 14001o NADCAPo ISO/TS 16949o Other

If other, please specify:


Q6. Please give an indication of your company’s performance over the last 12 months and expectations for the next 24 months, for each of the following factors:

Over LAST 12 months Over NEXT 24 monthsImproved Remained

the sameWorsened Improve Remain

the same

worsen

Turnover ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Profitablility ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Sales/Customs/Bookings ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Cashflows ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Q7. Please give an indication of your turnover for last year (Tick one box only)

o Up to £999o £1,000 - £50,000o £50,001 - £90,000o £90,001 - £400,000o £400,001 - £1,000,000o £1,000,001 - £2,500,000o £2,500,001 - £5,000,000o £5,000,001 - £10,000,000o £10,000,001 - £20,000,000o Over £20m

Q8. Where Turnover Increased/Decreased. By approximately what percentage?Increased Decreased

o Up to 10% o Up to 10%

o Between 10-20% o Between 10-20%




o More than 50% o More than 50%

o Don’t know o Don’t know

o Did not Increase o Did not decrease


Q9. Where are your key markets? (Tick all that apply)o Local (Lancashire)o Regional (North West)o UKo Europeo Global

Q10. Do you export?o Yes – go to Q11o No – go to Q13

Q11. Please give an indication of the value of your exports last year, as a percentage of turnover: (Tick one box only)

o Noneo Up to 20%o 20% - 39%o 40% - 59%o 60% - 79%o 80% - 100%

Q12. How do you anticipate your export levels to change over the next 12 months?o Increasingo Decreasingo Stay the same

Q13. Are you considering or would you consider exporting to new markets?o Yeso No

Q14. What factors, if any, encourage or discourage your ability to export?Influence Hinder

Language issues ⃝ ⃝government support eg UKTI ⃝ ⃝trade barriers ⃝ ⃝legal trade issues ⃝ ⃝exchange rate fluctuations ⃝ ⃝trade over the Internet ⃝ ⃝marketing and PR ⃝ ⃝Identifying new markets ⃝ ⃝I have not considered or do not wish to export ⃝ ⃝Transport connections ⃝ ⃝Other ⃝ ⃝If other please specify


Q15. Please state how each of the following affects the growth of your business.

Very positive affect on growth Positive Neutral Negative

Very negative affect on growth

Availability/ access to finance ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Availability of skilled workforce ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Provision of training availability/suitable courses ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Availability of suitable premises ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Labour costs ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Raw material costs ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Energy costs ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Exchange costs ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Competition ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Transport Infrastructure in and out of Burnley ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Image of Burnley ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Compliance with Legislation(eg food safety, Health & Safety, Environmental)

⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Food Hygiene rating scheme ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

If you answered ‘very positive’ or ‘very negative’ to any of the above, please give further details:


Q16. What areas of the business have you invested in over the last 12 months, and what if any, are your company’s projections for investment over the next 24 months? (Tick all that apply)

Invested in over LAST 12 months

Plan to invest in over NEXT 12 months

Research and Development ⃝ ⃝Skills/ Staff development/ training ⃝ ⃝Plant/ machinery/ equipment ⃝ ⃝Building improvements/ expansion ⃝ ⃝Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ⃝ ⃝Marketing/ PR ⃝ ⃝Safety/ Security ⃝ ⃝New Markets/ processes/ products ⃝ ⃝Exporting/ Importing ⃝ ⃝Attending/ exhibiting at exhibitions ⃝ ⃝Environmental performance ⃝ ⃝Compliance with Legislation(eg food safety, Health & Safety, Environmental)

⃝ ⃝None ⃝ ⃝Other (please specify) ⃝ ⃝

If other please specify:

Q17. Have you sought finance to invest in your business in the last 12 months?o Yes – go to question 18o No – go to question 19

Q 18. In which way did you seek financeo Banks/debto Internal capitalo External capitalo Venture capitalo Friends and familyo Business angelso Public sector granto Noneo Refused financeo Other


Recruitment

Q19. What type of people skills do you consider there to be a shortage of in the labour market? (Tick all that apply)

o Unskilled manual workerso Skilled manual workers (e.g. tradesmen, engineers, drivers)o Literacy/ Numeracy/ Good English – written and verbalo Secretarial/ Clerical Staffo Staff with foreign language skillso Financial/ Accountantso Managerso Sales/ Marketing Staffo Specialist IT staff (e.g. graphic designers, programmers etc.)o Other professional staffo Graduate/ Graduate traineeo Apprenticeo Noneo Other (please specify)


Q20. How have your staffing levels changed in the LAST 12 months? (Tick one box only)o Increasedo Stayed the sameo Decreasedo Other e.g. reduced week, extended holidays, changes in shift patterns, etc.

Please give reasons for your answer above.

Q21. How do you anticipate your staffing levels changing over the NEXT 12 months? (Tick one box only)o Increasingo No changeo Decreasingo Other e.g. reduced week, extended holidays, changes in shift patterns etc.

Please give reasons for your answer above.

Q22. Have you recruited, or attempted to recruit, within the last 12 months (Tick one box only)o Yes – Go to Q23o No – Go to Q29


Q23. What methods did you use for recruiting? (Tick all that apply)o Job Centre Pluso Interneto Newspapero Recruitment Agencyo Industry/ sector specific publicationso Word of Moutho Other (please specify)


Q24 Are you aware of the following schemes from Jobcentre Plus Yes No

Work Experience ⃝ ⃝Sector Based Work Academies ⃝ ⃝Wage Incentive ⃝ ⃝Q25. Please indicate the geographic locations you targeted when recruiting. (Tick all that apply)

o Local (Lancashire)o Regional (North West)o National o International

Q26. Did you experience any difficulties recruiting within the last 12 months?o Yes – Go to Q27o No – Go to Q29

Q27. What problems were encountered? (Tick all that apply)o Shortage of people with the right skillso Shortage of people with the right qualificationso Shortage of people with the right experienceo Unattractive pay/ conditionso Company location difficult to accesso Burnley’s imageo Unattractive job related dutieso Low number of applicants generallyo Too much competition from other employerso Other (please specify)



Q28. Have you taken any action to overcome these recruitment difficulties? (Tick one box only)o Yeso No

If yes, what actions have you taken?

Training

Q29. What skill gaps do you feel your current employees have? (Tick all that apply)o Basic generic (e.g. communications, literacy, numeracy, good English – written and verbal)o Sales/ marketing skillso Technical skills (e.g. manufacturing, machining, processing)o Management skills (Strategic Planning, Business Development)o Trade skills (e.g. joinery, building, plastering)o IT skillso Vocational skills (training, upgrading of existing staff)o Financial/ accountancy skillso Health & Safetyo Food Safetyo Noneo Other (please specify)

If other, please specify


Q30. What training have you provided/ sought to provide over the last 12 months, and what training are you proposing to carry out over the next 12 months?

Provided over LAST 12 months

May provide over NEXT 12 months

On the job training ⃝ ⃝Apprentice training ⃝ ⃝Manufacturing/ Processing/ Technical ⃝ ⃝Vocational (e.g. training, upgrading of existing staff) ⃝ ⃝Financial/ Accountancy training ⃝ ⃝Sales/ Marketing/ Customer care ⃝ ⃝Management training ⃝ ⃝Quality assurance ⃝ ⃝Foreign language skills ⃝ ⃝Creative/ Design/ Artistic ⃝ ⃝IT training ⃝ ⃝Health & Safety ⃝ ⃝Food Safety ⃝ ⃝Compliance with Legislation(eg food safety, Health & Safety, Environmental)

⃝ ⃝None ⃝ ⃝Other (please specify) ⃝ ⃝


Q31. Are you aware of the range of training offered by Burnley College?o Yeso Noo I would like to receive further information

Q32. Are you aware of the range of training offered by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN)?o Yeso Noo I would like to receive further information


Q33. Are you aware of the training offered by the new University Technical College?o Yeso Noo I would like to receive further information

Q34. If you are not providing training over the next 12 months, what are the reasons? (Tick all that apply)o Timeo Cost – Too expensiveo Problems with the location of trainingo Afraid employees would then leaveo Couldn’t find suitable courseo Insufficient fundso Couldn’t find a training providero Staff already suitably/adequately trainedo Other (please specify)


Q35. If you ticked Cost on the previous question you may be eligible for some free workforce training. Would you like to receive additional information ?

o Yes - I would like to receive to receive further informationo No

Business Premises

Q36. How many sites do you operate from in Burnley?

Q37. Please give an indication of the approximate total floorspace and site area occupied in Burnley:

Floorspace: (sqft) Don’t knowSite area: (acres) Don’t know

Q38. Please indicate the main type of premises currently occupied at your Burnley business site (Tick one box only)

o Industrialo Officeo Warehouseo Operating from homeo Other (please specify)



Q39. How satisfied are you with your existing premises?

Very unsatisfied

Unsatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very satisfied

Business rate costs ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Affordability ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Condition of premises ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Size of property ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Suitability of premises for specific needs ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Services eg Electricity ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Availability of parking ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Access issues/problems in relation to the Highway ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Access to customers/suppliers/labour market

⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Crime and anti social behaviour ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Distance to Public transport ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Distance to Motorway ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Traffic issues ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Image of area ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

Please give further details, i.e. identify any major constraints to your site/ suggest how they could be improved:

Q40. Over the last 12 months have you tried to expand/ move your business premises within Burnley? (Tick one box only)

o Yes – Go to Q41o No – Go to Q45

Q41. What was the main reason for expanding/ moving your business premises


Q42. What was the outcome of the expansion/ relocation project? (Tick one box only)o Project did not go aheado Successfully relocated to a new siteo Successfully expanded on current siteo Other (please specify)


Q43. Did you experience any problems during the expansion/ relocation project? (Tick one box only)o Yes – Go to Q44o No – Go to Q45

Q44. Please provide some information regarding the problems encountered (Tick all that apply)o Availability of freehold propertyo Availability of leasehold propertyo Property/ Land not available in desired locationo Property/ Land too expensiveo Services e.g. electricityo Developer tieso Poor quality of property/ land availableo Size of property/ land required not availableo Suitability of premises for specific needso Other (please specify)


Q45. Are your requirements for premises likely to change in the next 5 years? (Tick one box only)o Yes – Go to Q46o No – Go to Q54

Q46. Please indicate how you expect your requirements to change over the next 5 years (Tick one box only)

o Expansion within existing premiseso Extension of existing premiseso Relocation to larger premiseso Acquisition of additional premiseso Construction of new premiseso Construction of new premiseso Reduction in floorspace at existing siteo Reduction in number of sites occupied in Burnleyo Relocation to smaller premises


o Other (please specify)


Q47. Please give an indication of the approximate additional, or reduction, in total floorspace required in Burnley over the next five years.Additional floorspace required: (sqft) Reduction in floorspace required: (sqft)

Q48. If you are considering new premises, please indicate the type of premises required (Tick one box only)

o Industrialo Warehouseo Officeo Hybrid unit (part office/ part workshop)o Other (please specify)


Q49. If you are considering new premises, which areas of Burnley would you consider?o Please specify which areas in Burnley)

Q50. If you are considering new premises over the next 5 years, please indicate how each of the following factors may influence your decision, on a scale of 1 to 5:

Not at all importan

t

Of little

Importance Neutral

Quite Important

Very Important

1 2 3 4 5Location ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Cost of premises ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Size of premises ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Power Capacity/Supply ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Leasehold terms ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Freehold option ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Availability of financial assistance ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝


Other (please state):

Q51. There are proposals to bring forward high quality commercial properties at key locations in Burnley. Please indicate if these locations might be of interest to your company (tick all that apply).

Wouldn’t

consider it

Might consider it

Would definitely consider it

Aerospace Supplier Park (Former Michelin tyre factory site)An advanced manufacturing and aerospace supplier park based at the former Michelin Tyre factory site on Bancroft Road. Companies based here will benefit from close links to leading companies in manufacturing and aerospace.

⃝ ⃝ ⃝Aerospace Supplier Park (Former Michelin tyre factory site)An advanced manufacturing and aerospace supplier park based at the former Michelin Tyre factory site on Bancroft Road. Companies based here will benefit from close links to leading companies in manufacturing and aerospace.

⃝ ⃝ ⃝Burnley Bridge Business ParkA new, strategic 70 acre commercial development directly adjacent to junction 9 of the M65. The scheme will comprise of up to 680,000 sq. ft. of high quality industrial employment space with a variety of owner occupier/ lease options available.

⃝ ⃝ ⃝Burnley Knowledge QuarterA new business park alongside the new £84m education campus at Princess Way. It will have a mix of offices and workspace units and have a campus feel with strong links to UCLAN and Burnley College.

⃝ ⃝ ⃝Weavers Triangle (On the Banks)This economic growth project utilises a range of refurbished former mill buildings and new developments in a canal-side setting for leisure, office and residential uses.

⃝ ⃝ ⃝AMS Technology ParkConsisting of existing and new build industrial units from 2,500 - 10,000 sq ft aimed primarily at hi-technology

⃝ ⃝ ⃝Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 61

companies.

Burnley Town CentreNew and refurbished retail, leisure and office accommodation. ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

Q52. There are a number of existing employment sites across the borough. Please indicate if you would consider moving your business to one of them. (tick all that apply).

Wouldn’t consider it

Might consider

it

Would definitely consider it

My business is

already located

here

Not applicable to

the size or requirements

of my business

Rossendale Road Ind Est ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

⃝

Network 65 Business Park ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Shuttleworth Mead Business Park ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Heasandford Ind Est ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Smallshaw & Chestnut business Park ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Gannow Business Park ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Liverpool Road business park ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Burnham Gate trading estate ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Elm Street business park ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Healy Wood Ind Est ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Summit works ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

Q53. Would you like to receive a visit from the Burnley Council Business Support team to discuss your ideas of improving your existing business accommodation or relocating to alternative premises in Burnley that will better suit your future requirements?o Yeso No

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Q54. Is your broadband speed adequate for the needs of your business?o Yeso No

Q55. What is the speed of the broadband connection at your premises?Check your broadband speed by visiting www.speedtest.net


http://www.speedtest.net/

Upload speed Download speed Please provide the postcode for your business premises

Q56. Would you be interested to find out more about Superfast Broadband and the benefits of this?o Yeso No

Q57. Independent advice and support in relation to ICT and wider technology use is available via The Lancashire Innovation Network. Would this be of interest to you? (Tick one box only)

o Yes – I would like someone to contact meo Yes – I will make contact if and when I require support*o No

*You can contact the Lancashire Innovation Network team at Regenerate Pennine Lancashire via email, [email protected] or by phone, 0800 612 2029.

Environmental, Health and Safety

Q58. Environmental good practice can also make good business sense as consumers look for evidence of environmental responsibility from businesses. Would you like further information on:

o Environmental legislation?o Environmental permitting (air pollution)o Resource efficiency?o Carbon footprinting?o Flood risk?o Climate change?o Corporate social responsibility? o Licensingo Health & Safety legislationo Food safety legislationo FHRS/Recipe 4 Health


mailto:[email protected]

Support agencies and programmes

Q59. Are you aware of the following business support agencies and their services and if so, how would you rate their services?

Not aware of the

agency

Aware of the agency

but not used their services

Used the agency’s services and rate them as:

Good Satisfactory PoorBurnley Borough Council – Business Support team ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Burnley Borough Council – Environmental Health & Licensing ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Burnley Enterprise Trust ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Burnley College / Themis ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Job Centre Plus ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Enterprise 4 All ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Community & Business Partners ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝New Ground (Formerly ‘Groundwork’) ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Lancashire Innovation Network ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Boost business Lancashire ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Lancashire CountyCouncil – Rosebud Business Finance

⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Northwest Aerospace Alliance ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Northwest Automotive Alliance ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝University of Central Lancashire – Business at UCLan ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Business services offered by other Universities ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝UKTI ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝National Apprenticeship Service ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝


Q60. Are you aware of the current support initiatives available to businesses to assist with your growth plans?

Not aware of the

programme

Aware of but not used the service Used the service and rate as:

Good Satisfactory PoorAccelerating Business Growth ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Boost Business Lancashire ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Business Finance North West ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Business Growth Fund ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Funding Circle ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Fuse ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Growth Accelerator ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Lancashire Leap ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝The North West Fund ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Pennine Leap ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Ready for Business ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Regional Growth Fund ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Start Up Lancashire ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Propel ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝Youth Contract ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝

Q61. Please Tick: o If you would be interested in receiving business support information electronically throughout the

year

Q62. Do you feel that there are gaps in current business support services? (Tick one box only)o Yeso No

If yes, what services would you like business support agencies to provide?

Conclusion

Q63. Please provide any further comments


Q64. This survey is being undertaken by Burnley Borough Council on behalf of the Business Support Network.

Please tick this box if you agree that Business Support Network members*10 may contact you regarding the issues you have highlighted during the survey.

(Please note if you have earlier indicated that you would require further information on sections of this survey, these will be sent to the relevant partner organisations who will contact you to discuss further.)

If you’ve ticked to receive more information, please ensure that you have completed your details on the front of this survey.(By providing your details you will automatically be entered into the prize draw)

10 The Business Support Network consists of a number of public sector agencies with an interest in supporting businesses in Burnley and Pennine Lancashire. Burnley Council meets with these agencies on a quarterly basis. Members include: Burnley Council, Lancashire County Council, Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, Burnley College, UCLan, Job Centre Plus, Business In the Community, Princes’ Trust, New Ground, Community & Business Partners, New Era Enterprises, Enterprise Lancashire.Seventh Burnley Biennial Business Survey (2013) 66

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