A range of companies from across the East Midlands joined the region’s biggest business-representation organisation, East Midlands Chamber, in Westminster this week for a Ministerial roundtable discussion on procurement.

They met with Oliver Dowden, Parliamentary Secretary and Minister for Implementation, to discuss his plans to ensure £1 of every £3 of Government contract spending goes to small and medium-sized firms.

The companies in the deputation were all members of award-winning East Midlands Chamber* and included representation from logistics, retail, business services, training and IT sectors. They fed back their own experiences, successes and challenges of dealing with Government.

Key issues raised included accessibility to contract information, the variable quality of initial evidence demanded, sizes of contracts and frustration over needing to complete multiple pre-qualification questionnaires.

Other matters of concern were a lack of proportionality or relevance in requirements around insurances, accreditations or procedural policies, management of top-tier suppliers and ensuring they deliver on promises to suppliers and recognising and rewarding social value in let contracts.

Transparency around the Government’s decision-making processes was also raised.

Martin Traynor, whose role as Small Business Crown Representative in the Cabinet Office is ‘to make sure the Government gets the best value from small business and that small businesses have the best possible opportunity to work with the Government’, supported the meeting.

Appointed to the role earlier this year, Martin is backing the Government’s drive to improve procurement.

The Chamber has been actively seeking to improve procurement contract opportunities for smaller businesses, working closely with HS2 and Heathrow Airport, for example, to encourage regional SMEs to get involved in major infrastructure projects.

Chris Hobson, the Chamber’s Director of Policy, said: “Getting smaller companies involved in major public sector projects is a win-win situation as it can offer greater competition and secures work for those businesses.

“Smaller companies often don’t chase opportunities on bigger projects because they don’t think they’ll have a chance of winning them, are daunted by the application process or don’t realise that most contracts are broken down into bite-size chunks.

“The Chamber is working hard to break down these mythical barriers and to help regional SMEs get involved in national projects, whether it’s HS2, Heathrow Airport expansion or any other major project. There are two sides to this work, one is about improving access to opportunities and the other is supporting businesses to create competitive bids.”

Housebuilder Avant Homes has introduced a new initiative called ‘Day to Make a Difference’ to support schools, charities and other local groups and businesses, in the communities in which it builds.

All 700 of the company’s employees from construction workers and sales advisors to apprentices and directors, downed tools and stepped away from their keyboards and building sites for the day on June 12 to donate time to 21 organisations across the country. Dozens of Avant Homes suppliers also stepped in to help, donating materials such as paint, transport, timber and more.

In Chesterfield 140 employees from Avant Homes’ head office in Barlborough and its Central regional office based at Holmewood Business Park, spent the day with Clowne Infant and Nursery School, Chesterfield Foodbank, Ashgate Hospice and disabled children’s charity Fairplay.

At Chesterfield Foodbank the team transformed the foodbank’s warehouse offices with new carpets and flooring, new lighting, freshly painted walls and doors and installed a brand-new kitchen donated by Manor Cabinets.

Chesterfield Foodbank project manager, Jim Hopkins, said; “We are delighted and overwhelmed with the support from Avant Homes and their donation of refurbished offices and the fantastic new kitchen.

“Every day thousands of people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to people on low income receiving an unexpected bill. A simple box of food makes a big difference. At Chesterfield Foodbank we provide three-day emergency food packs for people in crisis and we are extremely grateful to companies like Avant Homes who give their time to support us. Their contribution helps to shine a light on the work foodbanks do and why they are so needed.”

At Fairplay, a charity set up in 1992 by a group of parents who wanted accessible activities for their disabled children, 44 members of the Avant Central team undertook a range of different projects across the centre, including gardening, decorating and adapting two of the centre’s rooms to create a larger more accessible space.

Fairplay runs play schemes and clubs for children and parents, activity days, themed groups, and independent living groups for young people. It currently helps more than 400 families across the region.

Fairplay chief executive, Heather Fawbert said: “Working with the team from Avant has been a joy and a privilege. From their first visit to Fairplay they listened to our requirements and have taken on board everything we said about the work we needed doing in the Fairplay centre. It’s incredible that they have such a charity day throughout the country and that they are flexible regarding the type of support they will give to charities.

“This has been a perfect example of how businesses and charities can work together for the benefit of the local community. On behalf of everyone here at Fairplay I would like to say a huge thank you to Avant and their suppliers.’’

At Ashgate Hospice the Avant team undertook a range of different projects including, decorating, landscaping and maintenance and helping support the hospice’s retail outlets.

Ashgate Hospice partnerships manager, Alison Ward-Foster, said: “Avant team members arrived with a smile on their face and a bag full of ponchos!

“The determined team were not put off by the weather and managed to achieve so much more than we expected. We rely heavily on the support of our community and volunteers to help keep our gardens looking beautiful. We cannot thank the team from Avant enough for their support.”

At Clowne Infant and Nursery School, the team transformed both classrooms and outdoor spaces for children and staff to use, enjoy and learn in. Clowne Infant and Nursery School business manager, Paul Hallam, said: “We massively appreciate the whole initiative, and this definitely has been a Day to Make a Difference, and what a difference it has made to us. I’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the whole team from Avant.”

Avant Homes chief executive officer, Colin Lewis, said: “Our ‘Day to Make A Difference’ initiative was created with the mission of supporting those in our local communities who need it most and to make a real difference to their lives. We were honoured to spend the day working with Chesterfield Foodbank, Ashgate Hospice, Fairplay and Clowne Infant and Nursery School and do our bit to support them in the outstanding work they do.

“Everyone from Avant really enjoyed seeing first-hand what goes into making these fantastic charities and organisations operate and it was great to see all of our employees getting stuck in together. The passion and energy that colleagues from across the business put into these projects was astounding. Knowing that we were all making a real difference motivated us even more.

“I’d like to thank all four organisations for allowing us to step into their place of work for the day and our suppliers and subcontractors for their generous contributions which helped us achieve so much. I’d also like to congratulate everyone at Avant Homes for all the hard work put in. What a difference a day can make.”

Award-winning business representation organisation East Midlands Chamber* has signed a commitment to support changing attitudes towards mental health in the workplace.

Chief Executive Scott Knowles signed the ‘Time to Change’ pledge yesterday in front of staff and guests at an event at the Chamber’s office in Chesterfield.

Speaking before signing for the Chamber, Scott said: “The Chamber’s pledge is about how we think about and act when it comes to mental health and making sure people feel supported in the workplace.

“It is estimated that one-in-four workers are affected by anxiety, depression and stress. The average cost of mental health to business is over £1,000 per employee each year and most affected employees will give a different reason for any resulting absence.

“Looking after mental health is clearly very important and offering the right support leads to a more positive workforce. Nobody is immune from mental health challenges and nobody should be afraid to articulate their concerns.”

Time To Change is a social movement now involving thousands of people throughout England and Wales. It is led by mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

The commitment signed by Scott says: “We pledge to change the way we think and act about mental health at work.”

Three guest speakers – Amy Hallam, Director at BRM Solicitors, Ruth Bunn, Managing Director at Intrinsic OT and Anna Kelynack-Boddy, Founder of Yogic Frog, of Derby, witnessed Scott signing the Time To Change pledge.

Amy said: “There was a time when the role of an employment solicitor was to advise a company on how to get rid of someone suffering mental health issues but that’s not the best way to manage things because you lose a member of staff and then have all the cost and inconvenience of having to recruit a replacement.

“It’s something we are quite passionate about nowadays and we do things differently.  We like to teach staff about recognising their own mental health issues and that of colleagues, recognising, for example, presenteeism, where a person turns up for work physically but doesn’t do very much.

“If a person is off sick, keep them involved in the business, invite them to come in to team meetings even if they go home straight afterwards. We’ve found that helps to accelerate their return to work.”

Ruth, who has worked in mental health in the NHS, said she was shocked when she heard Prince Harry had admitted receiving help with mental health issues to cope with the death of his mother.

“It was that word ‘admitted’ that I felt most strongly about, as though help for mental health issues was a dirty secret being dragged out, that it is something we should suffer in silence with a typically British stoic attitude and just get on with it.

“In hospital, when we saw people for whom everything had just got too much, we would talk openly about mental health and just talking about it lifted people up.”

She explained how everybody has a physical health scale and a mental health scale and the only difference was that physical ailments could be seen while mental illness was invisible.

After the signing, Anna, who has worked for big companies including Rolls-Royce and Walgreen Boots and now lists Rolls-Royce among her clients, explained how life should be viewed as a glass ball that you can’t afford to drop because it would shatter.

But she said there was no reason to juggle rubber balls – her description of immediate but perhaps unachieved goals – that can be allowed to fall to the floor without risk.

She then led a short, desk-based yoga session and advised people to take just ten minutes during the day to focus on one thing not related to work. “This has been proved to increase productivity by 80%,” she said.

For more information about Time To Change visit https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/.

Specsavers in Chesterfield has just invested £50,000 in 3D scanning technology which allows optometrists to view the eye in more detail than ever before.

The Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) machine, which will be available in April for appointments, is a cutting-edge piece of equipment, usually found in hospital eye departments. It is used for a variety of functions including screening and management of conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

The technology produces a structural scan of the eye, including layers of the eye that would not normally be visible using traditional eye testing techniques. The results are similar to an ultrasound or MRI scan, in that it creates multiple scan slice images that are built up to form a total image. The OCT machine uses a totally safe, laser light source and not x-ray-type radiation.

Chesterfield’s ophthalmic optician Allissa Charlesworth comments: ‘This investment gives our team the ability to enhance the services to the local community by identifying and helping to detect or manage conditions, with a level of diagnostic capability which previously would have needed a hospital visit.

‘OCT technology produces such a detailed picture of the structures in the eye that it allows us to identify signs of diseases years earlier than traditional methods. An example of this is glaucoma, which the store’s specialists are trained to spot. Given that nearly half of all sight loss is preventable*, the sooner we can detect these conditions, the sooner we can help manage them or refer people for treatment.’

The scan will be in addition to a thorough eye test, during which the optometrist will use a range of clinical tests and procedures to measure the quality of someone’s vision, as well as taking an overview of the health and function of their eyes and how they work together. The OCT scan takes just a few seconds and is non-contact and painless.

A customer’s OCT images will be stored on file so we can help note changes over time – a real benefit to the monitoring of someone’s overall eye health.

OCT scans are additional to the normal eye test and can be requested when the appointment is booked or when the customer arrives in store. The cost of this scan (£10) is in addition to the eye test and not covered by the NHS examination.

Corporate philanthropy has come a long way from the days when it was perceived as little more than a tax-deductible business expense.

Providing a junior league football team with kit for a year was once considered enough for a company to claim it was part of its local community.

However, more and more companies are starting to better understand the links between meaningful community engagement and their own successes – whether that’s around better engaging and developing existing staff, attracting the next generation of workforce or winning a new contract with others wanting to know they’re having an impact with the money they spend.

Next week, East Midlands Chamber* will be hosting its second annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Summit, at which delegates will hear from representatives of companies already working meaningfully with local communities and learn more about how they can get the best results for both themselves and the communities they’re based in.

They’ll also hear how the Chamber, which has widened its vision to ‘enhancing East Midlands businesses and communities’, is seeking to take a lead in helping firms engage in CSR activity.

Scott Knowles, the Chamber’s Chief Executive, will tell delegates: “The focus in future will be about how businesses – particularly small and medium organisations – and communities work together for shared goals.

“Nowadays, it is not enough for a business just to provide jobs. Whether you’re a customer, employee or partner, people want to know that the company they work with cares about people and the planet, not just about profit.

“We are keen to create more opportunities for businesses to engage in CSR activities and to ensure the impact of this can be maximised both for the communities and the businesses themselves. Importantly we believe firmly in the link between successful businesses and thriving local communities.”

Research carried out by the Chamber found that 62% of members already engage in ‘CSR’, with 81% of those saying they do it because it is the ‘right thing to do’.

Sixty-eight per cent do it because they want to develop links with the community, 44% said it helps them build profile, 38% reported a personal connection to a cause and 31% viewed it as part of their staff development strategy.

Forty-one per cent of respondents said they intended to increase activity in this area in the year ahead. For those that don’t get involved in CSR, the main reason given was either not having enough resource or not having considered it.

The Chamber’s CSR Summit takes place at the University of Derby Chesterfield Campus on Tuesday 25 June from 8am to 10am. For more information visit https://bit.ly/2RlfHlC.