Unpaid Voluntary Environmental Land Management

Defra recently released data concerning the unpaid voluntary environmental management of land and attitudes towards the environment and understanding and awareness of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment. The data was collected from farms of at least 10 hectares of crops or grassland.

The findings show that during the crop year 2013-14, 450,000 hectares of land was managed under listed unpaid voluntary environmental measures with an additional 9,760 skylark plots and 7,387km of fenced watercourses. The largest land area of the measures listed was 161,000 hectares of fertiliser free permanent pasture followed by 109,000 hectares of over-wintered stubbles. The findings also show that 44% of farmers surveyed do some form of unpaid voluntary environmental land management. Many farmers think they are already doing enough for the environment and it was the main reason given by the 56% of farmers surveyed who do not have any form of unpaid environmental land management for not doing so. When those without any land already in unpaid voluntary environmental management measures were asked if they intended to do so, 15% answered 'Yes'.

The attitudes of farmers towards the environment are reflected also in their involvement in agri-environment schemes and 51% answered positively regarding membership of Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme. When asked about their decision making regarding the environment about 80% of farmers surveyed put the greatest importance on the efficient use of inputs and protecting soil and water and considered that these should be put in the 'very important' category. Protecting wildlife was also important to a majority of farmers with 59% considering it 'very important'.

The number of farmers who consider that they have a good understanding and awareness of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment remained steady at around 15% between 2012-13 and 2013-14, 47% having some understanding and 12% having little or no idea. The most common source of information regarding the CFE was the farming press (64%) and CFE leaflets (43%) with 22% saying they had none.

Business Confidence Swings Back In Europe

Busines and consumer survey results from the Director General of Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission suggest that economic sentiment increased in the EU in November. The economic Sentiment Indicator increased by 2 points in the EU27 (88.1) and by 1.4 points in the euro area (85.7). The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) also increased by 0.42 points to -1.19 with increases in all of the BCIs components.

Confidence Low In Small Businesses

UK SME's are still not confident according to the most recent CBI SME survey. Output is still at the same levels as last quarter but new orders are falling. Concern about the political and economic uncertainty increased sharply the survey suggests.

Business Survey Estimates Fall In Number Of Jobs

The Business Register and Employment Survey estimates that for September 2010 there were 26.8m employees, down 134,000 on 2009. Tha largest fall among the countries of the UK was in Scotland at 73,000.

The region with the most employees was London with 4.1m (15.3% of UK employees) next came the South East with 3.7m (13.8%). London also had the highest proportion of full-time employees at 74.1%. Other regions had less than 70%. The regions with the lowest number of employees were Northern Ireland with 705,000 (2.6%) and the North East with 999,000 (3.7%) with over a third part-time.

In the UK as a whole, there were 18.1m full-time and 8.7m part-time employees. The health sector continued to have the largest number of employees with 3.6m. The industry with the lowest number of employees was agriculture, forestry and fishing with 214,000 (0.8%). Construction employment decreased the most down 118,000 employees. Mining, quarrying and utilities had the largest proportion of full-time workers at 93.3%. The retail sector had the largest proportion of part-time workers at 57.2%. Business administration and support services grew by 62,000.

Defra Biodiversity Survey

The results of a recent survey on knowledge and attitudes towards the environment by Defra show that 92% of respondents said that it is important to hace green spaces nearby and 56% said they use them at least once a week.

The survey also showed that 48% of respondents had some knowledge of biodiversity, up from 44% in 2009. When prompted, 78% agreed that they worry about the loss of native animals and plants and about changes in the countryside. Volunteering had been carried out by 13% in the previous 12 months.

Growth In SME Orders Expected To Fall

Smaller companies have seen production growth in the three months leading to the latest CBI SME survey due to stronger domestic and overseas demand and rebuilding stocks of goods. The total volume of new orders has grown over the quarter and exports were particularly strong. Weaker demand over the next quarter could cause it to stall as expected orders fall.

Unemployment Rate At 8%

The ONS Labour Market Survey says that for December 2009 to February 2010 there were 2.5 million people unemployed and the unemployment rate was 8%. The employment rate was given as 72.1% or 28.82 million employed people. There were also 8.16 million economically inactive people equalling 21.5%. Pay including bonuses rose by 2.3% and pay excluding bonuses rose by 1.7%. Yorkshire and Humberside had the highest unemployment rate at 9.5%, the North East and the West Midlands both had 9.5%. The South East, South West and N. Ireland had the lowest with 6.4%. The figures compare with the 64.8% employment rate for July-September 2009 and the 9.6% unemployment rate for February 2010 that are the averages in the EU.

The 72.1% employment rate is the lowest it has been since October 1996. as the number of people in employment fell by 89,000 (F/T 59,000 and P/T 30,000). It was 74.9% for men and 69% for women. The number of unemployed increased by 43,000. The number unemployed for over 6 months fell by 46,000 to 1.22 million. The number of people unemployed for over 12 months increased by 89,000 to reach 726,000 the highest since July 1997. The 2.5 million unemployed people included 1.53 million unemployed men, up 23,000, and 970,000 unemployed women, up 20,000 since three months ending in November. The number of employed people was made up of 13.47 million men and 7.69 million women. Part-time workers totalled 7.67 million of which 1.88 million were men and 5.79 million people were women. The public sector employed 6.1 million people and the private sector 22.76 million people in December 2009.

There were 1.54 million people claiming Job Seeker's Allowance between February and March 2010. The count has fallen 4 out of the last 5 months. The inactivity rate is the highest it has been since October 2004. The number of inactive people was 110,000 which includes 71,000 students. Vacancies increased by 9,000 to 475,000. There were 30.75 million workforce jobs in December 2009. There were 30.75 million workforce jobs, down 119,000 over the quarter to December 2009. The largest decrease was in distribution, hotels and restaurants with 62,000 job losses. Most of the workforce jobs were in London and the South East, the least jobs in England were in the North East, in Wales and N.Ireland.

The annual growth rate for total earnings was 2.3% driven mainly by the financial sector's higher bonuses and a change in timing of payment of bonuses from January last year to February this year. Annual regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 1.7% in February up from 1.5% in the three months to January 2010. Average total pay was £443/week and average regular pay £428/week. In the private sector average total pay was £451/week and average regular pay £418/week. In the public sector average total pay was £462/week and average regular pay was £459/week. There were a total of 912.8 million hours worked in the quarter to February 2010. Average weekly hours were 31.7 hours.

Redundancies went down by 20,000 to 6.5/1000 employees. Labour disputes lost 3,000 working days in February 2010 and in the 12 months to February 440,000 working days were lost from 100 stoppages.

The 18-24 year old bracket increased by 14.1% over the year overall and by 39.9% for 6-12 months and 56.9% for over 12 months while up to 6 months fell by 4.8% over the year. Agriculture, forestry and fishing jobs decreased by 3.8% on the quarter and 3% on the year to February.

PMI Surveys Results

The services PMI fell in January 2010 according to a recent CIPS survey after the promising signs of recovery of last year. The index fell to 54.5 from 56.8. The weather was blamed for much of it and VAT blamed for the the rise in input prices.

The PMI for manufacturing reached a 15 year high in January 2010. The rise in the index of 56.7 from 54.6 is the highest since October 1994. New orders increased at the fastest for 6 years and new export orders are rising.

The CIPS index for the construction industry also reported a slight rise. The PMI for construction increased from 47.1 to 48.6 but the industry is still in contraction with declines in new orders and a weak fall in employment. There is still optimism about the future.

Business Services Still Under Pressure

Volumes of business in the service sector rose in the most recent quarter according to the CBI services survey, but while consumer services improved slightly, business services did not.

The value and volume of consumer services increased over the last three months with the survey balance up 10% the highest since August 2007. Profitability did not change much but with costs rising only 2%, the best figures since November 2007. Sales prices increased and are expected to rise again during the next quarter.

In business and professional services it was slightly different. Although value and volume of business was little changed, according to the survey, prices and profitability fell, giving a negative balance.

The survey also reported that both consumer and business services were cutting back on staff. It also reported that on the whole both sectors were more optimistic about the business situation than the last quarter and plans to expand were more numerous in consumer services than business services. A factor affecting service sector businesses expansion decisions was concern about the strength of demand and their ability to raise funds was considered a barrier to growth.

Export Orders Down

Manufacturers report that export order books are below normal for this time of year as demand for British made goods weakened last month. The latest CBI Industrial Trends Survey says it is the lowest since October 1998. It goes against the recent slight improvements seen since March this year. Total order books are still weak but show a modest improvement and the pace of decline in output is slower. Prices are expected to fall slightly over the next quarter but more slowly than previously expected.

Small Business Downward Trend Expected To Slow

The CBI's latest SME Trends Survey shows that output has gone down at the fastest pace of decline for more than 20 years. The factor most likely to limit output will be sales and orders. The report also shows a fall of 64% in total new orders, the steepest fall since CBI records began, with 13% reporting an increase. The volume of output reported shows a 57% decline. Employment figures were no better with 50% of respondents reporting record increase in job losses, only 6% taking on new staff.

The number of firms working below capacity has continued to rise for over a year with 74% now running below capacity and companies are also still running down stocks. Export orders are weak. Credit and financial worries are still a problem and may limit exports. Average domestic prices continued to decline and costs continued to rise as imports are becoming more expensive.

Investment intentions are low and uncertainty about demand is likely to be a factor limiting plans to invest. However, general business sentiment is up as the decline in orders, output and employment is expected to slow down over the next three months.