The Chamber Policy Team is responsible for gathering and getting your views heard with the key decision-makers in Birmingham, Solihull, Southern Staffordshire  and beyond.
The Chamber is here to represent your views on the issues affecting your business. The policy team lobbies key decision makers on business issues and represents business members at a local, national and European level.

One of the key activities of a Chamber of Commerce is to provide information to its members about national, regional or local policy proposals that are likely to impact upon business and to provide feedback on the response from the business community.

Policy Areas

Skills - It is vital that people have the appropriate levels of numeracy, literacy and IT skills for the jobs of the future, and a range of other transferable skills, so they can find employment in a variety of fields. That's why here at the Chamber we recognise the importance of giving our members a platform to voice their views on education to decision-makers at local, regional and national levels.

Transport - The development of an integrated transport system to match the region’s economic aspiration is of vital importance to tackling the West Midlands’ GDP deficit. BCI member businesses consistently rank the in inadequate transport infrastructure of the West Midlands as one of their top three concerns, citing it as one of the key barriers to improving the economic competitiveness of Birmingham.

Economy and Quarterly Economic Survey - The rate of decline in many areas of the economy has continued to ease this quarter, with the labour market and business confidence in particular showing signs of stability. However, a number of setbacks are evident with the number of overseas sales falling within manufacturing, whilst domestic sales have fallen within the services sector. In its last Quarterly Economic Survey, BCI did call for the Government to publish a credible plan to reduce the budget deficit and restore confidence. The emergency budget has gone some way to alleviate concerns and now we remain to see whether the Government’s actions will help to secure sustainable medium-term growth.

Employment legislation - Employment regulations affect both the productivity and competitiveness of a business causing problems from administrative burdens to increased labour costs. The Government develops employment legislation on both a national and European level and BCI continues to monitor all legislative developments around employment law and responds to numerous Government consultations throughout the year to ensure business voice is heard where it matters.

Local and regional government - On 29 June 2010, The RT Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, and The RT Hon Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, wrote to Local Authority Leaders and Business Leaders to invite sub-regions to form Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the place of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). The Chamber is consulting with members, local authorities and stakeholders to determine our preferences as to Birmingham, Southern Staffordshire and Solihull’s LEP(s). We are committed to ensuring that LEPs affecting our members focus upon three key tasks: to deliver GDP growth; private-sector job creation; and, economic sustainability (diversity) in our localities.

To get your voice heard, contact our Policy Team on 0121 607 0809 or via policy@birmingham-chamber.com