We are delighted to share three recent reports from PwC. New Strategy& Pharma and life sciences report – The road to responsible growth The road to responsible growth – this edition centres on the pharmaceuticals and life sciences sector. In the report, we make the argument that a focus on innovative medicines, lifecycle affordability, and geographic diversity will provide the springboard for responsible growth. The report sets sector challenges and opportunities in their economic context and offers five tangible suggestions of what to do next. Green Jobs Barometer PwC’s Green Jobs Barometer measures the relative performance of UK regions and industry sectors on their progress developing green jobs* over time. It aims to build an evidence base to assess and support a fair transition to net zero. UK Economic Outlook The report highlights ‘the triple squeeze’ facing consumers through rising inflation, higher interest rates and fiscal changes going into 2022. The report also notes that regional polarisation caused by the pandemic has been significantly more severe than any previous downturn, and explores some of the drivers of this disparity.
Thousands of employees across Norfolk now have access to vital help and support if they are affected by domestic abuse thanks to the launch of workplace pledge in the county. The *HEAR Pledge was launched on White Ribbon Day 2020 to encourage employers to play their part by making simple changes to policy to break the silence around domestic abuse. A year on – on White Ribbon Day 2021 – the number of organisations which have signed up to the pledge now totals 50. Nearly 30,000 employees are represented by those 50 companies which range from large organisations including Norfolk County Council, Norfolk Police, Norwich City Council, the James Paget and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals and Norwich City Football Club to smaller supermarkets, recruitment agencies, event organisers and sports clubs. The campaign – launched by the county’s **Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Group (DASVG) – is ongoing with employers across the county being encouraged to follow-suit and make that key pledge to help victims of such abuse. During White Ribbon 2021 – and the 16 days to end violence against women that follow – people are being urged to join together and say ‘no’ to violence against women. The key message this year is that #AllMenCan say no to violence against women and girls and campaign organisers hope to ‘reach as many individuals, workplaces, communities and schools as possible’. In Norfolk the hope is employers, male and female, will use the occasion to make a practical difference. Gavin Thompson Co-Chair of the DASVG and Director of Policy Commissioning and Communications at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to those employers who have signed the pledge and shown their commitment to helping those affected by domestic abuse. “In turn they have helped tens of thousands of employees get access to the right specialist support they need and deserve. “Together we can all make a difference. One year on we are still really keen to ensure the campaign grows from strength to strength and helps those who need it the most. “We must all work together to prevent abuse and make sure our communities and homes are safe for everyone 365 days of the year. “With companies and employers having an important role to play in helping to prevent domestic abuse where it impacts on the workplace – whether someone is working at home or in the office – it is crucial HEAR continues every day of the year.” Examples of changes made by some of the companies who have signed up to HEAR include:
We have developed a new Domestic Abuse Policy and rolled out to all staff within our Employee Handbook
We ran an awareness raising programme across the whole team and updated our policies and procedures
We made changes to policies and created a lead team member to support victims.
We organised training for staff
Rachel Barnett, Head of People & Culture at Norwich City Football Club, one of the first companies to sign-up, said: “As an employer we understand our responsibility to create a culture that recognises that some colleagues will be experiencing domestic abuse and that the workplace should be a place of safety. “Through our domestic abuse policy and working to raise awareness, we aim to create a safer workplace and send out a strong message that domestic abuse is unacceptable. We have used the Club’s reach to encourage other organisations to sign the HEAR pledge, in order that we can work together to tackle domestic abuse across Norfolk”. Among the organisations locally to sign up to the HEAR pledge is also the James Paget University Hospital, which has its own Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) as well as a network of 40 domestic abuse champions across its wards and departments, to support both staff and patients. Director of Nursing Paul Morris said: “White Ribbon Day is a vital way of supporting victims of domestic abuse. On this day each year thousands of people stand up, speak out and say #NoToDomesticAbuse. “It is, however, just one day: we must work together to prevent abuse and make sure our communities and homes are safe for everyone 365 days of the year. “With more people working from home due to the pandemic, it is important as employers that we make certain that those at risk of abuse understand they will be heard – and that the help and support they need is there for them.” The Norfolk initiative won national backing in March from the country’s Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs. *HEAR stands for Help, Educate, Awareness and Respond, with organisations being asked to pledge to: > Help Every employer has a duty to provide access to organisations who can help employees: We will ensure colleagues affected by domestic abuse are given access to the right specialist support. > Educate Every employer should ensure the right training is provided: We will make sure the right training is provided to staff to know what steps to take to support colleagues.> Awareness Every employer has a responsibility to be aware of domestic abuse: We will not tolerate domestic abuse in any form and will provide a supportive workplace for colleagues who experience such abuse. > Respond Every employer should ensure the right policies are in place to respond to domestic abuse: We will review our policies and processes and ensure they are implemented correctly. On signing the pledge, a campaign toolkit is available for employers to download with information on help and support for staff, guidance on drafting policy about domestic abuse, internal communications and a campaign poster. Sign up to HEAR >> **The DASVG is made up of councils, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk (OPCCN), police and health organisations – all with a strategic aim to address domestic abuse and sexual violence in Norfolk. How to seek help Your Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) works with a number of organisations across the county to ensure specialist support is available for those affected by domestic and sexual abuse. If you know someone who is the victim of domestic or sexual abuse, we encourage you to seek help. The police will always respond to emergency calls – if you are in immediate danger, always call 999. Police 101 is the non-emergency number. More information on specialist support services can be found on our website here >>
Greater Anglia’s new three-carriage bi-mode train was crowned “most reliable train of its type” in independent industry awards based on reliability statistics. Greater Anglia, along with their maintenance partner Stadler, scooped two industry reliability awards for the train operator’s new bi-mode trains at the annual Golden Spanner Awards The Class 755 trains, which can be powered by either electric or diesel and operate on rural lines in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, won a golden spanner and a silver spanner at the awards, which are held by Modern Railways magazine. The three-carriage bi-mode trains, made and maintained by Swiss company Stadler, won the golden spanner in the category of new diesel trains. It was crowned the most reliable train of its type in England, Scotland and Wales based on the ‘miles per technical TRUST incident’ (MTIN) statistics. They currently have an average of 14,767 miles between incidents. Greater Anglia’s four-carriage bi-mode trains picked up a silver spanner award, meaning it’s the most improved train of its type in England, Scotland and Wales in terms of its MTIN performance. It currently has an average of 12,164 miles between technical incidents – faults that cause a delay of three minutes or more. Greater Anglia has 24 bi-mode trains made up of four carriages and 12 have three carriages. Martin Beable, Engineering Director, Greater Anglia, said: “Our new bi-mode trains have transformed rail travel in the region, and we’re thrilled they have been recognised with two awards. “I would like to thank the teams at Greater Anglia, Stadler and Rock Rail who all made these awards possible. These awards are testament to the hard work of our colleagues, who work around-the-clock to keep trains running.” Rob Baxter, Managing Director for Stadler Rail Service UK, said: “We are delighted to scoop these prestigious accolades, just 18 months after all the Stadler-built trains were delivered. This success is testament to effective collaborative working with Greater Anglia and Rock Infrastructure and the valiant efforts made by our maintenance teams at Norwich Crown Point, who have squeezed every sinew to secure continuous performance improvement of the fleets we look after there.” The Golden Spanners awards celebrate the best of train maintenance and are handed out to train companies who make the greatest strides in train reliability. Greater Anglia is currently in the process of replacing all trains in its fleet with brand new ones, which are all longer, with more seats, USB and plug sockets, fast free Wi-Fi, air conditioning and improved accessibility features as well as dedicated cycle spaces.
Greater Anglia (GA) will continue to operate train services in East Anglia for the next five years after their owning group, Abellio, signed a new contract with the Department for Transport (DfT) to run rail services across the region. The new National Rail Contract (NRC), begins on Sunday 19 September 2021, when the current Emergency Recovery Measures Agreement (‘ERMA’) with the DfT ends, and will run to 20 September 2026. It replaces the previous franchise agreement, which was set aside at the start of the pandemic when train operators were underwritten by the DfT, as passenger numbers fell markedly when travel restrictions were put in place. The new contract will see the continuation of Greater Anglia’s major investment programme to deliver better rail services for the region including :
Completion of their transformational project to introduce new trains across the entire Greater Anglia network
The continuation of their extensive upgrade programme for stations and maintenance depots in the region
Further initiatives to maintain the record-breaking high levels of punctuality they have delivered over the last 18 months
Ongoing improvements to customer service standards, ticketing, accessibility, timetables and energy efficiency
Greater Anglia will also be fully focused on maximising the return of passengers to the rail network and supporting the sustainable economic development of the region, as the UK recovers from the pandemic. They have already introduced new electric trains on their intercity and Stansted Express services and new bi-mode trains on their regional services in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and the Marks Tey to Sudbury line, with all 58 trains from Swiss manufacturer Stadler already in service. Meanwhile the first 29 of their 133-strong fleet of 5-carriage electric commuter trains for services on the Great Eastern and West Anglia routes (built by Alstom, formerly Bombardier, in Derby) are now available for passenger service, with more and more services in these areas progressively benefitting from the state-of-the-art trains. Greater Anglia have also improved service frequency on a number of routes in recent years; introduced other timetable enhancements, such as the Norwich in 90/Ipswich in 60 services and the Norwich to Stansted Airport direct service; carried out many improvements at stations – with Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich all winning “Best Station” awards in recent years; introduced smart ticketing; worked closely with communities – including Community Rail Partnerships and station adopters – to enhance stations and services in line with local needs; improved accessibility for disabled customers; improved integrated transport links and achieved better environmental performance – with reduced energy usage and increased biodiversity at stations. In addition, the GA teams have delivered a very reliable service for rail travellers throughout the challenging pandemic period. Jamie Burles, Managing Director of Greater Anglia, commented : “We’re pleased to have agreed our new National Rail Contract with the Department for Transport. We’re looking forward to continuing the positive transformation of train services in our region, completing the roll out of our new train fleet, maintaining recent excellent performance and further raising customer service standards. Our team is fully committed to keeping up the ongoing cycle of improvements in East Anglia and delivering the best possible service for customers and communities on a consistent basis.”
Performance and train services Performance continues to be very good with punctuality in the current 4-week period over 95% across our network. Everything went smoothly last week as schools re-opened and more people returned to work. We were already running a full service everywhere except the intercity service, where most services are running, and the Stansted Express, where an extra 8 services a day were added to the current half hourly service from Monday 7 September. We’ll maintain our daily monitoring to enable us to assess when it’s appropriate to add in the remaining intercity and Stansted Express services. Travelling with confidence Across the rail industry, train operators are encouraging customers to “travel with confidence”, reflecting all the steps taken to provide an excellent service for passengers. The actions in our safer travel pledge, which are focused on providing more services and capacity, additional cleaning, making it easier to keep your hands clean and providing information to help you travel safely, are all being delivered. We’ve outlined a number of the extra steps we’ve been taking here at Greater Anglia in support of this commitment in previous updates over the last few months. Just a helpful reminder that it is mandatory for customers to wear a face covering when using public transport, in stations as well as on trains, to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. Children under the age of 11 and people with a disability or medical condition which means they cannot wear a face covering are exempt from wearing them. The vast majority of people are complying with the requirements, but the British Transport Police do have the power to impose fines of £100 for non-compliance, if necessary. We have invested in additional cleaning measures – including more train cleaners, new PacVac equipment for turnaround train cleaning during the day and special testing equipment to carry out random hygiene tests on trains (to help us raise standards even further) – as well as cleaning every single carriage with fogging guns (which disinfect all surfaces, including seats, arm rests, grab handles and windows) to supplement the extra cleaning already being implemented in these high contact areas. We’re also carrying out extra cleaning at stations, where the fogging guns come in handy for larger indoor areas, such as waiting rooms. It’s still important to observe social distancing. We’ve introduced a wide range of measures to make it easier for customers to do so at stations and on trains – including floor markings, one-way systems, new signs and queuing systems. We’re looking forward to seeing more and more people taking the train again in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks again to everyone across Greater Anglia for delivering a very good service to our customers and communities across East Anglia, with valuable support from colleagues at Network Rail, Siemens, Stadler, Bombardier and our other rail industry partners
Five stations on the Greater Anglia network have become part of a national study aimed at measuring air quality on the railway. Monitoring commenced at Cambridge, Ely, Ipswich, Norwich and Stansted Airport stations this week and will join 100 other stations across the country in contributing to the Stations Air Quality Monitoring Network, organised by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) and funded by the Department of Transport. It is intended that the study will provide information on the current state of air quality in stations across the rail network and provide location specific air quality data which will help to inform the public about air quality at train stations. The study will help to determine baseline air quality levels, which can then be used to prioritise improvements if necessary, and will also assess how effective measures are to minimise pollution and improve air quality at train stations. ‘Diffusion tubes’ will be placed around each station to measure the levels of the pollutant nitrogen oxide. The use of diffusion tubes to monitor ambient air quality is a well-established way to determine long-term pollution concentration levels. The tubes will be placed at different areas around the station and will be changed each month and analysed over a two year period, with a review after the first year. Greater Anglia’s Energy and Environment Manager, Steph Evans, said, “I’m pleased that Greater Anglia is involved in this study and that we will be able to gain a greater understanding of air quality at some of our stations so that we can ensure they are clean, healthy places to wait. “Thanks to our new bi-mode trains, we are already improving air quality at our stations because these trains can switch from diesel to electric power when they are waiting at a station if overhead wires are available. This means they do not have to idle their engines in order to keep the lights and heating on, as they can take power from the station’s overhead power lines instead. “The Stations Air Quality Monitoring Network is the first of its kind for GB rail and we look forward to seeing the RSSB’s report and baseline data to find out how we are performing and if there is anything we can do to improve air quality.” Aside from walking and cycling, travelling by train is the most environmentally friendly form of transport and any findings from this study will help the rail industry to understand whether any improvements can be made to reduce the environmental impact of rail travel even further, as well as how other factors, such as bus and taxi traffic outside of the station which could contribute to air pollution. Greater Anglia recently joined with Network Rail and the region’s Community Rail Partnerships to improve air quality at towns and villages across its network by asking car drivers to switch off their engines when waiting at level crossings. Last year, Greater Anglia reduced its total carbon emissions by 11%, for scope 1 and 2 emissions, for the second year running and, thanks to new energy management systems installed at stations, recently saved more than 1000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from being emitted into the atmosphere. RSSB Air Quality Specialist, Philbert Chan said: “We have to ensure air quality is at an acceptable level to protect passenger and workers health. “This is the first large-scale organised air quality monitoring campaign on the railway network, using state-of-the-art equipment, to ensure data obtained is as robust and reliable as possible. “RSSB’s analysis of the data collected will provide valuable information on air pollution, at stations across the country, allowing action to be taken to improve air quality where necessary.”
This Christmas, visit the historic city of Norwich and indulge in a luxury stay at Barnham Broom. Although just a few miles from the centre of the medieval city of Norwich, Barnham Broom is perfectly secluded in the beautiful Norfolk countryside; the perfect backdrop for a spot of festive escapism! Barnham Broom is a luxury resort with two immaculate golf courses, indulgent spa, health and fitness club, outstanding dining and a tranquil and relaxed atmosphere. With everything you need to unwind and get away from it all this Christmas, allow our team to take care of you and take all the stress out of the season, giving you plenty of opportunity to relax during this specially-curated four night stay. You can expect to feel thoroughly pampered this Christmas with our indulgent four night break. Here is a flavour of what you can expect from this very special stay in Norfolk. Your stay includes a 25 minute treatment in our tranquil Spa, use of the facilities at The Edge Health & Fitness Club including gym, swimming pool, bubble pool, sauna, steam room, table tennis and squash courts. There will also be a range of activities to enjoy during your break including archery, yoga classes, wine tasting and a race night.
Book a 2022 strategy meeting at Barnham Broom.The New Year is the perfect time to discuss business needs, get together with colleagues and plan for the year ahead. Set in the heart of the Norfolk countryside and situated on the outskirts of Norwich, Barnham Broom is a prestigious venue which offers a safe and secure environment. With ample amounts of onsite parking, spacious meeting rooms and grounds and the option for guests to enjoy an overnight stay, round of golf or Spa treatment in addition to their visit, Barnham Broom is the perfect location to come together. Barnham Broom’s meeting spaces and high-class service help to stimulate fresh ideas and encourage productivity. The recently refurbished Barford suite boasts a terrace opening out onto the extensive grounds and has private facilities and a bar. The Kimberley suite on the first floor offers a balcony overlooking the golf courses. Rooms can be partitioned and there are also two smaller event suites for more intimate meetings and events. Dine with delegates in the exceptional Brasserie or enjoy afternoon tea or drinks in the Brasserie Lounge. Take a look at Barnham Broom’s fully-inclusive Signature Meetings Package, designed to incorporate all the needs of delegates from the outset and maintain energy levels and productivity throughout the day: Find out more here.
Nominate by 13 December Our Business Awards are back and we’re celebrating achievement, innovation and diversity shown by businesses in Broadland and South Norfolk. Nominate your business for one or more of our 10 awards; we have added five new categories to recognise the challenges of the past 18 months, including Outstanding Employer, Business Resilience, Working Together, Business Innovation and Business in the Community. We also have our Retailer of the Year award open for public nomination. If you have a favourite independent retailer that goes the extra mile nominate them today and you could win £100 of shopping vouchers. If you’re a retailer, make sure you request a marketing pack to encourage your customers to nominate you. With the support of our headline sponsor Fosters Solicitors, we will showcase the best of Broadland and South Norfolk’s talent at an awards ceremony on 23 March 2022 at Norwich City Football Club. Click here for the award categories and to enter.
OPEN DAY INVITATION Wednesday 8 December Slots at 10-11am, 12-1pm, 3-4pm & 6-7pm You are invited to attend the Open Day of the new Construction Curriculum in the recently renovated Construction Workshop at Wensum Lodge. There will be a chance to meet the Curriculum Manager and find out about the programme. RSVP To book your slot, please email Olivia Bradley. Numbers are limited and are allocated on a first come first-served basis. Please bring a face covering with you as covid precautions are in place and we ask all visitors to respect social distancing requirements.
Build your skills with practical courses Carpentry and Joinery Bricklaying Painting and Decorating Plastering Tiling Find out more about a career in construction – Pathway into Construction – Featuring CV, employability, and guest speaker workshops in partnership with local industry experts. These free accessible 6-week introductory courses offer you the chance to learn a trade or explore a career in the construction industry. Come and learn the basics, whether you are considering a career or want to make some home improvements; these courses will get you started. To book: www.norfolk.gov.uk/construction 0344 800 8020 option 5
Here’s the latest update from Greater Anglia (GA), with information on performance; travel advice; train times over the Festive period and our new trains programme. Performance It’s been another very good week for performance, with punctuality averaging 95.0% across our network – keeping up the excellent track record of 2021 as a whole. It’s been a record-breaking year for performance, thanks to the dedication, focus and commitment of our teams and colleagues at Network Rail, Stadler, Alstom and our other rail industry partners. We’re fully focused on maintaining these high standards in 2022. Travel advice (face coverings now mandatory on stations and trains again, unless exempt) There have been no changes to travel advice this week. As previously advised, the wearing of face coverings on stations and trains is mandatory again, as part of the drive to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the light of the new omicron variant. Whilst the government has advised people to work from home where practical, there have been no associated adjustments to specific rail travel guidance. All train operators are operating in line with new government requirements. Customers therefore must wear face coverings on busy stations and on busy trains (unless they are exempt) and failure to do so may result in a fine (initially of £200, but potentially up to £6400 for repeated non-compliance). Our experience is that compliance with the new rules is generally very high and we will continue to remind customers of the current position through information at stations, on trains, in announcements, via social media and on line. Full details of the current coronavirus advice and guidance are available on the government website. Please note that face coverings also remain mandatory on public transport in London, in Wales and in Scotland. Across the entire rail network customers travelling by train can travel with confidence, knowing that we are taking all the appropriate steps to make their journey safe, clean and straight forward. We remain fully focused on maintaining an excellent standard of service for everyone taking the train. Our actions are in line with our safer travel pledge, which includes providing appropriate services and capacity, additional cleaning, making it easier to keep your hands clean and providing information to help you travel safely. There is still plenty of space on the vast majority of services but, as previously highlighted, at busier times we are encouraging customers to use the full capacity of the train, as most of the services which might be busy in one or two carriages have more space further down the train. Some routes, especially at peak times, may also have convenient alternative services with more capacity available, either not long before or not long after the train you were originally planning. On our website we have our less busy trains tool, which we’ve recently revised and updated to make it even more user-friendly, which lists services with fewer passengers (https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/travel-information/less-busy-trains). If you can be flexible, you can then adjust your journey accordingly, if that works for you. We continue to monitor to all services on a daily basis and review service frequency and capacity on the basis of the emerging trends, in line with the prevailing government guidance. The government is also encouraging everyone who is currently eligible to get their vaccinations or booster jabs. We continue to deliver our additional cleaning measures – including more train cleaners, new PacVac equipment for turnaround train cleaning during the day and special testing equipment to carry out random hygiene tests on trains (to help us raise standards even further) – as well as cleaning every single carriage with fogging guns (which disinfect all surfaces, including seats, arm rests, grab handles and windows) to supplement the extra cleaning already being implemented in these high contact areas. We also continue to carry out our random checks for coronavirus on our trains and our extra cleaning measures at stations, where the fogging guns come in handy for larger indoor areas, such as waiting rooms. Festive period train service alterations As we outlined on Monday, we have made some temporary timetable changes to reflect the impact of the rise in coronavirus cases, the linked reduction in demand, the changed demand over the Festive period and our commitment to provide a consistent service for customers, despite the impact of more members of our team being off due to Covid. We are also now entering the main holiday period when, as usual, there are service alterations due to revised travel and working patterns, along with the impact of major engineering work projects. The details are all on the website, but the headlines are as follows : Christmas Eve : Trains finish earlier in the evening than normal Christmas Day : No train services operate Boxing Day : The only GA train service operating is a half hourly Stansted Express service between Tottenham Hale and Stansted Airport 27/28 December : Sunday-style service, but with major engineering work between Colchester and Shenfield (and on the Braintree and Sudbury branches) and also in the Stratford area affecting services from Bishops Stortford, Hertford East and Meridian Water to Stratford 29-31 December : Saturday-style service in operation 1 January : Saturday-style service, but with major engineering work between Audley End and Cambridge and also in the Stratford area affecting services from Bishops Stortford, Hertford East and Meridian Water to Stratford 2-3 January : Sunday-style service, but with major engineering work in the Stratford area affecting services from Bishops Stortford, Hertford East and Meridian Water to Stratford 4 January onwards : Amended weekday service in line with the service we’ve been running this week As ever, all details are provided on line, so if you are planning to travel over this period, please check your train times in advance. New trains We’ve now accepted 44 of our new Alstom suburban trains (see picture) for passenger service, meaning we now have almost a third of those trains in traffic. That means that, combined with the 58 new Stadler trains (38 regional bi-mode trains, 10 intercity electric trains and 10 Stansted Express electric trains) already in operation, we now have 102 new trains in service, of the 191 we are receiving to completely replace all our older trains. Our new train fleet has already clocked up over 15 million miles in service, delivering a transformed service for customers on many of our routes, with key benefits such as more seats, a more comfortable travelling environment, air conditioning, wifi, plug and USB points, better lighting and much improved accessibility features. They are also contributing to our best-ever performance levels, providing quicker acceleration and braking and greater resilience, as well as enabling other service upgrades, such as the direct Norwich to Stansted Airport service and more Sunday services on some local routes. Customer and stakeholder feedback continues to be extremely positive and we look forward to more and more of our new trains entering service in 2022. And finally….. Thanks, as ever, to colleagues across Greater Anglia for again providing a very good service for our customers and communities across East Anglia, with the usual valuable support from colleagues at Network Rail, Stadler, Alstom and our other rail industry partners. Thanks also to you for all your support and engagement over the past 12 months. With very best wishes for the Festive Season and for 2022 !