Above: Greater Anglia train. Credit: Greater Anglia Passengers are being advised to avoid travelling with Greater Anglia, and to check before they do travel, if they do need to make a rail journey on 1 and 3 February, when strike action will affect train services. Members of the train drivers’ union ASLEF and train drivers who are members of the RMT union, who work for Greater Anglia are striking on Wednesday 1 and Friday 3 February. Greater Anglia services will be severely disrupted, with the company only able to run a fraction of its services and no services at all running on regional or branch lines. The only services running will be a much-reduced service for limited hours between Norwich and London Liverpool Street, Colchester and London, Southend Victoria and London, and Stansted Airport and London. The company is therefore advising people to avoid travelling on its trains on strike days, as services will be severely disrupted. Revised timetables will be published on Greater Anglia’s website as soon as they are available, along with first and last train times, but the service is expected to operate as follows on the strike days:
Much-reduced train service between Norwich and London Liverpool Street; Colchester and London Liverpool Street; and between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street
Much-reduced Stansted Express services between Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street
Trains that do run are expected to start from 7.30am onwards, operating only to an hourly frequency, with all last trains then completing their journeys earlier than usual (by mid-late evening)
No services running on other lines, including between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street or on regional/branch lines
There will be no rail replacement buses to replace trains not running due to the strike. First services on Thursday 2 and Saturday 4 February will also start later than usual due to the strikes and Greater Anglia advises that its network won’t be back to normal full service on 2 and 4 February until the early afternoon. Other train operators are also affected by the strike action. Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director said: “We are very sorry that once again our customers will be disrupted by strikes. We’re only able to run a fraction of our usual services, so our advice again is to avoid using our trains on strike days. The rail industry is working hard to resolve these disputes and talks will continue with ASLEF and RMT to reach an agreement.” Anyone who has pre-booked tickets to travel on strike days can change them, use them to travel on either the day before or up to two days later, or apply for a refund by going back to their original retailer. Passenger assistance will be available as usual for all trains which are running. Anyone requiring assistance who cannot avoid travelling by train on strike days should plan their journey and book assistance in advance if possible. Further information is available from greateranglia.co.uk/strikes and the company’s social media, which will be updated as details are finalised. Other train companies affected by strikes on all days are Avanti West Coast, c2c, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, GTR (including Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink), LNER, Northern Trains, Southeastern, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
This is a final call to apply for a grant of between £1,000 and £25,000 to invest in production, equipment and expansion before the Small Grant Scheme managed by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) comes to an end. Ringing in the new year, it coincides with the approval of the scheme’s 500th award. Since 2014, the LEP has awarded £5 million to firms supporting local development and growth and this has been matched with £21 million private investments. The Small Grant Scheme can now cover up to 40% of your business’s total project costs and all applications must be made by the end of January. “We’re inviting small to medium-sized businesses to contact New Anglia Growth Hub if they have a project in the pipeline to grow their company,” says the LEP’s Programmes Manager Jason Middleton. The scheme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, with support for interested businesses provided by New Anglia Growth Hub. A team of Business Advisers can help develop your application. For further information, contact New Anglia Growth Hub direct on 0300 333 6536 or email info@newangliagrowthhub.co.uk. Start 2023 by investing in your business and making a leap in development. 500 success stories Vital funding for growing small to medium-sized businesses has made a huge difference, enabling them to drive up production, buy essential equipment, and move into bigger and better premises. Among the Small Grant Scheme success stories is Suffolk Distillery, which scaled up its craft sprits production from 25 to 500 bottles a week using a new still and ancillary equipment. Master distiller and chemist Gary Wilkinson (pictured below) pursued his passion of having his own distillery after a long career as operations manager driving thousands of miles a year for a large distillery. He and his wife Melanie launched the business in 2016 from their garage with production in full swing in 2017. Asked where the business would be today without the LEP grant, he replies: “We would still be in my garage. But also, without the help of Melanie, who is a director, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this.” Trailblazing Norfolk firm SSAF Window Films, which developed the first specialised film that reduces bomb blast and bullet impact, is thriving after a grant injection to upgrade its office technology and buy an industrial printer. Managing Director Steve Ashton found the grant application straightforward and the business advisers at New Anglia Growth Hub supportive. He highly recommends the scheme to other businesses. “If we hadn’t secured the grant, we would have had to potentially close temporarily during Covid.” Sales and Marketing Manager, Olivia Watts, adds: “With the grant, we have installed a new ICT system, including PCs and handheld devices. I can now take a handheld to potential customers and immediately show them examples.” This short video shows a few examples of the types of investment businesses made with Small Grant Scheme and Growth Through Innovation Fund support. For more information, contact New Anglia Growth Hub direct on 0300 333 6536 or email info@newangliagrowthhub.co.uk.
We are delighted that Credo’s owners the STAR Asset Finance Group have been shortlisted in the 2023 Business Moneyfacts Awards in the following category – Asset Finance Broker of the Year This is a National Award and one that every Asset Finance broker wants to win! Credo was delighted to win this in 2021, and this was down to all the amazing testimonials that were sent in from many valued clients and our fellow Chamber members. The results are due to be announced at a gala dinner on Thursday 20 April 2023 at Evolution London and we would love to win again and put Norwich on the map! But we need your help again! As part of the decision process, the Moneyfacts Group allow us to ask our own contacts to submit testimonials via an online page. So, if you have received good service from us now or in the past, then please click on the link below and leave a testimonial, we would be so grateful. Asset Finance Broker of the Year – click here Thank you from everyone in the Credo Team
Teknomek are looking for a Technical Sales Engineer – could that be you? Main purpose of role: This role will be a key point of contact for our customers, to answer their product queries, provide technical advice, demonstrate the use of our products and services, in particular to utilise software to create and provide room layout of our products as part of our new design service. As Technical Sales Engineer you are responsible for selling technical products and services on behalf of Teknomek. You will work alongside our Customer Service team with a selection of Key Customers to build effective long-lasting relationships. Your duties include arranging customer meetings, creating and presenting technical product and layout designs to customers, building quotes, providing standard and bespoke product solutions to our customers, and providing after sales support. Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities: • Utilising Glenigan Sales Lead portal, Inhouse CRM database and Marketing leads to contact customers, generating sales opportunities. • Meeting with customers (Site Surveys) to ascertain the intended functions and appearance of each space and their product requirements. • Providing information, anticipating, and informing clients of additional features and products which may be of use to them and provide them with the best hygienic solutions for their environment. • Suggesting appropriate materials and finishes in line with the sector (Food manufacturing, cleanrooms, and Labs). • Observing prescribed building and safety regulations and the working environment (The placement of water and electrical systems to ensure safety etc..). • Generating Quotes and creating a plan which details the layout and appearance of all installations and loose furniture. • Pipeline Management, progressing all prospects with exemplary follow up from negotiation to order. • In due course supervising the work of independent contractors, so that their duties are conducted in accordance with customers’ requirements. Decision-Making Authority: Schedule of Authority to be defined at role start % Travel required/estimated: 70% (Customers in the UK & EU, training plus any trips required as part of the business and roles development) Personal Specification Educational Qualifications Required: • Graduate standard or equivalent vocational qualifications/experience • Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in interior design; an art or design background could also be useful or a Production Engineering background. • To be able to demostrate they have a understanding of materials, mathematics and engineering principles. Key Skills Required: • Must have at least 3 years experience within a Sales orientated role. • Suited to someone with a Kitchen Design Background • Must have had previous work experience in CAD engineering and/or room layout designs software to a high standard. • Excellent communication and relationship building skills with attention to detail. • Sharp, creative eye; good listening skills, drafting, and layout skills; ability to use computer software, laser scanners, and architect scales; knowledge of buildings and industry trends; administrative skills. • They must have strong Engineering analytical capabilities and the ability to make decisions that support quality, productivity and design viability which subsequently delivers the customer requirement. • Demonstrable ability to solve problems, and create meaningful solutions based on data. • Ability to empathise and exchange ideas with all team members and customers, accurately understanding and translating needs clearly and concisely then working as part of a team to deliver on the various tasks effectively. • Listening to input, disseminating complex information, discussing updates and information as well as contributing to meetings. • Constantly challenging yourself in understanding productive room design and flow. Key Personal Qualities Required: • Dynamic Sales professional with high levels of curiosity and a sense of urgency. • Must be able to gain customer trust leading them in an engaging, knowlegable, helpful manner to a solution. • A person of high integrity, consistent in their work, and who has clear and visible set of values. • To remain calm under pressure, confident to work alone i.e. competent to identify what information is needed, how to obtain it and effectively summarise their recommendations. • Adaptable, having the ability to remain flexible and open to change and growth within the business and the role. • Excellent work ethic with a neccessity to be future-oriented Additional Information: • Full Time – Salary based on experience + commission structure • 25 days holiday per year (excluding Bank Holidays) • Office Base https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/753746333/
Could your adopted cat, dog or exotic pet be the new star of our Adoption Packs?! We are looking for the face of our next series of adoption packs which are given out with every animal that finds its forever home through our Branch. There are three categories: cats, dogs and exotics (rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, reptiles etc.) and the competition is open to anyone who has adopted their pet from us. All you have to do to enter is send us your favourite photo of your pet looking picture perfect to woof@rspcanorwich.org by Friday 27th January 2023 Enter and your pet could be the next star of our adoption packs and receive a Pets at Home voucher! Enter here Sign up to our newsletter here
Norfolk’s £612.9 million county deal, to bring more powers and funding to Norfolk, will be considered by county councillors next week (January 17th). Norfolk’s full county council meets at 10am on Tuesday, January 17th to discuss the in-principle deal that was reached with the Government last month, before the council’s cabinet decides whether to proceed with the deal, later the same day. County council leader Councillor Andrew Proctor, who signed the in-principle deal with the Government last month, said: “Norfolk is well positioned to gain additional powers and money to improve people’s lives, thanks to the County Deal we have agreed in principle with the Government. “The aim is for decisions and funding previously controlled in Westminster to be agreed in Norfolk, for Norfolk. “Striking a deal will help us to boost our economy through more jobs, training, housing and development, to improve our transport network and to support our environment. “Getting to this point shows that the Government sees Norfolk as a can-do county. I’m confident that we can make a success of this and that more powers and funding would follow.” If cabinet decides to proceed, a six week public consultation on the deal will be launched on February 6th. The report to both meetings says: “Devolution offers a generational opportunity to unlock significant long-term funding and gain greater freedom to decide how best to meet local needs and create new opportunities for the people who live and work in Norfolk. Some decisions and funding previously controlled in Westminster will now be decided by Norfolk, for Norfolk. “If the devolution deal is agreed, it will provide Norfolk with new powers, devolved funding and additional investment of £612.9m over the next 30 years to help us to boost our economy through jobs, training and development, improve our transport network and support our environment.” The report recommends that full council considers the full text of the in-principle deal and note that proceeding with the deal is a decision for cabinet. If cabinet agrees to proceed with the deal, when it meets after full council, public consultation will take place in February and full council will consider the change to an elected council leader, in or around December. For further details on the county deal, including the full text, see www.norfolk.gov.uk/norfolkcountydeal . You can watch the full council meeting, live or afterwards, from 10am on Tuesday, January 17th onwards at https://norfolkcc.cmis.uk.com/norfolkcc/CalendarofMeetings/tabid/128/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/496/Meeting/2088/Committee/2/SelectedTab/Documents/Default.aspx . You can watch the cabinet meeting, live or afterwards, after full council at https://norfolkcc.cmis.uk.com/norfolkcc/CalendarofMeetings/tabid/128/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/496/Meeting/2089/Committee/169/SelectedTab/Documents/Default.aspx . Background: According to the report, the deal would mean that, from 2024 onwards, the county council could:
target funding and resources to Norfolk’s own priorities, with a new investment fund of £20m per year for 30 years
unlock housing and employment sites with an injection of £12.9m capital funding in this Spending Review period and new powers to drive regeneration, housing and development priorities
invest in the skills we know we need, with devolution of the adult education budget and input into the new Local Skills Improvement Plans
invest in local transport planning and consolidate transport budgets to direct funding to better meet our local needs and priorities
strengthen the local business voice to inform local decision making and strategic economic planning through the future integration of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership
have a council leader who is directly elected by the public, with the first election in May 2024
raise our influence regionally and nationally, enabling our voice to be better heard by Government to shape future policies and funding decisions for the benefit of our County
TRUSTEES St Edmunds Society, a Charitable Incorporated organisation (CIO) in Norfolk of more than fifty years standing, is looking for new trustees – particularly those able to offer experience of safeguarding and who could offer a strong personal commitment to the Charity’s aims and objectives. As an alternative provider within the education arena St Eds offers an exciting and diverse range of vocational training courses aimed at young people who have often felt challenged or out of place in a mainstream educational environment and may have their own particular and complex needs. It is a charity with exciting plans for the future. You would bring your skills and energy to the charity. Trustees meet six times a year to set and monitor budgets, set the development plan and review progress against it, and consider reports from those responsible for delivery of services. Trustees with particular knowledge and expertise may also directly support operational staff in delivering the charity’s services to the young people who desperately need it. If you are interested and have some time to spare for a wonderful cause please do get in touch for an informal chat with David Fullman, Chair of Trustees at email: admin@st-eds.org.uk or telephone 01603 622035 See – www.st-eds.org.
Despite marginal upticks in December, BDO’s Output and Optimism Indices remained well below historic levels as a result of rising inflation and supply chain pressures
The Employment Index approached a one-year low as businesses responded to the threat of a recession by reining in hiring intentions, which reached a two-year low
Inflation remains at its highest level since the early 1980s despite a second-consecutive decline in the Inflation Index
Low confidence and productivity among UK businesses continue to drive historic falls in hiring intentions, despite marginal improvements in December, according to the latest Business Trends report from accounting and business advisory firm BDO. BDO’s Output Index increased by 0.08 points last month to 91.65, driven by a marginal uptick in productivity in the services sector. However, the index sits firmly below the 95-point mark overall, regarded as the watershed between growth and contraction, and December marked the index’s second weakest reading since March 2021 when the UK population was still facing COVID-19 restrictions. The continued contraction in output growth – which stems back to July – was driven, in part, by a one-point decline to 93.77 in the Manufacturing Output Index, as global supply chain challenges – such as high energy prices, input material shortages and ongoing geopolitical events – put downward pressure on firms’ output. BDO’s Optimism Index mirrored the slight increase seen in the Output Index, rising by 0.25 points to 91.89, which remains firmly in contractionary territory. This reflects the ongoing pessimism among the services sector fuelled by weakened output and a 9-month decline in the Manufacturing Optimism sub-index amid supply-side pressures. December saw BDO’s Employment Index fall by 0.86 points to 110.99, its weakest reading since January 2022, as businesses respond to waning optimism and productivity growth. Fears of a recession and ongoing macroeconomic headwinds have eroded positive hiring intentions, which now stand at their weakest level since Q4 2020 when the economy faced a new wave of lockdown restrictions caused by the alpha variant of COVID-19. The Inflation Index recorded a second consecutive monthly decline, falling to 117.91. The 0.52-point drop suggests the index has approached a turning point, as it stands at its lowest level since June 2022. Despite this fall, inflation remains at highs not seen since the 1980s, when the lingering effects of oil price turmoil and mass industrial action from the previous decade were driving steep increases in inflation. Peter Harrup, partner and head of East Anglia at BDO LLP, said: “Although output and confidence levels grew slightly in December, the marginal upticks will do little to calm the nerves of UK businesses. Inflation and supply chain pressures are clearly being felt across the board, as employers pause recruitment plans and consider redundancies to manage rising costs. “With an expected recession increasing pressure on the UK economy, firms will be looking for the right support from the Government as it works to encourage growth and confidence in the run-up to the Spring Budget.” Image credits – BDO LLP
LastPass Advice Are you aware of the recent LastPass security incident? That your password “vault” may have been in the hand of attackers? Have you seen some of the news but aren’t quite clear on what it all means, or importantly, what you should do now? Are you looking for some clear advice? Read on. If you’re reading this article, I’m sure you’re aware of the recent LastPass data breach. In addition to the information publicly released around this incident from LastPass themselves, there is some really good additional information available based on analysis from a number of security experts, many of whom have a detailed understanding of encryption, as well as the specific architecture and process is used by LastPass. A number of these security professionals have also conducted their own testing and documented their findings. A lot of this information is very technical in nature. This article seeks to utilise the information available to provide concerned LastPass customers with some practical, balanced guidance on what you can do to minimise the risks associated with this incident. If you want to understand the finer detail around what feeds into this advice, I’ll reference and credit the relevant sources at the end of this article. The purpose of this article is not to pass comment or judgement on the LastPass product, processes or how they have dealt with the incident, or to recommend alternative products which may or may not be better (there’s always multiple factors to consider here). The over-riding aim is to clearly present the potential risks associated with this incident and to provide you with some easy-to-follow advice on how to analyse your level of risk, and sensible next steps to take. The official line from LastPass So firstly, let’s recap briefly what’s happened, as per the information released by LastPass:
In August 2022, LastPass advised that an unauthorised party gained access to some parts of a development environment and extracted some code and technical information. At this point, LastPass indicated that they could see no evidence of access to any customer data or password vaults
In September 2022, LastPass issued an update on the above incident following conclusion of their investigations, and again stated that they saw no evidence of access to customer data or encrypted password vaults
At the end of November 2022, LastPass issued a new communication informing customers that using information obtained in the earlier incident, an unauthorised party was able to gain access to “certain elements” of customers information
On 22nd of December 2022, LastPass issued an update to the above communication. In this communication, they stated that they had determined that the unauthorised party was able to obtain a backup of customer vault data. This communication contained a great deal more information than the previous statements by LastPass.
You can read all of the communications from LastPass outlined above in the LastPass blog, here: Key points to know about the LastPass Incident Based on reviewing and interpreting all of that, along with detailed analysis from other sources, here’s a few key things to know.
LastPass haven’t specifically stated whether all customer LastPass vaults have been compromised or whether a subset of customers vaults were affected. We have to therefore assume that is all of them.
The data that has been compromised is referred to by LastPass as “password vaults”. Vaults contain a whole host of information. Usernames and passwords, along with some other data is encrypted, however not all of the data within these vaults is encrypted.
The data that is not encrypted, which includes information such as URL’s for websites you visit, can be used straight away to determine which sites and apps you use, and what you have passwords stored for in your vault
The data which IS encrypted may be temporarily or permanently inaccessible to the attackers. Their ability to decrypt this, and how quickly they might be able to do so depends on a number of factors, a critical one being the strength of your Master Password at the time the vault data was obtained
The attackers have an offline copy of the data that’s been compromised. This means a few things:
Changing your LastPass password now will not affect their ability to access the information that they’ve obtained (although it does prevent them accessing your data online in the future)
You, and LastPass have no control over the data that’s been extracted
The attackers have as long as they need to utilise the unencrypted data, and decrypt the encrypted data
Whether or not you have Multifactor Authentication setup for your LastPass account (and you absolutely should have) actually makes no difference to the ability to use the offline data. It does however limit the ability to access your data online if the password is obtained.
How at risk am I from the LastPass incident? As with most security tools, the overall level of security they provide is a combination of the tool itself, and the decision you make. If anything demonstrates that point, this incident does. The level of risk therefore is different for each LastPass user. The key questions you need to consider are (answer these as of August, i.e. the point the data was obtained):
How strong is your Master Password?
Have you used your Master Password for anything else?
Is your Master Password similar to other passwords you might have (e.g. do you have a word which you commonly use as part of your password with slight variations across different accounts)?
The questions above all have a bearing on how long it might take to obtain your Master Password (using various different methods) and use it to decrypt your data. Then you need to consider the data itself stored within your vault. This is mainly sites/apps along with their usernames and passwords, but could also include bank account and card details, notes, PIN numbers, names, addresses, personal/sensitive information that you stored in LastPass to “keep safe”. Key questions here are:
Are the site passwords stored within my vault strong, unique passwords, or are there weak and/or reused passwords?
Which sites/apps stored in my LastPass vault have MFA configured and which do not?
What sensitive data (apart from usernames/passwords) do I have stored in LastPass and what could an attacker do with it?
As you can see, there a number of questions to ask yourself which will help determine how at risk you are. This list is not exhaustive. You can probably determine largely how these fit together. For example: If your Master Password is the same as you use on other sites, and is weak, and you don’t have MFA on your Gmail account (with the password stored in LastPass) – HIGH RISK Strong, unique Master Password, no weak of reused passwords in the vault, MFA setup on anything containing important data – LOWER RISK You get the idea, but there are a lot of inter-relating factors to consider. Action Plan & Priorities So, this is the piece that you’re probably here for – what do I need to do and in what order – what are the priorities? This will vary depending on your risk, so I’ve tried to create a list which helps you both assess the risk and act accordingly. I’m not going to attempt to explain in detail the rationale behind the order, but if enough people are interested, I may do a follow up video to explain it. View the process on slideshow 1 Note that this process has been written specifically for stored passwords. For other items such as secure notes, follow the same priority order depending on what information was contained in the notes. If you stored bank card information such as PIN numbers or CVV codes, particularly if you did not have a strong Master Password, it would be wise to change PIN’s or order new cards (in the case of CVV codes). Additional actions
Be extremely vigilant and on the lookout for phishing emails for ANY accounts that you had stored in LastPass. This is because URL’s (website addresses) of the accounts stored in your vault were NOT encrypted. Over the coming weeks and months, it is highly likely that targeted phishing attempts for sites which may well include reference to the LastPass breach or attempts to gain access to your account will be common.
You may wish to consider changing your password manager or changing how you authenticate applications and websites by using Single Sign on or newer passwordless technologies. If you do decide to move to a different password manager, do your research and/or take some advice on this – don’t just move to “another” password manager as it may or may not be better for you depending on a whole bunch of factors.
When implementing MFA, consider more secure mechanisms such as hardware tokens
If you are using websites or apps that don’t support MFA, consider how seriously these providers take the security of your data, and whether you should continue using them
If you have One Time or recovery passwords setup for accounts in order to gain access if you forget your password or lost access to your MFA token, I would advise updating these when you change your passwords
Remove any accounts/password that you are no longer using (make sure your accounts for the sites are de-activated and data deleted)
Educate yourself further. No matter how much we might know about security, we can always learn more, and things change constantly. There are lots of resources out there, and lots of people and organisations who can help, much of it free. Visit the National Cyber Security Centre website. Join your local Cyber Resilience Centre. Reach out to a security professional. Above all, take responsibility. You can’t just leave it to someone else – however “secure” their solution might appear to be on the surface – as this incident has highlighted.
This initiative is all about exploring how managers and leaders in UK firms reach those difficult choices about what is fair, what is appropriate, who has responsibility for what, when it comes to improving workplace wellbeing. The research funding ends on 31st January, but we would still love to hear more people’s views before that date. We are going to base a series of PrOPEL Hub articles on this work and the richer it is (the more sectors covered), the more those will be relevant to Norfolk businesses. We are speaking with a wide range of #managers and #leaders to explore how different people perceive workplace #wellbeing initiatives and make decisions about what is appropriate. Please add your voice! The interview will take place via phone or video call at a mutually convenient time. Participation is completely voluntary and will take between 45 mins and 1 hour. A full information sheet and consent form will be sent to you before the interview. Next steps: – If you are happy to take part, please contact myself or my colleague Andrea ( andrea.james@uea.ac.uk ) with your name, role in a UK organisation and an indication of a few different times you might be available for a video / phone call before the end of January 2023. Andrea will get back to you to book in a meeting. – If you have further questions, please email either Andrea or myself and arrange for an informal chat with one of our research team before committing to any interview. Take the Survey here
The Petplan Animal Charity Awards are a great opportunity to recognise the hard work and dedication put in by the teams and the individuals within the animal charity sector who have gone that extra mile to help rescue and rehome animals in need. Everyone is eligible to vote and you can choose to vote for:
an Animal Charity Team
an Animal Charity Employee
an Animal Charity Volunteer
…or all of the above!
2022 was our best year yet as we helped to rehome 627 animals and provided support for thousands of pet owners across Mid Norfolk and North Suffolk. If one of our team helped you or your furry, finned, feathered or scaly friend this year, we’d be so grateful for your nomination. But hurry, nominations close on 10th January Nominate here Signup to our newsletter here