Jun132017

News story: UK digital health sector sets up wins in Brazil at Hospitalar

HM Government
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In May Healthcare UK and NHS Digital helped build new relationships and trade openings in Brazil when they jointly led an 8 company mission to Sao Paulo to take part in Hospitalar, the biggest healthcare trade event in Latin America.

Following the event, a number of contract negotiations are currently close to completion. Hospitalar 2017 had a strong focus on digital health, and the 8 companies in the UK mission were selected for their strength in this highly innovative, competitive and fast-moving area:

Brazil’s healthcare market growth driven by digital

With the largest healthcare market in Latin America, and seventh largest in the world, Brazil is one of Healthcare UK’s priority markets. Despite the recent economic downturn, the market for healthcare imports is predicted to grow, reaching £52 billion by 2020.

As is the case around the world, demographic changes are driving demand for digital healthcare solutions in the Brazilian market. As the population becomes older and non-communicable diseases continue to rise, it is becoming increasingly urgent for Brazil to identify smarter investments to provide health services to the population.

The Brazilian constitution ensures that everyone must have access to healthcare, and digital and e-health systems are seen to a key way to achieve this without increasing cost.

UK healthcare exhibitors make an impact in Brazil

Headed up by Healthcare UK’s Managing Director, Deborah Kobewka and NHS Digital’s Director of Digital Transformation, Beverley Bryant, the UK presence made a significant impact at Hospitalar. Six of the UK organisations had speaker sessions on the main stage, helping to generate a strong flow of traffic and meetings on the UK stand.

The party had meetings with Brazilian government leaders and health officials at city, state and national level, visited the leading cardiothoracic hospital in Sao Paulo (InCor) and leading private hospital Sirio Libanes.

Contact us at healthcare.uk@trade.gov.uk for more information about UK digital health services and to discuss support with exporting.

Jun132017

BCC: Inflationary pressures continue to mount for business

British Chambers of Commerce
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BCC’s Head of Economics, Suren Thiru, comments on the inflation statistics out today which show inflation rose to 2.9% in May 2017.

Commenting on the inflation statistics for May 2017, released today by the Office for National Statistics, Suren Thiru, Head of Economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“Inflation rose for the second successive month, confirming that price growth is firmly on an upward trend. The rise in May mostly reflects increasing prices for recreational and cultural goods and services in the month.

“The continued increase in factory gate prices suggests consumer price growth is likely to maintain its current upward trend for some time to come. Significantly, if the current political uncertainty persists, this is likely to increase the downward pressure on sterling’s value, pushing inflation even higher over the next year.

“Higher inflation is a key business concern as it squeezes margins and weakens their ability to invest, particularly during this time of heightened political uncertainty. The BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey confirms that businesses continue to feel the inflationary pressures, with a significant proportion of firms struggling to absorb the rising cost of raw materials and other overheads – a task made more challenging by the myriad of upfront costs imposed on businesses. 

“A key focus of the new government must therefore be on easing the current pressure on firms’ cost base by tackling the burden of upfront costs and taxes associated with doing business in the UK. It is also imperative that the MPC provides monetary stability during this period of political instability by continuing to ‘look through’ the expected increases in inflation and keep interest rates on hold.”

Ends

 

Notes to editors:

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) sits at the heart of a powerful network of 52 Accredited Chambers of Commerce across the UK, representing thousands of businesses of all sizes and within all sectors. Our Global Business Network connects exporters with nearly 40 markets around the world. For more information, visit: www.britishchambers.org.uk

Media contacts:

Allan Williams – Senior Press Manager

020 7654 5812 / 07920583381

Orla Hennessy – Press and Communications Officer

020 7654 5813 / 07825746812

Jun132017

61/2017 : 13 juin 2017 – Arrêt de la Cour de justice dans l’affaire C-591/15

EU
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Jun132017

News story: The UK House Price Index marks one year of publishing

HM Government
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Today marks the first anniversary of publishing the UK House Price Index (UK HPI) that is calculated by HM Land Registry, the Office for National Statistics, Registers of Scotland and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland. This statistic shows the changes to the value of residential properties in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Throughout the year we’ve spoken to users and gathered their feedback. In September 2016, users were formally invited to evaluate the report, these responses are captured in the Summary of responses that is being used to plan index upgrades.

We have made a number of enhancements to the index during the year that is accessed by approximately 1,000 new users each month in addition to more than 6,600 regular users.

Enhancements made since review

In response to your feedback our December 2016 developments included:

  • the provision of more details about our methodology in Calculating the UK HPI

  • navigation improvements, such as a new link to our interactive tool from the UK HPI reports page

  • new links to key sections of the About the UK HPI page, like the revision policy.

In addition February 2017, saw the first publication of our UK House Price Index annual review that compares the historic performance of the index with the UK HPI throughout 2016.

Today’s enhancements

Today’s enhancements are:

  • we extending our revision period to 13 months from today, following a review of our revision policy (see Revisions to the UKI HPI data). This ensures the data used is more comprehensive, improving the capture of new builds.

  • we will also introduce new revision tables for England and Wales within our downloadable data, so that you can easily identify and evaluate the impact of each change. Tables will be available in csv format.

  • new functionality will allow you to toggle between a chart or table, depending on your preference for visual or textual information.

We’ve updated the information in About the UK HPI to keep you informed about the process we’re undertaking to remove our experimental status. These enhancements take us a step closer towards that goal. Once removed, we can progress with our second phase of assessment as a National Statistic.

Planned enhancements

We are committed to the continued improvement of the index and aim to introduce more enhancements over the coming months. In the meantime, thank you for your valuable feedback.To enable even greater engagement we will soon create an online forum to assist ongoing conversations. In the interim, you can contact us if you have any questions.