Member Engagement
the handlers and on a quarterly basis by the CAA to ensure that standards are maintained. The second guest speaker, Mark Sankey from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), gave a short presentation about the services it is able to offer in support of international trade, how to contact it and the resources available through the DBT website www.great.gov.uk Andrew Melton then updated Members on other developments The second meeting was held at the Holiday Inn, Coventry, where Andrew was supported by Denise Hill, BIFA Member engagement director. Members were brought up to date on matters currently being handled by the BIFA Policy and Compliance team and raised at policy group meetings, leading to discussion between Members around some Customs matters, sustainable logistics and the ongoing Red Sea situation. impacting the forwarding community before taking questions and networking. Midlands - South Suzanna Lines of TRS gave a short presentation about the discounted freight forwarding training bootcamps it is able to offer Members in the West Midlands. Brian Mountford from the DBT spoke to the group emphasising that the department is actively supporting exports from the UK and highlighting that the DBT has an ‘Export Academy’ aimed specifically at new-to-export firms with a turnover under £500K. This academy offers a free training programme delivering everything from basic knowledge for new exporters through to sector and market support, all aimed at helping new exporters develop and maintain export business. The DBT support also extends to larger businesses, with a section dedicated to businesses with high export potential. More information can be found on the DBT website www.great.gov.uk
D ue to the size of the region and number of Members, BIFA schedules two meetings in the Midlands giving Members a choice of date and venue. Midlands - North The first summer meeting covered the Midlands North, and was held at the Leonardo Hotel, East Midlands Airport. This was attended by a number of Members from across the region and by David Stroud from the BIFA Policy and Compliance team. David updated those in Shortly before the summer break, Andrew Melton, BIFA regional representative, delivered two Member meetings in the Midlands Meeting Midlands Members “ The DBT Export Academy offers a free training programme attendance on the status of the Heathrow cargo centre redevelopment and matters around aviation security. Continuing on the aviation security theme, the first of our guest speakers was Adrian Davies of Wagtail UK Ltd, a major provider of Free Running Explosive Detection Dog Services (FREDDs). Adrian spoke about how the service operates, and how the dogs are tested on a daily basis by
delivering everything from basic knowledge for new exporters through to sector and
market support
September 2024 | 25
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