The UK’s vital and vibrant hospitality sector must have its own dedicated Hospitality Minister, said The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR).
Hospitality is the UK’s 3rd largest employer incorporating a wide range of sectors and businesses. With Brexit providing uncertainty for employers and costs for businesses rising, the time is right for the Government to appoint a dedicated Minister to the support the sector.
ALMR Chief Executive Kate Nicholls (pictured) has just spoken at the ALMR Autumn Conference, calling upon the Government to appoint a Hospitality Minister to help support the UK’s vital hospitality sector.
Nicholls stated, “UK businesses are facing an unprecedented period of political and economic instability. Uncertainty, chiefly prompted by Brexit, is undermining businesses’ attempts to plan and invest and we need clear action from the Government to address this.
“The UK’s hospitality sector is the 3rd largest employer and incorporates a vast range of businesses and sub-sectors, not least of all the countries’ resilient and innovative eating and drinking out businesses. These are the business that have driven growth in local economies in every part of the UK, creating 1 in 6 of all new jobs since the recession.
“These businesses are looking ahead with a sense of trepidation as we approach Brexit and costs continue to rise. Issues important to our members, and the wider sector, straddle a number of different Government departments encompassing: employment, planning, taxation, food & drink, tourism and more. There is need for a national role to span these issues and ensure that crucial businesses are properly catered for.'
Nicholls concluded, “The Government must show leadership and support for these vital employers by creating a new role of Hospitality Minister to ensure transparent and useful engagement with businesses and promotion of the sectors’ interests. This will help promote a consolidated approach from both businesses and Government departments to help facilitate Brexit discussions and outcomes, and help inform the Government’s Industrial Strategy.”
At the annual conference in London, delegates from across the eating and drinking out sector heard from industry experts on investment, costs, apprenticeships and the effect Brexit is having on businesses. New research will examine competitiveness and closing the productivity gap as well as future industry trends.