Political Advocacy
Working for the interests of independent retailers
Political advocacy is an increasingly important activity within ActSmart. Independently, small leisure sectors cannot expect to influence the people who have such a big impact on our businesses and our industries, but by working together our combined voice can be heard and can make a real difference.
ActSmart is represented in a number of different organisations, all of whom are working for the interests of speciality retailing. Working within this context also gives us a fascinating insight into some of the big issues affecting small businesses as well as a wealth of useful information, which we can feed back into the ActSmart community to better inform and educate our subscribers.
View Political Updates
View Political News
Political Monitoring
Through ActSmart's relationship with the Independent Retailer's Confederation (see below) we work with a variety of other trade associations to ensure we are aware all political legislations, news or changes which may affect our subscribers.
We aim to bring these political updates to subscribers' attention through our relationship with the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) who is actively involved in all relevant government policies.
We do this with monthly Political Updates which are filed in the Business Support section of the ActSmart website, as well as the most relevant news pieces being features on our News page.
Monthly Political Updates are available to Silver subscribers and above, however all subscribers have access to the news pages where the most relevant updates for your industry will be posted.
All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW) exists to promote the use of bicycles as a mode of transport and to raise the awareness and status of cycling.
There are a number of APPGCW meetings throughout the year, and rather than ActSmart attend to represent the industry, we have now opened up our involvement to ACT members.
ACT members will be invited to attend the meetings to discuss current political issues within the cycling industry. We will notify all ACT members when the opportunity has arisen for you to attend an APPCG meeting and any interested members will need to register their interest with ActSmart by emailing us the attendees full name, business trading name; personal phone no. and personal e-mail.
Independent Retailers Confederation
The Independent Retailers Confederation (IRC) is a well-established organisation, bringing together like-minded trade associations with interests in the small and independent retail sector.
The IRC represents c.100,000 independent retailers throughout the UK, creating a growing retail network, committed to the development and sharing of best practice among associations and their members engaged in the independent retail sector. ActSmart currently holds the Chair position within the IRC.
The IRC provides a lobbying platform for a variety of trade associations with shared interests, increasing the profile and voice of independent retailing within Government and Parliament.
The IRC provides the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group.
The retail sectors that IRC members represent may be unique, but the challenges that they and their members face are not.
The IRC has three work streams, sharing intelligence and ideas on their respective work in the fields of political, commercial and skills development. Find out more by visiting indieretail.org
Retail Policy Forum
ActSmart is one of only two independent retailer representatives of the forum and the only non-food based specialist representative.
The purpose of the Retail Policy Forum is to minimise regulatory burdens on the retail sector. The aim is to align policy objectives by improving and adding value to the Government's consultation process. The Retail Policy Forum enables retail sector representatives to have input with senior Government officials at an early stage in the formulation of UK & EU regulatory policy.
Chaired & co-ordinated by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills there is a real desire to foster joined-up working between Government Departments at a very senior level to assist the development of the retail sector.
Current representatives include: ActSmart, Asda, Association of Convenience Stores, British Independent Retailers Association, British Retail Consortium, Cooperative Group, John Lewis Partnership, Kingfisher, Lloyds Pharmacy, Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys and Tesco. A much wider representation of retailers and trade associations are represented via the Virtual Retail Policy Forum.
All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group
The All-Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group was set up by a cross party group of MPs to raise awareness among Parliamentarians of a broad range of issues of concern to small shopkeepers, including retail crime, excessive insurance premiums, planning reform, red tape and environmental legislation. The group also looks at the vital social and economic role played by small shops in the community.
The All-Party Parliamentary Small Shops Groups (APPSSG) provides opportunities for members of Parliament to register their interest in small shop issues and learn more about the work that small shops do and the policy challenges that they face.
The APPSSG also manages the Best Small Shops Competition each year, inviting MPs to nominate the best small shop in their constituency.
The APPSSG is chaired by Priti Patel the MP for Witham (Con). Priti is responsible for overseeing the direction and topics that the group covers.
Service criteria
All ActSmart subscribers are kept updated with our involvement in political advocacy.
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