With energy bills having doubled over the past twelve months, there is both a powerful financial and environmental need to switch on to energy efficiency and drive down those harmful carbon emissions.

Getting started on reducing your energy consumption can cost you nothing and here’s six simple steps you could take to reduce your overall energy costs.

Due to the increasing burden of employment legislation and the proliferation of ‘no win no fee’ solicitors, dealing with employment issues is becoming increasingly difficult, time consuming and costly.

Whether you’re a small business and can’t afford a full time HR professional or if your are a larger firm and just want to keep up to date with legislation, this service can help you, its free, its part of your Chamber membership.

Further to our previous story about business carrier VLM scaling down its Liverpool to London service from John Lennon Airport. VLM are now asking for your support by filling in a short questionnaire with your views on the service.

Liverpool Chamber of Commerce’s Business Crime Direct Team is helping shops in the city centre to reduce and prevent retail crime.

Since the inception in 2002 of Business Crime Direct's "Liverpool Crime Alert" the retail crime reduction initiative, the crime of shoplifting has been reduced by 10% overall. In particular, during the 2006 Christmas shopping period, shoplifting was reduced by a whopping 21% on the previous year.

New research unveiled today by the Chambers of Commerce has discovered that the staggering cost of red tape and regulation to business in Liverpool since 1998 is over £97 million.

This figure illustrates the remarkable growth in the burden of regulation from Westminster and Brussels which is hitting the competitiveness of our local businesses.

The 2007 Burdens Barometer, produced by the British Chambers of Commerce and also released today, has calculated that the cost to UK business of new regulation since 1998 has been a phenomenal £55.66 billion.

From today, if you are caught using a hand held mobile in your car, the penalty goes up to a £60 fine and three points on your licence.

There are serious implications for employers, who can be prosecuted if they cause or permit employees to take or make calls or send texts while driving.