Bristol Volunteering  

• Mayor Marvin Rees, Jacqui Jensen (Executive Director of People, Bristol City Council) and Sandra (CEO Voscur) will be showing a short video this evening from 6:30pm on the key messages surrounding Can Do Bristol and offering help as a volunteer in an organised way. Jacqui and Sandra will then follow up from the video with a live Q+A session on the BCC Facebook page, answering questions from the public.
• Bristol City Council have new webpages on ways to help those affected by coronavirus and guidance for volunteers.
• The new webpages are live now. Please use the following short-link concerning volunteering and helping others: www.bristol.gov.uk/wearebristol

Bristol Business Sector and Economy

• Information for businesses relating to COVID-19 – including information on business rates discounts and trading through this period – can be found here.
• Bristol City Council is awaiting guidance from Government before distributing the funding
• Nurseries which provide child care are now included in the 100% business rate relief. The business rates team has identified potential properties. The relief will be provided automatically
• Events due to take place in the near future that have been cancelled, postponed or suspended due to COVID-19 include: Bristol Green Capital Spark Forum (23 March); St Nick’s Night Market (27 March); Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival (beginning 26 March); Babbasa Youth Empowerment Projects CIC’s Ask About Me (1 April); Prince’s Trust Explore Enterprise course (beginning 21 April)
• Wriggle’s Indie Kitty is designed to help support independent restaurants, bars and cafes through the COVID-19 outbreak. It allows you to enjoy a meal or drink at your favourite restaurant in the future by buying a voucher for it now. These vouchers will help put cash in the tills so these venues keep in business. Wriggle will make no profit from this to ensure as much money gets to these businesses as possible; find out more here
• Acas are running a series of advisory webinars for employers, with the next ones scheduled for Thursday 2 and Tuesday 7 April, more here
• The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has a dedicated page of resources for retailers on its website in the light of COVID-19; view it here
• Mind, the mental health charity, has lots of information available around looking after your mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak including, tips on working from home, how to connect with people during social distancing and staying active. You can find information about this and much more on their website here
• Skills Support for the Workforce (SSW) are gathering information on the skills gaps and training needs SMEs face in the West of England, now and as we move forwards into a new decade. This is a great opportunity for employers operating in every sector to demonstrate their needs for future skills provision and help to shape future delivery in the region. The deadline for receipt of contributions is now the end of April; take the survey here
• The Tech Nation Report has been the UK’s State of the Nation report on tech since 2015. Each year Tech Nation has monitored the growth of the sector, and provided information about opportunities and challenges. Read more about the latest 2020 report here

Bristol Travel Sector

• First Bus will operate a reduced service this week and a further reduced service from next week onwards. We are reviewing the changes at present and will circulate a simplified version as soon as we are able to
• Rail services are also going to be reduced from today, Monday 23 March. Timetables are currently being updated. Up to date information here.
• Information is regularly updated on the Travel West website, which provides information on the current status of bus services as well as updates such as the extension of hours for concessionary fares.