4th Quarter 2001 - Current Issues Only one in seven respondents to the fourth quarter survey, the lowest proportion for some time, accepted the invitation to use the 'scribble pad' on the back of the questionnaire to add comments either on the state of trade or on issues they consider the Federation should be addressing on their behalf. As was suggested last time, the decline in this proportion, from around one in three in 2000, may be attributable to the buoyancy of the workload of small and medium-sized building firms revealed by the most recent FMB surveys. One pointer in this direction could be the marked decline there has been, in the third quarter survey and again in this one, in the number of expressions of concern over the linked issues of unfair competition from 'cowboys' and from businesses and individuals legitimately not registered for Value Added Tax, and reduction of the rate of VAT on home improvements. These are mentioned this time by only a dozen respondents, with the more specific concern over competition from tradesmen who used formerly to offer themselves as sub-contractors, but have now, following the introduction of the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) for the taxation of sub-contractors in the industry, opted to work direct to the domestic customer, being cited only twice. On the other hand, and as was suggested in the report on the third quarter survey, these topics may be being mentioned less than before simply because firms have become resigned to the situation. By comparison, there are still plenty of written-in comments revealing a continuing high level of concern over the supply of skilled labour, recruitment and training. The message is the same as it has been in previous surveys, that a substantial proportion of small and medium-sized building firms would prefer young new entrants to follow the traditional apprenticeship route to obtaining construction skills, and are very sceptical of the relevance of the content of many present-day college courses, which they say are delivering trainees on site lacking basic skills and also lacking the right attitude to work and to the client. However, as was noted last time, there are also concerns expressed about the costs of taking on young people as apprentices, and doubts about the willingness of today's school leavers to accept the discipline of this form of training, and to stay the course - or, if they do, then to stay with the firms to which they were apprenticed. Complaints about the rising administrative cost burden on small and medium-sized firms relate mainly to the compliance costs of recent legislation and regulations, including the administrative costs of the CIS, and stakeholder pensions. However, it is not just administrative costs that are causing concern, but also other costs over which either the firm or the individual worker has no control, including those arising from theft of tools. There are a number of comments recorded by this survey which do not warrant mention here, but which may be pointers to future issues. There have been a number of occasions in the past when written-in comments on the back of state-of-trade survey questionnaires have provided FMB senior staff - who are always provided with a full account of all comments - with their first indications of difficulties ahead, whether of a coming deterioration of the state of trade, or of specific issues. On this occasion it is interesting to note that, although the results of the survey's 'forwards-looking' questions are weaker than for some time, the number of written-in comments expressing worry about possible deterioration of the state of trade is again very few - fewer, indeed, than could be counted on the fingers of one hand. First posted: 1 February 2002. Last modified: 4 February 2002.