With an early winter cold snap already turning up the dial on heating bills, now is the perfect time to improve your energy efficiency, increasing profit margins and helping the environment in the process.

All great teams have a relentless desire to improve and attain ever increasing standards in their quest for success. A fear of failure, lack of dynamism or overriding sense of complacency often prevents businesses from achieving their potential. As we face the economic downturn, there has never been a greater incentive to enhance your skills and create a winning formula.

As the economic downturn really starts to bite, Business Link is doing more than ever to help small and growing companies meet the challenges ahead. Business advisers are often regarded as extensions to the families of small business owners and in difficult times those strong, established relationships can make a big difference.

Next month, the Government will take its first steps towards replacing paper-based immigration documents with biometric identity cards. They will be the same size as a credit card and will have an electronic chip that will hold biometric details, such as fingerprints and a digital picture of the person's face.

The Government's latest common commencement date (CCD) was 1 October 2008 and business owners need to be aware of any new or updated regulations that may affect their company.

Employees will soon be entitled to four extra days annual leave following a change in the law. From April 1, 2009, the minimum statutory entitlement increases from 4.8 to 5.6 weeks a year and businesses need to be aware of how these changes will affect them.