DTI shakes-up business support

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Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 29 Nov 2002 9:43
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The Department for Trade and Industry has scrapped all 183 of it business support schemes as part of a radical restructuring project.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt admitted that the system was wasteful adding that many companies found it difficult to find the appropriate scheme that might help them.

Over the last year, the number of competing schemes has grown and in some regions the total number of schemes has exceeded 500 resulting in overlapping objectives, the aims of which are often unclear. In addition, each scheme has its own administration and publicity scheme which has inevitably resulted in a considerable amount of wasted money and time.

Now, the £1 billion that the DTI used to hand out will be transferred to an investment committee which will be chaired by Fields Wicker-Miurin, the American business woman who is a non-executive director of United Business Media. The new committee will decide who is eligible for funding on the basis that the money is used to increase employment, productivity and innovation.

The DTI said that the reform plan may take two years to implement fully. "The status quo is not an option. We are not going to do anything unless it can be shown to help British prosperity and we will only intervene if it can be shown to help,” said Ms Hewitt. "We have cut through the myriad of confusing, conflicting – and sometimes ineffective schemes - to create a tighter, more targeted, evidence based approach to business support."