Government letting down small businesses

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Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 30 Jan 2006 9:49

The Government's business support network is failing to provide consistently high quality help and advice to new and growing firms, according to a damning report by the CBI released today (Monday).

The report, 'Improving Government Services For Small and Growing Businesses', found that the Government's flagship agency, Business Link, is used by only one in seven firms (14 per cent), despite receiving £140 million of taxpayers' money each year. And according to independent research, only 38 per cent of those businesses are satisfied with the general business information it imparts.

The CBI report asserts that new and growing businesses face “a baffling array of conflicting, confusing and inconsistent quangoes, grants and agencies across the UK – funded by a Government budget of £8 billion a year – including at least 2,650 schemes in England alone.”

As a result, the research shows, businesses have turned away from the publicly-funded schemes because they do not know what help is available, do not trust the quality of advice on offer, or do not believe it will match their needs.

The CBI makes a series of recommendations in the report, including:

● Streamlining the services and support schemes on offer to reduce confusion

and free up resources to improve those which are effective and add value.

● Filling a gap in the support network for small firms looking to grow.

● Improving training for advisers, especially those lacking a business

background, to offer a higher quality of advice, particularly for firms needing

strategic advice rather than nuts-and-bolts help.

● Ensuring any publicly-funded initiative reflects business demand and

addresses a failure or gap in the existing market.

● Pressing government departments to work with the Small Business Service to

create an enterprise culture rather than resist it.

● Regional Development Agencies must focus their resources on economic