SME Business News

Doug Richard, former Dragons Den panellist and current head of the Conservative Party Small Business Task Force has called for drastic reforms of the Governments Business support regime.

The report found the current support system is ‘over complex, ineffective and undirected.’

Two thousand public bodies are currently spending £2.5billion on running three thousand support schemes, with Richard claiming that a third of the money is spent simply to tell customers where to find advice.

The report calls for a single national web based information service to replace organisations like Business Link and the like. The site would allow users to rate suppliers  information and advice on a system similar to that used by auction site eBay.

Government departments, agencies and regulators would be legally obliged to provide relevant information on the site and private sector businesses would be able bid for public service contracts through the same website.

Richard sums up “Our recommendations would create a single, web-based business information system and an open market for expert advice, in which the needs of the customer – business – would come first.”

Bus operator Stagecoach have revealed that eight buses on their fleet have been running on 100% biodiesel, manufactured from used cooking oil and other food industry by-products in an experiment, the first of it’s kind, started in October last year.

The project has cut CO2 emissions by 80% saving 550t of carbon.

The move is backed by the local Ayrshire council and local residents, who assist the company by supplying used cooking oil in return for discounted travel. How Green is that? Over 21t of used oil has been recycled during the last six months.

The downside is that engine manufacturers will not offer a guarantee on the engines being used in the experiment. Stagecoach is obviously monitoring this area very carefully and intend doing so for another six months before drawing any conclusions from the project.

The biodiesel buses are fitted with two fuel tanks. For the first ten minutes of the day the engines run on mineral diesel, switching automatically to biodiesel once the engine reaches its optimum operating temperature.

Council leaders in Croydon are demanding a meeting with NCP bosses to protest at the 15% increase in car parking charges in the city.

The borough council had decided to freeze its own car parking charges and hoped that NCP would do the same. Councillor Phil Thomas, Croydon’s cabinet member for environment and highways is concerned that increased parking charges will damage the local economy and deter motorists from using the city centre.

At last greedy councils are seeing the damage that ludicrous parking charges are causing to the local economy. For years parking has become more and more expensive as councils see it as an ideal source of revenue for very little effort. Now customers have a choice- and they are choosing not to drive around traffic laden town centres trying to find a parking space, only to pay through the nose for the privilege of parking their car.

The Federation Of Small Businesses and other groups representing small businesses, have been vociferous in their protest over exorbitant car parking charges for a long time, protesting that local trade is already losing business to out of town shopping centres, where parking is free.

Lets hope this government listens soon, before it is too late.

 Adam Hart-Davis is today launching a campaign with the Federation Of Small Businesses (FSB) to “Keep Trade Local” in a bid to save the local High Street from extinction.

Here is a promotional video:

The government enterprise department will allow SMEs greater access to public contracts by registering their business with www.supply2.gov.uk

Under the latest scheme small businesses will have access to public contracts around the UK with a value of £100,000 or less.

The move is part of the Department for Business’ enterprise strategy outlined earlier this year, to help give SMEs a leg up in acquiring crucial public sector contracts.

Business minister Shriti Vadera said: “Small and medium sized businesses need our support to expand. Many smaller businesses are more innovative, have lower costs and present better value for taxpayers than larger firms. Introducing Britain’s small firms to government procurement contracts online will provide opportunities to grow that they would not have otherwise found.”

The news is welcomed by small business groups across the country, with John Wright from the FSB claiming that the move should eradicate the false assumption that biggest is always best.

Small business groups FSB and ACS are among many expressing disappointment at the outcome of the Competition Commissions inquiry into the grocery sector.

The two year inquiry resulted in the Commission concluding that consumers are enjoying the benefits of competition, while totally ignoring the impact on independent retailing.

Several business groups have lobbied on behalf of small businesses who have seen out of town supermarkets and shopping centres decimate High Street shopping over recent years.

ACS chief executive James Lowman considers the commission has used the inquiry to judge competition between the big four supermarkets and totally ignored the needs of independent retailers.

“This approach ignores the critical need for a variety of retailers and supply chains. It is out of kilter with consumer trends towards more local shopping, and neglects the needs of many groups of consumers whose requirements are not properly met by the big four superstores.”

Clive Davenport of FSB was equally scathing, saying;

“Important issues such as the travesty of almost limitless free parking at out of town superstores while independent high street shops face ever-more stringent parking restrictions were not even considered.”

Excessive parking fees and fines from town centre car parking facilities will kill High Street businesses, the Federation of Small Businesses FSB has warned local authorities.

Income from town centre parking in 2005 raised a staggering £1.6billion for local authorities, rising from just £628million in 1997.

The FSB has urged local government to re think the parking problem, claiming that the excessive fees are a short term fix and that customers are ultimately being turned away from High Street shopping.

Free parking at out of town shopping centres has already seen a decline in town centre shoppers and unless the parking fee problem is addressed in the near future we will witness a further decline in town centre shopping.

The FSB says that the parking laws will backfire in the long term as high street shops go out of business and the wealth and employment they create is lost forever.

Government agency the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) has blamed ‘business conditions’ in the UK  and the unwillingness to invest in ‘key management training’ as the stumbling blocks for small businesses attempting to turn their enterprise into world leaders such as Microsoft and Google.

While the report acknowledges that the UK is one of the easiest places to start a company, it is also increasingly difficult for those companies wishing to expand.

Difficulties in enforcing contracts, for instance, is one major stumbling block. NESTA cited a report by the World Bank showing that it takes an average 30 procedures, 404 days and £10,000 for one UK business to recoup a £40,000 debt from another.

UK entrepreneurs do not lack ambition says the report, but the challenge of turning a small enterprise into a major company involves different risks and challenges than establishing a small company  and for many the transition is too much.

An unwillingness to invest in key management training is seen by NESTA as a major stumbling block in the UK, and until the problem is addressed most small businesses will remain just that.

4fx Healthcare, a Nottinghamshire business employing just three people, has been recognised alongside 150 businesses earning this years Queens Award for Enterprise.

4fx was recognised for its innovative nasal aspirator which removes congestion from babies’ noses, and are the joint smallest business winner in 2008, alongside North Yorkshires British Horse Feeds.

Other SMEs picking up awards are Authentix, for its product authentication service to the World Bank to prevent counterfeiting, television sound effects company Audio Network and Green Works a London based business in recycling, re-using and re manufacturing office furniture.

John Eversley of Tyne & Wear Enterprise Trust, is one of several individual winners this year and picks up a lifetime achievement award, as recognition of his thirty years supporting enterprise in the North East of England following the decline of the coal and shipbuilding industries.

Prime minister Gordon Brown congratulated the winners, saying: 

“Queen’s Award winning companies are standard-bearers for the very best of British business, These firms embody the spirit of enterprise and innovation that is so vital to the future of Britain’s economy. Whether large or small, every one of this year’s winning organisations has achieved outstanding success in its field. I congratulate them all on their diverse and remarkable achievements.”

Simon Long and Philip Benson are two young university graduate entrepreneurs, who while spending a year in America as part of their degree, discovered the Juice Bar concept and decided to bring it to the UK.

After graduating, they pair formed a company called Xing Health, and introduced the healthy smoothie to universities, schools and health clubs via their Smoothie Roadshow.

Now Long and Benson are looking for schools to team up with the company to create on site smoothie stations. They plan on encouraging pupils to run the franchises in order to promote healthy eating as well as business and maths skills.

They are also making a case to the government, for scrapping VAT on health food and drinks, and in doing so have won the support of Health Secretary Alan Johnson and his colleague Ed Balls.

As Simon Long pointed out, “The 17.5% VAT rate applied to smoothies and other healthy eating options is an obvious disincentive for people to eat well,” said Long. “Especially when some unhealthy foods, such as the infamous Turkey Twizzlers, have 0% added!”