LONDON: The government's 8-billion-pound-a-year business support network has failed to offer any adequate support to start-up companies, the Confederation of British Industry alleged Monday. An increasing number of companies are giving up receiving any support from government schemes as the advice provided are conflicting and untrustworthy, the CBI said in a report.
Business of all sizes have reported problems as they found the services offered by the business support network to be confusing and inconsistent in terms of quality, the CBI said. CBI's chief economic adviser Ian McCafferty said there are too many overlapping, confusing and inconsistent schemes under the project. "With eight billion pounds spent a year on services to small businesses they should be exemplary, but this is not the case," he said.
It said the amount the government spent on some 2,650 schemes in England alone had been a waste as businesses were increasingly disenchanted with publicly-funded schemes.
Businesses do not know what help is available, they do not trust the quality of advice on offer, or do not believe it will match their needs, the CBI said.
It pointed out the instance of Business Link, which got 140 million pounds annually. Its services was being used by one in seven firms and independent research has shown that only 38 per cent of the firms approaching the agency had reported satisfactory handling of the scheme.
CBI said support for small companies -- those employing 250 or less number of people -- is crucial as this sector offered employment to a vast number of people.
The report set out 12 key recommendations to improve the quality of government services to businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, including ensuring that initiatives funded with public money reflect business demand.
Posted
on : Mon, 30 Jan 2006 10:30 GMT | Business News
By : Rob Davis
|
