HC Deb 01 February 1984 vol 53 cc254-5
7. Mr. Bright

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will take steps to educate professional advisers about the help available to their small business clients.

Mr. Trippier

Yes, Sir. On behalf of my Department the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Association of Certified Accountants are organising seminars for professional advisers in April and May. The seminars will deal with financing small businesses and Government grants and advisory services. I plan to announce further details later this month.

Mr. Bright

That is a welcome statement. Will my hon. Friend bear in mind that some solicitors and bank managers are very much in the front line in advising not only those who contemplate starting businesses, but those who run small businesses and want to extend them? Can they also be included?

Mr. Trippier

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his support. The seminars are targeted at intermediaries and professional advisers. To complement the seminars, we shall be sending a booklet, which is sophisticated when compared with "How to Make Your Business Grow", to every chartered and certified accountant, every bank manager and the senior partner in every firm of solicitors.

Mr. Madden

In view of the current controversy, does the Minister think it would be helpful if companies were required to disclose the names of and the fees paid to professional advisers who secure contracts for them overseas?

Mr. Trippier

I do not think it would.

Mr. Bowen Wells

Does my hon. Friend agree that often the best way to provide professional advice to small businesses, which are particularly vulnerable in their early years, is through the establishment of business technology and other centres which provide nursery-type accommodation for small businesses?

Mr. Trippier

I do indeed. I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate the large companies which help in the small firms sector by providing various units, particularly sheltered workshop accommodation, for small businesses, especially for those in ITEC.

Mr. Williams

Will the Minister bear in mind that it is not only professional advisers who need educating on the Government's policy on small firms? Will he explain to his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer that, while he is boasting about the measures that he has introduced to help small businesses, his Department, through its policy of reclassification of the self-employed as employed, is sabotaging the same small firms that he claims he is trying to help?

Mr. Trippier

I have not the slightest doubt that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will consider that in his forthcoming Budget. Obviously I am not in a position to divulge anything that may be considered by him.