HC Deb 09 July 1991 vol 194 c348W
17. Mr. Robert G. Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the work of the small firms service.

Mr. Forth

The small firms service has an excellent reputation in providing high quality information, advice and business counselling to new and existing small businesses. It dealt with over 317,000 inquiries and gave more than 50,000 counselling sessions in its last full year of operation. The service is now being transferred to the emerging network of training and enterprise councils who have plans to make further significant improvements to make it even more effective in meeting local needs.