§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many small businesses have reported access to(a) finance and (b) regulation as barriers to growth in each year since 1997. [157233]
§ Nigel GriffithsPrior to summer 2001 there were no Government surveys that collected robust information on the concerns of small businesses.
The following table records the proportion of small businesses reporting that access to finance was a barrier to growth in four surveys of small and medium enterprises conducted by the Small Business Service since 2001.
These surveys did not collect information on the proportion of small businesses reporting that regulation was a barrier to growth. They did, however, collect data on the proportion of small businesses reporting that regulation was one of the main obstacles to the success of their business. This information is also recorded in the following table.
In each survey, around two thousand owner-managers were interviewed.
The proportion of English small businesses with 1–249 employees1 who said that they had had a problem with raising finance and that this had slowed the growth of their business2 Percentage Wave 1 (summer 2001) 6 Wave 2 (autumn 2001) 3 Wave 3 (winter 2001–02) 2 Wave 4 (summer 2002) 2Not available Wave 5 (autumn 2002) 1 1Excludes firms with no employees. 2This question was not asked in Wave 4 of the Omnibus Survey. Source: Small Business Service Omnibus Survey
The proportion of English small businesses with 1–249 employees1 who, when asked what were the main obstacles to the success of their business, mentioned regulation2 Percentage Wave 1 (summer 2001) 2Not available Wave 2 (autumn 2001) 25 Wave 3 (winter 2001–02) 28 Wave 4 (summer 2002) 20 Wave 5 (autumn 2002) 22 1Excludes firms with no employees. 2This question was not asked in Wave 1 of the Omnibus Survey. Source: Small Business Service Omnibus Survey. The results of the most recent survey of small businesses conducted by the Small Business Service (autumn 2003) will be published in summer 2004.
§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many national strategies for990W the Small Business Service have been (a) developed and (b) implemented; and how her Department intends to monitor these. [157237]
§ Nigel GriffithsIn December 2002, the Small Business Service (SBS) published "Small Business and Government—The Way Forward"—a strategic framework for a government-wide approach to helping small businesses based around seven themes identified as key drivers for economic growth, improved productivity and enterprise for all. Government have used this framework to build a single, cross-government action plan for small business. The SBS published the Action Plan on 8 January 2004.
Implementation is now underway. Progress is being monitored through a web-based implementation programme accessible at www.sbs.gov.uk which sets out milestones and target dates for the implementation of the actions, together with relevant contact points within Government. It is being updated on a regular basis.