§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish the analysis of the reports collected by the small firms advisory centres on the problems facing small businesses.
§ Mr. Les Huckfield:Since their creation the centres have helped over 331,000 inquirers—representing nearly 385,000 inquiries—and inquirers continue to contact centres at the rate of about 1,600 a week. The type of inquiries currently being handled from established businesses cover—
Per cent. Management problems 32.0 Finance and financial control problems 8.7 Technical problems 0.9 Help needed in Government regulations, policies, or from State agencies 33.0 Local government 3.7 Source of supply 21.7 Around 21.2 per cent. arises through small firms involved in manufacturing, 845W 47.8 per cent. from service industries, 1.6 per cent. from the construction industry and 29.4 per cent. from individuals wishing to start in business.
In addition, centres have handled over 2,500 counselling cases and the breakdown of these is as follows:
Per cent. Start up 23.2 Finance 27.1 Management 16.9 Production 2.8 Marketing 15.6 Expansion 11.0 Diversification 3.3 Closure 0.1