§ Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Industry what are the latest figures available for the number of inquiries dealt with by the Small Firms Service; if he will give a detailed breakdown in the Official Report under appropriate headings; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Les Huckfield, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 19 March 1979; Vol. 964, c. 427–8], gave the following information:
Since its creation the Small Firms Service has helped over 350,000 inquirers—representing over 400,000 inquiries—and inquirers continue to contact centres at the rate of 1,700 per week.
The type of inquiries received from established businesses over the past year cover:
Per cent. Management problems 31.2 Finance and financial control problems 8.9 Technical problems 0.8 Help needed in Government regulations, policies or from State agencies 33.5 Local Government 3.7 Source of Supply 21.9 Approximately 21 per cent. of inquiries come from small firms involved in manufacturing, 48 per cent. from service industries, 1.5 per cent. from the construction industry and 29.5 per cent. from individuals wishing to start in business.
560WIn addition, counselling is now available to small firms throughout the United Kingdom, and since the first pilot scheme in November 1976 there have been over 4,000 counselling cases. These may be broken down into the following types of problem:
Per cent. Start-up 28 Finance 26 Management 16 Marketing 12 Expansion 10 Production 3.5 Diversification 3 Other 1.5