§ Mrs. Rumboldasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what measures his Department has taken to encourage the setting up of small businesses in the period since October 1983.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe Scottish Office has continued to help the formation and development of small businesses in Scotland. Making use of European regional development fund non-quota funds for the Strathclyde region as an area affected by steel and shipbuilding closures, we launched a scheme called Better Business Services on 31 October 1983. The scheme provides much needed professional support for small firms of under 200 employees and offers the full range of management advice often not available in smaller companies. In the first full year of operation some 3,000 companies have taken advantage of the scheme.
The Scottish Development Agency, which in Scotland provides the Government small firms service and many other programmes to help the development of small firms, has opened new offices in Kirkcaldy and Galashiels as well as establishing an enquiry point within their headquarters in Edinburgh in order to make their services more locally accessible.
In addition the Scottish Development Agency is due shortly to launch a rural workshop scheme which will provide assistance for the provision of small workshops or factories in rural areas. This is expected to give an important boost to small firm activities in rural areas.
The Scottish Office is also responsible for the rating system in Scotland and, as part of that responsibility, we have taken steps aimed at easing the rate burden for 898W industry and commerce. We have introduced arrangements for local authority consultation with business ratepayers and paid particular attention to ensuring that consultation extends to small businesses. In most cases small business representative bodies are included in the arrangements.