HC Deb 21 July 1994 vol 247 cc482-4W
Mr. David Shaw

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the achievements of(a) his policies and (b) his Department in helping small businesses over the last 12 months as against the previous 12 months; if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring; and if he will set out his targets to help small businesses in the next year.

Mr. Howard

The Government recognise the crucial role played by small firms in the United Kingdom economy. Government help small firms by keeping inflation and interest rates low and by reducing legislative and administrative burdens. They also provide direct assistance where appropriate, and are currently establishing a network of business links to provide high-quality business support across the country.

Since July 1993, the Home Office has demonstrated its continued commitment to helping small businesses through deregulation. Steps taken have included simplifying the law on Sunday trading and on football pools, and legislative proposals, in the Deregulation and Contracting Out Bill, to introduce a system of children's certificates for licensed premises, and to end restrictions on weekday shopping hours and Sunday racing and betting. We have announced our intention to remove various restrictions on betting offices, and to bring forward a measure under the order-making power in the Deregulation and Contracting Out Bill to repeal the provision in the Licensing Act 1964, which makes it an offence to sell someone more alcohol than they have asked for. In addition, small businesses have been consulted in the course of a fundamental review of the Fire Precautions Act 1971, and in the subsequent inter-departmental review of the enforcement of fire safety regulations. The Government are now considering the outcome of these reviews, and paying particular attention to the needs of small businesses in this context.

In the past year, 32 of the 71 regulations affecting business for which the Home Office is responsible have been reviewed. A programme for the review of the remainder is now being developed. This programme, which will also cover other deregulatory work, will include targets for the various items in the programme.

Much of the deregulatory work undertaken in the past year in the Home Office has carried forward work started in the previous 12 months. This had included proposals for legislation to clarify the law on Sunday trading, consultation exercises on greyhound racing and liquor licensing, and the start of the review of all the regulations affecting business for which the Home Office is responsible.

The Department's work on deregulations has been complemented by efforts to help small businesses protect themselves against crime, and to help those who wish to bid for Home Office business. In 1993, the Home Office crime prevention unit published a research paper "The Prevention of Crime Against Small Businesses: The Safer Cities Experience" which examined the effectiveness of crime prevention schemes directed at small business. The Home Office crime prevention centre has also published a guide on retail security to help police officers advise small retailers on protection against burglary. In addition, the National Board for Crime Prevention—a non-departmental public body for which the Home Office is responsible—has recently set up a retail action group to look at crime and its effect on the retail sector. This group plans to issue guidance on various aspects of crime prevention which should help small businesses. The Home Office is also carrying out a survey for the international business crime survey of large and small business premises to enable the relative risks for different types of premises to be estimated.

On procurement, it is the Home Office's policy to give encouragement and assistance to small businesses wherever possible. To that end, over the past 12 months we have again revised and re-issued a booklet: "Selling to the Home Office", which details the Department's purchasing needs, and gives specific contact points for initial approaches. A central contact point for general inquiries is also available. The Home Office does not, however, hold detailed information on the volume of business placed with small firms.