§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the outcome of the meeting of small business Ministers on 30 October. [42269]
§ Mr. PageThe group agreed to meet twice yearly—in January to provide input into the competitiveness White Paper and July to provide input into the Budget. Other meetings will take place on a bilateral basis to discuss issues specific to individual departments.
It was also agreed that each Department would provide a contribution to the annual small firms in Britain report, showing the progress it had made helping small businesses.