§ Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she next expects to meet representatives of the small firms sector to discuss ways of assisting small businesses to access information provided by Government online services. [179608]
§ Nigel GriffithsI met with the five key representative bodies separately recently as part of my regular meetings with stakeholders, including the CBI SME Council who praised businesslink.gov (www.businesslink.gov.uk) for pulling together all Government info in one place. The website provides free and easy access to Government information, advice, funding and training and has been enthusiastically received by small business users.
The Government target of getting 1.5 million SMEs online by 2002 was exceeded in 2000.
The UK is one of the most connected economies in the world with 90 per cent. of businesses with internet access, thanks to in large part in the 100 per cent. tax allowances that the Government made available to SMEs for connecting to the internet.