Helping small firms prosper and grow
August 2011
Fifth Edition
Welcome
Welcome to the fifth edition of our newsletter about changes to the way the Government provides support to people who want to start and grow a business. Last month we saw, again, a significant increase in the number of subscribers to the newsletter. If you would like to subscribe or would like to see past issues, please click here. If you would like to forward this to someone else, please click here.
Government appoints Careline Services to deliver Business Link helpline
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Careline Services, in partnership with the Business and Enterprise Group to provide a telephone helpline to businesses.
The Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk confirmed the appointment stating, “The helpline will play a vital role in supporting small businesses and start ups, especially those businesses that need help to access information available on the web.”
It will provide help to those businesses which are not currently online or unable to access the businesslink.gov website. The helpline will be fully operational by 25 November when the Business Link Regional Services close and work is already underway to make sure the transition is smooth.
The press release can be found here
Mentoring web portal connecting people in business
Last month we reported the launch of the mentoring web Portal www.mentorsme.co.uk
There have been over 17,600 visits from nearly 13,500 unique visitors, viewing over 103,000 pages.
At the launch there were around 40 mentoring organisations providing access to around 10,000 mentors - offering both free and paid for mentoring to small businesses, whether just starting out or with plans to grow. All of these organisations have signed up to a uniform minimum standard developed by organisations across the sector.
We hope to update you soon with case studies from those who have successfully used the portal. We know some of you would welcome more choice and we are working on growing on growing choice and numbers. This is just our starting point. We can report that screening of applications from other mentoring organisations who wish to be listed on the portal is currently underway.
Mentorsme.co.uk provides a single point of access for those seeking mentoring and those seeking to be mentors, covering the whole of the UK.
Mentorsme.co.uk connects companies with mentoring organisations that can support and guide their growth. If you are a business that needs support or a business professional who can offer support, the site can help you connect with the right organisation for your needs.
Mentoring organisations can also join the portal via the website at http://www.mentorsme.co.uk/about
Business Coaching for Growth (BCG)
We have carefully evaluated the 13 Invitations to Submit an Outline Proposal (ISOP) received from bidders and now have a shortlist of 8 bids. These bids will be taken forward to the first dialogue stage which will begin in August. The dialogue will consist of face-to-face discussions with bidders on their proposals for BCG and our expectations and requirements of the service. We will report on developments in the next newsletter.
'My New Business'
The Start Up Hub has a new name - ‘My New Business’ . In the last edition of the newsletter we asked for volunteers to test online learning content for ‘My New Business’, the dedicated area within businesslink.gov.uk which will offer access to the help and guidance needed to start a business or become self-employed. We received a significant number of volunteers and would like to thank everyone who offered their time to assist with this project. The first user testing session was completed on 25th July.
Our next session will be held on Wednesday 10th August at Epic, 52 Old Steine, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1NH. If you can spare 2½ hours of your time at any point between 9 am and 5 pm on the 10th and you would like to participate in our user testing, please e-mail Valerie Laycock a.s.a.p. at Valerie.Laycock@epic.co.uk
Epic and Thomson Reuters, who are co-ordinating this process, will reward participants with £50 in vouchers/charitable donation and reasonable travel expenses will also be paid.
We plan to hold one further user testing session in early September (date to be confirmed). ‘My New Business’ will be fully launched by the end of November 2011.
Recent activity
Thursday 14 July, the Business Improvement Programme Directorate held its 2nd meeting with Local Enterprise Partners, including Local Authority representatives, to discuss the new landscape for the provision of information to Businesses and the range of new opportunities available to Businesses. Participants at the event saw demonstrations of My New Business and the mentoring portal and developed their thinking about the LEP offer locally. Feedback has been very positive.
Towards a zero waste economy
Defra reports that UK businesses could save around £23bn per year from the more efficient use of raw materials, energy and water. Evidence and further details can be found at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/economy/business-efficiency/ Support for business can be found through the WRAP website: http://www.wrap.org.uk/index.html.
The Waste Policy Review sets out a range of measures to tackle waste including working with business to prevent waste occurring and improving the access for businesses (especially SMEs) to cost-effective recycling services: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/review/
Tell us what you think about the newsletter
We are keen to get your feedback on the newsletter and would appreciate it if you would complete the short survey here
Our response to your feedback
Thank you for your feedback. We are taking a number of suggestions forward in forthcoming editions.
• One of your main requests was to let you know “What funding was available to Small Business?” See the link below for further information. http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/enterprise-and-business-support/access-to-finance
On the mentoring portal
• There is now icons added to the mentoring site to state whether mentoring is free, paid for, or by membership only.
• All mentoring organisations who are listed on the site display contact details so potential mentors/mentees can contact them to discuss enrolment.
Useful links
Local Enterprise Partnerships
- led by local authorities and businesses across natural economic areas. They provide the vision, knowledge and strategic leadership needed to drive sustainable private sector growth and job creation in their area.
Solutions for Business – find out more about the range of publicly funded products and services designed to help Businesses to identify and overcome key challenges as they grow, providing the assistance they need to improve when they need it most.
Enterprise Directorate – find out more about our work across Government and the regions to develop and influence policies to boost enterprise, start ups and small business growth
Connect with BIS
We publish this newsletter to keep you up to date with progress on delivering the Business Improvement Programme to transform the way that people receive the information, advice and guidance they need to start and grow a business, the BIS Bulletin sets out the wider work of BIS to build a dynamic and competitive economy. Click here if you would also like to subscribe to that.
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