Weekly Bulletin November 2011
It was announced at the end of October that the publicly funded advice network BusinessLink was due to close down all of its offices by 25th November 2011 and would be replaced in April 2012 with a national website www.businesslink.gov.uk– and a call centre. This comes as no surprise as earlier in the year Mark Prisk Minister of Department of Business, Innovation and Skills announced “We believe BusinessLink is failing in its task. Many surveys show that only a small proportion of businesses use it, and those that do are dissatisfied with the service they receive”. With hundreds of millions of tax-payers money funding the service each year one had to question whether the provision of a referral service employing 1,500 staff was really adequate.
The responsibility of face-to-face business advisory services will now fall on the shoulders of unpaid mentors provided through existing agencies and organisations. (BusinessLink to close, where to turn to for Business Advice)
The Telegraph reported 28th October 2011, “The Government said the £154m cost of the Business Link network of offices was “high” and the “generalist nature” of the advice often “poorly targeted” towards “lifestyle businesses that have no aspiration to grow”. (BusinessLink Scrapped and replaced by Call Centre)
The Government are currently making improvements to the existing BusinessLink website which will include “more user-generated content, easier navigation, personalised services and more links to private and voluntary sector advice and tools”. Currently costing an estimated £35million a year to run, with only 16.7million visits last year and a usage by only 34 per cent of UK businesses we really need to ask whether this newly proposed one-stop-shop aimed at providing guidance on all regulation that can affect businesses and regulation that applies to businesses is really worth the money.
Before the launch of the new BusinessLink website, the BusinessLink call centre helpline will go live as the regional offices close down. BusinessLinks Indian-owned helpline operated by Careline Services will now provide continuing telephone services to UK enterprise. With Business Secretary Vince Cable recently launching the “Made by Britain” campaign, it does seem a little strange that they have just appointed an Indian-owned firm to provide business support to British businesses. It seems to me that sadly there is a lack of commitment to small UK Businesses.
What small businesses really need is direct advice from an expert, rather than the generalised, traditional and academic advice that BusinessLink was known for. What they need is advice and mentoring based on real business practices. The best advice that small businesses can get is not from a call centre helpline or from an ‘information based’ website but from an industry expert who has experience in building up businesses that are similar to your own. For more information please visit www.terryforsey.com
