"Streamline support" call from micro business group
The Welsh Government should streamline business support, simplify regulations and improve access to business investments of between £1,000 and £20,000. That’s according to a group set up to advise business minister Edwina Hart on support for businesses employing up to nine staff.
The micro business group, chaired by Institute of Directors Wales director Robert Lloyd Griffiths, found those enterprises accounted for 94.5 per cent of businesses in Wales in 2011 and employed 33.2 per cent of workers in Wales.
Griffiths said: "Micro businesses in Wales have immense potential to maintain, improve and increase the contribution that they can make to their communities, the economy and to the life of the Welsh nation."
The group recommended that the number of public sector deliverers of business support should be reduced; that a "one-stop-shop" should be set up for micro-businesses in Wales; and that access to and awareness of business support services should be promoted.
It called on the Welsh Government to "facilitate accessible finance of between £1,000 and £20,000 that are simple and reflect the level of investment required"; and to support micro businesses to access finance options.
It proposed a pan-Wales mentoring and coaching scheme.
On procurement, the group asked for simpler public sector procurement processes and regulations; a Wales bill on public sector procurement; a procurement commission or commissioner for Wales; and for local sourcing to be specified as part of public sector procurement.
And on regulation, it suggested the Welsh Government should lobby for change in non-devolved matters; simplify regulations within Welsh Government power; and provide support for micro businesses with regulations that impact on their business such as health and safety, or staff recruitment.
Hart said she would consider the group’s recommendations: "I am keen to ensure that this important sector of the economy can grow and that businesses can access the type of support and advice they need to grow."
