15/09/2010
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has urged the government to ensure that Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP's) have a ''strong business foundation.''
Writing to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, the FSB said that it was essential for LEP's to receive strong business support and representation. With SME's one of the main protagonists in the economic recovery, the Federation believe that their opinions and ideas should be widely publicised.
Policy chairman at the FSB, Mike Cherry, commented on his organisations lobbying, saying in a press release: ''The government will undoubtedly have received many strong proposals, but we are concerned that in some of the proposals submitted there has been a lack of proper business engagement.''
''We are urging the government to ensure that where there has been insufficient business input into the proposals that they are asked to go away and work further with business to set out a plan with enterprise involved.''
Nevertheless, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce defended the proposed structure in The Telegraph, saying: ''These are local enterprise partnerships and the strength of the chamber network is that we are on the ground and have strong relationships with local authorities.''
According to Politics.co.uk, 59 proposals have been submitted to the government for inclusion into LEP's which are anticipated to take over the role of scrapped Regional Development Agencies (RDA's). Aimed to re-shape the way in which businesses work with the government at a local level, LEP's hope to harness growth in small businesses.
Small businesses involved in LEP's are expected to gain benefits from the sharing of knowledge between different community stakeholders, as well leading the way in terms of innovation. With the economy on the way to recovery, SME's are being encouraged to embrace such schemes as well as boosting their cashflow with sales finance options and embracing greener business processes.
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable commented on the new scheme, saying: ''Business leadership in local enterprise partnerships is critical... There must be a genuine partnership between business and local government and that local enterprise partnerships should be practical bodies for promoting enterprise.''
Sarah Howard