Dragon's Den man attacks small business grants
Posted 15 March 2007 at 11:24AM by Simon Dickson in Investment and finance
A row has broken out between former Dragon's Den panellist Doug Richard and the government's small business minister over the effectiveness of the £12 billion spent annually on small business support.
The Conservative Party's small business task force, chaired by Richard, has published a report claiming that the Labour government's 3,000 support programmes lack an overarching purpose. And whilst there are moves within government to cut that number to just 100, the ex-Dragon claims that 'a negligible number' of schemes measure their own effectiveness. 'It's difficult to understand how one can know which are the 2,900 to cut,' he told Radio Five Live's 'Wake Up To Money' programme.
Rejecting the report as biased and nothing new, DTI minister Margaret Hodge accepted that the system is too complex, and that people don't know enough about what's available. But, she insisted, action was being taken. 'Of course we evaluate, right the way through,' she responded, 'but I don't want to spend more on evaluation because that's more money on bureaucracy, than it is on supporting businesses.'
Central to the government's future small business strategy is the Business Link website, which is gradually becoming the single online point of reference for all government information for businesses. It already offers a 'grant and support directory' - but rather ominously, it warns up-front that applying for a grant can be a highly complex process, and says its database can't guarantee that you'll be eligible for any programmes your search uncovers.
Another source worth investigating is Microsoft's EU Grants Advisor, which contains details of more than 6,000 grant schemes at local, regional, national, and European levels. You can run basic searches straight away, but to get full access to the information within, you'll need to register.
If you missed the Five Live show (and since it was on at half five on Thursday morning, that's understandable!), it will be available using the BBC site's Listen Again service. The relevant section starts about 11 and a half minutes in.
Tags: bbc, doug richard, dragon's den, dti, five live, grants, margaret hodge
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