With the drama following Peacocks going into administration and the latest unemployment figures, Business Minister Edwina’s Hart’s report launch last Wednesday (18th Jan) on Micro Businesses, from one of the Task and Finish Groups focusing on certain sectors of the economy in the much heralded ‘new’ approach to the economy went largely unreported.
As the report states with Microbusinesses, defined as employing less than 9 people make up 94.5% of all business in Wales and with the European Commission report showing 85% of new job growth across the continent from 2002 – 2010 came from SME’s which doesn’t take a genius to work out this should be the main priority for Business Minister Edwina Hart and her department, if not the whole government.
So does it address the issues Welsh micro business face, well the report identifies five priority areas of support, these are
Awareness and access of business support services for Micro Business
Access to finance
Mentoring and coaching
Public Sector Procurement
Regulatory burden
However all of these at one stage or another have been suggested by economic and financial experts and written in Welsh Government and Committee reports for the last 12 years, but no concrete action has been taken by any Welsh Minister of any stripe.
Are we really supposed to believe that a Business Minister who is on record as saying she regrets capitalism will be the one who actually implements these proposals such as cutting red tape, making public sector contracts more accessible to smaller firms and improving access to finance which could support substantial job growth and create a larger private sector - I doubt it, which is a shame for the many struggling entrepreneurs and business people up and down Wales who need support after all they are responsible for 33.2% of private sector employment in Wales or 331,400 jobs.
The full report is HERE Any source
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