Department for Business, Innovation and Skills requests evidence on access to finance
16th June 2009
Small and medium sized businesses, banks, industry representatives, regional agencies, venture capital experts and academics were today invited to give evidence to the Rowlands Growth Capital Review.
The review will determine if Government intervention is needed to ensure adequate finance will be available to firms as the economy improves.
Historically the period immediately following a recession is when small and medium sized businesses find it most difficult to access long term growth finance. It is also when demand for this type of finance is strongest.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said:“Small businesses will play an important role in the recovery of the British economy. These businesses now have the opportunity to contribute to our thinking on the frameworks we will need to put in place for a competitive, thriving market.”
Christopher Rowlands, who is leading the review, said: "We are keen to hear directly from businesses to ensure our recommendations reflect their needs in an appropriate way." The call for evidence is open until 17 July 2009.
To contribute evidence to the review, visit the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website at http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file51817.doc.
UK government merges main business and innovation support departments
9th June 2009
A new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is being formed by merging the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). Its key role will be to build Britain’s capabilities to compete in the global economy.
Downing Street announced that the merger would "create a single department committed to building Britain’s future economic strengths. To compete in a global economy and create the jobs of the future Britain requires a regulatory environment that encourages enterprise, skilled people, innovation, and world-class science and research."
The new department combines BERR’s strengths in shaping the enterprise environment, analysing the strengths and needs of the various parts of British industry, building strategies for industrial strength and expertise in better regulation with DIUS’s expertise in maintaining world class universities, expanding access to higher education, investing in the UK’s science base and shaping skills policy and innovation through bodies such as the Technology Strategy Board.
It also puts the UK’s Further Education system and universities closer to the heart of government thinking about building now for the upturn.
The Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) department will:
- Advocate the needs of business across government, especially of UK small businesses;
- Promote an enterprise environment that is good for business and good for consumers;
- Design tailored policies for sectors of the UK economy that represent key future strengths and where government policy can add to the dynamics of the market;
- Assess the changing skills needs of the UK economy, especially the intermediate and high skills vital in a global economy and design policies to meets them through public and privately funded life long training;
- Invest in the development of a higher education system committed to widening participation, equipping people with the skills and knowledge to compete in a global economy and securing and enhancing Britain's existing world class research base;
- Continue to invest in the UK’s world class science base and develop strategies for commercialising more of that science;
- Continue to invest in skills through the Further Education system to help people through the downturn and to prepare Britain for the future;
- Deliver on the government’s ambitious objectives to expand the number of apprenticeships;
- Encourage innovation in the UK;
- Defend a sound regulatory environment that encourages enterprise and skills;
- Collaborate with the RDAs in building economic growth in the English regions;
- Work with the EU in shaping European regulation and European policies that affect the openness of the single market and the competitiveness of European and British companies;
- Continue to work to expand UK exports and encourage inward investment to the UK.
Sir Alan Sugar appointed as enterprise 'czar' in UK government cabinet reshuffle
5th June 2009
Sir Alan Sugar, entrepreneur and broadcaster, has been appointed as "Enterprise Czar" in Gordon Brown's re-shuffled government. Gordon Brown said, "We are in a crisis situation as far as economic conditions go. I cannot think of a better person to do the job." Lord Mandleson, the Business Secretary, said that Sir Alan would be championing the cause of small and medium sized enterprises as the UK government steers through the current recession.
UK government announces new review to look ahead to small business recovery
3rd June
A review to examine if Government will need to intervene to help small and medium businesses access growth capital will be led by venture capital expert Christopher Rowlands.
The Growth Capital Review is one of the first measures to be taken forward from the Government's 'New Industry, New Jobs' strategic plan for Britain's recovery. The plan focuses on the resources our businesses need to prepare for the upturn and prioritises high growth firms being able to access the financing they need as opportunities emerge in a new, global economy.
The review will determine if any intervention, including a modern-day version of Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation/3i, is required to ensure small and medium sized firms with good growth potential have access to the capital they need to take advantage of the upturn.
UK government gives new impetus to refreshing bioscience until 2015
The UK government has committed to supporting the main conclusions of the Review and Refresh of Bioscience 2015 led by Sir David Cooksey. The government will take the following steps to ensure that the UK remains a world leader for bioscience research and commercialisation activity. The key initiatives are:
- Government and industry to develop a new stratified disease strategy to support the development of drugs that are effective in niche populations.
- NHS to include clinical research metrics in the annual Quality Accounts produced by Trusts.
- Implement a goal to double the number of patients participating in clinical studies over the next five years.
- Launch a consultation on changes to the taxation system relating to innovation activity.
- Ensure that The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department of Health create a database of companies across the industry to provide reliable data as a base for policy decisions.
Meanwhile, Germany is similarly taking a proactive stance towards investing in biosciences. The Ministry for Science and Education has awarded three inter-disciplinary Bio-Pharma research and development projects a total of €100m over the next three years research into the next generation of drugs to tackle cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes. Given that drugs from biotechnology laboratories accounted for €4 billion or 15% of the total turnover of the pharmaceuticals industry in Germany in 2007, this is an investment in the future growth of the German economy.
Social enterprises and disadvantaged areas to be included in Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme
The UK government has announced that the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme is to be widened to include social enterprises and businesses operating in disadvantaged areas.
The changes will provide extra support to Community Development Finance Institutions by allowing them to access bank loans, worth up to £20m, through the EFG scheme. Unity Trust Bank, in response to this change, also announced today that it is making an additional £5m available for onward lending by CDFIs.
Community Development Finance Institutions, provide vital financial support to businesses and social enterprises which are unable to access bank lending due to the higher risk associated with supporting the disadvantaged groups and communities to which they lend.