I was reading an article written a little while ago by Chris Grayling - the shadow work and pension secretary. There were some good ideas outlined, and if the political spin and point scoring is put aside, then the general thrust of potential future Conservative party policy on job creation is worth at least one and a half cheers! It was a relief to see it acknowledged that the growth in the economy is going to come from innovative small businesses and that they are the only real source of sustainable jobs growth. Too often we see undue emphasis placed on short term protectionism or assistance for uneconomic large players or the celebration of yet more public sector posts.
We need to rediscover the enterprise and entrepreneurial zeal which has made Britain "Great". Rather than spend fortunes propping up the past let's concentrate on the future. What I want to see from any government are policies which make setting up and running a business easy. REAL reduction in bureacracy, lower but fair taxation policies, incentives for job creation etc.
Chris Grayling referred to places such as Canada where new business creation from welfare to work programmes have been particularly successful. We have a version of this option now through the New Deal but it is very much the "forgotten option". The proposals to get 20,000 new businesses a year created are very much welcomed but some of the detail is suspect. It is the thought that he is expecting businesses such as ours to fund the programmes and then reclaim costs through benefits saved that worry me. Taking into account the average time taken to start a business and then the time for the benefit savings to be realised mean that it could be 12 months before we would be paid - not a model that we would recommend to our clients! How many people are going to put the time and effort into helping those who need it most when the financial pay back is so uncertain?
I have confidence in what assistance we provide to such clients and indeed we set up about 2.5% of Chris Graylings annual target and have done consistently for 27 years. So Mr Grayling if you want to get three cheers and help refine your policy into a workable process why dont you get in contact with me? As we are politically neutral I open this opportunity to any of the main political parties. Come and see what the experts "on the ground" actually do and it will probably surprise and enthuse you.
The answers are out there - you only need to ask the right questions.
Showing posts with label Conservative party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conservative party. Show all posts
Monday, February 2, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
New Entrepreneur Scholarships
A subject which I have been meaning to touch upon for a while is that of the New Entrepreneur Scholarship Fund (NES). This programme has run for the last 5/6 years and has been funded by the Learning and Skills Council. Run by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA) in partnership with the Princes Trust and Association of Business Schools it has been one of the most successful programmes that I have had the pleasure of being involved in.
In brief, individuals from the most disadvantaged areas of the country go through a programme of training and 1-1 support combined with a £1500 bursary to help them start in business. They even have the opportunity to gain an NVQ 2 or 3 qualification. The figures are impressive:
- 75% of participants start up in business
- 86% are still trading after 3 years and 76% after 5 years
- the majority were unemployed or economically inactive when starting the scheme
- over 5000 businesses started
- all this for a unit cost of £6500.
Unfortunately this programme has now ceased due to lack of funding - and it was only £5/6m per annum. In a time when jobs are being cut, self employment is an increasingly attractive option and of course it has the added benefit of creating even more jobs via business growth. The logic of stopping this in the teeth of the worst recession for a generation seems madness when we are spending billions on untried and intangible new projects.
Let us hope that there is someone with a modicum of sanity at BERR, government or in the Conservative party who will champion the return and indeed expansion of this scheme at a time when the country desperately needs it. "Tried and tested" is a sensible policy to have when all around are experimenting and mortgaging our future. Just think what £50m a year could do to regenerate struggling areas. Then again who said logic ever enters any political decisions!
In brief, individuals from the most disadvantaged areas of the country go through a programme of training and 1-1 support combined with a £1500 bursary to help them start in business. They even have the opportunity to gain an NVQ 2 or 3 qualification. The figures are impressive:
- 75% of participants start up in business
- 86% are still trading after 3 years and 76% after 5 years
- the majority were unemployed or economically inactive when starting the scheme
- over 5000 businesses started
- all this for a unit cost of £6500.
Unfortunately this programme has now ceased due to lack of funding - and it was only £5/6m per annum. In a time when jobs are being cut, self employment is an increasingly attractive option and of course it has the added benefit of creating even more jobs via business growth. The logic of stopping this in the teeth of the worst recession for a generation seems madness when we are spending billions on untried and intangible new projects.
Let us hope that there is someone with a modicum of sanity at BERR, government or in the Conservative party who will champion the return and indeed expansion of this scheme at a time when the country desperately needs it. "Tried and tested" is a sensible policy to have when all around are experimenting and mortgaging our future. Just think what £50m a year could do to regenerate struggling areas. Then again who said logic ever enters any political decisions!
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