Small Firms Information Centres
In responding to the Bolton Report’s recommendations there were also commitments for departments to consider the impact on small firms of surveys and other form-filling, some relatively minor details on tax and finance and an exemption for ‘small firms’ from the levy mandated by the Industrial Training Act (definition to be decided by each relevant board). It was suggested that the Training Boards could offer fee-based training to small firms as an alternative that would be more suited to the needs of these businesses. In suggesting this, the non-committal, small-scale nature of the government’s response to Bolton is evident. The underlying assumption of small firms as distinctive is accepted but without any significant policymaking or interventions to address the challenges that might face these businesses. In the case of form filling, this would remain a perennial issue (for example, a review into the problem was conducted in 1980).
In 1977, Bob Cryer, Secretary of State for Industry, set out the general provision that had been established as a result of the post-Bolton activity:
Small firms in England are eligible for a wide range of Government assistance, which is generally available throughout the United Kingdom to encourage the growth and expansion of firms of every size. In particular, most of the sectoral schemes in operation under Section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 contain special provisions for assistance towards the cost of consultancy studies for small firms; in two schemes, the minimum size for investment projects has been reduced; and 108 individual terrace or nursery units for occupation by small firms are being built. Small firms can also call on the services of the small firms information centres at any stage of their development.
(Hansard, HC Deb. 22 March 1977 vol.928 col.496)
The small firms information centres constituted a second major response to the recommendations of the Bolton Report, in particular to calls for better signposting of the array of services available to support small businesses. This represented a significant step forward in the development of ideas around advisory and support services in UK enterprise policy and provided a foundation (at least in terms of ideas) of large-scale schemes that were to follow and will be discussed later in the book:
- (A)—9. Among the management advisory services we have considered we recognise none which meets our criteria for continuing subsidy. There is, however, a need for a pure “signposting” or referral service which could not, we believe, be made to pay for itself, and this the Government should provide. This could best be done by setting up a network of small firms advisory bureaux in important industrial centres.
- (Hansard, HC Deb. 8 March 1973 vol.852 cols.204-205)
These bureaux, reporting directly to the Small Firms Division, would provide answers to queries relating to technical, financial and management problems by introducing small business owners or employees to the appropriate sources of available advice within different industries. They operated as a regional information service for small businesses,
Taxation, Lobbying and a Voice 95 offering a telephone helpline and centres in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Nottingham, each staffed by three experienced civil servants (Hansard, HC Deb. 28 July 1976 vol.916 col.277).
However, there were concerns that existing sources of management consultancy and advice may not have been effectively tailored for small firms. For example, in a paper to be presented at the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux (the event was cancelled), Wood (1974: 76) explained:
. . . many of the Industrial Training Boards have insisted, for grant purposes, that small firms should follow the recommendations of the Central Training Council with its emphasis on job specifications, training records, etc. The CTC’s recommendations were based on research carried out in big firms. Fortunately, some of the ITB’s have recognized that running a small firm is a very different process from management in a big firm.
Wood (p. 77) made the case for the protection of small businesses ‘from both the charlatans, selling new clothes to emperors, and also the well-intentioned experts who do not recognize their own limitations.’
These types of concern provided support, once the bureaux framework was in place, for it to begin to extend its service provision. A further 80 Area Counselling Centres were added in 1978, expanding the service and appointing people with relevant industry experience as self-employed contractors to respond to more detailed enquiries and offer specialised guidance. These advisors would provide up to 10 days of advice for free within a year. At this time, about a fifth of queries were from those starting up a new business (Hansard, HC Deb. 3 August 1978 vol.955 col.645), approximately a third relating to management advice and a third to issues broadly related to regulation and government (Hansard, HC Deb. 12 July 1977 vol.935 col.117). The service was then further expanded in 1983 to support the delivery of the new Enterprise Allowance Scheme (see Chapter 8). By 1984, it ‘handled around 300 000 inquiries and nearly 25 000 new counselling cases . . . [and] the government came increasingly to rely on these services to provide support and to screen small-firm applicants for its assistance schemes’ (Wren, 1996: 168).
