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Comprehensive Spending Review

We have submitted our recommendations to the Treasury, prior to the Comprehensive Spending Review, which will take place on 20 October.

Finance and banking

Businesses often need more finance during a recovery than during the recession itself. Therefore the Forum is concerned about the lack of bank lending to small businesses in 2010. When responding to the recent Government green paper 'Financing a private sector recovery' we urged the Government to do more when it comes to stimulating the supply of credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). More transparency over bank actions is needed in order to provide a true picture of lending. We would like to see greater discretion locally, with bank managers able to make decisions on a case-by-case basis, rather than the current system where lending decisions are made by head office bureaucrats. Banks are still far too dominant when it comes to the availability of finance so we would also like to see more alternatives to bank lending.

Late payment

The Forum is committed to helping business tackle one of its primary concerns; the issue of late payment. We run a late payment 'Hall of Shame' in which large firms who unfairly alter their payment terms to small business are named and shamed. Recent additions to the hall include brewing giant Molson Coors and leading IT company Dell Inc.

The Forum is calling on the Government to stick to its 10-day payment target for public sector bodies, despite the new EU 30-day target. While welcoming the new EU proposal, we feel that the 10-day target must not be scrapped, particularly as many government bodies are meeting the deadline.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Experiences of Business Link amongst members are varied and its demise is likely to affect many of them. In our consultation response on LEPs, submitted to the Business and Enterprise Select Committee, we indicated that the services provided by bidding authorities should include:

• Localised business support
• Supplier matching and inward investment
• Export preparations
• Regional infrastructure investment
• Skills and training information and promotion

We feel that the focus of LEPs should be on allowing businesses to choose their own forms of business support from a fair and open marketplace, rather than competing to sell them services through a system which would be devoid of choice.

Business costs

Each year many businesses lose out on millions of pounds in backdated Business Rate Relief. The Forum is currently urging businesses to claim back money owed by returning their forms by the due date.

We will continue to support businesses by highlighting such issues, to make sure small businesses do not lose out.