Small business service chief wants SMEs on front page

David Irwin, chief executive of the government's Small Business Service, tells Business Europe that he aims to move small-to-medium sized firms from the back to the front pages during the next two years.

David Irwin, who was appointed in March this year to oversee a major overhaul of the government's small business advisory service, has now reached the half-way point in the transformation process. By the end of March 2001, the old network of 81 regional business advice centres, or business links, will be rationalised into just 45. At the same time, each centre will adopt new working practices which, Irwin claims, will lead to immediate improvements in the service offered to small owner/managers.

The main change is that the advice service will no longer be required to make a profit. This will fundamentally change the role of the SBS business advisors, according to Irwin. The imperative to hang onto clients won't be there any longer, which I think is more appropriate. The role of the advisor will become more like that of an account manager. This will include drawing up personal development plans for each client, he said.

However, the disappearance of the profit motive doesn't mean that performance will be allowed to slip as well. Managers will apply a new range of performance criteria to each case focusing on how the client responds to the advice given, and on whether or not this advice boosts the client's bottom line.

Irwin is adamant that building up a comprehensive and effective business support service responds better to the needs of small to medium-sized companies than promising to cut excessive regulations, even though the red tape issue dominates small business lobbies' dialogue with the government .

The biggest issue for SMEs is access to finance, or the lack of it, he states, citing his own extensive consultations with small firms up and down the country. Skill shortages would come second, and red tape would come in about fifth place on the list, he added.

In a survey of SMEs carried out by Business Europe this week, 71% of respondents said cutting red tape would be the most helpful step the government could take.

However, Irwin believes that a series of high-profile protests from small business associations such as the Federation of Small Business have exaggerated the importance of the red tape issue. The economy's doing fairly well overall, and I think the (associations) use red tape to demonstrate their raison d'etre. But I'm not saying that regulation is unimportant - just that it's not number one on the small business agenda.

To reinforce the point, he stresses that the SBS is doing its bit in the battle against red tape. Irwin is now consulted on all proposed new business regulations, and he uses his influence to try to block unwieldy or ineffective legislation. He argues that the SBS is in some ways better placed to achieve this than the Better Regulation Taskforce, the body which is officially charged with making business legislation more effective.

The BRT operates as a thorn in the side of the government, criticising after the event. We aim to work on proposed legislation at an earlier stage. We want to make sure that the government really does think small first, Irwin said.

Although the SBS, unlike the BRT, is under government control, he does not see this as a handicap in the struggle to control red tape. I report directly to the Secretary of State, he says simply.

During his first two-year term as head of the SBS, Irwin aims to move small businesses from the back to the front pages. The explosion of growth in the SME sector needed to achieve this, he says, is most likely to come from the spread of online sales and procurement, a practice that the SBS will continue to try and promote.