Government research into the potential impact of the closure of Business Link suggests ministers will not meet their own objectives for effective business support, an enterprise group has suggested.
The national enterprise network, which represents local enterprise agencies, made the claim ahead of the winding down of local elements of government-backed Business Link services which will be replaced by the main national Business Link website and a call centre.
The group pointed to research commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in November 2010 which concluded: "A reduction in the availability of Business Link’s face to face service could result in a lower take-up of external advice, and confusion remains about which sources of advice to trust.
"Start-ups and new businesses will be particularly affected as they are the least likely to know what support they need, the least able to find or trust appropriate support and the least able and willing to pay for this support."
The study also found that for many entrepreneurs, the Business Link website complements, rather than substitutes for, telephone and face-to-face support, is not a key route to face to face support and is "barely looked at" by many company owners before getting in touch for advice.
All this, NFEA said, conflicts with the government's heavy focus on online support in the new system of business support. "Online business information is undoubtedly valuable but it appears that this is rarely regarded as a useful form of business support, other than in answering factual queries," the organisation added, "Nor is it seen as an adequate replacement for face to face advice.
"We appreciate that major changes to the website are planned, but this is a massive task and whilst it may improve the usability and relevance of the content, it will not remove its perception as a government-owned service, the use of which will benefit the government rather more than the business user."
NFEA also criticised the government's suggestion that "the best advice for business comes from other experienced business people". The group disputed this saying that while experience is important, qualified and professional business advisers offer the best guidance.
"The best musicians do not make the best music teachers, and vice versa," it added. "The best footballers do not make the best football coaches, and vice versa. And we would suggest that successful business people do not always make the best business advisers, nor will they necessarily make the best business mentors."
Concluding its list of concerns, the NFEA said it was worried that the abolition of the local Business Link service "will have a damaging effect on the rate of new businesses coming through, the quality of their management, the rate of their growth and ultimately their sustainability".
Article sourced from businesszone.co.uk
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