Prime Minister David Cameron announced a ‘business growth package’ at the Exporting for Growth and Finance Fitness conference yesterday.
The measures include a £95 million boost to the Regional Growth Fund, which is targeting small and medium sized who can’t access commercial funding.
Other initiatives, designed to make businesses’ lives easier include the introduction of ‘one-click registration’ from 1 April, which will enable businesses to register their business at Companies House, sign up for PAYE registration, Corporation Tax and Self Assessment all in one place, with registration for VAT being added at a later date.
Recognising the importance of the internet, the Web Fuelled Business initiative will involve the Department for Business teaming up with founding Dragon’s Den panellist Doug Richard and Yell to get 3,500 businesses into workshops all over the country to make sure they are exploiting the opportunities offered by the internet.
Exporting is also targeted with the package, with the launch of the National Export Challenge – a series of initiatives to give SMEs the knowledge they need to make the first steps to breaking into new markets.
Speaking yesterday the Prime Minister said:
“British SMEs are already doing incredible things, but we urgently need more of them to follow that boldness. We need this to be a country where more people think ‘I can start my own business and I can sell to the world.
“Our determination is to come through these difficult times stronger, to trade our way to growth and jobs. We need to show real optimism about the future, and we need to show real aggression about pursuing Britain’s interests in the world. The markets are there to be tapped; the deals are there to be done, the opportunities are there to be capitalised on. Now together we must seize them.”
