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The Government has announced a raft of changes to its Small Business Service (SBS) in order to make it a smaller, more sharply focused policy unit within DTI with close links to HM Treasury.
The new streamlined SBS will reflect the organisation's move from delivering services on the ground to become an expert policy unit on small business issues throughout Government. The transition means that from April 2007 the SBS will no longer be required to have Executive Agency status and will instead operate as an expert policy unit within the DTI's Enterprise and Business Group.
Margaret Hodge, Small Business Minister, said: "Business have told us that they want a stronger SBS with more clout in Government. We've responded to that by moving from delivering services, which is often better done outside of Whitehall, and focusing on influencing policy on the big issues that matter most to business such as enterprise, better regulation and business support."
Key changes include:
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a core team of 50 people providing a sharper policy focus on simplifying the business environment, stimulating enterprise culture and providing advice across government on how policies can be more business-friendly;
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an additional team of around 50 people to work on key projects, for example the Business Support Simplification Programme, which aims to reduce the 3,000 publicly funded business support schemes to 100 by 2010;
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the SBS will retain specialist expertise in key areas, including: business support policy, small business finance, specific enterprise policy issues including women and ethnic minorities and research, statistics, analysis and performance evaluation.
The bulk of the restructuring is expected to be completed by spring 2007.
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