EEDA to contract single Business Link provider

The board of the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has confirmed its plans to contract a single regional Business Link provider, to deliver Business Link services in its area. Currently these services are provided by six separate Business Link organisations.

The change means that existing Business Links in the area, such as Business Link Suffolk and Business Link Norfolk will cease to exist from April 2007.

Commenting on the decision, Richard Ellis, EEDA chair, said, “We believe that better co-ordinated, more consistent services will improve start-up and growth rates. It is our aim to build on the current strengths of the Business Link operation in the region.

“By providing one co-ordinated Business Link service, SMEs will have greater access than before to a wide range of business specialists outside their county and will receive a level of service that is consistently high throughout the region.“

EEDA claims the cost savings that are generated by centralising back-office functions and establishing a single management structure will allow them to provide more highly-trained advisors ‘on the ground’, more responsiveness to business needs and more proactive targeting of priority growth sectors and hard-to-reach businesses.

Delivering the Business Link services currently costs EEDA £15.7 million a year and this figure is set to increase.

The move seems to have the support of the CBI and the FSB. On the announcement, Richard Tunnicliffe, regional director at the CBI, said: ”There are too many overlapping, confusing and inconsistent government schemes. I am confident that the steps being taken by EEDA will provide business with more readily available information that is pertinent to their own company.”

And David Burch, East of England Policy Officer at the FSB, added: “The creation of a single Business Link for the region will help reduce the confusion that small business owners experience in finding the right advice. The key to success, though, will obviously be in the continued local delivery of services and the use of local networks to influence that delivery."

Only time will tell whether the change of policy will actually deliver better quality business advice for start-ups and small business in the East of England.