Earlier this week Mark Prisk spoke to the Summit for Small Business and explained how the government intends to help the five million SMEs, which includes umbrella companies, in Britain grow now that the recession is behind us.

Prisk used to own a small business so he says he understands how important SMEs are to the UK’s growth. The sector provides 60% of UK jobs and 50% of GDP and Prisk’s speech could make SMEs a bit more optimistic that support will be forthcoming from the government.

According to the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, 60% of SMEs want to grow in the next three years but getting access to finance has been an ongoing problem since the start of the recession. The Department has now announced it intends to rectify this, as well as making it easier for small firms to do business with public sector organisations and allowing social tenants to start running a new business from home.

The Federation of Small Businesses has called on the government to make good on these promises and ensure that smaller firms and contractors get 25% of public sector contracts. FSB spokesman, Stephen Alambritis, also agreed that SMEs need easier access to finance but added that less onerous red tape was also required if the government wants to help small businesses flourish.

The government intends to continue the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme for the next four years. This scheme helps 6,000 SMEs a year by making about £2bn available to small firms and freelancers without either collateral or a credit history. In addition, it will commit another £200m to Enterprise Capital Funds that support equity investments in potential high growth businesses.

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Our economy should escape a double dip recession, but we will see growth slow down, according to the BCC.

The British Chambers of Commerce thinks that we are not at as much risk of a double dip recession as some industry experts are making out.

David Kern, the BCC’s economic advisor said that we can expect to see slow growth in the immediate future and that if things are going to pick up, it will not be until the second half of next year.

The Chamber also believes that the effect on the economy of the public sector spending cuts has been somewhat exaggerated.

However, Professor David Blanchflower does not share Kern’s optimism. The former member of the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee believes that the government’s austerity cuts could push the country back into recession.

Earlier this week, the Professor said he is concerned that the first quarter of 2011 is going to be terrible. He thinks that drastic cuts are not the answer and George Osborne should have spread the cuts out over a long time.

Meanwhile, the FSB has reported that 10% of firms are expecting to cut jobs over the coming 3 months after the recent weakening of business confidence.

The results of a recent survey carried out the Federation showed that over 33% of firms reported that their revenue declined in quarter 3. Small businesses and freelancers now want the government to provide a strategy for growth to go alongside the spending cuts.

The government is hoping that the private sector can create more jobs to absorb some of the public sector fall out. But the impending VAT rise and the austerity measures are going to be too much for a lot of small businesses to cope with.

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The coalition launched its ‘Your Freedom’ website last Thursday; a move that has been welcomed by the FSB.

The website, launched by Nick Clegg, will give the public the opportunity to nominate which laws they would like to see abolished.

The site asks members of the public three questions. Which laws restricting civil liberties should be abolished? Which laws are unnecessary and should go? And which regulations should go to make it easier to run a business?

As well as answering these questions, people can submit ideas and comment and vote on the views of others.

The coalition says that all suggestions will be read and the relevant department will respond to the best ideas through video messages and comments. Freelancers may even be invited to discuss their suggestions with government officials.

Members of the public, including umbrella company contractors, have obviously been keen to express their views. On the first day, the site received more than 2,205 suggestions, 7,419 comments and 18,000 votes.

Your Freedom will run until the autumn and the views of the public will feed into a new Freedom Bill that is expected to include measures on the right to peaceful protest, CCTV cameras and rules surrounding the DNA database.

In 2009, 33% of SMEs and limited company contractors said regulation was holding back growth, and the Federation set up a portal to encourage its members to provide feedback on the regulations they would like to see abolished.

The new Cabinet committee, chaired by Vince Cable, tasked with reducing the onerous burden of red tape, met for the first time last Thursday.

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