This interactive workshop is aimed at CEO and Senior Management within NFEA Member organisations. More details will be announced soon, call Heather Butler-Smith on 01234 831623 for more information.

There is no question that targets drive behaviours, especially when they are heavily incentivised. The trouble arises when targets distort behaviours. We all remember the horror stories of ambulances queuing outside casualty departments, holding patients until admitting them to cause no threat to the four hour waiting time target.

It’s time for some fresh thinking, and the new government is already making a start, with some radical changes to all areas of public service. In no particular order, they are pushing for

• decentralisation and local empowerment
• deregulation and
• a focus on value for money

There are savage budget cuts across nearly every department (with one or two notable exceptions - Health and Overseas Development). There are also new institutions being considered or formed.

• Local Enterprise Partnerships will take over the role of the current Regional Development Agencies.
• Consumer Protection and Markets Authority will regulate financial firms, (in effect a successor to the Financial Services Authority)

Underpinning all this change is the belief that there is a need for new approach to relations between consumers and the public sector. There is a huge opportunity here to forge a new relationship which would be based less on targets and more on outcomes. A relationship in which the customer experience will be a key factor to consider in the design, delivery and quality assurance of all services. And one in which there is less emphasis on an inspection and tick box regime, and more on a culture change - to assure the embedding of customer focus throughout the public sector.

There is already a well proven tool out there that can be a huge help to developing this new, customer focused culture. It is called Putting the Customer First ^TM and it is owned and promoted by a private, not for profit company, Customer First UK. If customers are important to your organisation then Customer First is for you as it offers a practical approach to achieving customer service excellence in your organisation. The standard offers benefits to all service deliverers and has been achieved by hundreds of organisations in the public, private and not for profit sectors nationwide.

The key philosophical differences are the requirement to demonstrate how you know you have satisfied customers and the lack of prescription in the way you achieve your service delivery and quality levels. This is the main difference from the tick-box, check everything, reams of evidence, we know best how to run your operation etc approach that has bedevilled the public sector (and swathes of the private sector too) for so long now.

Using the Customer First standard would achieve many worthwhile objectives. It puts the responsibility for managing customer relations squarely onto the service deliverer. It forces them to think through the strategic implications of how they run their operation and it is a great stimulus to a creative change in culture to a more customer focused and effective organisation. There would also be a huge saving by not requiring the plethora of existing public sector bodies whose sole purpose is to check others’ numbers. This standard is a fantastic tool to support a more enterprising, customer focused and value for money public service across all departments. Let’s use it to help drive the changes necessary to support the much needed recovery in all parts of the country.

The Government has started already to dismantle some of the targets in the NHS but we suggest this needs to be balanced by a renewed focus on outcomes - the satisfied customer, consumer or patient. With the Customer First standard, we have the ideal tool, applicable to both the largest and smallest environment. We are ready to work with the public and indeed the private sector, to share our aspiration to Put the Customer First.

 The aim of the project is to achieve the following results:-

• 1. Preparing SMEs to be finance-ready through specific financial guidance
• 2. Assist SMEs with business planning and financial strategies to raise finance
• 3. Support the creation of new jobs and safeguard existing jobs
• 4. Provide access to finance for environmental management improvements carried out by SMEs
• 5. Support SMEs in generating new sales and identifying sustainable supply chains.

The target groups are:-

• Established SMEs - trading for min of 6 months
• High growth or innovative start-ups
• High growth pre-starts

Business Ownership:-

To pro-actively engage with under- represented groups:-

Women; BAME; Disabled business owners/leaders

Geographical coverage:-

Merton, Kingston, Richmond plus Bromley and Sutton.  A small percentage of clients can be based outside this area

For MCC, the target is to assist 51 businesses and achieve 17 that successfully access their financial investment.  With a completion by Sept 2012.

In order to achieve this we are seeking adviser(s) to deliver these outputs and the job description is attached.  If you are interested in applying please send a brief CV plus covering statement/letter by e-mail or to the address below as soon as possible and no later than Tues 13 July 2010.

The CV should emphasise the experience gained in the delivery of financial advice and support, together with examples of clients who succeeded in gaining financial investment.

Enquiries/CVs to :-

Mr D Swift, Merton Chamber of Commerce

Tuition House 27 - 37 St George’s Road Wimbledon SW19 4EU

 david@southlondon.biz

Job Description for:  Business Adviser - ERDF Project and Related Projects       

Salary: £30,000 per annum pro rata for hours worked only

Hours: By agreement

Responsible to: Operations Manager, Enterprise Support

Other Significant Relationships

Merton Chamber/Generator Business Team

External clients

Other Advisers

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE JOB: 

• 1. To provide high quality business support services for an ERDF project and related projects.
• 2. Produce timely reports and documentation in accordance with ERDF and other projects and commercial work.
• 3. Promote the services of Merton Chamber to external clients.
• 4. Deliver the outputs relating to the projects.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE JOB HOLDER: 

• 1. Provide general or specialist business support, assisting clients to prepare for funding applications
• 2. Work within the guidelines of ERDF funded projects.
• 3. Complete all required documentation to the required standard to meet project outputs.
• 4. Maximise on project outputs.
• 5. Provide a professional service for clients and measure impact.
• 6. Deliver/assist with co-ordination of occasional Finance related workshops, promoting ERDF benefits and advising on sources of finance and related business factors to businesses and employers.
• 7. Collect feedback from clients for evaluation purposes and LMI.

General

The post holder may be required to perform duties other than those given in the job description for the post. The particular duties and responsibilities attached to posts may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility entailed.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

• 1. To have a relevant professional qualification.
• 2. To have expert knowledge of the business environment.
• 3. Experience of working with businesses as a business adviser and scoping business needs.
• 4. Track record of successful business improvement with clients.
• 5. Have up to date knowledge and understanding of EU environmental policy.
• 6. To have expert financial experience of investment and lending services.
• 7. Excellent communications and account management skills.
• 8. To demonstrate an understanding and commitment to the College’s Single Equality Scheme.

Desirable

• 1. A knowledge of ERDF projects.
• 2. Well developed use of IT packages.
• 3. To be SFEDI assessed
• 4. A knowledge of Customer Relationship Management systems.

On enterprise, Mr Osborne did state explicitly the Government’s view that SMEs were fundamental to economic recovery. Specific measures I noticed included:

• a review of employment law to be undertaken
• employee NI thresholds increased by £21.
• temporary increase in small business rate relief
• central government tenders to go on-line, free
• EFG increased by £200m to 31/3/11
• and a 20 business day turnaround on applications
• a Green Paper on business finance in the summer
• an exemption of £5000 NI for each of ten employees for 3 years for new businesses started in the NW, NE, Yorkshire, East and West Midlands and the South West.
• a Regional Growth Fund to “support increases in business employment and growth”.
• RDAs to be abolished and replaced by LEPs-”particularly those based around England’s major cities and other natural economic areas.”
• focus on transport, housing, skills regeneration and other areas of economic development
• incentives for local authorities to support growth.

So confirmation that RDAs will go, but we shall have to wait and see what replaces them, and when. I was disappointed to see no specific reference to business support; I suspect we will have to wait for clarity on that. In the meantime we are continuing to argue strongly - and the case needs to be made - that a start-up service needs government support.

In summary: a radical Budget which will take time to fully understand. Some positive individual measures to help SMEs and the regions (click here for an interactive map).  But we shall have to see how the specific measures to help small businesses play out against the context of the wider impacts on the economy.

Emma Jones interviews Small Business Minister Mark Prisk from Enterprise Nation on Vimeo.

Specifically I asked for:

• qualification based accreditation, as the only way to achieve professional standards worth having
• a CPD process which was effective in keeping us all up to date, without getting into the pantomime of counting hours of “study.”
• a public register to record all this.

I’m delighted to say that I’ve had a positive response to all this - see the blog and comments here. SFEDI has been successful in gaining accreditation as the standards setting body for a further three years at least, and have also received Awarding Body status. This means that as well as writing the standards, SFEDI Awards can build qualifications which will be accessible through SFEDI Centre of Excellence. Mark Ellis, the new Chief Executive of SFEDI Awards has set this all out in detail. There is work to be done in building the qualifications, and SFEDI Awards will not be the only show in town, as other awarding bodies will also be able to create qualifications, but these will be built from the SFEDI standards.

What we need now is whole-hearted commitment to professional standards from everyone involved, from front line advisers through to funding bodies in central and regional government. With goodwill and effort, we can build a profession worthy of the name. And I think the odd congratulation to Tony Robinson, to Ruth Lowbridge to Mark Ellis and to the rest of the SFEDI team is entirely appropriate.

Yesterday Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg released the coalition government’s policy programme. Maintaining the stance described by Mark Prisk, Minister of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the document outlines the decision to:

“support the creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships - joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote local economic development - to replace Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). These may take the form of the existing RDAs in areas where they are popular”.

As Britain slowly emerges from the deepest recession for almost a century, there is a focus on enterprise as never before. Enterprise has a great part to play in helping ameliorate the consequences the recession has had for individuals, families and communities, and to reduce worklessness.

The correct approach to business support is of paramount importance to nurture, encourage and inspire today’s entrepreneurs to succeed in business. NFEA members already portray shining examples of the type of local, bespoke business support the new government is working towards, and the type this country needs.

Our experience, supported by a body of research, is that businesses and individuals want to see this tailored approach, rather than be “shoe-horned” into generic “one size fits all” schemes. They wish to be treated as individuals and they trust local deliverers, rather than remote government services or indeed what they see as civil servants. They value easy access, simple and effective delivery, local visibility and an understanding of the economy in which they live. This analysis, and plan for delivery was set out in our Enterprise Manifesto.

NFEA Chief Executive George Derbyshire said:

“NFEA and our members are well placed as local enterprise agencies and business support organisations. We will do whatever we can to support the proposed structure, and look forward to taking an active part in the new framework of business support going forward”

Doug Scott, NFEA’s Deputy Chairman and recent recipient of the Queens Award for Lifetime Achievement in Enterprise Promotion, also commented on the announcement:

“We are encouraged by many of the policies to stimulate new business formation. The proposals to cut the time it takes to start a new business, end the ban on social tenants starting businesses in their homes, encourage the formation of ‘green’ businesses, the mentoring support for Black and Minority Ethnic communities and the creation of the Work for Yourself programme for unemployed people are all evidence of the Coalition’s commitment to the enterprise economy. As local enterprise agencies, we are committed to developing enterprise in our local communities and look forward to working with the new government to achieve this”

 For further information about NFEA and our network, or for independent comment please contact Daniel Locke, NFEA Communications Editor: daniel.locke@nfea.com / 01234 831623.

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What struck me most, was that the policies of the parties all gave the impression of being written in isolation from the reality of doing business on the ground.  For example, when asked how they were going to support e-commerce, we had a lot of responses about super-fast broadband, etc, but as many people pointed out, the real issue around e-commerce is not a technology one.  It’s about how you actually get the goods to your customer. So we should be talking about reforming the Royal Mail, not about technology.

All slightly worrying (especially as there are about 6000 businesses in the average parliamentary constituency) and it just shows the importance of ensuring local and national politicians understand the realities of what we do.