New business start ups: the key to success

Chair: Maureen Foers MBE
Members: Tony Cherry, Brigid Kane, Cllr Mark Kirk, Cllr Bob Tress

The first scrutiny looked at the development of the region’s Business Birth Rate Strategy (BBRS), which aims to double the rate of business start-ups so that 15,000 new businesses are created each year by 2010.

The report recommended better co-ordination of delivering aid to business start-ups; and also found that improved information would help ensure money targeted to create and develop new businesses had the greatest possible impact.

Actions that followed include:

• new projects to support businesses run by people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities; and
• initiatives to help more than 150 new and existing small businesses in the voluntary and community sector.

Yorkshire Forward, the Business Links and the local Learning and Skills Councils have since come together to develop ‘Better Deal for Business’ to achieve radical improvement in business support services.