At last a good policy from the govt.

[Doggy Styles]

Of course they wouldn't have.

They had their priorities right in those days; grinding the faces of the poor & shooting fuzzywuzzies.

You don't get to rule half the world by being nice.

Send a gunboat etc.

We need Mr Gladstone to sort these fecking Somali pirates out shortish.

Don't we have yard arms in the navy any more?

Can't sailors tie nooses properly.

Gad, what have we become.

There's not enough shivering of timbers these days.

Or keelhauling of mangy swabs.

[TykeMerc]

Despite Sir Philip Green's recommendation, the Government will ensure that 80% of prime contractors are paid within 5 working days. All Government contractors will be required to pay their suppliers within 30 days if they wish to benefit from departments' procurement

Doesn't this mean HP/EDS, Fujitsu, Serco etc get paid in 5 days and have to cough up to their suppliers in 30?

Admittedly I've never had any hassle getting paid promptly by these prime contactor companies, but late payment is so built into how some companies do business it's a killer for small businesses. I nearly went bankrupt 15 years ago due to late payment of some very big invoices for hardware and labour, that's why I abandoned doing that sort of business.

[xoggoth]

Hmmmmmmmmmm. Subsides into melted mess of scepticism.

A reduction in all the red tape and social responsibilities would do a lot more I feel and aren't SMEs about to get another lot plonked on them in the form of pension provisions? Personally I would rather see all the administration of maternity pay, sick pay, employee pensions, student loan repayments etc etc totally removed for companies of under 20 employees. The need for much simpler tax and accounting procedures goes without saying.

PS I wonder if Victorian Britain would ever have ruled the world if the inventors and businessmen had spent such enormous amounts of time on things which were nothing to do with growing the business.

[Sysman]

What was that scheme a couple of years back where the government make £100ms available for small IT businesses? The whole lot was given to vulture capitalists to dish out, and that was the last we heard of that. They've made the same mistake again.

The same happened in the early 1980s with various EU technology investment initiatives (Esprit?). Money was provided for software and hardware development but the companies that did the work ended up with their products being subjected to hefty royalties charged by venture capitalists, the sort of folks Oracle would be proud of.

Except the government's own procurement rules says suppliers must be large and stable so SMEs never get a look in anyway even when they can bid.

That's not us, BTW. That's EDS, HP, Fujitsu, etc.

As usual, the government promises to change, then gives cash to its rich mates.

HP pockets half of all Scottish development cash - El Reg

[Troll]

This will make £2bn available to viable small companies without a credit history or collateral.

Ohhh how does one gets ones nose in that trough?

[AtW]

What Govt should do is include very heavy penalties for non-payment of invoices in due time.

All this access to finance is a load of tulip.

[RichardCranium]

# To support new start-ups, the government welcomes the joint bid of business angels and the Government's SME investment arm, Capital for Enterprise, for a co-investment fund as part of the Regional Growth Fund to support angel investments into high growth potential early stage SMEs, particularly in areas worst affected by public spending cuts.

What was that scheme a couple of years back where the government make £100ms available for small IT businesses? The whole lot was given to vulture capitalists to dish out, and that was the last we heard of that. They've made the same mistake again.

* A quarter of Government procurement will be directed to SMEs.

Except the government's own procurement rules says suppliers must be large and stable so SMEs never get a look in anyway even when they can bid.

# Despite Sir Philip Green's recommendation, the Government will ensure that 80% of prime contractors are paid within 5 working days.

That's not us, BTW. That's EDS, HP, Fujitsu, etc.

As usual, the government promises to change, then gives cash to its rich mates.

It's all just a Heap of Wank™.

[MrMark]

What a load of fuc£ing cr@p!

It is just government propaganda. The only help that small business need is to be left alone, stop the government from interfering and to to cut business rates.

The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) only works for cun&s who can spend all day every week on filling in forms and not doing real business.

Ah - you're needed on this thread http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...e-country.html

[Paddy]

New measures to help small businesses

Government announces new measures to help UK small businesses | Smarta

What a load of fuc£ing cr@p!

It is just government propaganda. The only help that small business need is to be left alone, stop the government from interfering and to to cut business rates.

The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) only works for cun&s who can spend all day every week on filling in forms and not doing real business.

[MrMark]

New measures to help small businesses

Government announces new measures to help UK small businesses | Smarta