Local Authority Small Business Friendly Awards. Encouraging Local Authorities to Share Best Practice

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1 Local Authority Small Business Friendly Awards Encouraging Local Authorities to Share Best Practice In 2012 four FSB regions in the South West launched this year s FSB Local Authority Small Business Friendly Awards. An initiative developed by the Wessex region four years ago and shared with other South West regions during Our plan for 2013 is to bring other regions onboard. These Awards identify the best small business friendly initiatives undertaken by the local authorities and also highlights the benefits for small businesses. We were delighted with the number of local authorities that took part and joined us for the awards lunches which took place across the 4 regions. The FSB work with local authorities to help create an environment for small businesses to survive and thrive, and these awards highlight the good practice that is being developed by many Local Authorities in the South West.

2 WESSEX REGION Best Small Business Friendly Procurement Performance Bournemouth Borough Council For running a series of free workshops aimed at local small and micro businesses, to help them apply for public sector contracts. The council recognised that the tendering process can be daunting and appear complicated for small businesses, and their workshops are designed to simplify the process. The council have previously run successful workshops dealing tendering for public sector contracts, and in response to demand, they have added a second level tendering workshop which is aimed at businesses that have already put in tenders but have not been successful. These new workshops provide a practical guide to understanding jargon and forms, common pitfalls which information to include and how best to respond. At the end of the workshop participants are invited by the trainer to make use of a free 4 week tender search as well as specialised help with certain queries for a period of time following the workshop. The council have made the tendering process much clearer to over 650 businesses in the last few years. Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign - North Dorset Council For the implementation of the North Dorset WAVE (Work experience, Apprenticeships, Volunteering, Employment), following identifying an issue about employability skills, work readiness and transition from training and education into employment. Local businesses experience difficulty in recruiting appropriately skilled people with the right attitude and aptitude. The Council successfully convened a meeting with schools, trainers and business representatives, instigated the concept of WAVE, arranged a budget, subsidised travel costs and coordinated a series of events. They worked with WSX Enterprise and Young Enterprise to organise a young entrepreneur event in June. They worked with Weymouth College, organising a two day Careers College in July which included North Dorset Schools for the first time. A Careers Fair was also incorporated, with 40 exhibitors. A further event with businesses is planned for March Business and Skills Market Place. Best All Round Small Business Friendliness - Bournemouth Borough Council The Council s has clearly recognised that increasing employment opportunities, through stronger partnerships with the local business community, is vital, and to that end, have developed a wide reaching programme of business support in response to the demands of their local businesses. The Council has established strong traders groups, both in suburban areas and in the town, specifically assisting traders groups in Westbourne, the Triangle, Charminster, Moordown and Winton to form. Assistance has been offered to apply for funding from the Council s Recession Fund. The Council have also developed a wide range of practical seminars to help local small and micro businesses with issues that are key to their success, with the programme of events set up in response to demand from local businesses and covering such subjects as International Internet Marketing, Tax and VAT, Social Media for Small Businesses, Grant Funding for Small Businesses, Venture Capital for Small Businesses and many others. The relaunch of the Bournemouth Face the Dragons has further given a helping hand to those people wishing to start up a business in Bournemouth by offering them the possibility of receiving a 500 to help them with the start-up costs of their new venture

3 Best Small Business Friendly Procurement Policy Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council For a strategy of continued development of their Procurement process. Following the success of the Signage Framework in securing SME participation in tendering, the Council have led a number of frameworks via their role in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Procurement Partnership this has included a routine soft-market testing with SME s to ensure each proposed contract model is viable in the market and to seek feedback on what could be done to better engage them in each activity. In order to allow SME s the opportunity to compete for this business the Council have established regional lot s which, for financial assessment, will be calculated on the total value divided by the proposed number of suppliers for each lot. Often a supplier has to demonstrate a turnover in excess of 3x value of the contract, but by applying the lots, the Council were able to break the value of the contract down. Instead of needing a turnover of 3.6M (for a single source contract) suppliers now need a turnover of approx. 60k. This approach has been validated by a number of SME s who engaged with the Council. The Council have taken a holistic approach to advertising and responding to SME s, and have recently lowered tender thresholds, now requiring all opportunities over 50k to be advertised via the South East Business Portal (SEBP). There is also a single point of contact in order to make it easier for SME s for contacting. All spend over 500 and live and historic contracts, are available on-line. SME s can see what we is currently being advertised, and also what is likely to come-up in the future Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign Isle of Wight Council The Isle of Wight Council, in order to stimulate the local economy, has set up a preapprentice scheme. With a high level of youth unemployment currently at 29%, the scheme provides financial support to individuals while they undergo a pre-apprentice trial at a company for up to 6 months (set at the same level as if that individual was undergoing an apprenticeship). The scheme aims to result in a formal apprenticeship. With SMEs being the backbone of the Island s economy, the scheme has focused on placing pre-apprentices with SMEs with excellent results - not only are young people being assisted into apprenticeship schemes, but SMEs who were hesitant about employing an apprentice have been supported in taking that first step. The scheme, which started in January 2012, has had 43 applicants placed in 40 companies up to July 2012, with 6 going on to become apprentices at the company they were placed with. The success of the programme has led to it being enlarged and incorporated into the developing broader program aimed at the wider economy. Best All Round Small Business Friendliness Test Valley Borough Council For a continuing commitment, despite a 30% cut in Government grant, to supporting business. The Council offers a wide range of initiatives designed to help SMEs, of which a few such initiatives are the 535,000 Andover Skills Training Fund; the 500 Business Incentive Grant for start-ups; the provision of 25 construction apprenticeships on major development sites; the continued funding for Enterprise First (who give free advice for start ups); the sponsorship of an annual Meet-the-Buyer event & Andover Expo; the continued hosting of the Test Valley Business Awards (now in its 8 th year); regular business visits by the Economic portfolio holder & EDO; the provision of easy-in easy-out premises by owning/managing Walworth Enterprise Centre (which is fully occupied) and also the purchase of Andover Basepoint Centre from SEEDA; and also hosting of a Helping business to Export event with UKTI (and EM3 LEP) with over 40 businesses in attendance.

4 STAFFORDSHIRE & WEST MIDLANDS REGION Best Small Business Friendly Procurement Policy - Staffordshire County Council This Council has worked tirelessly to increase SME access to and participation in Council tender processes and to increase the extent to which SME s win Council business. The council has an annual 3 rd Party spend in excess of 500M and fully understands the benefits to the County, region and the small business community of supporting the local economy by capturing the value added benefits SME s can bring. The Council has sought advice from and consulted with the FSB to look at how to make doing business with the Council easier for small businesses. Efforts to date have included the FSB reviewing and endorsing the Council s standard tender documentation to small business-fy the process and make it more accessible. The Council has also provided the FSB with details of spend by category allowing the Council to map its expenditure to the services offered by FSB Members. The council has developed training for Small businesses to further assist them with entering the tendering process. All of this shows an excellent engagement with local small businesses and highlights a real desire to help them to be bid ready! Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign - Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council The Council has drilled down to improve the economic viability and vitality of Walsall by putting together a range of projects aimed at sustaining existing businesses, supporting new businesses and creating the environment to attract inward investment. It has provided support to 1275 businesses by establishing the Walsall Town Centre Champions Group, publishing a quarterly business focused newsletters, delivering free training including social media, website development and fire risk assessment to over 100 businesses, generating over 34,000 in external funding from grants, business sponsorship and advertising, supporting 97 new businesses over the last 12 months in creating 410 new jobs and engaging with landlords to deliver suitable premises for retail, leisure and office sectors leading to a drop of 41% in vacant ground floor units representing a vacancy rate of 9% (well below the national average of almost 15%). In addition, the council has made a concerted effort to address the issue of business crime, the reduction of which is also one of the top 5 priorities of the FSB, by liaising with partners to target business crime and Anti Social Behaviour affecting the town centres, introducing the Cuppa for a Copper initiative and securing support for the introduction of a Radio Link scheme to target shoplifting, delivering a Smartwater provision within vulnerable businesses and using creative projects to reduce anti-social behaviour such as the introduction of a legal graffiti site which has eradicated graffiti in Darlaston town centre. Best All Round Small Business Friendliness - Stafford Borough Council There are many examples of Town Centre Partnerships across the Region but there were a few things which stood out for the FSB with this Council s model. The Partnership was established to grow the town centre economy, increase footfall (which completely aligns with the FSB s own campaign to Keep Trade Local) and help attract further investment into the County Town. This supported the advantage Stafford has in that around half its retail businesses are small, independent companies. The scheme has 122 members representing local businesses, the council and the Police Authority. It provides a dedicated website, loyalty card, year round events programme and marketing all of which are designed to

5 raise the awareness of Stafford Town Centre, its shops and businesses, at a local, regional and national level and to ensure Stafford Town Centre remains vibrant, prosperous, clean, safe and an attractive place. Membership of the initiative delivers a range of benefits to businesses including the opportunity to make offers and discounts via the Enjoy Stafford loyalty card, thereby encouraging local spend into the area, promotion of businesses through newsletters, e-marketing campaigns and Stafford Town Centre Website, seasonal advertising of Stafford Town Centre including adverts at major rail stations, bus sides and billboards and Social media promotion through Twitter and Facebook really important to the on-line era. The success of the Partnership can be seen by the fact that Stafford s shop vacancy rates remain low, at around half the national average. The achievements of the Partnership were recognised as an example of national best practice when Stafford Borough received Beacon Council status in 2009 and other councils have undertaken exchange visits to learn from the success in Stafford. Commendation for Best Small Business Friendly Collaborative Working - Tamworth Borough Council and Lichfield District Council The joint submission from these two Local Authorities outlined a simple, easy and effective win for small businesses and is an excellent example of cross border working for the good of small businesses across two Local Authorities geographies. The project is called the Pop Up Show, a no frills business to business exhibition that gives micro and small businesses the chance to promote themselves to other businesses in the area for a small fee, at the fraction of the price of a normal exhibition. The Pop Up Show offers the opportunity for micro and small business to show off what they do, make new connections and hopefully win new business. This initiative is a great example of how, with a small amount of assistance and the right opportunities, small businesses can be supported to grow and develop their business for the benefit of the local economy. The FSB would like to see more examples of this type of cross border collaborative working at the awards next year! COVENTRY & WARWICKSHIRE REGION Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign - Stratford-upon-Avon District Council A loyalty card for the market town of Shipston encouraging repeat visits and spending from existing shoppers. Also promotes Shipston s versatile and diverse range of independent retailers. Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign - Rugby Borough Council: A retail start-up scheme providing 5,000 worth of support encouraging small independent retailers into Rugby town centre. The package includes funds for accountants and solicitors as well as a mentoring aspect. Lowest town centre parking fees in Warwickshire (33p an hour).

6 The Best Small Business Friendly Procurement Policy - Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council Development of a Nuneaton and Bedworth business network which allows local businesses to engage with the Council and vice-versa. Adoption of the Spikes Cavell data analysis tool to analyse SME expenditure, transactions and relevant categories. Reduced insurance requirements for smaller contracts. Reduced the need for Pre Qualification Questionnaires for smaller contracts. Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign - Warwick District Council A purpose built enterprise hub that offers business support, hot-desking and affordable easy-in, easyout licensed serviced office space to new or small businesses. Advisory seminars and information on How to win business from the Public Sector. Best All Round Small Business Friendliness - Coventry City Council A project to improve the economic prosperity of the sub-region which was not about creating a brand or logo but about a new narrative of place that puts Coventry and Warwickshire on the map. Utilisation of ERDF funding to offer the business community start-up, growth and efficiency support, as well as access to finance though their Enterprise and Business Growth package. Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign - North Warwickshire District Council An energy efficiency breakfast workshop in collaboration with the Carbon Trust that focused on reducing the energy costs of small businesses. Best All Round Small Business Friendliness - Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council A localised enterprise support service, branded Enterprise for Success that supports new business from the pre-start stage, up to and including, young business in their first 12 months of trading. A 10-day payment term for SME s. Pro-active promotion of Small Business Rate relief. Best Small Business Friendly Programme or Campaign - Warwickshire County Council A project that aims to bring superfast broadband to the rural areas of Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire. The target is to achieve 100% coverage at a minimum of 2Mbps, and 90% coverage at superfast speeds of over 24 Mbps

7 DEVON REGION The Best Small Business Friendly Procurement Policy Torridge District Council Procurement is an area seen by many small businesses as one of the most difficult to become involved in. Two councils, Torbay Unitary and Torridge District Council have raised the bar in Devon, by coming up with websites that are particularly small business friendly the overall winner was Torridge District Council, with a particularly engaging website which allows small businesses to see what the council requires through a cataloguing system, which in turn allows small businesses to offer best price at any one time. Torridge Council were delighted to win and have placed articles in both the local paper, and on their website. The Best Small Business Friendly Parking Policy Plymouth City Council and South Hams District Council Devon FSB were looking at ways in which councils could encourage activity back into identified areas, or help congested areas, by encouraging parking elsewhere. Parking issues in cities and large towns are often totally different to those in the rural areas, but the committee were stuck by two particular schemes which stood out from the others. Such was their diversity and ingenuity of the two schemes it was decided the award be shared jointly between Plymouth City Council for their considerable work in the Western Approach area of Plymouth, turning around a very drab area, into a wonderful hub of economic activity; and South Hams District Council for their residents parking permit which provides local residents free access to car parks from 4pm to 10am daily, encouraging early and late shopping and also assisting the night time economy in the rural areas of the South Hams. Both Councils were delighted to win and certificates are displayed in both reception areas. The Best Small Business Friendly Tourism Policy- Devon County Council This award attracted a number of exceptional entries, in particular Plymouth City Council s Waterfront BID scheme and a joint tourism initiative from Torridge and North Devon district councils on bringing tourists to North Devon being particularly well thought out; however the overall winner was Devon County Council s for a sustained commitment to cycling thoughout the region with the development of a number of iconic trails such as the Granite Way and Tarka Trail. On winning Phil Norrey Devon County Council CEO promptly gave the award back to the other councils saying without them the award would not have happened!

8 Quotes: We are delighted that the hard work Walsall Council undertakes in supporting small businesses and helping them grow has been recognised by winning such a prestigious award. Mark Lavender Head of Strategic Regeneration, Walsall Council The award we won yesterday has been incredibly well received here both within my team who did much of the practical work and (fairly obviously!) amongst Members Had a very nice from The Leader of the Council! However, this is not the time to rest on our laurels and I think winning the award actually increases pressure on us to deliver something. The award was for having a good policy, but what value is there to that if we do not see that embedded in actions and demonstrable improvement. So we need to think about that. I have a couple of ideas but wondered whether we could get together for a coffee and share ideas around next steps? Thanks again for a great lunch and a very attractive piece of glass! Regards Adrian.D.Griffith, Head of Categories, Staffordshire Procurement Hi Neil Well, it s all over. It went really well and I am delighted with the outcomes of the day and the positive feedback I ve had. I just wanted to say a huge thank you for sharing your templates and best practice with me you made the job so much easier by not having to re-invent the wheel! Karen Woolley Hi Karen, Thanks for . Because of the hard work done by you the event was a great success. Well done. Kind Regards David Dunn, Regional Treasurer Hi Karen Just a quick note to thank you for staging a most enjoyable awards event yesterday and also for finding a way to recognise one of our submissions, this being the Pop Up Show. We were delighted that you were able to present us with that special award as we are proud of this project, in particular its simplicity and how it delivers such tangible, easy to access benefits to the local small business community. As I am sure you noticed yesterday on Twitter etc, we have already began to promote the fact that Tamworth Borough Council and Lichfield District Council have been recognised in this way by the FSB. However, we will also be doing some more formal, traditional PR in the form of a press release. From that perspective, if it is possible to have a selection of photographs that you had taken

9 yesterday to accompany our press release, as well as utilise on follow up social media postings, website articles and newsletter stories, that would be much appreciated. Thanks again for an enjoyable event and we will continue to work closely with the FSB in our work to support the local economy through our Shared Service. James Roberts Economic Development and Enterprise Manager Shared Service Tamworth and Lichfield David Sheppard, Devon Chairman confirmed It has been a very good scheme and we received positive feedback from councils. One of the nice things is that nobody else does anything like it and it strengthen our relationship with the councils. The Leader of Exeter District Council commented We will do our best to win all of them next year. The Awards received excellent coverage in the local media including the following articles. Local Authorities have also included on their websites detail/story.html Ian O'Donnell, FSB Warwickshire and Coventry Chairman said: "These awards are an excellent way to highlight the sometimes less well known support and initiatives that Councils provide the small business.