Small Business Survey Shows Steady Progress in South East
3 March 2008The most representative survey of the UK small business sector has revealed that nearly half of those questioned were producing new products and services, the highest level since the survey began in 2003.
The 2006/07 Annual Small Business Survey also revealed 65 percent of small businesses with employees had ambitions to grow for the coming years, representing a nine percentage point increase on the previous year.
Key findings for the South East include:
- 83 per cent of businesses in the South East who sought finance in the 12 months preceding the survey, had no problems obtaining it from the first source they tried (compared to 75 per cent in the UK);
- 28 per cent of businesses in the South East sell outside the UK (compared to 24 per cent in the UK).
The survey confirmed what ministers recently discovered when they met over 600 small business owners around the country.
Releasing the survey, Business Minister Shriti Vadera said:
"The positive findings – of businesses intending to grow and introducing innovation – are indicators of a healthy enterprise environment, but the survey also highlights continuing challenges.
"We recognise that regulation is a key business concern and this is why we are driving through one of the most ambitious programmes to ease the burden of regulation on business launched by any government."
The survey also showed that women continue to be significantly under-represented in enterprise, with only 14 percent of small businesses with employees led by women.
Shriti Vadera said:
"Getting more women into business is a challenge, not just for gender equality but for national economic success. We would have 700,000 more businesses if proportionally as many British women as American women started businesses.
"We will unveil an enterprise white paper next month to help unlock the talents of more people, make growing a business easier and narrow the productivity gap between Britain and the US."
- Key findings from the Annual Small Business Survey produced by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform include:
- There was a 16 percentage point increase in the proportion of SMEs with employees engaged in innovation of products and services (48 percent compared with 32 percent in 2005).
- 65 percent of SMEs were planning to grow over the next two to three years (up from 56 percent). One in five SMEs had taken on more employees in the 12 months prior to the survey while one in seven had reduced the size of their workforce.
- More than half of SME employers (60 per cent) had funded or arranged staff training or development over 12 months prior to the survey. In 2005, that figure was 41 per cent.
- The vast majority of SMEs with employees were led by men; only 14 percent were led by women or by a management team mostly comprised of women. Female led SMEs with employees tended to be smaller than average.
- When asked to suggest the biggest obstacle to success, SMEs named competition as the greatest barrier (15 percent); regulation (14 percent); taxation including VAT, PAYE, NI and business rates (12 percent); the economy (10 percent); and cash flow (10 percent). For the most part, the obstacles cited and their rankings are comparable with those reported in 2005.
Key South East regional results
All figures relate to businesses with employees.
- In general, key findings for the South East were very similar to those for the UK. There were two main areas where the South East was significantly different to the UK:
- 83 per cent of businesses in the South East who sought finance in the 12 months preceding the survey, had no problems obtaining it from the first source they tried (compared to 75 per cent in the UK);
- 28 per cent of businesses in the South East sell outside the UK (compared to 24 per cent in the UK).
The rest of the key findings for the South East were not significantly different to the findings for the UK:
- 14 per cent of businesses in the South East were women-led (compared to 14 per cent in the UK);
- 63 per cent of businesses in the South East aspire to grow in the next 2-3 years (compared to 65 per cent in the UK);
- 34 per cent of businesses in the South East were ‘growers’ – i.e. they reported recent employment growth or were planning employment growth (compared to 36 per cent in the UK);
- 60 per cent of businesses in the South East had funded or arranged training in the previous 12 months (compared to 60 per cent in the UK);
- 47 per cent of businesses in the South East introduced a new or significantly improved product or service in the past year (compared to 48 per cent in the UK);
- 13 per cent of businesses in the South East said regulations were the biggest obstacle to their success (compared to 14 per cent in the UK).
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