Agenda item
Task group report on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
The committee will receive the report of the Task Group on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
Minutes:
The Chair informed the committee that the Chair of the Task Group had been unable to attend the meeting and welcomed James Curtis (Scrutiny and Policy Officer) to the meeting to introduce the report. James Curtis advised that the task group had been established to examine how the council could grow and enhance the power of small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the borough.
Councillor Tatler (Lead Member for Regeneration, Growth, Employment and Skills) welcomed the report and the focus on SME in the borough. Members heard that SMEs increasingly represented a key source of employment and the Council had an important role in supporting businesses and helping to create environments in which they could flourish in the borough. The recommendations of the task group were thorough and would be taken forward. With regard to the recommendation regarding business champions, it was considered that the best advocate would be the Brent Business Board.
At the invitation of the Chair, Matthew Dibben (Head of Employment Skills and Enterprise) provided a brief response to the recommendations set out in the task group report. The committee heard that the focus on the sub-region of West London was important and the council worked closely with the West London Alliance and West London Business. Work was currently underway to develop an enterprise pathway for Brent Start, the council’s adult education service. The council was also working with the Brent Business board and Brent Start and Further Education providers to ensure that education providers were responsive to the skills requirements of the employment market and to avoid duplication in the offer between FE providers and Brent Start. The College of Northwest London was currently offering manufacturing qualifications and higher level and degree level apprentices but there were still gaps in certain sectors such as engineering. The council could play a role in ensuring that there was affordable work space available for rent in the borough to support business incubation.
The committee discussed the recommendations of the task group and subsequently raised a number of queries which included seeking further information about the West London Brand, exploring the role of governors in supporting entrepreneurial pathways in schools and how Brent could attract industry to the borough given the expenses associated with being located in London. Members also questioned the level of feedback from Brent Works (a free service provided by the council to assist residents in finding employment and apprenticeship opportunities) and the role of the Chamber of Commerce in Brent. During its discussion, the committee emphasised the importance of the availability of start-up and small scale funding for businesses as well as the accessibility of working space on a flexible or ad-hoc basis.
Responding to the committee’s queries, Councillor Tatler advised that the West London economic activity was the biggest in London, after the City of London and the West London Brand sought to support inwards investment, education and skills in the region. This was a growing initiative and businesses could buy into associated support mechanisms offered by West London Business. Work could be done to support governing bodies to consider how their school curriculums could foster entrepreneurial initiative in young people and this was perhaps best targeted at primary schools initially. Matthew Dibben advised that Brent Works had brokered approximately three hundred jobs over the last two years. Brent Works also signposted residents to other providers such as Brent Start to enable access to other stepping stones into work and statistics on this could be shared with the committee following the meeting. West London Business acted as the chamber of commerce for all of West London and the North London Chamber of Commerce was based in Harrow; the Council worked with both of these. It was acknowledged that access to finance for SMEs was vital and the council played an important role in both signposting to and providing sources of investment. SMEs could be supported to access less traditional forms of investment such as crowd funding and a business case for developing support services around this was being explored by the council.
RESOLVED: that Cabinet be recommended to endorse the four recommendations of the Task Group as set out in the Task Group Report on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Brent.
Supporting documents: