1 Introduction
Small businesses make a vital contribution to the overall health of the economy. Across the UK as a whole, the government intends to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business. It wants:
- many more people, regardless of their background, to have the desire, skills and opportunity to start a successful business.
- everyone with the ambition to grow their business to be helped and supported.
- a supportive business environment, with all small businesses finding it easy to respond to government and to access its services.
It is the task of the Small Business Service ( SBS), an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry ( DTI), to work with the governments in the constituent countries to deliver this vision. In 2004, Scotland set out its framework for economic development in Scotland ( FEDS) in which the Scottish Executive confirmed that four objectives were fundamental to its policy:
- economic growth, accelerated and sustained through greater competitiveness in the global economy.
- regional development, so that all regions can enjoy the same economic opportunities and contribute towards national prosperity.
- closing the opportunity gap so that all in society can enjoy enhanced economic opportunities.
- sustainable development in economic, social and environmental terms.
To assist with this aim, the SBS has undertaken an annual survey of the experiences and opinions of the owners of small businesses in 2003 and 2004. These built on previous experience with its omnibus survey of small businesses. This document is the report of the third, 2005, edition of the new survey. It should be noted that, for each of these annual surveys (in 2003, 2004 and 2005) the Scottish Executive has given additional money to enable the survey sample in Scotland to be boosted to facilitate further analysis. Fieldwork for this survey took place in the Autumn and Winter of 2005/06.
The survey seeks to:
- monitor the needs of small businesses, assess their main concerns, and identify the barriers which prevent them from fulfilling their potential
- act as a sounding board for possible government actions to help small businesses; and
- record small businesses' expectations of government business support.