DEPARTMENT FOR
INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release (031/009) issued by
COI News Distribution Service. 20 March 2009
'TV
Dragon' Peter Jones is going to carry out a review into the
support that people who want to start their own business get from
universities and colleges, Skills Secretary John Denham announced today.
More people are considering starting their own business as a
response to the recession, anecdotal evidence suggests.
Many colleges and universities already provide training and
support for budding entrepreneurs, ranging from the "Flying
Start" programme which helps gradates set up their own
businesses, to training in tax law, employment law, bookkeeping
and accounts for small businesses.
The star of BBC TV's Dragons' Den and Chief Executive
of Phones International Group has been asked by Mr Denham to lead
the review which will examine how this support can be developed
and improved.
The review will be announced by the Skills Secretary in a keynote
speech to the Federation of Small Businesses annual conference in
Newport, South Wales, today. He has asked Peter Jones to report
to him early this summer and in particular to:
* identify the range of support offered by colleges and
universities across England to those wanting to start their own business;
* highlight strong or innovative practice that others can learn from;
* make recommendations about how training or access to training
could be improved; and
* as a secondary aim to consider whether the support available to
those who are already self-employed meets their needs.
Mr Denham said:
"The life blood of new small businesses is the
entrepreneurial spirit - the well judged risk that can let a
business idea flourish.
"And it is true that in tougher economic times, often
personal circumstances and business realities mean that many
people decide to embark on a new career running their own business.
"The qualities of entrepreneurship and individual initiative
that they represent are essential for our national prosperity -
and they're even more important when times are tough.
"I believe that small businesses can help us not only to
come through our current economic problems, but also to emerge
from them stronger. And that's why I want to ensure that my
Department and its agencies are doing everything possible to
support people with the drive and imagination to set up a business
on their own.
"Besides being one of this country's most successful
entrepreneurs, Peter Jones has a substantial record of
encouraging entrepreneurship education. He is heading up the
National Skills Academy for Enterprise. So I'm delighted that
he has agreed to lead the review and to apply his experience and
expertise to helping me ensure that DIUS plays its full part in
laying the foundations of Britain's future economic success."
Peter Jones said:
"I am delighted to have been asked by the Secretary of State
to lead this review into enterprise training and skills. I am
personally passionate about raising the nation's
entrepreneurial capability and aspirations, which is why I have
established the National Enterprise Academy for 16 to 19-year-olds.
"Building on this, however, I believe we could be improving
skills provision in enterprise and entrepreneurship right across
the age spectrum and this review will give me the opportunity to
engage as widely as possibly with universities, colleges,
businesses and other key organisations and explore and examine
where significant impact and improvement could be made."
NOTES TO EDITORS
Review of Support for Self-Employment
1. The Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) sectors
have a key role to play in supporting those who want to become
self-employed, including those who have been made redundant, or
those who have just left university. The Department for
Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) already provides a
broad range of support to self-employed people. This review will
consider how well our policies meet the needs of those who want to
become self employed and whether more could be done.
2. The review will consider:
* the extent to which existing DIUS FE and HE policies offer the
right support to people entering self-employment (either from
education or from unemployment or employment) and represent a
strong and coherent offer of support;
* the delivery of those policies across England, including
highlighting strong or innovative practice in HE or FE that others
can learn from;
* the extent to which the support available to those who are
already self-employed meets their needs.
3. The review will make recommendations about how DIUS FE and HE
policies and their delivery could be improved within existing
delivery mechanisms to provide high quality relevant support.
4. This agenda is a cross-government one, and the review will
seek the views of other government departments and regional
stakeholders to set recommendations in context. We also expect
that the review will seek the views of a range of stakeholders
engaged in FE and HE delivery and in supporting the self employed
to address their skills needs.