‘End of the beginning’ for re-shaped Business Link

Apr 2 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

One year since the business support service Business Link North East came into being, Peter McCusker reports on its progress.

FROM its prominent position overlooking the North Sea, the staff at Business Link North East’s (BLNE) office will be able to watch the ships arriving and departing from nearby Seaham Docks.

Now confidently striding into its second year in operation – following a tricky bedding-in period – the business support organisation is beginning to see its own ships dock.

Its first-year figures indicate it is on line to hit target and it expects its second year to be one of rapid progress.

BLNE was born out of a merger of the four existing regional Business Links in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland, County Durham and Tees Valley, with a contract of £36m a year for next three years from One NorthEast.

Six months after BLNE moved into its new headquarters on the Spectrum Business Park in Seaham, and with its 290 staff and systems now settled in, it has found its stride.

Chief executive Alastair MacColl says: “It’s been an enormously positive and progressive year and I really feel this anniversary marks the end of the beginning for Business Link North East. We have largely put in place the infrastructure, systems and processes to provide a fundamental improvement to business support in the North East, offering a streamlined, consistent and high quality service that has absolute clarity, with no confusion, no duplication, and a ruthless intolerance of anything that prevents us from communicating with the people we are here to serve.

“This year has been a very challenging and exciting one. The original members of staff that transferred to the new operation have been incredibly resilient and I’ve been delighted by the quality and energy of that team.

“We have also recruited a large number of new members of staff, largely from the private sector, and our new team is now a formidable force, boasting the skills, experience and enthusiasm to ensure the region’s business community receives gold standard support.

“The results we are beginning to record demonstrate that we are very much open for business and are working with companies of all sizes in all sectors. The business community has embraced the changes we have put in place and I’ve been delighted by how much support we’ve had. We’ve also enjoyed some happy coincidences.

“There have long been calls for simplification to business support and the very establishment of a regional Business Link organisation is aimed at addressing these calls.

“However, the Government’s move over the past 12 months to make business support easier to access and to employ a more common sense, joined up approach to avoid duplication of effort has certainly assisted our efforts.

“Businesses are definitely getting the message that we are the primary access channel to support the development of their business and we are taking our service to them instead of waiting for them to come to us.

“Our close working partnerships with the Learning and Skills Council, One NorthEast, Confederation of British Industry, Federation of Small Businesses, North East Chamber of Commerce, local authorities and Institute of Directors is helping to simplify the route to support for our new and existing companies.”

The reaction from the North East’s business community reflects the bullish comments of Mr MacColl.

A spokesman for the North East Chamber of Commerce said: “It was a difficult bedding-in period merging the four existing Business Links into one and finding and moving into new premises.

“The move to Seaham has been extremely positive and can be viewed as the proper starting point. We want to see real progress over the next year in the areas they are dealing with.”

Liz Smith, assistant regional director of the CBI, says: “The formation of the new Business Link presented the North East with a real opportunity to re-shape the way in which business support is delivered.

“We have been working closely with Business Link over the last year to ensure that our members have had the opportunity to shape the business support agenda, and we look forward to continuing this in 2008.”

One NorthEast’s head of business, enterprise and skills, Tim Pain, said: “The Regional Economic Strategy sets North East England some major challenges for creating new businesses, enabling growth and increasing productivity, and the work of Business Link North East is fundamental to meeting them.

“It’s been a year of huge progress for the support on offer to businesses in the region, and we look forward to seeing that continue.”

Colin Stratton, chairman of the North East branch of the Federation of Small Business (FSB), believes that BLNE is now “motoring” on.

“We have been in regular contact with them. Some of our members will say they are great, others will be less impressed, but from the figures it looks like they are making real progress,” he says.

“They had a very difficult start but it looks as though things are beginning to come together and they are motoring along.”

Also under the BLNE brand in Seaham is the North East England Investment Centre. This works to assist new and existing businesses to develop and grow, by investing public funds in companies that require the input of external advice and support.

The NEEIC is accessed through Business Link’s team of brokers and all applications are assessed on the contribution they can make to improving the economic prosperity of the region.

To hear more from Jan Massey and Gary Davidson log and to join the discussion on BLNE visit nebusiness.co.uk

To find out more about Business Link North East visit the website www.businesslinknortheast.co.uk