MD of small business resigns from government forum

04 01 2008 United Kingdom

Sean Taggart, managing director of Kent-based Albatross Travel, has resigned from the Department for Business and Regulatory Reform's Small Business Forum, claiming that the voice of small business has been ‘neutered’ in Whitehall.

In his resignation letter to competitiveness minister Stephen Timms, Mr Taggart claimed that the Small Business Forum had become merely a 'tick box for’ an SME agenda that appears to focus more on one-off events rather than meaningful long-term dialogue and understanding.

The Small Business Forum was set up by the Department of Trade & Industry in May last year.

Mr Taggart said that his concerns about the independence of the Small Business Forum were confirmed when proposals for the Forum to discuss Capital Gains Tax were removed from the agenda of its meeting last October.

“The Forum currently serves no significant purpose in influencing government policy with regard to small and medium-sized enterprises,” he said.

Mr Taggart’s views have been supported by Elsa Caleb, a former member of the government’s Small Business Council which was scrapped by the DTI last year and replaced by the Small Business Forum.

The Small Business Council was an independent body set up seven years ago with 20 members representing the small business community. It quickly gained a reputation for challenging the effectiveness of government plans and recommending better ways to support small businesses.

The SBC was replaced by the Small Business Forum with just nine members drawn from small businesses.

DTI scraps Small Business Council. 2 May 2007 (page opens in a new window)

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