Minister asked to do more to help businesses

Mike Gibson, Chair of the Chamber’s Property and Construction Committee

Mike Gibson, Chairman of the Chamber’s Property and Construction Committee, Christian Spence, Head of Business Intelligence, and Michelle Geoghegan, Local Policy Manager, together with MP for Bury North, David Nuttall, and local business owners and councillors, met with Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General to explain how businesses are performing in the current economic climate and to explore ways in which government could do more to help.

Mike raised the continuing problems faced by construction firms when tendering for work from public sector organisations. In spite of the government’s good intentions through the ‘Procurement Pledge’, firms still spend considerable amounts of time and effort submitting vast quantities of information just to try to get on a framework – and some authorities have more than one framework which each require information to be submitted.

Francis Maude explained the improvements that have taken place in the case of government departments and although local authorities are encouraged to improve their procurement practices in a similar way, he recognised that more needs to be done to reduce the burden on businesses – and particularly on SMEs.

Attendees at the meeting voiced a common concern with the planning system and, in particular, with the extent of information required to be submitted with planning applications which, in most cases, seemed to be either not relevant or out of proportion to what was being proposed. All this was adding to the burden on businesses at a time when they need to reduce costs.

Mike Gibson said: "Francis Maude said that the government is working hard to streamline the planning system and reduce the burden on businesses. However, the fundamental issue appears to be the attitude of planning officers to businesses and to see a real improvement would require a culture change, which is not likely to happen quickly.

"The use of BIM and standardisation in the design and construction of public buildings are regarded as key to speeding up the delivery of new public sector buildings, whilst reducing the cost of this. The construction industry must benefit as a result.

"This meeting provided a good opportunity for the Chamber to let an influential government minister know about the concerns of businesses and to ask for action to be taken to overcome those concerns. Francis Maude has agreed to consider ways in which the concerns raised can be overcome and how more can be done to reduce the burdens on businesses. We await his response with interest."