Series of regional access to credit meetings planned

The Minister for Small Business John Perry has announced a series of 'access to credit' regional meetings to be held with key small business stakeholders. The meetings are to provide an opportunity for local business representative groups, local bank representatives and State Agencies to have their say on issue of access to bank lending He has also announced a series of 'Simplification Workshops' to be held to identify practical ideas for reducing red tape costs And the Minister promised a new Voluntary Code of Practice for businesses to improve their payment performance The initiatives emerged during the Minister's statement in the Seanad on The Report of the Advisory Group for Small Business "The Voice of Small Business - A Plan for Action" Stressing the importance of the small business sector to the future well-being of the economy, Mr Perry said: "This message of building confidence and self-belief must be highlighted and encouraged at every opportunity. Referring to the issue of access to credit, he said the Government had already established a Loan Guarantee Scheme and Micro-finance Funds as additional Government responses to supplement normal bank lending. And he asked that viable small businesses which have been refused credit they should not be afraid to use the banks' own internal appeals systems and if this route proves unsuccessful, they should consider seeking the assistance of the Credit Review Office. He also confirmed the Department would host a series of regional meetings around the country in the coming weeks, with the Banking Section of the Department of Finance, to discuss access to bank credit with key local stakeholders. "These meetings will explore the findings of the latest Mazars Survey on credit demand published by the Department of Finance late last year and look at the actions being taken by the Government to improve access to credit for SMEs," he told the Seanad. "The meetings will allow both our Departments to hear at first hand the views and experiences of local business representative groups, local bank representatives and State Agencies on access to bank lending." Minister Perry also announced his intention to convene simplification workshops in all the major areas of regulation affecting business "These workshops will be arranged shortly around the country, and I would encourage business people to attend them and help us to identify the most practical ideas for reducing measured red tape costs," he added.