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First Advisory Centre for Small Businesses
Page 46
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• Mr Peter Walker, the Secretary for Trade and Industry, opened the first Government sponsored Advisory Centre for Small Businesses in Newcastle this week. The Secretary promised that another nine centres at Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Luton, Manchester and Nottingham would be opened before Christmas.
The aim of the centres is, according to Mr Walker, "to shift the odds in favour of small firms". He said for too long advantages had been going to larger companies and he accepted that in some measure the Government was to blame for this. The purpose of the centres was to collect and distribute
information on all aspects of business. If the centres were presented with a query for which they did not have an immediate answer they would know where help could be obtained, he said.
If specialist advice was needed the centres would advise the inquirer which specialist to approach.
At the same time they would act as an Information Collection Centre for the Government to keep it in touch with the problems which beset small businesses. Special arrangements had been made with the Post Office for a free phone service to the centres from any business in the region in which it was serving.