Nicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if a national written policy for small and micro enterprise development will be put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3634/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Since 1993, Government policy and supports for enterprises employing fewer than 10 people have been mainly implemented through the City and County Enterprise Boards. Policy has evolved over the years, as articulated in various Operating Agreements between the Minister and the CEBs, as well as through the County Enterprise Plans under the Local and Micro-Enterprise Development Priorities of relevant EU co-funded Operational Programmes.

As recently as January 2010, in response to the needs of micro-enterprises, a revised suite of supports was developed to provide the CEBs with greater flexibility in assisting these small businesses in the face of the economic downturn. The new supports were also a first step towards aligning the CEB supports more closely with those of Enterprise Ireland and to improve the flow of clients between the CEBs and EI. While the fundamental requirements in relation to eligibility of projects for assistance remained focused on manufacturing and internationally traded services, a broader range of business costs became eligible for support.

Since coming into office, this Government has demonstrated our determination to fundamentally address the challenge of supporting micro and small businesses. For example, we have introduced the Microenterprise loan fund and the Credit Guarantee Scheme. We are currently in the process of reforming the national micro and small business support infrastructure by dissolving the City and County Enterprise Boards and establishing new Local Enterprise Offices that will operate from within Local Authorities, but with clear oversight by Enterprise Ireland. To this end, a new Microenterprise Division has been established within EI and this will become the national Centre of Excellence for supporting micro and small businesses, benchmarked to international standards.

This fundamental reform offers the opportunity to revisit and refocus national policy in relation to the micro and small business sector with a view to ensuring that the state supports are properly targeted at that sector and that the LEOs become a “First Stop Shop” for micro and small businesses for the range of supports available across the system.

The LEOs will engage will all local businesses and will offer a range of soft supports to those that are locally trading with a viable business proposition, including help with applying for a Microfinance loan. They will also be well positioned to assist in the early identification of start-ups with the best potential to move into the Enterprise Ireland portfolio. In this respect, the Service Level Agreements between Enterprise Ireland and Local Authorities, that will underpin the new Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), will include appropriate policy guidelines within which LEOs will operate in delivering enterprise supports.

Last November, along with Minister for Small Business Mr John Perry, I launched a public consultation process to inform this transformational agenda. The consultation was extended to 18 January given the level of interest expressed by key stakeholders.

Due to the huge response to the consultation it will take some time to review and distil the submissions, which will help shape the policy and operational scope of the new LEOs. All submissions received will be published on my Department’s website in due course.