Budget 2008 includes short-term measures to enable small and growing businesses to access the resources they need during a time of global financial market disruption. At the same time it builds on progress to date by announcing longer-term measures designed around the levers available to Government to encourage productivity growth. These measures include:
- access to finance measures including enhancing the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme and Enterprise Capital Funds to support small firms in accessing the resources they need to start up and grow;
- a package of reforms on regulation and tax simplification and implementation of the business tax reforms announced in Budget 2007, including the lowest rate of Corporation Tax in the G7;
- further implementation of the Leitch and Sainsbury Reviews to build on improvements in the UK skills base and to provide a world-class science base and innovation framework;
- exploring options to make better use of transport infrastructure, on top of the major programme of investment announced in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review;
- progress on business support simplification and measures to ensure better access to Government procurement for small firms; and
- a study of public service markets and a new framework for infrastructure procurement.
For more information on the budget, visit the Treasury website below.
