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Lord Young takes over as business czar

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1st Nov 2010
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The prime minister has appointed Lord Young of Graffham as his adviser on enterprise and charged him to produce a "brutally honest" report on how government departments affect small businesses.

Fresh from producing a study on the health and safety culture, Lord Young has been unofficially crowned as the government’s "business czar", a post held under the previous administration by Lord Sugar.

In a blog post announcing the appointment, prime minister David Cameron commented: "I am seeking nothing less than a wholesale change in attitude from my government and I need help to get there. So I am delighted that Lord Young has agreed to be my Enterprise Adviser; he'll be working to identify what we need to do to help small businesses grow. He brings his own passion for business and a wealth of experience to the role."

Lord Young’s study will examine ways in which the government could:

  • remove barriers to encourage more people to start businesses
  • minimise the regulatory and bureaucratic burdens that slow growth for small and medium-size firms
  • support growth of small and medium-size businesses through reforming government procurement and ensuring access to finance
  • improve engagement and communication with small businesses

To set the tone for his review, Lord Young took issue with proposals from another government adviser, Sir Philip Green, to abolish the current target of paying small companies within five days.
 
"Yes, the government could use its power and could squeeze small businesses and get some cash in – and we would end up with no businesses. That's not what government's about," Lord Young told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.
 
Instead UK firms should benefit from better government support and from officials "running a country, not a business", he added.

A former employment and trade secretary as well as president of the board of trade in Margaret Thatcher's government, Lord Young was executive chairman of Cable and Wireless in 1990-1995 and now chairs Young Associates Ltd, which invests in technology start-ups including the Cloud accounting developer KashFlow.

The story took an interesting twist after Lord Sugar posted a tweet questioning Lord Young's appointment as business czar suggesting that he might be "out of touch with SMEs".

KashFlow founder Duane Jackson responded by telling AccountingWEB.co.uk, "I'm not sure why Lord Sugar would suggest Lord Young is out of touch with SMEs. Lord Young has helped me grow KashFlow from a two-person start-up to where we are now: a 20-person company with close to 10,000 customers."

KashFlow first came to Lord Young's notice through his involvement with the Prince's Trust and the London Youth Support Trust, Jackson added.

"He has a good insight into SMEs – both from working with me in building KashFlow but also in hearing indirectly from our customers. He regularly asks what problems our customers are facing. I'm sure that some of those real-world problems will feed into his review," said Jackson.

"On the other hand, Lord Sugar's recent involvement with small businesses doesn't appear to extend much beyond dealing with media production companies."

As a backdrop to the spat, KashFlow recently polled 2,500 business owners and published results showing that 78% of respondents said they would not work for Lord Sugar for £100,000 a year. When asked to stipulate their reasons, 54% said they preferred the lifestyle, freedom and independence of being their own boss; 23% cited a general dislike for him.

"Lord Sugar has had his time as enterprise czar. I'm not sure what he feels he achieved in that time," said Jackson.

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By Nick Graves
03rd Nov 2010 11:12

Laughed out Loud

...at Mr. Jackson's brilliant put-down of Lord Sugar!

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By paulreichel
03rd Nov 2010 14:35

Sugar vs Young

But the differences are

Business man - Sugar vs. retiree Young

Self- made man - Sugar vs. Establishment Figure Young

I think the contrasts are highly visible. OK I admit an interest - ex- FD of Amstrad Germany and a supporter of AMS as an intelligent, resourceful man who seems only to have his achievements criticized. 

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