Small Business Minister John D’Orazio will finalise his recommendations concerning the reorganisation of the state’s Business Enterprise Centres network by the end of the month.
Small Business Minister John D’Orazio will finalise his recommendations concerning the reorganisation of the state’s Business Enterprise Centres network by the end of the month.
This comes more than two years after the Small Business Development Corporation commissioned a report on the structure and operation of the state’s 37 BECs.
The SBDC commissioned the report to identify ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of small business support services.
BECs offer guidance and support to new and existing small business operators and are supported by the State Government through the SBDC.
A period of public consultation will follow the recommendations and Mr D’Orazio will announce the future BEC network structure by the end of August.
Mr D’Orazio told WA Business News the statewide review of the BEC network was his number one aim and priority.
“The review has been going for two years and I want to get the new structure right,” he said.
Mr D’Orazio said reorganisation of the BEC network would result in better quality services for WA’s small businesses, wherever they were located.
Mr D’Orazio said he wanted the network and other stakeholders to have a proper opportunity to comment on the Government’s proposals for a better BEC service before they were finalised and implemented.
“I still aim to have new contracts for the network by August this year and new arrangements in place by January 1,” he said.
“In the meantime I have given existing BEC clients, management and staff certainty that they will be funded until December 31, so they can adjust to any proposed changes.”
But Opposition small business spokesman Troy Buswell said the BECs would be rationalised by the Labor Government and the minister’s position was bad news for regional BECs.
“There is little doubt that BEC centres in smaller towns face an uncertain future and are likely to be consolidated into larger regional centres,” he said.
The SBDC commissioned the report in 2003 with then small business minister, Bob Kucera, calling for public comment on the report in January 2004.
The report was titled ‘Communities of Enterprise: Future strategies for the Business Enterprise Centres network of WA’.
Chairman of the BEC representative body BECWA, Richard Notley, said while some rationalisation of BECs may be needed, further discussion between the minister and the network was essential.
“Hopefully he [Mr D’Orazio] listens to BECWA because we are the people on the ground,” he said.
“The BECs need to be closer together as a network, we have been too autonomous.
“We are meeting with the minister next week so we can put our ideas to him. The SBDC asked the network for a review submission, but every zone is different so to get a combined agreement was very hard.”
