Councillor Norman Arnell, Economic portfolio holder (centre) with Alan Chatfield, FSB Southampton and Tim Colman, FSB North Hampshire.
Easy to do business with the Council
Small and medium sized companies should find it easy to do business with Test Valley Borough Council, and the Council says that it is keen to work with small and medium sized businesses to provide local services.
Test Valley is one of the first Councils in Hampshire to sign the government's Small Business Friendly Concordat, which is essentially a commitment to make it easier for small and medium sized companies to do business with local authorities. Currently nearly 20% of the £26 million spent by local authorities on goods and services goes to local companies.
The Council's Economic portfolio holder, Councillor Norman Arnell is an enthusiastic supporter of the idea. He says: "We must provide the best possible value for money from the services we provide for our residents. This initiative is one of the ways we can achieve this and we are also committed to making the whole process of doing business with the council as fair and open as possible".
To get things going a number of local businesses have just taken part in a one day course delivered by Protégé Management on what councils require from them and how best to approach the whole idea of contracting with councils.
Alan Chatfield from the Federation of Small Businesses said he was delighted that Test Valley has signed the Concordat and was a clear demonstration of Test Valley's commitment to being a business-friendly Council.
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