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Tories plan to appoint small business minister reporting direct to the prime minister

Business welcomed Tory plans unveiled on Tuesday to simplify the £2.5bn system of business support and appoint a small business minister reporting direct to the prime minister.

There should be a single, web-based information service, a Conservative policy group recommended, and the 3,000-odd existing schemes should be vetted by the National Audit Office, with the aim of making government support “minimal and measurable” The Tories should appoint a minister for small business and enterprise, with a cross-government remit and a direct line to the prime minister, the report stated. It pointed out that no minister in government now has “small business” as part of their job title. The radical plans would cut the £2.5bn spent each year on business support, much of which, the report argued, is wasted.

Doug Richard, the entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den panellist who headed the review, said it was impossible to cost his recommendations, given his proposal that an NAO review should determine how many schemes survive. But Mr Richard told a London press conference the £2.5bn cost “is going to come down”.

George Osborne suggested much of the review will become official party policy, while stressing the aim of the exercise was “not to save money but to help business”. The Tories will consult business on the recommendations, the shadow chancellor said, but added he would be “surprised if many of them don’t find their way into the Conservative programme for government”.

He welcomed in particular the idea of a single web portal for information, saying: “I’m immensely attracted to the concept.”

Business backed the proposals, “It’s a good report and some very good ideas,” David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said.

“My plea would be that when some firm ideas come out of this, please make them long term and make them stick.”

Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors, said there could be value in cutting the overall level of funding for business support because many schemes “may not provide satisfactory value-for-money or address critical needs”. But he warned such a cut “will only prove acceptable as long as those savings made are reinvested in business growth”.

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