Page 3925 - Week 12 - Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Business—development programs
(Question No 1266)
Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Business and Economic Development, upon notice, on 20 September 2006:
(1) In relation to Action 17 in the Economic White Paper, what is the status of the eight programs, including the Knowledge Fund, the Business Licence Information Service and the Industry Capability Network, that had been implemented to support small and micro businesses in the ACT;
(2) In the event that some of these programs have been discontinued, what alternative approaches are being implemented to facilitate the development of small and micro businesses in the ACT.
Mr Stanhope: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) Programs based on discretionary grants to individual businesses and organisations (eg the Knowledge Fund) have been discontinued. The Business Licence Information Service and the national database functions of the Industry Capability Network will continue.
(2) The Government has announced a new $1M business information, mentoring and advisory service. A procurement process is currently under way to establish this service.
Business—training initiatives
(Question No 1267)
Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Business and Economic Development, upon notice, on 20 September 2006:
(1) In relation to Action 18 in the Economic White Paper, what is the status of the customised business training initiative that is intended to encourage smaller businesses in the ACT to undertake relevant skills training;
(2) If this initiative has not been implemented, why not and when will it be implemented.
Mr Stanhope: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) The customised business training initiative described in the Economic White Paper was not progressed due to funding constraints. However, the Department of Education and Training (DET) is now looking at other solutions. According to recent survey of small businesses conducted by DET, the types of training required are:
• technical training, ie Australian Apprenticeships;
• post-trade courses that can be embedded into other business training (eg: financial or frontline management);
• dedicated courses offered by vendors of goods and products;
• stand alone short courses to up-skill existing employees;
• non-accredited short courses in employability skills; and
• just-in-time short courses.
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