Dear Sir,

I WELCOME the government's decision - in response to concern by my committee over the effectiveness of the Small Business Service - to downsize it as a smaller policy unit within the DTI.

The new, slimmed down unit must now do what its predecessor never managed: justify its existence.

The department must also draw up a clear action plan for cutting the number of small business support programmes from the current total of 3,000 to fewer than 100.

Britain's small businesses are too important for our economy for them to waste time and money trying to understand where to get support and attempting to cut a way through the present forest of regulation.

Annette Brooke MP

Member of the Committee of Public Accounts

MP for Mid Dorset & North Poole

14 York Road

Broadstone

Dorset

BH18 8ET