Best year for Business Link

The Business Link service has today announced highest-ever figures for the number of businesses the organisation has helped.

Across England 740,224 customers used Business Link in 2005/06 to get advice and information. Of these, 544,513 were existing businesses and 186,320 were people thinking of starting their own business. This is more than double the number four years ago.

In addition, the number of customers who would reuse the Business Link service has increased to over 92 per cent, while those will to recommend it to others has risen to 97 per cent. Business Link’s website (www.businesslink.gov.uk) was used by 5.6 million unique visitors in the same period, up from 3.6 million in the previous year.

Says Martin Wyn Griffith, CEO of the Small Business Service, which has responsibility for the Business Link brand: “This is the first year that all the Regional Development Agencies have had responsibility for the delivery of the Business Link service, and these figures show that they have built up service levels so that Business Link is now one of the first places people go to get business advice and easy access to a wide range of potential support.”