Question NW1627 to the Minister of Small Business Development
16 August 2016 - NW1627
Chance, Mr R to ask the Minister of Small Business Development
With reference to the undertaking she made at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Appropriations on 13 May 2016 to review Government’s financing of small businesses during the decade, (a) when is the specified review expected (i) to begin and (ii) to be completed, (b) who will be appointed to perform the specified review, (c) what amount will the specified review cost and (d) what measures of (i) cost effectiveness and / or (ii) impact will the specified review use to assess whether Government has received value for money for its expenditure on small businesses to date; (2) Whether the findings of the specified review will guide policy formulation in her department; if not, why not, if so, (a) how and (b) what are the further relevant details; (3) Whether the specified review will include a comparison of value for money obtained from funding received for small businesses from either the Government and /or private sector; if not; why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. The purpose of the review is to determine the money spent, by government on Small Medium and Micro Enterprises and the impact thereof. This will be done in order to ascertain the effectiveness government programmes and to improve interventions going forward.
2. However, the Department of Small Business Development has just recently, 1 April 2016, established its Policy and Research Branch. This component in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders, in the focus of developing the research agenda that will inform the policy formulation within the Department of Small Business Development. Given this fact, no timeframe has yet been formulated for the review in question and it is also dependent on the available resources within the Department of Small Business Development. With this in mind and the multi-faceted nature of the review it is safe to say that the Department will take a phased approach to implementing the said review.
3. It is reasonable to assume that the review will consider the value of investment by Government and impact thereof. It might be difficult to determine the total universe of private sector investment, however it will be borne in mind in the planning of the review.