An understanding of the small-business sector has always been regarded as an essential element of the work of the Industry and Parliament Trust. Most Company Fellowships (which usually involve a parliamentarian working with a FTSE250 company) also have a small-business element.
But the IPT also offers a dedicated, intensive small-business Fellowship, consisiting of 12 days over 12 - 18 months. The Fellowship deals with a parliamentarian's specific sectoral interests (e.g. agriculture) but also more general issues facing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) including skills, regulation, employment law, finance and entrepreneurship. Structured placements and visits are paired with briefings and discussions with policy experts from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
The IPT works closely with small-business organisations such as the FSB to provide a rich and varied programme that encompasses the relevant issues. A small-business Fellowship might include:
- A visit to the small-business unit of a high-street bank.
- Working with a major UK financial-services consultancy, meeting clients from SMEs and learning about the challenges that they face.
- Working with an innovative SME, seeing how entrepreneurship is encouraged and learning about "best practice".
- Visiting a local small-business support centre to see the issues that SMEs face and learn more about the structure of government-funded advice services.
- Gaining hands-on experience of modern apprenticeships, seeing how a local company has invested in staff training and improved the skillset of its workforce.
- Visiting a government "skills academy" to see how SMEs and sector-skills councils are using government-funded training programmes to invest in their employees.
A small-business Fellowship also provides first-hand experience of success and failure in SMEs, as well as insights into the impact of Westminster and EU regulation and legislation.
If you are a parliamentarian interested in doing a small-business Fellowship, please contact Nick Lee, Fellowship Co-ordinator, at NickLee@ipt.org.uk or on +44 (0)20 7839 9400.
Case studies
Sample SME Fellowship
Bridge Magazine, July 2008
