News

The Conservative Party is lodging an official complaint with the BBC Trust about Sir Alan Sugar continuing to work on The Apprentice while a government advisor, after appeals to director-general Mark Thompson were rebuffed.

Britain may have come out of recession more than two months ago, a leading economic think tank has suggested.

Restaurant owner Yasmina Siadatan has won a coveted job with Sir Alan Sugar in the final of The Apprentice, the reality television show in which contenders vie for a £100,000 job with the business tycoon.

With many people now calling for a General Election, research conducted by Business Scene, the online business event community, found that 82% of SME business owners believe the Government could and should have done more to help SMEs in this recession. However when asked if a change in Government would make a difference, a third of SME business owners answered ‘yes’, with 29% saying ‘maybe’, but 30% believe the situation would be the same if the Conservatives were in power.

Sir Alan Sugar will take up a job as “Enterprise Tsar’ in Gordon Brown’s Government, paving the way for a peerage for the British entrepreneur.

The Apprentice final has been moved from its regular weekday slot to Sunday evening.

The conclusion of series five will air on Sunday, June 7 at 9pm on BBC One.

The new timeslot means that Sir Alan Sugar’s show will not clash with ITV’s coverage of an England World Cup qualifier with Andorra.

The BBC has confirmed that it is to launch a junior version of hit business reality show The Apprentice, in which Sir Alan Sugar will get to point his finger and tell 16- and 17-year-olds “You’re fired!”

Junior Apprentice, which will air next year as a five-part BBC1 series, will feature 10 candidates and follow the same format as the main show, although some adjustments will be made to take account of the age of those taking part.

The Government’s decision to let businesses offset trading losses against the tax they already owe has been welcomed by accountants.

They have praised HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for giving businesses more breathing space, but questioned why the taxman is not being more rigorous in his assessment of each venture’s ability to pay.

Less than 2% of small businesses said that Darling’s Budget would have a positive impact on their business, while 87% said they were now less likely to vote for this Government at the next general election, according to a new survey.

We have spoken a number of key business owners and business support organisations to get their immediate feedback on Alistair Darling’s make or break Budget and highlight what is good, bad and missing as far as small and medium sized business owners are concerned.

David Rose, CEO of Growthwire, had launched a scathing attack on business secretary Peter Mandelson and his “sustained ability to deliver spin over substance”.

Small businesses have adopted a resilient outlook and a determination to survive the economic crisis, according to a study by O2 with 20 per cent forecasting growth with maintaining – cash flow is the greatest threat.

Small Business Confidence Levels
O2’s Small Business Confidence Index, carried out by business research company trends Research, questioned nearly 3,000 small business owners to gauge how the community is responding to the current economic climate in the first quarter of 2009.

Following research showing some small businesses are beginning to experience an improvement in market conditions and the availability of credit, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) is urging the Government to put in place a strategy in next week’s Budget to nurture economic recovery by boosting business and consumer confidence.

Businesses want no nasty tax surprises in the Budget next week so they can focus on surviving the recession and prepare to cope with tax rises that are already planned, accountants report.

Businesses are feeling next to no practical benefit from existing government initiatives to help small businesses and are calling for the state to lower business taxes and offer National Insurance holidays according to recently published research.