News

September 17, 2010

Pre-Budget report “would not be missed”, says business group

Small businesses will not miss the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) if it is scrapped from this year as has been widely reported, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said, writes Kate Horstead.

According to broadsheets, including the Financial Times and the Independent, the autumn “mini-Budget” will be cut to save Treasury resources. The reports claim that the Chancellor, George Osborne, is due to make an imminent announcement that the PBR will be scrapped from this year.

BCC spokesman, Sam Turvey, said that businesses had already received plenty of information about public finances this year.

“This year we’ve already had the Budget, then the emergency Budget when there was a very large public announcement on spending cuts, and in October we’ve got the comprehensive spending review,” he said. “It’s unlikely that businesses themselves will miss the PBR, although it gives lobby groups like us another chance to put small firms’ views forward. Most businesses probably aren’t aware that there is normally a PBR.”

Turvey added that most firms would be more interested in the Government’s comprehensive spending review scheduled for 20 October this year.

“It’s more important to most businesses than the PBR, as public procurement affects a large proportion of small businesses,” he said. “The review will give businesses a good idea of where the axe will fall and which departments will be hardest hit, so businesses will find out what the public procurement opportunities will be.”

An HM Treasury spokesman would not confirm whether the PBR will take place this year.