Vince Cable: Keeping apprenticeships funding was essential for business Business Secretary Vince Cable has defended his decision to increase tuition fees in favour of preserving apprenticeships and skills schemes. With unemployment in the UK is rising and with tuition fees set to increase, skills training and apprenticeships are vital in ensuring that core skills remain.

London leads the economic revival with regions close behind Britain’s economic recovery is heavily regionally divided, according to a new report which analyses Companies House data, pinpointing areas of the UK which have seen the greatest number of new businesses open since the end of the recession.

The Midlands & North East lead list of the UK's future champions New data published today reveals that out of all the jobs created by small and medium sized enterprises in the UK over the last 10 years, 4.4 million were created by fewer than 10 per cent of SMEs. According to the analysis of the data produced by Experian, these ‘champion’ high-growth firms created two thirds of all the jobs within the SME community and The Midlands and North East of England have some of the healthiest levels of 'future champions'

Francis Maude: "We will make it easier for UK SMEs to sell to Government" Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has said that is is essential that central government becomes a better buyer of goods and services from small and medium sized companies and also looks to 'buy British' as much as possible.

Lord Young resigns as Enterprise Tsar after comments a week into the role The Prime Minister has accepted Lord Young's resignation less than a week after he accepted the role as Enterprise Tsar.

Small businesses to be exempt from staff training rights Employees in businesses with fewer than 49 employees will lose the right to ask for paid time off for training following a decision to exempt small firms from the provisions.

Vince Cable announces UK-wide business mentoring scheme Vince Cable has announced, during the event held in London to mark the opening of Global Entrepreneurship Week in the UK, that the government will be creating and backing a new business mentoring scheme.

The government announces some big name entrepreneurs to advise it on business strategy The business secretary Vince Cable has announced the creation of a new forum featuring high profile entrepreneurs to advise the government on business and enterprise policies.

The best of British business honoured On a night of triumph for UK plc, the best British businesses gathered to celebrate excellence, innovation and ethics at the ninth annual National Business Awards in partnership with Orange at the Grosvenor House Hotel.

The real challenges facing entrepreneurs identified One of the UK's leading law firms Mishcon de Reya has partnered with The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to produce The Entrepreneurship Report; a joint venture aimed at providing entrepreneurs a voice and a platform to express their needs and lobby for change.

David Cameron appoints Lord Young as new enterprise tsar to change attitudes towards SMEs SMEs have a new champion in Westminster as Prime Minister David Cameron has asked Lord Young, the former trade and industry secretary to take up Lord Sugar’s old role as Government enterprise tsar.

Business Links to close by April 2012 & be replaced by new websites Business Link, the publicly funded advice network founded in 1982 by Lord (Michael Heseltine) during his time as head of the DTI, is to be scrapped by April 2012 and replaced by a website and call centre, the Government has confirmed.

High street sales grow for fourth month running Sales on the high street were higher than a year ago in October, according to the latest CBI monthly Distributive Trades Survey. The figure was positive for the fourth month in a row, and retailers predict a slightly faster increase in sales next month.

Business failures in the North East of England doubled in two months According to the latest Insolvency Index from business information specialists Experian business failures in the North East of England more than doubled in the space of two months.

Spending Review 2010: How will it affect your business Small business will see the comprehensive spending review as a double edged sword as funding pledged for loan guarantees and equity schemes, but significant cuts to training and other business support announced

UK sees huge surge in new business start-ups Britain’s economic recovery is being led by the nation’s small businesses with over 200,000 new businesses opening in the first half of 2010.

Mentors set to be offered tax breaks in new business support plans Ministers are understood to be keen on promoting mentoring by experienced business owners and professional advisers as an effective means of helping companies to grow.

Franchisor of the year awarded Gerald Thompson of McDonald’s in Manchester and Oldham has been crowned the 2010 bfa HSBC Franchisee of the Year.

Hundreds of millions in business rates relief going unused Thousands of small companies risk losing rates relief worth £200m because they are in danger of missing the end of month deadline for submitting claims leading business organisations.

UK businesses must act today to avoid £45,000 fines Time has virtually run out for UK businesses to register for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme. Most public and private sector organisations using 6,000 Megawatt hours or more in 2008 have until the end of September before they start paying hefty fines of up to £45,000, warns international law firm, Simmons & Simmons.