The Swansea Business Show lands at the LC Leisure Centre on Oystermouth Road in Swansea at 10 tomorrow morning. Captain Mike Leahy says there will be a pre-landing seminar with Business Guru Rob Warlow at 9.30. Rob’s book about getting a business bank loan will be out shortly.

The Show will be in party mode with dancers and a singer ready to entertain you: exhibitors galore to woo you and parliamentry candidates to answer to you. Come along and chat with new business people in the speed networking, sample food and drink and generally pick up that buzz to take your business to the next level.

There is a huge carpark adjacent so swing in and stroll across the tarmac. We’ll see you there up to 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Any queries call or text  Mike Leahy on 0797 63 64 681

More info on the website

To deter traders from settling theirVAT liabilities usingcheque, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced that cheques will need to clear by the normal due date for payment to be deemed on time.

Network Rail maintenance workers vote in favour of strikes, bringing about the possibility of action over Easter.

It would seem that Wales isn’t the only region that has problems with public investment into businesses.

According to an article in yesterday’s FT, an investment by taxpayers of £74 million into regional venture capital funds has been marked down to just £5 million according to a report that is highly critical of the government’s wider venture capital programme.

Since 2000, the Department for Business has invested £338 million in 28 venture capital funds – through seven umbrella schemes – that have provided seed money to more than 800 companies.

According to a report from the Commons’ public accounts committee:

• Funds were structured in a way that taxpayers bore a “disproportionate” share of the risks involved when compared with private sector co-investors.
• Whilst the Department for Business has provided “scant information” about the performance of the funds, using “restrictive” confidentiality clauses, it appears that many made annual losses.
• One of the seven umbrella schemes – the Regional Venture Capital Funds (RVCF) – has reported an interim rate of return of -15.7 per cent, far worse than the -0.4 per cent delivered by other similar European funds.
• Many of the funds have been paying high costs to private sector fund managers. The RVCF, for example, spent £46 million in fees against £130 million invested up to December 2008.
• The taxpayers’ investment of £74 million in the RVCF is now worth only £5 million – a drop of about 93 per cent
• According to the National Audit Office, venture capital funds had taken a loss on four out of five investments they had sold – 189 write-offs since 2000 against just 45 profitable exits.
• The Department of Business failed failing to establish basic economic and financial objectives when it was setting up the funds and did not evaluate them for eight years

Given this performance, one has to question whether putting more money into publicly funded venture capital funds, as suggested by the Deputy First Minister recently, is the way forward.

It would seem that there have been various commentators suggesting, quite erroneously, that the Conservatives don’t have any policies to get the country out of recession.

Whilst that may suit the spin emanating from No 10, nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the Conservatives have already announced as series of policies for growing the UK economy whilst the UK Government remains largely silent on the issue.

For the avoidance of any doubt, these include the following policies which have already been announced by David Cameron, George Osborne and Ken Clarke:

• Creating the most competitive corporate tax environment in the G20 and starting by cutting the headline rate of corporation tax to 25p and the small companies’ rate to 20p, funded by reducing complex reliefs and allowances.
• Making the UK a more attractive location for multinationals by simplifying the complex Controlled Foreign Companies rules
• Improving the corporate tax system by consulting on the merits of moving towards a territorial corporate tax system that only taxes profits generated in the UK.
• Improving Intellectual Property protection by creating the most attractive tax environment for intellectual property of any major economy that will encourage intellectual property to reside in the UK.
• Restoring the tax system’s reputation for simplicity, stability and predictability by setting out a five year road map for the direction of corporate tax reform, providing greater certainty and stability to businesses.
• Reducing the burden of red tape on business with a ‘one in one out’ rule for new regulations, mandatory sunset clauses and regulatory budgets for departments.
• Making it easier to start a business by reducing the number of forms needed to register a new business and moving towards a ‘one-click’ registration model with the aim of making Britain the fastest place in the world to start a business.
• Helping social tenants start their own businesses by ending restrictions on people starting a business in social housing, to enable social tenants to become entrepreneurs.
• Helping small businesses win more government contracts by opening up government procurement to SMEs by reducing administrative requirements.
• Create a presumption in favour of sustainable development in the planning system, with incentives for local communities to foster a pro-development culture, greater certainty for developers with a single unified local tariff, and a fast track process for major infrastructure projects with inquiries subject to binding timetables.

I am sure other equally impressive ideas will emerge over the next few weeks, especially when Sir James Dyson gets his task force on high technology manufacturing gets into gear but this is seriously long way from the ‘lack of Tory business policies’ line which has gone out largely unchallenged by those who should know better.

Perhaps those commentators will now focus on what Labour will do to get the country growing – or will we have to wait until the Budget for any such ideas to emerge?