MP for Epsom and Ewell goes back to school (From Your Local Guardian)

MP for Epsom and Ewell goes back to school

8:08am Tuesday 14th February 2012 in News By Lauren May

The Employment Minister went back to school last week completing ‘work experience’ at a manufacturing plant in Epsom.

MP for Epsom and Ewell, Chris Grayling, met with staff at WECS Precision in West Ewell on Friday, February 3, to learn firsthand about the challenges facing small businesses.

As part of the visit Mr Grayling took part in a workshop and spoke to employees.

He said: "Small business is vital to the UK economy, so it’s really important for me as a Minister and as an MP to understand the issues they have.

"There was certainly a lot to discuss, and now I’ve met the team there I hope to keep in contact with them. And if anything should crop up that they feel I help with they know how to get hold of me."

Nigel Pooles, manager at WECS said: "It went really well, and was definitely worth doing. The Minister stayed for well over an hour.

"During a tour of our workshop he was able to gain an appreciation of the quality of product and level of service provided by local UK based manufacturing.

"We also had time to chat about a number of issues that we as a business face. We discussed training and the need to attract young people into a career that can be both challenging and rewarding, but which does not always command the best in public perception, the burden of paper work involved in bidding for public and government contracts and the amount of red tape associated with health and safety compliance.

"The latter subject was of particular interest to Mr Grayling."

The visit was arranged as part of the Business Buddy Scheme launched by the not for profit business support group, the Forum of Private Business as part of its Get Britain Trading Campaign.

Nearly 100 visits have been arranged since the scheme was launched last year.

Forum’s head of campaigns, Jane Bennett, added: "It’s all well and good for lobby groups like ourselves to tell the Government about the issues facing small businesses, but there’s no substitute for first-hand experience.

"We want politicians to see for themselves what it’s like to run a small business so that’s why we developed the Business Buddy scheme."

For more information visit fpb.org or email getbritaintrading@fpb.org