Focus Groups, Test Panels, Workshops and Consultations
Consulting with small businesses is often difficult for officials to do, but BERR's Enterprise Directorate can help reach this sector for their views on policy options.
The BERR Enterprise Directorate runs a database of owners and managers of small businesses who have expressed an interest in being consulted by Departments at the early stage of policy development. The Enterprise Directorate contacts Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) on behalf of policy officials to gauge the potential impact on small business, of proposed new regulations.
The free-to-use database is also a useful point of contact at later stages of the Small Firms Impact Test (SFIT), for example when recruiting participants for focus groups, test panels and workshops.
Consultations can be tailored in several ways including targeting specific industrial sectors, geographic regions, and business sizes. The normal arrangement is for respondents to send comments direct to the body leading the work.
First round soundings are usually carried out through email or letter.
All database enquiries should be directed by telephone to 020 7215 5679 or by email to regulation@berr.gsi.gov.uk.