Lancashire County Developments Ltd, the County Council's economic development company is working in partnership with Business Link and the Asian Business Federation to raise awareness of the opportunities available to small and medium sized (SME) businesses in the public sector.

This week saw the first of a number of planned many seminars promoting the availability of contracts with local authorities was held in Preston on Tuesday 17th May 2005 at the Holiday Inn.

Over 30 ethnic minority businesses attended to hear speakersthis seminar.

The seminar was jointly organised through Business Link, Lancashire County Developments Ltd, and the Asian Business Federation

The speaker for the topic was Tracey Dennis, Procurement mManager from Lanca shire County Council and Mike Lovett Procurement Manager from Preston City Council.

Both the speakers outlined how money was spent by the authorities to buy services and goods and explainedmade a presentation explain the money spent by the authorities in buying services and how the E-Procurement route is helping them authorities to save money which can then be used for other council activities. and are able to use this money towards other activities of the council.

The Rose mMarket pProgramme, was also explained by Mike Lovett which is a unique programme allowing small businesses to register on line and can bid for contracts, was also explained by Mike Lovett. through this process.

Preston County Councillor Vali Patel attended the seminar. He said: "The County and District Councils in Lancashire offer a huge opportunity for local firms, buying in millions of pounds worth of goods and services each year. Currently very little of that business goes to ethnic minority companies and this seminar will help raise the understanding of these companies and encourage them to bid for contracts.

"The E- Procurement agenda is being taken up in a big way by local government because it saves so much time and money, allowing us to make savings that can be used to benefit local communities. I would urge all businesses to invest in IT skills and equipment to enable them to compete in this new and expanding market."

County Cllr Vail Patel said it is very important for ethnic minority businesses to understand and plan ahead in investing in technology if they are to be able to access contracts through local authorities. Currently there is a very little take up from the ethnic minorities. He welcomes the initiative and joint working from all parties to disseminate the information on procurement agenda.

The seminar was very successful and many of the participants will be attending special workshops where they can gain sp eakers were followed by a questions and answer session. The participants were very pleased with the presentation and have agreed to attend workshops to be able to get hands on experience in how to filling inout tender forms and gain further knowledge about the relevant documents they would need.require

Business Link, the Asian Business Federation and LCDL will be looking to host put further seminars for the wider business group community in the future.