A quarterly survey carried by the independent Small Business Research Trust (SBRT) has found that seven out of 10 smaller businesses are not aware of government training initiatives. The survey, which was carried out by the University of Liverpool Management School and is one of the largest regular surveys on smaller companies in the UK, is expected to be a blow to government.

Sponsored by HSBC Bank plc, the survey gathered responses from more than 1,000 smaller businesses and found that nearly 70 per cent were not aware of the training role of the Sector Skills Councils or the Train to Gain scheme. It also revealed that almost half of those smaller firms responding carried out no formal training and preferred employees to go through informal training within the work place.

Awareness of government training schemes was particularly low among micro firms, which counts companies that employ up to nine people. Just over 17 per cent were aware of the role of the Sector Skills Councils or the Train to Gain scheme. Among small firms (10 to 49 employees) about a third of the respondents were aware of one or both of these initiatives. Medium-sized firms (50 to 249 employees) reported that almost 29 per cent knew about the Sector Skills Councils and over 40 per cent about Train to Gain.

The report also shows that smaller businesses are less likely to offer any external or internal formal training. The survey found that only 40 per cent of micro companies and 69 per cent of small companies provided formal training, whilst 87 per cent of medium-sized companies did so. Lack of information on skills initiatives was one factor cited as a reason for not undertaking formal, external training.

Brian Wolfe, chairman of SBRT, said: "There must be serious concern that such a small proportion of small businesses seem to be aware of the opportunities for training provision now being backed by significant government funding through Train to Gain and other initiatives. There is a real danger that larger businesses, with the infrastructure to access such provision, will reap most of the benefit - leaving small business requirements unrecognised.”

Research by the Forum of Private Business (FPB) supports the SBRT findings. The FPB asked its members whether they thought the current system of skills initiatives promoted the interests of smaller business owners in general. The results revealed that a large number of its members did not know whether the system promoted the smaller businesses, which suggested, maintains the FPB, a lack of knowledge among smaller businesses about current training initiatives.

The SBRT report concludes: "The need for training to demonstrate measurable benefits to small businesses is therefore critical, and any training provision to small firms must be delivered as a complement to their principal policy of informal, ‘on-the-job’ training, if the substantial government investment in this function is to be successful.”