Research and reports


Small Business Report 2011 – A Window of Opportunity

(NB: This report was previously known as Home Business Report but is now focussed on small businesses as opposed to just home businesses)

The findings of the Small Business Report 2011 which has been compiled by Enterprise Nation and sponsored by BT were revealed on Monday 03 October by Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. The report outlines a ten point plan to encourage start ups and support existing businesses to grow and also includes a key message around SFBB being essential to their future which further supports our ongoing comms strategy for NGA.

This report builds on the highly successful previous reports known as The Home Business report. Recommendations are based on the views of small businesses and large corporates who have contributed through completion of a Small Business Survey (carried out in March 2011 with 1,224 responses) and / or conversations held in the first half of 2011.

The businesses that responded to the survey are micro-enterprises, employing between 1 and 5 people, with ambitious plans to grow turnover whilst remaining small and nimble.

Based on survey findings and commentary, the recommendations made will encourage more people to start a business and support existing businesses to grow. There are suggestions to help self-employed parents with business expenses, assist students with manageable loans and accelerate innovation in providing business support online. Progress cannot be made without advances in technology and the importance of superfast broadband availability is also addressed.

For further information visit Enterprise Nation which is a small business support company providing books, kits, online tools, video clips, weekly classes and funding to anyone starting a business. Emma Jones the founder is also small business author and expert. She is co-founder of national campaign, StartUp Britain.

Download the full Small Business Report 2011 in pdf format.

The impact of BT across the UK

The latest version of the Social Study 2010 – “The Economic Impact of BT across the UK” is now available. Produced in partnership with DTZ, the study demonstrates the economic contribution of BT to the national and regional economies in terms of jobs, output and Gross Value Add (GVA) supported.

It shows that BT’s total impact across the UK amounts to £13 billion GVA which accounts for 1% of the UK’s total GVA. A proportionate, positive impact is enjoyed by the economies of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and all the English Regions.

The report highlights that, in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, for the financial year 2009-2010:

  • BT directly employs just over 79,805 people living and working in the UK and a further 4,368 contractors
  • The total wage and salary bill of these employees is more than £2.7billion
  • BT spent a total of £7.7 billion with suppliers based in the UK in 2009/10
  • Including direct and knock-on effects, BT is estimated to support some 270,000 FTE jobs in the UK with a total value of £37 billion in 2009-2010 which will be recognised in official GDP figures
  • BT committed more than £26 million to community, charity and voluntary programmes across the UK

This study prepared by DTZ, updates the previous 2008-2009 study. It analyses the overall UK position and each region of the UK (in terms of Regional Development Agency, RDA, boundaries), including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The 2010 report also provides key statistics and impact at sub-regional level within each of these geographies. In addition this year we have included examples of BT people case studies to emphasise the social and community impact of BT people in their communities. Further information on BT’s social and community impacts can be found at www.bt.com/betterworld.

The full report, alongside individual versions for each of the English Regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are available to download in PDF format.

An Insight into Closing the Digital Divide

For BT, the causes of digital exclusion, and therefore the solution, focuses around the interconnected issues of access, motivation, skills and confidence. Over the past six years, at both a national and regional level, BT has worked with Government, NGOs, businesses and the individuals themselves, to help to address these issues. To support this work and stimulate debate BT regions has published a new report, “An Insight into Closing the Digital Divide” – April 2009 which brings together experiences and cases studies from across the UK highlighting the challenges and impacts of the digital excluded.

The report pulls together and assesses the learning from individual case studies of people who have participated in the various BT supported digital inclusion projects across the nations and regions. The report has been produced with input from internal stakeholders such as Group CR and also includes third party comment and endorsement.

Download the full report in PDF format (1mb)

Accelerating Next Generation Access Rollout – New white paper from BT

Here you will find a useful NGA strategies white paper - Accelerating Next Generation Access Rollout – which helps to explain the advantages of next generation internet access and presents an outline of how rollout of the technology might be achieved successfully in partnership with BT.

Download the Accelerating Next Generation Access Rollout white pager in PDF format (256kb)

Further information on Next Generation Broadband, latest news and associated briefings from BT can be found at www.bt.com/ngb.