The Department of Trade and Industry has announced that it is closing its Business Services Unit, which has been co-ordinating support activity for conference and exhibitions.

This follows a reorganisation within the DTI’s Business Relations team, as a result of the government’s 2004 Spending Review.

Members of conference and exhibition trade bodies have expressed their dismay at the decision, fearing that this will lead inevitably to less overall support for the sector.

Michael Hirst, Chairman of the Business Tourism Partnership, told DTI officials that the withdrawal of direct services is of considerable disappointment. “The lack of any co-ordinating sponsorship will put at risk the excellent working relationships with the DTI, which have allowed a number of significant initiatives to be undertaken. These have assisted in identifying business events as a key catalyst for business and trade development activity”.

Writing to Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State, he said, “This will effectively remove the sponsorship and co-ordinating activities to a sector which currently contributes around £30 billion in direct expenditures and facilitates, at a minimum, £100 billion of trade earnings through commercial transactions conducted at trade fairs and business events”.

“Without a co-ordinating DTI entity, the task of accessing services, interfacing with ten dedicated sector teams, several specific issue teams and creating programmes for trade development utilising business events, will become overly complex and burdensome. Indeed without ownership within your Department, they may not materialise at all”, he added.

John Sanders of the Association of Exhibition Organisers (AEO) said, “In view of the size of our sector I am very disturbed to learn that the DTI feel that there is no need for a dedicated resource covering exhibitions.  I do not feel that we would be adequately served by what will be patchwork coverage provided by Government Offices and the RDA's.  We are a national industry that needs a national point of contact in Government”.

The DTI has said that indirect support will continue to be available through the Department’s ten sector heads but there could not be a single point of contact for the conference and exhibition interests. Other support programmes would be dealt with by the Small Business Service, UK Trade and Investment and the Regional Development Agencies.

Ian Gibbons, Senior Private Secretary at the DTI replying to industry concerns said, “This decision reflected a necessarily prioritised judgement on where the Business Relations Directorate can add most value with more limited resources”. Cross cutting teams  will be continuing to work on behalf of all business on issues such as innovation, skills, influencing regulation and helping to ensure business is able to take advantage of public procurement opportunities”.