I know it’s not the source of all one to one support but the closure of Business Link as a physical entity and a movement of all its services online was both inevitable given the current financial climate and unfortunate in my opinion. It’s not just that the service in itself has gone (and it had a number of flaws) but more about what it says about the value of a professional adviser and the method of imparting advice.

With a keen interest in helping start up businesses and a history of putting together a varied range of support packages for individuals seeking a new future in working for themselves I have always been struck by the power of face to face support. In fact of all the support structures that we have been behind I can say, that one-to-one support was the most popular, used and valued service.

Information is available in other formats too, in fact I use the new Business Link website regularly to source impartial and independent advice, but there is nothing that can substitute the contextual assistance that an adviser can give.

For me it is the interactivity of speaking to a real person, someone who has experience, who can look you in the eye and say, here’s what I did that makes the information you are receiving both helpful and memorable.

Only today I was assisting someone who was half-way down the route to setting up what I hope is an innovative export business that he couldn’t believe that there was no-one that he could talk to about his particular issue. I explained that there was much available on the internet and if he paid someone for it. He was just incredulous that the “stimulation of small businesses and entrepreneurs” heralded by a succession of governments didn’t go beyond my general, experience-based advice on broad start-up issues, unless it was paid for.

And of course, there is paid-for advice and there are some fantastic professional advisers who go beyond the call of duty to provide sensible and useful advice for their clients but not everyone is either in the position to pay for or understand the immediate benefit of personal, professional and cost-effective advice. I’m also not sure that providing unlimited face-to-face support for all people starting their own business is the best use of taxpayer’s money but surely some middle ground is needed.

I hope the sizeable bank of volunteer mentors that is envisaged by the current government policy works, especially for those young (at heart) and enthusiastic would-be entrepreneurs who need that practical and early advice to get them moving in the right direction. I just hope that if there isn’t the availability of decent mentors that these people don’t get holed up down dead ends, spending valuable time on pointless research and spending money on products and services they don’t need.

I fear that professional advice, free at the point of use, for those at the tipping point of starting their own business is a desirable public good and efforts should be found to fund this. How this might happen, I know, is of concern to a large number of policy makers and providers and I hope over the coming years a balanced approach is formulated to assist people who really need the support and will, given the opportunity, add value to UK PLC.