General Links

Direct Government
The Government gateway to public information and services available online.

Federation of Small Businesses
This site provides a range of useful information and updates for small businesses, among them a scam and virus watch and links to a range of download utilities. The underlying link here takes you to the Herefordshire region. From the region pages go to the FSB Main Home Page to see the full list of information available.

Herefordshire Council Research Team
The Council Research Team, in association with the Herefordshire Partnership, is responsible for the provision of a research and intelligence service on a corporate basis, serving all sections of the Council together with other partner organisations in Herefordshire. This service embraces a range of fundamental data including population, housing, economy and social aspects and provides a key foundation for many Council services, operations, programmes and initiatives. Help is also given to members of the public, businesses and students with the provision and collation of statistics. Key publications of interest to businesses are the Quarterly Economic Reports and biennial Economic Assessment. These can be accessed via the Related Pages link below.

Herefordshire Inward Investment
Information on Herefordshire as a business location is available from the website. Note that the contact information is now out of date - for more information email economicinvestment@herefordshire.gov.uk or call on 01432 260177. More up to date statistics are available on the HIP pages.

Herefordshire Partnership
The Partnership works through Ambition Groups and the one for business is the Business, Economic and Tourism Ambition Group (BETAG). The Ambition Group is charged with taking forward the business objective within the Herefordshire Plan, which is to 'Support business growth and create more and better paid work in Herefordshire'. Among other things the Group sponsors the Economic Development Strategy for Herefordshire and deals with strategic issues to do with the local economy. Full information about the Group can be found on the Herefordshire Partnership website. The Partnership also produces a Funding Directory which signposts funding and advice sources, primarily for community projects but also for business. This is available via the Partnership website but also on the Council site via the Related Pages link below.

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
The website of the largest professional accountancy body in Europe.

Jobcentre Plus
Jobcentre Plus aims to be the recruitment partner of choice by offering a professional and modern service aimed at helping you fill your vacancies. Advertising your vacancy with Jobcentre Plus means it will be visible on this website which attracts over one million visits each week and on Jobpoints which are used by over one and half million customers looking for work each week. It will also be displayed on Worktrain (the national jobs, learning and careers site). If you wish, your vacancy can be visible in Jobcentres across Europe as well.
This site also provides access to much more information about legislation, dealing with redundancy situations etc.

Start Your Business Magazine
A bi-monthly magazine with a range of information that aims to help businesses to start-up, grow and flourish in every aspect. It has a 40,000 circulation to pre-start and early life businesses

Telephone Preference Service
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) helps you to make sure your telephone number is no longer available to organisations who may telephone you with offers and information you do not wish to receive. As from 25 June 2004 corporate subscribers have been able to register on this site the telephone numbers on which they do not wish to receive unsolicited direct marketing calls. If you are making direct marketing calls to businesses the site also provides links to information on how you can comply with the new legal obligations.

Trading Standards
This site provides a range of advice sheets for businesses as well as licence application forms and links to other relevant Government sites.

Valuation Office Agency
This site enables users to view and search a Rating List of business premises. Users can retrieve any entry that is currently in force, as well as the entry that represents the deletion of any assessment that has appeared in the past. The history of all such entries can be viewed and the user can, where required, submit an appeal against one of the entries displayed. The relevant billing authority is HEREFORDSHIRE, the application then lets you look at all non-domestic properties in a street if you wish.