Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

Business advice and support - list of agencies that can help

Business Link - Provides advice on a range of topics such as business start up, taxes, returns and payroll, health and safety, IT and e-commerce and sales and marketing.

Train to Gain - The Learning and Skills Council’s Train to Gain service provides impartial, independent advice on training to businesses across England. It can help businesses improve their productivity and competitiveness by ensuring that employees have the right skills to do the best job.

Abingdon & Witney College - The Business Development Unit at Abingdon and Witney College is a dedicated team helping organisations identify and meet their training needs. There are many training routes to follow at the college and the Business Development Unit can help establish which are best for your organisation.

Regional Resource Centre - Provides a focal point for industry-driven training specialising in the areas of Advanced Instrumentation, ICT and Electronics.

IT Skills - Helping micro and small businesses get more benefit out of IT.

Oxfordshire Broadband Partnership - The Partnership supports local businesses across Oxfordshire, and is made up of a collaboration of private and public organisations to provide independent, free information and advice to improve availability, access and take up of broadband services across the County. In addition the Partnership can provide grants to help ambitious businesses improve their profits by using the web.

Oxfordshire Enterprise Hub – Offers support to local entrepreneurs wishing to enhance and grow their businesses

Innovation Advisory Service South East (IAS) – This service aims to help companies identify and exploit major growth potential.

Fresh Start – An initiative to encourage new entrants into farming and to help established farmers think about how they can develop their business.

Marketing Local Food - The three Food Groups in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire work as a federation and are supported by the South East England Development Agency and by local authorities to "promote the production and consumption of locally produced foods".

Village Shops - The Oxfordshire Rural Community Council Village Shops Development Worker provides advice and support to independent rural shopkeepers.

Social Enterprises - A social enterprise is an organisation that believes meeting the needs of the community is of utmost importance. Through social enterprises a community group can become less reliant on funding and instead support itself through trading. The profits made can then be ploughed back into developing the business and improving the community.

Oxfordshire Sustainable Business Partnership –  For advice about how to improve business productivity and competitiveness through sustainable business practices.

Oxfordshire Trading Standards - Trading Standards is responsible for the enforcement of a wide range of legislation controlling the advertising, marketing, distribution and supply of goods and services throughout the manufacturing, importation and service delivery chain. 

Market Research Information - The Oxfordshire Data Observatory provides information about the population of the Vale of White Horse.

Advice for tourism businesses - Find advice on how to set up, develop and market a tourism business.   

Visit Vale Website and guide - Please note that from 1 August 2008 the management of the Visit Vale website is being transferred to Focus on Faringdon, which is a Community Interest Company working for the benefit of all communities in the Vale. It will manage the website on behalf of the Vale of White Horse District Council.