The Small Business Service has been slammed by the National Audit Office for its failure to monitor and evaluate government efforts to promote small businesses.

The spending watchdog said none of the evaluations to date has assessed the impact of the SBS as a whole, ‘or interpreted its or the government’s contribution to meeting high-level targets and aims for small businesses’.

David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: ‘What small business needs now more than ever is a strong advocate at the centre of government.

‘This report demonstrates that this simply is not happening. The 25 government departments surveyed in the report simply did not have confidence in the SBS's ability to set the government's agenda on small-business issues.’

The SBS was launched in 2000 and is run by the Department of Trade & Industry. An estimated £2.6bn of public money is spent each year on supporting the small business sector