Westmeath County Council has welcomed the publication of the Framework Service Level Agreement (SLA ) between local authorities and Enterprise Ireland for the new Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs ).
The SLA along with the new branding for the LEO offices were revealed today by Minister for Jobs and Innovation, Richard Bruton; Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan; and Minister of State for Small Business, John Perry. LEOs will act as a one-stop shops to support micro and small businesses in each county. The LEOs are being delivered through a Framework Service Level Agreement between Enterprise Ireland and the local authorities. Westmeath County Council is committed to playing its part to ensure that the LEO will be up and running by the end of 2013.
The Ministers launched the initiative today, in Fingal County Council, Swords. The LEOs are the result of a major restructuring of State support for small and micro-sized businesses, which was previously delivered by County and City Enterprise Boards.
The LEOs are a new initiative to further support local economies and entrepreneurship with high level support delivered at local level. The ultimate aim is to create enhanced, integrated, and tailored support in Westmeath, benchmarked by Enterprise Ireland and delivered in partnership with Westmeath local authorities.
The LEOs will be part of the broad range of support given by Westmeath County Council for economic development but it will have a clear focus on local enterprise development. The main services provided by LEOs include: business information and advisory services, enterprise support services; entrepreneurship support services; and local enterprise development services.
