IT has been a record-breaking year for Business Link York and North Yorkshire.

The one-stop shop for business needs has seen a 28 per cent increase in inquiries, with an average customer satisfaction rate of more than 90 per cent.

A diverse range of 45 new services to support local businesses has been developed through 24 different providing organisations - projects with a collective value assessed at £31.1 million and attracting more than £11.4 million worth of new European funding for the area.

The statistics appear in the regional Business Link's annual report, which also forecasts a 14 per cent average increase in productivity for 750 firms which received in-depth support from Business Link's advisers over the last 12 months.

Inquiries at the information centre in Arabesque House, Monks Cross, Huntington, York, were up by 28 per cent- from 20,000 to more than 26,000.

It resulted in 16,500 businesses supported - a ten per cent increase against the same period in 2003-04. Three-quarters of those businesses were located in rural areas, helped by an increase in the number of Business Link local advice centres to 25.

Other facts in the report include:

as many as 5,750 delegates attended 677 business events staged by Business Link York and North Yorkshire across the region

The number of businesses from the region helped by Business Link to export for the first time doubled

More than 350 food companies in York and North Yorkshire have been helped by Business Link to become more competitive

Recruitment and development of staff were among the biggest issues, accounting for 1,800 inquiries at the Monks Cross information centre.

Helen West, chief executive, said the statistics reflected the high levels of enterprise in the sub-region of York and North Yorkshire, its strong rural base, and Business Link's position at the forefront of business support; helping firms to realise the benefits it delivered. She said: "The enterprise and innovation we are seeing in our day-to-day work is incredible, as is the strength of the key business clusters within York and North Yorkshire.

"More and more established businesses are looking to start trading overseas and the number of high-growth start-up businesses we're working with is growing rapidly. It's a very encouraging picture across the sub-region."

Updated: 10:38 Wednesday, October 19, 2005