ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, concerns over a decline in small manufacturing businesses and calls for greater acknowledgement and representation of the interests of small businesses prompted the appointment of the Bolton Committee of Inquiry on Small Firms in 1969. This chapter discusses the Bolton Committee in terms of its establishment as well as the processes of gathering and representing of views on the role of government in relation to small businesses and the production of its influential report. As we discuss, the consolidation and promotion of a particular set of ideas and interests through the publication and influence of the Bolton report was shaped by the wider political context and had important implications for the subsequent development of formal and informal institutions.
