"Small businesses are at the heart of the welfare of this country. I hope and believe that the Summit will indicate ways in which they can be strengthened and I very much look forward to participating in the event."

The event, at Central Hall, Westminster, aims to build on the success of the first ever Summit in 2006, and will be a valuable opportunity for owners and managers of smaller businesses to meet. The FPB's National Chairman, Len Collinson, opened last year's event and is looking forward to this year's conference, which is again sponsored by Barclays Bank.

"It is the only opportunity for people who have formed and managed smaller businesses to get together and discuss common problems."

Steve Cooper, Managing Director for Barclays Local Business, said: "As sponsors of the awards for the second year running, we aim to champion small and medium-sized companies by providing extensive local knowledge and award-winning services to businesses.

"These events are a great opportunity to highlight the importance of small and medium-sized businesses to the UK's economy and provide a great platform for networking." he added.

In 2006 the Leader of the Conservative Party, the Rt Hon David Cameron MP, made the keynote speech and used the event to unveil some of his party's policies regarding Small Businesses. This year, the Summit will feature advice from directors and senior managers of successful private companies, prominent politicians and influential civil servants.

There will also be the chance for smaller business owners to discuss how different aspects of government policy affect their own companies. In 2006 debate was sparked by the unveiling of the results of a major FPB study.

FPB member Pauline Birdsall owns and runs Key Air and Sea in Sussex and was present at last year's Summit: "It was an excellent event, I thoroughly enjoyed the speeches and I thought the attendees asked some very useful questions which highlighted a number of key issues for small businesses." she said.

"It was also a fantastic opportunity for networking; I swapped cards with a number of other business people on the day and have been in touch with some of them since." she added.

Central Hall, Westminster is a venue steeped in history. The suffragettes met there in 1914, Mahatma Gandhi spoke in the Lecture Hall in 1931 and General de Gaulle founded the Free French there in the early 1940s. Perhaps most famously, Central Hall was the chosen venue for the inaugural General Assembly of the United Nations in 1946.

Businesses who wish to attend the event can book online at www.fpb.org/summit