GOOD neighbours from the business community are being rewarded for offering a helping hand to smaller companies.

The winner of the City of York Council's Good Neighbour Scheme will be announced tomorrow at York restaurant Melton's Too.

The initiative has been designed by the Food and Safety Unit to encourage larger firms to mentor small businesses in health and safety issues.

Launched last October, more than 300 small firms in York have benefited from the scheme.

Companies vying for the top title include British Sugar and Nestl, both of whom provided training days on a variety of subjects, and free occupational health advice. York Marriott arranged a free training course in swimming pool management, while Norwich Union provided 500 employee handbooks for smaller companies.

The deputy leader of the council and executive member for environment and sustainability, Councillor Andrew Waller, will present the awards.

He said: "The Good Neighbour Scheme has proved an effective method of helping to make York a safer place to work and the feedback from small firms taking advantage of the courses on offer was very positive."

Updated: 14:25 Tuesday, June 10, 2003