A 'business survival action plan' to help Highlands and Islands companies who have been hit by the foot and mouth outbreak has been outlined by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise network (HIE).

It focusses on companies, and their employees, who have been affected by the knock-on effects of the disease outbreak and addresses the critical need for them to cut overheads and maintain cash flow until business levels recover.

The main planks of the plan, which will be delivered across the area by the network of Local Enterprise Companies, include easy and affordable access to expert financial advice, efforts to help people find alternative employment opportunities and a sympathetic approach to rent and loan payments:

* businesses who have been affected by the foot and mouth outbreak will be able to claim financial aid of up to £2000 (pounds), towards the costs of business survival experts such as lawyers or accountants - where they have been recruited specifically to deal with issues arising from foot and mouth.

* A sympathetic stance will be taken with companies facing rent or loan repayments to the HIE Network

* Network businesses counselling services will be redirected to offer as much assistance as possible to affected businesses.

* A Highlands and Islands-wide database will be created to register the skills of those people who have been made redundant or lost seasonal employment with a view to matching them with new employment or skills development opportunities.

* The Network will implement other measures including advisory and self-help workshops in each Local Enterprise Company area.

Farming businesses who contact the Network will be referred to the Scottish Agricultural College's Advisory service. They in turn will refer other businesses to HIE where the Network's assistance would be more appropriate.

The announcement of the action plan coincides with the release of the latest information on the number of calls received to the dedicated foot and mouth freephone line.

So far 469 Highlands and Islands businesses have called the freephone number, with 75 per cent of these being tourism related businesses. A further 16 per cent of calls have come from retail businesses.

A regional breakdown of the calls received shows: 27 per cent coming from the Moray Badenoch and Strathspey area; 16 per cent from Lochaber; 13 per cent from both Inverness and Nairn and Skye and Lochalsh; a total of 21 calls have been received from Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

HIE's director of growing businesses Douglas MacDiarmid said: "Although there have been no actual cases of foot and mouth disease in the Highlands and Islands it is quite obvious that the knock-on effects are having a serious impact on businesses throughout the area. As the statistics from the freephone line show the bulk of these are from tourism-related businesses who have been hit by a decline in trade. It has to be stressed at every opportunity that the Highlands and Islands are 'open for business' and this work will continue in tandem with our action plan.

"We welcome the extra resources which have been made available to the Enterprise Networks by the Scottish Executive and our new plan should provide valuable assistance to the businesses in our area who have been worst affected. They need to look quickly at how they can weather this storm and then restore their business to pre-foot and mouth levels - that's why our assistance is targeted at counselling and advice services which can help them take these important decisions."

The freephone number, for businesses affected by foot and mouth is 0800 027 5550. This survey will provide hard financial and employment measures to accurately assess the impact of the disease outbreak throughout the UK. The lines are open seven days a week between 8am and 10pm and callers are being asked for information on a range of key impacts including: loss of orders or bookings; reduced business enquiries; job losses; and effects on business turnover.