Bill Esterson
Main Page: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)Department Debates - View all Bill Esterson's debates with the Department for Education
(11 years, 10 months ago)
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Vince Cable
A great deal has been done at central Government level to ensure that we reach our target of 25% of Government contracts going to small and medium-sized enterprises. Considerable progress has been made in reducing the bureaucracy of pre-qualification questionnaires. The problem remains at the decentralised level—local government, hospitals and so on. Efforts will be made through legislation to simplify that process.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
The No. 1 issue for small businesses in my constituency is the high level of business rates. I urge the Secretary of State and his ministerial colleagues to support our proposal for a business rate cut, followed by a freeze.
Vince Cable
As I have said, there is an extensive programme of business rate relief, which extends to half a million companies. That is a very good programme, but there is an issue with how we will continue to pay for it, given the many other claims on Government spending.