Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to improve access to finance for small businesses in (a) Kettering and (b) England.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Improving access to finance is the mission of the Government-owned British Business Bank, which addresses gaps in the finance market through guarantees, debt and equity finance. The bank is currently supporting around £5.2 billion of finance to almost 75,000 businesses across the United Kingdom, including through British Patient Capital, a £2.5bn fund for long-term equity investment.
From March 2012 to July 2018, the Start-Up Loans initiative delivered more than 57,000 loans across all parts of the UK, lending a total of £436 million and contributing to the creation of more than 56,600 jobs. Over the same period, 49 start-up loans with a total value of £366,644 were awarded to entrepreneurs in Kettering.
Access to invoice finance is an issue for many small businesses, because of terms in commercial contracts that prohibit or restrict them from assigning the value of their invoices. I have recently introduced regulations to ensure that any such contractual restrictions entered into after 31 December 2018, with certain exceptions, would have no effect and could be disregarded by small businesses and finance providers. This new measure is expected to provide a long-term boost to the UK economy worth almost £1billion.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What steps he plans to take to help elderly people manage their energy bills.
Answered by Claire Perry
All pensioners receive £100 to £300 Winter Fuel Payments and around 1.3 million low income pensioners receive the Warm Home Discount - a £140 rebate off their bills each winter.
Additionally, the recent cold weather triggered payments of £25 for qualifying households.
I will be shortly consulting on how to best focus the £640mm of ECO funding onto low income households - which is intended to include elderly people living in fuel poverty.
The Price Cap Bill will protect 11m households with 5m households already protected by the Ofgem safeguard tariff.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What steps he plans to take to help elderly people manage their energy bills.
Answered by Claire Perry
All pensioners receive £100 to £300 Winter Fuel Payments and around 1.3 million low income pensioners receive the Warm Home Discount - a £140 rebate off their bills each winter.
Additionally, the recent cold weather triggered payments of £25 for qualifying households.
I will be shortly consulting on how to best focus the £640mm of ECO funding onto low income households - which is intended to include elderly people living in fuel poverty.
The Price Cap Bill will protect 11m households with 5m households already protected by the Ofgem safeguard tariff.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage the start up and development of small businesses in (a) Kettering, (b) Northamptonshire and (c) England.
Answered by Margot James
Small and medium-sized businesses across England can access support through GOV.UK and the Business Support Helpline. Over the last three years, Government has also supported and invested in the creation of 38 Growth Hubs (one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area), providing businesses across England with tailored advice and support. To date, Growth Hubs have engaged and supported over 570,000 businesses, and helped 11,391 individuals to start a business.
Velocity Growth Hub serves businesses in the South East Midlands and operates a sub-Growth Hub for businesses based in Northamptonshire. Since 2013, the Northamptonshire Growth Hub has engaged with 4,982 businesses and helped 308 individuals to start a business, with Velocity (including Northamptonshire) having engaged a total of 87,655 businesses and helped 476 individuals to start a business since launch in 2014.
British Business Bank programmes are currently supporting almost £4 billion of finance to over 60,000 smaller businesses across the UK which includes over 51,500 Start-Up Loans worth over £366 million. Since the launch of the British Business Bank in November 2014, its programmes have facilitated over £78m to businesses in Northamptonshire. This includes 393 Start-up Loans at a value of over £2.5m. Of this figure, over £250k is supporting loans to businesses in the constituency of Kettering.
Through our Industrial Strategy, we will continue to back small and medium-sized business to grow and create jobs by providing an environment in which they can thrive.
*All British Business Bank data is current as at end of Jun 2017 except for the Start-Up Loans programme which is as at end of Oct 2017
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many small businesses are registered in Northamptonshire; how many such businesses were registered in Northamptonshire in 2010; and what assessment he has made of the health of the local business environment in that county.
Answered by Margot James
Northamptonshire has 30,665 registered small/micro private sector businesses with fewer than 50 employees in 2016, compared to 24,175 in 2010 (ONS).
Velocity Growth Hub, through its Northamptonshire spoke, supported 1385 businesses in 2016/17 to start and grow.
The Midland Engine Investment Fund provides access to finance for businesses, accelerating economic growth and job creation.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will meet tobacconists and small independent retailers who have been affected by violence, abuse and vandalism from those who refuse to show identification and proof of age when wishing to purchase tobacco and alcohol.
Answered by Margot James
The Government is aware of the challenges faced by small businesses, including small independent retailers, and my department works closely with the Home Office’s National Retail Crime Steering Group. I also regularly meet many small businesses, including retailers and their representatives, to explore a wide range of issues affecting them.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support business growth in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England.
Answered by Margot James
Support for those seeking to start and grow a business is available online at Gov.uk or from the National Business Support Helpline which provides signposting, diagnostic support and advice on a range of issues. The service can be accessed by telephone on 0300 456 3565 or via webchat, email, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. There are 39 Growth Hubs across England which join up local and national business support for businesses in their area. Northamptonshire businesses have access to the Northamptonshire Growth Hub and South East Midland’s Velocity. The Midlands Engine Investment Fund, due to be launched in 2017 (subject to final funding arrangements), is expected to provide over £250m of support to the region’s 460,000 smaller businesses. The British Business Bank and Innovate UK also provide assistance to support business growth.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential opportunities to reduce the regulatory burdens on business (a) before and (b) after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Margot James
The Government committed in its manifesto to reduce the burden of regulation on business by £10bn through a Business Impact Target. The first report on the Business Impact Target was published in June and showed that we have so far delivered £885 million of deregulation savings against it.
The Government will carefully consider the implications of leaving the European Union for the Business Impact Target, and the opportunities to further reduce burdens on business.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to prevent the mis-selling of domestic energy to pensioners.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Energy companies are required under their licence conditions to ensure all information that they or their representatives provide to domestic customers during a marketing activity is complete, accurate and easily understood.
Ofgem has powers to investigate and impose sanctions, such as financial penalties, on energy companies when they are found to have breached their licence conditions, including mis-selling.