Oral Answers to Questions

Rehman Chishti Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2013 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to support small businesses.

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

3. What steps he is taking to support small businesses. [R]

--- Later in debate ---

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

We are doing more than ever to support small business. More than 7,000 start-up loans have been drawn down since the scheme’s launch in September 2012. Over the past year, UK Trade & Investment has helped 31,800 businesses to export, the growth accelerator scheme has supported more than 9,000 small businesses, and the regional growth fund has helped a further 3,000.

[Rehman Chishti]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. Will he clarify how many businesses have been backed by the Government’s start-up loan scheme, and are there any plans to extend it further?

[Vince Cable]

We estimate that something of the order of 7,000 start-up loans have been drawn down since the scheme’s launch in September 2012, a significant number of them in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. To sustain it, we have made available an extra £34 million from September, to bring the total to £151 million.