Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
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 ensure that businesses that are eligible for Bounce Back loans but unable to access them through their bank receive the support they need.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) is currently being delivered through 29 accredited lenders, including several non-banks and alternative lenders. If an eligible business is unable to access the scheme because their bank is not a participant, or their bank is unable to process their application or turns it down, businesses are encouraged to apply for finance with another of the lenders. These accredited lenders are all listed on the British Business Bank’s website[1].
If the application is still unsuccessful, there are other forms of finance available to eligible firms and these can be identified from a number of sources, including the Government’s online finance finder on GOV.UK.
Businesses of all sizes across England, are also encouraged to contact the nearest local government-backed Growth Hub for free impartial advice on accessing the right finance. Expert advisers will be able to discuss alternative sources of support, business planning and building resilience.
The Government’s Business Support Helpline (FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098) also provides free, impartial support and advice to businesses.
Businesses based in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland will be able to access similar support through the Devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many start-up businesses have been created in (a) Medway, (b) Kent and (c) England since 2010.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
When looking at business start-ups we look at business births, this is because there is no direct measure of the number of business start-ups in the UK.
The Business Demography Publication by the Office for National Statistics details the number of business births in the UK with data available from 2012.
Business births are defined as businesses newly registered for at least one of VAT and PAYE.
The following table gives the number of business births in Medway, Kent and England from 2012 to 2017:
Birth count of new businesses | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Total period: |
a) Medway | 940 | 1,215 | 1,230 | 1,370 | 1,470 | 1,305 | 7,530 |
b) Kent County | 6,325 | 7,745 | 7,680 | 8,335 | 8,730 | 7,895 | 46,710 |
c) England | 239,660 | 308,565 | 312,920 | 344,065 | 373,580 | 339,345 | 1,918,135 |
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to help businesses create more highly skilled jobs in (a) Gillingham and Rainham, (b) Medway and (c) Kent.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has invited all Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in England to develop Local Industrial Strategies. We aim to agree these with all places by early 2020. For Kent, the South East LEP will set out an ambitious long-term vision for the area to increase its productivity, build on its established strengths, and create new opportunities for people and businesses in emerging sectors and industries.
The government know that regions across the UK have different skills needs, so will build on local strengths to deliver opportunities for people wherever they live. One way we will achieve this is through Skills Advisory Panels which bring together local employers and skills providers to pool knowledge on skills and labour market needs and work together to understand and address key local challenges. These Panels will be led by the Local Enterprise Partnership, and will influence Local Industrial Strategy development.
In Kent, and the wider South East LEP area, the government is working in partnership with local business and civic leaders to grow skills and opportunities for workers across the area by:
- Delivering an increase of 198,900 jobs since 2010 and 31,080 apprenticeship starts last year.
- Investing £590 million of Growth Deal funding to the South East LEP since 2014. delivering 78,000 jobs, 29,000 homes and attracting a further £960 million extra investment into the South East, including £22 million spent on 29 skills projects.
- Investing £6.5 million for the Kent and Medway EDGE Hub. .
- Backing the Innovation Park Medway, within the Kent Enterprise Zone with £4.4 million funding to help attract high quality technology, engineering and manufacturing companies to the area.
Supporting the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Kent and Medway Growth Hub to help small and medium sized enterprises in the areas access the support they need to grow and thrive.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to support high street retailers.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Government is clear that we want all types of retail to thrive now and in the future, and to support the sector as it responds to change. This is why we established the industry led Retail Sector Council to bring Government and industry together to help the sector address key sector issues and define its future strategy.
The council is due to meet next in February. The Council is prioritising its work to address the key challenges facing the sector and will initially focus on; costs to business, skills and lifelong learning, employment protection, consumer protection, the circular economy and the Industrial Strategy. The priority areas were selected by the industry and each workstream will be led by a senior industry figure.
Furthermore, at Autumn Budget, Government launched the £675m Future High Streets Fund, which will help local leaders to transform their town centres and make them fit for the future. The prospectus for the Fund was published in December and invites high streets and town centres to come forward with Expressions of Interest by March 22nd 2019.
Local leaders will be further supported by the High Streets Task Force, which will be established in 2019 and will provide hands-on support to local areas to develop data-driven innovative strategies and connect local areas to relevant experts.
In addition, from April 2019, the Government is cutting the business rates bills of eligible small retailers by one third for two years, worth almost £900m in reduced bills.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support the renewable energy sector in (a) Medway and (b) Gillingham and Rainham constituency.
Answered by Claire Perry
a) Two renewable electricity generation sites in Medway receive government support through the Renewables Obligation; Shakespeare Farm Landfill, and Malmaynes Solar.
b) The government is not aware of any such sites in the Gillingham and Rainham constituency.
The RHI scheme currently supports 47 renewable heating systems in Medway, this includes Gillingham and Rainham.
Additionally, there are 103,123 Feed-In Tariff accredited sites in the South East region.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support the self-employed in (a) Kent, (b) Medway and (c) England.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Our Industrial Strategy sets out our long-term plan to support entrepreneurs starting and growing a business.
The Kent and Medway Growth Hub provides a range of support for people looking to start and grow their business. Through the 38 local Growth Hubs, self-employed business people can access tailored advice and support - including learning about improving business planning, accounting, marketing and procurement. For example, Medway Council fund a free three-day workshop that provides people with the key things you need to know about starting their own business.
Access to finance is also important. Since March 2012, the Start Up Loans Company, part of the Government-owned British Business Bank, has provided over 1,000 loans worth just under £7 million to start-up businesses in Kent and over £800,000 to businesses in Medway.
Government are supporting the self employed more broadly, such as self-employed mothers who qualify for Maternity Allowance are also now able to share parental leave and pay with an employed father or partner. In addition, the Government has increased the personal allowance from £11,500 to £11,850 (benefiting employed and self-employed taxpayers) and self-employed people are now able to build their entitlement to the new State Pension at the same rate as employed people.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support small and medium-sized businesses in Gillingham and Rainham constituency.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Our Industrial Strategy aims to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business. Programmes operated by the Government-owned British Business Bank are currently supporting over £4.6bn of finance to over 70,000 SMEs.
GOV.UK, the Business Support Helpline and Growth Hubs provide access to advice and support who want to start their own business. The Kent and Medway Growth Hub has helped almost 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses. And since 2010, the number of small and medium-sized businesses in Kent and Medway has grown by over 11,000.
We are also investing £31 billion in the National Productivity Investment Fund until 2023 to improve physical and digital infrastructure, which will directly benefit small businesses.
As part of our approach to improving the business environment, which was set out within the Industrial Strategy White Paper, we are currently consulting on the actions that could be most effective in improving the productivity and growth of small and medium-sized businesses.
We are also spending up to £26.6 million on Business Basics and the industry-led Be the Business initiative and programme, to help SMEs take practical steps to improve their productivity by adopting best-practice management techniques and modern technologies.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
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 has taken to develop skills and technical education to encourage productivity growth.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
My hon. Friend will know that, at its heart, our modern Industrial Strategy will be about ensuring everyone has the opportunity to improve their skills, particularly through reforming technical education. Investing in skills and ensuring people have the right information to make choices on their career options in all parts of the country, is one of the most powerful things we can do to boost individual earning power and business productivity.