Oral Answers to Questions

Robert Courts Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2017 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

3. What steps he is taking to support the self-employed.

[Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)]

4. What steps he is taking to support the self-employed.

[Victoria Borwick (Kensington) (Con)]

12. What steps he is taking to support the self-employed.

--- Later in debate ---

[Margot James]

We will support entrepreneurs across the UK to ensure that they can access finance and wider support so that they can grow. British Business Bank programmes are already supporting £3.2 billion of finance to more than 51,000 smaller businesses, including start-up loans to 39 entrepreneurs in my hon. Friend’s Braintree constituency.

[Robert Courts]

This matter is particularly close to my heart, given that I was self-employed until a few months ago. Of course, there are many self-employed businesses in rural areas of West Oxfordshire. Can the Minister assure us that the Government will continue to make it easier to start and grow a business by deregulating, creating an attractive tax environment, and helping businesses to attract and seek the finance that they need?

[Margot James]

We continue to work hard to make the UK a great place to start and grow a business. According to OECD statistics, we are internationally the third best place to start a businesses, but we are 13th when it comes to the best place to grow a business, which is where my focus as small business Minister is going to lie. I very much welcome the support of my hon. Friend.