Small Business Saturday
Debate between Seema Malhotra and Philip Hollobone(9 years, 11 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Seema Malhotra
My hon. Friend makes an important point. I worry about the extent of the cuts and the damage that they will do. We absolutely need to respond to those cuts and listen to our businesses and local councils in the debate about them. Reform is also important. We have seen some innovations such as the sharing of work between local authorities and the police, as has happened in Hounslow, with them working together, co-locating and sharing budgets. That will make a huge difference.
Another issue is skills and relationships with local schools. There are some excellent examples—from abroad as well as from this country—of young people in schools getting access to work experience. That gives access to the world of work and an understanding, through experience, of its opportunities and satisfaction; it also allows young people to experience some of the challenges of running an enterprise.
Will the Minister tell us to what extent building links between local businesses and schools is part of a programme for work experience development, including for under-16-year-olds in schools? To what extent is that embedded in strategies for local enterprise partnerships and other parts of our economic infrastructure? Support for small businesses on skills and on the ways in which they connect to their communities should be part of a coherent national strategy—it should not just be subject to what a local authority does.
I will close by saying that it is important that we should have had this debate and shared some perspectives from small businesses in our constituencies. As politicians, we must stay live to the reality. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and the giants of the future often start small. Supporting businesses when they start up so that they can grow is an incredibly important challenge and one on which we must maintain a national focus.
Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)
If the Front Benchers wish to split the remaining time between them, they will have 45 minutes each, but it is not compulsory for them to do so.