Small Business Saturday

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Toby Perkins

Thursday 4th December 2014 Westminster Hall

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone, and to make a contribution to this important debate marking our national small business Saturday this weekend. I again congratulate the hon. Member for City of Chester (Stephen Mosley) on securing the debate. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Mr Umunna), who helped to build the coalition of support to bring small business Saturday to the UK last year.

I grew up in my parents’ small shop in Hounslow. It was very much a community shop and in many ways it was there that I learned the value of feeling part of and serving in a community. Through that experience, I gained a love for small businesses and an appreciation of the role that they play. Growing up in a shop is a different kind of family lifestyle—although it is a common experience for many in my constituency, as I am sure it is for many in other constituencies. The lifestyle is different because it can sometimes be much harder to separate work and home. The shop or business can be a passion for those who are running it, and it becomes part of the whole family life.

Such a life is also a great challenge, with many small business owners sometimes having a day-to-day struggle to make ends meet. They need all the skills—whether being the strategist, the marketing expert, the one who sorts out technology, the accountant or the financial manager. I recall many instances of my father being up late at night dealing with the accounts after putting the kids to bed. When we think about and thank small businesses and their contribution, it is important to recognise the daily challenges faced by many of them.

Many small business owners have also faced such challenges as part of the cost-of-living crisis that we have experienced. I have met many running businesses in my constituency who were struggling to make ends meet. They talked about problems with banks and about taking out extra loans to get through tough times. They welcomed Labour’s commitment to freeze energy bills, because that would save not only families but small businesses significant costs of up to £5,000 a year.

Another important point about small businesses that has already been made is their social contribution. Small businesses make our communities feel so much safer and more friendly. They can make a difference by being open slightly later; when they shut early, local streets can feel deserted and far less safe.

I hope that this weekend we will see many more residents and visitors shopping in local businesses—not only celebrating their success, but helping them with their revenues and growth and making them feel much more valued as real actors and players in our community. It is an excellent fact that 43% of consumers who knew about small business Saturday last year said that they spent more on the day, which contributed to some £500 million in trade. I hope to see that figure exceeded this year. I am certainly looking forward to starting my Christmas shopping in Feltham and Heston in our small businesses.

Small business Saturday is also a chance to celebrate how local businesses can contribute on the national stage. One business in my constituency, Kool Cakes, was founded by Kulwinder Paul Kumar. He was one of the official cake makers for Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee and he made Frankie’s cake in the 2012 “Big Brother”. It is quite something to go into his small shop in Heston, where I often stop for tea and a slice of eggless cake, and to see pictures of such things on the wall and to think, “Actually, this is a local business.” Such people are heroes—national ones as well as local ones.

Many hon. Members have referred to women who run businesses. Last year on small business Saturday, I stopped for a cup of tea at Charlie’s Café in Feltham, which is run by Carol Chownsmith. She is another example of somebody who comes forward because they want to do something that is a passion of theirs and that will make a contribution to their community—a place where local people can come to meet, eat and share their lives. This weekend, I will also visit Heston Florist, which I know is doing some excellent special offers for Christmas—Christmas is, of course, at the forefront of many people’s minds.

I say all this because it is important to think about the character of our businesses. They serve the needs of members of the local community. It is important to have access to such vibrancy and to a range of businesses; it is so much more attractive than going into a supermarket, where the level of service is not nearly as personal.

I will touch on a few other matters. The first has already been raised by several hon. Members: the importance of creating an infrastructure of support and the important role of local authorities, chambers of commerce and others in helping to achieve that. In Hounslow, we have West London Business and the Hounslow chamber of commerce, which do a lot of work to help to network businesses and encourage training programmes.

Hounslow council also encourages the setting up of small businesses, and has made a big difference during the past year by introducing a free half hour of parking—something that many local traders had called for. I have seen the contribution that has made in my inbox, as I now have fewer complaints about the cost of being able to have access to trade on our doorstep. Parking costs had been stopping impromptu trade, so the free parking has made a big difference for traders in my constituency.

Alongside some of the positives, businesses have also raised some challenges with me. For example, they are often on the receiving end of antisocial behaviour. Also, if local authorities do not clear waste quickly enough from in front of their shops, that can be unsightly. Small business owners spend hours and hours in their place of work—they do not leave and come home—so that place is important to their well-being. I have been working with local police on tackling antisocial behaviour and the small crime that affects local shops. That kind of work is incredibly important and we must focus on it at the national level as well. It does not just help shopkeepers and small business owners to feel safe; it is better for the workers in those stores and creates a safe environment for consumers so that they can shop in and support local businesses, whether in the morning, afternoon or evening.

[Toby Perkins]

I am enjoying my hon. Friend’s contribution immensely. She focused on the important role for local authorities in supporting small businesses and on the connection between many different aspects of public services and the success of small businesses. Is she concerned about the autumn statement, in which we heard that there will be absolutely unprecedented cuts in public spending—much of which I suspect will fall on local authorities? We cannot sit in this place and say, “This is what we are doing for local authorities,” and then close our eyes to the impact of local authority cuts on the capacity of councils to support small businesses in their areas.

[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.

Business Rates

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Toby Perkins

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Toby Perkins]

That is an interesting point. I went to a newsagent in the hon. Lady’s constituency which certainly will not be paying business rates above the level that we have set. The vast majority of businesses will be below the £50,000 level. This policy is a significant step that will affect 1.5 million businesses. Every time we hear from Conservative Members, it is clear that the only voices in their ears are those of big business. They do not understand the reality of small businesses. That is coming across loud and clear once again today.

Even after today’s announcement, the bills this year will still go up by about £250, and that is when we are supposedly seeing action.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Toby Perkins]

I will give way to my hon. Friend, but I will not take too many interventions because I am conscious that a number of Members want to speak and I want them all to have the opportunity to do so.

[Seema Malhotra]

The British Retail Consortium has estimated that the business rate increase in April could mean that there is an increase of £240 million per annum, which could put more than 19,000 full-time jobs at risk. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that that will have a detrimental impact on retailers in our constituencies?