Trade and Investment for Growth White Paper

Tristram Hunt Excerpts

Wednesday 9th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I continue to hear strong representations about the value of capital allowances from, among others, the Engineering Employers Federation. That is clearly one of the things that the Chancellor will be mulling over before the Budget.

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

In Stoke-on-Trent we welcome the emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturing exporters, but as my right hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden) said, there seems to be a dissonance between the rhetoric and the reality. Business Link has announced that it is no longer funding two enterprise agencies in north Staffordshire, Business Initiative and Stafford Enterprise. The local chamber of commerce is very worried about the effect that that will have on local start-ups and their ability to export. There does not seem to be very much joined-up thinking here.

[Vince Cable]

As many people on this side of the House who have run small businesses will know, the problem with Business Link was that it was a very ineffective system of business support. It has now been replaced, and in future small businesses will have access, through mentoring, to other business people, rather than to those who serviced Business Link, which was not a successful scheme.