Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Victoria Prentis and Greg Clark

Tuesday 20th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

15. What progress he has made on meeting the Government’s ambition to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

Our business environment is among the best in the world for small businesses. We have 16.3 million people employed in small businesses and the British Business Bank is supporting small businesses with over £5.5 billion of finance—and colleagues on all sides of the House will wish to support small business Saturday on 1 December.

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to suggest that microbusinesses, and indeed start-ups, sometimes face challenges in accessing finance. The British Business Bank has a programme to focus on microbusinesses. Start-up loans, from which 44 businesses in her constituency have benefited, are also important.

[Victoria Prentis]

Late payments are a real problem for small businesses. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to tackle that?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and she will know that we are taking steps to reinforce in statute some of the measures that have been good practice across the industry. Indeed, the small business commissioner has been appointed to the prompt payment code compliance board to help with that.