Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Wendy Morton and Anna Soubry(8 years, 1 month ago)
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The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise (Anna Soubry)
We have a growing and healthy economy, which is good for all business, but which, in particular, encourages people who want to start up their own businesses. We are looking at ways in which we can improve, for example, practices for self-employed people, which is also very helpful. Our start-up loans scheme has provided more than 37,000 loans worth over £210 million.
Wendy Morton
In my constituency, the number of registered businesses increased by about 10% between 2014 and 2015. As I am sure my right hon. Friend will agree, that is very welcome. I recently visited Streetly Vets, a new business that has been set up by two sisters in my constituency. Does my right hon. Friend agree, however, that the first few years of being in business can be some of the most challenging, and will she assure me that the Government are doing all that they can to support new and small businesses?
Anna Soubry
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that it is the first few years that are the trickiest. If you can jump that hurdle, you can achieve almost anything; you can certainly make sure that your business will grow. I have explained about the start-up loans that we do, but the other great achievement of this Government in the past 12 months is our work on cutting business rates. This has been the biggest ever cut in business rates, reducing the burden by £6.7 billion, which will benefit 900,000 smaller properties. That is very good news, especially for small businesses.
Redcar Steelworks
Debate between Wendy Morton and Anna Soubry(8 years, 8 months ago)
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Anna Soubry
And neither have I, apparently, Mr Speaker. But I have and I think the hon. Lady knows that. The hon. Lady is fighting for her constituents. She does so with passion and she is right so to do. She is putting on record that this is the end of steel production. It is a tragedy. But what I would say to the hon. Lady is this: I have an email trail that she knows I am more than happy to share with her and the hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. I do not know all the detail, because some of it is apparently commercially sensitive, but she needs to know this. The official receiver specifically said to those people who were interested, “Put the money in to buy the coal to keep the coke ovens going” and they refused. That is the harsh reality.
Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that in these circumstances it is right and proper that the Government do all they can—which they are doing—to support the workers in Redcar and in the communities around Redcar?
Anna Soubry
My hon. Friend is right. What happened on 1 October, when we were looking at ways of support, is that we suddenly discovered—literally on a website, on a tweet—that the parent company in Thailand had effectively gone into administration and had registered so in Thailand. That changed things completely. The Secretary of State and I sat in Redcar at 9 o’clock that morning and we knew and understood that any money we put in would go straight into Thailand and into the pockets of three Thai banks. There are no procedures and no devices in those circumstances to ensure that the money would, in any event, have gone to Redcar—never mind the state aid rules.