Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support businesses and entrepreneurs.

We know how vital businesses are to the UK economy. So we will continue to work hard to support everyone who wants to start and grow their own business. Through our Industrial Strategy we aim to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business.

We want to ensure small business owners have access to the support they need to start, grow and export. The Business Support Helpline, GOV.UK and a network of 38 Growth Hubs across England provide access to information, advice and support business growth. We are developing an Export Strategy to support businesses to access international markets. For Small & Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) looking to export, UK export finance will announce a new guarantee to banks designed to increase the flow of money in the supply chain.

We also want small businesses to have the access to finance they need to grow. So we are helping through the British Business Bank which supports over £4bn of finance to over 65,000 UK SMEs. This includes delivering 54,000 Start-Up Loans worth £400m since 2012. Going forward we plan to unlock over £20bn of investment in innovative and high potential businesses, including establishing a new £2.5bn investment fund within the Bank.

Tackling late payments and ensuring small businesses have access to government contracts are also important issues we are working to address. The Small Business Commissioner will help with payment issues, dispute resolution and sourcing advice across the UK. And we are opening up public procurement to SMEs, with a commitment to one pound in every three of central government spend going to SMEs by 2022.

We have launched a review into what actions could be most effective in improving productivity and growth of SMEs in what has been called the ‘long tail’ of lower productivity firms.

We will carry on focusing on the needs of businesses through the delivery of our Industrial Strategy and as we work to secure the best and most ambitious Brexit deal for the whole of the United Kingdom.