Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will publish the advice given to ministers that informed decisions on eligibility criteria for the Help to Grow: Digital scheme.

The Government closed the Help to Grow: Digital programme in February 2023.

An assessment of the eligibility criteria can be found in the Help to Grow: Digital scheme evaluation report on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-grow-digital-evaluation-report

While we do not routinely publish advice, decisions were informed by evidence and the scheme design was kept under review. Eligibility changes were made in Summer 2022 which responded to oral evidence, which included widening the criteria to include businesses of 1+ employee(s).