Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the oral evidence taken before the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee on 17 May 2022, HC 207, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of amending the eligibility 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).