Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress Tech City has made in funding tech start-ups led by (a) women and (b) BAME people.

Tech Nation (formerly Tech City UK) does not directly fund tech start-ups, though they do run programmes such as Rising Stars, Upscale, and Future Fifty, that help start-ups access funding. They have published a report that highlights the state of diversity in the UK tech sector, and the need to do more especially for female founders. The report is available at https://technation.io/insights/diversity-and-inclusion-in-uk-tech-companies/

They have also joined a consortium with Capital Enterprise, Your Startup, Your Story (YSYS) and Diversity VC, funded by JP Morgan, that aims to double the number of female and ethnic minority founders in three London boroughs by 2020.

Meanwhile, as part of the Government’s work to increase diversity and build a Britain in which small businesses continue to thrive, Alison Rose will lead a review into barriers to female entrepreneurship, and exploring what can be done to overcome them. The review will bolster the Government’s work to make it easier for women to access the support they need to get their ideas off the ground and grow their businesses. The government will consider and respond to the findings of the review when it is published in the Spring.