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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how he evaluates the economic benefits of business (a) incubators and (b) accelerators.

In the case of programmes that are funded directly by the Department, economic evaluation is carried out according to guidance set out in the Green Book: appraisal and evaluation in central government.

A report on the impact of incubators and accelerators on start-up businesses and on the wider business ecosystem was commissioned by the Department in 2019 and is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-impact-of-business-accelerators-and-incubators-in-the-uk. This found that most participating businesses considered the contribution of the incubator or accelerator as significant or vital to their success. The report also notes that “accelerators have positive spillover effects on the wider business ecosystem.”