North East Hertfordshire MP Oliver Heald welcomes the announcement which the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has made with Government measures to help small businesses.
In its June Budget, the Government took direct action to help small firms – stopping Labour’s tax on jobs, cutting the small profits rate of corporation tax, increasing CGT e ntrepreneurs’ relief, and setting out ambitious plans to tackle red tape.
Now, Ministers have set out more help for small and medium-sized enterprises, whilst Lord Young has been appointed as the Government’s adviser on enterprise. They are:
- extending the highly successful Enterprise Finance Guarantee, giving businesses access to £2 billion of lending over four more years;
- continuing the successful Enterprise Capital Fund programme that will enable high-growth start-ups and SMEs to access important venture capital investment;
- supporting business angels by exploring options to relax EU regulations on promotion and activity and continuing the Enterprise Investment Scheme;
- seeking to direct a quarter of all central government procurement to SMEs, and auditing departments to ensure that they increase their rate of SME procurement year-on-year; and
- removing the existing bar on starting a business in social housing and encouraging tenants to pursue their enterprising ideas.
Commenting on these measures, Oliver Heald MP said, “this is great news for overburdened businesses in my constituency. I would encourage business owners to contact me or Lord Young with any suggestions about regulations they wish to see gone.”
Notes for Editors:
-For more information on how the Government is supporting small businesses, please see the website of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department’s report: ‘Backing Small Business’.
-One of Lord Young’s first tasks has been to write a 'brutally honest' report examining how government departments interact with and affect small businesses, as requested by the Prime Minister. For more information on Lord Young’s appointment please see this news story on the Number 10 website.
-For the Press Release on these measures, please visit the hyperlink included.