Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many calls made to the Business Support Helpline (England) were unanswered in each of the last 12 years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
A call to the Business Support Helpline (England) is recorded as unanswered when the customer leaves the queue after going through the Interactive Voice Response process but before an adviser is able to answer, without leaving a voicemail to, for example, request a call back. The total number of unanswered calls to the helpline is only available from 2020. In 2020, with exceptionally high demand particularly in March due to COVID-19, 10,729 calls were unanswered (12% of total calls received). In 2021, there were 459 unanswered calls (2% of total calls), and 711 in 2022 (3% of total calls).
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been provided to Growth Hubs in each year since their establishment.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In 2022/23 BEIS provided £11m of core funding for the 38 Growth Hubs.
Levels of historic Growth Hub core funding by BEIS from 2015/16 to 2021/22 are set out in the Industrial Development Act 1982: Annual Report 2021 to 2022 (paragraphs 106 - 110).
Local Enterprise Partnerships and their Growth Hubs are encouraged to seek additional sources of funding, and have also delivered a number of separately funded programmes on behalf of Government.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses have (a) engaged with and (b) been supported by Growth Hubs in each year since the establishment of those hubs.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Local Enterprise Partnerships have reported the following metrics for Growth Hub engagement and support.
Year of operation | Individuals and businesses engaged | Businesses supported – light, medium and high-intensity support |
2017/18 | 897,940 | 130,833 |
2018/19 | 959,863 | 109,683 |
2019/20 | 1,658,616 | 168,737 |
2020/21 | 2,448,158 | 288,578 |
2021/22 | 2,224,186 | 182,170 |
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of (a) small business awareness of and (b) small business satisfaction with the network of Growth Hubs.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government values the work of the network of 38 Growth Hubs in England both in directly providing advice and support to businesses of all sizes and sectors, and in joining up wider business support activities locally. Local Enterprise Partnerships reported that in 2021/22 Growth Hubs engaged with 2.2 million individuals and businesses in total, and reported an average customer satisfaction rate of 89% amongst users of their services.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of business (a) awareness of and (b) satisfaction with the Office of the Small Business Commissioner.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Office of the Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) has been extremely active in highlighting late and other poor payment practices experienced by small businesses and has recovered over £8 million owed to small businesses.
A statutory review of the OSBC will take place between now and the spring. This will examine the role and remit of the OSBC to ensure that it is supporting small businesses as effectively as possible.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many complaints have been (a) received and (b) resolved by the Office of the Small Business Commissioner in each year since it was founded.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since established in December 2017 - 31st March 2022, the OSBC handled 641 complaints, plus 772 enquiries. Annual reports give further information, available here:
https://www.smallbusinesscommissioner.gov.uk/?s=Annual+report.
The number of small businesses contacting the OSBC during the last financial year was 261. This included 113 complaints and 148 enquiries, of which 12 complaints resulted in the OSBC assisting in payment being made. Furthermore, 75 small businesses approached the OSBC for help with payment issues outside of the Commissioner’s scope.
The remaining complaints were dealt with through informal interventions or were signposted to other alternative support providers.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) outturn and (b) target for each of the Key Performance Indicators of the British Business Bank has been in each year since it was founded.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
All information on the Key Performance Indicators of the British Business Bank, including yearly targets and outcomes, can be found in the Annual Report and Accounts for each year, which are publicly available on the Bank’s website.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many webchats the Business Support Helpline (England) has conducted in each year since the LiveChat! Facility was added.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Business Support Helpline for England (originally called the Business Link Helpline) launched in September 2011. The webchat service began on 7 July 2014.
A table with annual telephone call and webchat volumes is attached for reference.
The Business Support Helpline regularly tracks customer satisfaction with the service. According to the latest data collected in 2022, the proportion of customers satisfied with the service ranged from 93% for straightforward queries to 97% for longer discussions.
Of surveyed businesses that had not used the Business Support Helpline, 51% were aware of it according to an evaluation published in 2014.
Year | Calls | Web chats |
2011* | 33866 | 0 |
2012 | 56159 | 0 |
2013 | 35809 | 0 |
2014 | 31123 | 1254** |
2015 | 37455 | 3619 |
2016 | 32379 | 4371 |
2017 | 26220 | 4307 |
2018 | 24944 | 3838 |
2019 | 23903 | 6262 |
2020 | 82537 | 11984 |
2021 | 27269 | 8515 |
2022 | 18793 | 5377 |
*From September 2011 to end of March 2012.
**Webchat service offered from 7 July 2014.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of business’s (a) awareness of and (b) satisfaction with the Business Support Helpline (England).
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Business Support Helpline for England (originally called the Business Link Helpline) launched in September 2011. The webchat service began on 7 July 2014.
A table with annual telephone call and webchat volumes is attached for reference.
The Business Support Helpline regularly tracks customer satisfaction with the service. According to the latest data collected in 2022, the proportion of customers satisfied with the service ranged from 93% for straightforward queries to 97% for longer discussions.
Of surveyed businesses that had not used the Business Support Helpline, 51% were aware of it according to an evaluation published in 2014.
Year | Calls | Web chats |
2011* | 33866 | 0 |
2012 | 56159 | 0 |
2013 | 35809 | 0 |
2014 | 31123 | 1254** |
2015 | 37455 | 3619 |
2016 | 32379 | 4371 |
2017 | 26220 | 4307 |
2018 | 24944 | 3838 |
2019 | 23903 | 6262 |
2020 | 82537 | 11984 |
2021 | 27269 | 8515 |
2022 | 18793 | 5377 |
*From September 2011 to end of March 2012.
**Webchat service offered from 7 July 2014.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many calls were made to the Business Support Helpline (England) in each of the last 12 years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Business Support Helpline for England (originally called the Business Link Helpline) launched in September 2011. The webchat service began on 7 July 2014.
A table with annual telephone call and webchat volumes is attached for reference.
The Business Support Helpline regularly tracks customer satisfaction with the service. According to the latest data collected in 2022, the proportion of customers satisfied with the service ranged from 93% for straightforward queries to 97% for longer discussions.
Of surveyed businesses that had not used the Business Support Helpline, 51% were aware of it according to an evaluation published in 2014.
Year | Calls | Web chats |
2011* | 33866 | 0 |
2012 | 56159 | 0 |
2013 | 35809 | 0 |
2014 | 31123 | 1254** |
2015 | 37455 | 3619 |
2016 | 32379 | 4371 |
2017 | 26220 | 4307 |
2018 | 24944 | 3838 |
2019 | 23903 | 6262 |
2020 | 82537 | 11984 |
2021 | 27269 | 8515 |
2022 | 18793 | 5377 |
*From September 2011 to end of March 2012.
**Webchat service offered from 7 July 2014.