Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage small businesses to invest in and utilise FinTech.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The UK has been independently ranked by EY and Deloitte as the world’s leading hub for Fintech. The ambitious Fintech Sector Strategy, launched in March 2018 by the Chancellor, sets out how the Government intends to maintain that position.
This thriving Fintech community is an advantage for small UK businesses, who benefit from easy access to a range of services including foreign exchange, loans, equity investment and invoice finance. The British Business Bank’s annual Small Business Finance Markets report, published on 11 February, states that the value of peer-to-peer business lending rose a further 18% in 2018, having increased by 51% in 2017.
The same report notes that awareness among small businesses is also increasing, with 52% aware of peer-to-peer lending as an option (2017: 47%) and 70% aware of equity crowdfunding (2017: 60%). The British Business Bank’s portal for small businesses, the Finance Hub, has extensive information for small businesses on finance options including those available through Fintech providers and how to access them.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to tackle low pay in rural areas.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to delivering an economy that works for all. Through the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, the Government is ensuring the lowest paid across the UK are fairly rewarded for their contribution to the economy. For example, 3,100 workers in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk are currently on the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.
The Government has committed to increase the National Living Wage to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020, subject to sustained economic growth. To meet this target, we will increase the National Living Wage rate by 4.9% to £8.21 in April 2019, benefiting 1.8 million workers directly. This increase will mean that a full-time worker on the National Living Wage will be over £2,750 better off over the course of the year, compared to when the policy was introduced. Furthermore, inflation-beating increases in the National Minimum Wage rates are expected to benefit 350,000 young workers from April 2019.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of (a) how widespread social exclusion is in rural areas and (b) the effect of his Department’s policies on social exclusion in rural areas.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In order to inform delivery of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, the Department regularly reviews data and assessments relating to our cities, towns and rural areas, to understand both the challenges they face and the competitive advantages they hold. Our Ageing Society Grand Challenge includes £98 million of Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund investment into a ‘healthy ageing programme’, which will drive the development of new products and services to help people live in their homes longer, tackle loneliness and increase independence and wellbeing.
BEIS is also supporting economic development and tackling regional disparities across the UK through the Strength in Places Fund, which received an additional £120 million of funding in Autumn Budget 2018. The programme supports businesses across the UK to adopt new technologies and to drive innovation-led growth, driving economic prosperity across all areas of the UK.