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Margot James
Main Page: Margot James (Conservative - Stourbridge)Department Debates - View all Margot James's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(7 years, 1 month ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Margot James)
Small businesses are vital to the economy, and we are providing additional access to finance and support to help scale up businesses so that they are able to reap the benefits of future trade with the EU and the rest of the world.
Carol Monaghan
I wish everybody a happy Pi Day—“pi,” the mathematical version, not “pie,” the pork version.
The Conservative party broke its 2015 manifesto commitment by failing to consult the business community on the changes to national insurance for the self-employed. Will the Government now address the ongoing uncertainty that those changes could bring to workers’ rights, such as maternity and paternity pay, sick pay, annual leave and pensions?
Margot James
The Government are absolutely committed, as the Prime Minister has said on several occasions, to protecting workers’ rights as we leave the European Union. And not just to protect those rights but to enhance them, if necessary. She has set up the Taylor review to examine the details.
Mr Speaker
I call Martin Docherty-Hughes. I am sad to note the rather uncharacteristic absence of the hon. Gentleman. We will do our best to bear up with such fortitude as we can muster.
Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)
A number of small businesses in the oil and gas sector supply chain have been hit disproportionately by the oil price reduction. My hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Callum McCaig) and I held a meeting last week to encourage young businesses to access different methods of capital financing so that they can grow. What are the UK Government doing to encourage such businesses to access capital finance?
Margot James
Although support for businesses in Scotland is largely devolved, the British Business Bank funds a vast number of companies in Scotland. It has provided £415 million of finance for Scottish companies, including through start-up loans. In addition, more than 1,600 companies in Scotland benefit from the enterprise finance guarantee scheme.
Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)
Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the south-west, and much effort is being put into upping productivity in the region. We in Taunton Deane welcome recent Government investment in a lot of infrastructure and the work that is being done on skills. However, to give us a real fillip, will the Minister, or perhaps someone else from the Department, agree to come to Taunton’s annual business conference on 6 June to give a boost to the things that the Government can help us with?
Margot James
I thank my hon. Friend for such a wonderful invitation. Although I have already been to the south-west, I am sure I can find an occasion on 6 June to do so again.
Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)
One advantage for small businesses of the United Kingdom leaving the EU is that the House will be free to repeal unwanted EU regulations. What steps is the Minister taking to consult small businesses so that she can identify those regulations?
Margot James
I assure my hon. Friend that we consult small businesses all the time. The Department for Exiting the European Union regularly engages with the Federation of Small Businesses. We will, in due course, ask that Department to hold a roundtable for small businesses to discuss the very issues that he raises.
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
Margot James
I am glad that the hon. Lady is so keen to hear my answer to this question.
We support small business growth by ensuring that small businesses can access finance and wider support. The British Business Bank is already supporting more than 54,000 smaller businesses with £3.4 billion of finance, and I am leading a taskforce to enable SMEs to accelerate their growth potential and realise their growth prospects quicker.
Mark Pawsey
I know that Rugby is a great place to run a business, but many small businesses continue to tell me that an obstacle to their expansion is still a shortage of suitable industrial premises. At a time when our authority is preparing its local plan, what discussions has my hon. Friend had with her counterparts in the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure that adequate land is allocated for the development of business units?
Margot James
We work closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government, and I recently co-chaired a successful roundtable with my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning and providers of finance. We will be having a further meeting, and I shall obviously consider the needs of businesses in Rugby for more space.
Dame Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central) (Lab)
Small businesses in Doncaster have expressed concern to me about how they can access apprenticeship schemes. Will the Minister work with the Department for Education and draw up a regional analysis—especially for Yorkshire and the Humber—of how small businesses can access those schemes effectively, particularly in the light of the apprenticeship levy?
Margot James
We will certainly talk to businesses in the Doncaster region, as well as to those elsewhere in Yorkshire, but I am delighted to say that only 1.3% of businesses will actually pay the apprenticeship levy. For all other businesses, particularly small businesses, the Government will fund 90% of training costs following the introduction of the levy proper next month.
Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)
Last week’s announcement on business rates by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will provide welcome relief to hundreds of independent small businesses in my constituency. Will the Minister join me in congratulating our tourist management organisation, Visit Bath, as it focuses more attention on the marketing of our independent small businesses in Bath in domestic and international markets, which will bring jobs and growth to my constituency?
Margot James
I absolutely join my hon. Friend in congratulating Visit Bath on all the trade and ideas that it brings to SMEs in his constituency.
Dr Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) (SNP)
As chair of the all-party group on disability, I have been hearing from disabled entrepreneurs that they still have to face far too many barriers, including with regard to access to affordable loans, peer mentoring and information, even through the Government Gateway. What specific measures are the Government taking to support disabled entrepreneurs and what more can be done to address these very important issues?
Margot James
I thank the hon. Lady for her excellent question. I work closely with the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, who is leading huge initiatives to improve opportunities for people with disabilities. I will raise with my hon. Friend the specific question of entrepreneurs with disabilities.
Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)
The truth is that the Government have to show a lot more love for small businesses to reinforce the truth that the Conservatives are the party for entrepreneurs. Will my hon. Friend start that by eliminating the time limits on the enterprise investment scheme for small businesses, and by finding a way, after we leave the EU, of reducing the compliance with regulations for small businesses to a single check mark?
Margot James
As my hon. Friend knows, I am a great lover of small businesses and entrepreneurs, and I think that I can speak for the rest of the Government in that regard. He knows that the EU governs time limits and caps on the EIS at the moment. What happens following the Brexit negotiations will be a matter for the Treasury.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
I do not think that small businesses are really feeling the love after last week’s Budget. A report by the Federation of Small Businesses entitled “37 problems and tax is one” states that the
“proposed National Insurance tax grab on this group is an absolute kick in the teeth, just at a time when we need to create more entrepreneurs, not fewer.”
The Minister says that the Government consult the Federation of Small Businesses, but perhaps they might listen to it in future and do what it suggests as well.
Margot James
The small business world must feel more love from this Government than it would from Labour, were it to take our place in government.
On the hon. Gentleman’s specific question, I know that the FSB lobbied hard on a number of points, including national insurance, business rates and the quarterly reporting of tax accounts. On the latter two, it was very pleased with what the Chancellor provided. With regard to national insurance, the hon. Gentleman knows that more than 60% of people who are self-employed will actually benefit from the changes mooted by the Chancellor last week.
Chris Green (Bolton West) (Con)
Jess Phillips (Birmingham, Yardley) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Margot James)
With no common definition of the “gig economy”, numbers vary in terms of how many workers are involved in it. We have commissioned new research, to be published this summer, which will look at the number of individuals working through digital platforms in the UK and at their experiences.
Jess Phillips
The number of freelancing moms has increased by 79% since 2008. Although I welcome the Government’s announcement that they will consult further in the summer on fairer maternity pay for self-employed moms, this was recommended 13 months ago. Why has it taken the Government so long to act on this crucial issue for these women when it took a stroke of a pen to increase their taxes?
Margot James
As I said in my previous answer on national insurance, the increase in taxes, which itself is under review, will be ruling out—[Hon. Members: “Ah!”] In terms of the maternity and paternity issues raised by the hon. Lady, I should hasten to add, the consultation will run its course this summer and she will have an answer before the end of the year.
Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)
Does the Minister begin to understand the sense of grievance on the part of the growing army of the self-employed who are reluctant conscripts to self-employment in the gig economy? They work in a twilight world of insecurity without basic rights, but they will now have to pay more in tax although there was not one measure in the Budget to put the burden on the shoulders of those truly responsible: the Ubers of this world.
Margot James
The hon. Gentleman knows that the Taylor review is currently examining all the issues that he raises. I am very concerned about the plight of some low-paid workers—they may well actually be workers, rather than self-employed. That is up to the courts and the Government to conclude later this year, but I assure him that we take the issues he raises very seriously.
Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)
Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Margot James)
The new phase of the “Get in Go Far” campaign focuses on helping small employers understand the benefits of apprenticeships. The National Apprenticeship Service supports that by contacting small businesses that have previously engaged with the programme. That will be of great benefit to small and medium-sized enterprises in my hon. Friend’s constituency.
Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)
Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)
Margot James
I quite agree with my hon. Friend. That demonstrates the need for all businesses, especially SMEs, to take advantage of our target of 3 million apprenticeships and the huge improvement in the quality of apprenticeships that the National Apprenticeship Service supports.
Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)
Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)
As the recently elected chair of the all-party group for small and micro business, I know that access to finance in the early years is a real challenge for small businesses. What advice could the Minister give to those in my constituency who are looking for access to finance in the early years?
Margot James
I can advise my hon. Friend that the Start Up Loans Company has already helped 44,000 small start-ups and will be on hand to support start-ups in his constituency.
Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)
What plans does the Secretary of State have to encourage new innovation support for SMEs in our key foundation industries, which make materials such as glass, ceramics and steel for cars, including those needed for Nissan in my constituency? This could help to create hundreds of jobs in the supply chain that are actually made in Britain.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
When will the business rate review commence and report? The sticking plasters offered last week will do little for small businesses in York.
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)
The digital strategy is a key component of the Government’s industrial strategy. Can the Secretary of State do better than the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and tell me which companies have committed to work in Great Grimsby as part of the digital skills partnership?
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)
The Pubs Code Adjudicator Paul Newby failed to declare a much more fundamental direct conflict of interest than Charlotte Hogg, yet Ministers are ignoring it. Tomorrow, tenants will protest outside his office. How long will Ministers keep failing to do their duty and not face up to this situation?
Margot James
The hon. Gentleman knows that the Commissioner for Public Appointments stated that the panel considered there were no conflicts of interest in this case that would preclude Mr Newby from doing his job.
Several hon. Members rose—