Nigel Adams
Main Page: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)Department Debates - View all Nigel Adams's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)
1. What steps he is taking to support small businesses.
Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)
3. What steps he is taking to support small businesses. [R]
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
4. What steps he is taking to support small businesses.
Vince Cable
We estimate that something of the order of 7,000 start-up loans have been drawn down since the scheme’s launch in September 2012, a significant number of them in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. To sustain it, we have made available an extra £34 million from September, to bring the total to £151 million.
Nigel Adams
Business creation is on the up and unemployment is down by almost 30% in Selby and Ainsty since the election. However, many small companies are struggling with crippling business rates. In some cases, rates are almost the cost of the rent they are paying. What can the Government do to encourage local councils to engage with small businesses to assist them with their rate costs?
Vince Cable
The hon. Gentleman is right that the trend is a positive one. Half a million small businesses currently get rate relief and a third of a million pay no rates at all. Under recent changes whereby local councils give discounts, as they are now encouraged to do, half of that will come from the Government.