Rehman Chishti
Main Page: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)Department Debates - View all Rehman Chishti'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]
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
We are doing more than ever to support small business. More than 7,000 start-up loans have been drawn down since the scheme’s launch in September 2012. Over the past year, UK Trade & Investment has helped 31,800 businesses to export, the growth accelerator scheme has supported more than 9,000 small businesses, and the regional growth fund has helped a further 3,000.
Rehman Chishti
I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. Will he clarify how many businesses have been backed by the Government’s start-up loan scheme, and are there any plans to extend it further?
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.