Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of organisations offering kickstart placements that are SMEs.

We are unable to provide an estimate of the proportion of SME employers participating in the Kickstart Scheme. However, we know that many small businesses have applied through approved gateway organisations. In February, the department removed the 30 job minimum requirement for applications to Kickstart to make the scheme more accessible to small businesses and sole traders giving them choice to apply direct or via one of over 900 Kickstart gateways organisations.