Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent steps he has taken to support (a) innovation and (b) invention among (i) SMEs and (ii) sole traders.

Growth is the key mission for this government and supporting firms of all sizes to innovate is key to unlocking it. Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, supports over 10,000 businesses annually on their innovation journey and over the final six months of the previous financial year, Innovate UK launched £276m of competitions. This is in addition to work underway to increase the availability of growth capital for innovative firms, which includes increasing the National Wealth Fund’s capitalisation to £27.8bn, reforms to the British Business Bank, and new pension reforms aimed at unlocking £80 billion of investment.