Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his Department's SME strategy on the economy.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and crucial for the delivery of our Growth Mission. We will publish a new SME strategy later this year that will complement our Industrial and Trade Strategies as part of our approach to driving economic growth. The strategy will set out how the Government is looking to support SMEs to start and grow. We will provide a further update, including relevant economic evidence and analysis, later this year.