VerbatimParliament, as it happens

New Businesses

Asked by Andrew CooperLabourDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 12 May 2025UIN 50699

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support the (a) creation and (b) growth of start-ups in (i) Mid Cheshire constituency, (ii) Cheshire and (iii) England.

Answered by Gareth Thomas

We will publish our Small Business Strategy later this year with a clear ambition to promote startups and encourage entrepreneurship, built around the new Business Growth Service.

Start Up Loans are available in Cheshire and across England, helping new and early-stage businesses access affordable finance. Mid Cheshire businesses have benefited from 168 of these loans between 2012 and January 2025.

Existing support offers include Help to Grow: Management - UK, providing practical ways to enhance small business productivity and growth, and the British Business Bank's Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II delivering a £660 million commitment of new funding to smaller businesses across the North.

Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →

Open this question in Verbatim →

Every written question, searchable

155,000 questions tabled since the election, with the answer each department gave — and the ones still unanswered, with the clock running. Free to search.

Search written questions →Read on Verbatim