The Business, Innovation, Science, and Trade Committee has launched an inquiry into the barriers facing new entrepreneurs and those looking to build their business.
Although the Committee said entrepreneurial activity in the UK is at its highest level since 1999, with one in five adults either starting or running a new business, it warned that “opportunities and outcomes vary significantly between regions, sectors and demographic groups”.
The Committee will examine issues including the levels of support, market access, finance, skills, confidence and resilience for people across the UK to turn an idea into a business and scale it.
It will also consider lessons from international comparators, and the roles of education, finance, innovation and government policy in supporting business creation.
In addition, the inquiry will look at the journey of skilled tradespeople from sole trader to employer, and the factors that help or hinder them in building viable businesses and taking on apprentices.
It encouraged entrepreneurs at every stage to submit evidence here, including people running side hustles, sole traders, employers and those who have tried to start a business but faced barriers.
The deadline to respond is 11pm on 12 November.
Liam Byrne MP, chair of the Committee, said:
“I know from the personal experience of building a fast-growing tech business that building new firms from scratch is hard but an experience like none other.
“For centuries, our entrepreneurs have been making history by inventing the future and today Britain’s enterprise spirit can be found in every research lab, on every high street and in every white van. It’s the eBay trader packing orders after work, the market trader setting up before dawn, the plumber ready to take on an apprentice or the tech visionary who sees bold new ways to remake the world.
“These are people working hard to build a living and take control of their future. We want to hear what stands in their way and what government must do to help. Britain should be the best place to start a business and build it to last.”
A previous enquiry by the Committee concluded that small firms are “facing pressures comparable to the pandemic” which pose a “risk to business viability”.
After they published recommendations for how to fix the issues and better support businesses, the MPs said they had “serious concerns” about the government’s “inadequate” response.
