PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Small Businesses: Productivity (1 March 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to provide advice and support to small and medium-sized enterprises to boost their productivity before the introduction of the national living wage.

Asked by:
Matthew Pennycook (Labour)

Government is committed to providing an environment in which all businesses can manage the transition to the National Living Wage. To help with the transition we are cutting taxes and employer National Insurance contributions in total by over £3 billion a year through the Employment Allowance and Corporation Tax.

SMEs will benefit from an ACAS produced online productivity tool designed to help organisations take simple steps to improve workplace relations, raise staff engagement and boost productivity. In addition, businesses can continue to benefit from a range of general support services including:

• Access to local support through Growth Hubs which join up local resources and are being rolled out across the country.
• The Business Support helpline and the’ My Business Support Tool’ on GOV.UK which help businesses find the support they need quickly.
• British Business Bank programmes which are supporting £2.4bn of finance to over 40,000 smaller businesses.

Answered by:
Anna Soubry (The Independent Group for Change)
7 March 2016