PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Small Businesses: Wallasey (13 September 2018)

Through our Industrial Strategy, we will make sure that we are using all the tools we have to support business growth in places such as the Liverpool City Region boosting productivity and ensuring an economy that works for everyone.

We are helping small businesses grow through access to detailed advice and guidance on GOV.UK and the Business Support Helpline. We have already invested £12 million in the 38 Growth Hubs inthe Local Enterprise Partnership areas providing tailored advice to businesses across England. We are providing a further £24m to continue funding Growth Hubs for the next 2 years. The Liverpool City Region Growth Hub, which covers Wirral and the Wallasey constituency, has supported over 15, 632 businesses and helped 3,500 individuals to start a business.

In February 2017, through the government-owned British Business Bank (BBB), we launched the £400 million Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund to give small businesses in the North access to finance to help them start-up and grow. 40 investments or loans have been made in the Liverpool City Region worth £8m with two investments made in the Wallasey constituency, totalling £350, 000.

The Regional Growth Fund which was established to help create jobs and businesses grow has contracted £97.2m to businesses in the Liverpool City Region helping to create or safeguard 11,264 jobs. Of this £8.4m has been contracted to businesses in Wirral supporting 188 jobs.

In addition, we have invested over £1.5 billion through the Local Growth Fund in North West projects to boost local economies. We will invest £332m in Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership area creating 15,400 jobs. This will support projects such as the Wirral Metropolitan College Extreme Low Energy Project and a number of improvements to the key route networks in your constituency.