Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to encourage more women to franchise their businesses.

Matthew Hancock

The Government offers a wide range of support to all types of businesses to start up and grow, including franchises, for example through the Growth Accelerator, the New Enterprise Allowance, mentoring and the Start Up Loan scheme.

Women-led small and medium-sized businesses contribute around £82 billion to the economy. 42% of the 15,000 mentors trained through the Get Mentoring initiative are women and have contributed to the 27,000 strong mentoring network at www.mentorsme.co.uk. The latest figures show that over 37% of Start Up Loans have gone to female entrepreneurs.

We will continue to work closely with the Women’s Business Council and others to help ensure that more women see starting and growing their own business as a real option.

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